By the time night fell, we’d gathered three dozen would-be soldiers.
I used my new distant portals ability to retread recent ground, spilling the team out around the southern Goldmarch. We picked up people here and there, promising revenge on the Council that had led the malae through their lands, caring not for the destruction left in their wake. We recruited some from near Tradum, who had almost been corrupted into monsters for the Council’s army. Some of them recognised us as the team that had got them out of that city, and were not just ready to join us in battle, but ready to pledge their lives to our cause. I felt uncomfortable asking for that at first, but Corminar reminded me that we couldn’t afford such luxuries; we needed all the help we could get.
My latest ability had quickly proven to be the correct choice, allowing us to jump around the continent in the blink of an eye. But it came at a huge cost—the mana required for each activation was huge, and I could only keep going for as long as Corminar could provide me with mana potions. Without said potions, I wouldn’t be able to use the ability more than once or twice a day.
And though I had the mana potions to keep me going, the spell was draining. I could feel the bags under my eyes, my eyelids ready to close at any moment, my thighs aching with exhaustion. This was another thing we couldn’t afford to care about; I would have time to be tired later.
Corminar and I spilled out of the latest portal with four new soldiers at our side—the best single haul we’d had so far. We arrived back in camp, a few miles to the south of Auricia and hidden in a dense woodland. We couldn’t afford to be spotted, at least until we had more in our number. If the Council knew we were here, we’d be easy pickings.
The camp had taken shape more in the hour that Corminar and I had been gone. Arzak, with the help of Zoi, had ordered our new charges into responsibilities based on their skillsets. Some gathered wood for the fires, others made arrows, others hunted food—and the list went on. We’d been lucky to find an expert Needlework crafter in one of the first forays into the south. Though creating tents was below their level of expertise, it meant they were able to craft them quickly, and were even happy to do so.
I saw Val getting some rest in one of these tents in the centre of the camp. Good, she needed it. I had a job for her and Lore, and she’d need to be fresh for it. For now, I let her sleep. I considered joining her—there was space on the thin blanket for me to lay beside her, and I knew she’d appreciate the warmth, but… still, there was work to be done.
My elven friend handed me another potion, and I drank it immediately. Though it didn’t do much to lessen my fatigue, at least I wouldn’t have the uncomfortable sensation of low mana reserves. ‘How many more until you need to make more?’ I asked.
‘That is the last. Perhaps we do one last foray—I hear there is a town north of Tradum ripe for the picking—and then you get some rest. You look as though you need it.’
‘What about you?’ I asked.
‘I am not the one casting powerful spells.’ Before I could argue, he added, ‘I will rest when the work is done. I—’ His ears pricked up, and I knew exactly what that signalled. I turned to the treeline, looking for signs of movement, looking for signs that the Council had found us, that we were now about to be ambushed by a corrupted army.
‘Trouble!’ someone roared. The shout came from the north side of camp—not good.
Corminar and I began running to the source of the shout, and I closed the distance with a portal. As we stumbled out at the very edge of the camp, I followed the lookout’s pointed finger. There were silhouettes darting between the dark trees.
‘To stations!’ I shouted, and dozens of voices echoed the order, causing it to ring around the camp. Every soul here came to defend us, including a groggy Val, who was wiping the sleep from her eyes even as she prepared a lifedrain spell. We formed three long lines along the northern side of the camp, the strongest in the first line, those with ranged attacks in the second, and those with support skills at the back.
A lone man stepped forth from the trees, into the light of our torches. He wore the golden armour of the Goldmarch, but one with an ornate metal design, and freshly polished. I saw that he was carrying a large glass flask in both hands—one that was filled with a red liquid that swirled and glowed in patches, as though full of energy. As the stranger in gold placed the container on the ground, Corminar shouted, ‘Everyone, get back!’
Everyone but me took a dozen paces backwards. I, on the other hand, portalled to the enemy’s side, placing the point of my blade on his neck. ‘What is it?’ I spat.
‘Insurance,’ the stranger replied.
‘An explosive potion,’ Corminar called out from the second row of our defensive line. ‘One that is powerful enough to eliminate most of us in one fell swoop.’
‘Why?’ I asked, digging the point of my blade into the enemy’s neck. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of my dagger. ‘Why have you brought this here?’
The soldier smiled. ‘Because my liege wishes to speak with you, and she thinks you’re gonna need the right motivation to listen.’ He turned to the rest of the camp. ‘If any of you run, I activate it.’
I was pleased to see the line hold steady—there were no cowards here.
‘Where are they? Your liege?’ I demanded.
‘They are ready for you,’ the soldier shouted, ‘your majesty.’
My heart dropped. The ornate, polished armour now made sense. This wasn’t just any old soldier in the Golden Army; this was a member of the royal guard. Which meant…
The empress and a small retinue emerged from the darkness. Amira’s long hair draped over fox skins and an ornate velvet traveller’s robe—though dressed for the cold, she hadn’t sacrificed that regal style. The soldiers were dressed in the same ornate metal armour as the first, about half their number armed with explosive potions of their own. From the look on Corminar’s face, that wasn’t just enough firepower to kill all of us, it might well wipe a good chunk of the forest off the map too.
‘You will kneel in her majesty’s presence,’ the first soldier spat.
Nobody moved a muscle.
‘Kneel?’ my elven friend repeated. ‘You are fortunate that we do not kill her, after all she has done.’ I knew exactly what he was referring to; it was part of Empress Amira’s army that had taken the Dawnwood, despite our efforts to stop it.
‘I am sure my footman explained the nature of his potion to you,’ the empress said, beady eyes trained on Corminar. Though the golden crown she wore looked heavy, she still managed to raise her head enough to look down her nose at him. ‘At any sign of attack, we will—’
‘And kill yourself in the process,’ Val finished. ‘I don’t think so.’
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
At this, the empress smiled. ‘If you knew that which I had been through, you would not doubt my intent.’
I flicked my eyes around the camp, looking for other signs of trouble. My first thought was that this wasn’t an ambush, but that didn’t make any sense. Why risk the empress to lure out a small camp? Why not send someone else? ‘Why are you here?’ I demanded, lowing my dagger from the soldier’s throat. He didn’t seem to care about his own life all that much anyway.
‘I have come to propose a deal,’ she answered.
‘To us? What could we have that you could possibly want?’
‘If only you knew the fortune we expended to find you. You command loyalty in the south—particularly the orc. Few wished to reveal your location, yet every man has his price. Do not doubt my intent, Tundran. I would not be here if I did not think this meeting could be mutually beneficial.’
‘I have had quite enough—’ Corminar started, reaching for a bow.
I raised a hand to signal him to stop, not quite sure if this fury was a ploy or simply his sincere reaction. ‘You could’ve sent a scout,’ I said to the empress. ‘But you’re here yourself. And something tells me those potions weren’t meant for me.’
The empress’s right eye twitched ever so slightly, and I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been looking for it. I was on the right lines.
‘You’ve been exiled, haven’t you? Your precious Council have thrown you out, haven’t they?’
Empress Amira didn’t say a word, but Corminar threw his head back and laughed like I had never seen him laugh before. I couldn’t blame him.
Val, also struggling to suppress a snicker, added, ‘You gave them everything for an empire, and then they took your empire anyway! What a deal! Nice one, your majesty.’
‘If you do not cease insulting her majesty, I will—’ one of the soldiers started, but just as I had signalled Corminar to stand down, Amira did the same.
‘I’m guessing those potions are the only reason you even got away, are they?’ I asked. It was a guess, but a pretty safe one. ‘The Council don’t strike me as people who shy away from a little assassination if it suits their needs. And, wait, if you’ve been exiled, what could you possibly offer us?’
Amira’s face remained stony, not betraying her true feelings, though I suspected I knew what they were. ‘If you eliminate the Council, and put me back upon my rightful throne, I will not just make you lords. I will cede land, and give you kingdoms of your own.’
‘I—’ I started, but Amira raised her hand to cut me off, and for all her faults, she had enough gravitas that I paused.
‘You know the true nature of their schemes? They would end this world, in a matter of weeks. You may feel as though I am giving you a choice, but there truly is none. Rise against the Council, or perish—it seems no choice at all, to me.’
I looked to Val, then to Lore, then to Arzak. I didn’t need to look to Corminar because I knew he’d still be snarling at the exiled empress. We were not a team who did what we did for land, or coin, or fame. We did what we did because it was right. We were going to attack the Council, and probably even die in the process, but the only reward we sought was for our world to survive. And I had an idea, just then, about how we might do that.
‘Keep your lands,’ I told Amira. ‘We’re not interested.’
‘Err…’ Val started, apparently not quite so sure.
‘But if you want us to kill the Council… if you want us to save this world, you’re going to have to pay up.’ I gestured to the glass container in the nearest soldier’s grasp. ‘Those potions. I want them.’
‘Without them, we are defenseless!’ a soldier cried out.
‘You’ve still got your weapons. With your training, you would take down a good number of us before we killed you, and you know as well as I do that we can’t spare anyone. So you will have to trust us.’
As the empress considered the terms of this new deal, Val approached me, grabbing me gently by the arm. ‘Styk? What are you planning?’
I looked up at her, and simply from seeing her face, I smiled. ‘I’m gonna buy us some time,’ I said.