Elemental Blitz

8

The one hundred knights of the 77th Sapphire Cohort and the thirty members of the Senate Guard all ride their cyber mounts in a protective formation around the large floating horseless carriage that is conveying the five VIPs. The cyber mounts and the carriage are all inventions of the Alchemist Guild. The cyber mounts are mechanical horses that run off gears powered by a fuel source that no one outside the guild understands. The same goes for the carriage, which floats on powerful steam jets and is capable of being guided by the magnetic fields of the cyber mounts.

Inside the carriage are the three senators, Braxian and High Searcher Yvonne Orozco, the head of the Searcher Corp. Yvonne is one of the three people Eshoni trusted to get Rexx away from the capital and, strangely enough, her former lover. They started the relationship three years after the overthrow of her mother, and it lasted for five years. Now, as she watches Braxian talk animated with the woman he considers a second mother, she can’t help but accept that everything is coming full circle. It was Yvonne who set up the secret group within the Searcher Corp who had been watching Rexx all this time. A fact that she only admitted after Eshoni had made the severity of the new Devil threat abundantly clear. Eshoni had, of course, been furious with the woman but, at the same time, grateful because this meant they had a location of the man who was the Empire’s best hope of survival.

Yvonne had told her about the system of communication she has with the group she calls Circle, of which there are less than a dozen members. They use special mechanical hawks made by the Alchemists Guild that are connected to magical rings made by the Magi Guild. These hawks can travel twice as fast as a normal hawk and will come to someone wearing one of the rings. If someone were to somehow capture one, it would self-destruct within ten seconds of not registering one of the rings. The hawks are capable of recording and repeating verbal messages. It is an ingenious system that Yvonne had started to introduce throughout her order.

Yvonne is First Seat by birth. She is in her fifties now, like Eshoni, with caramel skin that is still smooth, long blonde hair that has started to whiten at the temples, and piercing green eyes. She stands 5’9 and has the body of the warrior she is. She was one of Eshoni’s first recruitments to the rebellion and her most trusted ally during that dark time. They had both sensed something between them even then, but Eshoni’s heart had belonged only to Rexx. It was Eshoni’s guilt and loneliness that finally drove her into Yvonne’s arms, but it was that same guilt over the betrayal of and continued love for Rexx that ended them. Their last massive fight as a couple had happened because Yvonne had accused her, accurately, of never being able to truly love her because she still loved him. She had moved out of their apartment in the palace that same night. Their relationship has been professional but still strained since. She and Braxian are still very close, with her training him regularly in the way of the sword. Eshoni knows that he also questions her about his father and that she keeps the darker truth about Rexx to herself, although it is not hard for him to hear stories about the legend known as Bloody Rexx. Eshoni has always tried to help her son see the man under the blood. Although she knows Yvonne hates Rexx, she is grateful that she respected her wishes on that subject.

“So, I think we have avoided the elephant in the carriage long enough,” says Senator Zelma Mercer, breaking Eshoni’s train of thought, “Since you two are presumably the only ones who know anything about the Executioner since his “disappearance” a decade ago, what should we expect from this meeting? Will he surrender to the authority of the Senate and do his duty, or will he have to be forced?”

She glares from Yvonne to Eshoni as she speaks. Senator Wyatt Neal, for his part, just groans. They are seated beside each other on the crescent couch in the carriage. The way she says said disappearance lets Eshoni know that she plans to use her admission of not only aiding his escape but forcing it against her when this nightmare is over. In fact, her people had already gotten word back to her that she had started petitioning their fellow senators to see who would support her in calling for Eshoni to be named a traitor and put on trial. She didn’t have the time to probe further, nor did she care to. She knows that either way this goes, she is more than likely done as a senator. There may not even be a Senate, or an Empire left. All eyes turn to Yvonne as she bursts out laughing.

“Well, the one thing I can tell you, Senator Mercer,” says Yvonne after her laughter subsides, “Is there you would have a better chance of negotiating with a Devil than forcing Rexx Thorne to do anything? If he wants to help, he will. If he wants to watch the Empire that he feels betrayed him burn and drown in its own blood, he will. I will be completely honest with you: it is a coin toss if he will even talk to us or kill us all in the first ten seconds. Braxian here is likely the only one to walk away from this meeting alive. Though, he has never met his son. So that is not a guarantee.”

She throws Eshoni a heated look at this last part. She had not wanted to bring Braxian. Even now, she sees him as her child as much as he is Eshoni’s and certainly more than he is Rexx’s. Only he isn’t, and bringing him was Eshoni’s choice, not hers.

“By the gods,” says Wyatt his tan face going pale, “So, it is true that this is his son? Surely, he would not commit cold-blooded murder in front of his child. Especially not the mother of his child in front of his child. Surely not?”

“Rexx is a Sapphire Knight,” says Eshoni, still meeting Yvonne’s eyes before moving them to Zelma and Wyatt, “Every Sapphire Knight swore a blood oath to protect the Empress and her family. Every one of them died to a man the night of the rebellion; none of them surrendered, and none of them ran. My actions saw to it that Rexx lost every last one of his charges and all of his men while he was unable to lift a finger. So, no. I am no safer than either of you.”

Braxian moves to her side and hugs her, “Don’t worry, mama. I will protect you.”

She pulls him close and kisses his head before continuing, “This is the risk I am willing to take for the good of the Empire. We need Rex’s help, but no, we cannot depend on him giving it out of any loyalty to our Empire. It isn’t his, his died with my mother and family. The day they were executed is the day his ties to us were cut. I do not regret my choice at all, but I would be lying if I said that I haven’t been living in fear for a decade.”

“So,” says Zelma with a scowl, “Our hopes are riding on a disloyal traitor.”

“No,” says Yvonne, “Our hopes are riding on an angry, betrayed, immortal knight with the powers of a god who was betrayed by the woman he loved, poisoned over two dozen times by me personally, and left at the ass end of nowhere while those he swore to protect with his life were put to the sword.”

Eshoni looks at her in horror, “Over two dozen times? Yvonne, do you have any idea how much pain that would cause him? A drop of that poison could have killed an elephant. I told you a small dose every three days.”

“I am not proud of it, especially now,” says Yvonne, “I was angry and traveling with a man that had proven he would and could kill anyone deemed an enemy to the throne. I was afraid. I am sorry, Esh. I am sorry.”

Eshoni just glares at her, her rage rekindled. Zelma just wears a self-satisfied smile. Wyatt looks like he is going to be sick as he only now seems to realize exactly want kind of s**t show he had volunteered for. The tension is broken when a silver hawk lands on the bar outside the window and taps it with its metal beak. Yvonne turns from Eshoni’s glare and opens the window, letting the mechanic bird step onto her arm.

“It is from my two agents assigned to Rexx,” says Yvonne as she presses the black stoned ring on her hand to its forehead, “Abicus Ray Fe Tai.”

Eshoni recognizes the passphrase as one used by rebels to greet and verify each other. Braxian has gotten up to move close to it, almost nose to beak, staring in wonder. The hawk’s red eyes flash as it accepts the magical touch of the ring and the passphrase. Its beak opens wide, and the voice of a woman starts to play.

“Greetings, High Seeker Orozco,” begins the woman who must have been riding fast when she recorded this because of the hoofbeats in the background, “Searcher Zhang reporting. We have made unintentional contact with the Bearer. He did not have violent intentions towards us and gave us a message to relay. He says the Devil Army will attack Westspire next, and that is where he is headed. We do not know how he knows this information, but he seems certain. He suggests that we move our forces to bolster their defenses. We informed him of the three senators' intentions to meet him. He says that they should wait for him in Westspire. Beyond engaging with the group calling themselves the Faithful in Redpole earlier, he did not seem to have much interest, but since we informed him of the three senators, he has been riding at a breakneck pace. If not for our cyber mounts, we would not be able to keep up. At this pace, we should reach Westspire within the week. We are still not certain where he stands as far as loyalty to the Empire, but we do believe he is still an enemy of the Devils. Wait, what is that? Vern, look out!”

The recording ends with what sounds like an explosion. After another second, the hawk closes its mouth, leaving the carriage in silence.