The Crown of the Usurper (41 page)

  "They have other, less tangible powers at their disposal," said Noran, picking his words with visible care. The noble turned his eyes to dawnwards, his gaze moving to something in the far distance. "I think I see now something of their purpose. Since the birth of the empire they have crushed the old beliefs, teaching us that there is nothing in the world save for the mortal and physical. They have lied to us."

  Anasind laughed, but it was from nervousness not humour.

  "You sound like a Salphor, talking about spirits and otherworldly forces."

  Noran turned on him with a fierce look, one hand gripping the rail tightly.

  "I have seen things that have no mortal explanation. You have witnessed it too, if you would open your eyes to it. You remember the plagues and snows that beset you when you fought against Lutaar? What of my recovery from a never-ending sleep? Did you not consider how that was possible? What did you think of a man with eyes of gold? These are not natural things, and I have since encountered far worse."

  A chill trickled through Anasind despite the warm sun. To mask his unease he took a swig of wine and waved a hand to encompass Narun.

  "Their power cannot be so strong if they let us walk into the greatest docks in the empire without resistance. If they are not bound by mortal limits, why is it that they did not see us coming?"

  "You do not believe me?" Noran shook his head. "The Brotherhood have done their job well."

  "In Salphoria our foes called upon the spirits to aid them, but the Salphors fell to our spears and swords all the same. Do not take offence, but I think that you have not recovered from your ordeals and your mind is prey to simple tricks and malign suggestions."

  "I wish that you were right," said Noran. He shrugged. "Better to believe my own thoughts unsafe than to acknowledge that which I have seen as truth."

  A commotion in the street below drew the attention of both men and Anasind leaned out over the rail to see what was happening. A handful of soldiers were approaching along the street, calling for the legionnaires in their way to clear a path. Anasind recognised Donar in the knot of men striding towards the command post, surrounded by a cadre of legionnaires. Beside the first captain walked a large man, clean-shaven and with hair hanging to his shoulders. The face was unfamiliar but there was a strut to the man's step and a confidence in his bearing that struck a chord in the general's mind.

  "Well, that is one less question to vex us," Noran said with a laugh.

  "What do you mean?"

  Noran pointed at the stranger with Donar and grinned.

  "The king has arrived."

 

Ullsaard entered the building and found Anasind hurrying down a stairway, Noran just behind. The surprise of the general was evident in his expression, but Ullsaard was happy to see a familiar face. After recent tribulations, both political and domestic, the sight of Anasind filled the king with a joy he had not known for some time. Anasind's presence signified a shift in the fortunes of the king, and heralded the conclusion of the whole sorry affair that had engulfed Ullsaard and the empire. Before Anasind could say anything, Ullsaard stepped up and threw an arm around the general, slapping him on the back as they embraced.

  "I've never been so happy to see another man," Ullsaard said with a grin, stepping back. "That and the thousands you've brought with you."

  "I am equally happy to see you alive and in good spirits, my king," said Anasind, reeling slightly from Ullsaard's greeting.

  Looking around, Ullsaard noted an absence.

  "Where is Aegenuis?" he asked, expecting the Salphorian king to be close at hand, as he had instructed. Anasind's smile faded and Ullsaard's mood darkened quickly. "Why is he not here?"

  "In order to move swiftly to your aid, I had to make a fresh bargain with Aegenuis," Anasind explained, looking away. The general waved towards a curtained doorway and led Ullsaard into an adjoining room. Within was a small room, furnished with low couches and a table strewn with tablets and slates. "His son, Medorian, escaped the failed attack against us and had been rebuilding support amongst the Salphorian chieftains. It would have taken more time and men than we had to spare, so I impressed upon Aegenuis the need for him to restore his authority."

  "You left him?" Ullsaard could not quite believe what he had heard. "My orders were specific for a reason. What is to stop Aegenuis making peace with his son and turning against us?"

  "It was an impossible situation, Ullsaard," said Noran, standing by the doorway. Ullsaard turned and the noble flinched under his glare but continued. "I agree with Anasind's choice. There is no point keeping Salphoria if you lose Greater Askhor, is there?"

  As much as it pained him to admit, the two of them had a point. Acknowledging this, he patted Anasind on the shoulder.

  "You did the right thing," said the king, provoking obvious relief from the general. "I knew the risks I was taking by calling you back, and we'll just have to deal with the shit that follows. And if we are lucky, Aegenuis and Medorian will tear each other apart, making it easier for us to regain control when we are done with Urikh."

  "If we are really lucky, Aegenuis will crush Medorian and hold to his word," said Noran. His eyes roved around the room seeking something; something he evidently did not find as he sighed and returned his gaze to Ullsaard. "I left the wine on the roof, otherwise I would offer you proper welcome."

  "Wine can wait," said Ullsaard. He called out for Donar, who slipped through the door past Noran and strode across the room to stand beside Anasind.

  "Are we all acquainted again?" said the first captain. "What next?"

  "Narun will be secured before nightfall, and all proof suggests that Urikh's legions are far to hotwards," said Anasind. "We will have plenty of time to prepare defences for their return."

  "No, I'm not wasting time," said Ullsaard. "The time to strike is upon us and we must hit hard while there are no other distractions. We will take Askh and bring down Urikh, and that serpent Lakhyri too if we can find him. I am out of patience. The Brotherhood will be brought to heel once and for all."

  
A worthy goal, I am sure. How do you plan to achieve that?

  There was a mocking tone to Askhos' question, but the point was valid.

  "The majority of the Brotherhood are loyal to the empire, and when we have removed Lakhyri from his perch they shall return their loyalty to me. The Brothers across the empire follow the instructions of their superiors, and so we shall install a High Brother who is aligned to me."

  "I do not think there is a man you could trust with such power, not now," said Noran.

  "What do you intend to do with Urikh?" asked Donar. "I know he is your son, but…"

  
Noran is right. You place a great deal on the shoulders of whomever you pick.

  Rubbing his temple, Ullsaard tried to separate the conversation in the room with the commentary in his head. He looked between Donar and Noran and attempted to answer both questions at once.

  "Urikh will be punished, do not think that he will escape retribution, but he is not wholly to blame for this. Without Lakhyri and the Brotherhood he can do little real damage. His mischief will cost him dearly, but it is Lakhyri that we must get rid of."

  
Easily said, but more difficult to enact.

  "Lakhyri is not without protection," Noran said, glancing with concern at the two first captains.

  "Such protection does not extended to immunity from a spear," said Ullsaard, tiring of his companions' questions and arguments. "Debate will not resolve this, only action. Anasind, have your men ready by Low Watch tomorrow. We march on Askh without delay."

 
Terror and chaos reigned. Blood slicked the floor of the main chamber and bodies lay all about the Last Corpse. Asirkhyr looked on in horror as the handful of surviving worshippers continued their struggles, divided in loyalty between the hierophants. Eriekh had called out damning accusation to the followers and some had risen up in his defence; others had come to the aid of Asirkhyr and fighting had broken out. The Temple was devoid of weapons and so both sides had throttled and bludgeoned with hands and feet, bashing each other's heads against walls and floor, breaking bone and choking life with grasping fingers.

  Drawn by the bloodshed, the Eulanui had gathered, their presence pouring from the Last Corpse like oily smoke, coalescing above the mayhem, feeding on the life-force of the dying and the dead. Asirkhyr watched now as the last few men slipped in the crimson puddles, grappling and snarling, spurred on by a vehemence possessed only by the truly faithful.

  The Last Corpse was swelling with power, soaking in the blood that trickled against its base, its aura darkening the room so that the hierophant could only dimly see the thrashing, flailing limbs of the Eulanui as they absorbed the meat and bones of the fallen. The shadows were deepening with every passing moment, substance given to the insubstantial.

  Eriekh lay at Asirkhyr's feet, his face a ragged mess, his blood smeared over flagstone and brick. That blood stained Asirkhyr's arms up to the elbow and he still trembled with the primal, feral joy of smashing his enemy's head against the floor with his bare hands. He had never been a violent man, but the whispers of the Eulanui had urged him on, fuelling blow after blow. Now horrified calm gripped the hierophant as he backed away from the carnage, turning towards the passageway that led to the lower levels where he would be able to displace himself into the Grand Precincts of Askh.

  Something gripped his ankle and he turned to find Eriekh still lived, bony fingers wrapped about Asirkhyr's leg. Hatefilled eyes stared up at him from the ruin of the hierophant's face, and bloodied lips peeled back to reveal crimson-flecked teeth.

  "You have doomed us." Eriekh's words were barely more than a whisper, but his grasp was tight with insane strength as Asirkhyr tried to free his ankle. "You have brought the masters' wrath down upon us."

  Asirkhyr kicked out, driving the heel of his foot into Eriekh's face. Twice more he stamped on the hierophant's head and Eriekh's grip grew limp.

  Looking across the chamber, Asirkhyr realised that Eriekh had delayed him long enough. The Eulanui had finished feasting on the others and circled above, skittering and clambering over the ceiling and walls, clusters of tenebrous tentacles gathering around him. A strand of darkness extended down from the ceiling and touched upon his shoulder, almost loving in its gentle caress. Pleasant numbness flowed through Asirkhyr's body and all thought of resistance fled his mind as more feeder-tendrils latched onto his withered skin.

  His heart beat once more, and then his body collapsed into nothing, every particle of his essence absorbed by the nightmares his folly had brought forth.

 

This time there were no legions to bar Ullsaard's path. The captain commanding the garrison on the wall, on being confronted by the true king and five first captains of the legions, had opened the gates without hesitation, and two days' more marching had brought Ullsaard's army within sight of the capital. The last time he had marched on Askh with intent for battle he had been forced to kill one of his oldest friends; the prospect that he might have to dispense the same fate to Urikh filled him with a grim mood.

  Nearly thirty thousand strong, the column stretched for several miles along the road. Icons of Askhos glinted at the head of each legion when the sun broke from the scattered cloud, and helmet crests fluttered in the strengthening wind. The tramp of the legionnaires marching in step reverberated across the countryside, giving warning to the farmsteads and trade posts dotted along the road that the rightful king had returned.

  Some folk came from their homes, shouting cheers of encouragement and praises to Ullsaard, but most stayed indoors, peering fearfully from windows and doorways as rank after rank after rank of soldiers marched past. Rumour of turmoil had been rife for a long time, and the arrival of the army increased worry rather than set minds at rest. Here in the heartland of the empire, Urikh's tyranny had been wellmasked. Answering directly to the king, the people knew little of the banishment of the governors, and cared even less.

  "I see accusation in their eyes," remarked Ullsaard as he strode past a small group of farm houses, a man and two women watching the progress of the legionnaires from the shadow of a barn. Behind them clustered a trio of children, all of them too young to properly remember the last time Ullsaard had come to Askhor with an army.

  "It will take longer to repair the damage wrought by Urikh than it did for him to inflict it," replied Noran. "Askh was once a bastion of civilisation and peace and you have overturned that. Memories are short-lived concerning the bounties of Salphoria that flowed into these lands, but will long remain of you bringing hungry soldiers."

  Salphoria was still a sore issue with the king and he said nothing, though he looked to Anasind not far ahead with his command staff. Ullsaard knew that he had unfinished business with Aegenuis, and though he did not hold the general at fault for his decision, he would have preferred that the Salphorian leader had remained under close watch.

  "I know that you are reluctant to discuss the matter, but have you considered what you will do with Urikh?" Noran asked. The herald had become more obviously distressed as they came closer to the city, his nerves bringing his talkative nature to the fore. "He is still the heir of the Blood, regardless of what he has done. And princes of the Blood are thin on the ground these days."