Empire of War - An Epic Fantasy (The Empire of War Trilogy Book 1)

by Victor Methos

  “No, Your Grace. I have … never even known a man.”

  She nodded as if it were an insignificant detail, but I knew that had piqued her interest.

  “Can you cook and sew?”

  “No, Your Grace. Only a minimal amount. However, I can entertain. A bit of the acting and comedy leftover in me.”

  She smiled a weak smile. “What is that bracelet?”

  “This, Your Grace? Just something I purchased.”

  She stood and walked over to me, taking my wrist. She ran her fingers over the bracelet. “This is blood emerald.” She looked to me. “Where did you get a blood emerald bracelet?”

  I hesitated. “I simply purchased it from a merchant.”

  “Nonsense. This is one of the rarest gems in existence.”

  “I would not lie to Your Grace.”

  She touched it again. “Do you know why it is so rare, girl?”

  “No, Your Grace.”

  “Because it can poison many people with simple contact. They grow violently ill. But there is a small cadre of the population that not only does it not affect, it actually strengthens. I am one of those. I have never met another.”

  We exchanged glances before she turned and walked back to her little throne. “Very well, be back here in three fes’ time.”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  I walked out and could not but smile. She had accepted me, and soon I would be near the prince, in the most trusted and intimate position on his staff, with time alone in the darkness of night.

  SLESH OF ULRIK

  I sat at the alehouse and drank down several before I realized I was hungry. Roasted chicken was brought out. I had plenty of money as I had taken whatever the enforcement guards had on them, all except the old man. He deserved to be left in peace for how much he put up with without talking. But he still deserved to die for what he’d helped do to Emma.

  The alehouse grew more crowded as night fell. Men avoiding families they hated lined the tables with prostitutes catering to them. They would spend what little coin they had and then go back and complain to their wives that it was they who spent all the money. Most prisons were self-imposed.

  “How ‘bout you, sweet rose?”

  I looked up and a beautiful prostitute was standing before me, her breasts plump and exposed as the silk cloth she passed off as a shirt only went between them and covered her bottom only slightly.

  “How ‘bout me what?”

  “You looking for a little company?”

  I kicked out a chair. She sat down and rubbed my thigh.

  “You’re new here,” she said.

  I finished my ale and stood up, taking her hand. “Enough talk.”

  We went upstairs and I fucked her hard in a room they had reserved for this sort of thing. I was angry and sweaty and it seemed to last a long time.

  When it was over we lay there in the dark with the moonlight coming through the only window in the room. She took my hands and ran her fingers over them. She put one finger on the lines of my palm and went down to my wrist and back up.

  “So much pain,” she whispered.

  “Are you a fortune teller too?”

  “We’re trained in any art that a man might be interested in.”

  “And what does my fortune say about me?”

  “It says you will die too young.”

  I laughed. “Everyone will die too young.”

  She kissed my hand. “What happened to you?”

  I held her hand in mine and it was soft and warm. I didn’t want to leave just yet though I knew she had other customers waiting. To her credit, she didn’t say so, and kept up the illusion that she was here with me because she wanted to be.

  “What do you know about the prince?” I said.

  “Prince Kandarian?”

  “Yes.”

  “Very little. I know he was here not long ago. I didn’t get to see him but some of the girls said he was the handsomest man they had ever seen. Very charming. That he has an animal attraction, like you.”

  “That he kills women for pleasure?”

  “I hadn’t heard that.”

  “Most haven’t. The enforcement guards must take some sort of oath. You wouldn’t believe what it took for me to get it out of them.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “He has a darkness inside him, probably the same darkness I have. But we’ve chosen different ways to exorcise it.”

  “I don’t believe you, that you have darkness. You’re harsh, but gentle too.”

  “If you knew the things I’d done even today, you wouldn’t say that. You wouldn’t even be lying here with me right now.”

  She closed her eyes and kissed my hands. “What do you care about what the prince does any matter?”

  “You think people get what they deserve?”

  “No, I don’t. Not from what I’ve seen. Evil men seem to prosper while the good are caught underfoot.”

  “That’s about what I’ve seen. But maybe people don’t get what they deserve because other people don’t give it to them.”

  “What does that have to do with the prince?”

  “I’m deciding whether I should kill him.”

  She was quiet a moment. “Don’t do it. Whatever your reasons, don’t do it.”

  “He’s probably the most well guarded man in the Empire. Even the emperor isn’t as paranoid as he is. He travels with the Royal Guard, probably thirty of them from what I saw. The emperor only takes two wherever he goes. I’m not sure I can finish this.”

  “Well you must’ve told me because you wanted my opinion and I’m telling you not to do it.”

  “Do you have a family?”

  “No.”

  “Did you?”

  “Once, yes. I was thrown out when I was young.”

  “Did you love them?”

  “My mother, yes.”

  “And what would you do to the person that cut up your mother like sewing cloth? Being loved is rare for people like us.” I sat up and walked to the window and looked out to the blinking torchlights of the city below. The moon was brighter than they. “I’ll tell you though. What she went through wasn’t anything compared to what I’m going to do to him.”

  I put on my clothes and took my axe and closed my eyes as I kissed her and said, “Goodbye, Emma.” When I opened my eyes no one was in the bed with me.

  I left the room and headed out of the city.

  2

  The problem with finding Kandarian was that he travelled so much. Probably easier to find women that way instead of bringing them to him. Less likely to get caught. Not that the emperor would do anything, but the public would be right pissed.

  So I had to find him and I wasn’t sure where to look. But I knew someplace to start. In a city called Balor Gesh, on the coast. It was the largest city close to where I was and had networks of spies and cutthroats and thieves ready to be hired by anyone with coin. I didn’t have any more coin but it had never been difficult for me to obtain any. Also, Nalice was there.

  Balor Gesh was a day’s journey and it didn’t take long before I could smell the ocean. I couldn’t have cared less for it. As I neared, and the forests thinned and the beaches grew wide, I saw people swimming and found it disgusting. Bathing in the feces of sea animals didn’t strike me as something fun to do.

  Every time I came I was impressed by Balor Gesh’s high walls, three of them as the fourth opened to the sea. Underneath their ports I knew lay mechanical hands of steel. Any ships that wished to approach could be impaled as the hands came to the surface. Geshian Fire, a type of liquid flame native to Balor Gesh, would then be poured on the ships and the crowds would watch as the sailors jumped into the sea to put out the flames consuming them, only to find that the flames could breathe just as well under the sea as above.

  I approached the gates. Several guards stood about as I rode in but they said nothing to me.

  The city was too crowded. Crowded and smelly and dirty. The walls and bui
ldings were all clean as the city seemed to keep those in good order, but where the people actually lived, the streets and homes, it was little more than alleyways.

  A crowd of children ran to me. Eight of them ran to the front of my horse, but I didn’t care about them. I was looking for the one behind me. I saw him with the needle in his hand and I snatched his wrist as quick as a cobra and lifted him by it. I took the needle and poked it into his bottom.

  “Goodnight, little thief,” I said, before placing him back down. With that dose, he would likely sleep for two days. The other children stared at me in silence and allowed me to pass untouched.

  A tower was far off on the beach and I saw it and navigated toward it. The city had grown since I’d been here last. Maybe not grown, but grown more crowded. Even the buildings seemed to be closing in and I had to work around them.

  The tower had a wooden roof and looked like a pleasant enough place to live, with open glass-less windows at every turn. There were few places to lash a horse that it wouldn’t be stolen, even though the penalty if caught was death, so most buildings had a stable boy to take the horse. I gave it to him and walked inside the tower.

  It was circular and large and I walked up the stone steps a long ways before coming to a series of wooden doors. Up a ways was Nalice’s. I went inside without knocking and she was there. She was nude and lying under the covers, her perfect breasts exposed. I pulled up a chair and sat before her and took out my root and smoked. The smell roused her.

  “I told you that wasn’t good for you,” she said, her eyes not opening.

  “Everything fun or tasty isn’t good for you.”

  “So you’re just going to die to have fun?”

  “I’m going to die anyway. It’s just a matter of if I have fun doing it or not.”

  She rolled to her side and looked at me, stretching her arms. “You’re such a brute.”

  I shrugged. “I’m here for something, Nalice.”

  “You’re always here for something.”

  “That’s not fair. You know you’re my favorite person in the world.”

  “And why is that, Slesh? Do you see some of your murderous rage in me?”

  “No, just the opposite.”

  She stood up and walked to a chair against the wall and slung a robe over her shoulders before sitting back down on the bed. “What did you need?”

  “I’m looking for someone. Someone important.”

  “Who?”

  I blew out a puff of smoke. “Kandarian.”

  “The prince?”

  “Apparently they don’t call him that anymore. But yes. The rapist child-killing prince.”

  “What do you want with him?”

  “I’m going to turn him inside out.”

  She stood up and walked to a basin and washed her face. “Poor Slesh, always after someone. Do you get any rest ever?”

  “I’ll rest in the grave.”

  She dried herself with a cloth and then went to a space in the corner and slipped off her robe and began to dress in the clothing that hung on hooks near the windows. “And what makes you think I can find him?”

  “You can, if you wanted to.”

  She put on her enforcement gear. She was a paid servant of the emperor and also the prince. People thought her job was to protect the public, but really her job was to protect the emperor and his family’s interest, and stopping crime did that because criminals didn’t pay taxes to the emperor.

  “I can ask,” she said. “See if my superiors have a handle on where he might be this time of year.”

  “You do that.”

  She began putting on her armor. “Why do you want to kill him? He’s been prince for years and you’ve never mentioned him once.”

  “He did something I didn’t like.”

  “And that’s all it takes for the Powerful Slesh of Ulrik to kill someone? They have to displease him?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what if I displeased you? Would you kill me?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “You’re a woman.”

  “So what?”

  “I don’t kill women.”

  She shook her head. “Such a gentleman.”

  I tucked my root away and stood. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “Do you need any money?”

  “I can get money.”

  “No, wait here.” She ran to her window and underneath was a loose brick. She took it out of the wall and tucked away inside were several coins. She took two sesters and gave them to me. “Enough to eat and get a room.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  As I was walking out I heard her say, “Slesh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Be careful, you big idiot.”

  “Aren’t I always?”

  3

  The city was filled with alehouses, some better than others. I knew a good one that didn’t water down their ale and always had clean food. I went there after retrieving my horse and gave it to another stable boy and went inside.

  It was a small, rundown building that looked like it might fall on our heads at any moment. My type’a place. The very walls were dangerous. I went to a table and a wench asked what I wanted and I ordered two ales and buttered bread. The only meat they had was fish and crab and I hated both. But large slabs of butter on fire-toasted bread with good dark ale was a fine meal and I ate it with zeal.

  A man walked in and he looked around. He appeared tired, worn out, and had scars over his face, small scars, like he had been cut multiple times by a child’s knife. He saw me and walked over.

  “Share a table?”

  I shrugged. He sat and waited for the wench and ordered raw fish with eggs and a light, golden ale.

  “You look like you haven’t slept in a while,” I said.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “I think we need it less than we think we do.”

  “I would agree with that.” He glanced around the alehouse nervously and then back to me. “What’s your story, friend?”

  “No story.”

  “You look rather weathered yourself.”

  “I like your sword. White blade, right?”

  “That’s right. I’m surprised you could tell while it’s still in the sheath.”

  “I can always tell. The blade twists a certain way.”

  “That it does. It’s from the pressure of the blade. The black stone inside wants to expand but the white stones won’t let it. And when you strike someone with it, that pressure is released.”

  “Sounds fun.”

  “It is.”

  He ate his meal in silence and I noticed dark stains on his boots. “Haven’t seen a white blade in a while,” I said. “Not since I killed a man that tried to cut my head off with one.”

  “What’d you do to this man?”

  “Nothing as far as I could tell. Some insult or other I think. Funny thing though. A few days later another man with a white blade tried to kill me.”

  “That is a coincidence.”

  “It certainly is.”

  We were quiet a moment and exchanged glances. A droplet of sweat rolled down his forehead and I slowly bit into my bread and chewed.

  “The Brotherhood must be short indeed,” I said, “if they’re sending someone who’s never killed before.”

  “What makes you think I’ve never killed before?”

  “I can see it in your eyes. You’re scared to die because you know how many of your brothers I’ve already killed. And I’m happy to kill many more after you. What was it I did to offend the Brotherhood exactly?”

  “You killed one of our brothers. A man named Vensh.”

  I took a drink of ale. “Right. I do remember him. Tall man, bald. He was trying to rape a child I think.”

  “He had his struggles, as we all do. But once you’re granted entry to the Brotherhood you’re given certain protections. And punishment must go through the proper channels.”

  I finished my
ale. “Protections, huh? I didn’t see any protections when I ripped his balls off and shoved them in his mouth.”

  We were still a moment. Both quietly watching the other. He was the first to move.

  His hand went to the white blade. Enough people were here that the enforcement authorities would be called and descriptions given. He didn’t stand because he was hoping he could be out of the alehouse and on his way before anyone noticed I was dead.

  He swiped with the blade to my throat. I caught it between my hands. It sizzled and smoked, the white blade burning hot. But I didn’t move. I let it scorch the flesh of my palms and his eyes went wide with terror. I grinned.

  I twisted the blade and plunged my head into his nose, cracking it, before ripping the blade away. He came out with a knife and went for my legs. I kneed him in the face and stepped away just as his knife came down and embedded into the wood floor. I dropped the white blade. That would be too fast.

  I lifted him by the back of his neck and slammed my elbow into his face until it was good and bloody. By the fifth or sixth blow, he couldn’t keep his hands up to defend himself and I continued to bash him as I heard people shouting at me.

  The door to the alehouse opened and I heard the march of boots, but I didn’t stop. His face was turning into a blood pudding.

  I heard the whiff of the hammer as it came down over my skull and knocked me forward. The boots came next, kicking out teeth and breaking bones and stomping on hands and feet. I curled up in a ball, feigning, and when they grew comfortable that I was down, I spun and leapt to my feet. I grabbed the first enforcement authority I saw and threw him, headfirst, into another, and the two tumbled over a table.

  Warm blood was draining down my head and soaking my shirt. I would fade out soon and the bastards would have their way with me then. But not before I got them good and pissed.

  The one with the hammer came at me again and I moved out of range of his blow and then slammed my shoulder into his chest, the hammer falling from his grasp as I lifted him into the air and brought him down over a table. The wood crunched underneath him and he hit the floor as another of them jumped onto my back.