‘Your mother?’
‘Malicious gossip, nothing more. Apparently my mother is jealous of his success.’ He shook his head. ‘Utter claptrap. Still, without transparency, these rumours tend to bubble away. My worry is that Duke Marcus will do nothing to suppress such nonsense. Being able to blame my mother would be quite convenient for him, I imagine.’
‘Assuming it wasn’t your mother,’ Aila said, a slight smile on her lips, ‘then who could it have been? Why would anyone want to kill the champion?’
‘He has hundreds, maybe thousands of followers who think he is here to redeem us all. He has attracted a wide range of, shall we say, the more excitable elements of the citizenry. With that being the case, do we need to look further? The simplest answer is usually correct.’
‘So, an insane individual? Some idiot working alone?’
‘That would appear to be the case, yes.’
Aila looked back out of the window again as the wagon slowed by the Union Walls. For a moment she wished she were travelling in the other direction, towards the Bulwark. A part of her wanted nothing more than to see Corthie, to check with her own eyes that he was alright. What a fool she was. The champion had probably forgotten all about their drunken kiss, and she should forget him before her heart had a chance to care, and then break.
The carriage passed the walls and entered Auldan. She gazed out over the vast suburbs of Outer Pella.
‘Is that smoke?’
Naxor glanced out of the window. ‘It would appear so.’
‘Has the trouble spread to Pella? Are the Reapers rioting as well?’
He shrugged. ‘I’m sure my mother will tell you everything you need to know.’
The streets of Ooste were quiet as the carriage rumbled over the cobbles. They passed the Royal Academy, where Aila, along every other demigod, had received her education. The bronze domes had turned green many years before, but the building retained a sense of elegance and grace. Beyond that, the carriage turned into the vast forecourt of the Royal Palace, home of the God-King. A servant opened the side door as the carriage drew to a stop by the entrance steps.
‘After you, cousin,’ Naxor said, gesturing to Aila.
She climbed down from the carriage, ignoring the servant’s hand that was raised to assist her, and stepped onto the worn flagstones.
Naxor accompanied her into the palace, and led her through the shining hallways and marble splendour until they reached a small audience chamber. Guards opened the doors for them, and they strode through. Sitting in the throne of power was Princess Khora, and Aila noticed two of her own siblings were also in the chamber; her brother Lord Collo, and sister Lady Vana. Aila smothered a groan. It was bad enough that she was about to be humiliated by Khora, and the presence of her two sycophantic siblings only rubbed salt into the wound.
‘Lady Aila, greetings,’ said Khora. ‘Please approach.’
Aila walked forwards. After three hundred years, that was how her aunt had chosen to welcome her?
‘I was summoned by the God-King,’ she said. ‘Where is he?’
‘His Most High Majesty is indisposed, I’m afraid.’
‘So all this was just a trick to get me to come here?’
‘As Guardian of the City, I hold the authority of the royal sceptre in lieu. My word should be taken as coming from the God-King himself.’
‘Yeah, a trick, as I said. So, what do you want?’
Her sister glared at her. ‘Show some respect, Aila. You are in the Royal Palace, not the backstreets of the Circuit.’
‘Screw you, Vana.’
‘Enough, both of you,’ said Khora. ‘Lady Aila, we need to discuss the contents of Lady Ikara’s reports regarding the situation in the Circuit. Matters have deteriorated alarmingly over the last month and, with the troubles starting to infect Outer Pella as well, I fear the City is on the verge of a serious crisis.’
‘I’ve read the reports. Are you going to remove me from my position?’
‘Should you be removed?’
‘If you believe what your idiot daughter wrote, then yes, I most certainly should.’
Khora said nothing for a moment and Aila could see that she had successfully managed to get under her aunt’s skin.
‘Politics is an art,’ Khora said after a long silence. ‘I understand the need to apportion blame but right now I’m more interested in bringing the violence and disorder to an end. What do you advise should be done to achieve this?’
‘You know what the rioters are demanding?’
‘My resignation, yes.’
‘Well?’
‘Is that your considered advice, Lady Aila; that the stability of the City will be secured once it has no functioning government? An interesting thesis. Fortunately for the City, it is not one I share.’
‘They’re not demanding no government, just that you are no longer at its head.’
‘Then tell me, who do you imagine would step up to fill the void if I resigned? I am the last of the God-Children, if we discount Prince Montieth, but as the noble prince has not left Greylin Palace in Dalrig for over a thousand years, I hardly think he would suddenly develop a sense of duty now. Who else, then, Aila; please tell me.’
Aila paused for a moment. If Khora fell from power, then her children would fall too, along with the court of sycophants that included Vana and Collo. Who would be left? The running of the City would never be handed over to the mortals.
She smiled. ‘Maybe the God-King and God-Queen should be encouraged to have more children.’
Khora shook her head, her eyes tight. ‘Are you truly so blind, Aila? I’ve watched you for a long time, and have noticed many of your attributes and qualities. Being blind to the obvious I had not thought to be one of them. Think some more, then tell me; who would take over if I fell?’
Aila blinked, and her heart sank at the realisation.
‘I think you’re getting there,’ Khora said; ‘if the expression on your face is anything to go by.’
‘Duke Marcus?’
Khora smiled. ‘Indeed, Lady Aila. It took a while, but we got there in the end. Now, I am perfectly aware that you loathe me, and I don’t want you to answer my next question out loud; just ponder it. Would you prefer him to me?’
Aila’s gaze fell to the floor. Khora was right. As much as she detested her aunt, her cousin in the Bulwark was a different matter altogether.
‘I seem to recall,’ Khora said, ‘that had my most glorious and divine brother, Prince Michael, survived the Civil War, he had plans regarding his son and you. Do you remember?’
Aila remained silent. Of course she remembered. Michael had arranged for her to marry Duke Marcus, as part of his plan to breed more demigods for the City. If Yendra hadn’t cut him down… She shuddered.
‘The duke is a very patient man,’ Khora went on. ‘A few centuries mean nothing to him, and I know for a fact that he still desires you.’
Aila turned to Naxor. ‘Is this true? Tell me it’s not, cousin.’
Naxor shrugged. ‘My mother is stating the truth. My sources close to the duke have confirmed it.’
‘Then why have you never told me?’
‘What would have been the point? I was sparing you from three centuries of worry.’
Aila lifted a hand to her face; the thought of Duke Marcus anywhere near her making her nauseous.
‘I would die before I let him touch me.’
‘Quite,’ said Khora, her voice lower. ‘So, tell me again your advice for ending the riots.’
‘There is something we could try.’
‘Go on, Lady Aila; I’m listening.’
‘We could try to implement Princess Yendra’s reforms.’
‘What, the reforms that plunged the City into Civil War the last time they were tried?’
‘The Civil War didn’t start because of the reforms, it started because Michael couldn’t handle losing any of his power. Devolve decision-making to the mortals; let them set up their own assemblies and
courts; and overhaul the unfair distribution of land ownership. It cannot be right that a tiny handful of Roser elites own most of the City. And, most importantly of all, repeal the laws that keep the people in servitude. You may deny it, in fact I know you will, but half of the City’s population exists in a state of virtual slavery. The Circuit needs schools and hospitals, and so does Outer Pella, where the Reapers are almost as long-suffering as the Evaders. Should I continue?’
Her sister Vana glared at her. ‘You reveal yourself as a rebel at last. I always knew you harboured sympathetic thoughts towards the revolutionaries that infest the Circuit, and now with your own words you have condemned yourself.’
‘Shut up, Vana, unless you want me to come over there and punch you in the face.’
‘You’ve never changed,’ said her brother, Lord Collo; ‘you’re still a spiteful wretch. Perhaps we should have given you to Duke Marcus at the end of the war, after all, he seemed to do a wonderful job of taming Lord Kano.’
Rage flooded Aila, and before she knew what she was doing she found herself rushing towards Collo, her fists clenched and her teeth bared. Naxor gripped her arms and hauled her back as she kicked and writhed in his grasp.
‘Not another word from either of you,’ Khora said to Vana and Collo; ‘in fact, it might be best if you leave us.’
Lady Vana widened her eyes, ‘But…’
‘I have spoken. Go.’
Vana and Collo shot furious glares at Aila, then walked from the audience chamber. Naxor released Aila’s arms as soon as the door had closed behind them, and she staggered, almost falling to her knees. She wiped the tears from her face.
‘Listen to me,’ said Khora; ‘of all the petty and cruel acts that Duke Marcus has performed over the centuries, I want you to know that what he did to your brother, Lord Kano, I rank among the worst. I apologise for the words of my advisors; they know not of what they speak.’
‘I don’t want your pity.’
‘I know, but my feelings are genuine.’
Aila rubbed her face again, embarrassed that she had cried in front of her aunt. ‘I assume you’ll disregard my advice about Yendra’s reforms?’
‘For a start, we’ll get nowhere by calling them that. Yendra is tainted as a traitor and murderer, and the God-Queen in Tara would instantly veto any laws associated with her name.’
‘And the God-King; what does he think?’
Khora said nothing for a long while, and Aila noticed that she and her son were staring at each other. Aila frowned, understanding what it meant.
‘I thought I was here for a meeting?’ she said. ‘Why are you and Naxor conducting a vision conversation in secret?’
Khora broke off her stare and turned to her. ‘Because my son disagrees with what I am about to do, and I wished to give him a chance to lay out his reasoning.’
‘It’s a mistake, mother,’ said Naxor.
‘Perhaps, but I want to prove to Lady Aila that I trust her. We all know she hates and mistrusts me; would there be a better way of demonstrating that I think of her in a different way?’
Naxor shrugged. ‘It’s up to you.’
Khora stood. ‘Indeed it is.’ She stepped down from the throne and approached Aila. ‘If you reveal to anyone what I’m about to show you, I will have you killed. Do you understand?’
Aila frowned.
‘I said “do you understand?”; not even the God-Queen is aware of the secrets held within the Royal Palace, and certainly not Lord Collo or Lady Vana.’
‘I understand. So, who else knows this… secret?’
‘Myself, Lord Naxor, Prince Michael’s daughter Lady Mona, and my youngest daughter Lady Doria. As you are aware, Doria, like Collo, possesses no god-powers except self-healing, and so I placed her in the Royal Palace a long time ago, to serve the God-King. It is to her that we shall go first. Please, this way.’
Aila glanced at Naxor as Khora walked towards a rear door in the chamber, but her cousin’s eyes were dark, and he ignored her. They followed the princess deeper into the palace, through areas that Aila had never seen before; passing guards in shining steel armour. They came to a door and Khora opened it without knocking. As Aila stepped inside she saw her cousin Doria at a table, cutting flowers to go into a vase.
‘Doria.’
The demigod looked up. ‘Mother?’ Her eyes flickered over to Aila in surprise.
‘I have brought someone to see the God-King.’
‘But…’
‘It’s pointless to protest,’ said Naxor, frowning. ‘Mother has made up her mind, it seems.’
‘Hush, son; trust me.’
‘I trust you; I trust that you’re making a mistake.’
‘Hey,’ said Aila, ‘you really don’t want me to know, do you? Why? You know I never blab secrets to anyone.’ She remembered telling Corthie about the other dragon as she said the words, but kept her face steady.
‘It’s not you personally, Aila. I just think that the fewer who know, the better.’
‘Doria,’ said Khora; ‘take us to the God-King.’
Doria stood, glanced at Naxor for a second, then opened a set of doors leading into a quiet hallway of gold and polished marble.
‘These are the Royal Chambers,’ she said to Aila as they entered.
‘Why is all the furniture covered in dust-sheets?’
‘It wasn’t always like this,’ said Khora. ‘Back when the God-Queen shared the chambers with the God-King, these rooms were bustling with life; now they are almost deserted.’ They carried on, and entered a room that looked more like a cavern. Glistening stalactites hung from the rough ceiling, and water was trickling down several walls, forming into a pool set into the middle of the floor.
Naxor closed the doors behind them as Doria glanced around. ‘Your Majesty?’
A young man appeared in the pool, his head rising from the water. Aila stared at him. The youth looked to be about sixteen; his eyes were wide and he had a grin on his lips. There was something familiar about his face, but Aila couldn’t place it. He reached the pool’s edge and climbed out of the water, and Aila saw that he was naked.
‘Who…?’
‘Lady Aila, this is His Divine Majesty, God-King Malik.’
‘What?’ Aila cried. ‘Nonsense, I saw him, we saw him, at the end of the war. He looked nothing like this.’
The youth shrieked and ran towards the group by the doors. His eyes passed over Doria and Khora, then settled on Aila. He reached out and tried to touch her breasts.
‘Hey!’ Aila cried, stepping back.
Doria raised a finger. ‘No, your Majesty. That’s bad. I’ve told you before. No grabbing.’ She turned to Aila. ‘Sorry, cousin, he doesn’t know what he’s doing.’
The God-King shrieked again, then ran back to the pool and dived in.
Aila stared at him in the water. ‘What’s wrong with him? Why does he look so young?’
‘His Majesty’s mind has gone,’ Khora said; ‘poisoned by long over-use of salve.’
‘Salve did this to him? Malik’s breath… damn it, that sounds stupid now; I can’t believe it. How?’
‘After the God-Queen walked out on him,’ said Khora, ‘his Majesty fell into a deep depression. He over-indulged in alcohol, opium, women, and finally salve. He was bathing in its ointments for days at a time. His appearance stabilised for decades at about eighteen, but over time his behaviour began to become more erratic, and by the time we finally removed the salve from his reach it was too late.’
‘And Queen Amalia doesn’t know?’
‘No. The God-Queen has refused to speak to King Malik for over three hundred years.’
‘You should tell her; she should know what’s happened to him.’
‘I dare not.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Because the only reason that I am Guardian of the City, and not Duke Marcus, is because I have the backing of the God-King. Queen Amalia has always favoured the eldest son of her favourite child Prince Michael.
Without the God-King’s authority to bolster my regime, the God-Queen would remove me from power and appoint Marcus to rule instead.’
Aila stared from her to the sight of Malik swimming in the pool. ‘You mean all of this is a vast conspiracy to keep you in power?’
‘Yes, and now you are part of that conspiracy, Aila.’
‘What makes you think I won’t tell everyone the truth as soon as I walk out of here?’
‘Because you understand what the rule of Duke Marcus would entail, not only for you personally, but for the rest of the City. We come to the moment of truth, my awkward niece; you must choose. Work with me, or give yourself to the duke. There is nowhere to hide.’
Aila bowed her head. The authority of the City was built upon a gigantic lie. The God-King was mad.
‘And if I said that I needed time to think about it, would you let me leave the palace alive?’
Naxor opened his mouth to say something but Khora raised her hand. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘Go back to the Circuit and continue to assist my daughter.’
‘But what about her reports? I thought I was going to be punished?’
‘I know Ikara’s ways, and know that you are not to blame for what is happening in the Circuit. Dark forces are at work, distributing arms and gold to the gangs leading the riots. I’m depending on you to uncover those responsible so I can bring them to justice. In the meantime, if you decide you want to work more closely with me, I will be waiting.’
Aila frowned. ‘I still don’t trust you.’
‘I know,’ Khora said, her eyes shining, ‘but I hope by this gesture today, that you realise that I trust you. Son, please escort Lady Aila back to the frontier of the Circuit.’
Aila took a last glance at the God-King. He was floating on the waters of the pool, a smile on his youthful lips, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. She nodded to Naxor. Time to go home.
Chapter 18
A Quiet Drink
Arrowhead Fort, The Bulwark, The City – 16th Koralis 3419
‘Hey Buckler, ya dozy lizard; wake up!’
Corthie took a bite from the red apple in his hand as he stared at the dragon’s perch from the roof of the Wolfpack Tower. He was sure he had seen the beast fly up onto his platform from the window of his room, but the angle from the roof to the eyrie made it difficult to see if he was there, especially if he was lying down.
The Mortal Blade: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Magelands Eternal Siege Book 1) Page 25