The Emperor

Chapter 1

1

Of the thousand ways the bandits might have retaliated against Flaming Arrow for his assassination of the five bandit leaders in 9318, the least expected was peace.—The Gathering of Power, by the Wizard Spying Eagle.

“Peace!” Aged Oak grumbled. “Five years ago I wouldn't have thought it possible!” Prefect of Cove, twelfth Patriarch of the Oak Family, and Commanding General of the Eastern Armed Forces, he glanced briefly over his shoulder at his mate, as if for reassurance.

The Matriarch Shading Oak smiled pensively. Standing beside her was the Commanding General's personal servant, Crow.

Glumly, Aged Oak looked out the rain-streaked window. “Five years ago the Eastern Armed Forces swept through the Windy Mountains in the Heir's wake like nets through a school of albacore. Eventually, we hauled in a total of thirty-five thousand bandit heads. What a catch! A full third of all bandits in the empty northern lands. We had 'em by the gills! Everybody thought Flaming Arrow was the mariner who'd ram the bandit navy from Imperial waters once and for all!”

Shading Oak smiled, knowing that the bandits had no navy. Her mate had lapsed into the dialect of Cove, the city of his youth a fishing port on the east coast. Like her mate, she was a native of Cove. Unrelated to him, she had the same surname as he. Like her mate, she was small in stature. Unlike him, she was without a wrinkle, despite her sixty-five years.

“They were wrong. I was wrong, eh? Another man beached their fleet.” Aged Oak shook his head. “I'm still not sure I believe what happened. Who'd have thought that a bandit would be the shipwright of peace? That a bandit would pilot their foundering fleet into safe harbor?” He sighed audibly. “Remember how it happened?”

Standing behind him, knowing he couldn't see her, she nodded, keeping her mind carefully shielded. When upset, he liked to be alone. Any reminder of her presence would likely annoy him. Right now, she knew he felt very upset, his years weighing on him like the overloaded hold of a ship.

“A few months after the last Imperial warrior left the empty northern lands, on a blustery autumn day, the northeasterlies were cracking open the topsails like a dolphin slapping the water. Seeking Sword—Lofty Lion's son, Purring Tiger's mate and Scowling Tiger's successor—declared himself Emperor of the Northern Empire. In the same breath of wind, he promulgated a law that penalized the initiation of hostilities against a foreign power with expulsion. The Bandit ordered all bandits to stop their banditry like a ship captain ordering all the winds to stop their blowing, eh? The audacity!

“No mystery that most of the bandits laughed at him contemptuously. The effrontery of a single man to tell them what they could and couldn't do had to be beyond belief. For over thirty years they'd roamed their seas at whim, going where the wind and the tide and their own sails would take them. Most of the bands insolently sneered at the Bandit's new law by carrying out a series of raids on both the Eastern and Western Empires.” Snorting, Aged Oak shook his head. “The pearl in that oyster stew of diplomacy is that Seeking Sword forewarned us it'd happen, sent a messenger to Emparia Castle under the Inviolate Insignia—unbelievable in itself, eh?” Aged Oak chuckled.

Shading Oak smiled, knowing her mate had forgotten her.

“Then what'd he do? Unattended and unguarded, the Bandit visited the leaders of the bands who'd violated his law. He told them that to rebuild the Northern Empire all the people who lived in the empty northern lands would have to act like citizens. During the first year after promulgation, the penalty for violating the law three times was the band's expulsion from the empty northern lands. Some leaders genuinely saw the advantages of stopping the raids, and acceded to Seeking Sword's request. Some leaders protested their inability to control their warriors, and shrugged at him. Some leaders pretended to acquiesce, and the moment he'd gone launched a raid. Some leaders laughed in his face, and ordered a raid in front of him. What a mutinous crew, eh?

“Remember the Wolverine Raiders? The Heir and I didn't leave much of them behind. They were the first band to violate Seeking Sword's law three times. The day after their third raid, the Tiger Raiders fell on the camp, bound and dampered every single member. Then they shipped them like common criminals across the border into my waiting hands. The Imperial executioner was busy that day.” Aged Oak grinned at the memory.

“After that, nearly all the other bands obeyed the Emperor Sword's law, most of them appreciating the ironic justice of his beaching the pirates onto the very beaches of the foreign power they'd attacked. The penalty changed after the first year, only individual bandits suffering the consequence for raiding.

“The Bandit brought peace to the northern border of the Eastern Empire.” Aged Oak sighed, shaking his head.

“The Emperor Sword wants more than peace, though. He wants to rebuild the Northern Empire. Shortly after stopping the raids, Seeking Sword drew up a treaty of non-aggression with the Western Empire. He negotiated for the repatriation of every homesick Western sailor stranded under his rule. During the next three years, twenty thousand bandits sailed home.

“Within the first year of the Emperor Sword's sovereignty, Snarling Jaguar joined the Infinite. Despite Stalking Jaguar's popularity and benevolence, not all citizens were content with the new Emperor. The mutinous Southern citizens sailed north, expecting to find a new home port. Instead, they received a cold welcome. Capturing them all, Seeking Sword asked the Emperor Stalking Jaguar what he should do with them. Facing charges of treason and sentences of death if the Bandit repatriated them, the emigrant Southerners were a political nightmare for Stalking Jaguar. Not wanting their blood nor the expatriates themselves on his hands, the newly-invested Emperor Jaguar left their fates to the Emperor Sword. Seeking Sword put them to work, commuting their sentences in exchange for a year of their labor, then offering them citizenship for a second year of work.

“Work they did. Expatriates and natives. Every single bandit, new and old. In five short years, they rebuilt everything that Flaming Arrow and the Eastern Armed Forces destroyed. What took Scowling Tiger and the Bandit Council fifteen years to construct, block by painstaking block, the Emperor Sword surpassed in a third of the time. Without wars to wage, the bandits turned their industry on the land. Rich with tender care, the ground bore fruit.

“Even though I still don't believe it, I welcome the peace.

“Oh, I'd like the peace between Empires to extend to the internal affairs of the Eastern Empire, but discontent grows among us like barnacles on a hull! Our own mutinous crew's becoming disaffected with the Heir, Flaming Arrow.”

Aged Oak sighed, looking out the window of his office in Cove, a city a hundred twenty miles from the northern border. “As am I.” Beyond beaded panes, rain slashed down on an already inundated city.

“I've known the Heir most my life. I don't doubt the boy myself. The brutal and callous Flaming Arrow who has emerged in the past five years dismays nearly everyone else. Oh, he denies the Bandit's every act. Most citizens simply refuse to believe that the Emperor Sword's capable of such a long succession of heinous deeds, and instead blame them all on the Heir.

“We know what the Bandit wants, eh? The Northern Empire may have stopped the raids, but they haven't stopped wanting the Imperial Sword from Flying Arrow. They've shown they'll obtain it regardless of cost, regardless of method. Cunning of the Emperor Sword to abort the senseless physical assault on the Eastern Empire and begin a personal assault on the Heir's reputation, eh? A master political strategist couldn't have planned it better.

“Remember the first incident? It seemed so insignificant. Three months after Flaming Arrow earned the title of man, he has an unpleasant encounter with a peasant—just a shoving match. Four weeks later in Nest, though, the Heir gets angry at a boy who jostles him, and grinds the boy's face into the mud. Three months later, a drunken Heir sings bawdy shanties staggering along an avenue in Emparia City at midday. Four weeks after that, the Heir accosts the mate of a merchant in Burrow. When she refuses, he drags her into a nearby alley and rapes her like he's some despicable corsair.

“That was the first year. After that, the incidents became more frequent and more reprehensible. At first, the Heir was patient, Infinitely patient, assuring the victims that they'd suffered at the Bandit's scourge and offering compensation not from Imperial coffers but from his own inestimable wealth.

“Why do you suppose Guarding Bear bequeathed the Caven Hills to Flaming Arrow five years ago, instead of his own son Rolling Bear? Smoking Arrow granted the peasant hereditary rights to the prefecture. Like a schooner tacking against the wind, Guarding Bear turns around and gives it to Smoking Arrow's grandson! Incomprehensible, eh?

“Anyway, as the opprobrious acts escalated, the victims became more disinclined to believe the Heir. Refusing his personal recompense, they sought legal redress instead. The Patriarchs and Matriarchs resolving these politically explosive situations initially ruled for the Heir, or at least pressed the litigant to accept the Heir's offer of compensation. When the incidents continued, however, the plaintiffs began to ignore the advice of their elders, insisting that the Prefects decide the Heir's punishment.

“Remember that? Right here in Cove, three thousand people watching, the Heir worked his way from one end of the marketplace to the other. He destroyed every object in his path like typhoon winds through thatch huts. Damage estimates stood at thirty-five hundred taels, a measly sum for the Heir. The litigants wanted more than damages and what they deemed 'silence taels.' They wanted the Heir's expulsion from Cove. I had to grant their request and expel him immediately to quiet the furor. After I traveled to Emparia City to consult with the Lord Emperor, Flying Arrow wisely reversed the decision, despite the protests and denunciations that followed.” Aged Oak sighed, wincing at the memory.

“Well, what could I do? What could the Heir do? Gradually, he gave up trying to convince everyone of his innocence. When accused now, he quietly denies perpetrating the Bandit's misdeeds and quietly endures the subsequent legal proceedings. Most citizens look at him these days with loathing. They don't see how he tries like the Infinite to be stoic and strong. He lives his life above reproach, his every act more exemplary than an admiral's. They don't see that, either.

“Outwardly, he's still Flaming Arrow. To me and others who know him intimately, the Heir has changed. That boy broods too much, spending time by himself too much. Even his mate Rippling Water privately longs for the Flaming Arrow of old, eh? The Flaming Arrow who'd always find time to talk with her, never ignoring his two lovely children, Trickling Water and Burning Arrow. What a pair they are, eh? Despite his exemplary execution of his offices of Heir and Prefect, Flaming Arrow virtually neglects his family and friends. Back when the waters were calm, if he and I happened to walk the same stretch of corridor, the old Heir bantered easily with me, like a crewmate who'd survived the same shipwreck. Now the Heir pleads urgent business and hurries onward, as if I've turned pirate.”

Someone discreetly scratched on the door. Shading Oak poked her head out into the corridor, nodded at the servant, and looked toward her mate apprehensively. She put her hand on Crow's shoulder, her request unspoken. The General's personal servant nodded in understanding. Shading Oak then unobtrusively left the room.

“Well, I know what he's thinking,” Aged Oak said, wincing. “Flaming Arrow reasons that if he socializes with fewer people, fewer will share his shame and perhaps his fate. Unfortunately, he presumes the effect and therefore the fate. I detest such reasoning! As if we don't know which direction the wind's blowing, eh?”

Not wanting to remember what he'd done three days ago, Aged Oak put his face close to the window. Here in the offices of his home in Cove, he felt secure. Above was the storm, below was the city, and beyond city was ocean. A sob escaped his lips. Aged Oak fell to his knees, trying to deny the memory, his gnarled and calloused hands clutching the window sill.

Aged Oak approached the gate to enter Emparia Castle. Coming the other direction was the Heir, pretending he didn't see the malevolence in the glances of passersby.

“Lord Heir,” Aged Oak called, further from the gate. He lengthened his stride to intercept him.

Flaming Arrow stopped. “Yes, Lord General?”

The General placed a hand on the burly, sun-browned shoulder. “I want to talk to you, Lord.”

The shoulder slid back, unobtrusively, intentionally. “Not now.”

“Now, Lord!”

The fire in the Heir's gray-blue eyes could have melted iron.

“I won't let you put me off like some barnacle-scraping drudge!” Aged Oak said. “I'm your friend, by the Infinite. I don't care if you have forgot the fact!”

The tension in Flaming Arrow's shoulders eased; the fire left the eyes.

“I want to know what you're going do about this seaweed-slinging Bandit, Lord Heir. Why don't you retaliate?”

“Retaliate for what, Lord General?”

Aged Oak grabbed the lapels of Flaming Arrow's robe and shook the larger man roughly. “You're just going to let him drag your reputation through the sand and give your head to the executioner?!”

“No,” the Heir said, not trying to disengage himself.

“Well, blast you to the Infinite, what are you going to do?” Aged Oak despised his speech when he became upset, the dialect of Cove marking him as a muckraking clam-digger from the east coast of the Empire.

“I'll do exactly what I need to do. If that includes telling you my plan, then I'll be the first one to inform you.”

“You insolent sea-slug!” With a strength he didn't believe he had, Aged Oak hurled Flaming Arrow at a nearby wall.

The Heir struck so hard his lungs emptied.

Spitting epithets, Aged Oak planted himself a foot from Flaming Arrow and unleashed a barrage of blows into his midsection. Several sets of hands dragged him away, the General screaming curses in a voice already hoarse and struggling to free himself to administer more blows.

Rage had so consumed him that only later in the day, as he set a grueling pace toward Cove, did he learn that the Heir hadn't lifted a pinky to defend himself.

When he arrived in Cove, Aged Oak heard the extent of the Heir's injuries on the psychic flow: Five broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, a punctured lung, multiple lacerations across the back, and bruises from navel to n*****s. Ashamed of his behavior, the damage terrible, Aged Oak immediately fell to his knees, bared his abdomen and unsheathed a knife. His soul screamed for release.

From the west a psychic lance penetrated his brain. Only twice before in his life had he received a personal communication from the Emperor using the Imperial Sword. The blue and white seven-arrow quiver filled his sight, the voice of Flying Arrow ringing in his ears. “Lord Commanding General Aged Oak, the Lord Heir Flaming Arrow requests that I spare you, pending an investigation. I order you to withhold your knife from your belly. You'll wait in Cove under house arrest for further instructions, Lord Oak.” With that the six-inch wide beam of psychic energy withdrew, the message finished.

His knees in the mud, his stomach bared to the cold ocean breeze, the knife in his hand forbidden to strike, the shame of what he'd done permeating his soul, Aged Oak glimpsed for the first time how Flaming Arrow felt. The glimpse only tripled his shame.

They told him later that his scream had awakened the whole city.

He didn't remember.

Rain streaking the window, tears streaking his face, Aged Oak wished he could completely forget the past three days. The family Wizard had adjusted the General's emotional balance several times. Without those adjustments, Aged Oak's guts would've been in his lap.

Flying Arrow's two days of silence mystified everyone. Most people expected Flying Arrow to retaliate despite Flaming Arrow's request. At noon that day, the psychic flow had reported that the Heir had left Emparia Castle for the Caven Hills, sufficiently recovered from his injuries to travel. An almost palpable cloud had lifted from the Empire.

Not from Aged Oak, though. The grey, cloudy skies darkening with dusk, the General said, “Crow, summon an Imperial messenger please.”

“Yes, Lord.” Crow, the General's personal servant, relayed the order to a servant in the corridor, but did not leave the room.

Aged Oak couldn't live with this shame any longer, and wanted to request permission to fall on his knife.

Moments later Shading Oak stepped in to the office, her face beaming. Stepping up beside him, she slipped an arm around his waist. “I've brought you a visitor, my love. Smile for him, would you?”

“Don't want a visitor,” he grumbled, her presence comforting.

“This one you will,” she replied, turning him to face the door.

Soaking wet and wincing, Flaming Arrow grinned at the General. On the pommel of the Sword at his side was a diamond, confirming that this was indeed the Heir—and not the Emperor Sword.

Falling to his knees, Aged Oak put his head to the floor, sobbing.

Stepping forward a pace, the Heir gestured Shading Oak and the servant to leave. They closed the door behind them.

The two men were alone. “You were right to question me like that, Lord Oak. Someone had to pound some sense into me, eh?”

Aged Oak looked up, tears pouring down his face. “Oh, my boy, I shouldn't have struck you like that! I shouldn't have!” He rose, reaching out his arms to embrace Flaming Arrow.

With blinding speed Seeking Sword drew and slashed. The head leaped from the neck and a fountain of blood sprayed the window. From beyond the door came a scream and a thump. The Bandit grabbed the head by the hair and spat in the face. “How dare you touch the Imperial person of the Lord Heir Flaming Arrow!” He hurled the head at the window, which shattered, letting in the stormy night. Then he turned and splintered the door with a powerful kick. He stepped into the corridor, past the cringing servant, past the impassive Imperial messenger, over the dead mate of the dead General, and down the corridor toward the stairway, heaping curses upon Aged Oak the entire way.

Smashing anything in reach, kicking doors open and terrorizing the other occupants, Seeking Sword called down the wrath of the Infinite to plague the Oak Family and all its descendants. In the vaulted antechamber, the Bandit slammed opened the main door and paused on the threshold for a full minute.

“Anyone who questions the Lord Heir dies on his blade!”

Into the rainy night he went.