|
Chapter One
It was another day in the Imperial Palace. The world was bright and green around it, and the sounds of thousands of servants going about their appointed tasks ensured that order was still very much apart of the world. Alaria rose from her bed, her servants dressing her very quickly. She moved out of the room, her attendants following her. She smiled at the servants, each of whom returned a sad smile back, something that they had always done and she could never explain. She walked down the long spiral staircase, smiling at her father who stood at the bottom of the staircase. She frowned a bit, seeing the captives who were chained to one another. It had been another month of raiding and capturing the heretics. He would be busy with this for at least the entire afternoon. "And let the world be consumed by Flame..." the voice spoke quietly, but her attention turned just in time to see one of the imperial guards burst into flames. One of the captured heretics stepped forward, his chains white hot, the air heating around him as he walked. a Tendril of flame shot out towards her, and her eyes closed, her arms moving across her face. She felt the heat, but not the flame. Her eyes opened, staring. Jinto, the man who dressed her since she was a baby had stepped into the path of the flame, taking the burning. The flame died as suddenly as it had come, the man's eyes let out steam rather than tears. He fell to his knees and the surviving guards beat him savagely. She watched as his blood ran from his shattered body. She looked down at Jinto, seeing what the flame had done to him, what it would have done to her. His entire abdomen was burned down to the bone, his lungs seared. He was dying, and he had done so for her. "Jinto, why, why did you do this?" "Hope for the future." He wrapped his arms around her, embracing her as a father would embrace his daughter, and died. She stood, walking towards the man who had killed Jinto, fists balled in anger. The guards moved out of her way, her father nodding to them to allow her to pass. She stomped and kicked and beat on him, her blows adding to the existing injuries. She wailed on him, her blows in place of the tears of most other people. After nearly an hour, her father stepped forward, his arms wrapped softly around her. She pounded into his chest, not caring that it was her father. "Put the witch in a collar, dress his wounds, and educate him in service to the palace. This is my order, i will see it carried down." Her father said with authority. She looked up at him, her eyes unsure of what had just happened. "He has taken something from you, something that you cared for greatly, something that you loved, just as his kind have taken from our kind for centuries. His control collar will keep him from burning you, or anything around you, and he now belongs to you. You can punish him as you will. I am sorry Jinto died." He put his hand around the back of her head, holding her close to him. He had hoped she wouldn't have an encounter like this until she was older, at least twenty. However, this had happened at the age of fourteen, and he wasn't sure if she would be able to handle it. This was an early crucible, one he wished hadn't been forced into happening. The wishes of fathers and Emperors... He awoke the next morning, his cuts dressed, his ribs wrapped. He knew several had been broken, and it was almost impossible to breath. That, however was the least of his worries. He hadn't expected to wake up. He had attacked a servant of the Imperial Household, killed one of the guards, and killed one of the slaves that the Imperial Family kept. This was not looking up. His hands roamed up around his neck, feeling the tight metal collar. He felt the steam escape the corners of his eyes, knowing what was going to happen. He had been taken into the service of the Imperial Household, and was fairly certain that he would die in that service. He was considered a witch by the Empire, and that guaranteed him a long life of service against his own people and a slow, agonizing death. To serve the Empire was a death sentence for all those born with magical talent, as the collar slowly siphoned away life. The door opened swiftly, two people entering through it. One was a tall man in a chain hauberk with a long, thin bladed sword at his belt. He had dark grey eyes and slick black hair. The other was a shorter woman, with a wrinkled face and dressed in a light brown robe. The woman looked him up and down, nodding to the man standing next to her. "So this is the boy that killed Jinto?" She asked quietly. "Yes, he's an embermage." The man replied quietly. "But that's not what you really are, is it, boy?" He heard the voice in his head, knowing that this wasn't supposed to happen. "His actions have cast dispersions on all of that serve in the Castle, and we will have to be extra careful." She continued, "Pompous Fool, you've set back the most carefully laid plans." "What?" "I do hope that Princess finds good use for you, after you killed the man that was a second father to her." The man said quickly. "What in your mind possibly conviced you that it was a good idea to attack the Princess directly in the heart of the Castle?" "I" "You didn't think, boy, and it will cost you your life. One indiscretion will cause you a lifetime of heartache and ill will." "You poor stupid child, you've doomed yourself in this." "I did what was right!" He finally started trying to defend himself. "By killing a man who had done nothing to you and bringing down the wrath of the entire Empire on you? In what twisted sense of the word was that a 'right' action?" "I sympathesize with your rage and your plight, but this was a mistake, and once you start to accept that, you may realize that the world might be willing to forgive your actions and you may be able to escape this with your life." "I have my pride, my dignity, my soul, that which makes me what i am! You say i will lose these things if i rail against the order, against that which has oppressed my people for two thousand years? I say to hell with the both of you, you can both burn!" His eyes began to take on an otherwordly fire...as he felt the blade close in against his throat. "Have you forgotten the most sacred covenant? Do they teach you children nothing outside, in the wilds? You care so little for the rest of that you will throw away all of our hopes because you decided to attack a little girl who hasn't done anything to you!" He relaxed, letting the fire fade, returning his calm, becoming one with the area around him. Not even he could break the covenant, not now. He had risked everything and lost, and it would soon become evident to him that the price of one mistake was very grave indeed... "My name is Tereben Fulkir, and i serve as the Emperor's Jester." The man said quietly, the thin bladed sword replaced at his belt. "You are the Black Jester?" He recoiled away from the man, trying to pull himself further away. "I am the ancient elf, yes." The man turned to profile, his ears pointing slightly, the black in his hair giving way to a bright, metallic grey. He smiled, his teeth capped in metal, his eyes almost completely white. "You are the Emperor's Assassin?" "When that is necessary, yes." He leaned towards the woman, trying to get away from Fulkir. "And i am Sarthong Annelineia, mistress of the Imperial Household." The woman said quietly. "ANd you are?" "I am Pyrokal Fuldoon." "Very well Fuldoon, i welcome you to Imperial Service. I hope you adjust to your term of service here. Go with the flow and the world will be right as rain." |
