Zeydrick
“Not even for one banquet,” the Emperor grumbled from behind his desk, looking none too happy.
In our imposing armor, I and Esrin stood before the Emperor, while the chancellor - Duke something or another - sat on a couch behind us, shuffling through a stack of papers.
“No one got hurt, no one died, and it was just one serving girl,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. I didn’t mention that nothing would come from the coupling; the Emperor, at least, should know that by now. “And the only drunk Knight was taken care of before he could cause a scene. I’d call last night a win.”
“Because you all disappeared thirty minutes in!”
I shrugged again. “I lasted thirty minutes. I didn’t say we’d be there the whole time, only that we’d attend.”
“It’s rude to leave before the Emperor,” the chancellor helpfully chimed in, though from the sounds from behind me, he hadn’t paused in his work long enough to do so.
“Yes, proper etiquette dictates that I’m the first to leave,” Arias added, nodding like he’d found victory, gesturing towards the Duke.
“Ah, so that’s what this is about,” I said, turning to Esrin with a conspiratorial grin. “He’s upset because we didn’t rescue him or give him an excuse to get out of that stuffy peacocking display.”
Esrin, to his credit, didn’t laugh. Outloud. But I could see the crinkles around his eyes and the twitch of his lips as he desperately held onto his dignity - and the Emperor’s, too.
Arias, however, didn’t handle that as smoothly as Esrin. He went red in the face, his mouth hanging open before he snapped his mouth shut and slumped back into his chair.
“Damnit, Zeydrick, you’re supposed to be providing a good example for the rest of the Orders. The Holy Order of Knights can’t get special treatment for everything and if I let this slide, it’ll look poorly on me and the Empire. Did you even remember that I was going to give the Holy Order commendations for the recent subjugation of the resistance in the south? I’m lucky Duke Varis saw you leave and told me before I started making my announcement!”
To be honest, no, I hadn’t remembered.
I shrugged again. “Oh well. If you gotta punish me, fine. The Spirits told me to do something anyway, so you can say you're banishing me from the palace for a few weeks.”
“A few weeks wouldn’t do it,” Duke Varis interjected, pausing in his work. “Such an embarrassment calls for a few years.”
“Duke Varis is right,” the Emperor said, once more gesturing to the dark-haired chancellor, “but I can’t be without you for a few years, so we’ll shorten it to half a year. In that time, do whatever the Spirits asked you while you lead the troops on the front lines.”
“Ah, yes, that war you mentioned… I think I can do that,” I said with a toothy grin. “Uniting the continent first, right?”
Emperor Arias nodded as he stood and strode to the large map covering one wall of his office. The map showed, in great detail, our side of the continent, from the forests and hills to the rocky wastes of the south-west. To the east, the long range of high, snow-covered mountains acted as a natural barrier from the lands of the demons. No one knew the landscape on that side of the mountain range, so it remained blank.
“Tolstal stubbornly refuses to bow to our demands,” the Emperor said, picking up a pointer stick and tapping the northern tip of the continent, where the sea-faring Tolstal clutched desperately to their patch of frozen land. “If we’re to go after the Island nations after uniting the continent, we'll need their navy. I want you to take your people there first. I’ll let you decide how many.”
“Tolstal, huh?” I murmured, tapping my chin. “They’re fierce in their land-based combat, but once they get out to their ships, they’re far more formidable… and since you need their navy, I can’t just burn their ships.”
“Absolutely not, don’t you dare,” Arias quickly said, “that is an order.”
Immediately, the familiar squeeze of the Imperial command tightened around my neck. Not enough to choke, just enough to tell me it was there.
Letting out a huff, I waved a hand, scowling. “You don’t need to order that, I’m aware of what you want. That also means I can’t just kill all their sailors, because that would pretty much ruin the whole point of conquering them for their navy. Best choice would be to distract them with a large force, while a small team kidnaps the … what do they have, a king?”
“They’re ruled by a woman, actually, named Patrova. Jarl Patrova Amihan. She rules over the various clans, with a husband from each one. I hear she even keeps mistresses,” Arias said with a grin. “But her pride and joy, I hear, is her one and only daughter.”
I eyed the Emperor, noticing that tell-tale glint in his eye. “You want me to bring her back here.”
“I knew you were smart,” he said, nodding with approval. “Once you’ve secured the Jarl’s daughter, I’ll make her my Empress Consort and that’ll be that.”
“Empress Consort? Not Empress in truth?” Esrin asked, finally speaking up. He didn’t like this whole war business, and I could tell he liked using this woman even less.
“I can’t just make some barbarian clanswoman my Empress equal,” Arias said, frowning. “That’d be unprecedented and the nobles would be in an uproar.”
“Since when did you let nobles dictate how you do things?” I asked, glancing towards Duke Varis. “And since when did you care so much what anyone thought?”
The Emperor’s cheeks flushed and he turned away, hiding his embarrassment, though his flush reached the tips of his ears, visible even through his white-blonde hair.
“If she cooperates,” the Emperor said once he’d composed himself, “I’ll consider it. I don’t know much more about her other than she’s a strong warrior like her mother. I don’t even know what she looks like, Jarl Patrova has somehow politely refused every single invitation we’ve sent her.”
“Do you even know her name?” I asked, looking back to the map as I began to plot our route.
“Elisabeth,” the Emperor said before he returned to his desk. “I want you to leave as soon as possible. Gather whoever you need and get going. I’ll be announcing your banishment tomorrow.”
Hearing the dismissal in his voice, I and Esrin turned back to the Emperor and bowed. “As you command,” we said in unison.
As we started back towards the Knight’s Hall, I noticed an acolyte from the Temple trying to blend into the wall. With a huff, I glanced at Esrin and motioned him to go on ahead.
“And where are you going now? You heard the Emperor, we have a lot to do before-”
I held up my hand to silence his nagging. “Ser Esrin,” I began, my tone turning serious, “I have some business at the Temple. Please select five Knights and their legions, excluding yourself, to accompany me. Once you’ve chosen the Knights and informed them, please send word to my own legion. We leave tomorrow morning at dawn.”
With that, I turned, leaving Esrin gaping in the hallway, as I approached the acolyte.
“I assume you’re here to take me to the Oracle?” I asked.
“Yes, sir, she said you’d be expecting me,” the young acolyte said, fiddling with their smock.
“Then let’s go.”
I took the lead, heading towards the palace gates. The Temple lay outside the city, outside the purview of the Emperor or nobles, though they still tried to use the Temple to gain influence.
Religion. It does crazy things to the weak and fragile.
As I expected, in front of the Imperial Palace, a nondescript plain carriage awaited our arrival. The acolyte sped forward, opening the door of the carriage for me. I eyed the young human before ducking my head and shoving my broad shoulders into the carriage. The acolyte climbed up after me, sitting across from me as I took up the one side.
To anyone who didn’t know who and what I was, they might have thought the sight comical. At my full height, I was approaching eight foot five, and the rest of my body matched. Broad shoulders too wide for standard doors, arms that strained even clothing tailor-made, and legs that shook the ground with each step.
Out of all the Knights, I was certainly the largest, strongest, and most formidable in terms of sheer size.
Adding my multi-layered, Holy iabryx dark red armor on top of my body gave my width several extra inches in either direction and created a far more menacing silhouette. The Holy iabryx - an ore taken from a fallen meteor - can only be made malleable by the blessings of the Oracle, and from there, can only be used by the Holy Order of Knights or the Emperor. All of our armor and weapons are made from this ore, said to be strong enough to cut through steel or rock.
I’ve tested that theory, and I gotta tell you, it’s a disappointment. Examining my gauntlets, I spy all the little dents and divots made over the years, the little imperfections that can’t just be buffed or hammered out. The metal is comparable, at least, to steel, so it can take a lot of abuse as armor.
But the weapons? I broke the first sword on a boulder, testing out the strength of the metal. It shattered on the rock face, disproving the rumor in one strike. The Oracle at the time was dumbfounded that I would test the sword that way, but I told her none too kindly that my talons could have sliced through that boulder.
They made the weapons stronger after that, working osmium, steel, and some other metals to create an alloy. While my current greatsword won’t cut through a boulder, it at least won’t shatter on impact, either.
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