by Radu Aldea
“I don’t know either, but I have the same feeling.”
“This is ridiculous. Why didn’t she just tell us who attacked her if she sent those messages?” Sarah Levilla was venting her frustration. She didn’t understand. Julia did.
“Perhaps she didn’t know.” It was weak, but Julia wasn’t going to tell the truth.
“She didn’t trust us. She didn’t trust any of us.” Reyna sounded really upset.
“That’s not it,” Aleyna spoke. “Kara trusted you, all of you. You are her family. If she is alive and she didn’t come to you she must have a very good reason.”
Aleyna made the others feel better. Julia was glad. They deserved the comforting words. Besides, they were the truth. Now it was time for her surprise.
“I know why you called me here and we are not going to attack Cuttland. We are going to attack Essland. And I’m going to need four or five thousand soldiers from your clients. We are going to kill Lucian and then will move on Cuttland.”
“Are you serious?” Marcia asked the question all of them wanted to ask. It was a bad idea. Essland would be a bloodbath and she wasn’t convinced she could win against both Lucian and Aaron. Attacking Cuttland was also a bad idea because it will leave her lands exposed for Lucian to take. And that was exactly what he would do.
“I didn’t say I needed the soldiers from you. I said I wanted them from your clients, preferably from those who are under a hundred.” They understood the jargon and they knew she meant senators who could take over less than one hundred people.
“You have a plan?” Marcia’s eyes were suddenly much larger.
“Yes, I have a plan, which has always been the plan. I want Lucian dead. And I want any signs that a battle took place here gone, I don’t care how you do it.”
Chapter seventeen
The pounding on the door woke her up. It had to be very early in the morning as there was little light in the room. Her quarters in the imperial palace were small, she had that in common with all her sisters, but at least she had them to herself and she always kept them locked. Living in the barracks was worse. It took Alexandra a few minutes to get her bearings. The knock on the door was stronger this time. She went to the door annoyed by the fact someone was bothering her at this hour. She opened the door to find a frantic Yvonne.
“What took you so long to answer your door?” Yvonne pushed by her to get in.
“Do you know what time it is? What are you doing here?”
“Something strange is going on. I just found out the empress has sent someone to get you. You can’t be argumentative and abrasive. Just let me do all the talking.”
“I am not truly awake yet so that won’t be a problem. What could she possibly want?”
Yvonne shrugged. Alexandra didn’t get to ask anything else because there was another knock on her door. This time she was aware enough to sense two sisters. They were not part of the imperial guard and as far as Alexandra knew they should’ve been on their island. Even worse, these two were in the inner circle of the Reverend Mother.
“The empress requests your presence in the council chambers,” one of them told her.
“Sure, just give me a few moments to get dressed.” Alexandra smiled and tried to be pleasant. She knew what hour it was, so did they and so did the empress. The empress, Tamzin Enondra, was a powerful sorceress in her own right. She had married the current emperor, Sem’Dhar, a few years ago and treated the other sisters as servants who should always obey her. Some did, because she was the biological daughter of the Reverend Mother, Nerit Enondra. She had less success with the sorceresses in Veneguard. They thought of themselves as equals and none of them were weak. These two would obey Tamzin and she didn’t think refusing the empress was an option. So she had no choice but to get dressed and follow them.
“When did they arrive?” Alexandra whispered to Yvonne the first chance she got.
“They came a few hours ago, fifteen of them, all cronies of the Reverend Mother.”
That was horrible news. It was not very often so many sorceresses left their island at once and Alexandra couldn’t remember when so many were sent together on a mission. Of course, being part of the imperial guard was the exception. She didn’t get the chance to talk more with Yvonne and come up with a strategy, because they reached the chambers.
Tamzin was there, so was Sem’Dhar, the chamberlain Edwin and count Roderick, the commander of the imperial guards. The other members of the imperial council didn’t seem to merit the early invitation. The empress was smiling when they entered, but the smile faltered when she saw Yvonne. Tamzin didn’t want the commander of the sorceress guard here.
“Yvonne, what are you doing here? I didn’t send for you.”
“An oversight, I’m sure. I should’ve been informed about the arrival of fifteen sisters in the middle of the night. I am the commander so the sisters on guard told me. And why wasn’t I informed when one of our sisters was summoned in the middle of the night. Why the urgency?”
Tamzin wanted to catch Alexandra by surprise, when she was alone and dazed. Yvonne had made sure that didn’t work so she would have to change strategy.
“I have asked for Alexandra,” the emperor spoke. “It’s good that you are here too. Perhaps you are not aware, but we have received wonderful news.”
Alexandra could not fathom what piece of news the emperor considered wonderful, because as far as she was concerned they were all terrible. Yvonne was as confused.
Sem’Dhar enlightened them. “As you probably heard, the two traitorous senators have died. That is just punishment for plotting against us and we should celebrate.”
Alexandra barely contained her laughter. She didn’t want to laugh because it was funny. It was a sign of desperation brought on by the fact the emperor was insane. Senators couldn’t be traitors because they were not subjects of the emperor. The Order was above the emperor. It was so sad he didn’t seem to understand this. His wife should’ve explained it.
Yvonne was more diplomatic. “I was not informed about any of this.”
This time Alexandra did chuckle, but only Yvonne seemed to have heard her and gave a look that warned her to be more cautious. They both knew why Yvonne wasn’t informed, because there was no plot and Sem’Dhar was delusional. Why were they indulging him?
“There was a conspiracy against me. It involved a count and a duke from the southern region of Cuttland. We uncovered the plot and during interrogation they confessed they did it because they were under the control of that family of senators,” Sem’Dhar explained.
This was so absurd she couldn’t even put it into words. Senators didn’t need to take over some human lords and start a conspiracy to remove the emperor. They would just send armies against him, even though that wasn’t necessary. The moment people thought senators were moving against the emperor, everyone would abandon him. The only reason why more human lords haven’t rebelled already was they didn’t know what the Order would do. And if, because of some inconceivable reason, they decided to use human lords that way they would never allow them to confess, even if the lords were tortured. How could he not see that?
“There is no other explanation why they would plot against you.” Edwin was doing the same thing as the rest of them, feeding the delusion. The imperial council was made up of spineless cowards. It was his decision to surround himself with this kind of men.
“We should consider a reaction from Suttland senators.” Yvonne didn’t contradict him outright, but much to her credit she remained the voice of reason.
“What kind of reaction could we expect?” Roderick was also reasonable. He asked the question, although he must’ve known he couldn’t fight a senatorial army.
Alexandra decided she should explain. “Well, at Crimson Hill there were over a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. About forty thousand of them were from Suttland. Of course, there are more senators now, so they could probably send north an army fifty thousand strong. This, however, is not what ma
kes senators so dangerous. What makes them so dangerous is that two or three of them could destroy a human army of tens of thousands. Or they could take over the imperial council who is made up of humans. I would be very cautious to which advice I listen if I were you, your majesty. Or they could ferment a revolt in Veneguard.”
“Alexandra is exaggerating, darling.” Tamzin stroke her husband’s cheek in an attempt to calm him. Alexandra had shaken him. “The imperial council is not compromised.”
“The council may not be compromised,” Yvonne intervened, although they shared the belief that some of its members were under the control of senators, “but the rest is true. We have picked up on the first signs of discontent in the city, which can be tied to Suttland and scouts from the south had crossed the Serelians north into Cuttland. Everything indicates they are preparing an attack on the province and maybe the capital itself.”
“Why haven’t I heard of this?” The empress was livid.
Nobody answered that. She hadn’t been told because everybody was too busy praising the emperor and hiding the truth. More and more people seemed to assimilate her to her husband. She was a sister, though, and she should’ve been told the truth. The sorceress guard was informed and none of her sisters had told anything to Tamzin.
“I thought you’d been informed,” Yvonne lied with a straight face.
“We did have some incidents the last couple of days,” count Roderick added. “Soldiers of the imperial guard were attacked, some were killed and others disappeared.”
Alexandra knew they would hear about the men she killed sooner or later. Nobody had connected their deaths to her, so far. The men were probably included in Roderick’s missing, but it sounded as if a lot more soldiers had been harmed and she was definitely not responsible for the others. She tried to convey this to Yvonne, who was looking at her. If Roderick actually brought it up to the emperor the situation must’ve been more serious than she thought. She could do the math. There were more than two hundred thousand people living in Veneguard and only a thousand and five hundred soldiers in the imperial guard.
“I suggest we withdraw the sisters to the inner city and only guard it. There are too few of us to guard the entire city all the time. We are more effective together.” Yvonne was doing her best to protect the sisters and the emperor. Alexandra had no doubt the sisters would be withdrawn to the inner city. It was the only tactic with any chance of success.
“Those damned southerners. How dare they? I am the emperor and I will crush them like the bugs they are. Their plans will not work. The people in Veneguard love me.”
They really didn’t. The rise in taxes was the last straw, but they had other good reasons to dislike him. Veneguard was ruled by gangs, nobody felt safe and the emperor was doing nothing about it, it was filthy and riddled by focal points of innumerable diseases. Sooner or later people would start to think senators were the better option if they would clean the city in every possible way. As Bryony proved, some of them already did.
“Send word to the lords. We are gathering the army and invading Suttland. We will teach them who is in charge.” Sem’Dhar’s delusional diatribe just kept going and going and Alexandra just wanted him to shut his mouth. None of this would ever happen. She snorted and the emperor didn’t seem to like that one bit. “You don’t agree with my plan.”
Alexandra felt the need to explain things again. “Assuming you could assemble some kind of an army, and I doubt you can, the senators will infiltrate it and eliminate the leadership. That’s the first step. Then, if there is still an army, and I doubt there will be, they will destroy the provisions and the means of transportation. The army will grind to a halt. If it does not disband at that stage, the soldiers will be easy pickings or die of hunger. If it’s a small army, senators will just take over it completely. Don’t worry, that won’t happen. Because the moment people find out you want to attack senators they will run as far away from you as possible.”
Sem’Dhar looked frightened, which was what she wanted, but he was not ready to abandon his idea. “They can’t infiltrate the army if there are sorceresses with it.”
“Sorceresses are here to protect you, not to attack senators,” Yvonne replied. She was a little shaken and didn’t like where the discussion was heading.
“Actually, I have a message from the Reverend Mother which gives me the authority to use the sisters in Veneguard as an offensive force. I was just made the leader of the sorceresses in the city.” Tamzin’s smile sent a chill down her spine. She knew now why the fifteen sisters had arrived. They were here to help the empress control the other sisters. The sisters of the imperial guard would never agree to any offensive action, especially one against the senators. What was the Reverend Mother doing? An attack on senators would doom the Conclave. “We are getting ahead of ourselves, however. Attacking any senators is premature.”
Tamzin was not ready for a war with the Senatorial Order, but she was definitely considering the possibility. Again, it was up to her to educate them. “This is recent history, so pay attention. In the beginning of the Great War the wizards did exactly what you suggested. Humans were ready to fight the senators then. So human armies with wizards in their midst were hunting them. The problem was there weren’t enough wizards so human armies that didn’t have them were either destroyed or taken over. Against those that did have wizards they sent wave after wave of humans they controlled until some of them were decimated. But some of them fared better until some innovative senator came up with the idea of the purge. The human soldiers who fought against them had families and they weren’t protected. So they started killing the families and friends of those soldiers and made sure everybody knew about it. Within months the human resistance was crushed. The tide of the war had turned. They were free now to hunt wizards. Do you know how they did that? A wizard, if he is powerful, can destroy an army of maybe five hundred soldiers. A powerful sorceress can defeat maybe a hundred. However, senators were smart and they didn’t just charge the wizard when they found him. Their soldiers just surrounded him at a safe distance. When he moved they moved. They attacked with weapons that could shoot that far until the wizard collapsed from exhaustion or was drained of power. Then they killed him. If they didn’t have those kinds of weapons, it wasn’t a problem. They just sent a few of their soldiers to harass him again and again until the result was the same. If too many of their soldiers died they just replaced them with others. This is who senators are. If anyone is under the illusion we can defeat them, and I see some of you are, there is only one way this will end. With the death of the sisters immune to senatorial power and the enslavement of the others.”
The account was harrowing and completely true. She had not embellished anything. It did open their eyes though, if they were not already opened. Judging by their grim expressions they did understand, even Tamzin, and the only one with any illusions was the emperor.
“I hope you are proud of yourself, Alexandra. It was such an enriching lecture. If your goal was to frighten everybody, you were certainly successful. Nobody forgot who we are dealing with or is quick to take on the Order.” Tamzin Enondra was livid. “Are you done now?”
Alexandra Stormayer wasn’t sure. If she succeeded in showing everybody how fraught with danger the path they were on was, she was done. Otherwise, she wasn’t.
“I need you to find me a senator,” Sem’Dhar spoke. “She is fifteen years old, green eyes, red hair, and is of medium power. She is probably heading to Suttland as we speak.”
That’s why they summoned her here, to hunt a young senator. She did not expect that. Why were they looking for this girl? “Is there a specific senator you want me to find or any girl senator who fits the description works just as well?”
“We are hoping there aren’t many who fit the description, so bring them all. She has no family, so that should also be helpful,” Tamzin Enondra answered.
What was the empress talking about? Senators were always part of a family. It was th
e way they were organized. Tamzin seemed to understand her confusion, because she explained.
“She may be part of a family, but it would be a recent occurrence. She is an orphan and her senatorial heritage a mystery. I don’t think you would find two senators like that.”
Tamzin was right, she wouldn’t. “And you want me to go to Suttland to find her?”
“That’s her most likely location. If you need help you can take some sorceresses with you.” The emperor was unbelievable. He presumed to give her orders and expected obedience. Alexandra wanted to make him understand how inferior he was. He was a wizard, but his power was less than the power of most sisters. He couldn’t match hers, that’s for sure. But his wife could, and now she had the power to command Alexandra. She looked at her and understood the empress would support her husband. She could either go to Suttland, or defy the Reverend Mother. She didn’t like her choices. It was a very difficult decision.
“Well, more sisters won’t help me, but one with enough prestige to make senators understand the importance of the mission ... There is only one sister like that, the empress.”
Alexandra was proud of herself. If Tamzin wanted to send her on a suicide mission, which this trip to the south was, she won’t go quietly. The emperor looked at his wife, waiting for a sign. Alexandra almost missed the slight nod. “Is that all, are you sure?”
What game was Tamzin playing? Nobody actually said anything, but the empress clearly indicated that she would accompany her. Maybe she just wanted to make sure Alexandra was dead. It was pretty bold and could work both ways. They were evenly matched. She could use the opportunity to eliminate the empress, which Alexandra was considering.
“I heard you visited a tavern two nights ago?” Tamzin’s question surprised Alexandra.
“Just trying to check the mood in the city,” Yvonne answered.
“I heard things got pretty heated,” the empress continued to talk to her. “I was told you compared our beloved emperor to a fly.”