by M. D. Laird
The demons seemed pleased with their night’s activities. Mr Hallward started first. “None of the keys fit the drawer, but I had expected we were looking for a key which would have been crafted by Hell and not made of adamantine but it occurred to me that whoever made the drawer would only have access to adamantine so the key must be made of adamantine. I, therefore, spent several hours passing through every section of midspace in the guild until I found it hidden in the stone flooring—the king must have had someone who can midspace put it there.”
“You found it?” exclaimed Eleanor. “What was in the drawer?”
Calab handed her his vox and showed her the documents he had captured. She perused through them. “I don’t understand,” she said. “What is this? Is this the Crown?”
“We believe so.”
“Well, this is fantastic news. We should go and meet them.”
“I thought we should probably observe them first—I’m going to send a few demons to keep watch,” said Thomas. “We have other pressing tasks ahead of us.”
“What could be more pressing that getting the Crown in power?”
“Gaining support from your rebel friends for one, but, more importantly, we need to find who is supplying and crafting the adamantine. We investigated the outpost. There is a small guard team who, upon the first inspection, do not appear to be guarding anything. However, traverse the ground under their feet and there is rather a large bunker lined with adamantine.”
Eleanor felt her eyes widen. “What is in it?”
“It is locked,” he replied. “I would hazard a guess that it is full of weapons.”
Her stomach dropped. “That’s terrible,” she said. “We have to get into the bunker and get rid of them.” She felt her voice become panicked. “We can’t let my father have them.”
“We can’t get in it,” said Mr Hallward. “It’s locked.”
“We have to get the queen there somehow,” said Eleanor, trying desperately to piece together a plan. “Can she midspace?”
“No.”
“We’ll just have to take out the guards. The end will justify the means.”
“We can’t make any rash decisions,” said Thomas. “We need more information before we come up with a plan. We need to find out who has made the bunker and where the metal came from. I’ll put scouts on the bunker, though.”
Eleanor swallowed to ease her anxiety. “If my father already has an adamantine alchemist then why is he so anxious to secure the loyalty of the queen.”
“I imagine he wants to ensure control over all adamantine weapons,” said Thomas. “If he has the allegiance of both adamantists and a source of adamantine, then that makes him a very powerful man indeed.”
“And a very frightening one,” she said, pushing on her temples to push aside the headache that was forming behind her eyes. “When are we leaving for Arkazatinia?”
“After breakfast,” replied Thomas. “We have work to do on the way.”
“What work?”
“There were too many documents to go through in the bookkeepers, so I have brought them with me. I have hidden them in the midspace in the vector. We’ll go through them as we fly.”
Eleanor nodded and returned to the bedroom to dress and ready herself for a busy day.
Eve returned to Eurasia after staying only one night in the realm. The meetings in the quorum were held more frequently with the increased risk to their shores, so she wanted to plan her changes to democracy before the meeting the following week. Tharazan had agreed he would visit Eurasia for a few days to assist her and stay until after the meeting.
Eve was also anxious to meet with Coryn, the leader of the witches. Eve had contacted Coryn to ask her to attend Eurasia and was relieved when she agreed as she did not relish the thought of visiting Baltica in the north. Coryn met with Eve in her office in the Guild of the Crown. She had arrived with her new second, a man named Flaran, and they took a seat opposite Eve.
“Thank you both for attending,” Eve said. “I want—”
“Your Majesty, may I cut in?” asked Coryn.
“Of course.” Eve smiled to cover her nervousness.
“We have taken a few days to consider your revelations at the last CRM, and frankly we do not know whether to be amazed at how brilliantly you fooled us or furious that you did. We are also angry that our own leader appeared to have fooled us and took us to war based on a pretence.” Coryn paused. “Had we had this conversation a few days ago, I would have terminated our alliance with the Crown; however, after some reflection, we have come to understand why you did what you did. You fooled us to save your life, to save Mr Hallward’s life and to save the lives of your people.
“I cannot pretend that we did not mean you harm. The long-term lie is harder to accept. The fact that you have lied to your allies, your quorum and your people… Well, I understand why, but it does not sit comfortably. Having said that, part of me is glad of it. Had you revealed the truth to me after the battle we would not have formalised our alliance—we did that out of fear. But, almost a year later, we are enjoying the merits of our alliance. It is expensive and meeting with the quorum is a headache each month, but we have never been free to enjoy the privileges of the continent before, and that is something we value.
“What I am saying, Your Majesty, is whilst your rule is clearly imperfect, and you have made a good many mistakes, we are glad to stand beside you. We recognise that you have only ever acted in a way that you believed would protect your people, and as misguided as you have been at times, we cannot condemn you for that. You have allies in the witches, Your Majesty.”
Eve wanted to cry, but she maintained her composure. She smiled to prevent her tears. “Thank you,” she said. “It has been a difficult time lately, and your support is welcomed.”
“You’re welcome, Your Majesty,” said Coryn. “Should the quorum turn against you in some act of civil war, I sincerely hope they do not, but if they did, then you will have the witches fighting in your corner. I believe you are one of the greatest rulers Arkazatinia has seen. Not because you have this power, but because you rule from the heart. You put everyone’s interest before your own and want fairness for everyone. The witches have never been included in society, and we will not turn our backs on the first person who does include us. The person who includes us despite everything we did last year.”
Eve nodded and brushed away a single tear that she had not manage to contain. The witches left and returned to Baltica. They had left her with some notes they had drawn up to help her understand equivalent exchange. While they were not alchemists, the witches’ power worked in a similar way, and they could not use it without making sacrifices. Their sacrifices were made to the lands, but Coryn thought it may help her to understand the sacrifices and what could be sacrificed in exchange for power.
Eve had already grown to realise that her energy was sacrificed when she used the power. She had to eat and sleep significantly more when she used it; however, according to the witches, she could also sacrifice other things such as body heat, blood, hair, skin and even limbs, and as she had already learned from the Alchitch, her own soul. Because the witches did not often wish to sacrifice blood, skin or limbs—or indeed anything that would endanger their health—they would sacrifice animals instead. These would be animals they intended to use for food or fur and would be slaughtered ritually to gain power.
Eve did not think she could sacrifice animals as an alchemist. She was under the impression that she had to sacrifice parts of herself to gain power.
I need to speak to an alchemist.
That would have to wait. First, she had to get on with trying to get her country’s rule back in order.
Motivated by her strengthened alliance with the witches, Eve set about working towards her plans ready for Tharazan’s arrival.
After eight hours of flying, the aerial vector had almost reached its destination at the Guild of Astaroth in Laurentia, Ark
azatinia. Thomas and the princess had made a quick stop in a small town in Laurentia and purchased one of those ridiculous watch devices much to the delight of the princess.
“We can charge it in the vector,” she squealed excitedly. “We should have got one each in case we need to contact each other when we’re apart.” Thomas rolled his eyes. “What is this?” She jumped as she touched something in the watch that caused an infernal racket to be produced from within and reverberate loudly around them.
“It’s what passes for music in Lycea,” he said dryly. “Put that thing away. We have work to do.”
They had almost completed their search of the king’s records and had turned up several payments made to an alias who Thomas recognised to be that of a known dark alchemist. Now they had found the king had paid a dark alchemist for services, they were not sure what to do about it. Could they risk approaching them? What would they ask anyway? Still, it was useful to have some tangible evidence of the king’s corruption. The princess could not wait to use the vox feature to capture images of them after she had spent the time she should have spent checking the records reading the instructions.
“There are quite a few payments here for extra forces to fight the Amaryan Brotherhood,” said Thomas. “It’s sixty years ago so around the time your father made the tunnels. I always thought the disputes were civil matters, but your father has also invested heavily in finding them for, at least, the length of these records which end forty years ago. It is an incredible amount of money. Why do you suppose he is so concerned with them?”
“I have no idea,” said the princess. “Who are they?”
“No one knows for certain. They are some kind of vigilante group led by a rebel lord named Amarya. They used to get involved in civil and trade matters until they lost public support. The most recent case was the flour wars sixty years ago. Do you remember that?”
“I was just a child; I wasn’t kept abreast on politics. What happened?”
“Well, the king owned, and still does own, the majority of the farms in Axandria, but he has never hired enough farm hands to work the farms—he has always overworked the hands he has—and sixty years ago there was a severe shortage of flour. The price of flour rose drastically, and many people could not afford it and were starving. There were still some farms that were independently owned, and they still sold flour at the usual prices, but they were undercutting the price of the king’s flour and they found their barns burned to the ground. Only the king’s flour could be bought by those who could afford it. Any revolts against the king were punished by the price being hiked further.
“The king soon found his stocks of flour were being stolen in transit and his flour was distributed amongst the poor at no charge. The king was furious and began to send his flour out with heavily armed guards. The flour was still taken, and the guards were either slain or incapacitated. The brotherhood claimed responsibility and wrote to the king to advise him that they would cease their action if the king would reduce the price of the flour. The king refused. The attacks continued, and the brotherhood became bolder and took flour from the farms and appeared to have no trouble dealing with the guards.
“The poor had flour and were no longer starving, but it did not last. The king fired more hands from the farms so less flour was produced and would only supply the king’s guild, he also hiked taxes so high that poverty was worse than before the flour wars. The brotherhood had taken over many of the independent farms and the king had the hands at the farm massacred.
“As the flour supply dried up and poverty and starvation became more prevalent, the public began to turn against the brotherhood. The king blamed the brotherhood for causing their famine, and the public believed him. The king stated that he could not run his farms until they were safe from the brotherhood and he could not reduce taxes as he had to pay for guards to keep the public safe from the brotherhood. The public turned on them, and they became hated.
“The brotherhood were never captured, but they wrote to the king to offer a truce and promised they would cease their involvement. The flour supplies increased though the price remained high, the taxes were reduced but were still higher than they were before the dispute. The public were grateful. The king had made sure they could eat again and had kept them safe from the evil Amaryan Brotherhood.”
“Trust my father to come out as the hero.” The princess growled. “I do hate that foul man. But this brotherhood, what happened to them?”
Thomas shrugged. “Very little is known about them. They were active for over a hundred years, to my knowledge, though it may be longer. They were never caught as far as I am aware. They were said to be elite warriors. Your father must have felt threatened by them to invest so much into finding them even after they had offered a truce.”
“He would either want to eradicate them or recruit them to his cause.” She gave an exasperated sigh. “I wish the public would see that it is my father that is evil. He has them believing he is a benevolent ruler when it is perfectly clear that he is anything but.”
“He has been very clever; he employs the right people to spin the truth in his favour.”
“Do you think the brotherhood are still alive?”
“I imagine so; it wasn’t that long ago. Why? Do you intend to invite them to join your revolution?”
“They are capable warriors, are they not?”
“Little is known about them, but they certainly accomplished great feats for so few men. Witnesses have only ever seen a handful of men.”
“Could you find them?”
“I don’t know who they are. The king has been searching for years without success, what makes you think I can find them?”
“Well, you’re a demon. You must have ways.”
“I’m not magic,” he said. “I can only track down people on my decretum.”
“You told me you could find me if I ran away.”
“I lied.”
“Thomas!”
“What?”
She shook her head and smiled. “So what did you do for flour during the dispute? I can’t imagine the demon guilds rationing their freshly baked cakes and biscuits.”
“You imagine correctly. We bought ours from Lycea.”
She smiled. “I know it’s not in your nature, Thomas, but you are fantastically wealthy, and you need very little money. Could I ever persuade you to help those less fortunate?”
“Give my money away?”
“Yes. To people in need.”
“But it’s mine,” he said. “I don’t have to contribute to the state.”
“I know you don’t, but you could make a voluntary donation to help some families. It does puzzle me why you have never been made to contribute. My father must have considered you as a source of wealth, but he has never approached you until last year.”
“He has always thought us too far beneath him. He has condescended to meet me now because he wants my adamantine.”
She frowned and then looked out of the window as the vector began to make its descent. “It looks like we’re almost there. Isn’t this invention incredible? It must be so much more convenient and comfortable than flying yourself, and we wouldn’t have been able to trawl through these records or even bring them with us.”
“Yes, incredible,” he said sarcastically, then added, “Though I am often tempted to try intimacy in the air.”
She laughed. “We’d probably fall from the sky.”
“Which is why I haven’t.” He grinned wickedly as the vector landed in front of the Guild of Astaroth.
Eleanor held Thomas’ arm as he led her into the Guild of Astaroth. They were greeted by Prince Tarrin’s second who advised them that the prince was on decree.
“We will take tea while we wait,” Thomas said.
The demon nodded and led them to a parlour. Tea and sandwiches followed them moments later. They had just finished their meal when the prince arrived.
“Thomas.” H
e smiled as he entered the room. He bowed towards Eleanor. “Your Highness. You should have informed me of your intention to visit, and I would have been here to greet you. Have you had rooms prepared?”
“We are not staying, Tarrin,” replied Thomas. “I was hoping to ask a few questions and be on our way.”
“This sounds ominous.” He appeared intrigued. “I shall send for more tea or would you prefer something a little stronger?”
“Brandy.”
Tarrin poured a glass for each of them from the drinks cabinet and settled in a seat opposite. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. I trust you are enjoying married life?”
“Yes. Thank you.” Eleanor smiled.
“It appears to have become fashionable for demons to take wives. Prince Nakhiel has received a request from his second to marry and move out of the guild. I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“You should blame His Highness.” She smiled. “He started it.”
“You don’t want to take a wife, Tarrin?” Thomas asked.
“Certainly not,” Prince Tarrin said firmly. “I have no intention of committing myself to one woman.” He glanced at Eleanor. “I apologise for my crudeness, Your Highness.”
Thomas smirked. “Anyway. Back to the reason for our visit. It is a rather sensitive matter. I fear I shall offend you by asking, but it is an issue of great importance and one I must also request you keep to yourself.”
The prince frowned. “I shall make no promises until I know what I am promising.”
Thomas nodded. “Have you given the king of Axandria adamantine?”
“Excuse me?”
“The king has adamantine—he claims to have exploited some loophole in the decree to obtain it—and I need to know which guild he took it from.”
Tarrin pressed his fingers together. “Is our queen involved in this? Is she crafting adamantine for the king? Is that why she is marrying his son?”
“No,” said Thomas. “This has nothing to do with the queen. We believe there is another adamantist and they have been around a lot longer than the queen according to some records we have found on guard budgets.”