Chapter 16
It took almost a month to get the Emperor to the point that he could survive on his own. We set up a small camp in the clearing so that we didn’t have to move him any more then absolutely necessary. I stayed in the camp and trained with Anna Marie any time she wasn’t working with the Emperor.
Ja` Sair would sit in on the training every once in a while, but for the most part he avoided the Emperor. Although he did tell me of several uprisings throughout the Empire that were looking fairly serious. He told me that he had heard from a reliable source that large resistance forces throughout the Empire had heard of the Emperor’s near death experience and subsequent defeat of his army and had decided that it was time to take their kingdoms back. From what he told me they were doing quite well in that regard.
Re` Than and I started spending more and more time together, to Skyler’s annoyance. I didn’t feel the same attraction to Re` Than that I did with Skyler, but there was definitely something there. I couldn’t tell if Re` Than was also attracted to me or not, but he seemed to find excuses to spend time around me.
When the Emperor finally recovered he sent a message for me to speak with him. I was training at the time so I finished what I was doing and made my way to him. I didn’t bother to shift my blades away when I walked into the Emperor’s tent and some of the guard started forward. The Emperor sat up and said, “Let her in. We all know that she is as dangerous with those blades and she is without.”
They backed off and I walked up to the Emperor. I gave him a nod, “You wanted to see me?”
He nodded back, “Yes. I wanted to ask you why you chose to save my life. I would have just let you die and negotiated with whoever was named Emperor in my place.”
“Whoever was named in your place would have either been a puppet for someone else or would have felt a need to avenge you. Neither one of those scenarios were what I would call idea. By saving your life I would know who I was dealing with and you wouldn’t feel the need to call my bluff. You already know that if I say I will do something I’m not bluffing.”
He chuckled, “You have a good point there. How do you know that I won’t just take you prisoner and declare the treaty I just signed with you void? How do you know that I won’t just continue the invasion until I have satisfied the blood debt with Clan Sa` Tain?”
I smiled, “Because you know that if you do I will kill you. I have already proven to you that I am more then willing to sacrifice my life if need be. What you need to be asking yourself is this: Are you willing to risk your life to see any of that done?”
“You already know that answer, Lady Sa` Tain. I value my existence too much. Not everyone you meet will have that restraint though. I am sure your Captain has advised you of this, but you need to be there for your people. You have to stop being so willing to throw your life away if you ever want to truly lead them. It is their job to give their lives for you. It is your job to provide the leadership that inspires them to want to do so. I am going to withdraw my army and return to the Capital in a few days. I would like to invite you and the Clan Heads with their Heirs to go there in order to begin the negotiations that will determine how our separate lands will deal with each other.”
“I don’t think it would be such a good idea to have the negotiations in your capital. Especially not with all of our leaders. It could too easily turn into hostage negotiations. I suggest we have them a bit closer. West Fork, for example, might be a better place.”
“A good choice, however if we meet there it will have to be postponed for a time. I have other business that needs attended to.”
“I can imagine. I am sure the rumors of your imminent death sparked all kinds of trouble for you.”
“You seem remarkably well informed. Should I assume this information comes from a certain Wizard that was, until recently, in my employ?”
“You may assume that if you wish. Who am I to correct the assumptions of an Emperor?”
“There is a time and place for sarcasm, Lady Sa` Tain.”
“I agree with you. The time seems to be whenever I draw breath and the place happens to be wherever I am standing at the moment. On the day of my funeral I will most likely sit up one last time and make some sarcastic comment about how bright it is on the other side.”
He shook his head, “Well, before I decided that your sarcasm offends me, I am going to call an end to this conversation. I will be in touch with you in regards to the date of negotiations.”
“I look forward to it.”
I left and found Anna Marie packing away her supplies. She looked up as I approached. She looked around at the camp that was getting packed away and ready to move then said, “I hope you made the right decision in sparing the Emperor’s life, Yarianna. I think it may have done more good to let him die with all of these rebellions springing up all over the place.”
“I feel as though it was the right thing to do. If it turns out that I was wrong then the next time they come against us there will be no quarter. I don’t think it will come to that though.”
“Well, let’s hope not. I know that you didn’t come over here to talk about if you made a good choice or not. What’s up?”
“Ja` Sair, actually. He said that he is my father and there was a way for you to test that. Would you be willing to?”
“Sure. Is there any reason for you to believe that he is telling the truth?”
“Up until a few days ago I was under the impression that my father was human.”
“Well, that is not possible unless your father was a latent Kier. If your mother was aware of her nature before they married then it would have woken your father’s Kier side. Is there any way that he was latent?”
“I don’t know. If he was he kept it hidden from my mother’s Memory Stone.”
“Well, that would have been next to impossible unless he was aware of his nature before hand and kept it on a tight leash. It is very difficult to suppress that side when two Kier, well…”
“I get the point. I would still like for you to check.”
“I will. I can do it right now if you would like.”
“I would.”
I cast out my senses until I found him then gave him a nudge to let him know I wanted to talk to him. He appeared next to me a short time later and said, “You rang?”
I looked at him, “Yeah. I thought it was a good time to see if you are father or not.”
“Fair enough. Is this the one testing us?”
I nodded, “Yes. I trust her to tell the truth.”
“Good.” He looked at Anna Marie, “Do you know the Power Sink method?”
She smiled, “Is there any more sure way?”
“Doubtful. Shall we begin?”
Anna Marie looked at me, “Give me the word and I will start the test.”
I took a deep breath and nodded, “Go ahead.”
She traced a symbol in the air that looked like it was a combination of several runes. It vanished too fast for me to make out which runes were in it. Suddenly the area we were standing in seemed to shift. Outside of the circle of normal under our feet seemed to be nothing but raw power, as if we were standing in a vein of power that was coursing through the planet.
Anna Marie traced another symbol in the air and I felt that power seep up through the ground and wrap around me. I could feel small streams of the power enter my body and rejoin the larger rope above my head. The rope wound back down my body and seemed to pool in front of me.
She traced a third symbol and the pool in front of me shifted to form an image. It formed the design that was on the front of the book Anna Marie gave to me with a few slight changes. Rather then the scimitars it had the keris style blades and in place of the claymore it had a bladed staff. The design was set into the forehead of a dragon skull that had drops of blood running from the symbol. I could clearly see Dr` Ekar written just above the design. Just below the design was written my name then Ja` Sair and my mom. I looked over to Ja` Sair and saw that he had an identical symbol in front of him with the exception of the names that were written.
Anna Marie traced a fourth symbol in the air and we were back in front of the stuff she was packing away. She looked at me, “The Power Sink doesn’t lie, Yarianna. This man is your father.”
I looked at Anna Marie, “Thank you. I will leave you to your packing unless you want some help.”
She shook her head, “None is needed. I will see you tomorrow in my office to continue training.”
“Looking forward to it. You did guarantee that I would hate you. I’m still waiting for that.”
“Who said I was done with you yet?”
“Who said I was done with you yet?”
I smiled then looked at Ja` Sair, “I have never had a father figure and frankly don’t really feel the need to have one now. It will take me some time to get used to the idea of actually having a living parent before I will even consider the idea of calling you dad. In the mean time I do want to start working on apperating with you, if you wouldn’t be opposed to teaching me.”
He smiled, “On that same note, I have never been a father figure. Hell, until I saw you in the Emperor’s tent that first time I wasn’t even sure that I was a father. So, while you are getting used to the idea of having a living parent I will be getting used to the idea that I am a parent. In the mean time, I will be happy to teach you because if you are anything like me you are going to try and learn on your own if I say no. Am I right?”
I blushed slightly because he had hit it dead on. I still gave him my best imitation of an innocent look and said, “No. Of course I wouldn’t.”
He snorted, “Yeah, bullshit. When do you want to start?”
“How about later this afternoon?”
“That will work for me. Your days are going to be busy, you know.”
“I know.”
“Good. I have some stuff I need to take care of. I will find you later.”
“Ok.”
He walked off and I looked at Anna Marie, who had a grin on her face, “I don’t want to hear it.”
She laughed, “It was like hearing someone talking to an older version of themselves. Hell, I didn’t need the Power Sink. All I would have had to do is sit in the same room as the two of you.”
“I said I don’t want to hear it. I’m going to go get my stuff gathered up and moved. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I left and she was still chuckling. Skyler and Ja` Lynn were waiting with Sasha outside of the tent. They all had grim faces. I looked at Skyler, “What’s wrong?”
“We found the bodies of the other members of your personal guard. Ja` Lynn and you are the only two left that fought for Heir.”
“Where are they and what happened?”
“Over here.”
They led me to a tent set up just outside of the main camp. I opened the tent to find the three bodies of the rest of my personal guard. I knelt down to examine them as Ja` Lynn explained.
“We were separated for a time during the last skirmish before we were asked to do guard duty on the command tent. They had told me that they were ambushed by a Patrol carrying war bows. I tried to sent them to get checked out, but they refused, insisting that they were fine. I have been keeping a close eye on them and noticed that they seemed to be getting worse. I tried to tell them to stay behind and get seen by a healer, but they refused again. Last night I sent them to bed early. When they didn’t report this morning I took the first opportunity to tell you.”
I used energy to carefully raise them up and remove their armor. I found the places they had been struck by arrows because there were black lines radiating out from the infected cut.
I looked at Skyler and Ja` Lynn, “Did either of you get cut or shot at all? Don’t lie to me on this.”
Skyler shook his head and Ja` Lynn said, “I had an arrow graze my back, but that was it.”
“Remove your armor and let me see.”
He shifted his armor out and raised his shirt. I looked at his back and swore. Along an infected cut he had small black lines beginning to radiate out.
I sent a thought, “Ja` Sair I need you now.”
He apperated into the tent, “What’s wrong?”
“Ja` Lynn. I need you to take him to Anna Marie now.”
Ja` Lynn looked at me, “There isn’t any need for that. I feel fine.”
“I’m sure they did too, just before they died. No arguments. Go.”
Ja` Sair didn’t wait for him to agree. He took Ja` Lynn’s arm and apperated out.
I sent out another thought, “Le` Than, I need everybody that was cut of struck by any weapon of the Empire to get checked now. I just lost three of my guard and might lose a fourth to what looks like poison.”
He responded that he would see to it and broke the connection. I looked at Skyler, “We need to get back to the city now. Gather what is left of the Patrol and meet me by Anna Marie’s tent.”
He nodded and left. I turned to Sasha, “Gather all of your attendants and send them to assist the healers then get your Stompers together. We may need to seal off the city in a hurry.”
She sank into the ground and I headed toward Anna Marie’s tent. Ja` Sair apperated next to me. “Anna Marie swore something fierce when she saw his back, but she said that he would be ok.”
“Good. I need you to tell me if the Imperials are moving toward my city or not.”
“Ok. I will meet you at Anna Marie’s tent unless I see you sooner.”
“That will work. Before you go, how many can you take with you when you apperated?”
“One at a time unless you link with me and share your energy. With that I should be able to shift everybody still living back to the city.”
“Good. Get going. I will meet you in a moment.”
He vanished and I arrived at the tent. Ja` Lynn was lying on her work table with his back exposed to the air. Anna Marie looked at me, “I was able to get all of the poison out and he should be back up in a few minutes. I hate to think what would have happened if you wouldn’t have discovered it for another hour. I’ve seen this kind of poison. It numbs the area around it so that you don’t feel the damage it is doing until it hits your heart or brain, whichever is closer. It is one of the few that will actually work on our kind.”
Skyler walked in, “We are ready to leave when you are. Sasha has some Stompers moving the bodies back to the city.”
I nodded and Ja` Sair walked in, “The Imperials and on the move. They should be at your city within twenty minutes.”
I swore and looked at Skyler, “This is going to make most of us feel uncomfortable, but it is the fastest way back to the city.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
Anna Marie and I lifted Ja` Lynn off of the table and carried him outside. The rest of the Patrol was waiting for us and took Ja` Lynn. I linked my energy with Ja` Sair and had everybody grip forearms. I nodded to Ja` Sair and he apperated all of us to the city.
Sasha was just coming out with a small group of Stompers. I looked at them, “I need you all to seal the city as tight as you can get it and send out everybody well enough to fight. The Imperials are on the way.”
The saluted and rushed back into the city. The Patrol was just getting back up. Ja` Lynn looked at me as he called his armor back in, “I don’t know which felt worse, getting the poison sucked out of me or that apperating thing.”
“I hear it gets easier the more you do it. Are you well enough to fight?”
“Yes, I am. Bloody Imperials. They couldn’t beat us in a fair fight so they had to use poisons.”
“Yeah, I’ll be sure to feel proud about that after we kill them.” I looked at the rest of the Patrol, “All of you check for poison now before the Empire gets here. I want to trip over their corpses, not your’s.”
They stared checking as reinforcements arrived. In all we had a two Wings that weren’t poisoned. I swore again. I had to send all but a Quad back of the Patrol I had with me. I looked over the Kier that had gathered. “The only way I can think to do this is fight in waves. We can bottleneck them in the ravine and fight our way back into the city. We will give ground only grudgingly and use the first cavern entrance to further bottleneck them. We cannot let them get into the city itself. I want three waves of channelers and archers and three waves of blades. Channelers, do not wear yourselves out. If they get inside the first cavern entrance you and the archers will be picking up blades.”
Ja` Sair appeared next to me, “They are in the ravine. Maybe another ten minutes until they get here.”
I turned to my people, “We ready to die?”
The shouted they were and I smiled, “Then lets give these Imperial dogs something to break their teeth on!”
