by Ryan Kirk
In return he felt an assurance she would arrive. In his experiences in this space, Brandt had learned to trust his emotions, to read more into them than he usually did. The mental affinity intertwined with emotions in ways that defied easy explanation. But he was confident that the assurance he felt was most likely from Alena.
Brandt opened his eyes. “She will be with us soon.”
The emperor nodded, studying the gate as though for the first time. “It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
“What?”
“I forget sometimes, lost in the details, how miraculous these gates are. Why do they even exist? What was their original purpose?”
“You really don’t know?”
“No. Anders I learned how to use them, and was the first in the empire to have some inkling of what they were capable of, but all he passed on was his knowledge of the use of them. I know no more about their origins than you do.”
Brandt stood by his emperor, studying the enigma before him. He wished for answers, but none would come today.
A while later he felt Alena more clearly. “She’s here.”
Hanns took a deep breath and stepped toward the gate. He put his hand on one arch, a slight tensing of his body the only indication of the tremendous powers flowing through him. When Brandt had touched the gate near Landow, it almost tore his body into pieces. Hanns turned to him, still able to focus on events in the physical world. That in itself told Brandt how impressive the emperor’s control was.
“Be careful not to touch the gate itself. Once you are certain you and Alena are connected, touch my shoulder. Allow me to be your conduit.”
“I will.”
Hanns closed his eyes, trusting Brandt to follow his guidance.
Brandt closed his own eyes, dropping once again into Alena’s kitchen. He’d visited the actual room a few times when he had recuperated in Landow. and Alena’s eye for detail was evident in every corner of the room. She stood next to the fire, playing idly with her hair, the same as she always did when she was scared. “It’s time?”
Brandt’s reply caught in his throat. He could feel his heart pulsing in his chest. He nodded.
Alena came up to him and wrapped a cord around her wrist and his. Then she met his eyes.
In the real world, Brandt took a step forward and put his hand on Hanns’ shoulder.
The power of the gate crashed over him, overwhelming his control in an instant. But Alena was there, guiding him through the transition. The forces tearing through him faded, and he thought of being wrapped in blankets inside a sturdy house as a storm raged beyond the walls.
He found himself in darkness, standing next to Hanns. In this soulscape Hanns appeared younger, muscles still taut under tanned skin. This was his emperor decades ago.
Alena, less impressed by authority, spoke first, her voice behind Brandt making him jump. “This place suits you.”
Hanns’ grin was mirthless. “A lesson for you, Alena. In this place, your self-image is part of your strength. This form isn’t just vanity, although I’ll admit it feels good to erase the aches and pains of an aging body.”
Alena nodded, her eyes searching for clues Brandt couldn’t guess at. She studied Hanns carefully. Then her eyes widened. “You connected to the second gate.”
Hanns kept his face neutral, but Brandt knew Alena’s statement was true and had caught him off guard. Something in the shift of Hanns’ weight gave him away.
“You’re perceptive,” was all he said.
Brandt glanced between the two. Then he settled on the emperor. “You connected with the gate outside Landow?”
“I did.”
“I thought you were going to use it to defeat the queen for good.”
Hanns gave a bitter laugh. “I said no such thing. I did hope it would allow me to fight her on more even terms. But that might have been optimistic. I haven’t revealed my connection yet, and have taken great pains to hide it.” He glared at Alena.
“This close to a gate, I don’t think hiding it is possible,” Alena said.
“Apparently.” The emperor paused. “Are we ready?”
“What should we expect?” Brandt asked.
“I wish I knew.”
Before they could respond, Brandt felt the space around them change. They traveled from darkness to darkness, but this darkness felt different. The air was cool and clammy against his skin. Off in the distance he thought he heard the drip of water into a puddle.
Alena fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands.
Brandt turned to her, but before he could even ask a question, a voice echoed in his head. For a moment it was all he could hear. His whole world became her voice.
He had missed her.
Why had he ever feared? Under her, he was safe. He would fall on his own sword, if only for her smile.
Beside him, Alena screamed, but the sound was muffled. It still grated against his ears, though. If he killed her, the sound would stop.
Hanns stepped toward Alena. He reached down and hauled her up by the arm. The emperor grimaced at the effort required. But as soon as he touched her arm the screaming stopped.
A moment later, Brandt’s trance was broken. He blinked, and the realization of what had just happened made his knees shake. With a sword in hand he had once believed he could fight any enemy. But how could he fight a queen whose weapons were unlike any he understood?
Alena nodded her thanks to Hanns. “I wasn’t ready for that. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” the emperor grunted. “I suspect she expected us.”
Laughter cackled in the background. “I certainly did.”
Brandt turned toward her voice, though he couldn’t see her.
Hanns gritted his teeth and groaned. The area around them brightened, even though there was no light source. They stood in a large cave, tunnels to other caves found in all directions. Across the cave from them, the queen lounged on her throne, two priests standing to attention on either side.
The queen waved her hand and the light faded. “You’re ruining the atmosphere,” she said.
“Where is this?” The emperor sounded as though an enormous weight rested on his chest.
“I grew up in these,” the queen replied. “We all seek places of comfort, and this is mine.”
“It doesn’t seem terribly comfortable,” Alena replied flippantly.
Brandt couldn’t see, but he could feel the queen’s attention focus on their young ally. “Ahh. Alena. You are not welcome here.”
The air around them pulsed with life. Brandt inhaled and found he couldn’t breathe. A thousand needles burned into his skin.
And then the pain vanished.
Alena’s breath now came in ragged gasps.
“My.” Brandt thought the queen sounded impressed. “You’ve grown, haven’t you? And with no one to train you, either.”
The queen’s voice circled the chamber. Brandt didn’t know if she walked around them or if it was a trick of this place. “Comfort means something different to us each. To you, Alena, it means your mother’s kitchen, or maybe even your father’s smithy. To Brandt it’s Ana. And for poor Hanns we must go far back, before he was identified as a candidate for Anders VI, before his affinity manifested. Back when he longed for his mother’s embrace.”
Light flared within the cave. Fire flickered in Hanns’ eyes, and a bow appeared in his hands. With a shout, Hanns released an arrow at the queen’s heart.
She batted the shaft away as though it were a fly.
Brandt’s veins ran cold. The queen knew them, far better than they had guessed. Was Ana safe? The queen’s touch spanned whole continents. Had he made a mistake in agreeing to come?
“Stop doubting,” Alena whispered.
Brandt looked over at her. She appeared worn. “This is a realm of belief, Brandt. You’re not making this easier.”
Ashamed his weakness was so public, he focused on the task at hand. Both the emperor and Alena fought a
gainst the queen in their own ways. He needed to find a way to contribute.
The queen’s cold eyes glittered. “This is my home. Those who sought my life never found this place. Here I could sleep and dream of the power I would one day wield. Perhaps the beds aren’t soft, but this is still my sanctum.”
Brandt heard the queen’s words, but his mind was elsewhere. He remembered their last fight, the way he’d manipulated his sword to destroy the gate.
The queen had threatened Ana by naming her in this place.
It lit a fire inside him, a small coal burning as bright as the sun. He held onto that, knowing how volatile his emotions could be in this place.
Brandt stepped in front of the others.
The queen glanced at him, then returned her attention to Alena, who she perceived as a greater threat.
He would make that her final mistake.
Brandt shifted his position, the technique ingrained in every bone and muscle in his body, a move practiced thousands of times.
His sword slid out of its sheath, the steel of the blade glowing. Brandt cut horizontally, the draw and the cut blending into one movement.
As he cut, he willed the blade to grow.
Here, the idea became reality. Brandt’s sword lengthened, quickly extending the entire width of the cave.
It cut into the stone on the other side. Brandt flexed his muscles, willing the cut to be easy. His sword didn’t even slow as it sliced through rock like thin parchment.
The first priest didn’t have enough time to respond. The sword passed through her cleanly. The second priest resisted, but only slowed Brandt for a moment. Then she, too, died. Brandt’s blade passed through an empty throne and met the knife of the third priest.
This one fought, nearly bringing Brandt’s whole swing to a stop. Caught in the moment, Brandt could think of nothing but to press harder.
Then the queen reappeared, standing tall in front of them. Her eyes blazed, glowing with an inhuman red light. She extended her arms and pure power blasted from the center of her being.
Hanns yelled, the sound of a soul crushed with despair. The emperor fell to his knees and the cave dimmed even more.
All Brandt saw was the queen’s glowing eyes.
He heard a whisper, not in his ears but in his mind. “I saved your life once. I own you.”
Something punched him in the stomach. He looked down, unable to see what had happened. He looked up and found himself face to face with the queen. She towered over him.
Brandt felt himself lifted bodily off the floor. His legs dangled helplessly, kicking at the air.
For a moment, the light returned to the cave and Brandt saw it was the queen’s fist that had punched him. It had pierced his stomach, and now she lifted him with one arm by his intestines.
The agony was excruciating, and cold. Ice spread through his veins, slowing his heart.
And then silence.
10
Emotions flooded this world, and Alena felt them all. Hanns didn’t reveal his torment on his face, but desperation leeched off him like a stink. She’d known the import of this task, but it wasn’t until she noticed Hanns controlling two gates that she understood how much they had staked on this attempt. If they failed here, the empire would eventually fall with them.
And they were failing. The cave reeked of death, the stone silent witness to the end of countless lives. Alena saw the barrier the emperor held between them and the queen, the only reason any of them were capable of logical thought. The queen’s power crashed against the barrier, one relentless wave after another.
So far, Hanns had only drawn on the power of a single gate. He would only surprise the queen once, so the moment had to matter.
But Alena wasn’t sure how many moments they had left.
Then the queen attacked Brandt in retaliation for his assault on her priests. The emperor’s boundary crumbled as the queen revealed a taste of her true power.
Alena froze when she saw the queen’s fist impale Brandt. Her friend roared in agony, but Alena wasn’t sure what she could do to save him. The queen could kill her with ease.
Then she noticed the threads tying the priests to the queen. Hanns needed to fight the queen, but Alena could weaken her.
Alena’s own defenses shattered as the emperor’s protection finally failed.
Somewhere far away, her brother waited for her to return. She felt him, his emotions calm, reassuring her.
Alena willed herself to appear next to the priest who had just defended himself against Brandt’s attack, not sure if such a feat was possible.
It worked.
The priest’s eyes opened wide as Alena appeared directly in front of him. Alena found the threads of his soul, wrapped herself around them, then plunged a dagger into his eye.
The priest’s soul pulled her into a familiar place.
No longer did Alena feel the fear of the cave. This was a flat plain decorated only by a single gate, somehow more real than the imitation Alena had seen outside Landow.
Alena kept a grip on the threads as the priest walked to the gate. It flared briefly as the priest stepped through, and a rush of fresh energy filled her.
A presence appeared, not quite solid.
They’d met before, but this time she recognized him.
Anders I.
The man who had founded the empire. The man whose lies and secrets threatened to destroy that same empire.
She turned away from him, but a gesture from his hand froze her in place.
“Coming here again was foolish,” he said. “Blood has limits.”
Her body was frozen, but her mouth still moved. “I need the strength to kill the queen.”
Anders shook his head. “Do you know how many you would need to face her on even footing?” He sighed. “Literal rivers of blood have been shed for that woman. Is that a burden you’re willing to place upon your own soul?”
“I’m open to other suggestions,” Alena said bitterly. “But there’s too much we don’t know.” Her gaze focused on him.
Her stare didn’t intimidate the emperor, although she thought she caught a flash of sadness cross his face. He didn’t rise to her disrespect. “You need to return. I understand Hanns’ choice, but it was a poor one. Her control of that realm is unmatched. When he reveals his possession of the second gate, you’ll need to take advantage of the moment.”
“What do I do?”
“Cut off her connections.”
With that, Anders disappeared, nothing but empty space where he had stood.
Alena swore the next time she saw him she would begin their discussion by punching him in the face. She hated cryptic answers.
She took one last look at the gate, feeling the new power flowing through her.
The feeling didn’t seem as strong as she remembered it the first time.
She returned to the cave, slammed into an assault on all her senses. Vomit rose in her throat but she forced it down. She threw a barrier over herself. It wouldn’t last long, but it gave her a moment to catch her bearings.
Brandt was dying. He was impaled on the queen’s fist and his eyes were glassy. Death here was every bit as permanent as it was in the physical world.
But his death gave Hanns time to recover from the queen’s assault. Alena saw him gathering his strength. With the queen distracted by Brandt’s last breaths, there would never be a better time to attack.
Alena twitched, eager to throw herself into Brandt’s rescue. Anders I’s words stuck with her, though. She needed to break the connection between Hanns and the queen.
But what connection?
Her vision swam with the attacks and defenses the two rulers launched at each other. Even with one distracted and the other recovering, their assaults never halted. They lacked intensity, but an undefended attack could still change the course of this battle.
Alena didn’t sense a connection between them.
Alena’s own barrier faltered. She didn’t have Hanns’ ga
te-assisted strength, and she suspected that if she didn’t act soon, Hanns would unveil his second gate to no effect.
The gate connection.
Was that it?
The queen wasn’t attacking Hanns directly. She was attacking him through his gate.
Alena sensed Hanns’ connection to the gate easily enough. It burned brightly here.
And there, a wispy thread from the queen that led to the same place, a thread that seemed insignificant.
That was what she needed to cut.
But Brandt needed her help, too.
She couldn’t save him and the empire.
So she chose the empire.
Alena allowed her barrier to break under the queen’s constant assault. She appeared behind the final priest, now approaching Hanns. A dagger appeared in her hand. Part of her desperately hungered to entwine their souls as she sent the priest to the gate. Only Anders I’s warning stopped her. She drove the dagger into the back of the priest’s skull. It resisted for a time, the priest’s defenses almost as strong as Alena’s skill.
Then the blade slipped in and the priest collapsed.
The death of the priest earned her the queen’s attention once again. A dozen spears appeared in the air, all pointing at her heart. Alena swore. She’d experienced this attack before.
The spears leaped at her.
Alena vanished and reappeared at the other end of the cave. The spears passed through empty space, embedding deeply in the stone.
The queen raised an eyebrow, giving Alena even more of her attention.
Hanns chose that moment to unveil his second gate. The world exploded with light.
No longer were they in the caves.
Alena looked around. Tall trees surrounded her. Sunlight filtered through a dense canopy of deciduous trees. The air held a stillness, a peace Alena felt in every breath. Off in the distance, birds chirped a morning song.
The queen dropped Brandt to the ground, crossing her arms in front of her as though warding off a physical assault.
Hanns stood tall, waves of light emanating off him.
Alena blinked and Hanns was gone.
He reappeared directly in front of the queen. His fist glowed as he drove a powerful uppercut into her chin.