64
General Barone had been right in surmising that it wouldn’t be long before the battalion was once again deployed. In fact, Sebastian had only three days to rest before there was a quick knock on his door. He opened it to find Marcello.
“Hello, Portinari, how are you holding up?” he asked.
“Okay. And you?”
Marcello grinned. “I must have slept for two days straight, then ate for another day straight. I feel nearly myself now.”
“Just in time to get deployed again, huh?” asked Sebastian.
Marcello’s smile faded. “I’m afraid so. The general asked me to come get you. He and the empress want to have a word.”
“I assume immediately.” Sebastian took his uniform jacket from the closet and put it on.
“Nobody makes the empress wait,” agreed Marcello.
Sebastian nodded, then walked with Marcello down the hall as he buttoned up his jacket. He wondered what the empress wished to speak to him about. It wasn’t really necessary for her to give him his orders personally, after all.
“Ah! Welcome back, Sebastian.”
Sebastian glanced over and saw Vittorio standing nearby, his head bowed respectfully. It was a jarring moment because he had almost forgotten the strange frail creature his former mentor had become.
“Oh, hello… Franko.” It still felt uncomfortable to call him that. “How are you feeling?”
“Quite well, thank you. And I’m glad to see you’re still in one piece.”
“Thank you. Yes, there wasn’t a great deal of battle.”
“Still, you must be disappointed to be brought back before you could accomplish your goals.”
“I suppose so…” Sebastian gazed at the sweetly smiling Vittorio and realized he simply had no idea how to talk to this person who now truly seemed a stranger to him. He didn’t want to be rude or cruel, but he felt ill at ease in his presence.
“Well,” Vittorio said brightly, “a little angel told me that good news awaits you.”
“Is that so?” Sebastian wondered just how far gone the man had become.
“Indeed.” Franko beamed. “I think the news will lift your spirits during this trying time.”
“Er, thank you, Franko.”
There was an awkward moment as the three of them stood in silence, Vittorio smiling pleasantly, Sebastian and Marcello giving each other confused glances.
“Well,” Sebastian said finally. “I’m glad to see you are settled in now.”
“Oh my, yes. Now you better be off. You don’t want to keep Her Majesty waiting, do you?”
“R-right.”
Sebastian and Marcello continued on their way down the hall, leaving the smiling ex-commander behind.
“Was that Franko the traitor?” Marcello asked under his breath.
“I take it you know him?”
“Only by reputation,” said Marcello. “He is the former commander you were talking about?”
“Yes.”
“Well no wonder you’re leery of following orders. If half the things I’ve heard about him are true, he’s an utter brute.”
“Really I don’t know why people still admire him.”
Sebastian glanced at him sharply. “What do you mean? The man’s a convicted traitor. How could anyone admire him?”
“It’s from before my time, but apparently he was right up there with your dad as one of the most beloved officers in the empire. And the fact that he survived a fall from the tower, just like Emperor Alessandro, well… some people wonder if his talk about angels and divine intervention isn’t so crazy after all.”
“That’s absurd.”
Marcello shrugged. “I’m not arguing. It’s just what some of the soldiers have been saying. Their fervency is almost cult-like, frankly.”
Sebastian frowned. How could Vittorio still inspire such loyalty after all he had done? And apparently without even trying?
Marcello led him to the throne room, where two honor guard wordlessly opened the doors for them.
Once inside, Sebastian’s eyes were immediately drawn to the massive stained glass above the throne that depicted the Ascendance of Alessandro Morante, first emperor of Aureum. Did people really believe Vittorio had ascended like him? Sebastian found it impossible to believe such a thing. Then again, as he considered the original story, which he had once found so inspiring, he couldn’t help wondering if even the original story had been true. Would God really command the emperor to subjugate everyone on the continent in His name? It seemed more likely a made-up story to justify what the empire had done. Or if it truly was God’s will, Sebastian had to ask himself what sort of God that was…
“Captain Portinari, so good of you to come.”
The empress’s satin voice pulled his gaze from the stained glass. She sat upon her throne, as regal as the first time he’d seen her. Barone, looking much restored, stood beside her.
Sebastian and Marcello knelt before her and she did not bid them rise so they stayed on one knee.
“I am honored by your summons, Your Majesty.” He wondered even as he said the words if he truly meant them.
“I hear things took an unexpected turn in Kante, and that it was only your timely rescue that saved our officers.”
“Oh, uh, I suppose so, Your Majesty.”
The empress glanced at Barone for a moment, then a slight smile crept onto her dark red lips. “Or perhaps I should thank the young Kantesian nurse who lured you away from your bed that night?”
Sebastian felt himself blushing. “Y-Your Majesty, I—”
She held up one hand and he was silent.
“You have no need to apologize, Captain. It is a weakness common among young men, after all.” Then she frowned. “Although I confess I find your appearance troubling, because you don’t really look like the young man I sent off to Kante. Is there some truth to the notion that wizards age prematurely?”
Marcello turned his head sharply and gave his friend a concerned look. Sebastian smiled sadly at him, then looked back at the empress.
“I’m afraid so, Your Majesty.”
“I see. That’s… unfortunate. But I suppose it’s all the more reason to make the most of you while we still have you.”
It seemed a heartless thing to say. Perhaps the empress didn’t realize that it was their use of him that was speeding up the process. Or perhaps she simply didn’t care.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said because he knew that was what he was expected to say.
She paused for a moment, perhaps wondering at his sincerity.
Then she said, “I don’t often apologize, Captain. And even more rarely in a formal setting such as this. So I hope you appreciate the enormity of this when I say that I am sorry I had to pull you so suddenly from your quest to find more constructive applications of your magic, and I am doubly sorry that, like your old commander Vittorio, I am sending you into a situation where you will once again need to use your magic for destructive purposes.”
“I… see, Your Majesty.”
“I considered keeping you here at the palace in case the Uaine show up, but according to Zaniolo’s reports, your magic is not particularly effective against the undead.”
“I’m afraid that’s correct, Your Majesty.” Sebastian’s heart sank. He knew exactly where this was going.
“So instead you will continue to serve in General Barone’s battalion, which will deploy in two days for Colmo. There you will use any means the general deems necessary to restore order. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Perhaps you already know that your sister is among the insurgents down in Colmo.”
“Oh, uh, I have heard something to that effect,” admitted Sebastian.
The empress glanced at Barone before continuing. “I know you are haunted by what happened during your last few confrontations with her. But surely you are also aware that you might be one of the few people who can stand against her. If you are left with no other choice but to once again unleash your full power to stop her, I will take responsibility.”
The empress paused, watching as what she said settled on him. She was giving him permission in advance to destroy the entire city of Colmo if that’s what it took to bring down his sister. She was telling him that she expected him to do the thing he had sworn never to do again, “generously” adding that she would take responsibility. As if that was any consolation. As if it made the deaths of countless innocents any more acceptable, or that those deaths would weigh upon his conscience any less.
He looked at Barone, but the general’s expression was unreadable.
Morante asked quietly, “Is that understood, Captain?”
A cold calm fell over Sebastian as he considered his response. There was, he decided, a certain feeling of power in completely masking one’s intent. Was this how his mother felt when she so carefully manipulated those around her? Might Galina have felt it when she nodded along in agreement with his own pathetic justifications for the slaughter of innocent peasants?
Doing the right thing did not automatically make one a good person. It just made the right thing get done. As such, Sebastian didn’t need to think himself any better of a person in order to do the right thing now.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will fulfill your orders by any and all means at my disposal.”
Lying for the sake of his sister and all those innocents in Colmo felt sweet indeed.
“Wonderful.” Then the empress smiled, suddenly looking more cheerful. “Oh, I do have one bit of news that should please you, Captain.”
“Your Majesty?” He couldn’t imagine what it might be, but it reminded him of Vittorio’s strange words on their way to the throne room.
The empress nodded to the honor guards by the door. “Bring him in.”
Sebastian turned, and felt himself breaking into the first genuine smile in weeks.
“Rykov! You’re back!”
The hulking, silent, redheaded Izmorozian nodded casually, as though they’d only just parted.
“I thought you might be pleased, Captain,” said the empress. “General Barone has expressed some concern regarding your health, and so Private Rykov will be accompanying you to assist in any way he is able.”
“I am very grateful, Your Majesty,” said Sebastian, and this time he meant it. So often during the deployment to Kante he had found himself missing his old aide-de-camp. He’d never truly appreciated how much the quiet, unassuming man had done for him. And his loyalty was without question. No doubt he would be a huge help in working things out with Sonya. Perhaps they would all get through this yet.