Chapter One Nameless #2
“What have you done, little brother?” hissed the Snake.
The irony of the situation was that he truly couldn’t answer her.
He had no knowledge of what he’d done. Exactly a week prior, an Imperial Decree had been issued Unnaming him, a disgrace saved only for the lowest of the low.
When he had arrived at the Imperial Chambers, overcome with guilt and shame, to ask what he had done to deserve such punishment, he had been turned away. He, one of the Children of the Empress.
And now a Summons… shadows and light, what had he done to deserve this? What had he done?
Through the haze of his shock, he noticed that Symanta was sitting in the carved wooden chair behind his desk.
His room was sparsely furnished, something that set him apart from his siblings, but what he did have was meaningful to him, and something inside his chest grew hot and angry at the thought of Symanta touching any of it.
He walked over to the writing desk, managing to keep his face expressionless as he did.
He could feel his lips trying to twitch in disgust as he looked at her sprawled in his chair, but he wouldn’t let them.
If he showed her what he was feeling, she would have a way in.
If he gave her nothing more than the twitch of one eyebrow, she would be able to read him like a book.
“For you, dear brother,” she said, holding out a parchment scroll. Her hand was covered in green veins, and the skin looked almost as if it were molting. He reached out, keeping his face emotionless, and took the scroll.
In a flash of movement, the Prince of Snakes lunged.
He knew it was coming, but the action still almost made his stomach empty its contents. The sense of corruption and bile was amplified tenfold as Symanta grabbed his wrist and the green lines on her hand pulsed with a sickly light.
But his only outward response was to look calmly into his sister’s face.
For a moment, the beautiful, seductive mask she so often wore was replaced by a look of gleeful triumph; but just as quickly the look disappeared and was replaced with confusion, and her eyes jerked down to the Prince’s hand.
The Talisman of Snakes required one of two things: signs of emotion, or physical contact.
A person could stifle their emotions to the point where they wouldn’t show on their face, but it was impossible to suppress all physical signs completely.
Through touch, Symanta could do what she couldn’t through sight alone.
The Prince of Ravens didn’t know how it worked, and he doubted he ever would, but he knew that if Symanta touched his skin she would know exactly what he was feeling, and he would be in her power.
But currently his hands were covered by thick leather gloves to protect against the cold of the open balcony doors. For a moment, Symanta stared dumbly at his hands, and then she let out a snarl and ripped her own hands back, leaving the piece of parchment clutched in his fist.
“I apologize,” the Prince said with the barest hint of a smile, one that he knew she would catch but not be able to use against him. “It’s a bit chilly in here. The next time you wish to hold hands as loving siblings, I’ll be sure to keep the doors closed.”
Symanta stood stock still, completely at a loss for words, though quite clearly full of wrath at being outwitted. And then, quite abruptly, she spun on her heel and stalked out of the room, all the time seeming to slither, her body undulating with each step.
The door closed behind her with a sharp snap; the Prince dropped his icy composure and let out a ragged breath as he clutched at the writing desk.
His heart was racing. He looked down at the thin cylinder of parchment clutched in his hand.
It was sealed with the Imperial emblem of the Diamond Crown over two crossed triliopes.
He broke the wax, hands shaking, and read:
You are Summoned into the presence of the Empress of the Diamond throne, ruler of Lucia, Mother of the Children of the Seven Principalities, Possessor of the Light, the Fearful Shadow, the Grace of Gods and Men, to discuss your Inheritance.
The message was signed by the Hand of the Empress, a short, small, ferrety man who carried out the Empress’ commands.
His Inheritance… but that meant…
He turned to look out the balcony doors so quickly he cricked his neck. He stumbled forward, breath coming in short, surging pants. The balcony looked out toward the south… toward the Seventh Principality.
Each of the Children ruled a separate part of the Empire, which as a whole consisted of seven provinces that had once been nothing more than uncharted territory inhabited by savages.
When the Empress had arrived from across the ocean, she had expanded her territory one province at a time, using fire and sword.
The original inhabitants were quickly dealt with, and those that foolishly chose to fight instead of accepting the Empress as their rightful ruler and the embodiment of the Gods were killed.
For nearly one thousand years the rule of the Empress had brought peace to the provinces, all but the Seventh, which was the final resistant stronghold of those who called themselves the Exiled Kindred.
When the Empress had crossed the sea, she had brought with her seven talismans of power.
She had kept them with her during her fight against the Kindred, but a time came when the rebels infiltrated her government, sowing the seeds of unrest and dissent across the land.
The provinces began to suffer riot, famine, and plague, spread by the Exiled Kindred.
And so, five hundred years after her rule began, the Empress bore a son, the first Son of the Empress, Prince Rikard, who inherited the most powerful of the Talismans, making him the Prince of Lions.
Wherever he went, he turned people to the cause of the Empire, shining like a bright light in the eyes of the lost, a safe harbor for those who had been unsure which side to choose.
He drove the rebels from the Empire, and then took up residence in Tyne, the most prosperous of the Provinces, and was named Lord Commander of the Armies of the Empire.
Each of the Children born and claimed thereafter was given one of the Talismans.
Many children were born, but only six more, the Prince of Ravens included, were claimed as true Children of the Empress, embodying those virtues that She found most important.
Each Child, at a certain point in their life, was given a task to complete to show their Mother they were ready to rule alongside Her.
This task, and the rewards that came from it, was called their Inheritance.
It was well and widely known that the Prince of Ravens’ Inheritance was the Seventh Principality, the province furthest to the south, and that his task would be to wipe out the remainder of the Exiled Kindred for the Glory of the Empire.
Was this why Mother had been so harsh? To prepare him to receive his Inheritance?
Perhaps I will see sunlight sooner than I’d hoped.