Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2) (6 page)

“Ye gods, Dassa, you’re right!” Draco said. He smacked a fist into his palm. “Natalis, you won’t rat on us, right? I mean, it makes no difference to you what we do from here on. We’d visit you, I swear!”

Lotte’s boots crunched the gravel with extra emphasis. “It’s far too early for this much treason. You mongrels can
run
the rest of the way up. On the double!” She swung her hands and smacked Draco and Hadassah on their rumps. They fled in terror, leaving a cloud of dust.

“But I didn’t say anything,” Karma cried. Lotte swung out her foot to kick him, and he bolted forward.

Taki shook his head, grateful that Lotte had spared him from yet another bout of harassment. In truth, he was now glad to be rid of the others. Once, he’d thought them his friends, but after the past few weeks of poverty and the accompanying nastiness, his esteem for them had all but vanished. A part of him had wanted to say “yes” to Hadassah’s plan, but likely such a scheme would have led to everyone’s executions. Melodic cursing echoed from above, courtesy of the rest of the squad.
Perhaps I like them a little bit. Just not enough to waste my life for.
Lotte, on the other hand, was a different story.

“Captain, I apologize for last night,” he said. “I drank too much and acted rashly.”

“You were stupid as hell,” Lotte said. “I should whip you for that.”

He gave her a cocky grin. “Are you even allowed to do that anymore?”

“Perhaps not. But I’ll warn you that the Imperial Army is a harsh place. Their punishments are brutal, and they demand more discipline than the exarch. If you don’t watch yourself, you could end up on the wrong side of a noose.”

“Aslatiel doesn’t give me that impression.”

“On a first-name basis already?”

“No!”

“Taki. Listen to me,” Lotte said.

He blinked. She’d never called him by his given name before.

She stopped and cupped his face in her hands. “Promise me you’ll be careful. The Imperials are different from us. They’ll want you to conform above all else. And for your sake, you’d better learn to see the padishah as not just your king but something more. Maybe even as your god. Learn from von Halcon, but remember that he’s not your friend. None of them are.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“And, if things should ever turn awry, if the Dominion should ever seek to rebel, if you face me or any of us on the battlefield…” She trembled. “Make sure you kill us first.”

His mouth was dry. “Cap—”

She shook him. “I’m not done yet! Just one last thing from me, and then you’ll need to start your new life. You have great power but also a kind heart. I’m happier having known you. If you’d been older, or we’d been closer in rank, I might’ve…we might’ve…” A tear coursed down her cheek. “But don’t worry about it now. Just promise me you won’t settle for any old wench.”

Taki felt his face tighten and his chest grow heavy. He clasped his hands over hers. “Dammit, Lotte, I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry. You—”

“I’m sorry I ever got dragged into that mess! I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to see things change. I couldn’t get those villagers’ faces out of my mind! I had to do something, and I got used like a tool and thrown away, and now I’ll never see you again. Shit, I’ll never see the others again, even though Dassa’s kind of a bitch and Draco’s a liar and Karma’s a creeper…” He started to sob in earnest. “I’m so sorry!”

Lotte threw her arms around him and held him for a long time. Eventually, they trudged up the mountain in silence.

On the opposite side of the barred window, a craggy-faced neokóros of the Shrine mumbled to himself while he stamped several pieces of vellum with a wax seal.

“Never thought I’d have the pleasure,” the man said, and pushed them forward. “I always thought I’d prepare your warrants for the gallows, but this will do just fine. Here’s for Cornet Natalis.”

Lotte took the precious roll of vellum, unfurled it, and checked the seal. The exarch’s signet ring had made a deep, clear impression in the wax, and only a few of the words were misspelled. The scroll was Taki’s only proof that he was not a deserter and not immediately subject to hanging or worse. “And…you’re free.”

Taki smiled and marveled at his new possession. “Aye, feels good.”

Lotte glanced expectantly through the bars. “Sir, aren’t you forgetting something?”

“I don’t believe so,” the neokóros said.

“Now’s not the time for jests. Where’s this soldier’s pension?”

The man cracked a smile of rotting teeth. “I thought you’d been apprised of that, milady Captain.”

“Apprised of
what
?”

“Why, just a few bells ago, I was visited by Principality Mezeta herself. What a lovely and fearsome woman she is.”

“Get to the point.”

“Aye, milady. Well, the principality informed me that she’d personally take care of giving Cornet Natalis’s payment to him. I had no right to question her, so I gave her the full sum. She also informed me that as of today, the squad disgracefully known as ‘Tirefire the Lesser’ had also been discharged from all duties as Polaris of the Temple. I was surprised that you only seemed interested in Cornet Natalis’s walking papers, when I’ve prepared them for all of ye. Then, she took all other pension payments as well.”

Lotte grew pale. “And where is the principality now?”

“Oh, milady, she gave me such a shock! After the principality received your funds, she disgracefully tore her chain of office from her neck and tossed it under the window to me. I believe she may have deserted and absconded with your milligrad. Naturally, I wasn’t in a position to stop her.”

“Wait a godrotting second,” Taki said. “You mean that Hecaton Mezeta fired everyone and ran off with our money?”

“You could say that, young master.”

Taki wrenched the bars so hard they shook in their casement. “You let her desert with
five hundred rounds and didn’t tell anyone
?”

“Remove your hands from the grate lest I call the Cross on you,” the neokóros said with a grin. “Now, I’ll kindly ask you
civilians
to leave.”

For the third time in his career, Taki found himself held at bayonet point by the authorities. Except this time, they were intent on shooing him out of the Temple as quickly as possible rather than trying to herd him into a cell or onto a scaffold. A hobnailed boot pushed roughly against his rear end, and he stumbled to the dusty ground outside the iron gates. Lotte followed right after, although without a kick to the buttocks. One of the Black Cross dumped a stack of vellum rolls on the ground, spat, and then turned his back. Taki slowly got to his feet and turned just in time to see the gates shut with an ear-splitting clang.

“Captain,” Draco said. He sat on a nearby boulder, nursing a swollen, purple cheek. “What in Christendom just happened?”

“We’ve been let go,” Lotte said. She pointed at the scrolls strewn on the gravel. “Those are our papers.”

“What do you mean ‘let go’?” Hadassah said. She picked up one of the scrolls and opened it. “What the hell is this? I thought they only let Natalis out!” Something frantic crossed her face, and she tromped up to the gates. “Hey! Let me back in! There’s been a mistake!”

A Polaris walking the ramparts overhead spat at her, and she barely dodged the revolting brown glob. She picked up a handful of gravel and chucked it back. The stones plinked off the walls. “Bastard, let me the hell in right now! My
stuff’s
in there! I have a
wheel of cheese
under my pallet! If it goes bad, I’ll kill you all!”

“Seems legitimate,” Karma said, sniffing at his vellum and pressing a nail into the wax. “Principality’s orders, and sealed by the exarch. We’re…we’re all free men now.”

Draco grinned. “Not the way I thought I’d end things. Thought I’d wind up dead in the mud or starving in an alley.” He started to pace. “Shit! Now what do I do? I should settle down. Buy some land and become a farmer. Maybe I’ll be a burgher somewhere! Captain, where’s the pension? I’ll take my share right now and…” He wrung his hands and skidded to his knees in front of Lotte. “And I might as well ask now! Will ye marry me?”

Lotte fixed a hollow stare at him. “It’s all gone. She walked off with our grad.”

Draco chuckled. “I understand if you want to take time and think about it. But I promise you I’d be a dutiful husband and my whoring days are behind me and…” He blinked. “What? The grad’s gone?”

“Gone.”

“But the Code promised us! I mean, we’ve just got our clothes and that’s it! H-how will I buy my farm? Who the hell took my bullets?”

“Hecaton Mezeta.”

“How?”

Lotte rubbed her temples. “She asked for them. She got them. She walked away. She…betrayed us.”

Something dark crossed Draco’s features. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know. She’s powerful. She could be anywhere. And you’re not strong enough to confront her, even if you somehow found her. None of us are.”

“Not individually,” Aslatiel said. “But together, with
Ba’gshnar
guiding us, even Hecaton Mezeta will have something to fear.”

Taki looked up from where he’d squatted in the dirt. Mounted on a coal-black charger and clad in the regal battle dress of an Imperial officer, Aslatiel looked even more imposing than ever. Taki’s heart quickened to see the man and four other Alfa waiting on horseback nearby. Unlike before, however, the sight did not provoke instant visions of death. Instead, Taki felt something else: inspired.

“You!” Hadassah said. She stormed up to Aslatiel. “You made this happen, didn’t you? Can’t you just stop screwing us?”

“I had nothing to do with it,” Aslatiel said. “I have no love for Hecaton Mezeta, and she clearly has no respect for me. We were just here to retrieve Natalis.” He gestured to Taki. “Are you ready?”

Taki took a step forward. He forced himself not to look at his former squadmates. Like roaches, they’d find a way to survive. They had their freedom. Meanwhile, his new life beckoned. He would finally gain what he wanted. “I am.”

“Then, let’s be off. Lucatiel, bring the spare mount…”

“Hold a moment,” Lotte said.

Aslatiel cocked his head. “Captain?”

“Do you know where she is? Mezeta?”

“No. But she is a grave threat to my people if she’s gone off on her own. We will certainly find her. And if needed, we will kill her.”

“I forbid it!”

Aslatiel shrugged. “You’ll forbid nothing.”

“If anyone kills her,” Lotte said, “it’ll be
me.
It’s my
right
, you godrotting Imperial swine! I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll even join your army!”

“Really?” Aslatiel let out a snort. “Will you prostrate yourself before the padishah? Accept me as your superior? Follow my orders? Salute my flag? You’ll really debase yourself that much for revenge?”

“Yes.” Lotte fell to her knees and pressed her forehead on the dirt. “If that’s what I must do to find and kill the bitch!”

“And me too,” Draco said. “Mezeta’s ruined my life. I aim to ruin hers.” He kowtowed beside Lotte.

Hadassah, whose face was streaked with tears and grime, grumbled something unintelligible and did the same.

“I just want my bullets, so count me in,” Karma said. He took his hat off and bowed with a flourish.

“Forgive me, but I highly doubt your sincerity. Fare thee well.” Aslatiel tugged at his reins.

Taki’s hand shot out and grasped the ankle of Aslatiel’s calfskin boot. “Sir Aslatiel, I can vouch for them. I beg you to reconsider.” He locked eyes with his new commander.
What the hell am I doing?

“I was under the impression you held them in disdain,” Aslatiel said. “Sending Lucatiel to your room instead of the wench you’d hired was their idea, after all.”

Taki bit the inside of his cheek. Hard. “Please grant me this boon, Oberleutnant.”

Aslatiel chuckled. “Fine, but I’ve only brought one extra mount. They’ll have to walk.”

“So be it,” Taki said, and grinned.

Taki was farther from home than he’d ever been. For the last season, he’d evaded death from storms aboard an Imperial carrack, ridden a rusty iron serpent through the sands of a shifting desert, and itched sand from every possible orifice on the human body. Whatever beauty the Imperium’s enormous territories possessed had been overwhelmed by the sheer horror of travel, and there was yet more to come. They headed relentlessly east for a destination deep within the heartland, a place Aslatiel called “Xizhang” but refused to divulge more about.

For the last month, Taki had been tasked with guard duty on an Imperial caravan. With twenty heavy wagons overloaded with supplies, this stretch was the slowest and most monotonous part of the journey thus far. He rode with the crates and barrels, squeezing in wherever he could and sleeping next to the wagons when they made camp for the evenings. He caught himself ofttimes wishing for an encounter with bandits, as there was often nothing to do but watch the sun’s slow arc through the sky while inhaling the stench of horses and dust.