The Undying Emperor [Grand Conquest Fantasy]

The events of the day Acheliah met with Lucius I only understood many years later. At the time, I asked the wrong questions, made the wrong inquiries. I studied the way he arrayed his forces, the way he corralled their morale, and other such necessities. His core forces, those of the returned wastelanders along with various mercenaries and veterans who had served under him previously, numbered in the thousands and had to be kept in a standing reserve. As the saying goes, you can't sit on a pike, though that particular saying had yet to come into popularity. Pikes wouldn't come into common use for several decades more.

Had events not escalated in the capital, he would have been obligated to march on Rackvidd, depose the bureaucratic regime, and rather exhaust Felicia's inheritance. Of course, that would have been a temporary affair. Rackvidd still dominated the trade not just between Vassermark and the Misty Isles, but Vassermark and Giordana. The Feugard boy's machinations with ley pumps would soon drive an immense demand for the material, and Rackvidd was set to profit heavily from port controls. The creation of such an economic dipole would have been a rather tense and exciting fracture of the kingdom, but that would have taken half a generation to play out.

By then, Aurum would have sent armies against Vassermark, likely backed by the men of Skaldheim and mercenaries from Aillesterra.

However, I can report that he proved adept at the management of his army, nor did he squander their time. Over the years, there had been a number of problematic mountain keeps and villages, not the least of which was the demon worshippers he dealt with earlier that year. Through connections in Rackvidd and Jeameaux, he procured a number of warrants containing quite vague limitations. With the firm authority of the justice of the realm, he constructed himself a path up through the heart of the Ashfall Mountains, taking but a few weeks to do so. Food and coin was seized in the name of the king's taxes, extending his gambit into an enormous debt on the expectation that before he could be forced to pay it, there would be no crown to collect the dues.

Naturally, there would be some successor organization and they might try to stake a claim to it, but that would only be a matter of fabricating or destroying certain documents while negotiating a good pay for his army. The new cabinet would hardly be able to seize his coin for the purpose of paying him.

Contrary to many claims at the time, Lucius exercised rather little direct control over this preliminary warfare. The difference between his army and a gang of bandits became small, but he had obligations to see to back at his estate. Thus, the winged angel of Vassermark was seen upon the bell tower of a temple so newly constructed it had no clergy assigned to it. Some said it was a blessing that the tower was first trode upon by the naked foot of an angel, but that was mere superstition. Not only was Acheliah more than capable of controlling the outflux of her magic, but she was not one to travel barefoot.

As luck had it, Leomund was part of the war party moving north. In fact, he was proving himself to be apt at leadership, having learned much over the years incidentally. For all the years he and I trained Lucius, he had shown no interest in the boring details of war, but clearly had learned them nonetheless. These minor battles did nothing to give him an ego, however. If anything, they convinced him of his age. Who could blame him? There is no such thing as a bloodless victory unless no fighting whatsoever occurs, and even then there's usually some casualty in the aftermath. He could see a difference between his own reflection and those of the soldiers rallying to Lucius von Solhart, the conquering commoner. They had no scars, carried no burdensome memories.

It's possible I would have fared better if Leomund had been with Lucius to temper his tongue.

Lucius met her in the temple, ousting a school of children taking lessons from a half-crippled scholar. A curious figure, whom I can't justify much text about, but he was an escapee from an Aillesterran slave ship. As the story went, he had to rip his own hand off to free it from the shackle binding it to the oar. While his story might have been exaggerated, he helped give Lucius a good foundation in the exotic tongue of the easterners.

Acheliah had descended through the belltower, like a troublesome song bird looking for a nesting place, and sat upon the altar. Lucius had to stride between the pews like a groom coming to his bride. Her bouquet was the reaping blade. "You think I'll lose, don't you?" she accused.

He was distracted, still wondering whether Aisha and Felicia could be considered safe at Lupa's side, while she was also responsible for the sequestering of the two prisoners. "Would you believe me if I said I was scared?"

"Scared of whom?"

"The king, primarily. From what I hear, there's mutiny throughout the kingdom. Mostly of the insidious sort. Lost messages, inaction, hesitation. The strength of the crown isn't marshalling to smash the uprising. I think he's going to lose his head at this rate, and I think he might lash out in spite before that happens. I'm a bell tower in a lightning storm."

The angel pursed her lips in a frown, stroking her fingers across the shaft of her magic weapon. I am without a doubt that she considered cutting him down. Not for the last time, his naked self-interest made him an easy man to bargain with. "My divinations have at last revealed to me your master's whereabouts. Does it surprise you to learn he is not in the capital? This rebellion is his doing, but he has walked away from it."

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"Amurabi is keeping his distance from a volatile mess he made and is waiting until the violence simmers down? Imagine my shock," Lucius said though he could have phrased it more reasonably.

"I've known the man for hundreds of years now. I suppose I should thank him for holding onto his grudge until the world was peaceful. Did you know there was a time when attacks from demons, godlings, and a thousand other shades of baleful spirits were a weekly occurrence? We barely had the time to bury our dead before there was more bloodshed. There was so much death, it put Mother to sleep, like a hibernating bear. I think that's why he's finally acting. Just a few more years of peace and she will answer prayers once more. If you help me, I could make you a prince among men. I won't give you the crown of Vassermark, but somebody will have to fight the evil ones, and that somebody deserves all the riches the people can shower on them."

They smirked at one another. The offer was a common one for men of ambition, but Lucius didn't covet money in the way of a merchant. "I'm not a mage."

"I'm not asking you to raise a sword against him," she said. It seems she never considered asking for his help in cutting me down. Perhaps she thought I had some arcane control over the boy's will, or maybe she understood the hazard of asking a boy to raise a sword against one of the men who raised him. Something difficult, but not impossible as time would tell. "I just need to know why he thinks he can beat me in a fight."

"I've never once seen him be the one to initiate a fight. He arranges for someone to begin the fight on his behalf and lets it drag on until he can land the killing blow with the least amount of effort. Given the amount of time he has spent outside of the world, I would assume he's been convening with the other survivors of his race. You should be prepared to fight a second like him."

She shook her head. "Impossible. They are as banished from this world as the godlings. Perhaps the mortal shell of one of them could traverse the barrier, but they would be as pathetic as that cretin Golden is now. Though, I suspect you're right in part. I think he might be trying to do that."

"He's not the only soliedar in the world," Lucius said, his eyes narrowing.

Acheliah's smiled coyly. "You refer to the jackal in the south? He can hardly be called a soliedar, now can he? Did you know he's not the only guardian that still lives? Pick any direction and travel far enough off the map and you'll find one. I could introduce you to them, if you wish. You seem rather fond of the gift the jackal gave you."

"Please don't call Lupa a gift. If she heard you, I'd never hear the end of it."

The angel laughed, her feet swinging like a schoolgirl. "Back to the issue at hand. Let us suppose he intends to bring one of his compatriots. It would explain his choice of locale. Bridging them through the barrier is not an easy task, and it's not something he can complete before I find him. Are you sure he has no allies in the north?"

Lucius shrugged. "He had them, in the past. Told me he lost them about fifty years ago, trying to retake the northernmost moons from the trolls. Leomund says he's known as a heretic in the north. He claims the wolf goddess is imprisoned in the moon."

Acheliah sighed. "That bothersome lie, I see. It seems my best course of action is swiftness, and I've already tarried long enough. He doesn't need any more advantage. When I return, I'll offer you more than riches, Lucius. Serve me, not as a dog but as a prince, and I will see to it that you are given the two greatest treasures in the world, love and life."

He scoffed at her. "I didn't think you'd be threatening me, today."

She hopped to her feet, laughter filling the temple. "Not your life boy. If you keep the peace in Vassermark, my peace, I will have the king call off his marriage to the Ashe girl and let her run into your arms. That girl is still smitten with her childhood hero, romanticized by its distance. Her little noble savage that was stolen away from her by the twisted words of Jacque Mordare. Did you know I was with him, when he died? I never imagined that little one-armed thorn in his philosophical side would end up being you. I can scarcely tell which is changing this kingdom more, his treatises or your living refutation of them. But, I'll see to it that the Ashe girl is yours. You'll be a commoner no more. And as for life… you've been struggling with that, haven't you?" she asked, smiling as he face colored. "It didn't take you long at all to make that little Alexander, and yet the babe has no sibling. I can see to it that is fixed. Those are the gifts I offer you, and with them I will bind you to the prosperity of Vassermark and its people."

She alighted upon the altar once more, wings spread to sweep her back up the bell tower, and he stopped her. "I think you're making a mistake," he said, words hurried. He glanced to the doors and windows of the temple, but no eavesdropping shadows lurked. "He knows about the reaping blade, surely. He would have accounted for that .If you think your weapon is enough advantage, you're walking into a trap. If you think he doesn't know you've sensed him, you're walking into a trap. If he can't have brought a godling from outside the world, then what he will have done is brought one from within it."

"Impossible," she said. "Every angel in the world is focused on detecting those monsters. If it was strong enough to pose a threat, we'd know about it."

"That's a blindspot! He's going to catch you off guard somehow!"

"It's one thing to think a step ahead, Lucius. That will help you win a game of Trireme. If you get your opponent trying to think a hundred steps ahead, though, he won't notice you stealing his purse. Amurabi's plan is to make me hesitate for fear of his countermeasures and then my opportunity will be gone. Talking to you has assured me of that. I look forward to greeting you in the capital as a peacebringer, Lucius," she said, and departed from the temple.

That, as you may well surmise, was the last they ever spoke. He could hardly have ever become the emperor by remaining a glorified executioner for the state.