The Emperor

by N. M. Brown

  “This new brother is what these Elder’s truly want.” He cried. “This ‘Mitch’ would be your comrade in arms, he would be your sibling; to stand besides, to play with, but they wish to take him away.”

  Unceremoniously, the Latino siblings threw Mitch to the floor in front of Shade, just an arm length away from the maniacal King. Mitch promptly coward, his head to the floor and his sobs rising in volume. His jeans were dirty, but McQueen could see where urine had stained the inner legs and as he coward, a new patch began to seep across the fabric.

  “Leave him alone!” McQueen ordered. He wanted to fight, but already the knife points were on his back, pressing into his coat and testing their sharpness.

  With a crooked grin, Shade expelled his arms wide and looked to his people in triumph. “See! You see how the Elder begs for this one’s life! They do not care for you! They do not come here for you. They lie, again, just like all Elder’s lie!”

  A cheer ran around the crowd, and Mitch shivered visibly. Over the crowd, McQueen could hear the echoing sobs that came from the boy and his heart broke. “He’s just a boy!” McQueen yelled over the cheers, unsure of who he might be pleading with because there were no forgiving souls here.

  As if to prove as much, Shade locked eyes with McQueen and hitched a grin, his voice barely audible over the noise in the room. “Weren’t we all once?”

  Stepping down from his throne, Shade approached Mitch and as he crouched, he reached out a solitary hand and hovered it over his back. As if out of instinct, Mitch flinched and curled tighter into the floor. His sobs grew and as the room fell into an apprehensive silence Shade curled his hand under the boys’ chin.

  “Look at me brother.” Shade ordered, forcing Mitches head up and McQueen watched as his hand crushed around Mitch’s jaw, the force of his hold squeezing his baby cheeks together. Higher and higher Shade pulled Mitch’s face up, until the boy was almost on his toes. Grime had smeared across his face from his tears and as McQueen waited, his heart in his throat, he could only remember what had happened to the last child who raised their neck to Shade’s mercy.

  “I-ha-… I-ah wanna – g-g-o … h-home.” Mitch snivelled through each gasp of breath. He wasn’t just crying any more but had fallen into hysterics.

  McQueen prayed the poor boy would pass out from hyperventilating just so his nightmare would end, at least for a short while. At least God could give him that small mercy. But Mitch didn’t and Shade just smiled, a smile that promised peace or suffering at the flip of a coin. The guilt ate at McQueen as he saw the pure terror grow in Mitch’s eyes and he realised he shouldn’t have singled Mitch out. He shouldn’t have tried to save him.

  “Please… Leave him alone.” He begged, but he shouldn’t have waisted his breath. His only answer was a whack to the thigh and promise of a sore bruise in the morning. If any of them made it to morning.

  “I will do with him as I please. He is one of my subjects after all.” Shade answered and suddenly there was knife glinting in the fire light, level with Mitch’s face. Out of pure terror, the poor kid screamed kicking his legs wildly as he tried to get free.

  “Muuuummmyyy!” He screamed which only made Shade laugh with delight and sure enough, his subjects followed.

  “Mummy?” Shade asked. “You want to go home to you mummy?” Mitch nodded, his snotty nose dripping onto Shade’s hand. The boy King sighed, his clam, mocking temperament a polar opposite to what it once was. “Silly boy. Don’t you see?” With a shake, Shade’s hand rocked Mitch’s face back and forth, pulling more hysteric cries from his lips. “You are home.”

  With an extravagant push, Shade threw Mitch away from him, causing him to collapse at the feet of the King. With a flick of Shades wrist, Tigress – his doting servant rushed over and offered her dress as a tissue.

  “Mitch.” McQueen whispered, leaning as far as he dared towards the boy curled in a ball; the smell of urine wafting off him. “Mitch? It’s me, it’s Detective McQueen, do you remember me?” He asked, begging with every bone in his body that he did. If Mitch could look at him, see him, he might know that in one way or another, everything would be ok.

  “Yes, Mitch, do you remember him?” The cold voice of Shade repeated. Snot wiped away, the King observed from afar, his tone mocking. “By all means Lawman, try and help him. Try and break him from my kingdom. You’ve done so well when speaking to my other subjects.”

  McQueen felt the spark of anger flood his veins as he was once again remined of their guide Red, then the Latino siblings, Angie and then the countless others he’d spoken too. Eyes darting to the siblings, his heart lurched again as he saw their number had dropped from three. One brother gone: gone where? Was he dead, in hiding? What had Shade done to him? Looking to Tigress, McQueen saw the Angie was nowhere to be see and again, his heart clenched at the thought it was all his fault.

  “What do you want?” McQueen asked, his voice hardened with loss.

  “From you? Nothing.” Shade answered. “All I want, all I care for, is from my people.” And Shade turned to face a different entrance, the crowd parting to reveal their next guest.

  Pulled between two bigger, stronger boys came a twisting, writhing kid, whose arms and legs kicked out wildly. The two older boys didn’t faulter as they pulled the boy to Shade’s side, and it wasn’t until the King approached did the boy still, tossing his hair from his face.

  “Johnny.” McQueen breathed, knowing the face anywhere despite having only seen it in photographs. He must have started to move again, because suddenly he was restrained by multiple hands. One to his surprise however, belonging to Echo.

  “You are the one who saved this boy, brother?” Shade asked, gripping Johnny by the hair and wrenching his head back. Johnny nodded but didn’t even spare a glance at Mitch. “Do you wish for him to stay?” Shade asked next and McQueen was allowed a sliver of hope as it took longer for Johnny to answer, but alas the answer was still a nod. “Good, good.” Shade smiled. Clicking at the Latino siblings again, he let out a short line of barks and the brother and sister quickly picked Mitch back up and held him aloft.

  “What are you going to do?” McQueen begged, as if he could somehow stop what was about to happen next.

  Holding a handout to Tigress, McQueen heard the collective gasp as every child in the room drooled upon seeing a small blue sweet pass from servant to master. Holding it up, Shade made sure everyone could see, drawing them in with its power, before turning to McQueen. “I’m going to secure my subjects loyalty, from now until death do they part.”

  “No.” McQueen cried, fighting the hands that held him back, but more knifes pressed against his skin and he wasn’t sure how much more blood he could lose. Hungry and tired from lack of sleep, drained from the adrenaline that never seemed to stop coursing through his veins, McQueen was drained. Mentally and physically, he was drained and so he did nothing - could do nothing - as Shade passed the small blue sweet to Johnny.

  “You are my subject. My follower. You and all those you bring with you are mine?” Shade asked, as if it were a pledge to a fraternity house. But it wasn’t that. It was a death sentence. McQueen’s throat dried up, and tears stung his eyes as without hesitation, Johnny agreed, swallowing the sweet down whole. “Good my brother. You are one with us, as you forever shall be. But now you must bring home those you love. Bring your brother into the fold.” Shade ordered, and it was then that McQueen watched with a heavy heart as another sweet was drawn out. The precious cargo passed from Tigress, to Shade to Johnny and towards its destination; Mitch.

  Upon seeing his brother, Mitch had quietened down, his sobs becoming sniffles and his eyes growing wide as he saw his salvation. “Mitch!” McQueen begged. Pulling hard on the hands that held him, he didn’t care. Nails dug in as Johnny made slow steps towards his brother and McQueen knew, if Mitch took that sweet, he’d be as good as dead. “Mitch don’t take it. Never take sweets from a stranger, remember. You can’t take it. Don’t eat it!”

  Mitc
h slowly turned around, his wide eyes looking to McQueen and the Detectives hope soared. Please, he begged God, please, please, please let Mitch understand. Let him be safe. Don’t let him fall for this trap. But as McQueen glanced over Mitch’s shoulder, he saw Shade watching from afar on his throne, Tigress resting on the arm beside him, both wearing a cunning smile.

  “Please.” he begged again, but it wasn’t even above a whisper and he could do nothing to stop Johnny as he knelt beside his brother.

  Eye to eye, Johnny smiled; the smiled you shared only with family and held the blue sweet aloft. “Can we go home Johnny?” Timid as a mouse, Mitch shuffled forwards on his knees, pulling closer to his blood.

  “Course we can Mitch. You just got to eat this, and we’ll be home?” Johnny promised and Mitch, full of trust and confidence, plucked the sweet from the space between them, making McQueen’s gut drop.

  It was over. It was all over, and it had been for nothing. Bile coated the back of McQueen's throat as the world crashed back to reality. It was all over, and he knew it. And so, did Shade.

  “He is one of us now.” Shade spoke sombrely as Johnny pulled Mitch to the side lines, joining the loyalists. McQueen could feel the hot tears that trailed down his face and the boys sealed their fate. “He is a part of this family now.”

  McQueen collapsed. His whole body deflated and full of despair, he wished for death. He had failed. Every risk he took, every path he tested was all meant to lead here, to the moment he could save Mitch and take him back to his family. But he’d failed. How could he face the Bell’s now, knowing that both their children were but a few steps from death every day and were never coming home.

  “Your efforts were admirable Lawman. But I am older than a look and you should have never underestimated me.” As if to drive home his point, Shade waved a hand and their guards stepped back merging with the crowds. They were no longer trouble. They were defeated.

  Raising his head, McQueen glared through tear-soaked eyes at the smug King, feeling in every bone in his body how much he wanted to kill this boy. Never had McQueen wish death upon someone so much. Justice and life imprisonment were too good for this beast.

  “There were a lot of things I should have done. A lot of things I should have done differently.” McQueen admitted, but ground it out through clenched teeth. Watching Johnny pull Mitch to the side, he shook his head. “I should have done many, many things different.”

  “You still would have failed.” Shade mocked. His long bony fingers reached out and he absently stroked Tigress’s thigh. McQueen bristled with rage as the fiend pulled her close. Another victim of this world. Another child he’d failed to save. “I have no weaknesses. No matter who comes, they cannot topple my kingdom. Many have tried, but I will always triumph.”

  “That’s because you kill them.” A deadly, hard voice answered. It was a voice that stilled the crowd and made the room suck in a breath. Echo. "You killed all of them, and you'll kill the rest of them, again and again!"

  Never had McQueen been so pleased to hear her voice, that smooth, calculative voice that shook mountains and brought warriors to their knees. There she knelt; arms free from their rope bindings, crossed across her chest while inspecting her nails.

  She unlike McQueen held no tears in her eyes, or guilt in her heart. He could tell that the loss of Mitch didn’t affect her, nor did the fear of their untimely demise scare her. She was a stone cold, hard bitch.

  The King of the Under-ert didn’t know what was about to hit him.

  XXXI

  Echo glanced at McQueen before giving Shade a sly, evil smile. It sent chills down her spin for all the right reasons as she felt a clam settle over her. She wasn’t going to die in the hole. She didn’t before, she wouldn’t let it happen this time either.

  The ropes had been easy to slip off. No child down here could tie her up the way Samantha had, so she’d had more than enough practise getting out of tight bondage situations.

  “This again?” Shade asked, his tone annoyed by Echo’s sudden chatter. Good, Echo thought. This wasn’t going to be the last time she surprised that little bastard.

  “Well, its not a lie, is it?” Echo rolled her eyes with an off-hand gesture. “All of them, Wendell and the others. Isn’t that why you killed them, because your kingdom was at risk?” Keeping her gaze on Shade, Echo spoke up, making sure her voice travelled for all to hear. “You killed your brothers and sisters; you family so you could keep your lies; to hide your shame.”

  “I hide nothing from my subjects.” Shade answer. “And pointing accusations at my will not spear your life. You will only hasten it.”

  “Nothing? You hide nothing?” Echo laughed, the sharp tongue licking her teeth. “Then why did Wendell die? Why did you truly kill her? Did she challenge you rule, or maybe she revealed your lies? Or maybe it was because she was an Elder, an Elder who was pregnant, with your child.”

  Shade fingers twitched, and Echo could smell the wrath, pooling off him. There was no guilt in him. No remorse and that was their problem. Shade would never let them go. Too much of his power tilted on the knife point of fear and if he showed weakness, his subjects woudl devour him.

  So, if Echo and McQueen wanted to get out of here, alive, they would have to break Shade’s hold. Somehow. The best Echo had been able to come up with while McQueen cried into the sand, was to expose Shade for the fake she knew he was. Trouble was, making sure the two of them lived long enough to do that.

  Shade, who’d previously sat with an air of superiority about him, had stilled, falling silent. A muted wave of uncertainty rippled through the crowd as the boy who would be King hesitated to speak.

  But Tigress was suddenly there, stood between her King and Echo, a fierce expression on face. “Wendall was a traitor. She was no longer a part of this family. She deserved to die, thinking she could have a babe here. Elders have babes, not us!”

  “Really?” Echo tilted her head, looking up at Tigress, a challenge in her eyes. Their guards had left, their victory futile, so there was no one to stop Echo as she rose, standing to her full Elder height. “Then does that mean you must die too?” She whispered so low that only Tigress and McQueen could hear. “Because I think Wendell and you were in the same boat and I think you helped hide her body, so you could ignore what will happen if your King finds out the truth.”

  Whether it was Echo's words or how her eyes traveled downward, Tigress paled. Her shrunken face dropped in fear and her eyes widened, all the while a fragile, skeletal hand dropped to her stomach. “Wendell-…” She started to whisper, trying to keep her voice forceful. “Wendell was a traitor. She was wanted to raise her babe here, have a real family.”

  “And she died for that family, didn’t she?” Echo asked, already knowing the truth. “And you were the one who betrayed her to your King.” Tigress paled some more, showing her guilt and the part she played in Wendell’s death. “You’re the reason she’d dead. You’re the one who took her place at Shade’s side, and you’re the one who will die by his hand, just like she did.”

  Shade, a few paces behind, saw and heard nothing, thus while Tigress stood there in fear, the girl did nothing to stop Echo. Hooking an arm in McQueen’s, she picked him and with nibble fingers untied his hands too, freeing them both. Stood, with not a soul to stop them, she walked past heading straight for Shade.

  "You killed Wendell." Echo accused, pleased to find McQueen quickly followed her across the room, batting away knife points as they went. If they were going to make it out of there alive, they were going to have to keep on their toes. Their old guards followed but did nothing more; uncertain it they should attack anymore. "You killed her because she was your dirty little secret."

  “My Tigress was right. Wendell was a traitor; bringing destruction on our home, just as any Elder does here. I will never allow Elders to roam my Kingdom!” Shade spat, keeping his voice controlled. But Echo hadn’t even begun to poke his buttons.