The Dreaming Hunt (16 page)

Will was interested to see the great battle mage at work. From what he'd heard, Aurelius had epic skill in combat. As orders were shouted down the lines, Will reviewed the spells he'd learned recently—how to deliver metered amounts of magical damage, and the specialized spells of a battle mage, spells for weakening, slowing, and immobilizing targets.

The three main prongs of the invading force poured into the square, and heretofore unseen Boki, who must have been marauding in the side streets leading to the square, pushed into the space behind their brethren.

Oh, this was not good. Will tried to count greenskins and got lost somewhere in excess of two hundred Boki warriors. In his experience, the militia would need four or five skilled soldiers for every one Boki to have a fighting chance. Although there were upward of a thousand locals on this side of the lines, many of them were civilians or new conscripts to the Haelan legion. The Dupree forces had a decent number of battle mages and healers, but would that be enough to turn the tide in their favor?

He took a closer look at the horde and realized with a start that it was comprised of more goblins, ogres, and other races than actual Boki. That was strange.

He studied the Boki themselves. Curiouser and curiouser. He didn't spot many grizzled, heavily scarred orcs. Boki warriors wore their scars like trophies: the more experienced, the more scarred. Shamans also seemed to be in seriously short supply.

“Something's wrong!” he called to his grandfather. “These are only youngsters and inexperienced fighters. Where are the real Boki warriors?”

Aurelius took a hard look at the enemy columns and then nodded tersely at Will. “Maybe this is a splinter faction we didn't meet in the Forest of Thorns.”

The Boki had factions within their ranks? That was news to him. At least someone in charge was alerted to the possibility that this was a trap. Of course, it was also possible that the Boki hadn't bothered to send their best fighters because they didn't think they would be necessary for the defeat of Dupree.

Aurelius yelled to his men, “Find their casters! Call out as you spot them!”

Will spied a line of white tabards spreading out behind the Imperial lines. The Heart. Rosana would be among them. Panic for her safety nearly overcame him. He resolved to fight his way across the lines until he spotted her and then to stick to her like glue.

He spotted Raina, parked behind a burly Royal Order of the Sun warrior, and she looked none too happy. She'd gone all save-the-bunnies since she'd put on those colors. Probably was having a heart attack over the loss of life to come. Her peaceful sentiments were noble, but affairs of state were inherently violent. Wishing for everyone to get along and love one another was pure fantasy.
This
was the way of the world.

Tonight, the city of Dupree would live or die, and possibly the entire young colony with it. The governess would prove her mettle in battle, or she would fail before she ever really established herself.

 

CHAPTER

11

Princess Endellian mentally winced when High Lord Inquisitor Laernan was announced into Emperor Maximillian's small throne room. Her half brother was never the bearer of good tidings. Not to mention her father had been volatile ever since word of Anton Constantine being deposed in Dupree had reached the Imperial Court. Bad news was the last thing the Emperor's uncertain mood needed right now.

She did not for a second think that Maximillian was actually worried about Haelos. If anything, she sensed a hint of entertainment in his mental emanations when he was not primarily irritated. One of the great risks of immortality was boredom. And humans were terribly predictable most of the time. Her father had so successfully cowed them that they barely posed a challenge anymore.

Laernan glanced quickly around the golden throne room—a miniature version of the Great Receiving Hall in the center of the sprawling Imperial Seat—and seemed relieved that only she and her father were present. Along with a line of deaf guards, of course.

“What have you for me today?” her father asked his chief inquisitor pleasantly enough.

“A prophecy, Your Resplendent Majesty.”

“From a Child of Fate?”

“Aye, Your Majesty.”

“Let us have it, then.” Her father sounded supremely disinterested. And for good reason. The Children of Fate had been singing dire fates for Maximillian and the Eternal Empire of Koth for years now. The refrain was growing old.

Laernan bowed his head and then said, “It goes thus:

Unto an ancient kingdom shall a new Empire arise.

Borne on the wings of falcon great, the old is swept aside.

Great Totem, mighty Haelos born, warrior wings shall fill the night.

The stars shall fall within his wake and all is set aright
.”

Her first inclination was to shrug off the latest prophecy of doom and destruction, hence she was surprised when Maximillian asked Laernan to repeat it and then proceeded to wax thoughtful.

A falcon? General Tarses, mayhap? Her father had been fond of calling his favorite general his falcon. Her heart leaped in hope that her lover of long ago might finally return, but she quashed the reaction before her father could sense it.

Or the new governess of Dupree, perhaps? She was some sort of avarian. A bird changeling. Was she the falcon who would bring a new Empire to an ancient kingdom? If so, her father would be well pleased. The governess had risen from squalor to become an Imperial noble. She owed all she was to the Empire.

But what if this falcon was someone else? What if this was yet another warning of impending doom to the Kothite Throne? Gah. She had no patience for prophecies and double-speak. How her father abided such tripe was beyond her.

She knew, of course, what his answer would be if she asked why he tolerated such things. He would shrug and remind her that his subjects paid attention to seers and prophets; therefore, he did the same. Frankly, as seers went, the Children of Fate were more prescient than most. And indeed, by the rules of the Accord, if enough mortals believed a thing, it could come to pass according to their beliefs. Still. She had trouble crediting her almighty father with believing any of it.

Although he had reacted forcefully to the Prophecy of the End, as it had come to be called. Given by a Child of Fate oracle under torture nearly twenty years ago, it had been the first prophecy to forecast the end of the Kothite Empire at the hands of a nameless one who would supposedly emerge from the wilds to break the shackles of Kothite rule.
Absurd
. Her father was stronger than ever.

She had to admit, though, that the Children of Fate were known to be uncannily accurate. Laernan readily admitted that his prisoners had some sort of special connection to forces beyond the Veil of Time. Even her half brother, son of the King of Kufu, ruler of the Sands of Time himself, could not generate the same connection across time.

Reluctantly, she turned her attention back to this latest mumbling. What of the totem reference in this falcon prophecy? Archduke Ammertus, leader of the invasion force that had been sent to take Haelos, had broken the Great Circle he'd found there. The surviving totems in Haelos were in disarray and no threat to the Empire. Was the Falcon Totem on the rise once more, perchance? A single totem could not possibly threaten the entire empire. Last she'd heard, a Falcon Totem had emerged in Pan Orda. Was that the falcon in the prophecy, perhaps?

Bah. She would discount the whole riddled mess were it not for her father's continued interest in the Children of Fate.

“How goes the hunt for new Children?” Maximillian asked abruptly.

Laernan frowned slightly, which spoke volumes. “They continue to be scarce.”

She picked up on a faint nuance in his voice that spoke of Children hiding. Or perhaps fleeing Koth. Odd. Children of Fate would not have the resources to dodge the Emperor's hounds or to escape Koth on their own. Surely, they did not receive assistance. Who would dare? The notion of anyone resisting her father's will was laughable.

For his part, Maximillian did not seem perturbed. “Continue running the hounds.”

“I shall inform the Master of Hounds, Your Resplendent Majesty,” Laernan replied formally. He murmured something about retiring and returning to his work. She did not envy him spending all his time, day in and day out, tearing into the minds of unwilling victims. She got the impression he did not enjoy his work, but he was unparalleled at it.

No sooner had Laernan bowed his way out than the chamberlain announced another arrival. And this one made her father sit up straighter on his throne. Captain Kodo, captain of the Black Ship
Victorious,
fresh returned from Dupree.

The captain must have worked his mages mercilessly to spur on the wind elementals and water elementals who propelled Black Ships at greater than normal speed. Usually, it took nine months or more to cross the mighty Abyssmal Sea that separated Koth from Haelos and return again. But Kodo had completed this round trip in an unheard of six months. It was dangerous in the extreme to make the crossing so rapidly, even for a Black Ship.

“Report, Kodo,” Max ordered.

“As already reported, based on information given to me by First Advisor Ceridwyn Nightshade and several Imperial guildmasters, I was forced to remove Governor Constantine from his position and place him under arrest.”

“What is this information you speak of?”

Kodo handed over a black, leather-bound journal to her father. Maximillian perused it at length while all in the throne room waited in silence.

Maximillian looked up. “Where is Nightshade? Why is she not standing in front of me to present these accusations?”

“Shortly after First Advisor Nightshade handed over those notes, a minor riot broke out, and I was diverted containing it. By the time calm was restored and I sent orders to the palace for Ceridwyn to present herself to me, she was gone. Nobody could give me any information regarding where she might be.”

“And where is Anton?” Maximillian asked, looking over Kodo's shoulder expectantly.

The captain answered regretfully, “Anton fled the scene moments after I removed him from power. The riot I mentioned flared up at my proclamation, and he used the … confusion to make his escape.”

Endellian got the distinct impression that the word Kodo had wanted to use was
celebration,
not
confusion
. So. The natives celebrated their governor's fall, did they? Her father did not seem surprised at that silent revelation.

Kodo was speaking again. “To date, Constantine remains at large.”

“Find Constantine and Nightshade and bring them both to me. Commandeer as many troops as you need and offer whatever reward is necessary to apprehend them.”

Kodo bowed in silent acquiescence to the order.

Max's fingers drummed the arm of his throne, a sure sign that his patience had worn thin. “So. The first advisor vanished, and Anton ran. Then what transpired?”

“For lack of any other suitable noble, I named the ranking Kothite noble present interim governess until you can select a permanent governor.”

“Syreena Wingblade,” Max murmured thoughtfully. “How do you judge her capabilities, Kodo?”

“She will rule with a lighter hand than her predecessor. Production in the colony will drop although income from that quarter may, in fact, rise.”

Endellian's brows shot upward. Kodo dared to intimate that one of her father's governors had been dipping his fingers in the coffers? Graft and corruption must have been rampant in Dupree for Kodo to be so bold. Not that she was surprised. Anton had always seemed a slimy character in her estimation. Constantine was a known pet of Ammertus, who was not exactly renowned for his stability or law-abiding nature.

Kodo continued, “Given time, I believe she will calm the colony.”

“Any other news of note?” Maximillian asked.

“I did hear a rumor that a certain escaped prisoner was seen beyond the Estarran Sea.”

Endellian's heart leaped.
Tarses had been seen?

She still thought of him fondly, even if she also understood the necessity for Maximillian to keep him under wraps and believed dead by all. A charismatic and likable leader, Tarses had been too successful for his own good. The entire Imperial Army adored him to the extent that he actually posed a potential threat to Maximillian's throne. And then there was the whole business of the ice elemental Tarses had tried to absorb. There was no telling how it had changed her father's old friend. But surely it had.

Although he'd considered Tarses his closest friend, Maximillian had been forced to banish him to a secret prison in Dupree and circulate a story that Tarses had been killed in battle. The Emperor simply could not allow such an unpredictable person to exist. Still, she missed him.

Ironic that her lover was now a nameless fugitive, disappeared into the wilds. Almost as if he were being shaped by the prophecy of the end itself. Not that any mumbled vision by some fortune-telling hack actually had the power to shape the future against the will of her father.

Maximillian spoke briskly to Kodo. “Have special hounds prepared. Send a contingent of your best troops with them to the Estarran Sea and beyond. Find him. Bring him back to me in utmost secrecy.” Her father sounded as satisfied as a cat with a bowl of cream all to itself. The news about Tarses had pleased him greatly. She held no illusion that her sire's contentment derived from the anticipated return of his old friend. Rather, he enjoyed manipulating events to circumvent that old prophecy about a nameless one coming in from the wild.

“So shall it be, Your Resplendent Majesty,” Kodo murmured obediently.

“One last task, Kodo. Find and destroy the Falcon Totem of Haelos and the Great Falcon of the Pan Ordan Circle of Beasts.”