“Something is definitely happening in the Capital,” he said. “It’s not just the palace closing. Everyone has personally seen something that worries them.”
“Uh-huh. And what do they say is happening?”
“Best I can tell, they’ve noticed the Guilds at each others throats.”
Cheska clapped her hat to her head at a sudden gust of wind. “Yeah, I’d put that together too. Everybody wants me to take care of the other Guilds, like I can tell the Consultants how to do their jobs.”
However long it actually took them to reach the Imperial Palace, it felt like all day, and the sun was beginning to sink as they arrived at the gate. The Guards crossed spears out of habit and training when they saw the party approach, but when they saw Jarelys Teach’s scowling face and the hilt of her sword sticking out over the crowd, they hurried out to clear the way for their Guild Head.
It took a kind of slow-motion brawl to sort out everyone who was supposed to be inside the palace from the people who had to stay outside. Petal was trembling and clutching her bag to her chest, looking around wide-eyed like a mouse who had just survived a lightning strike. Calder made a mental note not to ask too much of her in the coming days.
Not that anyone else was in much better condition. Even Jarelys Teach, pillar of Imperial strength, had dark circles under her eyes, and she walked as though her armor had been weighted down with anvils. But as the gates crashed shut behind her, she issued an order.
“Report,” she demanded. A woman in the uniform of an Imperial Guard, a blonde with orange cat eyes, saluted. She looked familiar enough that she sparked a memory in Calder.
Where’s Meia?
He hadn’t seen the Consultant for virtually the entire voyage to the Capital, nor on the longboat to shore, nor on the long hike up to the palace. If he believed in kind Fates, he would have thought she’d been lost at sea, swallowed up by one of the million hazards of the Aion.
But his luck wasn’t that good, and he knew it. She would show up when she wanted, and likely at the worst possible time.
“We’ve engaged the enemy around the Emperor’s quarters, ma’am,” the orange-eyed Guard said. “Conventional arms seem ineffective, so we mobilized all Soulbound and combat-capable modifications. Each time we inflict enough damage, it grows back instantly.”
“What is it?” Teach asked, marching down the hall as though she meant to plow straight through a brick wall. Calder and the others had no choice but to let themselves be dragged behind.
“A mass of what seems to be Elder flesh surrounding the complex. It seems to be growing out of the Emperor’s room, ma’am. It rarely strikes back, and when it does, it’s more disruptive than dangerous. We’ve sustained no real casualties.”
“How long?” Teach asked. On her back, the black sword Tyrfang radiated such a hostile Intent that Calder actually fell a step back.
“This is the fifth day, ma’am.”
The attack on The Eternal had come roughly three days before. Five days ago meant it had grown during the fight with the Dead Mother’s Children, or soon after. A strange coincidence, that this should grow almost immediately after he threw Nakothi’s Heart into the sea.
Calder edged closer to Bliss. “Is the Optasia inside the Emperor’s rooms?”
“That’s very classified information.”
He was dealing with Bliss, so he was prepared for the conversation to take longer than necessary. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be using it, so…” Hopefully, she’d get the hint.
She looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. “Oh, you’re right!”
“You forgot?”
“I suppose since you are the one who needs to use the Optasia, you should have the clearance to know its location. Very well. I hereby grant you clearance.”
Calder suddenly wished for the sweet embrace of Reader’s burn. Even a pounding, unstoppable headache would be a relief from this. “Thank you, Bliss.”
“Yes, the Optasia is in the Emperor’s personal quarters.”
So the Elderspawn in the courtyard outside was protecting whichever Reader had attacked them through the Emperor’s throne. Or…the Elderspawn itself had done it. That was a disturbing thought; the Great Elders had broad enough power already without granting them access to a global net of devices that amplified Intent.
Calder knew they’d arrived when they crossed between two Guards, one with horns and one with the arms of a gorilla. Both of them were clutching halberds caked with rotten greenish blood. They struggled to their feet and saluted when Teach came into view.
She didn’t wait for them to say anything, but pushed a pair of doors open.
The battle beyond was not what Calder had expected. In fact, if he hadn’t already heard otherwise, he wouldn’t have recognized it as a battle.
An open courtyard surrounded one building, which was big enough to swallow The Testament and The Eternal side-by-side, masts and all. The stone tiles of the courtyard were broken and spattered with inhuman blood, hosting a dozen Imperial Guards who all held long-hafted weapons.
But they weren’t fighting. They were hacking away at the building.
The Emperor’s quarters were covered in mounds of gray-green flesh that vaguely reminded Calder of Nakothi’s Heart. Lumps of gristle oozed from the walls, covering any doors or windows completely. Only pieces of wall or roof showed through, and even those were crossed by tendons or patches of skin.
As the Imperial Guards struck with axe or spear, they gouged deeper wounds, revealing layers of pink, healthier-looking meat. Still not ‘healthy,’ exactly—nothing he would dare accept from a butcher—but deeper in it could actually pass for rotten meat rather than Elder flesh.
But as fast as the Guards chopped, the skin and muscle stitched itself together even faster. They had barely hacked away a few scars in what must have been five days of work.
“Stop!” Teach commanded, and they threw their weapons down gratefully, sucking in air. The stench was like Nakothi’s dead island—sour wound and rotting flesh, but muted to tolerable levels.
“You’ve accomplished nothing,” Teach said. “Why continue?”
The orange-eyed Guardswoman hesitated. “We tried stopping, ma’am, on the second day. The…substance…covered the whole courtyard in hours. In three days, we’ve just managed to cut it back to where it started.”
Indeed, only seconds after the Guards had dropped their weapons, the greenish flab on the walls began to advance. Wounds sealed, slowly but visibly, and some of the patches of skin started to bulge outward.
The Guard with the orange eyes drew a sword and walked up to the wall. “We can’t destroy it as fast as it grows. But as long as we do cut it—” She gave it a shallow slice, just to demonstrate. “—it stops.”
The flesh froze in the wake of her cut, and even the healing stopped. After a few seconds of silence, the rapid growth resumed.
General Teach ran a hand over her head before allowing herself to reach back and grab Tyrfang’s hilt. “Captain, get everyone back.”
Calder was startled to hear Teach addressing him, and perhaps a little flattered. The Guild Head had never spoken to him with anything but hostility, and now she was trusting him enough to give him a responsibility. She would have to lose the habit of giving him orders if she wanted him to do anything useful as Emperor, but it was a start.
He had raised a hand to wave people back when the cat-eyed Guard spoke first. “Everyone ten steps back!” she bellowed, her voice filling the courtyard. “If you’re not a Guard or a Guild Head, clear out. The General needs her space.”