The Forsaken Hero

The commander met us in the courtyard, her helmet tucked under her arm. I shied back as she grimaced at me, hiding behind Jessia.

”And who’s this skittish child?”

Jessia moved aside, patting me on the shoulder. I flinched.

”The Oracle of Eternity, or so she calls herself.”

”I-It’s Xiviyah,” I stammered, not meeting her eyes.

”You don’t have to be afraid of me. We’re at peace, technically,” she said. ”Call me Nestra. I command the Imperial Guard.”

I lowered my head. ”Sorry. It’s just...you remind me of another. He commanded the soldiers at the border.”

”Conrad, was it? He was a formidable soldier, one whose loss we shall feel keenly for many years. Perhaps the closest in the kingdom to breaking through to the eighth level.”

I touched my throat, feeling a whisper of cold steel. Conrad had been the one to capture me and hand me off to the Inquisitor. He’d beaten Fable, even given that my wolf was already exhausted.

But why was she talking as if he was dead? He should have retreated with Verity and the rest of the refugees.

”Well, no use crying about the dead. What’s done is done.”

”Yeah, it’s pretty sad. Anyway, let us in.” Jessia asked.

Nestra moved aside, gesturing toward a side door in the main keep. ”Be my guest. Oh, and Xiviyah, thank you. I understand you were responsible for letting some part of our people escape.”

”I only wish I did more,” I said.

That didn’t feel right, either. There hadn’t been time to check up on Verity and the refugees during the fight, but there should have been tens of thousands of them. Isn’t that a little much for ’some part?’

Jessia took my arm and led me to the door, giving Nestra a friendly nod. The woman watched us go, helmet clasped in both hands, on her lips. Her eyes flicked to mine, and I quickly looked away.

Jessia extended her hand, helping me off Fable. The big wolf padded over the keep and lay down against the wall. His gleaming silver fur was stark against the obsidian-black stone, like a ghost in the Night.

”She seems nice,” I said as we entered the keep.

”Nestra? She’s alright, I guess,” Jessia said. ”Not as bad as some of the others. There’s a lot of hatred for us after what we’ve done to their cities. They’re a bunch of sore losers.”

”Showing some remorse would help.”

”That’s a lie not even I’m willing to sell. Let them suffer for all I care,” Jessia said. ”It’s what they deserve.”

We rounded a corner and came face to face with a pair of young maids. They squeaked at the sight of us and flattened themselves against the wall, trembling from head to toe. Their eyes burned into my horns and lingered on my tail. They were weak, but there was a strange sense of divinity around them, causing the back of my neck to prickle.

”You two, is the Oracle’s room ready?” Nestra asked beside me.

I glanced over, tail twitching in surprise. Since when did Jessia have a chance to transform? And why would she?

”Y-yes, my Lady,” the maids said, dipping low curtseys. ”R-right this way.”

They turned and all but fled before us, leading through a twisting labyrinth of corridors. Servants scurried out of our way but addressed Jessia respectfully before ducking into side passages, rooms, or sheltering against the wall.

”Here we are, my Lady,” one of the maids said, curtsying before an unassuming door.

”Thank you. Now be on your way.”

The two girls vanished, leaving us alone.

”How did you know they were the ones who prepared the room?” I asked.

”Lucky guess.”

”I...well, if you say so,” I muttered, averting my gaze. We passed a hundred maids on the way here. Could she really have remembered those two?

I reached for the door handle, but Jessia, back in her true form, caught my wrist. I flinched, startled by the abrupt movement.

”You’re not thinking of going to bed, are you? Isn’t there someone you want to see first?”

My lips parted, and no sound came out. My hand brushed a lock of hair, smoothing it down.

”Like your friend? Elise, was it?”

My cheeks warmed. ”Ah, um, yeah. Elise.”

Jessia’s grip on my wrist tightened. ”Great, let’s go.”

Mana boiled out of her soul, flowing around me in a dark mist. My stomach lurched as the floor rolled out beneath us. When it came back, we were standing in another hallway trimmed with plush carpet and gilded portraits of men and women of power. It was much more similar to the mansions of nobility than the plain, stark corridor my room was in.

Jessia opened a door and strolled through, a swagger in her step. I followed more reservedly, hovering just outside the door until I saw Elise sitting at a desk. A large window allowed a sliver of red light through, the last of the dying sun.

”Jessia? What are you–Xiviyah!” Elise leaped to her feet, sending her chair skittering across the carpet.

I sucked in a sharp breath as she enveloped me in a hug, squeezing until my ribs creaked. I frantically patted her back, gasping for breath as she loosened her grip.

”It feels like it’s been forever!” she said, looking at me and up and down. ”You look beautiful. Did R’lissea do your hair?”

I touched my hair, nodding uncertainly. ”Y-yes. And, um, so do you.”

She giggled, pulling me into another hug. ”Aww, thanks. Now sit down! I have so much to tell you!”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me to her desk. There was only a single carved, wooden chair, so she waved her hand and soul cast a wind spell, dragging a couch from the wall across from the desk.

I eased into the cushions, idly stroking my tail in my lap.

”R’lissea explained what’s going on with the negotiations. I didn’t know you could do that kind of thing,” I said.

She shrugged, flicking a curl over her shoulder. ”I had an awful tutor growing up who wouldn’t let me so much as sleep without a few hours studying law and philosophies of kingdoms. Part of being a princess, I guess.”

Her lip curled like she tasted something bitter as she said that last part. Her eyes flicked to a scroll resting on the side of the desk for an instant before returning to my face.

”How does it all work?” I asked.

Elise picked up a stack of parchment, shuffling them in her hands until they were perfectly aligned.

”It’s pretty simple as far as negotiations go, though admittedly, this is my first time actually taking part. I sat through a session when my father arranged a trade alliance, but that was long ago.”

”Really? It doesn’t seem easy. How do you get everyone to agree on something? I can’t imagine the empire is happy surrendering to demons.”

”It’s a matter of priorities and desires. Luke is willing to spare the people as long as he can send demons to claim all the shards in the empire’s lands. The empire wants to save itself. The church wants to save the shards. It’s just a big balancing game.”

I sighed, resting my chin on my hand. ”I just don’t see why the church needs to be here at all. It’s not like they can tell the empire what to do.”

”That’s not entirely true. The Divine holds deep sway in this world, more so in large nations like the Blacksand Empire,” Elise explained. ”What do you think would happen if the church declared the emperor and his court to be in defiance of the gods? Their very citizens would turn against them, not to mention every other kingdom in the world.”

”Like the beast kingdom,” I said softly.

She set the parchment stack down and picked up a feather pen, dipping it in an open inkwell. She started writing on a fresh document, occasionally gesturing with the feather as she wrote.

”It’s more than threats, too. The church has a very real claim on the shards. The debate right now is whether the empire even has the right to trade them in the first place. It’s the last issue we have to settle, and right now, I’m afraid the church is winning.”

”If this treaty doesn’t go through, the demons will destroy everything. Why would the church’s threat hold any weight at that point?” I asked.

”That’s the problem. It’s more than just threats. The church holds the heart of the people. It isn’t easy to convince them to effectively betray the gods when they’ve believed and trusted in them their whole lives.”

”But the gods already betrayed them!” I exclaimed, letting my head fall back against the headrest in frustration. ”Why don’t they see that?”

”The Empire didn’t allow the church to experiment with the heart crest,” Elise said. ”We can’t fault them for not understanding the threat it poses.”

”I wasn’t talking about that. Don’t they know what the inquisitors did at Tarwin’s Gap? How many people they killed?”

Elise’s pen froze against the paper. Ink blotted at the tip, slowly dribbling over her writing.

”Xiviyah, I read the report. The inquisitors arrived after the battle was already lost and only managed to save a few thousand people. That’s what’s making this so difficult. How am I supposed to convince the empire to believe the demons will spare them when they slaughtered the refugees after pretending to let them go?”