Chapter 9 #2
We were silent the rest of the way to the Lakeshore Palace, each lost in our own thoughts. I closed my eyes, trying to claim some sleep, only to wake when I heard a cranky screech from atop the wagon.
“You would think they would know how to better maintain their travel arrangements! This is barbarism! Barbarism!”
My eyes snapped open, going up to where the shadow of a bird perched on top of the wagon. I held my breath.
But the voice faded to nothing, Terror’s next outburst nothing more than croaks and screeches. Dawn answered him in kind, and I felt myself slump back, the anger and hurt nearly swallowing me up.
I stared off into the middle distance, and then a small hand clutched mine, holding tight. When I glanced down, Na? was staring at me, frowning. She squeezed my hand, then pressed something into it. Ice.
I struggled not to pull away, not to reveal what she had done. She wrapped both hands around my palm, forcing me to hold it, forcing me to feel the burn of it on my skin.
Only it didn’t burn. I could feel it, the way you might hold your hand toward a blazing fire and feel the warmth without burning. Slowly, under my hand, the ice began to shift, my fingers reshaping it. It became a rabbit with long ears and a small, puffy tail: the only catch I could reliably make.
Na?’s hands were still tight around mine, and the ice changed again, turning into a lithe, sinuous sea serpent, the kind I knew growing up and that I’d seen imprisoned in the Imperium.
It moved in my palm, and I blinked, staring blankly across the cart.
She released my hand, and I kept it closed tightly around the squirming ice serpent, counting the seconds until it went still.
Na?’s shoulder bumped against mine, and I realized her implicit command. She wanted me to shape the ice by will, not whatever random thoughts skittered across my mind.
My power over ice was an extension of my own desires, an extension of my will. What did I desire?
I wanted to bury my face in Spoiled Brat’s fur.
I wanted to be lying against him in front of a warm fire as my father spoke loudly about his last hunt, exaggerating every detail until even my stoic mother was laughing at the absurdity.
I wanted to look over and see Eona? giggling until her warm tea came up her nose, her hand covering her mouth.
But more than that, more than any of that, I wanted Tallu to be in the Silver City with me, for both of us to be safe, protected behind the icy walls. I wanted my mother to push his hair back from his forehead and press a kiss to his brow as though she loved him as much as I did.
The ice in my hand lost shape, lost form, turning into a cold hard prism. I relaxed my grip. That wouldn’t do. That wasn’t what I could have.
I refocused on Spoiled Brat, on the long line of his snout, the soft flop of his ears when he was laughing.
I focused on the thick coat of fur he wore during the winter.
The ice in my hand reshaped itself, becoming a small version of him.
I gasped, covering it with a cough, when the miniature turned its head, nuzzling into my palm.
Tallu leaned over on my other side, his voice warm in my ear.
“Are you all right?”
The ice in my hand turned to water, and Tallu reached out, catching some of it in his palm. His eyes went wide, and he shifted over, letting it dribble onto his pants where it wouldn’t be as obvious as a giant puddle on the floor.
The driver called back, “We are almost at the palace.”
The Kennelmaster called for a stop, and then, leaning out of the front, gestured at one of the Dogs on horseback. “Alert the palace as to who is coming.”
The rider nodded, bowing low to Tallu as he passed our cart. He reached into an inner pocket and removed his mask, placing it on his face. With that one change, even though he was wearing the clothes of a merchant, no one would have mistaken him for one.
He kicked his horse into motion, his hoofbeats fading as he rounded a bend. When he was gone, the Kennelmaster ordered the rest to make a temporary camp.
They lowered the stairs so Tallu could step out, his chair already set out under a shade covering. The Dogs went about their normal duties, caring for the horses, preparing a small meal that was first served to Tallu and me and then shared around the camp.
They were quiet, but when the Kennelmaster began speaking, everyone turned to him.
“We are not sure what we will find when we reach the Lakeshore Palace. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps the Shadow King has already taken it over. Either way, you are Dogs, bound to service, your lives and the emperor’s one and the same.”
The only sound was the shift of branches, Ratcatcher making a soft warbling sound of interest. Lerolian was frowning at the Kennelmaster, his arms crossed.
He clearly did not like some barb in the Kennelmaster’s words, but all I knew was that the Kennelmaster should not be the one speaking to Tallu’s men. Not if we hoped to keep them.
Subtly, I leaned forward, nudging Tallu’s shoulder. His head dipped for just a moment, and I saw his eyes slide shut before he straightened again.
“You Dogs are my most loyal, most devoted men. There is no one in the empire I trust more.” Tallu’s voice carried, and the Kennelmaster turned his head just enough to be respectful, just enough to be looking at Tallu straight.
“Without you, the Imperium will fall. Without you, Krustau will take half the empire for itself, if not the entirety of the nation generations have bled for. It is up to us—the twelve of us—to save the legacy of the Imperium. It is up to us to save Prince Hallu if he still lives and show the king of Krustau what happens when he crosses House Atobe, chosen emperors of the Imperium. Are you with me?”
At first, I thought their silence showed their uncertainty, but then, starting with Sagam, one by one, they put their masks back on. They were no longer men. They were Dogs.
If the ice was an extension of my will, the Dogs were an extension of Tallu’s. After a long beat, the Kennelmaster removed a mask from his own pocket. It was shaped like a bear, crossed with the scar from a weapon from the left eye socket to his right cheek.
“Let us retake what Krustau has stolen from me,” Tallu said.
I had thought the Dogs quiet when we had made and broken camp every day, but that was nothing to their silence now. Even the horses seemed to sense it, the normal jangle of the harnesses muted as we broke camp and headed for the Lakeshore Palace.
When it came into view, the cart pulled to a stop, everyone watching to see if there was any evidence of Krustavian incursion.
Topi, who had been silently crying since we had failed to find her sister at General Maki’s camp, rubbed at her eyes with the hem of her dress.
It only made them redder, but no one said anything.
Na? had the gall to fall asleep curled between two boxes, small enough that she could fit but large enough that no one dared try to share the space with her.
“It looks clear,” the driver said.
“Head on,” Tallu said. The cart pulled into motion again, the grind of the wheels on the paved road louder than the pounding of my heart in my ears.
The driver pulled to a stop again at the edge of a massive moat surrounding the palace. Atop the walls, I saw Tallu’s banners, and from the shouting, they were aware we were here.
Proximity to Krustau made the tall walls less decorative than those at the Mountainside Palace.
On the other side of the moat, the walls were taller than an elephant, and at the base, enormous spikes protruded outward.
Between the moat and the spikes, no horse or machinery of war could get close enough to touch them.
The walls themselves were carved from stone, made to look like an enormous forest surrounding the palace.
What did the inside of the palace look like? Was it as luxurious as the Mountainside Palace, or was it as austere and brutal as the outside?
The gates opened, a drawbridge lowering with creaking slowness. The Dog who had preceded us galloped across, pulling his horse in a sharp circle to come up alongside our wagon.
He spoke loudly, his head bowed. “They are ready for you, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“Proceed,” Tallu ordered. His back straightened, his neck lengthening, and even though there was no gold at his brow, he still looked as though he wore a crown.
The cart jerked as we started forward, the wheels bumping as they rose onto the drawbridge. Through the slats in the cart, I stared out at the moat, seeing a thrash in the water.
“Sea serpents?” I asked.
Tallu looked at me out of the corner of his eye, lowering his chin just once. Well, the hungry beasts would take care of anyone who thought to cross the water by swimming or rowing.
The cart pulled to a stop inside the walls, the rest of our caravan behind us. Two Dogs came close, opening the back of the cart.
They had done it several times a day for the past two weeks, but somehow, this felt ceremonial rather than functional. They bowed as Tallu descended.
When I had first arrived at the Mountainside Palace, every servant in the palace had appeared to greet me and Eona?. Now, I saw every servant in the Lakeshore Palace fall to their knees and prostrate themselves on the ground, their foreheads pressed to the stone pavers.
It was late to realize that even in that moment, Tallu had been giving me the respect he thought I deserved. The respect of an emperor.
Tallu looked over the crowd, his chin raised, shoulders back. Everything about him was cold, as though the ice I had held in my hands earlier had been placed into his heart. One of the servants stood, keeping her body nearly folded in half, her fingers forming a triangle above her forehead.
“Dragon Chosen Emperor Tallu, Your Imperial Majesty, we are honored by your presence. We have prepared the imperial rooms.” Her left hand gestured wide, toward the open doors of the building closest to us.
Tallu nodded, turning to walk into the palace, his Dogs immediately behind him. I followed a step behind, and the servant who had greeted Tallu took up a position just behind me.
The halls were quiet as we passed through them, every servant outside, honoring their master. As we continued our walk, I heard the whisper of feet in the corridors in between walls as servants rushed back into position.
“You must be Prince Airón,” the servant said, bowing halfway, fingers forming a triangle.
She stood, gesturing to her chest before spreading her fingers wide in front of it.
It was a greeting from a servant to a beloved master.
“We are honored by your presence. We were delighted to learn of your marriage to the emperor. I am Quuri, steward of the Lakeshore Palace. Please feel free to call on me if there is anything you need or desire.”
“I will rely on you,” I said politely, my eyes examining the details of the palace. The architecture here was far different from the Mountainside Palace.
Instead of gorgeous columns and open, airy spaces that faded into darkness, the walls were thick stone, heavily decorated with detailed carvings. A statue of a dwarf stood near one of the doorways we passed, his hands touching the ceiling, appearing to hold it up.
“This is very different than the Mountainside Palace,” I noted.
“Yes.” The servant followed my gaze to one of the carvings on the wall, showing a rock dragon, its jaws open wide, exploding lava from the top of the mountain.
“In the time of Emperor Rellu, the Lakeshore Palace belonged to the dwarven king. Dragon Blessed Emperor Rellu took it from the Krustavian dwarves, forcing them back into their mountains.” Quuri nodded at another statue, similar to the one we had just seen, but missing its head, cracked down the center by some long-ago battle.
“It is one reason that every servant in the Lakeshore Palace is trained as a warrior first. We understand our legacy is that of the soldiers who first took the Lakeshore Palace for the Imperium.”
I glanced at Quuri again out of the corner of my eye. She carried herself like a servant, but that was as much training as my own disguise had been. Ahead, we finally reached our destination.
Two servants dressed in yellow held open massive doors, almost as large as those to the building itself. They bowed as Tallu approached, their fingers triangled, their position showing their great respect.
“We have prepared a bath for you, Emperor Tallu.” Quuri nodded her head, her body inclined just slightly, not quite stooping into another bow. “Do you require anything else?”
“My father’s old clothing,” Tallu said. “And his crown. Tomorrow, I visit the King of the Shadow Throne.”