by AJ Martin
“What makes you say that?” she asked.
“There is something about you… it is your eyes,” Chalize said slowly, studying her. She swallowed. “They have a depth to them I have not seen in many people. And an innocence.” He shook his head. “I must confess when you first arrived, I thought only of protecting my empire against what I could only see was some kind of deception on your part. But over the last few days I have come to see that you were telling the truth. That you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Josephine nodded. “I am glad that you see that now,” she said. “I mean you no harm, emperor. All I want is peace, for all our nations.” She sighed. “Which I am sad to say now looks distinctly unlikely, whilst the dragon remains a threat.”
Chalize smiled as he twirled his fork around the noodles on his plate. “Do not think I am blind to your attempts to move our discussions in the direction of Sikaris,” he said with amusement.
Josephine blinked in surprise. “I am sorry?” she feigned ignorance.
Chalize laughed and swigged his wine, swirling it around in his cheeks before swallowing. “You have talked practically of nothing else since you arrived! You appear to be a great many things, but subtle is not one of them.”
Josephine remained calm as she took a sip of her own drink. “I suppose it is down to my experience with the creature,” she responded. “Had you seen what it did, the destruction the creature brought to people…” She shook her head. “It must be stopped.”
“Is that why you came here?” he asked her. “To ask for my help to defeat him?”
Josephine took a breath and then laid down her cutlery. “As you desire the truth of the matter, then yes, that was the case,” she said. “I was left stranded in Olindia, with nowhere else to turn. My own people would fare little better than Olindia against the dragon. But you have those mages.”
Chalize nodded. “And you hoped I would send them out against the creature?” Josephine nodded. “What makes you think they would stand any chance against him?”
“I don’t. But they are the only other hope we have.” She leaned forward. “Emperor, you could be the saviour of this world! You could rescue so many people from death!”
Chalize took another sip of his wine. “By risking my own people?” he questioned.
“You cannot think that you will remain out of the line of fire forever?” she asked.
“Perhaps not,” he responded and then placed another spoonful of rice into his mouth. “This is very good,” he commented. “I must remember to praise the cook tonight.”
“Emperor,” Josephine said, and placed a hand on his. “Will you help?”
“And what would I get in return for my generosity?” he asked.
“The gratitude of every country in Triska!” Josephine advised.
“Oh yes, but that would only last for so long, my dear. For those countries that are further from current events, who know nothing of the destruction I would have saved them from, my influence would remain just as it always has.” He shook his head. “I would need something more … tangible.”
“Such as?” Josephine asked.
Chalize smiled, the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes growing as he did so. “Tell me, has your father promised you to anyone yet? A prince, or lord, perhaps?”
Josephine raised her brow. “Am I betrothed? No.” She shook her head. “My father no longer subscribes to that form of diplomacy with other countries or nobles. My decision to marry is my own. Why do you ask?”
Chalize toyed with his food. “Because you are a very beautiful woman, princess. You are the ‘Jewel of the West’, and that is one gemstone I would gratefully have in my collection.”
Josephine’s brow furrowed. “But… you are already married,” she commented. Her heart was pounding nervously in her chest.
Chalize nodded. “For many years. But… our relationship is not what it once was. My own father was not as considerate as your own. He insisted I marry to ally Aslemer with a powerful faction in the northern provinces. It bound them to Aslemer, but with it, it imprisoned myself as well, to a woman I do not love.”
“None of which has any bearing on the status of your marriage,” Josephine responded.
“Our laws are different from your own. There is precedent for my union to be… dissolved, should I choose it to be. It has not happened for many generations, but that does not mean it could not be so.”
“Emperor,” Josephine began. “I am flattered, truly I am. But I barely know you. I have been here for only a few days! Your customs are very different to my own, as is your way of life.”
“Neither of those are things that cannot be remedied. You ask me to commit my forces to stop this creature? Well, perhaps you could make a commitment to me as well.”
She sipped at her wine and tried to hide how disgusted she felt at the offer. An offer of marriage in exchange for his help? It was bribery. But perhaps this was the chance she needed to broach other matters. Perhaps she could turn the situation back to her advantage. Events were slipping away from her control quickly.
“Such a commitment would require a great deal of thought, emperor,” she advised him.
He nodded. “I can understand that. But forgive me for my bluntness when I say that if you want my help soon, you may have to forgo such considerations.”
She smiled. “You waste no time, do you?” she commented.
“Why waste time where there is so little to spare?” he rebutted. “And when one knows what one wants, it is better to come out and say so rather than disguise your intentions, isn't it?”
Josephine sat and considered for a moment. Then she nodded. “Since you favour such bluntness, I will respond in kind. There is something else that is troubling me.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“Your guards have refused to let my guardsman pass freely around the palace. Specifically, to go outside.”
Chalize sniffed. “That is all?” He waved her away. “You know how I must protect my palace from prying eyes, princess!”
She leaned forward. “But it is more than that, isn’t it?” she said. His smile faded. “Something is happening here that you don’t want me to know about. How can I even consider your offer of marriage, when you keep such secrets?”
He nodded. “I can assure you, it is nothing that you should concern yourself with.”
“But it does concern me,” she said. “A great deal.”
Chalize sat back in his chair. “You know that there are some matters that a leader must keep to himself.”
She nodded. “But I mean you no harm emperor. All I want is to help people, yours included, from the threat this dragon poses! The greatest threat we have experienced for centuries. We must trust one another and break through the prejudices of the past! If we are to work together, then I would have that trust amongst all other considerations.”
The man studied her carefully. “You are incredibly astute,” he complimented. “Beauty and brains is not a combination I am used to.” He leaned forward and grasped her hand and turned it around to look at her palm. “Such soft skin,” he whispered. “So white like snow.” He compared it to his own, darker complexion. “You are an exotic treasure to be won, Princess Josephine and I will win you over.”
This isn’t working, she thought. He is too implacable. I wonder though… Perhaps it is time to take a risk whilst he is so enamoured by me.
Josephine seized her power, the first time she had done so in weeks. She felt the sickly sweet sensation of it coursing through her veins and her skin flushed. She guided it through her body, down her arm and through her hand, and touched the emperor’s own with it. Instantly she could see the reaction on his face as she calmed him as she had done with the man in Tanavern. But instinctually she twisted the energy further, into a way she had not considered before. As she had influenced the man before, calmed his soul, she tried to excite the emperor’s. Perhaps if she could release his inhibitions further,
he would tell her more. It was risky, but she was done playing games with this man at a snail’s pace.
She leaned forward. “My Lord,” she whispered. “I know you do not fully trust me still. That to tell me would be a step further than you are willing to go.” She could see his breathing quicken, and she turned the screw further, guided her energy around his mind. In truth, she wasn’t fully sure what she was doing, but it felt almost natural to her now. “But perhaps I can convince you somehow that you can trust me with your secrets.” She looked at him with her doe eyes. The man exhaled heavily, and his lips tightened. His eyes had grown dilated and looked at her more lustfully than she had seen before. She knew what kind of man he was, what kind of desires sat beneath the veiled surface. If she could just trigger them a little more, maybe she could loosen his tongue enough to reveal his hand, and with it, perhaps to commit to helping her.
“How?” he breathed, and she smiled.
“A woman has needs just as much as any man,” she said. “I would be so grateful to you for trusting me. Ever so grateful.” She drew on her power further and teased his mind.
Gods I hope I know what I am doing here, she thought. She wanted to turn and flee. His mind was racing, she could see and every time she stroked it with the power she felt his pulse quicken, his breathing grow lustful. She pressed on.
“If you tell me and agree to help, perhaps I could show you some of that gratitude?”
What was she saying? Gods, Matthias, I wish you were here! She embraced the power further and flooded his mind with waves of the power, until she could do no more. The man’s lip wavered and he looked at her as if drugged.
“I would have you in my bed this night,” he slathered. “I must have you!”
“Then tell me the truth, emperor. Tell me what I need to know.” How would she get out of this? She was wading deeper than she could swim now. But she had stared down this path and she would have to finish it. Perhaps she could send him to sleep somehow and he would forget this entire discussion? Somehow she doubted it. She leaned forward and caressed his cheek with a hand. He breathed heavily and then the truth spilled out of his mouth like a broken dam.
“War,” he whispered. She looked at him.
“War?” she repeated.
“With Olindia,” he said. “I am invading Olindia. I would not let your man outside because I have troops readying for battle. Hundreds of thousands of men preparing themselves.”
Josephine kept her voice level. “Why?” she asked. “Why would you do this?”
“Because it is the perfect time. Because…” he shuddered. “Because my enemy is weakened.”
“You are using the dragon to your advantage?” she asked. She felt sick.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Does that excite you?” he panted.
“When are you planning to invade?” she asked him, ignoring the question.
“We march in days,” he answered.
Josephine swallowed. “Then… you will not help me defeat the dragon?”
“I will,” he said. “But only after I succeed in conquering Olindia.”
“But the creature… what if it attacks you in the meantime? If you are making war, then who will defend your lands?”
“It won’t,” he said.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because he has me,” came a voice from behind her. She spun and Silar emerged silently from the shadows.
“Silar!” she breathed. “I… I did not see you there.”
He smiled. “No. No, I imagine you didn’t.” He held up a hand and Josephine felt a barrier slam between her and the emperor. The energy dissolved between them. The man blinked, awakening from the trance.
“What… what just happened?” he asked.
“She bewitched you, My Lord,” Silar replied and walked to his side, placing a hand comfortingly on Chalize’s back.
“B-bewitched?” he said groggily, and rubbed his eyes. “How?”
“Tell him, my dear,” Silar said. “Tell him the truth.”
Josephine’s breath caught in her throat as she tried to reply. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Tell him that you are a witch. A rogue, Mahalian woman, impersonating the Princess of Aralia in order to gain entrance to this palace. Tell him how you intended to seize control of this empire from within his bedchambers!”
Josephine was taken aback. “That’s not true!” she exclaimed.
“Then you deny you just enchanted the emperor into telling you his secrets?”
Josephine stopped. “No. No I do not deny that. But I am the Princess of Aralia.”
Silar scoffed. “Your lies are falling apart at the seams, my dear. I knew I recognised you. You are from Mahalia. My Lord, she is a notorious con - artist. We have been trying to catch her for years.” He nodded. “I’m impressed at your disguise though. Very convincing!”
“I do not know why you are making up this ludicrous story Silar!” Josephine turned to the emperor. “It is true, I did just try to loosen your tongue with an enchantment. But it was to find out what was happening! To find out why you were so resistant to helping stop the dragon. Not to take over your empire! I am Princess Josephine Arwell!”
“Why would the Princess of Aralia wield one of the powers?” Silar growled. “It is all lies!”
Realisation dawned on Josephine as she stared at Silar. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? Oh my gods! Emperor, he’s-”
The emperor cast a blow to her cheek before she could finish and she fell from her chair on to the floor, hitting her head on the stone. “You hag!” he hissed. “You thought you could fool me?”
Josephine pushed herself up and stared pleadingly to the emperor. “Chalize, please! You have to listen to me! He’s a sorcerer!” She pointed to Silar. “He’s the one who is behind all of this! Behind the dragon’s release!”
“Well that part you have right at least,” Silar smiled. “But a sorcerer?” He laughed raucously and turned to Chalize. “I suggest we dispose of her immediately before she can do any more damage. Who knows what she has been up to this last week!”
Chalize nodded and spat on her. “You will die for this deception against me!” he snarled. “But not before I have had some fun with you later, to repay you for your treachery! Guards!” Two men emerged from through the far door and ran towards them. “Take this witch and cast her into the cells! Silar, go with them and make sure she doesn’t cause any more trouble to us.”
Terror gripped Josephine as the men hoisted her up painfully by her arms and gripped her tightly. She seized her power and tried to repel them, but nothing happened. The men were shielded somehow. It was as if whenever she tried to touch them with the power, to force them away, the energy dissolved in front of her. Silar. It had to be him. She was stronger than him, but he had the knowledge she lacked. He was toying with her, blocking her energy somehow. She struggled in the grip of the guards.
“Emperor, please! It’s all lies! He will destroy you! You have to trust me! Please!”
“I should have stuck to the whores,” the emperor growled after her as she pulled against the strong hands that clasped her wrists.
Josephine felt panic in her as she had never felt before, even when Crystal Ember was burning around her. There was no - one who could help her! Except… Thadius. He could help. But she needed to get to him. She had to free herself somehow. Desperately she thought, tried to find a loophole. If she could make fire to throw around the room, like Matthias could do, she might have been able to do something more, but as it was all she knew was really was how to affect people’s emotions in the smallest of ways, or to shield them! And at every turn, against everything she tried to do, Silar repelled her. How could she escape? How would-
Suddenly Josephine had an idea. A shield. That’s what she seemed to be good at. She focussed on Silar and threw a bubble of her energy around him. The bonds of her power dissolved as she tried, but she continued lashing out desperately, more and more t
endrils reaching around him until several began to take hold, like relentless ivy climbing up a house. It only took seconds, but in the grip of the ferocious, invisible battle going on between her and Silar it felt like hours, until finally, outmatching his attempts to cut her bonds away, she bound them across his body. A shield burst up around the sorcerer and the defences he had constructed fell away. His eyes widened as he realised.
“No! How did you-” he began, startled, but Josephine wasn’t waiting around. She focussed and with a flash the two guards were pummelled by air and their grips loosened on her arms. They flew backwards, landing with a crunch on the stone floor. Chalize’s eyes widened as he stared at the men on the floor at his feet, and he gaped.
“How? Silar! Stop her!”
She looked towards the sorcerer and saw her wards collapsing as he ripped at them expertly with his own power, recovering from his surprise and began advancing towards her. She would never beat him in strength alone. Not yet. He knew too much. She needed to escape. Instinctively, she forced her energy at the floor beneath Silar and the emperor, at the gaps between the stones at their feet. There was a crunching noise and then the floor broke beneath him and they fell, plunging down to the floor below in a shower of brick and mortar. She fell backwards as the flagstones continued to collapse around her, as the joists below broke apart and then, struggling to her feet, she fled the room. She had to get to Thadius and get out of here. Oh gods, what had she done?
The Cruelty of Fate
170th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)
Josephine ran through the palace as fast as her legs could move her. Her chest burned as she gasped air into her lungs, but she kept going, several soldiers watching her as she ran past them, puzzled, unaware of what had happened.
Finally she reached Thadius’s rooms and she fell against the door, hammering as hard as she could and looked behind herself for any sign of pursuit. The door opened and Thadius peered out wearing only his trousers. When he saw Josephine in such a state, his face changed in an instant.