The Undying Emperor [Grand Conquest Fantasy]

It is no small thing to move an army into a city, and many a commander have floundered when they discovered that an army large enough to siege a city is not nearly large enough to take it. The nature of walls makes it easy to concentrate at gates and deny the import of food, but to actually move down the streets, to clear out adversaries from every shop and every house, both those of the levied guard and of malcontented civilians is an immense difficulty.

Lucius was still arranging his army into a makeshift camp, occupying what had been grazing fields for shepherds and spilling his camp into one of the woodlands. His troops savaged the copse of trees to build their fires and erect a fence as close as they dared, for they did not fully know the range of the city's ley cannons. That technological discrepancy anguished the boy, though it would be the last time he was ever strategically denied the weapons. The sight of Golden stepping into his tent was a relief to him.

They embraced as the three women joined them in the command tent, eyeing with great hesitation the wastelanders who surrounded the map. The noblewomen were sheltered from the realities of war and clung by the side of the trollkin. It was one thing to see men strutting about in gilded armor that spoke more of status and fashion, while it was another to see grime and steel. I suspect it also caught them off guard that many of his war council were women, although any soldier would have made the swift assumption that the women possessed useful stigmata. As I have noted in the past, the simple ability to amplify one's voice, when paired with a reasonable mind, could elevate a simple soldier to a minor command position. They certainly did not guess the array of potent magics collected within that tent.

The year long diaspora of the wastelanders had not merely been to cultivate their sense of civilized life.

"There's a problem," Golden said, seizing Lucius by the shoulders and preventing him from embracing Frederika.

"What scale?" he asked, sliding at once into the firm role of a leader.

"Lyam escaped Donjon. He has Aria, and your little cadre."

Lucius' face tightened and he took a seat. One of his commanders shrugged and said, "A pity, but…"

When they saw his glare, another offered, "We can spare a few rogues to recover her. Confronting him directly would be too dangerous regardless. Lyam is the man of metal, yes?"

The entire room was soon filled with bickering over the nuances as Lucius listened. He let his eyes rest on the princess, but she was of little concern at this time. He silenced his council with a hand and addressed Golden. "Who sits upon the throne?"

Golden shrugged. "If his saboteur didn't lose his grit, the king is either dead or in chains by now."

"Saboteur?" Kassie blurted out, stepping from the grasping protection of her guardian.

"Your brother has no head for finances," Lucius said bluntly.

Golden grinned at her. "How would you feel if you found out your mother hadn't gotten her stipend in the middle of the winter and was found dead for lack of firewood? When you're the king's own bodyguard?"

The blood drained out of the princess' face and she tried to stammer a defense. Frederika took her arm and silenced her. "The royal treasury couldn't possibly be running dry," Frederika said.

Lucius reached across his sprawled map of the city and tapped a silver coin. It was not placed upon the palace, but at the cathedral. "The royal treasury is very small, actually. Much of it was spent in the last few years. Had the coup not happened, it would have replenished itself, but the loss of so much nobility at once caused tax collection to falter."

"The kingdom's treasure has been growing for hundreds of years!" the princess shouted.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"And almost all of it is held by the temples, under Acheliah's purview. She's been distracted and her clergy expected concessions before doling out gold. It would have mattered little, regardless. The real issue isn't how many coins there are. Coins don't make food manifest out of the air," Lucius said, skirting around his own role in the matter. The king's relations with Acheliah had soured because of him, because the angel had trusted him more than the king. Of course, this was only in a very minute set of affairs, all things considered, but the king was ignorant of how dangerous the world was.

Squeezing her hands into fists, the princess demanded, "Who was it? Who betrayed my brother?"

"Does it matter?" Lucius asked. "That guard is one of a thousand sympathetic pawns Austin Feugard has pulled together. If he can hang the king. No, if he can just publicly hang that bitch Caroline, he will be the one with the power."

"I should have poisoned her myself," Frederika hissed.

Lucius turned back to his war council. "Enough about the assassins. They can't be spared. They need to be in position for the cannons. The palace isn't our concern, this is," he said, planting his finger on the silver coin. Then he turned back to Golden. "How fast can you digest a meal?"

"Fast enough," Golden said, his eyes scanning the council though known fully understood who he was.

"I demand answers," Kassandra shouted. "I am the princess of this kingdom and you are a subject of the royal family, are you not? Or are you a foreigner as well as a liar?"

Lucius laughed at her. "Did your doting godmother tell you nothing?"

"He's from Jarnmark, Kassie," Frederika said, her voice soothing like she was talking to a child.

The princess spun on her. "You knew of his deception?"

"Doesn't everyone by now?" Golden asked.

"Golden, go to the black flagged tent in the east," Lucius said before putting his attention back on the princess. "My background doesn't matter anymore. I could have come from a circus troupe plucked out of the slums and it wouldn't matter. I may not be the original Lucius von Solhart, but I am Acheliah's knight. I am presently sworn to protect you, but that does not mean I am going to turn my back and flee."

"You must fight Feugard," the trollkin declared. "If he sits upon the throne–"

"Don't be silly," Lucius interrupted, glaring at Frederika who was stifling a laugh. "You'd be lucky if Feugard wanted the throne. If he did, he would need to marry you, Kassie, and legitimize himself. He's going to call a grand assembly. He wants to re-found the kingdom and make everyone a noble. That means he needs to spread word throughout the kingdom. It will be weeks of delay. Weeks during which he will set his hooks into the kingdom."

"And just what are you going to do about it?" the princess demanded. "You have an army, don't you?"

"I am going to save this kingdom," he said. "You three are going to cut your hair, dye it, and if I ever catch you wearing something cleaner than a stableboy's linens or I hear you using your real names, I'll have you flogged. From this moment forward, all three of you died when Feugard's men stormed the palace. Lupa will be happy to teach you how to be servants, and you might be surprised how easy it is to become someone else. Now, I have a war to plan and an idiot to save."

When he turned back to the map, Kassie's guard pulled her away, whispering assurances and scheming ways for the two of them to go. Wisdom prevailed, even as the princess set her heart upon fleeing further. It was obviously no time for a young woman in a silk dress to travel.

Frederika did not leave so easily however. "What do you mean, save the kingdom?" she asked. "If you thought Feugard was going to destroy it, you had every chance to stop him while he was at Forum."

"What? And given the king no reason to keep me around? That's not what I'm worried about, Frederika. Skaldheim will honor the ceasefire Acheliah brokered, and Drachenreach isn't ready to do anything yet. The central kingdoms might well hate us, but they can't raise an army after last year's wars. Giordana is… well, it's Giordana. Any army that tries to come from the south would have to fight its way here. I'm not worried about men with swords coming from the south, but just as they wouldn't send an army, they also wouldn't send a warning," he said as he drew her attention to the western sea where the waves were a confusing network of arrows denoting the temple's sea lanes. A fleet of ships taken from a trireme board were positioned between Donjon and the capital.

"What is that? Gabriel's forces?"

"Gabriel?" He scoffed. One of his council gestured to the north west and said the prince was galavanting. "Aillesterra has been probing the sea for years. They weren't driven off from the Misty Isles, they retreated and consolidated their forces. Given who's commanding them, this is the perfect time to show they know the sea lanes. Acheliah isn't around to summon the monsters. They'll never have another chance."