Empress's Endgame (Book 5 and final of the Death Incanate Saga)

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  Ahead on the road zoomed orbs all around so that few places were dark enough to hide. Many people were long asleep, but those who weren’t were refugees looking for an inn for the night, patrolling soldier in pairs and overworked slaves. Buildings were mostly made of wood and sandstone, built in standard two stories with the empire’s order that everything served a purpose. Those that didn’t were eliminated. Only four buildings towards the point of the cone shape were larger than standard uniformity. The garrison was second largest whereas the warehouse storing both magical potions and toxic poisons was largest. The other two were the upper mage officers and the lord of the city, a reported second class sorcerer who was the main manufacturer of Zeether venom supply in all the empire.

  Until recently it wasn’t known where it came from, but with spirit spies it was easy to learn Bower was the empire’s assassin supplier. Apparently below the warehouse is where thousands of ceiling hanging snakes are confined and milked weekly. Harvested venom is then concentrated so it made bodily decay move dozens of times faster than natural.

  This was their target. To cripple distribution. Nothing else of this town required occupation, especially being so deep in the empire’s territory. Bay Port was one thing, Bower another.

  They rode slowly, but not overly so till much further in. The more away from the wall the better and fewer eyes watching.

  Once free of prying eyes Fredrick gave the hand signal and Shorty followed him into an alley, one of the few that weren’t magically illuminated for the moment. They didn’t dare speak as here were certainly sharp ears present. Shorty scanned the rooftops for any Familiars in the area, but aside from a scurrying rat that didn’t have heightened intelligence, nothing was amiss. Before dismounting they removed their borrowed, uncomfortable boots and put on their own. Then they climbed down and began running fast on the dirt ground that still had plenty of moisture from a quick morning shower today. They moved, making as little sound as possible, leaving the horses behind. They took corners right before another patrol spotted them. They ran close to a mile before Fredrick huffed “Up.”

  Shorty was the first to effortlessly bound to a rooftop before Fredrick. From there they sat and put the boots pillaged back on before loping from building to building like steppingstones. They returned to the horse not fifteen seconds before the moving lights arrived and climbed down into the saddle.

  “What are you two doing?” a second pair of soldiers on foot patrol spoke.

  Before either could blink Shorty stood in the saddle, withdrew his trusty, now reinforced, steel quarterstaff and leapt at the men standing at the mouth of the alleyway. The weapons master slammed the flat end into the faceplate of the first soldier while his legs wrapped around the other’s head. He used his superhuman strength to squeeze the head between his thick thighs, making the helmet groan as the metal compacted, crushing the skull. Shorty moved so quick neither could call out and due to their lower rank, they didn’t have any other means to summon aid. Shorty spun his body after learning Cage teaching the head-scissor take down. His body acted as a counterweight and as he landed on his feet, two men lay dead without making a peep.

  Fredrick said nothing, but was glad to be on Shorty’s team as he knew that although his stature wasn’t large, the man was more dangerous than himself. The older knight stowed their armor behind a box and held both boots to stomp around the bodies who wore the same armor. But around both men’s necks were three inch long whistles on a string. Shorty handed one over after putting one around his own neck. And with a skilled toss both sets of footwear were lost in darkness with the rest of their gear.

  Shorty got the nod and brought the whistle to his lips and blew loudly. The high pitch flew through the nearby block and in instant response more whistles went off while soldiers ran hard for the source of the distress whistle.

  In seconds orbs were redirected to the area and illuminated two men standing over two dead and two horses standing in the middle of the street. Dozens came running as Shorty shouted “They went north after killing them. They carried two large bags. Hurry!”

  “You two hold position!” one slightly higher ranked soldier ordered. He neared and saw the double set of prints with boot patterns not of the empire’s creation. Deep impressions showed they had some weight added to their escape. The space between the prints were fresh and blood was only minutes from being spilled, not even close to crusting. “They went this way!”

  The soldiers followed after and a mix of torches and orbs brightened their way to apprehend the attackers. The crossing paths led south, deeper into the more populated sections of Bower. Only by the time they reached the end it seemed as if the footprints vanished.

  Meanwhile Fredrick and Shorty slipped away without notice from the chaos and retrieved their armor and weapons. Their false trail led the soldiers away from where they targeted. Their borrowed armor came off and their own was applied. Their custom designed armor fit perfectly and a quick check of the roofs allowed them to hop freely north.

  After ten minutes of hopping they came to a sudden stop and Shorty grabbed Fredrick by his leg and jerked him back to hide behind a chimney not a moment before a huge brown dragon lifted his head and overlooked the city. Fredrick mouthed ‘Thanks.’ and Shorty nodded while using a pocket mirror pulled from a pouch next to his leggings and watched the dragon. After a few seconds he tapped Fredrick and in a near instant they jumped off the roof, fell twenty five feet and landed without so much as a grunt.

  They took a detour up and around the dragon observer and went straight for the warehouse. Shorty cupped his hands and whispered in Fredrick’s ear. “You take down this warehouse. I’m going to plant my bomb on the lord’s front door.” Fredrick gave his consent as he withdrew his own special bombs from his boot compartment. It looked like a bar of gold with a pea sized piece of heart in its center. The explosive was made by his very own demolition expert black dragon. Fredrick knew the explosive was beyond powerful, using both pressure and a fire so hot, steel melted into butter in an instant. But for the size of this huge warehouse, two were needed, especially for the snake chamber below.

  Fredrick placed the stone hard golden bar between his teeth and ripped a one ton section of stone from the warehouse wall, turned and backed in. Inside, Fredrick looked in the heavy darkness since the building hadn’t one window. None could see in or out, with but one exit. He heard voices, a man specifically yelling at someone below his feet. He realized it was so dark because of boxes ready to be shipped. He was thankful suspicion wasn’t raised with the movement of heavy stone. Instead of moving the supplies he simply climbed over and into dim candlelight. He moved with stealth and removed the cloth so a sticky adhesive would stick to any solid surface. Fredrick put the first bomb up under a worktable while saying “Link and standby.” The first activated and linked to the second he was pulling out and sneaking through the shadows to the other end of the warehouse where an alchemists laboratory was cooking up the potions. He put the second block under where thousands of liquids were stored, some glowing and said “Countdown to incineration in fifteen minutes.” He then hurried back to where he entered in less than one and moved the stone.

  Just as he was putting it back he picked up the steps of two individuals and only the near total darkness and that of his dark armor that didn’t reflect saved him. He didn’t have time to wait them out so he took one leap, drew both swords and beheaded them as he then ran hard to the west. His newfound speed made him breeze.

  Shorty though dangled from a high wooden wall and waited till a guard passed by. He pulled himself over and slit his throat from the dark before dropping into the grassy front yard filled with orderly plants and shrubs. He easily snaked his way up to the side of the house where two guards stood in front of the door. Decorative pillars held up an overhang with rafters. Shorty grinned as he scaled the wall and climbed up into the rafters. The guards didn’t once look up as he moved and smiled. He pulled out his own explosive block and said “Boom
baby in two minutes when sudden movement is detected.”

  The short man pulled a hook from his harness and secured it to a rafter incase he slipped. Shorty then locked his legs between the building’s wall and a rafter, wedging himself upside down. He peeled the cloth and stuck it to the door. Written on the golden block said ‘Kiss your sorry ass goodbye.’

  He pulled himself back up without alerting the two guards right below. He then unhooked his line, let it draw the wire back and ran soundlessly to leap out into the dark yard and climb over the wall and got the hell out of dodge.

  At the fifteen minute mark a simultaneous explosion ripped the warehouse apart, the magical wards unable to even dampen the powerful chemical and solid explosive. Wards stopped only magic as no potion had enough volatile force to bother worrying about. It was a huge mistake as every finish product went up in flame while the Zeether snake farm right below was obliterated and crushed. A pillar of fire lit the entire town and sending the dangerous materials all over Bower, killing hundreds in the coming days.

  As the warehouse was destroyed the lord and governor of the city personally went to see what had happened, but as he opened his front door personally he only saw a flash of light from the door before being bathed in fire.

  “Well damn!” Shorty howled in the tree with Fredrick. “Looks like I owe your dragon his choice of meal next time he gets hungry. He won the bet.”

  “And what bet did the wager stand?”

  “That the plume wouldn’t look like an ass on fire. It did and I lost.”

  “Shorty, when are you going to get over asses?”

  “Never.” He grinned. “My woman loves it, especially when I glorify hers.”

  “So that’s why she always jiggles it when you look her way.” Fredrick finally noticed.

  “Exactly. She also gets aroused when I slap them while…”

  “I don’t want to know!” Fredrick said while shaking his head. “It’s bad enough I’m your neighbor and can hear her. She’s almost as loud as Cage’s women.”

  “I like vocal women.”

  “Let’s get out of here. I’m worried my women are going to be afraid if we don’t return by sunrise.” Fredrick said as he jumped through the trees lining the city, using his harness to swing rapidly. Shorty was right behind. The diversion had everyone, including the dragon, elsewhere occupied as they made their escape and next plans for Krii’s complete destruction as it was where most of their blacksmith slave labor force reside. Without that force, metal from Vrooq can’t be smelted into armaments for those unable to use magic to fight with.

  Chapter 15

  “Are you trying to kill us all you damn fool!” Cage yelled as he smacked one of Vika’s assassins upside the head so hard his forehead rebounded off the table in his spacious quarters. His outburst wasn’t so unexpected in the month since his arrival. His character as Mennalin had spread through much of Laqura Castle for both shadowwalking and his ability to drink anyone under the table. Most times he had to act drunk, falling into a few tables to make Mennalin’s peers laugh and not take him overly serious when the drink warmed the belly. When he was sober in the mornings though he was a royal hard-ass and expected absolute perfection.

  He already wrote down the theory to shadowwalking and the theoretical math worked out and was plausible, but none knew it was an elaborate trap that would take even Rex Gralla six months to unravel and see any attempts would actually make separated cells invert inside the altered, shadowy space. So far thousands of animals have died along with two young second class sorcerers who got overzealous when Cage tricked their own spells to falsely seem like they figured it out in experiments whereas their elders struggled and failed time and time again.

  But every morning for the past twenty two days he allowed students and experienced assassins into his dungeon room, but used a corner section for seats and desks to teach. But his bought torturing equipment was frightening to even other skilled torturers who came to watch him at work on several occasions. A large income from such quick working methods allowed him to buy the best. Once he hid a laugh when he made the eldest interrogator in the empire lose his lunch, but didn’t know in reality he killed and animated a man’s corpse to make it seem what he did was real. The spirit was thankful his suffering was ended, not once spilling his secret while the show was put on. The only guests that truly earned his interrogative talents were traitors to the empire. Those he vented his frustration on without any hesitation, especially the few AWOL mages who came into his level in chains.

  Most of the important people of the city knew without question he was by far the most volatile and skilled torturer to ever be part of the empire and feared his hand if they ever stepped out of line. His apartment even came to be rapidly known as Mennalin’s coffin. The owner of the building found himself personally coming to tell his tenant that from now on his space is free as every level now had high profile sorcerers renting room all by word of the city of the defector who revolutionized interrogative practices and killed the kings.

  But for the assassins who come for his lessons, five mysteriously died by brain and organ hemorrhaging inside their own bedrooms. No foul play had been involved and it seemed his students forgot to filter their eyes when they miraculously found the specific light frequency. What really happened was Cage killing them and getting away with it without leaving even a skin cell of evidence behind.

  The older sorcerer rubbed his head and glared. “Do not put your hands on me again Mennalin. Just because you’re a celebrity doesn’t mean I won’t kill you.”

  Mennalin’s hooked nose got right in the sorcerer’s face. “Not without the empress’s direct order you won’t, Fool. Besides, I could use my light spell on you as I’m the discoverer, far faster than you could end me. Unless you want to end up like the five who killed themselves, I suggest you use the sunglasses or alter color in front of your eyes. You came here to learn the spell. You follow my rules or you will kill yourself like other foolish students. Swallow your pride or get out.”

  The man was livid at being singled out, but grabbed the darkened lenses in the drawer and put them on. Mennalin nodded and straightened his back, his own sunglasses scanning the room. “Good, no more fools who can’t follow safety procedures. Grab the rats caged on your desk and make sure to hold them so they look at the orbs you will conjure. Magically cut off their eyelids if you must so they can’t look away. And remember, mentally picture pure white light and that of yellow. The frequency is beyond precise. There cannot even be point zero zero zero zero zero one difference to the frequency. Go slow from pure white to yellow as brightly as you can flash the light. And remember it took me over a billion flashes to learn this frequency with any regular success.”

  Blinding flashes filled the windowless room.

  There came a knock at the door several minutes later and he said “Hold.” The lights ceased. “What is it?!” Cage snapped at the still closed door.

  “Master, an urgent message has come.” Said the voice of his youngest slave.

  He came to the door and opened it to see the girl in a simple gray wool dress bowing while holding out a sealed envelope with his name on it. He took it and shut the door while looking at the back to stop when he noticed the seal on her red wax was of the empress herself. He broke it and remove the letter that had a flowing script which simply read:

  Mennalin,

  Come report to me for a special assignment immediately.

  Your supreme eminence,

  Empress Vika.

  “Take the rats and work privately at home or wherever there is a sealed place where if you succeed the light won’t kill anyone unprepared.” He said as he folded the sheet.

  “What is it about?” a student asked, putting the rat in its transportable pen.

  “Our empress summons me personally by her own hand for a special assignment.” He boasted and jaws dropped as few ever saw her personally, fewer more get a personally handwritten letter.

  “Yo
u lie!” someone said, but were impressed. He tossed the letter and the seal was all the evidence they needed to know it wasn’t false and the letter clenched it. Eyes turned to him with more respect from even the recently chastised man. “What do you think she wants with you?”

  Cage shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. She summons me immediately and I obey. Now leave my residence and practice for six hours. And be sure to take all safety precautions. I will send my slaves to your residence if I cannot be here tomorrow. Dismissed.”

  They all got up and left in a single file, retuning the letter on their way out. Cage watched as the two original eunuchs bowed to those leaving while two more he recently purchased wore sword and stood outside the main front door. Five young girls and two more silver class women stood along one wall, awaiting instruction. “I require a quick bath to stand before the empress.” All of them went in the spacious bathing area and bathed him without hesitation, brushed his hair and blonde beard before braiding it. They quickly dried him off and helped make his black robe perfect, even tying the sash correctly.

  Cage left and went into his room where Lolon and another woman who still had a shred of her personality intact stood naked from the bed. Her name is Zafri. The woman was once a Tribal Plain’s priestess who was in her early thirties. But Unlike Lolon, Zafri was born to a harsh life and wasn’t easily broken even after two years of slavery.

  Lolon struggled to break the hold that kept her submissive for first three weeks since he got her out, but the other priestess sped up rehabilitation by falling in love with Lolon and had it returned. They made love daily in such a tender way that Lolon remembered that sex wasn’t a punishment or dominating, but of passion. Zafri was more than willing to do anything he asked after learning he was mate to Brooke. All tribal people knew the Utala priestess wasn’t some pushover. Zafri not only made Lolon overcome her emotional scars, she played along with the nightly illusion of sex. Zafri knew she couldn’t have him as he didn’t look at her as a mate, but an ally in enemy territory.