Tristan
The sky seemed suffocated by its reddish haze today, the air thicker and harder to breathe than usual. The silence surrounding the palace was almost deafening. It was as if the entire planet understood the gravity of the events that had rattled the empire and my crew since we’d first set foot on Visio.
Muted anger dwelled in the aching pit of my stomach as I stood at the top of the palace stairs. The entire front area was packed with gold guards, both on- and off-duty soldiers summoned by Corbin Crimson, their master commander. Valaine was next to me, though she had few words to offer. The guards eyed us all—some curiously, others with clearly strained nerves.
“There are one thousand and five hundred of you,” Corbin said, his voice booming over the silent crowd, their gold armor glistening in the faded daylight. I had my hood and mask on, my gloved hands tucked in my pockets. “One thousand and five hundred soldiers of the Gold Guard, sworn to defend the Aeternae’s most powerful and respected representatives, many of them living here, in this palace.”
Corbin had summoned the entire golden guard from all over the city for what was bound to be a potentially brutal shakedown. He’d interviewed most of these people, but the presence of Darklings in the palace basement had obviously indicated that the conspiracy went much deeper. The discovery of the black-and-white braid used by the Darklings as a signal to recognize one another—well, that was an absolute gamechanger.
Joining Valaine, Corbin, and I were a dozen of the Crimson dynasty’s personal guards. We’d already vetted them, and they had proven themselves loyal to their master commander, as well as to his family and the empire.
“One thousand and five hundred.” Corbin repeated the number, his gaze wandering across the crowd. I could almost feel the rage simmering beneath his ornate gold-and-silver armor, the dark red cape fluttering loosely behind him. “One thousand and five hundred, some of whom have not been truthful during our recent interviews.”
That caused a stir among the gold guards, but no one dared say anything. Not yet, anyway. Valaine looked at me, her black eyes wide with a mixture of anger and curiosity. “They’ve really brought out the darker side of my father,” she murmured. “And the price the traitors are about to pay is… steep, to say the least.”
“The Darklings are dangerous and evil,” I said. “None should be allowed to serve as guards, especially not after what we’ve discovered in the dungeons. Not to mention their attempts on your life.”
“It has come to my attention that there is a concerning number of service members among you who are, in fact, Darklings. Traitors who have lied to my face during the interviews,” Corbin said to the crowd. He took out a black-and-white braid, raising it so everyone could see it.
In that instant, I could see at least five guards who recognized it. Five guards who were definitely Darklings. We’d kept this entire braid thing under wraps, and I knew the soldiers we’d had with us the other day had stayed silent on the matter. There were murmurs rippling through the palace square. Murmurs of concern and dismay. Stolen glances. Yes. I could see them. There were more than five Darklings here. There were dozens.
Valaine stepped forward, hands at her sides as she descended the stairs.
“My personal guards will now proceed to search each and every one of you,” Corbin continued, his brown eyes piercing through their very souls, his jaw clenched and ticking angrily. “Whoever is found in possession of such a braid is a Darkling and stands accused of conspiring against the empire. That is treason. That is punishable by death.”
One of the gold guards moved through the crowd, looking to leave. “You’ve already interviewed us. We’re innocent. I’m leaving. I will not stand for this insult. I quit!”
Valaine whispered a spell and put her hands out. A powerful pulse burst from her palms, the air rippling as the mazir magic expanded like a glass bubble around the crowd. By the time the offended soldier reached the edge, he bumped into an unbreakable barrier, difficult to observe but definitely there.
The other gold guards cursed and grumbled. Most stayed where they were, but many of those I was already suspecting of being Darklings went into a panic and tried to get away. They all failed, realizing that they were trapped by Valaine’s mazir.
“Those of you with nothing to hide have nothing to fear,” Corbin declared. “Those of you who possess this braid… well, let’s just say the future is not going to be kind.” He glanced at his personal guards. “Search them. You know what to do with the traitors.”
“Father, we must keep some of them alive. They could have information,” Valaine reminded him, her eyes still fixed on the crowd.
“You heard her,” Corbin said to his guards. “Spare a few.”
As we had anticipated, many of the gold armor soldiers were calm, allowing the Crimson guards to check their satchels and pockets. One of them reached the earlier protester, who pushed the guard away. The Crimson Aeternae didn’t have time to waste, though. He punched the living daylights out of the gold guard, who fell backward like a rag doll. He searched the guy’s pockets and produced a black-and-white braid.
Soon afterward, more Darkling braids were discovered. Valaine, Corbin, and I watched it all unravel, slowly at first, before it descended into bloody madness. I didn’t move, though every muscle in my body wanted me involved.
The Crimson guards were merciless, ripping the heads off many of the discovered Darklings. The survivors tried to fight them off, but the other gold armor soldiers helped take them down. Blood sprayed in different directions. Hearts were torn from Aeternae chests. Heads rolled. My stomach churned, but I could not look away.
By the time the Crimson guards were done, 1,450 gold soldiers remained standing, all checked for black-and-white braids. All proven innocent and loyal to the empire.
Only five Darklings were kept alive, most of them senior officers in the gold guard. The Crimson soldiers had been careful to spare the more experienced Aeternae—likely Darklings with a heavier standing within the organization.
“The young ones were probably just pawns,” Valaine said, as if reading my mind. She wiggled her fingers, and the air shimmered around the soldiers before the mazir barrier dissipated. Exhaling sharply, she nearly collapsed, but I caught her and held her up, my arms tight around her waist. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Mazir… It takes a toll on me.”
“It’s why I always ask that it be used as rarely as possible,” Corbin replied, eyeing his daughter with dark and genuine concern.
“I’ll be fine,” Valaine said, regaining her senses. She leaned into me, though, and I welcomed her presence so close to me. It felt soothing, in a way, to have her here, guiding me through this madness.
“So, that’s it.” I sighed, glancing back at the five Darklings, now kneeling at the bottom of the palace stairs. “The gold guard shakedown is complete.”
“We’ll do the same to the silver guards,” Corbin reminded me. “But any we find there will likely be mere grunts. These are the ones we want to talk to. These five, right here.”
He scowled at the Darklings, who, in turn, stared at him in sheer defiance, their hands uncomfortably tied behind their backs. The Crimson guards motioned for the other gold soldiers to go back to their posts, assigning ten of them to handle the cleanup. Blood tainted the dark gray cobblestone. Corpses had to be removed.
Valaine gasped. “Wait. There’s something wrong.”
She rushed down the stairs, and I felt compelled to follow. By the time we reached the captured Darklings, two of them had already collapsed, convulsing and foaming at the mouth. The Crimson guards were baffled. Valaine must’ve sensed something… somehow.
“What’s happening?!” one of them croaked, utterly shocked.
Corbin joined us in a flash, grabbing a third Darkling as his eyes rolled into his head. He shoved his hand into the Darkling’s mouth and cursed under his breath, retrieving it bloody. Small pieces of glass had jammed themselves into his fingers.
�
�Father, no!” Valaine cried out. “It’s poison!”
He went pale, realizing that his attempt to stop the Darklings from killing themselves could easily result in his own death.
I pointed at the remaining two Darklings, whose mandibles were already moving, something audibly crushing between their teeth. “Stop them! They’ve got some kind of poison capsules in their mouths!”
“Won’t that hurt us, too?” one of the Crimson guards asked, seemingly on the fence about intervening, given these unexpected circumstances.
Corbin fell, and Valaine knelt next to him, using a silk handkerchief to help clean his bloodied hand. He was as white as a sheet of paper, blinking slowly as he tried to make sense of what was going on.
“Father, please, look at me,” Valaine cried out, wiping the blood from his fingers.
I fumbled through my pockets and produced several healing pellets, courtesy of our Nethissis. There were enough of these on our shuttle to cure an entire army of Aeternae, so I could spare a handful for Corbin. “Here, give him these. They’ll help fight whatever toxin just went into his bloodstream.”
“Thank you,” Valaine replied and popped all the capsules in her father’s mouth, moving his jaw to help him chew on them. “What kind of poison kills an Aeternae? I don’t get it! It doesn’t make any sense!”
“I don’t know, but it’s clearly effective,” I said, troubled, as the fifth Darkling died.
The Crimson guards stared at me in disbelief, their eyes bulging with shock and fury. One of them carefully checked the mouth of a Darkling, removing pieces of glass. I crouched next to the dead fella and closely inspected the shards, noticing a dark fluid smudge on most of them.
“Whatever this is… it looks an awful lot like how Black Fever victims are described. You know, the thick black blood and so on,” I said, pinching a shard between my thumb and index finger. I held it up, sniffing it. It smelled like blood, too. The odor was faint but awfully familiar. I remembered it from my visit to the palace’s quarantine area. I looked at Corbin, whose cheeks were finally starting to regain their healthy blush. “Are you okay?” I asked him.
“I… I think so…”
He looked at his hand. His small cuts were already healing.
“I don’t think any of the black stuff got into your bloodstream,” Valaine said to him. “I reckon your paleness came with the idea of it getting into your bloodstream.”
“I take it I lost some color in my cheeks, huh.” Corbin sighed, shaking his head slowly, while I nodded. “I could’ve died. The mere thought was enough to terrify me. Wow.”
“What the hell is this?” Valaine asked me.
“I’ll have Amal and Amane study these fragments, but I’d say the Darklings have found a way to weaponize the Black Fever. Using it as poison. If this is what I think it is, we’re talking about capsules filled with late-stage-infected Aeternae blood. Once it’s ingested, I imagine it kills much faster than a naturally progressing Black Fever,” I said. “These guys must’ve slipped them into their mouths before their hands were bound. They must’ve smelled something was about to go down. I’ve seen this tactic used on Earth by spies.”
“They would rather die than rat on their Darkling buddies.” Corbin scoffed, pulling himself back to his feet. Within seconds, he was flanked by two of his Crimson guards, each of them giving him a concerned look. It made him mutter a curse under his breath. “I’m fine. Relax.”
“We’ll have to quarantine these bodies,” Valaine said, then looked at one of the guards. “Get the Faulty twins, Petra, and some of the nurses down here. If this really is suicide by Black Fever, then we’re all at risk of infection.”
We moved away from the bodies. The remaining gold guards scattered, as well. The more we dug into this mess, the deeper and dirtier it got, with fewer answers reaching the surface. My head hurt, already fogged with additional questions.
“This is insane,” I muttered as we made our way up the stairs. “They’re determined to kill you because they think it’ll stop the Black Fever. Yet they use it like spies use cyanide capsules back on my home planet whenever they’re caught, just so they won’t give away any of their secrets.”
“They’re highly organized,” Corbin replied. “And so deeply indoctrinated that they will willingly die in order to protect the other Darklings.”
We reached the palace entrance. Soldiers rushed past us to get Amal, Amane, Petra, and the nurses, while the rest of Corbin’s guards stayed a safe distance away from the Darkling bodies.
I knew they were all worried that they might’ve caught the Black Fever, Valaine and Corbin included, but I also knew that they were truly devoted to keeping the rest of their people safe. Their own wellbeing could be sacrificed to save millions of other Aeternae, and I had to admit, I deeply respected that. There was neither room nor time for panic.
We were only just getting started, and we’d already lost too many leads at once.
“They must have some medical knowledge,” I concluded as we stopped by the main entrance into the palace. “To be able to use infected blood like that—if that’s what the black goo is, anyway. Or at least some chemistry education.”
“What are you suggesting?” Valaine asked, her delicate brows pulled into a deeply concerned frown.
“Maybe it’s not just the gold and silver guards that we need to shake down,” I said. “It takes a lick of science to pull off these poison capsules. Besides, from what we’ve gathered after the Zoltan incident and based on the identities of the Darklings that Esme, Kalon, and Trev managed to take down, we’re dealing with more than just soldiers. The Darklings are probably everywhere.”
“While that may be true, purging the armed forces is essential,” Corbin replied. “If we cannot trust our defensive forces, then we are utterly screwed.”
There would be more answers once Amal and Amane analyzed the black goo and the glass shards. If they confirmed my suspicions, then we were in a lot of trouble, since chances were that all the other Darklings were in possession of such dangerous poison capsules. How strange, I thought, that these fanatics were ready to use the very disease they were so desperately trying to eradicate by killing Valaine and the many others before her.
Tristan
With the silver guards, Valaine sought assistance from one of Petra’s mazir disciples. The trouble with Visio’s magic was that, while it was powerful, mazir was significantly limited and dependent on energy levels. A barrier spell like the one Valaine had used against the gold guards was consuming, to say the least.
A disciple had been needed to support Valaine’s next endeavor—not only because she was tired, but also because the silver guards outnumbered the gold guards a hundred to one. Corbin had the entire silver army of the city gathered in the biggest square, which was normally reserved for massive events involving speeches from the Lord and Lady Supreme, as well as seasonal celebrations and blood festivals.
This time, however, the Turquoise Square was filled with silver-armored guards. Thousands of them, lined up in tightly organized rows, many wondering why they had been summoned. The golden guards episode had been kept secret, to avoid spooking potential Darklings among this lot. Corbin stood on the northern edge of the square, his armor gleaming beneath the fading sun. The Crimson guards and about five hundred gold guards had been called to assist, surrounding the entire mass of silver soldiers, as Corbin gave his treachery speech.
Valaine and Petra’s disciple anticipated a horde of silver guards looking to get out before they were discovered as Darklings—which saddened me, since it was so predictable. They cast the barrier spell, and I helped Valaine stand as she and the disciple held the mazir in place. The gold and Crimson guards dove into the crowd and started checking each soldier for black-and-white threads. Those who resisted were quickly identified and immobilized, their mouths checked before they could swallow the black goo glass capsules.
All in all, I had to give Corbin credit. He was a fast learner, and he knew how
to organize his troops. I dared not even think of a future scenario where my people and I might have to go against his Aeternae soldiers… even with our dragons and Perfects and Arch-Perfects, we were nowhere near as heavily disciplined in GASP as Corbin’s fighters.
“I’m counting about fifty so far,” Valaine said, watching the crowd rumble as most of the Darklings were identified and brought to the front. Some died along the way, ingesting their poison capsules before the guards could reach them. If, at first, the purpose of this gathering had been hazy, it was crystal clear now.
It didn’t take long for the remaining unchecked Darklings who had infiltrated the silver guards to understand that there was no way out for them. Their fanaticism was on full display, too, as they chose to kill themselves before they were even searched or arrested.
By the time the Gold and Crimson guards were done, we had about seventy Darklings captured alive. Corbin couldn’t stop a grin from slitting his face. “I dare say, today is shaping up much better than I’d expected,” he said, joining Valaine and me as we walked toward the Darklings.
The Crimson guards held them down, binding their hands with strong ligatures—some kind of metal alloy thread, from what I could tell, impressively strong. Then again, we were dealing with Aeternae. They knew how to keep their own people restrained, if push came to shove.
“Most of them are underlings, though,” I reminded Corbin.
Petra’s disciple removed the mazir barrier and stepped to the side, ready to intervene if needed. Valaine, Corbin, and I stopped in front of one of the identified Darklings, a young Aeternae male still in his early twenties, judging by his smooth skin and bony frame. One of the Crimson guards removed his silver plates, ripping the leather straps in the process.
“You don’t deserve the uniform, traitor,” the Crimson guard spat, tossing the armor away from the Darkling cluster.
A Shade of Vampire 80: A Veil of Dark Page 3