Maira Ire leaned back in the chair in Arielle Barros’s study, rubbing at her temples, half her mind on the mountain of documents she needed to tend to back in her own office. Fool she was, thinking that this voyage would be a chance to relive the glorious adventures of her youth. It seemed that her inescapable destiny was to be buried in paperwork. She would be up well into the night sorting through it all.
The papers weren’t the source of her headache at the moment, however. Arielle had asked to see her urgently despite the late hour, and the letter she had read aloud was enough to give anyone a headache.
“What should I do, Maira?” Arielle asked for at least the fifth time. The girl’s eyes were red and puffy, but to her credit, her voice was strong and clear. She did not let even Maira see her tears.
“Child, I have told you already. This decision must be yours alone. But if your father is truly dead, it represents an opportunity for you. Should you gain control of the Barros Province, our chances of surviving this mess would increase considerably.”
The letter was from the girl’s sister, Samille. Ostensibly from her sister, that is.
“Why would they send this?” the girl asked finally.
Maira smiled. “That, my girl, is the correct question. Now. Either your sister is in need of help—she speaks only of problems, never solutions—or she is a pawn in what is almost certain to be a trap laid by Malithii priests.”
“It is almost certainly a ruse,” Elle agreed. “I saw the mindbinder on Samille myself.”
“Yes,” Maira said carefully, “but why would they be trying to lure you into a trap? Besides your relationship with Emrael, what is your significance to them?”
Arielle grunted. “Not much of a relationship anymore, probably. I saw to that.”
Maira laughed. “Do not fault yourself, dear girl. My son is not easy to live with. You are worth more than your relationship with Emrael—”
She was interrupted by the door to Arielle’s rooms being thrown open. She whipped around to see Voran striding through the doors. She relaxed slightly, but still intended to reprimand her old friend. What was he doing barging into Arielle’s private quarters like this, at this time of night? Manners were important.
She got her answer as two Malithii priests dressed in ordinary Provincial clothing swept into the room a moment later.
“Oh, Voran,” Maira said, rising to her feet. Fool that she was, she had not come properly armed. She was just a mere hundred paces from her own rooms and there were supposed to be guards in every hallway, after all.
An Imperator was never without some form of weapon, however. She put a finger to the infusori coil she carried in a pouch on her belt, drew the energy into her in a flash, then pulled two thin copper-alloy rods from a pocket specially sewn into the calf of her pants. Confident, she settled into a ready stance, putting herself between the three men and the girl.
Voran looked surprised to see her. When the shock melted from his face, he simply looked sick. “Lady Ire,” he blustered, “why are you here?”
“I might ask the same of you, Voran Loire,” she said calmly, keeping her eye on the two Malithii priests. They had probably passed through the Citadel easily, hiding their intricate tattoos with high-collared coats and the cloth-brimmed hats favored by merchants during the hot summer months. The priests seemed content to wait on Voran, so long as their quarry did not raise an alarm. Likely they had not counted on an Imperator standing in their way.
Voran stared at the floor and mumbled, “You weren’t supposed to be here, Maira. I didn’t know.”
Scorn made her voice rough. “So you would simply have delivered this girl to them and been done with it? I should be grateful I was spared?”
Voran looked up, angered. “I tried to protect you, for the love I have for you and your dead husband. But this is business, and a much smaller price than you and your son ask of others for your own gain. How many thousands have died so you can rule, how many more will die?”
Maira shook her head. “You do not know the Malithii like I do, Voran, and I certainly do not know you as I thought I did. So be it. Arielle,” she said without looking over her shoulder at the girl, “stay back behind the desk. Scream for help as loud as you can.”
At that, the Malithii priests glided forward on nimble feet, already drawing short swords and copper-cable weapons from their belts. Voran, coward that he was, slipped out the doors as Arielle screamed for her guards, her voice shrill.
The Malithii attacked in a frenzy, eager to get through her to Arielle before help arrived. That they attacked instead of fleeing like Voran said much about their resolve. She knew that these men would fight to their deaths rather than fail in the assignment their elders had given them.
A slight sidestep let her avoid a lunging strike from the Malithii on the right. She whipped her copper rod into the Malithii’s tattooed wrist with a quick, controlled downward strike. As the copper touched the dark priest’s skin, she released a lightning-like burst of infusori.
Nobody she knew of had her combination of power and unique skill when it came to using the bursts of power favored by Battle-Mages. It wasn’t so different from Healing, really, save in reverse.
This Malithii had not been ready for it either. He reeled backward, body in a taut arc as every muscle in his body seized at once. She left him convulsing on the floor and started toward the second Malithii, who now had a wrinkle of caution around his eyes.
The priest feinted with his blade before whipping his copper-cable weapon at Maira. She knew this trick well; this priest intended to do to her what she had just done to his friend.
The copper-alloy weapons that both Malithii and Imperator mages favored conducted infusori energy both ways, however. If one knew precisely the phase of the infusori energy that was being transmitted by the mage, it was possible to completely neutralize that energy and its intended effects.
This was far from her first encounter with the Malithii.
She allowed the cable to touch her, neutralized the priest’s attack, and blasted an enormous amount of infusori back up the Malithii’s own weapon, manipulated just so. The priest shuddered and his eyes grew wide just before every inch of his skin sloughed from his body. He flopped to the ground, dead. She picked up the short sword he had dropped and plunged it through the heart of the other Malithii she had paralyzed.
Arielle vomited noisily on the floor behind her desk.
Maira frowned as she surveyed the room. “Ah. My apologies for the mess, dear. We will have someone clean it all up, I promise. Come with me, we need to find out just how much damage Voran has caused. He likely was not expecting to be found out today, but who knows how deep the rot has seeped.”
She hurried into the hallway, Arielle just behind her. The hall was empty, nobody in sight. There should have been a full squad on duty tonight. Doubtless Voran had arranged for her to be unguarded.
Several hallways and two short staircases brought her to where her squad of Imperators kept their rooms. Two of them loitered in the hall, ostensibly playing a game of cards, but she knew they were on watch duty. Even here in the Citadel, they knew to be on their guard. She should have had them watching Arielle from the beginning.
“You two,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Fetch the others, please. There has been an attempt on Lady Barros’s life—and my own—by Malithii priests. This will be a long night.”
The two Imperators, Yman and Droan, tall young men with sandy-brown hair, saluted her and ran from door to door. In a matter of minutes, Maira and Arielle were surrounded by ten fully armed and armored Imperators as they stalked the halls toward the Legion command offices.
When they arrived at the small dining hall repurposed as their Legion’s command office, an aide assigned to staff the front desk was the only one still there. At a command from Maira, he blinked the tiredness from his eyes and left at a dead run to rouse the officers of the Sagmynan Legion. Within minutes, the three Captains First and several Captains Second had assembled in the room, and they had even managed to put their uniforms on. Maira nodded in approval at the display of discipline. Voran had done something right, at least.
“Your Commander has betrayed us,” Maira stated simply, her voice hard and crisp. “Voran Loire led two Malithii priests to Arielle Barros’s rooms this evening in an attempt to abduct or kill her. Voran is now a fugitive, one I expect you to find before the night is dead. Five hundred copper rounds to the men that bring him to me, alive. Half that if he’s dead.”
The officers had listened intently, their faces becoming more and more surprised with every word. Now, however, they erupted nearly at once with exclamations of surprise and outrage.
Captain First Bari Rynan, a Sagmynan Legionman who had joined Emrael early after the conquest of Myntar, waved the rest to silence. “What of the Malithii attackers?”
“Taken care of,” Maira said simply. “Voran is the primary concern, now, though your men should ensure that any other Malithii that may be in the city are dealt with. I suggest you shoot them with crossbows.”
He nodded solemnly, as did many of the officers in the room. They had seen what the Malithii could do in the battle for the Wells above the city some months ago. “We will see it done, Lady Ire. I suggest we secure the city walls immediately, and send men to strengthen the East Pass and the harbor at Ladeska. Voran has issued odd orders these last few days, pulling men from our garrisons there for various reasons.”
Maira frowned at not having heard this from Rynan sooner, but soon calmed herself. If she herself had not seen through Voran’s treachery, how could she expect it of anyone else? “Thank you, Captain. See it done.” She turned to meet eyes with the rest of the officers. “The Captains First here will all report to me directly. I will be approving all troop movements, and I want a full report of current deployments as well as anything the lot of you see as risks. Fetch me all of Voran’s orders in the last month as well. Within the hour, please, Captains. Now go rouse your men.”
The Captains saluted, faces serious as they marched from the room. When they had gone, Maira turned on her heel to hike down the hall to the nearby tower that had been the astronomy observation tower when the Citadel had still been a school.
The Imperators took up positions in the doorway to the staircase without being asked, leaving Maira and Arielle to climb the stairs alone. Giant glass windows built into the thick stone walls surrounded the room at the top of the tower and had even been built into the roof, bathing the observatory in the blue light of the half-moon. Pinpricks of white light from distant stars blanketed the open sky above. Maira had always loved gazing at the stars—the Academy in Ordena had several observation towers like this one, and she had spent considerable time there during her years of study.
The peaceful scene did not last long. The sound of shouting came from below just as they stepped to the windows to see the faint glow of a distant fire in the pass to the east. For them to see the fire from here, the entirety of the barracks and various supply and administrative buildings that comprised the Legion compound there must be burning. Perhaps the surrounding town of Cyaco that served merchants as well.
“They’ve already taken the pass,” Maira said quietly, cursing herself for a fool. “They will not have done that unless they have the requisite forces to attack the city.”
She turned to put a bloodstained hand to either side of Arielle’s face, gripping tightly as she stared into the girl’s eyes. “Your choice has been made for you, child. I will try to hold this city, but you must go. Go to Emrael, do what you must to secure your home province. I’ll have four of my Imperators and a full company of cavalry ready to escort you within the hour.”
Maira turned and ran back down the stairs to the Citadel proper, already shouting orders to the Imperators and the gathered Legion Captains as she exited the tower. “Barricade the city gates and light the walls! Post your men on the battlements in rotations. We will have a battle by morning!”