The Pinnacle Of Empire (Book 6) (41 page)

“Saxthor, my boy, I’m so sorry about your loss,” Memlatec said.

Jolted back from his memories, Saxthor looked up at his mentor. His labored rise and slow movements were like an old man’s. He walked around his desk. Memlatec saw his eyes redden and embraced him. Saxthor began to breakdown in the wizards arms. It’s his mother’s death all over again, he’s so lost, his old mentor thought.

“Saxthor my boy, you’ve lost so much, but you must be strong. You must let go of Augusteros. He’s not hurting now. He’s in a better realm. He’ll be with you again one day.”

Saxthor gained control of his choked voice. “He loved me unconditionally. My boy counted on me to protect him. He gave his life to save mine.” All the grief welled up in the distraught men and Saxthor again buckled over in grief that seemed to tear out his heart. Memlatec helped him back to his chair where the broken man sat, face in hands.

“You are emperor, my boy. You’ve sacrificed your family, even your own life, for your dynasty. I can sense the enormity of your pain, but you must put it aside and focus on other things while your heart heals. You mustn’t give in to grief.”

“Tottiana loves you too, and Engwan does, he just doesn’t know it. You have your people too.”

It’s always my people,” Saxthor said. “I must always sacrifice for my people. What about me?”

“You are your people, Saxthor, that’s what you were born to be.”

Saxthor sat regaining control of himself for a moment. “Mother knew that too.”

Memlatec ran his hand over Saxthor’s head, then patted his shoulder. “Tottiana has lost her youngest child too. She’s grieving alone. Perhaps you should go console her. She’s apparently been handling things, giving you time to heal. Go to her, you will heal each other.”

Saxthor nodded, rose, hugged his mentor, and left to find Tottiana.

*

Memlatec left to find the new chatra. When he found the man, he was in something of a tizzy trying to organize his office, using what Boktorian left undone.

“How are things progressing, lord chatra?” Memlatec asked.

“Well, I’m still shuffling through these piles of reports from the governors. I’m getting the hang of it, though. The emperor has asked for you every day.”

“The turmoil in Varnakak and Senoshesvas took longer than I’d hoped to settle down.”

“And is the situation there under control? I mean, will Prince Nindax cause us trouble in the near future?”

“For now, Nindax is still in shock. He poses no immediate threat that would require your attention. It’s his wizard, Xthilleon, which worries me. He’s the one behind that Mot creature. It’s the old Dark Lord of Dreaddrac that is the threat.”

“You didn’t dispatch him then?” The chatra asked. He put down his papers and sat down.

“Xthilleon is the Dark Lord’s shell. The old evil has been regenerating his power. Why didn’t you destroy him while you were there?”

Memlatec laughed. “You don’t understand, son, his evil is extreme. One doesn’t just walk up to him and zap him with wizard-fire. He and I are matched in powers. Neither can destroy the other. He can only be restrained. If there were no bad, people would take good for granted. There would be no challenges in the world, no excitement; even happiness would disappear with nothing to compare it to. No, we can try to contain him, but I can’t destroy him that easily.”

“Is he locked away there in Senoshesvas?”

Memlatec turned away. “No, he’s eluded me. He created that syclebot, sent it here, then melted into the turmoil and slipped away.”

“Where is he now?”

He’s developed a new cloaking power. I’ve lost him,” Memlatec said.

“He’s not here in Engwaniria, is he?”

“No… he’s out there somewhere, spawning another plot to take his revenge on Saxthor.”

The chatra sank in his chair. “He’d kill the emperor if he could.”

“Oh yes, as he’s tried to do on many occasions.”

“What will he do next?”

Memlatec looked out the window. “There’s still something evil in the city. I can’t place it or uncover it. It’s very powerful and it’s waiting for its opportunity.”

“It’s here, and you can’t find it?”

“I can’t find it.”

Xthilleon and Morphenius traveled unimpeded through the Urgenak forest and on to Velstorbokkin and Nenjiya, the capital. The wizard deposited his assistant in flea-bitten lodgings and left for the royal palace. He morphed into the form of a vulture and flew over the palace to the forbidden dark tower at the rear and passed through the sole window at the back. He changed form back to that of Xthilleon, facing the hideously deformed creature lying on the floor.

“Wake up, daughter,” Xthilleon said.

The creature, barely recognizable as human, jolted, and shuffled back to the wall.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s your father. I’ve come for your assistance.”

“Who are you? You’re not that monster.”

“Calm yourself, I am he. I took possession of this person after my own body was, shall we say, eliminated in the Munattahensenhov in a nasty war. I am your father, none the less.”

The creature crawled over the straw litter on the floor. She poked Xthilleon, sniffed her finger, and settled back.

“What do you want? I gave you the offspring you fathered in me.”

“Yes, well, that’s what I’ve come to see you about. You see, I’ve cloaked it, and established it in Saxthor’s very palace, but I fear now it’s grown to like its shell. I need it to kill Saxthor. It should be able to get close enough to do so, but it’s likely to be shall we say, reluctant to accommodate my wishes.”

“And you want me to convince it to kill for you.”

“You’re very perceptive, daughter.”

“I won’t do it. I’ll not rob it of its chance to feel human. You’ve inbred your female offspring through so many generations in this living tomb. None of us has seen more humans than the keepers that shove meager rations through that slot and take away the filthy waste from the slot over there. You’ve bred us to monsters for revenge on the old king who exiled you ages ago.”

“What you say is true. But that thing of yours will listen to you, only you in this matter. You’re all it trusts.” Xthilleon smiled, but it had no effect on the monster.

“It’s out of my control. You’ve cloaked it. It’s adjusted to its new life. How should I communicate with it, anyway? I’m locked in here for life.”

Xthilleon turned darker red, but smiled and said, “Oh we can communicate through this device. When it finds out I’m its father, well, I was its father, that Saxthor killed her father’s body, it will comply.”

The monster shuffled on the floor. “I think not. What affection have you shown any of us? It will feel no love or obligation to you.”

“We shall see.” Xthilleon opened a broach on his robe and called to the thing he’d created. “This is your father speaking to you. Are you alone?”

“Who is this,” the creature in the palace asked. Its trembling voice revealed its shock and sudden fear.

“You must calm yourself, this is your father. I have need of your assistance.”

“You’ve never needed my help before, nor shown me kindness,” the creature said.

“I freed you from this place and cloaked you in that body, didn’t I?”

The creature pulled its bed linens close around it. “What would you have me do?”

Xthilleon focused his eyes on the device radiating his anger. “You’ve failed to accomplish your directive.”

“I’ve tried.”

“Rubbish! You’ve used indirect means, pitiful means; you must have known it would never work that way. Now you must be more direct. You must find, no, make the opportunity. You must kill Saxthor.” The wizard saw his creature shivering in its bed. “Listen to your mother, she will tell you, you must do it for both our sakes, for your parents.”

“They’ll kill me,” it said.

“You must be discrete, get him alone, and do it.” Xthilleon jabbed the monster on the floor beside him. He sparked a burn on the thing and poked the communication device in front of what was a mouth.

The creature squirmed and winced. “You must do as he says, daughter. If you don’t, he’ll strip away your human shell and they will all see what you truly are.”

Xthilleon took back his device and stared into it. “Do you remember what your vile, inbred self looks like, my dear?” He waved his hand over the device and the terrified creature in the imperial palace trembled at the sight.

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, but you know I would,” Xthilleon said. He intensified his grisly stare and watched the creature draw back from her vision. The creature wilted in its bed.

“Kill him, and I’ll allow you to keep that human mask. If you fail me, I’ll strip away that façade and they’ll kill you most horribly.”

“What shall I do?”

“You’ll think of something. You have certain powers you inherited from me. You can immobilize him with a shock and then use whatever means are at hand. Just do it, and soon.”

Xthilleon shut off the communication device and turned to the daughter shaking on the floor.

“Well, my dear, you’d like to warn someone of this, wouldn’t you? You’d like to take your vengeance on me for fathering you and that thing you gave birth to, wouldn’t you?”

“Leave me alone, I’ll not say anything. How can I, imprisoned here for life and a monster to the world outside this tower room. Leave me alone.”

“Pity, with my body gone, I can’t breed another generation with your spawn, and you are of no further use to me. I’m afraid you’re an unpleasant remnant of my former self.”

Xthilleon moved closer to the rippling mass of flesh shuffling away from him through the moldy straw.

“Leave me alone, have mercy.”

Xthilleon’s long, clawed fingers stretched out, his arm began to rise. “You’re but a monster, my dear. A monster who’s outlived its usefulness.”

“Do it then. It’s the only mercy you’ve ever shown me. Get it over with.”

A brilliant orange flash shot out the tower window into the black night. A single hideous soul-shaking scream pierced the flash. A dark shadow flew from the tower as flames licked out the opening. It was the moment when darkest night gave over to morning. The tower burned, cracked, and collapsed with only ash and stone fragments remaining.

* * *

Memlatec was in the wizard’s tower, monitoring the energy gradients that were starting to show abnormal fluctuations. A miniscule blip flashed, barely of note, but it was very close by and it shouldn’t have been there. Some weeks later, word reached Engwaniria the black tower of the Velstorbokkin royal palace mysteriously burned to the ground. Almost overlooked, Tournak had mentioned it had occurred about the same time as the blip that worried the old wizard.

Only Memlatec was old enough to remember the tower had suddenly been painted black and the king forbidden any entry to it at the same time he had dismissed and exiled the young Dark Lord and all wizards forever more from Velstorbokkin.

“What terrible crime did the young wizard commit at the court to cause the king to take such extraordinary measures?” Memlatec mumbled.

“What’s that?” young Meklin asked.

“Nothing, my boy, I was just remembering something from far in the past.”

“What’s that?”

“When the Dark Lord was not much older than you, ages and ages ago, he was wizard at the Velstorbokkin court. He did something very bad and the king expelled and exiled him and all wizards from the court in perpetuity.”

“What did he do?”

“The king entrusted him with tutoring his young daughter. The rumor was that he violated the daughter and the king’s trust, but no word ever left the king’s lips. The daughter was never seen again, and the tower was sealed thereafter.”

“Must have been what started the wizard on his descent into evil.”

“It might have been the trigger,” Memlatec said.

“That tower is the one that burned to the ground, isn’t it? I’ve heard people talking about it at court.”

“Yes, and the last energy trace I detected from Xthilleon had him moving toward the Urgenak forest… toward Velstorbokkin. The timing would be right.”

“Timing?” the young wizard asked.

“He’s connected to that fire and collapse of the black tower. I know it. What did he wish to destroy in that tower after countless generations?”

“I’m sure I don’t know, maybe some descendant.” Meklin grinned and turned back to his work.

A chill ran through the old wizard. A descendant… a descendant… why else would that tower still be sealed after uncounted generations? Memlatec wondered. The only one capable of getting in and out of that tower would have to be someone with powers to morph into other shapes, a wizard. It couldn’t be… Then the blip came back to mind. Something from that tower has left there and is in the royal palace at this moment. The blip was an energy transfer! Memlatec dropped a crystal he was holding and raced out the door.

* * *

Though reluctant, Saxthor was adjusting to his son’s violent death. Alone in his private suite high in Ossenkosk, he enveloped Tottiana in his arms in front of the fire that sprinkled warm tones on the room and lovers.

“It was your strength that saved me, you know,” Saxthor said.

Tottiana hugged her husband, holding on to his touch. “We saved each other.”

Saxthor slid her back and looked into her eyes. “It was your strength and determination that pulled me back from despair, dearest. He was my proudest accomplishment, my heart.”

“What? And here I thought I was your heart.”

Tottiana pretended to get out of his lap. Saxthor pulled her back and held her tight once again.

“You are my heart; your love makes me whole.”

Tottiana snuggled into Saxthor’s chest. “How long have you known I love you?”

“I can’t remember, since you started to defend me from your mother’s meanness I think.”

Tottiana looked into Saxthor’s eyes. “You do love me, don’t you?”

Saxthor smiled and squeezed his beloved to him. “That I do. I love you for wanting me, for defending me when the others abandoned me as Engwaniria came under siege. I love you for wanting me to recover and be with you again after our baby’s death. We will be two halves of the whole for the rest of our lives, my beloved.”

“What happened to the evil sorcerer who made that little monster, Mot?” Tottiana asked. She got up from Saxthor’s lap.

“Memlatec said he thinks the wizard is somewhere in Velstorbokkin. No one knows for sure. He’s developed some cloaking device so Memlatec can’t trace or destroy him. I killed him once, but his evil essence took another body, another wizard it seems.”

Tottiana looked hard at her husband. “He’ll try to kill you again, you know.”

“You mustn’t worry about such things. He’s tried to kill me many times through my life but, you see, I’m still here with you. We must try again to reclaim Engwan from your mother’s bad influence.”

Saxthor rose and put another log on the fire. There was a knock on the door and Tottiana retied the sash to her dressing gown.

“Enter,” Saxthor said.

Helgamyr and Endaquac entered the room. The dowager stood post upright. Only her twitching eyes betrayed her demeanor.

“Helgamyr, good of you to join us,” Saxthor said.

“Mother, what an unexpected surprise, do come and sit by the fire.”

“Saxthor I must speak with you; I must speak with both of you,” Helgamyr said. Her voice was trembling and Saxthor saw the fire shimmering in a tear. “I’ve been wrong, hating you all these years. You are responsible for my husband’s death, but you didn’t kill him, I can accept that now. Your love for that child destroyed my hatred. I feel so ashamed. I came to ask for you forgiveness, for both of you to forgive me for my mean and vengeful old woman’s bitterness.”

The dowager was shaking after having admitted what was she’d fought for so many years. Saxthor knew she stood stripped of her pride and totally vulnerable. He went to Helgamyr and hugged her. Tottiana stood frozen until Saxthor drew her to them and held both. The dowager clutched the two of them as if holding on for dear life. She broke down, sobbing. When Saxthor felt she had gotten the pain out of her system, he took his handkerchief and tenderly dried her eyes.

“Now, maybe we can be a family at last,” Tottiana said.

Helgamyr nodded as she regained her composure. Now maybe you’ll join us for dinners instead of always eating alone with Endaquac. You won’t mind sparing mother in the evenings, will you Endaquac?

From the shadows, the maid smiled and nodded.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone now,” Helgamyr said. She motioned to Endaquac and started to leave. At the door, she turned back. “I’ll see if I can manage to get Engwan to join us too.” She shared a quick smile and departed.

“Oh, Saxthor, something good did come out of this terrible tragedy after all.”

“I never thought I’d see the day when your mother would forgive me.”

Tottiana was buzzing around the room like a girl preparing for her first party. “The empire is finally at peace. Our household is at peace. It’s a new world my husband and we are together to enjoy it.”

There was another knock at the door.

“Two visitors in one night, that’s unusual,” Saxthor said. “Come in.”