“Mirian….”
“Just don’t!” She slapped away the hand reaching out for her. “Leave me alone!”
But when she woke up screaming in the middle of the night, he was there, arms pulling her close, murmuring comfort against the top of her head, as if he’d known she’d been dreaming of his fur covering eyes, nose, mouth…
“Your orders, Captain Reiter, were to bring back six mages. I know, because those were the orders I gave to General Loreau. One in six or six in one. Not a single Soothsayer said anything about five.”
Reiter stared over Emperor Leopald’s head, gaze locked on what looked to be a blue drawing of a shepherdess playing a flute, a recurring image on what he considered to be entirely inappropriate wallpaper. Of course, wallpaper wasn’t something he’d given much thought to previously, so for all he knew it might be exactly correct for a debriefing that would probably turn into a court-martial that would, in turn, turn into an execution. Reiter doubted the emperor would allow wallpaper to delay an official court-martial should he decide a mere captain’s action had been treasonable.
“Lieutenant Lord Geurin, as his uncle persists in informing me, returned with five of the mages, leaving the sixth mage for you. Although, as you were his commanding officer, and as I have had the unfortunate privilege of meeting Lieutenant Geurin, I rather suspect you ordered him to Karis with the mages already secured as you considered him incapable of finishing the job.”
Was he supposed to answer that, Reiter wondered. Would anything he said matter if he were already marked to die?
Apparently not, as the emperor barely paused for breath. “I have read your report. I have read the report written by the garrison commander at Lyonne. I have read the letter written to the garrison commander from Major Halyss at Abyek. You may not know that Major Halyss was, until recently, a highly regarded member of my staff and I continue to value his opinion. Captain Reiter…” The emperor sighed his name. “…would you please look at me. That staring at the wall thing you military men do is annoying.”
“Sir!” Reiter forced himself to drop his eyes and found the emperor gazing up at him, shaking his head.
“All that emphatic agreement is a bit annoying, too.”
But he was smiling, so Reiter managed to breathe almost normally in spite of the fact he was looking at the emperor. Or the emperor was looking at him. Had been looking at him. The emperor. Reiter had been in the army for two years when Emperor Leopald had risen to the Starburst Throne. He’d taken part in the pageantry with the rest of his company, he’d drunk to the young emperor’s health, he’d sworn new oaths to His Imperial Majesty Leopald, Commander in Truth. When he’d been transferred to the Shields, he’d realized he might be given a chance to see the emperor from a distance, then he’d been given orders carrying an Imperial seal, and, now, the emperor was looking at him. Smiling at him.
“The evidence suggests you made every attempt to carry out my orders.”
His shoulders straightened. His body reacted to Imperial attention as though it had a mind of its own.
“Under normal circumstances, I honestly wouldn’t care about how hard you tried. I care about results. That’s how one builds and maintains an empire after all, isn’t it?”
His shoulders slumped, just a little. Reiter wasn’t sure he liked feeling even so minimally out of control.
“However, the Soothsayers have Seen the sixth mage here, at the palace, which somewhat negates your failure. More importantly, at least as far as you’re concerned, last fall two Soothsayers Saw you at the palace standing by my side in a square of purple. Two of them.” From the emperor’s tone, visions by multiple Soothsayers seemed to be important. “Although,” he added, “it wasn’t until recently that the Interpreters were able to identify you. I will not bore you with the reams of bad poetry.”
The pause extended almost long enough Reiter thought of throwing in another sir, but the emperor began talking again before he could.
“I had assumed you’d be here, with me, as a reward for successfully completing your mission. Apparently not, and, yet, here you are. So, as blame must be placed, if I am not placing it on you, where do I place it?” He raised a hand. “Don’t answer that. It seems to me you performed as expected; the artifact did not.”
“Your Imperial Majesty, all six of the artifacts were tested multiple times.” The voice came from just behind Reiter’s left shoulder, from one of the two civilians who’d accompanied him and General Loreau into the Imperial presence. They were courtiers, both self-important and simpering, but, other than that, Reiter had no idea of who they were or what their function was. Courtiers were not introduced to captains. “I performed the tests myself, as you requested, rather than leave them to a lesser researcher. The mage should not have been able to remove the artifact!”
“And yet she did.” The gold net dangled from the emperor’s finger, the broken links with their blackened ends obvious. “I believe you stated at the conclusion of your research that attempting to remove this artifact without the proper tool destroyed not only mage ability, but all cognitive ability as well.”
“Those were the results we obtained during testing, but in fairness, Majesty, we never tested it on a mage as strong as the mage the captain lost.”
If the narrow-eyed reaction was any indication, the emperor didn’t appreciate this attempt to pass the blame back. Neither did Reiter, but he had to admit the emperor’s opinion counted for more. “Lieutenant Geurin reported that when one of the other five merely tugged at the artifact, she scarred her fingers and was all but unresponsive for the rest of the journey.”
“Again, Majesty, we have no data on comparative power between the two mages.”
The emperor’s wide-eyed gaze shifted left. “Lord Warder of the Archive.”
“Your Imperial Majesty?”
The reply came not from the man who’d been talking, but from the older of the two civilians. Actually, Reiter would have been willing to bet he’d be the older of any two civilians. He looked like a turtle in fancy dress, his face and neck a cascade of wrinkles and his clothing at least a generation out of style.
“What was the condition of the artifacts when you removed them from the vault?”
“All six artifacts were in the same condition, Majesty. That was why I removed those six. While gold does not decay as baser metals may, there is a certain delicacy to the construction of these artifacts in particular, and I was, therefore, careful to check for any physical differences.”
“So no broken links, Lord Warder?”
“Not so much as a weak link, Majesty.”
“Interesting.” Elbow propped on the arm of his high-backed chair, the emperor dropped his chin onto the heel of the hand not holding the artifact, two fingers curled by his mouth, two resting on his temple. He looked as though he were considering nothing more important than if he should have another drink before he left the officer’s mess for the night. “As the sixth mage removed the artifact with no apparent damage to herself, I can only assume the artifact was, in fact, defective. Not physically, as has been stated by the Lord Warder of the Archive, so, therefore, the testing had to have been defective. Do you have anything to say in your defense, Lord Master of Discovery?”
“I can only repeat, Majesty, that the mage should not have been able to remove the artifact.”
“And yet she did. Six mages, Lord Master. Six. The Soothsayers were specific and now, thanks to your incompetence, I have five. Yes, the sixth is on her way, but that’s not the point. General Loreau.”
“Sir!”
The emperor rolled his eyes. “Have him taken to the north wing. I’ll decide what to do with him later.”