Emperor

by Isaac Hooke

  “Whoops,” Malem said. “Forgot about that.” He glanced at Wendolin. “They always were a little competitive with one another.”

  Felipe promptly released several small turds directly onto Bounder’s back.

  “Eww,” Wendolin said. “It’d hate to be the iguanid right about now.”

  “No, it’s actually Felipe you wouldn’t want to be,” Malem said. “Watch.”

  Bounder sniffed, its muzzle crinkling as it smelled the turd, and when it realized Felipe had relieved itself on its back, the iguanid reared angrily.

  Felipe lost its balance, and the little monkey slid down toward the angry muzzle. Before Felipe reached it, the animal managed to right itself long enough to leap off Bounder. The monkey landed on the wall of the stall, and Bounder lunged at Felipe, but the little animal was already scurrying up the beam. It reached the roof of the stall, and promptly climbed onto an overhead beam. It issued that screeching imitation of a laugh once more, and promptly took a piss.

  The yellow liquid arced down into the stall, and Bounder went wild. The iguanid ran about the stall, smashing into the walls, as if trying to get out—or at least, knock down Felipe. But though the beam shook, the monkey kept pissing until it had drained itself, and then promptly laughed once more.

  Bounder was still roving about wildly, so Malem unleashed calming vibes. He was prepared to Break them, but the pair responded well to his mental energy, with both the iguanid and the monkey calming down.

  Bounder promptly lay down on the straw, and rested its head on its forelegs. Felipe, meanwhile, sat down on the beam overhead, and similarly lay on its side.

  “You certainly have a way with animals,” Wendolin said. “I was ready to use my magic if that iguanid broke free.”

  “That would have certainly made quite the sight,” he said. “Tying up the animal in branches grown from his own stall.”

  She gazed at the pair. “So, the monkey is Felipe, and the iguanid is…”

  “Bounder,” he told her.

  “Felipe and Bounder,” she said. “Cute.”

  A high pitched, happy whistling sounded from outside.

  Felipe perked up, as did Bounder.

  “Felipe, Felipe, where are you?” a voice said.

  Felipe sat up, and then leaped down from the rooftop beam, landing on the edge of the stall. Bounder lunged at the monkey, but Felipe was already scrambling along the edge of the next stall, toward the door.

  A young boy entered, and Felipe leaped from the closest stall and landed in the kid’s arms.

  “Hey there, little guy!” the boy said. He glanced up, and when he noticed Malem and Wendolin, he froze. The kid had a sugar cube in hand, and Felipe took advantage of his distraction to wrest it free. “Hey!”

  The monkey popped it in its mouth before leaping away. Felipe landed on the ground and scooted to the adjacent stall, climbing it to the roof, where the animal promptly perched on another beam to suck on the sugar cube.

  “I didn’t know monkeys liked sugar,” Wendolin said.

  “They like everything,” Malem said.

  The kid was still staring at them. He seemed entranced by Wendolin.

  She smiled at him, and waved. “Hello.”

  In answer, the boy’s face reddened. Finally, he looked at Malem, and stammered: “W-who are you?”

  “I’m Malem,” he said. “The former owner of Felipe and Bounder.”

  The kid frowned. “Y-you’re not here to take them away, are you?”

  “No,” Malem said. “They’re not mine anymore. I realize that now. Animals such as these do not belong in wars.”

  “Oh,” the boy said. “Well, that’s good. You’re going to war?”

  “Yes,” Malem said. “In a way.”

  “Can I come?” the kid said.

  Malem hesitated.

  “Please?” the kid said. “I barely got to see any fighting the last time. All I got to do was run, like my mother told me to. I didn’t listen to her though, not right away. I went back to save the animals. Aren’t you glad I did that?”

  “I am,” Malem told him. “But that doesn’t mean I’m taking you to war.”

  “Okay,” the kid said, looking down. He risked a glance at Wendolin, and quickly glanced back at Malem. The kid’s face seemed to become an even deeper scarlet for that glance. “I can leave you here alone with them, if you want to visit.”

  “No, that’s okay,” Malem said. “We were just about done. You’re Peter, I take it?”

  “Yes,” the kid said, brightening. “That would be me.”

  “Thank you for saving the lives of the animals, Peter,” he said. “I’d pay you, but I didn’t think to bring any gold or jewels.”

  “It’s all right,” Peter said. “I don’t like shiny things anyway.”

  Abigail had told him that dragons didn’t develop a taste for gold and jewels until later in life, so that wasn’t surprising.

  Malem glanced at Bounder again, and smiled. “You know, when I found these animals, they were broken. I mean, really broken. Bounder here was so weak he could barely walk. And his ribs were visible, poking through his sides. Bounder was up for auction in Laman, but no one would buy the iguanid—the reptile looked too weak. I couldn’t afford to buy Bonder either, so I waited until nightfall, then I stole a steak from the kitchens of a nearby tavern, and returned to the auction site, where the animals were kept in a camp of tents under guard by a troll.

  “Originally, I had planned to feed the steak to Bounder, but it attracted the troll instead. I tossed it into a nearby alleyway, and the troll promptly followed the meat inside. While it was occupied, I raced across to a different alley, and reached out to Break Bounder. The Breaking was quite easy, considering the animal’s state; after our mental link was established, I promised that if it tore free of its cage, there would be a juicy steak waiting. I felt Bounder struggling against the wooden bars, but the iguanid was too weak to escape. I was drained from the Breaking as well—back then, controlling animals was exhausting for me—but I lent it some of my stamina anyway.

  “Finally, the iguanid broke free, and before the troll returned, the animal bounded out of the camp. That’s when I first came up with its name, by the way. Bounder. Anyway, I ordered it to the alleyway where I waited far from the auction site and the troll. When Bounder arrived, the iguanid thought I was the promised steak, and promptly tried to eat me. I had to drain the beast of stamina, and then I wrestled the beast to the ground. I kept its neck pinned under one knee, and held the rest of its body down with the other. Bounder was a lot smaller then, mind you, and it also helped that I had drained its stamina.

  “Anyway, once I had calmed the animal down, I let it rise. I started toward the entrance, but Bounder tried to rush past me. I had to jerk its mental leash and force it back into the alley. I kept repeating this until the iguanid understood that I was the one who would leave the alleyway first, not the beast. Like a dog, it’s important that you establish dominance over iguanids early on, otherwise you won’t be able to control them.

  “So I led Bounder to the back of a tavern, where the kitchens were located. The smell of the cooking steaks drove Bounder mad, and the animal tore inside and ripped into the steaks ravenously. The chefs managed to escape with their lives, thankfully. I took control of Bounder before the guards arrived, and we left the town without too much issue. Bounder found a nest of bog spiders to torment shortly thereafter. And, well, that’s his origin story.”

  Peter was all smiles. “Thanks for sharing that with me. What about the Felipe?”

  “Another time,” Malem said.

  “Please!” Peter said.

  “All you need to know for now is that I rescued him from a traveling menagerie,” Malem said. “Take good care of them, you hear?”

  “Of course I will,” Peter said. “They’re mine now, right?”

  Malem smiled sadly. “Yes, they are. Though I may yet return for them someday.”

  The kid’s face brighte
ned. “And then we can go to war!”

  “No,” Malem said. “You saw what war did to your city. All the gold, the emeralds gone.”

  Peter shrugged. “I think it looks better without all that gold.”

  Ah, yes. He’d forgotten that he wasn’t of the age where he liked shiny things yet.

  Malem bid the child farewell, and left with Wendolin.

  When the stables were well behind them, he paused next to the guesthouse where she boarded with half the party.

  “So, would you like to join me in my cot tonight?” he asked.

  “Just a cot?” she replied. “You don’t get a real bed tonight?”

  “Don’t change the subject,” he said.

  She smiled coyly. “I’m much too afraid of the Darkness.”

  “It won’t come,” he said.

  “You can’t be sure,” she told him.

  “If it does, I’ll wake up before it arrives,” he said. “I always hear a buzzing in my head before it comes.”

  “Well, I was joking about being afraid,” she said. “Mostly.” She stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the forehead, before drawing away.

  He pulled her back to him, and tried to kiss her on the lips, but she turned her head so that all he got was cheek.

  Disappointed, he let her go.

  “You’re such a tease,” Malem said. “You gave yourself so freely to Solan, and yet all you can spare me is a lame kiss on the forehead.”

  “I was a queen then,” she said. “Full in my power, and completely in control. But now, I’m just another one of your girls. Essentially powerless. If I give myself to you, I lose any control I might have. So, of course I’m going to keep you begging. I have to have some leverage over you, after all.”

  “I think you just revealed your entire strategy,” Malem said.

  She shrugged. “Just because you know my strategy, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to exploit it.”

  “But it’s the first step!” Malem said.

  She smiled. “I suppose so. Good night, Breaker.”

  “Good night,” he said with a sigh.

  She entered the guesthouse.

  When she was gone, he sent a message to Gwen. Do you feel like joining me tonight?

  The response came back only a moment later. Hell yeah!

  9

  Malem allowed Gwen to ride him tonight. Her breasts moved in a green blur above him, jiggling back and forth as she drove her hips up and down. She was hanging onto his hands, which he held aloft, his elbows braced on the soft mattress beneath him.

  The pleasure he felt was quickly spiraling out of control. That was one of the drawbacks of the sensual echo effect that came with the connections to all of those he’d Broken: he lacked sexual endurance of any kind. Rapture quickly drove him to the brink, and he exploded inside her. She rolled her eyes and shuddered at the same time, and then collapsed on top of him.

  But the plus was, despite the lack of endurance, when he was done, he could simply drain stamina from the others, give it to himself and Gwen, and repeat the process all over again. And he did just that.

  After the third time, he decided that they’d had enough. Gwen rested beside him, her legs slick with the seed that had spilled out of her in previous lovemaking sessions.

  “When are you going to get me pregnant already?” she complained.

  “I’m not sure it’s possible,” he said.

  “Of course it’s possible,” she told him.

  “Maybe I’m sterile,” he said. “I haven’t even been able to get Xaxia pregnant.”

  “Yeah, but she’s been gone for six months,” Gwen said. “Maybe she rammed something inside herself to slay the child.”

  “I doubt it,” he said. “She doesn’t strike me as the sort. If she had my child, I think she’d bear him or her like a trophy.”

  Gwen pursed her lips. “You’re probably right about that.” She paused. “Did you mute Wendolin’s sense again?”

  “Of course,” he said. “She requested it.”

  “Maybe you should let her feel it, just a little bit, next time,” Gwen said. “Just saying, it might help you get her in the sack quicker.”

  He gave her a curious look. “And since when do you help me get other women in the sack? I thought you were all competing against one another.”

  She shrugged. “It might seem that way, but we’re not, really. I mean, come on, if I get to feel you inside her even when I’m several rooms away, and feel everything you’re doing to her, as if you’re doing it to me, I can’t really get jealous, can I?” She leaned into him, and snuggled against his chest. “I just want to make you happy.”

  “Oh, I’m happy,” he said.

  “Yeah, except for the burden on your shoulders,” she said. “Another Balor hunting you. Maybe two.”

  “And that Balor will pay for hunting me,” Malem said. “And for his attack on the rest of you. If there’s one thing I won’t stand, it’s an attack on those I love.”

  She pushed herself up for a moment, to look into his eyes. “I still remember when you stood up to Vorgon for me. I remember it like it was yesterday. He wanted you to kill me. And even though you were the Defiler, possessed by Vorgon’s spirit, you refused. You wouldn’t do it.” She chuckled suddenly. A sad, confused laugh. “Instead, you beat me. Really bad. But didn’t kill me.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” he said. “I did it to please Vorgon. If I didn’t obey him, he would have killed you. So I chose the lesser of two evils.”

  “Did you enjoy it?” Gwen asked.

  “What?” he replied. “Beating you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “A part of me did,” he admitted. “But another part hated it. If there was one thing to be said while I walked this world under Vorgon’s influence, it was that I was conflicted. Why do you ask? Do you want me to beat you or something? During sex?”

  “No, not really,” she said. “Though when you were the Defiler, you played pretty rough in bed. I know some of the other women liked it. Me, not so much.”

  He pursed his lips. “I may have to ask them about it sometime. I’ve been nothing but gentle with them since.”

  “Might be a good idea,” she agreed.

  “Have to keep my family happy after all,” he said with a grin.

  She suddenly closed her eyes, and turned away. Her chin quivered, and tears flowed.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she replied. “For some reason I had a flashback to my village. I saw those who had raised me like their own daughter, the men and women of the village, I saw them die beneath orak pikes and blades, as I hid in the surrounding forest like a coward.”

  “It’s my fault,” he said. “I used the wrong word.” Family.

  “I’ll never be able to forgive myself for that day,” she said, ignoring the comment. “I’ll never be able to make amends. No matter how many oraks I slay, I’ll never get the villagers back. I’ll always be remembered, at least in my mind, for the cowardice I showed. I could have saved them. I should have tried.”

  “You’re not a coward,” he said. “Never a coward. If you had tried, you might be dead now. No, you would be dead. There were too many oraks. You had no magic blades. Just an old bow, and a few arrows.”

  “But I—” she tried.

  “No buts,” Malem said, pressing a finger to her lips. He pulled her close against his chest. “None.”

  She was silent for a moment. He felt the tears flow onto his chest. Warm at first, but quickly becoming cold.

  “You know, when you made me slay that injured soldier on the parapets of the keep, that broke me inside,” Gwen said. “I felt little better than the oraks that slew my family.”

  “What soldier?” he said.

  “When you were the Defiler,” she said. “And we took over Khaledonius. There was a human soldier on the parapet of the main keep. A man who had defected from his own army to throw in his lot with the dragons. Probably figured they stood
a better chance against Vorgon. That’s what all the men who joined the dragons thought. But they were wrong, weren’t they?”

  Malem didn’t say anything, wanting to let her talk.

  “A man moaned, among the dead,” she continued. “You found his body, and turned him over with a kick. His belly was ripped open, and you ordered me to kill him.”

  “You were doing him a favor,” Malem said. “He would have died a long, painful death.”

  “No,” the half gobling said. “Weyanna was right there. She offered to heal him. But you wouldn’t let her. Instead, you told me to plunge my blade into the man. What were your words? ‘Kill this thing.’ Yes.”

  “I was the Defiler,” Malem said. “I wasn’t myself. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I just… wanted to get it out. I’ve forgiven you. But I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for listening to you.”

  “You had no choice,” he said. “You would have suffered at my hands. You did the right thing.”

  She didn’t answer. “Like I told you, it broke me. And I’ve only just started putting the pieces back together. When you came back to me, that’s when the healing began. When you emerged from that portal to the nether realm, free of Vorgon, I started to become whole again. I still have a long way to go, but I can do it, I think.”

  “We’ll do it together,” Malem told her.

  She smiled, and rested her head on his chest. She traced designs on his pecs.

  After a time, she said: “I saw you visiting the animals with Wendolin.”

  “Yes,” he said. “I asked you earlier if you wanted to come. You declined.”

  “I’m not jealous,” she said. “Only… well, I was wondering. Do you ever miss your old life? When it was just you and the animals?”

  “Of course,” he said. “But I can’t go back to it. Not anymore. Not after joining with you, and the others.”

  “None of us can go back, can we?” Gwen said. “And I say that not out of sadness. What we have here is truly amazing. The pleasure, the camaraderie. It’s almost like I’m a kid again, growing up with… well, best not to think on that, I suppose. Or I’ll start crying again.”