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Okay let me explain the identity of Halima.

So, back in Katsoaru, if you remember the scene when Nebud and Musa bathed together in the cleaning room in an expensive resort. That was when Nebud learned that Musa had been castrated and when Nebud asked about it this was Musa's explanation:

“Imps cannot procreate in the spectral existence, but some of us are still able to achieve the pleasure associated with intercourse. When an umani dies without ever having intercourse, its body retains the ability to have it in the spectral existence. I died a virgin master. So, when I came here, I could…make love. There were a few girls who also died the same way, three in the years that I served the Kaisers of Lahooni. The first two I met, left after some time. But the last one, the last one spent a millennium with me. I found her after she died. She died a few months after her fifteenth birthday. She was beautiful. We lived together for a thousand years and then my masters died and master Salin, the new custodian of Lahooni took over. I told you that its slaves did not like me. It was because they liked her. They did not die virgins and so they could not have the pleasure of intercourse, I think they hated me for that. It was why they fought me, they wanted the love that I had.”

“Love.” I repeated the word. I knew of love between progenitor and offspring, and even that was a rare thing. But love between two unrelated uspecs?

Musa smiled. “Yes master, love. One of the imps who hated me was master Salin’s osin. It whispered ills about me to the master and when the master’s anger reached a peak, it sent for me. My love, she loved me. She came running in, so defiant, pointing fingers at the master’s imps. She would not be stopped. Master Salin was not one to be spoken to in that manner. It sent for yielders and it had them take her away, to be sapped. It was going to do the same to me, but one of its slaves told it that sapping was too good for me. They chose castration instead.”


So Halima is the girl that Musa spent a millennium with in Lahooni, the one he loved. He thought that Salin sapped her, until Animaon returned to the compound with the imps. This was the relevant snippet of the scene between Musa, Halima and Animaon.


“Halima!” Musa screamed. “My God, it cannot be! It cannot be!” Tears streamed from my imp’s eyes.

I watched completely befuddled as it made its way to an imp standing a few paces behind Animaon. The imp was dressed simply in a short brown tunic. I could see from the mounds on its chest that it was a female, the umani gender in contrast to Musa’s male. Once Musa reached the imp, it dropped to its knees in front of it. It wept as if it was in mourning.

The imp knelt in front of it. It pulled Musa into its arms, and then they…my eyes narrowed…I had seen this with the imps in the Mine of Aurelion. Musa and the other imp kissed. They held on tightly to each other’s face and they kissed with so much passion that I could not help but wonder at the identity of this new imp.

“How is this possible?” Musa asked, once it pulled back from the other imp. “You were sapped. I was there when Salin gave the order. I saw you taken away. I saw the yielders take you to their room and…”

“Domina Animaon saved me, Musa.”

Musa appeared stunned. “But then…why didn’t you come back for me?”

“It wasn’t safe Musa,” Animaon said, “it wasn’t safe for her to come back to you. When it was safe, I could not.”

Musa glared at the pious one. “What do you mean you could not? I thought she was gone!”

“It was not the founder’s will for you to be reunited just then. It was not its will.” Animaon’s gaze turned to me and I understood then that Chuspecip kept them apart so that I could find Musa in a position to come to my aid. I remembered its tale from so long ago. We’d been in Katsoaru when it told me of its love. I remembered thinking how strange a concept love appeared then. But now, now I understood the love of which it spoke. I loved many. It came as a surprise to me to know this, that I was one that now had love. I loved my offspring foremost, that one before all others. But there were others I would not see harm come to. Arexon for one, and Fabiana, and, my gaze turned to the imp, yes, even after its betrayal, I still cared deeply for it. Now it clung to the imp who’d won its love.

“You had no right!” Musa screamed.

So, in summary, Musa and Halima were together for a thousand years in Lahooni, serving the previous Kaisers of Lahooni. In love. And then when Salin killed Calam and took over as Kaiser it gave the order for Halima to be sapped and Musa to be castrated and then sold. Animaon saved Halima from being sapped and it took her with it without telling Musa and so Musa just went on believing that Halima had been sapped. Now it is back together with its millennium love!

Hopefully that clarifies things a bit

I slept fitfully that night and rose early to find Musa’s room empty.

It had left with its imp Halima.

I stormed out of the dwelling. It was still early in the morning, much earlier than we normally packed up and made our walkabout. I thought about waking Juke to spar but I decided against it. I would have gone to Fabiana’s camp, if for no other reason than to have somewhere to go. But, on the off chance that Musa and that imp Halima had gone there, I didn’t want to risk crossing paths with them. There was always Darlin’s camp.

I was still suffering with my indecision when I heard a voice call out, “Musa.” I turned to find Musa walking into our compound. It was the other imp Chike that had called out to it. “I did not expect to see you back.” My thoughts mirrored Chike’s words.

Neither of them had noticed me. It was still so early that the daylight dots had not yet emerged. We were still purely surrounded by the red lighting from the clouds.

“I stayed long enough to get Halima settled, but I had to come back. It’s my curse, I can’t leave the master. I swore an oath, to see it returned to its rightful position in Lahooni, and I will not break it. No matter how much it pains me to do so.” The last sentence was delivered in a mumbled tone.

I clenched my jaw. “Perhaps you should join this imp you love so much.” I said. Both imps jumped. They appeared startled as their gazes turned to search me out. It didn’t take them too long to find me. It wasn’t as if I was hidden.

I’d never thought that the day would come when I saw hatred for me on the imp’s face. It looked away, but it had looked on me long enough for me to see the hatred. I found that I hated it too for that. I hated it for clinging to an imp who had disparaged me, mocked my offspring, and then urged it to join the invasion. It had said that serving me was a curse, and I found that I loathed it for that too. I made an oath to myself there and then that I would destroy the wrath and I would remake the samu that my sire had done. But the one I made would have no cure. For as long as I lived, imps would be subjugated. I swore to it.

“Leave,” I said to Musa, “if serving me is such a curse, then go! Take your beloved imp and go to Permafrost for all I care. But when I come to destroy that haven you imps hold so dear, don’t call on me for mercy. I have no more mercy where you’re concerned.”

“I will stay.” Musa stated. “Not for you, but for the uspecs of your line who came before you. For master Chacip, the first uspec of your line who took me from the pious and showed me the beauty in this existence. It was that uspec who gave enough wealth for Permafrost to be founded and bequeathed enough for battered slaves to find solace. I will stay for it and for all the others, till master Calam and master Calami, who gave me everything. I will protect you for them. I swore an oath and you will not make me break it. I will protect you and aid you until you claim your rightful place as the Kaiser of Lahooni.” After saying that the imp stormed off. I reached for my cutlass, determined to send the imp out by force if I had to. In my rage, I would gladly behead it. Something stopped me before I could act.

No.

I was jarred by Chuspecip’s voice in my head. It had been so long since I heard the founder. Its voice was faint, very weak, but it was strong enough to bring me hope and remind me of what it demanded of me. I let the imp go and turned my seething stare on the imp that remained.

Chike smiled up at me. It was tall and bulky…for an imp.

“Shall we spar master?” It asked.

I’d never sparred with this imp. If Musa’s tales could be trusted, it was this imp that had trained my progenitor.

“You don’t want to spar with me in the mood I’m in.”

It grinned. “I’ve been waiting your whole life to spar with you, young master Cala.”

There was something odd about being called young by an imp who did not appear much older than me. I shrugged, pulled out my cutlass and then waited for the imp to find a sword of its own.

Chike was good. Its skill with a blade reminded me a little too much of Marcinus. Plus, it had the spry dancing grace that I had only seen imps fight with. I was enjoying the sparring so much that I was smiling and sweating by the time the first orange light appeared, colored by the red of the clouds.

“You really did train my progenitor, didn’t you?” I asked, panting when we finally stopped sparring.

The imp beamed at me. “I really did, master.”

“Are you any good with your hands?”

“Try me.” It urged.

I did. I sheathed my cutlass and it dropped its sword. An average uspec’s bulk surpassed that of even the most muscular imp. Chike was not the most muscular imp, and I was not an average uspec. But even with my excess of bulk, I found myself competing quite strenuously against the imp. When I landed a blow, the imp stumbled, when it landed a blow, it managed to hit areas that did not require too much force to make me stumble. This was how those with less bulk ought to fight.

I was laughing when we ended. “Why have we not sparred before now?” I asked, truly curious.

“You don’t like me very much.” It replied without any heat.

I sighed. Imps. “I do not dislike you, I just…” I shook my head and cut myself off. “You should train Juke and Binna. They could learn a lot from your style of brawling.”

“Thank you.” It bowed.

That was what I called a good sparring match. I’d feared that with Arexon gone, I’d lost my last true challenger. Now, I knew I had nothing to fear. I would start my days sparring with Chike from this point on.

And I did.

The days past by in a rush of monotony from that point on. The only thing that changed was that I did not see much of Musa. It travelled at the back when we walked the inter-port trail, and once we made camp, it stayed in its room until we were ready to travel again. Each time I found my gaze traveling to the imp, I remembered Halima mocking my offspring and Musa despising me for sending the imp away. How was I supposed to stay in the same camp with an imp who’d mocked my offspring and then said that it would die before it could rule? I’d let it leave. I’d even offered it its freedom and for that I was a monster. Damn those imps. Damn them all. I cursed Chumani, the umani chu, the one that had sent the imps to our existence in the first place. When uspecs died, they did the noble thing and left the sphere of being. Our death was final. Why couldn’t umanis be the same? We did not pollute their world so why did they have to come and fill ours. And then despise us for the role we gave them in it. When it was all said and done, the spectral existence belonged to uspecs.

The break in our monotony came one afternoon thirteen days after the incident with Musa and its imp Halima. It was carried on the wings of a one-band noble from Fabiana’s team, after we’d made camp for the night and had settled down for dinner in the small entertaining room.

Musa was not amongst us.

It had been a good day. I was not ashamed to admit that Chike made a far better instructor for Juke than I did. But it was not Juke’s advancement that had made the day great, but Nebula’s. My offspring had thrown five daggers in a row, never missing its target, before it spasmed on the sixth throw. But it had been so focused on its task that it had not dropped the dagger as it spasmed. And once the spasm stopped, it had thrown the dagger and hit its target. I could not have been prouder.

“Salutations imperial one.” The one-band noble from Fabiana’s camp called out. I’d just been about to put a piece of dried nama meat into my mouth.

“Salutations noble one.” I greeted in turn. “Is something wrong?”

The noble shook its head. It walked into the center of the arrangement of lounging beds and knelt in front of me. “A missive from the high Arexon, sirga, the majestic Fabiana said to bring it over right away.”

My hand was stained with the nama juices, so I nodded for Juke to take it instead. The young uspec took the scroll from the noble one and read through it. Its eyes darted across the page.

“Well,” I prompted.

“It is much better than we hoped sirga.” Juke sat at the foot of my lounging bed, beside my offspring. “The plenum has left thirty-three percent of its forces around Lahooni. They deployed twenty-five percent to Chiboga…”

“That only leaves two percent for Katsoaru and Hakute.” I stated bemused.

Juke nodded. “The rest they deployed to Katsoaru with the exception of a battalion of two-hundred and fifty soldiers left to guard Hakute.”

I could not believe it! Two hundred and fifty soldiers. Two hundred and fifty! I roared a cheer that was quickly picked up by every other person in that room. That was less than three-to-one odds. Three standard issue plenum soldiers against one Lahooni noble. I laughed. This was so much better than I could have hoped.

“Do you know what this means?” I asked, once the cheering subsided.

“It is time to complete the founder’s mission.” Juke stated somberly.

I smiled.

“Ju-ju-ju-ju-ju-ke.” I turned to stare at my offspring. “Ju-ju-ke. Juke. Ju-ju-ke.”

I beamed at it. It was the first sensible word that it had said. My offspring could speak! I stood, picked it up and threw it in the air, amidst another round of hearty cheers. Nebula’s first word coming right at that moment seemed like a good omen for our trip.

“Tomorrow!” I declared. “Tomorrow we march to Hakute. Spread the word.” The soldier from Fabiana’s camp withdrew.

“Yes sirga!” It screamed before leaving.

Part 11
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After a week of walking along the inter-port trail, my personal team of twelve and I, had formed something of a routine. We’d drawn a few hours walking distance from Hakute when the plenum had still been in the process of repositioning their troops. Then we’d just broken up camp every day and walked around. We changed our location daily and sparred whenever we settled into a new camp. We used our form cards to build little compounds with a dwelling large enough to take everyone and a bit of extra room for our sparring sessions.

I was quite impressed with the progress that Juke was making.

Fabiana and Darlin both had their teams far enough away that it would not be suspected that we traveled together, but not so far that it took over an hour on foot for an imp to deliver messages.

The atmosphere on the inter-port trail was tense. I’d been able to pick up the exact moment that the war in Chiboga began. Arexon had been right, I’d never witnessed war. It didn’t just affect the uspecs in the ports fighting, it seemed to affect every uspec in a close enough vicinity. Food on our side of the inter-port trail had suddenly become scarce and expensive. We were in a close enough proximity to Lahooni and Chiboga that we heard news of the battles rather quickly. Chechin’s departure had hit the plenum hard. Now it just remained to see how the plenum would deal with the redistribution. Once things settled down we would know and then we could form an attack strategy.

My bed shook.

It took me a while to realize that it was a result of my offspring’s convulsing and not some other form of magic. We slept in the same room. The house was so small that several people had to share. I rather liked having my offspring close to me at all times. Though, I could admit that I was less worried now that Marcinus was far away from it. Sleeping with Nebula had taught me that the uspec tended to convulse in its sleep. While it was awake, it only had spasms, but in the night, the spasms took over its entire body. They did not last long, but they always lasted long enough to scare me. I held my breath and waited for the worst of the shaking to stop. A few nights ago, it had gotten so bad that the little one’s teeth had chattered violently. I’d had to force a bit into its mouth to keep it from biting off its own tongue.

At long last, the convulsions stopped. There was a fine film of sweat on its body, but it had not woken.

I rose up from the bed. I couldn’t sleep. Both Fabiana and Darlin had sent the locations of their teams. Fabiana was closer. I could fly to their camp and visit with Fabiana for a bit. I felt as if its sudden return with Animaon and the bustle of the days that followed hadn’t left me with enough time to talk with it. I didn’t want to leave my offspring alone, not after I’d witnessed its violent convulsions and been terrified by them.

I walked over to Musa’s room to see if the imp was still awake.

“I just don’t understand why you serve it so diligently.” I heard the soft voice right before I made to pull the curtain apart. There was the faint glow of white light seeping through the slit between the end of the curtains and the border of the entrance.

Something about the softly spoken words stopped me.

“It is Calami’s offspring Halima,” I recognized Musa’s voice. They were speaking in the common umani tongue which I understood. “You remember Calami don’t you? The same uspec that you confessed more than once to being in love with.” There was something odd in the light teasing tone of Musa’s voice. “A lesser man would have been jealous.”

I heard a giggle and accorded the sound to the other imp, Halima. Musa shared its room with the imp. “Well, Calami was certainly not a lesser man.”

Musa chuckled. “Calami wasn’t any type of man, and you know I was talking about myself not Calami.”

The other imp giggled again. “Calami was easy to love.” It sighed. I shook my head, realized I had stooped to eavesdropping on imps, and reached for the curtains. I froze when I heard the imp Halima say in a sad voice, “this Nebud is nothing like its progenitor. It is neither noble nor kind. It treats us worse than slaves.”

Musa chuckled. I heard the imp laughing and I clenched my fist, a torrent of rage roiling within me.

“You, my dear, are spoilt. Nebud has never even spoken to. How does it treat you worse than a slave?”

I heard a hissing sound coming from the room. “Maybe it hasn’t spoken to me, but I’ve heard the way it speaks about us. And I’ve seen the look of disgust on its face when it’s reminded of our presence. It wants to be rid of us, Musa, all of us. It despises imps.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Stop it! You know I hate it when you condescend me. That uspec is no offspring of Calami’s. I swear it. Chike slaves away trying to please it and all it does is rebuff his attempts. I want to go to Permafrost Musa, I want to join our kind.”

There was a long drawn out sigh. “That isn’t possible.”

“Of course it is! You are the firstborn. They will welcome us with open arms.”

“And what of their plans to take over this existence?” Musa snapped back bitterly. “Do you wish to be a part of that too.”

“If Calami was still alive, I would not, I would never. But we were family to Calami. I look at Nebud and know that we will never be to the line it creates what we were to the ones that came before. I cannot spend the rest of its life being treated worse than dirt. I will not. And who’s to say that its offspring will be any better? If its feeble, quivering, offspring even lives long enough to rule, that is. We should be with our kind Musa. We should fight for our freedom.”

I wrenched the curtain so hard that it ripped.

Both imps gasped when they saw me.

The imp Halima crawled and hid behind Musa. Its eye sockets were pulled all the way up, its gaze widened, as it watched my approach.

“Master please!” I heard Musa scream.

I didn’t realize that I’d drawn my cutlass and was about to stick it into the neck of the imp cowering behind Musa, until the moment that Musa made its pleas. I was too angry to listen to the imp. Musa, I cared for, this imp it seemed infatuated with, I despised. I thought of the imp’s words and my rage was so potent I knew that if I knew how, I would have sapped the imp myself. The things it had said about my offspring. Then it had tried to convince Musa to abandon me. I reached for the imp, but Musa got in my way.

The pointed edge of the cutlass stabbed its neck instead.

I pulled the cutlass out. Musa had enough growth to heal itself, and it did. I wondered if Halima had pansophy. I had cared so very little about the imp before that I had never even been bothered to find out. Pansophy or not, after I was through cutting off its head, it would take it a long time to see again. I could not kill it without the samu, but beheading seemed like a good enough punishment in the short term.

I tried to reach around Musa to grab Halima, who was now screaming in a foreign umani tongue. Musa got in my way and then…I was so shocked that it took me a while to come to terms with what the imp had done. It pushed me, it actually shoved me away. It did not have so much bulk that its push sent me back far, but it was the shock of the thing that gave me pause. Musa knelt in front of this other imp and I saw in the determined set of its face that it would fight me for this imp if it had to.

“Sirga?” I turned to find Juke and four other members of my honoraria standing just by the entrance into the room. I saw a dark brown head that could only belong to an imp. Chike. Halima’s loud screams must have woken them up.

The last time I had felt such a strong dislike for an imp had been in Nefastu. This imp was unfortunately bound to Musa. Its stance made it clear that I would have to go through it to get to the one behind it. Something about that pose knocked the fight out of me. I was not yet quite so angry that I would harm Musa just to get my hands on another imp. But I was not so forgiving that I would allow the imp’s words that night to go.

“Get out!” I snapped at the imp.

Musa looked pained. “Master, please…” it began.

I shook my head. “Not you.” I said. “It. Get that imp out of my camp. You want your freedom,” I said to the imp, “now you have it. Get out of my sight. I never want to lay eyes on you again.”

“Master, please,” Musa begged. It spoke to me in the Kute tongue. It was funny how after all this time and all the different tongues I’d learnt. Whenever the two of us spoke to each other, it was always in the first tongue we’d conversed with, the kute tongue. “It is defenseless. It has no magic. It used to siphon spectra from master Calam, but since then…” Musa trailed off. “Please, I beg you, if you send it out someone else will enslave it.”

I did not care about the imp’s fate. “Get that imp out of my sight!”

Two nobles in my honoraria rushed forward to do my bidding. But Musa kept the imp behind it and poised to face off against my nobles. I clenched my jaw at the sight. Perhaps that Halima was right, in this one moment, I could think of very few things that I loathed more than imps. The lot of them. I wanted to give the command that they should go through Musa if they had to. I was eager to see if Musa would really attack my nobles to defend its imp.

“What if it joined the imperial Fabiana’s camp? Would that soothe you sirga?” Juke chimed in.

“I don’t care where it goes, along as I never have to lay eyes on it again.”

Juke nodded. “Then go to the majestic Fabiana’s camp, Halima, Chike can take you there.”

“Musa?” I heard the question in Halima’s voice. It wanted Musa to accompany it. And if Musa accompanied it, then it would not be to Fabiana’s camp that they would go, but to Permafrost. I knew that, and I would not relent. If Musa joined the invasion then…I could not think of the wrath at that moment. But on my list of things to destroy, they ranked right below Fajahromo and the plenum.

I sheathed my sword and turned my back on the tableau. “I don’t want to see that imp in my camp when I wake up tomorrow.” I said the words to Juke.

It bowed. “As you please sirga.”

I stormed out of the imps’ room and headed back to the one I shared with my offspring. As I climbed slowly into bed beside it, I tried not to think of Musa and how much I wanted it to choose service to me over the imp that it had clung to so many times since Animaon cursed me by delivering the imp to me.

@kelsmic Lol, it's really WWIII haha. Fighting is coming up soooon. Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

@doctorexcel actually, the female imp isn't meant to be a mystery...bu I'll wait until after this next update and see if it's still a mystery and if it is, I'll clarify and refresh everyone's memories. And yes, imps can change their appearance...I like the way you're thinking, let's see if you're right

An honor? I wanted to scream at Animaon. What was so honorable about a slave serving? It was what they were meant to do was it not? I did not understand the desire that had driven the uspecs of my line to be so soft towards these imps. The same imps that were now planning to take our existence from us. The only imp I wanted to keep with me was Musa. Animaon would keep the rest. I was just about to say this when Fabiana spoke.

“Some have pansophy, sirga, and some are good fighters. Chike told me that it trained Calami and Calami was a great warrior. I think we can use the extra swords if they are willing to fight for us.”

Fabiana had acted as slave to the imps in Permafrost. It came as no surprise to me that it was all too eager to join forces with their kind.

I looked at the way that Musa leaned towards the female imp and I knew that if it came down to a choice, Musa would not choose service to me over its relationship with this imp. Why did I care? “They can cook and clean and sharpen our blades. I suppose they could be of some use to us.” I acceded.

Musa’s female imp turned to stare at me. There was so much sadness etched into that face that I found it impossible to keep looking at it. I looked away. Then I realized what I’d done and snapped my gaze back to glare accusingly at the imp. It was no longer looking at me, but that did not wash away my rage at it for forcing me to look away. I was suddenly filled with an irrational urge to purge the spectral existence of all of their kind.

Not Musa though. Never Musa.

“How many exactly?” I asked Animaon.

“Twenty-four.”

I gritted my teeth and simply jerked my head in a nod.

After that there was not much more to do. The plan had been laid out. Now we all had to move into position. The compound was chaotic. Arexon’s soldiers needed to start the march at once, if they were to stand a chance of reaching Chiboga and being in a position to sneak more soldiers in after Chechin and its troops withdrew.

I put my things together. There was not much. I still just had my single coffer and all of my belongings fit in there. I checked on Nebula twice while the chaos of breaking camp ensued. The uspec slept through most of it.

Time passed quickly. It wasn’t too long later that I found myself standing outside the compound with my offspring in my arms and Marc’s warm fur beside me. I caught a glimpse of Marcinus and was reminded, much to my chagrin, that I had named my most beloved pet after it.

The form was taken from our dwelling and the outhouses and they crumbled and became part of the hard sludge ground. I suddenly found myself feeling oddly nostalgic for the times we’d spent here. I had to remind myself of all the tragedies that had ensued. Of Marcinus’ lust addiction and the permanent affliction that my offspring faced as a result. There was also the Wrath’s attack. Imps, I thought with a curse.

Marcinus and the soldiers Arexon had assigned to it left first. There was a strange moment when I thought that I saw something of awareness in Marcinus’ lust-filled gaze. It stared at me and there was sadness in its eyes. It seemed poised to approach me, but then it laughed hysterically and its craziness returned. It had taken Moat and three other soldiers to carry Marcinus into the air. Then they flew away, and they were gone.

I found myself watching the departing dots. It wasn’t till that moment, as I stared after Marcinus’ flying form, that I realized how much I longed for what we’d had. I was much different now from the uspec who’d gone into Katsoaru looking to steal an eye. I had made several other friends since, but Marcinus would always be the first uspec who’d truly been a friend to me. Before Marcinus I’d had Fajahromo and Gerangi and the games those two played in the pits of Hakute. But then Mara, the swan, had entered into my life and I’d found an uspec worthy of respect in its owner. Then I’d taken its eye and it had lost its offspring and its progenitor. It had descended into lust, and it had taken my offspring with it. I thought I hated it. I was sure of it. It had marred my offspring. But it was still Marcinus and before I entered its life, it had been a truly noble soul. I hoped that one day it found a way to overcome its longings for lust. I really hoped for that. I prayed for it. Whatever it had done to me, I had done much worse to it.

“Moat will look after it.”

My gaze snapped down to Arexon’s knowing stare.

“Gratitude sirga.”

Arexon nodded. “I suppose this is where we say farewell.”

“Not a true farewell,” I countered.

The corners of Arexon’s lips lifted slightly. “You have never been through war. There are no certainties in war.”

I did not like the tone of Arexon’s voice. “Surely, you must prevail.”

Arexon laughed. It placed both of its hands on my shoulders and squeezed lightly. “I plan to do my very best.” It cleared its throat. “Farewell, my friend. Take care of yourself, and the little one.” After saying that it placed its hand on Nebula’s head.

There was suddenly an absurdly large lump in my throat. If Arexon did not believe that it could win, then…I tried not to think of it. This could really be the last time that I ever saw Arexon. Its soldiers had lined up into neat rows behind it. They were all officers, all in belts with swords sheathed by their sides. Animaon stood off to the side. It was saying something to Musa, but then it broke off, turned to stare at me and then it bowed. It was a deep bow. A farewell.

Arexon withdrew.

I placed my offspring down.

“Assiduity!” I heard myself yell. As soon as I gave the command, every single one of Arexon’s remaining troops snapped out a salute. Their coordination was perfect. The arms all went flying at the same time. My training in Chiboga had been so strict that I found myself saluting in time with them.

I prayed to Chuspecip, to the Kuwor, to whatever deity answered prayers, I prayed that this would not be the last time that I saw Arexon.

Arexon turned to face me. Then it made a salute of its own. It brought its hand down and barked out the command, “In clover.” In sync, we all dropped our hands. “Depart!” And they were gone. Arexon led the charge. As long as it was general, I feared it would always lead the charge, even if it meant running into sure death. It shot into the sky and its soldiers followed in its wake. Some of them carried imps in their arms. Animaon was the last to leave.

Once they were gone, the compound suddenly appeared so empty. The form had been removed from the dwelling and the outhouses and the pond, so there were just the walls blocking our compound off, and empty ground.

“Should we fly?” Darlin asked.

It was our turn to leave. Why did I suddenly find it so hard? I felt my offspring’s arm brush against my leg several times and with enough speed to tell me that it was having one of its spasms. I sighed. Then shook my head.

“We have to wait for the plenum to redistribute their soldiers, so we’re in no rush to reach our destination. Let’s walk.” I found my gaze darting to Musa as I thought about the first time we’d walked the inter-port trail. It was so deep in conversation with Chike and the female imp it wouldn’t be parted from, that it did notice my gaze. Before that imp appeared, Musa had always been watching me, even when we were not speaking. It had always been tracking me. We were still yet to talk about the wrath’s attack and why it had hidden their conversation from me. It remained deep in conversation with that imp.

I looked away.

“Spread the imps across the groups.” I said to Darlin. There was no way I was going to travel with an entourage of twenty-four imps, if I didn’t have to. I thought about ordering that Musa and its precious female imp be sent to different groups, but then I thought better of it. What did I care who Musa spoke to? It was better this way. I had become much too attached to the imp anyway.

“Let’s go.”

Part 10
----------

We ate our dinner quickly that night. No one spoke about the bribes that we’d paid to Chechin or the sick smile of triumph that had colored its features after it bade us farewell. It felt wrong that the uspec should benefit as much as it would when it thought so little of Chuspecip and iriras in general. But the more I dealt with nobles, and the more I learnt about the foul game they termed ‘politics’, the less I liked it. Still, we’d won, and Chechin had agreed to withdraw. And so we spent the evening meal in silence. We could all feel it now.

We’d drawn close to the endgame.

Our peaceful time spent hiding away in our compound had now come to an end. It was now time for war. It was time to find Chuspecip and return it to its rightful position.

After the meal we all seemed to make the same mental decision to adjoin to Arexon’s office.

I stood beside the sketch of Hakute on Arexon’s war map and stared at the uspec. It seemed lighter than it had since we began the journey, as if a weight had been lifted off its shoulders. Arexon had despised every moment of the break. It wanted to fight, and now the time had come for it to do as it sought. I could not help but feel a pang of loss at our impending separation. It had been bliss to be in this place with Arexon for a whole month, to know that I could rely on its strength.

“At the day’s dawn?” Arexon asked unnecessarily. It had only needed to take a look at our faces once we returned to know that our mission had been successful.

“Yes high one,” Animaon confirmed. “Chechin will wait that long.”

Arexon smiled. It was a smile that I had not had cause to see in a long time. The uspec may not be certain of the outcome of the war, but it was eager to do battle. The thrill of the fight was one of the many things that Arexon and I had in common.

“It is better than I could have expected.” Arexon stated.

“Is Marcinus ready?” I asked, spitting the name out as I uttered it. The wrongs that Marcinus had done to me would not soon be forgotten. I thought of the wrongs I’d done to it and found myself sobering a little.

Arexon turned to face me. “It will march. I have assigned a hundred of my soldiers to march with it. Enough that when news of Marcinus’ approach reaches Manus the uspec will demand troops from the plenum.”

“You trust it with a hundred of your troops?”

Arexon scoffed. “Moat will be leading the soldiers. All that we require of Marcinus is for the uspec to walk straight and show its face.”

I turned to stare at Moat. I liked it. It was sturdy, and an excellent fighter. “Even that may be asking too much of Marcinus.”

Arexon smiled but it said nothing in response.

“And you, high one?” Fabiana asked.

“While Marcinus and the bulk of my forces make for Katsoaru, I will take the rest of my troops to Chiboga by way of Aboga. We will meet up with the contingent of Aboga troops stationed outside Chiboga and usher them into the port if my patron has not done so already. Chechin’s troops make up over 90% of those around Chiboga. So, in either case, the withdrawal of Chechin’s troops will provide us with a wide enough window to sneak into the port undetected. We may even be able to request additional troops from the other annexed ports, while the plenum scrambles to redeploy their troops after Chechin leaves. We will see.” Arexon’s gaze rose from the maps to rest on me. “And you, Nebud?” It asked.

“Hakute.” I tipped my chin toward the area on the war map that was directly in front of me.

“Is that wise?” Arexon asked.

I shrugged. “The plenum is losing thirty percent of their forces and they will have war in Lahooni and Chiboga, as well as a vested interest in guarding Katsoaru so that Marcinus does not march on it. They will be far too thinly drawn to waste ten percent of their troops guarding Hakute.”

Arexon frowned. “That may be, but they will not leave it unguarded.”

“I hope not.” I was definitely expecting to face some resistance. It would be nice to wet my blade with the blood of plenum soldiers.

“You have about a hundred swords, eighty-five of which can actually fight.”

I grinned at Arexon. “Sounds like I am in for an exciting day, doesn’t it?”

Most of the uspecs laughed. These were all fighters. Not all could fight at the same level, but they were all still fighters at heart.

Arexon shook its head, but its smile widened. When it came to matters like this, we understood each other perfectly.

“We will break up into ten groups of approximately ten uspecs each. A large group of nobles travelling together would raise suspicion, but just ten of us at a time, that wouldn’t be too bad. Fabiana will lead one group and remain close to my left flank, Darlin will lead another and be close to my right. We will stop at a resting place close to Hakute but not so close that the plenum guards will spot us. We’ll have to wait there to receive word from you, sirga, of the troop redeployments so we wait to charge on Hakute only when it is feasible to do so.”

Arexon nodded. “How do you suppose the plenum will redistribute their forces?”

“By percentage. Thirty in Lahooni, twenty in Chiboga, five in Katsoaru and five in Hakute.” Darlin stated confidently. I nodded in agreement. It seemed like a logical distribution. And, I smiled a little, it would give Lahooni a break. With ten percent of the plenum’s forces dead on arrival in Lahooni, and thirty leaving with Chechin, they would only have sixty percent left for two major wars, and two protection duties.

“Hmmm.” Arexon mused. “We estimate that the plenum has a hundred thousand soldiers…”

“I would put that number closer to eighty thousand, high one,” Animaon interjected.

Arexon glanced at it and then nodded distractedly before returning its gaze to its map and then finally to me. “Five percent of eighty thousand is…”

“Four thousand, high one.” Juke cut in.

“Yes,” Arexon said, “Still too much for you to take with a hundred swords. That will be forty to one odds. It’s impossible.”

“I think the plenum will want to keep at least forty percent of its forces in Lahooni. They are still more certain of the imperial one’s presence there than they are of it being on the inter-port trail. So, if it’s not on the inter-port trail, then why waste valuable resources guarding Hakute? I say they will have fifteen percent around Chiboga, four percent in Katsoauru and one percent around Hakute. Eight hundred soldiers.” Fabiana concluded. “Eight-to-one odds.”

Arexon looked at Fabiana and laughed. “You think that you can survive eight-to-one odds?”

Fabiana nodded. “Why not?”

“Maybe if you had a hundred fighters like Darlin and Nebud. As it is, I think that you will struggle to survive five-to-one odds and that is the best you can hope for.” Arexon replied offhandedly.

I knew my honoraria would take offence at that. I could already see Binna positioning itself to respond when Animaon cut in. “There will be more soldiers stationed around Chiboga.” It said.

I frowned. How did it know that? Arexon asked the question that I had been thinking.

“Because I will be there with you, high one. We will let word get to the plenum that I, not Animaton, am the pious one they desire to break into Katsoaru. And that I am currently travelling and fighting by your side. I think that will get their attention, don’t you?”

I gaped at it. I remembered how strenuously I had objected to Arexon taking Animaon to the plenum simply because I was worried about Marcinus’ safety. Now I could not care less if Marcinus was dead.

“Why would you do that?” Arexon asked.

“It is what the founder wills. I will accompany you, high one, and I will bring the free imps with me. The slaves have chosen to remain with you, Cala.”

‘Cala’. Animaon had not called me that since its return. Its words reminded me of the background we shared. I was the heir, but it was Animaon who had been as family to my progenitor and sire while they lived.

I looked away. “And if I do not want the slaves?”

There was a sharp inhale. I could not tell who it had come from. There were many of the imps in the room. Musa stood on one edge, hovering close to Arexon, with its imp companion by its side. It was never far away from that female imp.

Animaon came closer to me. It placed its hand on its shoulder and whispered into my ear, “they are sworn to your line, just as much as the uspecs in your port. These imps have served more generations of your line than any uspec living. Their adamant desire to serve you is an honor.”

Thank you so much Tuhndhay and presh654.

Mighty popeshemoo I'm not yet an imperial undead, lol, but after I enter the spectral existence I hope our ports will be bordered lol. Thank you, so much for the kind words, I really appreciate them!

Thank you ALL for the outpouring of LOVE. You've all really made me feel special and like I can really pull through this I am very very very grateful! Thank you all!

I've tried sending emails to some people but there is a limit on the number of anonymous emails I can send through Nairaland, so I'm just going to leave my email address on here. Please send me an email if you're still interested in being my alpha reader. My email address is:

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I would like to do two rounds of reading where the first round will probably be sent out today and tomorrow and the second round after that. The first round will be a rougher draft than the second round so if you choose the first round you'll most likely get a copy of the book in the next few days but it won't be as polished/well written as if you choose the second round. Let me know which you prefer.

I really can't say enough how much I appreciate this support, it means a lot especially right now. Thank you all so so much

I looked away from the kun, turning instead to focus on Chechin’s sunny disposition. I don’t know why it surprised me that the uspec was so changeable. In fact, I admired it. The uspec I’d seen in Lahooni had appeared too intransigent to succeed Checha. This uspec was wiser. Religion was a stupid thing to believe wholeheartedly in. I served Chuspecip in as much as our paths aligned. But I also respected it. That did not mean that I would not happily declare myself Kuworyte if saying so would save my life. I still had no beliefs which transcended my desire to keep myself and my offspring safe.

I rose my glass in a toast to Chechin.

Chechin laughed. It took a hearty gulp of its wine and spoke. “So, it began, why did you decide to make me a halcyon’s epic richer?”

I knew it was teasingly referring to the plenum’s bounty on my head.

“You intend to turn me over to the plenum then?” I asked, trying to project as much indifference as I could with images of my offspring flashing in the back of my mind.

“I am the plenum, Irira.” It suddenly appeared very serious, then it smiled, relaxing its features. “Yes, I plan to arrest you. Unless you give me a very good reason not to.”

I saw with my side eyes that Chechin’s kun agnate was grinning.

“Would a thousand pieces of worth be a good enough reason?” Animaon asked.

I glanced at it. Bribery? Was that what we’d sunk to? Not that I was going to complain. If Chechin wanted to be bought, we had more than enough wealth to buy it a few times over.

Chechin’s cognate choked on the wine it was imbibing. It sputtered and the wine came trailing out of its mouth. Chechin glared at it. It snapped in hushed hooni terms at the uspec.

Chechin turned its gaze to me. “If the rumors of the fabled wealth of Lahooni are true, then that would not even make a dent in your coffers.”

I laughed. “No, it would not, but it’s more than the plenum could ever afford to give you. In fact, I think that if you handed me over to the plenum, they wouldn’t pay you a thing. They’d say it was your job as a member of the plenum to arrest me.”

Chechin’s agnate roared with laughter. “A warrior and a politician. We might be in trouble here mighty one.”

Chechin did not appear amused. Its gaze turned cold as it continued to stare at me. The uspec was starting to look more like the one I remembered meeting in Lahooni. “Perhaps,” it said, “but, seeing as my allegiance to the plenum is not a monetary one, I think I’m going to go ahead and arrest you anyway.” It rose its hand up and I saw several soldiers rise.

We would fight, we had to. We could not allow ourselves to be taken. I did not think the plenum was so honorable that they would not siphon through my memories with pansophy. If I was taken, my offspring would be in danger. I would gladly give my life to protect its. I knew that I would live on in the little one as my progenitor and sire lived on in me.

“If your allegiance to the plenum is not monetary, then what is it? Whatever they’re giving you, we can give double.” Animaon stated.

“There is nothing you can give that would be worth me breaking with the other Kaisers in the plenum.” Chechin stated calmly.

‘Other’? I almost laughed in my head. Chechin counted itself as equal to the Kaisers in the plenum. In Chechin’s mind, it was already Kaiser of Monachooni. Suddenly, a thought hit me. Chechin did not like iriras. Perhaps it endured those in its line, but I did not think that it felt so charitable about other iriras. Not when its tone dripped with derision every time it called me ‘irira’. It wanted to break with the plenum. But what stopped it? There was only one thing that an uspec like Chechin would want. Power.

“The plenum has offered to help you end the civil war in Monachooni. They say they will make you Kaiser. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Chechin’s jaw clenched. “I could stomp on the civil war and end it in a snap of a finger. I do not need the plenum for that.”

My eyes narrowed at it. I tried to think about its motives, but I could not understand them. Chechin was right. With the soldiers it had on the inter-port trail, it could easily end the civil war in its port. So why didn’t it? The lines on my forehead eased as I thought of the answer to my question. “You can end the war, but it will cost you soldiers.” The war in Monachooni must have been worst than Animaon thought, if Chechin was worried about the cost to its soldiers. “If you break with the plenum and they win, you won’t have enough soldiers to keep them from marching on your port.”

“When the plenum wins.” Chechin clarified.

“If.” I asserted.

Chechin shrugged. “Perhaps Chuspecip had a chance before I arrested you.”

I couldn’t help laughing at that statement. Chechin grudgingly smiled. “So, you’ve already arrested me?” I asked. “I could kill you before your closest soldier reaches me.” I stared into the uspec’s eyes. “Perhaps whichever upstart of your line that chooses to call itself Kaiser after you’re dead will be more willing to negotiate with the Founder’s emissary.” I stared pointedly at the irirakun agnate after I was done speaking.

Chechin turned its attention to the same uspec who immediately looked away. It was no longer smiling. “Speak.” It spat the single word out through clenched teeth. Then it lifted its hand and the soldiers who’d risen sat back down.

Animaon took over. “I have the means to help you become Kaiser of your port with minimal bloodshed. Maybe the plenum can give you Monachooni by force, but I can give it to you peacefully.”

Chechin’s gaze roved over me leisurely, before turning to Animaon. “And how will you do that, pious one?”

“First, I will give you a very good excuse for withdrawing from the plenum. It is an excuse that will make every single one of your soldiers hale you and love you more than they ever did Checha. Then, I will make sure that your reason for leaving the plenum spreads to your port. You will find that by the time you return, the irira-haters baying for your cognate’s head will bow to you. Then, I will give you wealth, wealth enough to buy the support of the few nobles and the army loyal to your cognate, Checha’s offspring. When all of this is done, Monachooni will be yours and you will have enough fortune and armed soldiers to enforce your independence even if the plenum should win and desire to take your port from you as punishment for deserting them. But I think you and I both know that if you align with us, Chuspecip will be victorious, not the plenum.”

Chechin turned from Animaon to me. “Why should I serve your irira founder?”

“The plenum wants to unite the spectral existence under their rule,” I replied, “they want to be Kaisers of the spectral existence with all the other ports as fiefdoms under them. They will ask you for soldiers at will and expect your compliance. They will demand taxes and threaten to crush you if you don’t pay. Perhaps the founder is an irira, but it is kind, much too kind. If I was in the founder’s shoes, I would crush every uspec whoever took up arms against me. But the founder will not do that. It will allow things to return to the way they were before. With Uspecipytes and Kuworytes living together in peace. With each port as separate kingdoms ruled solely by the Kaiser of that port. It will ask for no taxes and no soldiers. Even now, we ask for none of that, we simply ask you to go home. Can the plenum say the same?”

Chechin leaned backwards. It raised its goblet of wine to its lips and it drank slowly of its contents. As it drank its eyes remained fixed on mine. I did not break its stare. Then it looked away, and placed the goblet back on the table.

“How is your offspring? You know, that child of yours is tied to Monachooni as much as it is to Lahooni. That is the way of noble births you know.” It leaned forward. “We are, in essence, of one line now that you have an offspring made from the corpse of my senior cognate. One line.”

Animaon bowed. “You are right, mighty one, that is how it is for noble births. In fact, when an uspec ranked as highly as a Kaiser loses in the hatch to the Kaiser of another port, it is often said that the Kaiser who won ought to pay reparations to the one who lost.”

Chechin did not look away from me. “You are right pious one,” it said. “Very right.”

“The mighty Checha was so illustrious that we will offer ten thousand pieces of worth as reparations to its port for its death, and in gratitude to the new life we gained in the process. The imperial Nebula is a credit to your distinguished line.” Animaon responded.

Ten thousand pieces of worth! I swallowed down any retort I had about that amount. I would have to retrieve the money now that I knew exactly where Calam had hidden it.

Animaon reached for a parchment and pushed it towards Checha. “A likeness,” it said by way of explanation. “The money is already waiting for you in Monachooni.”

Checha picked the parchment up. Likenesses were more than just pictures of appearance they were assurances that whatever appearance was on the parchment existed in real time. Once that ceased to be the case, the likeness disappeared. This was another creation that the spectral existence owed to my line. It was one of Calam’s earliest inventions.

Chechin studied the likeness. “And how am I to withdraw my troops without losing the respect of my soldiers and the rest of the world who know of my senior cognate’s oath to the plenum?”

“They are iriras.” Animaon stated. “The oath made to them is null and void because it was made under false pretenses.”

Chechin rolled its eyes. “I know that. I have no proof, if not I would not still be here.” It snapped.

Animaon withdrew more parchments and pushed it over to Chechin. “These are their appearances unclad. I have made many duplicates and will have them distributed around your port as soon as you return with all of your troops. You will be hailed as a messenger of the Kuwor.”

Chechin picked up the appearances. It whistled. “These are real.” It appeared stunned. “How did you get them?”

“Do you accept our deal, mighty one?” Animaon responded to Chechin’s question with one of its own.

Chechin smiled. It stretched out its hand towards me. I gritted my teeth and returned its handshake. As soon as my ring brushed against its skin, I heard calls of ‘pansophy’. I pulled my hand away seconds after we grasped.

“No pansophy yet?” Chechin seemed surprised. I wanted to punch the smile off its face. “I want your assurances that when Chuspecip returns it will not seek vengeance on me or on my port for the allegiance we once shamefully shared with the deceitful Kaisers of the plenum.”

I clenched my jaw. We were winning, but this victory felt like a loss. I did not like Chechin and I did not like the idea of being in league with it. I nodded sharply at it.

“Good. Then I accept your offer. I will withdraw to Monachooni with my troops and wait the war out in the comfort of my palace.” It rose its goblet in the air. “Let us drink to the founder’s safe return.” It cheered.

I despised the two-face schemer, but its scheming was in our favor now.

I rose my goblet and drank of the wine for the first time since it was poured.

“We will ask one favor of you, mighty one,” Animaon stated.

“Ask, we are of one line now, are we not?” it winked at me. I gritted my teeth.

“Do not make your retreat until tomorrow, right when the daylight dots start to appear.”

“Done!” Chechin declared magnanimously.

@olite93 and OluwabuqqyYOLO thank you! I'll reach out to you both soon. I'm sorry about the delay in posting. I've been having some issues with the antispam bot flagging me recently so I got cut off after the first post I made and so I couldn't complete it. I'm posting the second half now. Sorry about the delay.

Part 9
-------

I stepped out of the dwelling and tipped my chin upwards, forcing my gaze onto the roof of the inter-port trail. It was all surrounded by clouds, but in the middle of the day, we could see the orange lights of the daylight dots streaming in through the red of the clouds.

I took my coat from Juke’s outstretched hand and donned it. It always took me some time to fix the headguard in place, but I knew I’d done a good enough job when the uspec nodded and smiled in approval. I patted it on it its head.

“Look after Nebula,” I said, unnecessarily. Juke had kept its word; it was not often far from my offspring’s side.

The young one bowed exaggeratedly to me, as if I had just given it a rare honor. “Of course, sirga,” it said.

I chuckled.

Arexon walked out of the dwelling. Its face was set in a firm mask of imperviousness, but I could still remember the fight that it had put up when Animaon counseled it against coming along with us. In case anything went wrong, we needed Arexon to be here to lead our troops. Personally, I was unashamedly grateful that Arexon would remain. Seeing as I was being forced to leave my offspring under the same roof as Marcinus, I liked knowing that Arexon would be here in case anything bad happened. I’d ordered Nebula to stay away from Marcinus, and I did not doubt it would heed my words. It was Marcinus that concerned me.

Animaon and Fabiana came out of the dwelling finally. Fabiana argued with its sibling, Binna. I did not need to hear them to tell that Binna was anxious to accompany us and Fabiana refused.

We’d decided on a small party. Two imps, Musa, and the tall imp who’d dazed Cantonia, Darlin, Animaon, Fabiana and me. Four uspecs and two imps, to go up against however many people Chechin had in its entourage. We did not expect many, but we were not foolish enough to think it would have as few forces as we would. Presenting the lower numbers was of strategic importance. Chechin would not see us as a threat. We wanted as little bloodshed as was possible.

Fabiana took Binna into its arms and embraced it. It whispered something into its younger sibling’s ear. Something that immediately made Binna stand straighter. It bowed a slight neck bow to its older sibling and then it took a step back, withdrawing to stand behind Arexon.

Darlin appeared by my side. I liked the idea of having a brawler like Darlin with us. Animaon and Fabiana both had pansophy and could both fight with swords. Animaon I suspected could hold its own weight in a pugilist’s bout. But none came close to Darlin’s or my skill.

“We are ready,” Animaon stated softly.

It looked like a pious one of the order of Adjudication with its fraise on its neck and its belt on its waist. It had changed the appearance of its empty center eye socket to make it appear as if it still had an eye there. A pious shun would raise questions that none of us wanted to have to deal with. I was the only one with such a high bounty on my head that I needed to be dressed as such.

I nodded and we took off. Fabiana carried Musa with it as it flew, and Darlin, warily, carried the other imp. I bowed a farewell to Arexon, before letting my wings flap. It was always such a high to be in the air. I felt my tail brush against my legs as I settled into a purely horizontal position. I still wore the silver neckcloth of a banneret to hide my scales. One day soon, once all of this was over, I would have no more need for hiding that I was irira. And my offspring would never need to know the shame and stigma that was accorded to our kind.

Animaon began its decent and we all followed suit. The journey to Chechin was one that had to be made both on foot and by flight. We had to leave the resting place were our compound was erected to enter into the road reserved for those traveling by canoe and those flying. Once we got here, there were a lot more people. I instinctively reached to readjust my headguard, scared that it might have gotten loose during our flight. Luckily, with the plenum’s form of clothing and with all the spectrums that wore clothing because of the unique climes of their ports, it was not such an odd sight to see an uspec as fully garbed as I was on the inter-port trail. Mejo uspecs in general tended to wear headguards and coats even when they were free of the chill of their ever-falling hail. They wore lighter coats, like the one I wore, coats that would be much too light to stave of the cold in their ports.

We flew a straight course, hovering over the myriad of canoes darting by beneath us. There were fast lanes reserved for the expensive canoes that had extra caches of motion tucked in them. Then there were slow lanes for the regular hired canoes moving at the normal pace, and an extremely slow lane for large commercial canoes and uspecs travelling on fast animals. There were not so many of them, but I did see one smoke bear as we flew by. The bear reminded me of Marc.

We must have spent at least an hour before we got to the part of the inter-port trail above Chiboga. This was where Chechin and the bulk of the Monachooni troops had been deployed. They made up over ninety-five percent of the soldiers surrounding Chiboga. There was also a small contingent of Monachooni troops currently marching on Lahooni. If we got Chechin to break from the plenum…the timing would be perfect. I put a rein on my scrambled thoughts as we made our descent. We only stayed on foot long enough to cross into the resting place where Chechin reportedly escaped for its breaks from the plenum’s war. Once we were in that resting place, we darted back into the sky and made for its favorite inn.

The large variation of uspec features beneath us, told us that we were indeed not in an area officially occupied by the plenum. But as we drew closer and closer towards the inn, we noticed a drastic drop in the number of people wandering about. We descended onto a patch of hard sludge right in front of the inn. The presence of armed soldiers bearing the hooni scales and wearing the sigil of the line of the Kaisers of Monachooni was enough to tell us that we’d reached our destination. I noticed that these soldiers wore sigils with cyan bands in addition to that of Monachooni. I imagined it was the mark that set them apart as part of the plenum’s forces.

There were four of them standing in front of the curtains to the inn. They all had their outer eyes formed and four of them filled. They also had bulk. Not bulk enough to rival mine or Darlin’s, but certainly enough to surpass Fabiana’s and Animaon’s.

“Cease!” One of the soldiers ordered when it sighted us. All of the soldiers reached for their swords then. “This inn is closed for business today. Find another establishment.” It ordered brusquely.

“What if we have a penchant for this establishment, and no other will do?” I asked, walking forward.

The soldier who’d spoken drew its sword out of its scabbard. It lifted the pointed edge of that blade into the air in time to block my path.

“I said cease.” It snapped. “This establishment is under the use of the plenum.”

I scoffed at the uspec’s tone. Then, I reached for my head-guard and pulled it down. “I think your duke would like to see me.” I said, once my face was exposed.

The soldiers appeared taken aback. The plenum had made me so popular that these uspecs knew who I was as soon as their gazes locked on my face.

“Take me to the great Chechin,” I said.

The soldier in front lowered its sword uncertainly and then turned questioningly behind it. Another soldier eyed me warily, before turning on its heels and walking into the inn.

“It is the mighty Chechin now,” the soldier corrected.

I didn’t respond to that assertion. Monachooni was still in the middle of civil war and Checha, the former Kaiser, had a living offspring. By right, the port belonged to that offspring as long as it lived. It was Kaiser, not Chechin. But Chechin had control of the Monachooni troops on the inter-port trail while Checha’s offspring had control of the troops in their port. There were of course the commoners who yelled for the offspring’s head because it was irira. Things in that port must be very interesting.

“The mighty one will see you,” the soldier who’d gone in said once it returned.

“Your weapons,” another soldier prompted.

“No,” the one who’d gone in said, “the mighty one decreed that they could keep their weapons.”

I chuckled at that. What ploy was this? I had no answer, but I was happy to remain armed. The soldiers stepped aside and held the curtains open for us to walk in. I was in the lead.

Now I understood why Chechin did not mind allowing us to carry our weapons. The room was filled with soldiers. There were forty that I counted, ten to each uspec we had. Their eyes locked on us as we walked in. The room was set up with tables having two long benches on each side. Chechin sat on a table closer to the back of the room. As we made our way towards it, my gaze caught on a sight that made my eyes widen.

Iriras.

No. This was not good. We were counting on Chechin’s hatred of iriras to force it to break away from the plenum, but if it had iriras with it, then its hatred of my kind was not as strong as it had pretended.

Chechin stood up. It looked slightly bulkier than the last time I had seen it. It rose a goblet up and cheered. “We are honored by the presence of the…” I cringed, expecting Chechin’s mocking voice to declare me as the last brio. Chechin surprised me by saying, “one and only Irira! From the pits of Hakute!”

There were two iriras sharing a table with Chechin. Those iriras rose their goblet and roared. I realized then that I had never seen Chechin as young. When it had been in Lahooni it had appeared stuffy and full of righteous indignation. I had no idea who this uspec I now saw was.

“Get up,” Chechin said to the uspecs seated across from it, “make room for the mighty Irira.”

I couldn’t tell if it was mocking me. But I recognized the adulation in the eyes of the iriras that shared its table. I turned back to my escort and found that Animaon and Fabiana appeared just as confused as I was.

We accepted the seats that Chechin offered us.

Chechin sat and smirked at me. It placed its hands around the shoulders of the irira who sat beside it. “This is my junior cognate, an irira like you, but not kun. Sadly.” It tipped its chin towards the other irira and introduced that one as an agnate with distant ties to Checha. That one was a kun, it pointed out, of the hooni and kute spectrum. It was that agnate that had put together my epic from what Chechin had told it of me. The agnate had been a fan of mine from my days fighting in the pits of Hakute. It was of Hakute descent. Though it was its Monachooni sire who’d claimed it and raised it, it still spent a great deal of time with the line of its deceased Hakute progenitor. I found Chechin’s words intriguing and very confusing.

“You hated iriras.” I said.

Chechin nodded. “I did. Then I found that there were more iriras in my line than not. I have embraced them.”

I was flabbergasted. This was the plenum’s doing. It had to be. They’d found a way to turn Chechin to their side. I looked around the room, at the many armed soldiers watching us as they ate, and I estimated our chances of leaving the hall in one piece as very low.

“Wine for the great Irira and its companions!” Chechin ordered.

“You must regale us with your epic, imperial one,” Chechin’s kun agnate said, as it poured wine from their decanter into empty goblets for us. “I watched several of your fights, but it seems like such an unlikely tale, that the same uspec I saw in the pits of Hakute is the last brio and the heir of the mighty Calam.”

@barag I get it now! I wasn't thinking of it from the name POV.

@doctorexcel cassbeat and Smooth278 thank you! I'll send an email soon.

Publishing updates for those who've read and follow the human part of the Marked Series:
=============================================================

This week, I received the biggest disappointment of my writing life. My publishers, who I’ve been working with for the last year and a half, decided to terminate my contract. It’s been a very hard week for me, trying to get past the disappointment and keep writing and figure out what to do next with my Marked series.

I’m not sure yet when/how I’m going to publish White Sight: The Awakening, but I’ve decided that it’s not fair to my Crimson Night readers who’ve been waiting to read Awakening to drag this process out for another year or two (which is what will inevitably happen if I try to go down the rabbit hole of traditional publishing again, with this book).

So, while I decide on how to officially publish this book, I want to give some of my Crimson Night readers, who’ve been so supportive and patient with me and this story, the chance to be alpha readers for the next book in the Marked series. What that means is that you’ll be agreeing to read a rough draft of the Awakening story in exchange for feedback that can help me improve on the work as is. If you are interested, please leave a comment on here with this post quoted and I will send you an email through Nairaland.

If there's anyone on here who read Awakening back when I posted it on NL and would be interested in helping me out as an alpha reader please let me know. This is a second version of the book with most of the same plot themes, but the story has been redone. I made one big change to the marks, so I got rid of werewolves and made them werejackals instead. Anyway, it would be nice to have some comparisons between the previous version I had on Nairaland with what I have now if anyone who has already read it before is willing to read it again. Let me know and I will reach out to you.

Thanks in advance!

@cassbeat I hope for you to see something interesting too, lol

@Madosky112 This your thinking is deep oh...I will share your fears with Nebud

@barag I don't get it. Is there a coded message in this? Please give me more clues, it just sounds like you're wishing me more strength as I write. Is there more?

I gaped at Animaon.

Arexon sat up.

Fabiana’s eyes widened, and then it smiled.

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“Patience, Nebud,” Arexon scolded, “I’m starting to like the suspense.”

I burst out laughing.

“It took two weeks of the portraits floating around before uspecs got curious enough to demand that Checha’s offspring appear unclad. They’d taken after their progenitor, wearing robes and garbs to hide their extra features. As it was the plenum’s uniforms, no one thought it amiss…”

“Not until you were kind enough to share their unclad appearances that is,” Arexon put in.

“Not until then, high one.” Animaon concurred good-naturedly. When Arexon laughed, I found myself smiling. It was the first time that it had appeared so thoroughly amused and relaxed in a long time. Animaon continued. “With the help of the imps, I orchestrated an encounter where Checha’s younger offspring was forced to wander about unclad, unaware that there were commoners in viewing distance. Once they saw it, they slaughtered it, right there on the streets of its Acropolis.”

“You don’t say.” Fabiana gasped.

“I’m guessing Checha’s other offspring found fault with that.” I stated.

“Yes, imperial one,” Animaon said, “it did. It tried to use what little forces it had, loyal to it, to seek revenge for the death of its sibling. At the time I left Monachooni, a week ago, they were embroiled in a bitter civil war.”

I gazed at Animaon. “Chechin will have to withdraw its troops now.”

“Yes!” Arexon roared.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for. Once Chechin withdraws its troops, the plenum will not have enough to go to war with both Lahooni and Chiboga while keeping a heavy guard around Hakute and Katsoaru. They will have to give somewhere.” I spoke in a rush.

“They will indeed.” Animaon concurred.

“This is good news, pious one, but according to you, Monachooni has been embroiled in civil war for weeks now. Surely Chechin has heard of it. Why has it not departed already?” Fabiana was the sane voice of reason.

“It needs a push to break faith with the plenum.” Animaon stated. “But only a slight push. We’ve been chipping away at its armor. First when Nebud showed that Checha was a kun of five, then with its cognates being iriras as well, and now with the civil war. We just need one final push and Chechin will withdraw its troops.”

“Will the plenum just let it leave?”

“What choice do they have?” Arexon’s excitement was palpable. “If they try to stop it, they will be fighting a war on three fronts instead of just two. They can’t afford an internal squabble.”

“But won’t Chechin fear the plenum’s reprisals. I know how just our cause is, sirgas, but we are still the underdogs.” Fabiana refused to be optimistic.

“Whatever the outcome, Chechin has the most to gain if it withdraws now. If it stays with the plenum and we win, it will lose its life. If it withdraws and the plenum wins, it will still have the superior forces to go against what is left of the plenum after the war. The only thing keeping Chechin with the plenum is its honor. If we give it away to leave without losing its honor, I believe it will jump at the chance.”

“And what is that way, pious one?” I inquired.

“Chike, if you please.” Animaon spurred the imp from its reverie.

Chike reached for a satchel bag it had draped over its shoulder and came around the room with it. It passed us all parchments with the likeness of uspecs drawn on it. It looked like the kind of lifelike depiction that could only be gotten from transferring appearance. The features on the uspecs told me that I had to be looking at irirakuns of five. Then I saw the cyan rings on their fingers.

“The Kaisers of the plenum.” I stated. “This cannot be real.”

Animaon smiled. “It doesn’t matter if its real. Chechin needs hard proof, something that it can show and site for breaking from the plenum. We give it that and let it know that we plan to spread copies in Monachooni and it will have no choice but to withdraw. It cannot be seen as bowing to iriras. It is not an irira and it must set itself apart from them if it is to have any chance of gaining control of its port, which I believe Chechin desires above all else.”

“It is not fake sirga, I can feel the lifeforce.” Fabiana stated. I was suddenly very aware of the fact that I was the only uspec in the room without the gift of pansophy. Not that it mattered. These were some of the few uspecs that I trusted with my life.

“No, I never said it was fake, I just said that it didn’t have to be real. But it is real. Uspecs never take much care for how they interact in the presence of imps. I had several of our imps take up work with the plenum Kaisers. Their only job was to siphon some of their appearance, unclad. Once they got that, they returned to Monachooni. It is not so hard to slip into the place of a Kaiser’s osin if you can borrow the imp’s appearance.”

I looked closely at all the imps standing in the room. Musa, I trusted. Chike, well, I didn’t really know Chike better than my memories of its care for me as a child. There was the other imp that made Musa act so strangely, and there was the imp with pansophy that had dazed Cantonia. Four of them, four of us. Imps with pansophy, I cursed the first pious ones that had the fool idea to make pious slaves. This time their pansophy had come to our aid, but I knew of several pious slaves in the wrath who were aching for the chance to use their pansophy against us. Thoughts of the invasion flooded my mind.

“So, we must deliver these to Chechin.” Arexon stared at the parchments that Chike had handed it. “Where is the uspec?”

“Surrounded by a large contingent of Monachooni guards. But, once a day, it breaks off to go to an inn away from the bulk of the plenum’s troops. I believe that it gets its information about the state of its port in that inn. We must confront it there.” Animaon stated.

Arexon whistled. “I do not believe in much pious one, but I believe in whatever it is that has brought you to our aid.”

“Then you believe in Chuspecip, high one.” Animaon stated. “It is the founder that put me on this path. It is the founder and no other who deserves your praise and respect. Now, it has come to our aid, we must rush to its, before it is too late.” Animaon stared at me as it made that last statement.

I looked at it and I knew that it shared the same loss of Chuspecip as I did. It sensed Chuspecip’s weakness. But not for long. Now that we had the means to remove Chechin and its troops, things were suddenly looking like they had finally begun to fall into place, just as Chuspecip had set them.

“To the founder,” I said, lifting my cup of wine.

Arexon’s lips curved in a teasing smile, but it picked up its cup with the rest of us and lifted it in a toast to Chuspecip.

“The founder’s grace be with us all.” Animaon intoned.

We all drank to that.

Part 8
---------

I picked up a large tiho shell and stared questioningly at the meat floating within it. Arexon considered this a delicacy, I had my reservations. Yet, I was determined to try it. So, I lifted the shell to my lips and tipped it forward. It was very off and slimy.

Arexon lounged on a bed opposite mine in the entertaining room. It took one look at my face and then burst out laughing. “It is much better with the oleo,” it said before snapping its fingers at one of the imps who stood beside a table with several smaller bowls, decanters and cups resting on it. The imp that Musa had sobbed over, picked up a bowl with a knife and came over to me. It knelt in front of my stool and proceeded to butter my tiho shells with generous amounts of oleo.

I observed the imp’s bowed head. It did not lift its face so that our gazes could meet. It just kept its head bowed. When it was done spreading the oleo over my tiho, it asked, “may I serve you in any other way master?”

I imagined a world without imps. The past month that I had spent with Arexon’s soldiers and my honoraria had been blissful. In my mind, that was what a world without imps would look like. Peaceful and blissful. Then I thought about Musa. Well, Musa could remain, but all the other imps would have to go.

“Master?” the imp prodded. Its head was lifted now, so our gazes met. I stared into its empty eye sockets and found myself considering the imp form. There were subtleties in the differences between the male and female imp that I had not previously spotted. Now I did as I stared at this one. Its hair was plaited back in some pattern that I had come across when my curiosity of Musa had driven me to learn more about imps. Its face appeared in some ways similarly imp-like, but in other ways strikingly different.

I did not know much about it, but I knew that I did not like the way this imp called me ‘master’. I did not like the way that Musa ran and dropped to its knees as if in worship of the imp, and I certainly did not like the way that Musa spoke to Animaon because of its absence from this imp.

I flicked my fingers and the imp withdrew. I watched and studied each step that it took in its departure. Once it reached the table, its gaze rose again and met mine. It stared openly at me, with its head bowed slightly. I didn’t look away, until Musa appeared in my line of sight. It walked in front of the imp as if to shield it from my scrutiny. I did not like the way that Musa acted around this imp. I did not like it at all.

I turned my attention back to my stool and picked a shell from my platter. I sucked at the buttered tiho with its juices.

“Better,” I said.

Arexon roared with laughter.

It was intriguing to see this part of Arexon. It was draped over a lounging bed, the picture of lazy tranquility as it ate heartily of its tihos. We’d decided to discuss serious matters, so there were only four of us uspecs present in the room, Arexon, myself, Fabiana and Animaon. Both Fabiana and Animaon ate as Arexon did, presenting the perfect picture of a noble’s supping. It was different for me, harder. I still found it much easier, and honestly, much more pleasant, to eat as commoners did, sitting up. This way of lying and eating was a thing that only nobles enacted. Just at that moment, Cantonia’s words came back to remind me that it had announced for all of my nobles to hear, that I was nothing more than a commoner at heart. For that, if for no other reason, I would force myself to eat as I was expected to. Cantonia would not have the last word!

Thoughts of Cantonia brought to mind the missives it had intercepted. All of those tubes had been unopened, as my identity was required to break their seals, yet it worried me that Cantonia had kept them. What had the uspec hoped to gain from doing so? Had it done this to weaken my standing? It would not surprise me, as the uspec’s hatred of me was now laid bare. Perhaps Arexon was right, maybe letting it go free had been insufficient. I should have tortured it. No! My nobles would have scorned me for that. I’d never known that being a leader could come with so many restrictions. I was to lead but I could not lead too autonomously or they would call me a tyrant and spawn me the way that I’d spawned Sophian. But Arexon was a general and none of its soldiers spawned it. But they were soldiers, commoners, not nobles. Much more care had to be taken with nobles. At least I could be sure that Cantonia was not in league with the plenum. If it was, the plenum would have descended on us a long time ago, we had been in the same position for weeks. No, any thoughts Cantonia had to betraying us would only be born after its exile and could only be planned after its daze cleared. I was, I believed, free and clear of the blight of Cantonia.

Arexon took a deep gulp of wine and then placed the cup down. “The suspense is killing me, pious one.” It drawled. “Should we dismiss the imps to talk freely?”

Animaon turned to me. “If the imperial one wishes their dismissal…”

I sighed. Why did Animaon have to take every opportunity to remind me that these imps were my burden? I shrugged.

Then Animaon shook its head. “I trust them implicitly. As the mighty Calam did before me. We can speak freely in their presence.”

Arexon scoffed. It was of a like mind with me when it came to imps. It did not think so highly of them as Animaon and even Fabiana did. “Then speak freely,” Arexon prompted.

Animaon chuckled. “I’d thought we were to eat first.”

“You’ve eaten enough to talk, pious one,” Arexon replied impatiently.

I laughed. I dipped my fingers into the small washing bowl on my stool and wiped them off on the hand towel that had been placed on my stool. Then I placed my head in my right hand and turned my gaze towards Animaon.

“I was in Monachooni.” The pious one announced without preamble.

That got my attention. I pushed myself up from my sprawled position and sat upright in my lounging bed.

“To what purpose?” Fabiana asked.

“People don’t like hypocrites. When uspecs were asked to worship the Kuwor I believe that they all found something true in that. The Kuwor is the being through which all life exists. Why not worship it over Chuspecip? The common people went to the halls of the pious of the Order of Dissemination and listened while the sowers convinced them of the rightness of the plenum’s mandate. If Chuspecip, as they were told, did indeed declare that all iriras were to die, then it seemed fitting to them that they ought to break faith with the founder, when they discovered that Chuspecip was itself found to be an irira. Chuspecip lied to them, made some of them prosecute and kill uspecs of their own line. All because they believed that iriras were abominations.”

I frowned at Animaon. It was not Chuspecip who’d mandated the deaths of iriras. I did not know who had started it, but I had carried Chuspecip in me and I knew that it bore no ill will to iriras. There were a great many that Chuspecip bore no ill will towards. It favored imps, which still took me by surprise. And, even now, it did not relish the idea of ending uspec life. It would not kill an uspec solely for being Kuworyte.

Animaon went on. “People dislike hypocrites. Monachooni is like Lahooni in many ways. They were forced to turn from Chuspecip and they found reasons to justify their break from the founder. It all comes down to iriras. I did not have the means to convince them that their most sacred doctrine, the belief that Chuspecip willed all iriras dead, was a falsehood. But I did have the means to reveal Checha’s hypocrisy. With the help of the imps, I created duplicates of Checha’s offsprings’ naked forms and spread it throughout the port.”

@cassbeat thank you for reading the longggg update

@doctorexcel Yes, we are in the end zone, hopefully it's all starting to come together

@eROCK247 All good questions and they will be answered little by little, soon

@ayshow6102 it's really coronatic update,lol, thanks for reading. Hmmm...these are some interesting suspicions, we'll find out soon enough

“It was startled by my presence. I tried to ascertain what it was doing and the moment I reached for it, it pulled the satchel bag back. So, I snatched the satchel bag from it and sought to examine the contents. Cantonia then touched me. I do not have pansophy, but like every noble, I have been taught to know when pansophy is being used on me. I had no weapons on me and I could not beat the leach the way it deserved when it showed no qualms with using pansophy on me, against my wishes. You know pansophy is a contact magic sirga, any attempt to beat it, would only have provided it more contact to use its magic on me.”

Fabiana took a step towards Cantonia. “How dare you use pansophy on a noble without permission? You know it is strictly forbidden! And for a Lahooni noble…you dishonor us, noble Cantonia, you dishonor us.”

Cantonia wanted to speak. I stopped it. “Binna, examine the contents of the bag the noble Cantonia was caught with.”

Binna dropped to its knees and picked up several tubes. It gasped. “Precious one, are these the missives that you sent us?”

I frowned. Fabiana reached for a tube. It gasped as well. “Yes, these are the missives I sent. I sealed them so that only your identity could open them, sirga.”

“What were you doing with those?” I growled at Cantonia.

“There are weeks’ worth of these here. Weeks, sirga, weeks!” Binna exclaimed, lifting several of them up in its hands as it rose.

Darlin’s eyes widened. “You took them Cantonia? You hid them? But why? To what purpose?”

I pushed my cutlass deeper into Cantonia’s neck. “Confess your treachery you swine.” I spat out.

Cantonia glared at me. I couldn’t believe the effrontery of this uspec.

“I did not take them.” It snapped.

“So, Darlin did not find you with them?” I asked.

“I found the bag.” It said. I scoffed in disbelief.

“Why then were you trying to use pansophy on Darlin when it caught you slinking around with the bag? Why didn’t you just explain yourself?” I demanded. I didn’t know why I bothered. I’d been looking for an excuse to kill the uspec and it had finally given me one.

Cantonia’s eyes narrowed at me. “I did not take those missives and I do not need to explain myself to you.”

“I do not believe you.”

“Of course not.” It spat the words out at me. “Because I do not know how to wield a sword and have no desire to learn. If I could challenge you, as Darlin does, you would not question my honor.”

“Your honor?” I almost laughed at that. “What honor? You used pansophy on another noble without permission. Where is the honor in that?”

“Fine, where you’re concerned, I have no honor.” Cantonia snapped angrily at me. “How I have come to loathe you. You have no respect for anyone who does not approach life as you do. You are nothing but a brute. You may have noble blood in you, but you are a commoner at heart, and all of Lahooni will see it. Mark my words, they will all see it.”

“Fine last words.” I said, enraged. I pulled my cutlass back, ready to swing it and cut off the fool’s head. Finally, I would be rid of Cantonia.

Cantonia laughed. “Even in this you show yourself! You may kill me, but you have no right, and they will all see it. They will all know it! I am a noble and you don’t butcher a noble without cause.”

Fabiana placed a hand on my wrist, stopping me before I could swing the blade and finally be free of the plague that was Cantonia.

“It is right, sirga,” Fabiana said, “the only crime we can prove it committed is using pansophy against another noble, and that crime in and of itself is not punishable by death. It has proven that it cannot be trusted so you are within your rights to banish it.”

“Banish it?” I glared at Fabiana. “So that it can disclose our whereabouts to the plenum?”

“Daze it first.” It was Animaon who spoke this time. “That is what the mighty Calam would have done. Daze it, and then banish it. By the time it recovers from the daze, we will be long gone, and it will not be able to tell anyone of our whereabouts even if it wanted to.”

I stared from Fabiana’s imploring gaze to Animaon’s controlled one. There were a handful of my nobles out now. They watched me. This would be my first judgement as their imperial, their soon to be Kaiser, how I handled it would be discussed as long as I lived. I wanted Cantonia dead, but I was big enough to realize that the only harm it had done to me was that it had insulted me. Was I going to be an uspec like Sophian who punished another uspec for speaking freely? I still had the scars on my chest to remind me of how Sophian had dealt with insults.

I pulled my cutlass down.

“What is this dazing?” I asked Animaon.

There was an imp standing behind Cantonia. As soon as Animaon nodded, the imp placed its hand on Cantonia’s shoulder. Cantonia screamed while the imp touched it. When the imp released its hold, Cantonia appeared befuddled. It stared at me and all the other uspecs as if it had never seen us before.

The imp bowed to me and then withdrew.

“Its thoughts and memories are scrambled.” Animaon explained. “It takes an uspec without pansophy close to a month to put the thoughts back in the right order. For one with pansophy it would take anywhere from a week to two. By the time it realizes what happened to it, we will be gone from here.”

“Cast it out,” Fabiana ordered. Two nobles ceased the dazed Cantonia and pushed it out of our compound. They chased it off.

“What if it remembers sooner?”

“It won’t.” Animaon stated. “That imp is very skilled with thought and memory. You may forget about Cantonia, you will never have cause to think on it again. That I can promise you.”

Animaon was as bound to Chuspecip as I was. I knew that it would not allow anything that could risk our mission. I nodded. It wasn’t death, but I would have to be content with never gazing on Cantonia’s face again.

We all turned to return to the entertaining room. Arexon stopped me before I could follow in Fabiana’s wake.

“You place too high of a trust in your nobles,” it said, “Fabiana means well, but it is soft. You should have cut off Cantonia’s head. That’s how you deal with traitors Nebud, you caught off their head.”

I watched speechless as Arexon walked away. Who was I to be? Arexon expected one thing while Fabiana expected another. There was no pleasing both. I had to believe that listening to Animaon and Fabiana had been the right thing to do. Animaon would not lead me wrong. It served Chuspecip as I did. I trusted it implicitly. I just hoped that the decision to let Cantonia live would not come back to haunt me.

It was an odd sensation. Now that I had the memories from my first months, I remembered the imp fondly. I thought of how we’d played together, and I did indeed remember the promise it had made to train me. Chike was of a height with Musa, but where Musa was lean, Chike was muscular. Still, I did not like to be prodded, and I liked it even less coming from an imp. I pulled myself away from the imp’s inquiring hands.

It seemed shocked, and then it bowed its head. “Forgive me master,” it said.

I didn’t say anything. I made my way around the imp, to the pious one, Animaon.

“Salutations pious one,” I greeted with a bow. “Your presence here comes as a surprise.”

“Yes,” Arexon drawled beside me, “especially after you promised to cart yourself off to the Isle of Shuns.”

Animaon laughed. “Salutations high one,” it bowed to Arexon, “imperial one,” it bowed to me, “the founder had other plans for me.”

“And you couldn’t have told us of them?” I asked.

“Would you have believed me?” it replied with a question of its own.

I exhaled. It was right of course, I wouldn’t have believed it. I could still remember the days of Damejo. I would have laughed in its face if it had tried to convince me that the founder was the voice in my head and that the founder used it too. I could not begin to guess at Animaon’s relationship with the founder, but I made the decision to speak with it later, about what it sensed of the founder’s strength. I’d known as soon as I’d put Checha’s eye in, and my link with Chuspecip had been completed, that Animaon had received a strong dose of the founder’s lifeforms when my sire had lanced its scale into the pious one’s neck. How strong was that dose though? Strong enough to hear the founder as I did? Or to just receive the little nudges that Chuspecip had given to me before our link had been solidified.

“And the imps?” I found myself asking.

“Mostly pious slaves who’ve been liberated by the uspec’s of your line over time. All of them are sworn to your line, about half of them served loyally until your sire was slaughtered and they thought you dead along with it. The other half are free imps who the uspec’s of your line gave patronage to.”

What was it with my ancestors and these imps? They had been benefactors to the wrath and now that same wrath was planning an invasion. The wrath that had attacked me and put my offspring in bed for four whole days. If I’d been likely to trust imps before, the wrath cured me of that. I turned to stare at these imps and saw in their gazes the same look of hope that Chike’d had when it first recognized me. I was going to disappoint them, I was not one like Calam or Calami who’d been obsessed with coming to the rescue of their traitorous kind. I looked at Musa and sighed. I cared for it, and had mostly forgiven it, but it did not disprove my point. It was a traitor, planning an in invasion with the funds that my own ancestors had so benevolently given it. Once I became Kaiser of Lahooni, that kind of imp charity would cease to be.

“And the coffers?” Arexon asked.

“Clothes…” Animaon began.

“Clothes?” Arexon appeared stomped.

“Imp clothes.” Animaon clarified. “And food and all the wealth that the mighty Calam left in my keeping.”

“I do not need this wealth.” Even with the fortune that it cost to feed and shelter so many uspecs, I still had much more wealth than I could spend. And with the fabled wealth of Lahooni waiting for me, even my entire port could not spend the fortune that I had inherited.

“It is not for you Nebud, it is for the high one. The high Arexon will need it, I imagine.”

Arexon appeared startled. It shook its head. “If it belonged to the mighty Calam, then I have no claim on it. It belongs to Nebud.”

“It will go a long way in funding your war, high one, it is the founder’s will that you have it.”

I really had to talk to Animaon about this link it still seemed to possess with the founder. Arexon turned to stare at me and I nodded. I certainly did not need the wealth, or the cumbersome load of carrying those coffers around.

“How much wealth are we talking about?” Arexon asked.

Animaon leaned forward and whispered, “thousands of worth,” so low that only Arexon and I could hear.

Arexon whistled.

My eyes widened at the amount. Thousands of worth, that was a lot, but not nearly as much as the wealth that my line had left me.

“Perhaps we can take this inside sirgas, I would like to collapse onto a lounging bed.” Fabiana’s words broke in or our exchange.

“I believe my soldiers will have dinner prepared soon. Although,” Arexon’s gaze glanced hopefully at the imps, “it is soldiers’ fare and not really great food. If you have any imps that can cook, pious one, our stomachs will be extremely grateful.”

“Of course domina,” the imp that Musa had clung to rose to its feet and bowed to Arexon, “we will make ourselves useful.”

“They are not mine,” Animaon said, as the imp mobilized others. “Those that are slaves belong to your line Nebud, they belong to you.”

I looked away from the horde of imps. Once, when I was much younger, and much more foolish, I had dreamed of owning slaves. I’d thought to be a master wearing a whip on my belt as most did. I’d become a master but never bought a whip. My relationship with Musa had been such a rollercoaster so far, that I did not look forward to owning or managing any more imps. Especially after Permafrost, and everything that the wrath had put me through, I did not much like their kind.

“Darlin!” I called out.

The uspec rushed forward.

“See to our nobles. The highest ranking will of course be given rooms in our dwelling until those are full, then the rest will be in the outhouses. See to their comfort and we will send word when the meal has been prepared.” I turned my gaze to the imps that now gazed at me. According to Animaon, some of them were free, some weren’t. All owed patronage to me now. “And find someone who knows how to manage all these imps.”

“I think we’ve finally found a job that Cantonia can do well.” Darlin teased.

I chuckled. Most of my nobles laughed, but Fabiana didn’t. Its eyebrows pulled together in a deep frown, which only deepened further as Darlin trudged off yelling, “Cantonia!” out at the top of its voice, much to the enjoyment of most of the nobles.

“You should not let them make a jest of the noble Cantonia this way sirga,” Fabiana cautioned.

As far as I was concerned, the entire world could make a jest of Cantonia and I would allow it and encourage it.

“Juke,” I called.

The young uspec came forward, carrying my offspring in its arms. I hadn’t expected Juke to carry it. Juke was so small I was terrified they would both buckle under the weight, but Juke held itself well.

“No!” Fabiana squealed. It plucked my offspring from Juke’s arms and tossed it in the air. Nebula squealed, its limps flapping as it rose and then fell. I wanted to warn Fabiana to be gentle with it, then I thought of Darlin’s advice and refrained. Fabiana threw it up two more times and I could not tell if the movement of its limbs were normal or spasms. “The imperial Nebula, how big you’ve grown.” Fabiana placed the young uspec on its feet and then bowed low to it.

Nebula got so excited it began clapping and laughing. I wasn’t surprised when its clap turned into a spastic affair.

Fabiana turned to me. “What’s happened to it?” it asked, its voice filled with concern.

“It suffers from spasms.” I explained.

“No!” Fabiana’s gaze filled with horror. “I am so sorry sirga.”

I nodded, and then looked away. Juke had taken it into its arms again.

“Please take it to its room, Juke, I think its had enough excitement for one day.” Especially the day right after it began to heal.

Juke bowed and turned to leave.

“Is that your offspring master Cala?”

“My name is Nebud, I don’t go by Cala.” I replied to Chike. “And yes, that is my offspring.” I turned to Fabiana, “let us go inside. There are snacks until dinner is ready.”

Fabiana still had that look of horror and pity which had been brought on by my offspring’s affliction. Fabiana meant well, but it showed me how the world would see my offspring. It would forever be someone that others looked on with pity.

I led our much smaller group into the entertaining room in the dwelling. We still had much to discuss. There was the matter of the messages that Fabiana claimed it sent, but which we had not gotten. Then there was Animaon and what exactly it had been up to and why it was here now.

We’d barely placed ourselves onto the lounging beds when a one-band noble from my honoraria came running in. It was one of the ones who’d gone with Fabiana and had only just returned.

“Imperial one!” It screamed, “majestic one! Come quickly! Cantonia is using pansophy to wipe away Darlin’s thoughts.”

I was stupefied. This time Cantonia had gone too far. It would die. First it threatened me and now it tried to use pansophy on an uspec I admired, one that was of actual use to my honoraria. I jumped off the lounging bed I’d laid on and rushed through the dwelling. When I burst out into the sludge area surrounding the dwelling, I found Cantonia kneeling over Darlin with its hands on the uspec’s chest. There was an open satchel bag beside Darlin with several tubes spilling out from it.

I pulled my cutlass out of my sheath and immediately rushed over to my noble’s defense. I placed the sharp edge of the cutlass against Cantonia’s neck. As soon as the uspec felt the blade, it took its hand off Darlin and rose. I let it rise, but I did not move my cutlass from its neck.

“What is the meaning of this?” Fabiana barked. “You are nobles, Lahooni nobles! You embarrass yourselves and our leader.”

Darlin gasped for air. It jumped to its feet. “I found this one carrying that satchel bag, sirga,” it pointed at Cantonia, “when I went to search for it to give it the task of seeing to your imps.”

I noticed that some of the imps were still standing there, where we’d left them. They stared impassively at the tableau.

Part 7
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Have faith, I’d said to Arexon.

As the first uspec landed and I made out the familiar profile of the shun face with the missing center eye, I had cause to think of my words to Arexon as oddly prescient. I looked at the horns and the fraise, and I smiled, releasing my grasp on the hilt of my cutlass.

“Fabiana!” Binna screamed from behind me.

My excitement doubled. I had not even seen Fabiana, my focus had been solely on Animaon. Now my eyes darted all around, each one moving independently to scour the new camp of arrivals.

There was Fabiana. Binna ran madly to its side. They enveloped each other in an embrace filled with blatant filial devotion. My smile widened. The green dots just kept coming. It was the rest of my honoraria, with the contingent of soldiers that Arexon had sent to accompany Fabiana. I was yet to count them, but their superior numbers showed that they had taken little, if any, casualties.

That wasn’t all.

A frowned when I saw the new arrivals carrying imps with them. And not just a handful of imps, but a large number of them. At least forty imps were born into our compound. While some uspecs carried imps, others carried coffers, some cheap and wooden, others quite remarkable, appearing like mine, as if made from hardened fogs.

By the time the last of the uspecs landed, we were all cramped tightly together. There was a bustle of activity. The voices were loud. The nobles in my honoraria embraced in greeting, welcoming friends they hadn’t seen for weeks, friends that we’d all honestly thought were dead. Arexon’s soldiers embraced.

“Imps!” Darlin screamed. I could not see it in the crush of people, but I would recognize its voice anywhere. “Cantonia will finally have a reason for cheer!”

The laughter that followed Darlin’s proclamation was deep and long lasting. I even found myself laughing a little, despite my disgust for the subject of the joke. I heard my offspring share in my mirth. It thumped my shoulder with its right hand and then continued to thump it for a very many seconds after. I tried not to let the worry that accompanied my offspring’s spasms to show. But I breathed easily when the thumps against my shoulder stopped. Darlin’s words from earlier came back to me then. My offspring could still be great despite its spasms. I tried to cling to that hope.

“Sirga!”

Fabiana forced its way through the throng of people. There was a bit of space around me. I had become so used to the respect I was accorded that I did not even think much of that space. Fabiana dropped to its knee in front of me and bowed deeply.

“Salutations, mighty one,” it greeted, “I have returned.”

Fabiana was still the only one who called me mighty one, already acknowledging me as Kaiser where no other seemed willing to.

I handed my offspring over to Juke and then reached for Fabiana. I ignored the call of ‘pansophy’ from my ring as I grasped the uspec on its upper arms. I lifted it up and embraced it as its sibling Binna had done.

“Welcome, majestic, welcome.” I screamed with delight. “Welcome!” I flung my hand over its shoulder, threw my head back, and laughed. I could not hear Chuspecip in my head, but I could feel it smiling down on me. “We did not know to expect you.”

Fabiana grinned widely at me. “I feared as much when I did not get a response to my missives.”

I frowned. “What missives? We received none.”

Fabiana appeared confused. “I have been sending them every day since I left, just as we agreed to.”

“We received no messages, precious one, none at all. Why do you think we are all so overjoyed to see you?” Binna said, once it had managed to push itself through the crunch of bodies to the circle around us.

“Assiduity!” I heard an unfamiliar voice bark out the order.

I almost snapped into salute as so many of the soldiers did.

“Spread out!” I heard a voice give the order. “Make way for the mighty one.”

The ground trembled from the thud of feet stamping against the hard sludge ground. We’d bought this compound for all one hundred and fifty of Arexon’s soldiers and the hundred nobles in my honoraria. There was room aplenty for all. My eyes darted on a sturdy imp form and I remembered the imps and Animaon. I had to speak to it. What was it doing here? And where had the imps come from? Why did it bring them? So many questions.

A space was cleared between myself, and the entrance to our dwelling. The soldier’s who’d marched off had gone to fill the back and sides of the compound. Arexon waited till there was ample room before it made the voyage to me. It marched forward with my imp and two of its soldiers walking in its wake. Even Marcinus had come out. I averted my gaze before I was tempted to do it harm.

All the soldiers saluted. Arexon stopped a good distance away from me. It saluted and then brought its arm down. “In clover.” It’s voice in that moment had the rare quality of being low yet loud enough to carry through. The soldiers’ arms came down.

“Welcome back!” Arexon bellowed. “It’s good to see your horrid faces again.” It grinned and its soldiers, and a good many of my nobles, myself included, laughed. “Not that I had any doubt that you would return. While one can never be sure of the strength of a Lahooni noble’s blade, I know I can always count on my soldiers.”

Its soldiers cheered loudly, and my honoraria booed jestingly. Arexon and I laughed. It was all said in fun and no one took it seriously.

I rose my hand up and the voices quieted down. I reached for my cutlass and said, “shall I show you the strength of a Lahooni noble’s blade?”

This time my honoraria cheered madly. They hooted and screamed for a duel.

“Only if you want to embarrass yourself in front of your noble honoraria,” Arexon teased.

“Perhaps another time, mighty ones, after we’re all properly rested and fed, and can truly enjoy the sport of watching two great titans clash swords.” Fabiana interceded. It received a great many boos for its efforts.

Arexon laughed. It walked forward and placed its hand on Fabiana’s shoulders in embrace. Fabiana did the same.

“Welcome back majestic one,” Arexon announced, “and I am truly grateful that you brought my soldiers back to me in one piece.”

Fabiana bowed deeply to Arexon. “It was my honor to lead them sirga.”

“Moat!” Arexon called out. “Dismiss the soldiers and see that they are well fed.”

“Yes sirga!” Moat yelled in reply. It snapped out a salute and went about the job it had been given.

With the soldiers slowly retreating to the pond and the outhouses, there was enough space cleared for me to finally focus on Animaon. Animaon’s eyes met mine and it bowed to me. That bow, coming from a pious one, earned a murmur of appreciation from my honoraria. My lips parted to call out to the pious one but another loud cry came before mine could.

“Halima!” Musa screamed. “My God, it cannot be! It cannot be!” Tears streamed from my imp’s eyes.

I watched completely befuddled as it made its way to an imp standing a few paces behind Animaon. The imp was dressed simply in a short brown tunic. I could see from the mounds on its chest that it was a female, the umani gender in contrast to Musa’s male. Once Musa reached the imp, it dropped to its knees in front of it. It wept as if it was in mourning.

The imp knelt in front of it. It pulled Musa into its arms, and then they…my eyes narrowed…I had seen this with the imps in the Mine of Aurelion. Musa and the other imp kissed. They held on tightly to each other’s face and they kissed with so much passion that I could not help but wonder at the identity of this new imp.

“How is this possible?” Musa asked, once it pulled back from the other imp. “You were sapped. I was there when Salin gave the order. I saw you taken away. I saw the yielders take you to their room and…”

“Domina Animaon saved me, Musa.”

Musa appeared stunned. “But then…why didn’t you come back for me?”

“It wasn’t safe Musa,” Animaon said, “it wasn’t safe for her to come back to you. When it was safe, I could not.”

Musa glared at the pious one. “What do you mean you could not? I thought she was gone!”

“It was not the founder’s will for you to be reunited just then. It was not its will.” Animaon’s gaze turned to me and I understood then that Chuspecip kept them apart so that I could find Musa in a position to come to my aid. I remembered its tale from so long ago. We’d been in Katsoaru when it told me of its love. I remembered thinking how strange a concept love appeared then. But now, now I understood the love of which it spoke. I loved many. It came as a surprise to me to know this, that I was one that now had love. I loved my offspring foremost, that one before all others. But there were others I would not see harm come to. Arexon for one, and Fabiana, and, my gaze turned to the imp, yes, even after its betrayal, I still cared deeply for it. Now it clung to the imp who’d won its love.

“You had no right!” Musa screamed.

I frowned at it. Animaon had every right to do whatever it pleased with the imp. Animaon spoke up before I could. “Maybe, but I am just a servant Musa, as are you.”

Musa’s mouth snapped open. The other imp, Halima, I reminded myself, it placed its hand over Musa’s mouth before the imp could say anymore. Its empty sockets rose up and then stopped on me. “Forgive it master,” it pleaded, “it speaks out of turn.”

Musa’s gaze snapped to me, as if it had completely forgotten about my presence there. It looked at me for a while, the black emptiness of its sockets boring into me, and then it looked sullenly away. Interesting.

Again, I began my efforts to speak with the pious, Animaon, and again I was interrupted by an imp.

“Master Cala?”

I turned to find an imp emerging from the group of imps that stood behind Animaon. This imp was one that I had met in Katsoaru without having any inclination of how fond I’d been of it.

“Chike.”

Its mouth hung open. “My God!” It exclaimed. “Master Cala!” I found myself being poked and prodded by an imp. The effrontery. Why did I not stop it? I could not say. “The brawn on you! You must be a great fighter now master, without me. Do you remember when I promised to teach you how to fight? I was going to train you as I’d trained your progenitor master Calami. You did just fine without my aid, didn’t you?”

@cassbeat that's part of the last brio mystery. There's a link they're born with and it was activated when it went to the green room in the isle of brio.

@doctorexcel ummnn that's good to know

“We need to talk,” I stated, after long moments of silence.

Its head was bent. “I know master.”

“About the wrath’s attack,” I clarified.

Musa turned to stare at me. “I know.”

I nodded. We’d reached Arexon’s suite. I stood outside and toweled off the rest of my sweat. Then I gave the towel to Musa and walked into Arexon’s suite. There were soldiers on guard in front of the curtains to its office. They saluted me as I walked past them.

Arexon stood in front of its war map. It had a deep frown on its face as it stared at the pieces.

“Sirga?” I called out.

Arexon’s head snapped up. It urged me forward with an impatient gesturing of its folding fingers. I approached it cautiously. “What is it sirga?”

Arexon looked up from its war map. “How is Nebula?” It asked.

I smiled. “Recovering sirga, gratitude.”

It nodded, then it jerked its head at a parchment left on the end of a lounging bed close to its war map. “I did not want to bother you with it before, but now that your offspring is recovering, you can read Manus’ message.”

I walked over to that lounging bed, picked up the parchment and sat to read it. “Manus sounds like it is one missive away from urging the plenum to send reinforcements to Katsoaru.” Which was good news. Except that we needed Marcinus to write that missive. It had to be in the uspec’s hand with the uspec’s identity used to sign off. I did not want to think of Marcinus.

“We are doomed.” Arexon stated dryly.

“You should not be so pessimistic sirga.”

Arexon crossed its hands over its chest and fixed me with a level stare. “If Chechin had withdrawn the Monachooni troops from the plenum’s forces, then we would stand a chance and even then our chances would be slim. Perhaps if you could pull out some lit okun we would be able to improve the odds in our favor, but spectra doesn’t work on the inter-port trail.”

“It would take a lot of spectral energy to kill that many troops.”

“And you cannot be more than one place at a time. If we do decide to use your lit okun, we would have to send you to a port. Whichever port you chose to stay in would be safe, as long as you stood guard all hours of the day with your lit okun in hand, but that is not possible. The plenum would trap you in that port and attack the other port. If you stayed in Lahooni, Chiboga would fall, and if you stayed in Chiboga, Lahooni would fall. They could kill you. Lit okun kills many, but not all. All they’d have to do was use swans to find out who amongst their troops were immune and they would send the immune soldiers after you…” Arexon stopped talking. It was as if we both reached the same realization at the same time.

It slumped onto the lounging bed beside me.

“That’s what they’ll do to build their bridge. They’ll use the draco, the Lahooni frosted beast, to find out who’s immune and only send those immune to the smog sand in to build the bridge. Is it possible? To test for immunity without killing them?”

Arexon nodded. “Damn!” It swore. “It only takes emotions to do it. All they need is a hooni kun, one who can communicate with the draco through anger. The draco can show them who amongst them is immune and who isn’t.”

Damn! I found myself repeating Arexon’s earlier curse. The smog sand was the only thing keeping the plenum from overrunning Lahooni. If they could build their bridge with only those immune, then they would complete it faster. “Maybe they don’t know about the draco test yet.”

“They know.” Arexon dispelled whatever hope I’d had. “Frosted beasts are awfully loyal. We know the plenum Kaisers are irirakuns of five, and giving that Checha told you its offspring are irirakun, I think it’s safe to assume that the plenum has a great many irirakuns fighting with them. They will have many who can speak with the frosted beast, we just have to hope that they haven’t yet found a frosted beast that would be willing to aid them.”

“I should send word to Jukien,” I said, “to warn it.”

Arexon turned to stare at me. “The Jukien that refused to hand your port over to you?”

My eyes narrowed. I nodded.

“The sooner you start thinking like a politician, the better things will be for you, my friend.” The sting of Arexon’s sharp words were abated by the ‘my friend’ moniker it attached at the end. It was very rare to hear Arexon refer to me as such, and each time it said the words, I felt my chest fill with pride.

“Jukien is loyal to Chuspecip.”

Arexon scoffed. “Fabiana is loyal to Chuspecip. Loyalty cannot be bought or swayed. Whatever its reasons, when forced to, Jukien, like all the other nobles in your port, declared itself Kuworyte. I am not saying that they don’t regret their choice. Obviously, the presence of your honoraria shows that your nobles do have some allegiance to Chuspecip. But in a choice between sure death and serving the plenum, Jukien chose serving the plenum. If you send it word that Lahooni is surely to fall and you along with it, it will choose the plenum again.”

“Chuspecip lives, I will return it to this existence, it is not sure death.”

Arexon gazed at me as if it could see into my head. “I am not Uspecipyte, I place no trust in your founder, I trust you. Don’t insult my trust by lying to me now.”

I looked away. “Chuspecip lives,” I mumbled, “it just grows weaker by the day.”

“And how long till it no longer lives?”

“I don’t know.”

Arexon stood up and began pacing the room. “We need to stop hiding out here and start fighting. We cannot wait for Chuspecip to come to our aid. If the founder was so great, it would not have allowed itself to be caught in the first place.”

I found myself rushing to Chuspecip’s defense. It was for its loyalty to my line that it had been captured. But even captured, Chuspecip was great, wise. It was thanks to Chuspecip that I had gotten to this point. I tried to explain Chuspecip’s cunning to Arexon.

I explained how I was led by Chuspecip to finding Marcinus’ swan Mara. Chuspecip needed Manus to be made heir and it had used me to ensure that it happened. If Marcinus had been named heir, Manus would have killed it. While I longed for Marcinus’ death, Marcinus’ life and freedom was a threat to Manus, a threat which was going to help divert part of the plenum’s forces.

Then there was Chiboga. I explained how Chuspecip, while weakened, and unable to form a true link with me, had still been able to use me to expose Arexon’s pansophy. I’d thought of it as a slip, but it had not been. The timing had been exact. I had ‘slipped’ right on the day before the plenum would have entered Chiboga, right on the night when Sophian was holding a feast and Sophila was getting befuddled by lust. Chuspecip had drawn me to Sophila’s suite by showing me the white fumes. Sophila’s suite had been sealed off and so there hadn’t been any white fumes, but I’d seen fumes and I’d found the perfect opportunity to take Sophila’s eye. It had all been Chuspecip acting through me. The timing had been so perfect because exposing Arexon’s pansophy had forced Sophian to show the extent of its disregard for Arexon which in turn gave the uspec the license to kill it and take control of its port. All of these things had to happen for us to be where we were now.

Then there was Damejo. I even saw Chuspecip’s hand in my fight with Fajahromo. It had been a lot of my anger pushing me to fight, but there had been Chuspecip as well. Chuspecip had wanted me to lose it had wanted me to go to Nefastu, but that was still a mystery to me. I did not know why Chuspecip had been bent on me going to Permafrost. It wasn’t for Animaon’s eye. Animaon would have found me if I hadn’t gone looking for it. Chuspecip had been absent on that cursed road, absent throughout Nefastu and I still didn’t understand how that was possible and why it had forced me to that path. But of all I understood, I saw Chuspecip’s hand driving my life from the moment I stepped into the green room on the Isle of Brio. It had even united me with Musa.

Arexon whistled when I was done. “Perhaps your founder is as great as you say, Nebud, but if it is too weak to fight, then we are on our own.”

I shook my head, shocking even myself by the words I said. “Have faith, sirga, Chuspecip is not down yet. It gave us a mission on this inter-port trail, and we must accomplish it.”

Arexon chuckled. “If anyone else told me to have faith in Chuspecip I would laugh in their face. But if the founder could make a believer out of you…” Arexon broke off. “Let’s just say this. If your founder comes to Chiboga’s aid the way you claim it will, I will forever be in its debt. But if it doesn’t…”

“I will not abandon you, sirga. If for some reason Chuspecip fails us, I will be by your side, fighting to the death alongside you.”

“And your port?” It teased.

“We will join Lahooni and Chiboga and be co-Kaisers.”

Arexon laughed. It was not possible, we both knew it, but we laughed as if it was. The plenum would slaughter my people before we could make it across the inter-port trail to reach Chiboga.

“So then we continue with your founder’s game. We send a reply to Manus.” Arexon stated.

I nodded. “Have faith sirga.”

Arexon shook its head and laughed. “Will you give that lesson to Marcinus?”

Whatever good humor I’d had quickly went away.

“Ah,” Arexon sighed, “that was rather tactless of me. Forgive me Nebud.”

I nodded. “I know its importance, but I cannot stand its presence without killing it.”

“Of course.” Arexon stated. “I will send Musa to it. Marcinus has a strange fondness for imps. It forces itself to be on its best behavior whenever your imp is around. Though for an uspec with so much lust in its brain, best behavior is still questionable behavior.”

I glanced up then and found Musa standing quietly by the curtain. How much of our conversation had it heard? “I’d meant to speak with it,” I began and then rethought. “You’re right sirga, send Musa to it, I can speak with my imp later.”

“Good.” Arexon rose. “Come Musa,” it called as it walked over to its desk.

I stood up as well and watched Musa go to Arexon. “If you will excuse me sirga?”

Arexon nodded. “Of course, dismissed.”

I laughed at that. Its soldiers called it general, well some of them did. Some called it mighty one, others called it general. None of its soldier called it high one. In their minds, it was already Kaiser of their port. And as the Kaiser was also the general of the army, they’d accorded both to Arexon. Its back was turned to me, but I couldn’t resist the urge to give a teasing salute after it ‘dismissed me’. Musa saw and smiled. I smiled back at the imp, nodded to it, and then turned and walked out of Arexon’s office. Musa and I would talk later.

I had uspecs to train, but I decided to go and check on my offspring before going back outside to spar.

When I walked into Nebula’s room and found it empty, it was as if history was repeating itself. No. No. Would it have gone to Marcinus suite? If Marcinus had invited my offspring for more lust, I would kill it. I didn’t care how much we needed it, I would kill it.

I walked out of my suite in a blind rage.

“Sirga?”

I saw Moat salute and stopped to salute back at it.

“Are you alright sirga?”

“My offspring, Nebula, it is with Marcinus again.” I spat the words out.

“No sirga, it went outside, it is with your honoraria. The general gave orders that the imperial Marcinus was not to be allowed near your offspring if you were not present. There are soldiers watching the imperial Marcinus’ suite, none of them would allow your offspring in, sirga, none.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. “Gratitude Moat.”

It saluted and I rushed past it. Leave it to Arexon to ensure that the past was never repeated. Was there anything that Arexon was not worrying about? I thought of the oath I’d made spontaneously to it. Lahooni was my responsibility, but I would do everything in my power to aid it. I would fight by its side if it came to it. After all that Arexon had done for me, I owed it everything.

A loud gurgle of unintelligible sound greeted my arrival. I smiled when I saw Nebula standing between Juke and Binna. Darlin was bent to a squat in front of it. It made gestures and seemed to be speaking to my offspring. The Lahooni tongue was the only one that Nebula understood, but, thanks to the Chiboga soldiers that we lived with, it could understand a few boga phrases. My nobles had no problem with communication. Nobles learnt to speak in all the tongues, it was part of their expensive educations.

I stopped behind Nebula. Darlin gave it a dagger and just as Nebula carried it, its arm began to spasm.

I sighed. “Should you be out of your bed?” I picked the little uspec up and tried to take the dagger from it, but its spasming hand held on, surprisingly strongly, to the thing.

“Sirga,” Darlin gave me a neck bow, “I was just telling our young imperial one that it is going to be a great fighter. It’s just thrown my dagger three times clear through to its target.”

I did not know if I wanted Darlin filling my offspring’s head with lies. It would not be a great fighter. I didn’t want it to be disappointed when it finally learnt of this hard truth.

I was about to say so when Darlin said, “One of my agnates had a spasm like the young imperial. Its epics are the tales of legends. My agnate learned how to control the spasms. It could push it off so that it only happened every so often, and never when it was in battle. Mastering pansophy helped to move the spasms around too. Soon, my agnate was able to use its spasms against its foes. I have several tomes on its journey, perhaps you would like to read them young imperial.”

Hope came alive in me. I felt my offspring’s head scrape against mine as it bobbed a nod. It was excited. That nod developed into a spasm. Its head jerked forcefully up and down.

“Don’t fear when it is like this, sirga, the spasms will pass. If you fear for it, and see it as less for it, it will pick up on your feelings and feel the same.”

My offspring’s head jerks slowed and then finally stopped.

I smiled at Darlin. “Gratitude. Could I borrow those tomes you mentioned, on your agnate’s journey?”

It smiled at me. “Of course, sirga. I’ll send word to Lahooni to have copies made and smuggled out for you.”

I smiled. “I am truly grateful.”

“Sirga!” Binna’s loud call jarred me. I turned to face the uspec and then lifted my gaze when it pointed to the sky.

There was a battalion of green dots descending from the sky and flying to land right into our compound.

It seemed that, after all this time, the plenum had finally caught up with us.

I gritted my teeth and reached for my cutlass.

Part 6
--------

I swerved right in time to dodge the pointed edge of a wooden sparring sword. My attacker advanced. I let it attack a few more times, studying its advances. I noted where its attacks appeared too timid, the swings that it faltered on, and the legwork that kept it from following through. Then I turned the tables and began to advance on it. I noted the movements it made in retreat. There were times when it waited an extra second longer than it needed to. I spotted those prolonged lapses and took advantage of them, using each opening to knock the uspec off its feet.

It always rebounded quickly, lunging to its feet for more.

I worked it hard, until it was so sore that its movements became clumsy and it heaved for air. But I didn’t stop until it bent over and vomited a film of cyan wretch onto the ground.

Darlin laughed. “We’ll make a fighter out of you eventually, young majestic, once you’re able to keep your food down, that is.”

Other uspecs around shared Darlin’s mirth. I watched closely to see how Juke would take the teasing. It panted, with its hands on its knees. It was soaked with sweat.

“I look forward to that day, dignified one,” Juke replied good-naturedly, when it had enough air in its lungs to speak. Then it forced itself to stand tall. “Shall we go again sirga?” Right as it said those words, its legs buckled underneath it and it fell to the ground.

The roar of laughter that came from the uspecs sparring around us was almost deafening. I stretched out my arm, waited for Juke’s hand to clasp with mine, then I pulled the young uspec to its feet. I had to hold onto it for a few seconds before its legs stopped shaking. It had been a hard day’s training. Perhaps I had pushed it too hard for its first day of training? I did not think so. It might have been its first day training with me, but it was not its first day of sword training.

I released its arm. “Clean that up,” I jerked my head towards its vomit, “then drink some okun and rest. Not too much okun mind you, you’ll only be resting for a bit. We need to build your muscles, you are too scrawny, that’s why your limbs are giving out. A brawler’s training will put some muscle on you.”

“A brawler’s training,” Binna’s raised voice drew curious gazes. The sounds of clanging swords ceased. “Surely you jest sirga.”

I shook my head. I’d already learnt how little nobles thought of brawling. They considered it a virtue to be skilled with a sword, but brawling, to them, was best left to the lower classes. It was why most of them were so skinny. Darlin was of course a notable exception.

“You could all do with some brawler’s training.”

Binna said nothing, it just looked away.

“Go on,” I patted Juke on the head to get it going.

“Now that you are done playing with the child, would you like to spar, sirga?” Darlin teased.

The uspecs laughed.

Juke stopped short on its way to the dwelling. It turned around and narrowed its eyes jokingly at Darlin. It lifted its clenched fist in the air and said, “You jest now, dignified one, but one day, you will all beg for the privilege of sparring with the majestic Juke.” Loud guffaws greeted its words.

I smiled at the young uspec, approving of how freely it took the teasing. There were not many amongst the nobles in my honoraria who would allow themselves to be teased as Juke did. I suddenly caught Cantonia skulking about along the fringes, close to the outhouses. Why did it not surprise me that the uspec was not here, learning how to fight? I glared at it and withdrew my gaze before I gave into the impulse to end its life. I was still angry at the words it had said to me the previous day.

I may not be talented in fighting, but I am quite skilled in a very large number of things that could cause you a great many complications.

If the uspec did anything to hinder my chances of reclaiming my port, noble or not, I would cut off its head. The audacity of the uspec to threaten me, in my own office, when my offspring was fighting for life! I forced my mind away before I did something I’d regret, like throw my dagger at its neck.

“One day your fighting skill shall be legendary, Juke, I do not doubt it for a second.” Binna said.

Juke gave Binna a very deep, and very showy, waist bow. “Thank you, Binna.”

These two had been friends long before joining my honoraria. They were the offspring of the most powerful nobles in my port. Apparently, Fib, Binna’s younger, was very close to Juke. They’d grown up together.

“Till then you’d better get on with what the imperial one asked you to do,” Darlin said, laughing.

Juke looked at me and squealed. “Right away sirga!” It screamed and then ducked behind a curtain. I liked how quickly it was moving. It would recover from the muscle soreness soon, and then it would be able to begin some pugilist sparring. I studied Binna. It would learn to brawl as well. The others I would not order to train, but Binna I would. I did not like the idea of anyone besting Binna or Juke simply because they were not well versed in all forms of fighting.

“Sirga?” Darlin prompted.

I turned to my favorite sparring partner and nodded. We fought with blades. As soon as the sounds of our clashing metal rung out, the other uspec’s resumed their sparring.

I worked up a fine film of sweat sparring with Darlin. The uspec was very good. It knew me well enough now not to give anything less than a hundred percent when we dueled. I would take advantage of any and all weaknesses. We’d both caused each other several injuries over our month of sparring. The first one had been necessary. I’d noticed that Darlin was pulling its blows and so I’d allowed it to cut me so that it would see that the world would not end if I was hurt. It had not been so long ago that I was the banneret in Katsoaru sparring with Marcinus and worried that I would cause the imperial one harm. Just the thought of Marcinus was enough to foul my mood. I found myself attacking with even more vigor than was normal for a friendly spar.

But Darlin held its own.

We transitioned from swords to fists. When it came to pugilism, there were not many that could beat me. I had been forced to learn in the pits of Hakute. Years fighting for my life on a weakly basis made me hard to defeat. I grabbed onto Darlin’s hand, when it’s aim proved a little too wide, and I twisted. I didn’t put enough force in it to break the arm, but it was enough to cause pain. Darlin did not cry out. I released its arm and took a blow to the side of my face that I had not seen coming. Darlin’s attack made me smile, it was one I had taught the uspec. We traded blows for a good long time, long enough for the both of us to get a nice exercise. Then we clutched each other’s forearms in the embrace I had been taught by Fabiana and its line.

“One day I shall best you sirga,” Darlin warned.

I chuckled. “Maybe, but not today.”

Darlin laughed. “Not today.”

We released our holds. “I need to collapse onto a bed!” Darlin yelled. There were a few snickers, but most of the uspecs were focused on their sparring. “What do you say sirga? Have I worn you out?”

I shook my head. I had spent four long days by my offspring’s bed doing nothing but watching and praying that it would survive. Now that it had taken a turn for the better, I found that I had all my pent-up anger at Marcinus driving me on. I was not yet even close to being tired.

“Who will succeed where I have failed?” Darlin called out. “Binna?”

Binna was standing on the outskirts, taking a break from its spar with another majestic, the offspring of a lower rung duke. It shook its head.

“Ah! Cantonia! Yes, surely after all your heated words last night, you are ready to challenge the imperial one?”

Challenge me? I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. The thought of Cantonia challenging me. What a joke! I’d gotten a better challenge from Juke who was less than half Cantonia’s age. The uspec did have all of its outer eye sockets formed and four of them filled. But knowing Cantonia, it had probably bought those eyes.

Cantonia’s jaw clenched. It glared at me and stormed off. What I would give to hold that uspec down and free it of those eyes from which it had turned its fuming glance on me.

“Binna!” I called out instead, allowing Cantonia to skulk away, like the coward it was.

Binna rushed forward. This was not my first time sparring with the uspec. As soon as it reached me it pulled out its sword.

I stopped it. “We will brawl.”

Its mouth flopped open. “Brawl?” it asked, incredulously. “Surely, sirga, you jest.”

“No, I do not.” That was all the preamble I gave before I snapped the uspec’s head to the side with my fist. After that Binna rose its fists up and I took it easier on the uspec. I wanted to teach it, not to beat it, though the first often required the second.

By the time we were done, Binna was bleeding and furious at me. Any other uspec, I would have ignored. But Binna had its older sibling to thank for the care which I showed it.

“You may not always have your sword, Binna, you must know how to fight without it.”

It managed to stop looking at me with such vitriol. “I am not good at this sirga,” it sulked, “it is not a noble’s way of fighting.”

I took a deep breath and then released it. I placed my hand on its shoulder. “Perhaps, but I ask it of you. Do you refuse to learn?”

It glared at me and then looked away. “That is not fair, sirga. You know I cannot refuse you.” I knew it. It cared greatly for me for the same reason that I cared deeply for it. We were both bound to each other by its older sibling, Fabiana.

“Then you will learn pugilism.”

“I will do so because you demand it, but I will be very reluctant.”

I squeezed its shoulder and then patted it on its aileron. “I am sure I’ll find a way to beat the reluctance out of you.”

It scoffed. “I’m sure you will sirga.”

I smiled. “Take a break, we’ll continue when I’m done with Juke.”

It bowed to me and walked away.

I was just about to call for Juke when I saw a brown body appear in front of me. Musa. It carried a wooden bowl filled with okun in one hand and a towel in the other. The imp stopped in front of me. There was something about its countenance when it stared up at me. It was odd, the arrangement of its facial features.

“Domina Arexon sent me to summon you, master.”

I nodded. That would explain the towel and the okun. Arexon could be quite particular about things. It wouldn’t want me sitting in its office with sweat pouring down my body. I put my hand into the bowl and splashed some of the warm liquid on my face. Then I took the towel from Musa and began wiping at my body as I walked towards the dwelling. I stopped in front of Juke and left orders for it to spar with Binna. I would have said Darlin, but I did not think Juke was ready for that yet. Even when it was trying to be easy, Darlin fought savagely, it was a savageness I wholeheartedly approved of, but one Juke would wilt under. Binna would be gentler. I was still toweling off my sweat when my gaze happened upon Musa. It was still staring at me with that strange look on its face.

I frowned at it. “What is it?”

Its eyes widened. It shook its head. “Nothing master,” it said, warily.

Our relationship was not what it had once been. Despite myself, I thought fondly of the days when the imp had teased me. When it came down to it, I had survived as long as I had because of Musa. It had taught me the graces which allowed me to pass for banneret. I imagined how uncouth I appeared to my nobles and thought about how much worse it would have been if I had come to them as I’d been when I first stepped out of the pits of Hakute. They would have laughed off my claim to the line of Kaisers. It had lied to me, it had destroyed the relationship we’d had. Our relationship had been so strong that I had risked my own life to save its own. Whenever I thought of Nefastu I felt the wounds of Musa’s betrayal twinge. It had lied about so much. But then it had remained with me when the wrath came. Even with what little fondness I showed it, it had chosen to remain with me. And it had been denounced by its people.

I flicked the end of my towel against Musa’s arm. “Speak.”

It smiled, but there was a deep sadness in that smile. It shook its head. “It’s nothing master, it’s just that seeing the way you were with your honoraria, brought up feelings I’d thought I’d buried.”

“Feelings?” I prompted.

“It was like I was seeing master Calami in the flesh.” It choked on its words. “Forgive me master. It just…it took me by surprise.”

I was suddenly finding it hard to swallow past the lump in my throat. Musa saw my progenitor in me? The mighty Calami. It had not lived long enough to become a mighty one, but it had been mighty in the tales that I was told of it. And now Musa said it saw that in me? I thought about other things the imp had said, like in the room-vault in Damejo, where it had said that I was not what the other uspecs of my line had been. I shook the thought away, choosing not to dwell on that.

@phoenixchap always a pleasure to be read I agree with you about Marcinus. It's gone too far, but I really hope that Nebud remembers how it was before the lust and everything that has happened to make it the way it is now

@OluwabuqqyYOLO thank you!!!

@ayshow6102 Ahhh, I see, well, I'm just happy that you were smiling in something egbere lol. As for the storm not being over for Nebula...well, we shall see.

@eROCK247 thank you for reading! I agree, chai what lust has done to Marcinus.

@HotB Glad you're still here!

@Skywalker909 I'm happy that this update got you smiling, it got me smiling too A showdown is coming, but how close it is...I guess we'll see

“Marcinus came to me, it says that it knows how to make your offspring eat the gruel.”

I scoffed. “Marcinus wants lust.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean it’s lying. What can it hurt to hear what it has to say?”

I didn’t want to believe that Marcinus could actually have a solution and that it would blackmail me for it. It was Marcinus’ fault that we were here in the first place. “And if it’s lying?”

“It doesn’t get anything.”

I sighed and turned to stare at my offspring. It was still breathing. I nodded. “Okay.” I wasn’t expecting much.

“Musa.” Arexon called.

“Yes domina.”

“Go and tell Moat to fetch Marcinus, and the parcel. Then get the healer and the gruel.”

“Yes domina.” Musa stood up and left.

I turned to watch Musa leave. We needed to talk. My gaze turned back to Arexon. “If we let Marcinus leave, it could get itself killed on one of these lust trips.”

“It won’t be going anywhere.” Arexon stated.

“But, how…” I stopped talking when Arexon shook its head.

“I’ve taken care of it.”

I frowned at Arexon’s cryptic reply, but then my attention moved back to my offspring. It was still breathing.

And it was still breathing when Musa returned with the healer and the gruel. There were no sweet buns on the tray, just a bowl of gruel and a spoon. The healer saluted Arexon before going about the job of returning my offspring’s motion. It looked so weak and dazed when its eye opened and it met my gaze. So weak, and so pained. I placed my hand on its forehead and stroked the skin. It tried to smile but even that gesture appeared as a spasm. I felt as if my heart was being ripped from my chest. I could not watch another offspring die.

It was the twisted laughter that let me know when Marcinus arrived.

“Talk,” I spat at it.

It shook its head, its tongue darting out of its mouth. It licked its lips as if in preparation for a feast. “I need assurances first.”

“Moat!” Arexon called.

The soldier appeared. It saluted Arexon and waited for the ‘in clover’ order. Once the order was given, the uspec reached into the small satchel bag it carried and pulled out a strange contraption. It looked something like a metal egg. Moat removed the top of the egg slightly and white fumes drifted out of it. The fumes weren’t nearly enough to travel to the side of the room I was in, but I could tell from Marcinus reaction what it was.

“Polluted lust,” Arexon explained, “as pure as I could find it.”

I closed my eyes and nodded.

“Now speak!” Arexon ordered, in a louder voice.

“Mar – Maricus.” Marcinus said.

I opened my eyes and frowned at it. “Who is Maricus?”

Marcinus’ tongue darted out of its mouth. It laughed its sick laughter, the one that came without it smiling or showing any other signs of mirth. “My offspring.”

My eyes widened.

“Dead.”

My gaze dropped.

“One of Manus’ noble sycophants killed Mara, my swan. I sought revenge and Manus decided to make a sport of it. It ordered us to fight it out in the hatch. Maricus was the product. Manus introduced my offspring to lust before it was even a day old. Healers said the foul-tasting gruel was the only cure. I tried for days to make it eat it. When at last it saw me eating the gruel, it ate it as well. It was already too late by then. Maricus died. One week out of the hatch.”

Maricus died. Anger, loathing, betrayal, sorrow, guilt, so many emotions and they all roiled in me. Marcinus had seen what lust had done to its own offspring and it had allowed my offspring to imbibe a worse version of that lust. The hatred I felt for Marcinus in that moment rivalled that which I felt for Fajahromo. Marcinus had done this knowingly. It had known what lust would do to an infant; it had known. Did it hold me responsible for killing its offspring as well as its progenitor? Was that why it did this to me? To my innocent offspring!

Arexon’s hand was on my chest, holding me down, before I’d even made the conscious decision to leap for Marcinus’ neck.

“Take it away,” Arexon ordered, “if it’s lust it wants, then let it drown in it. Get it out of here!”

The soldiers followed Arexon’s order. They shuffled Marcinus out and I heard the sound of its hysterical laughter. “It all comes full circle!” It screamed.

This was Marcinus, the uspec that I had called friend. It did this to my own offspring. It planned this.

“Try it,” Arexon said, “try it, before it’s too late.”

I did. I forced my mind away from thoughts of killing Marcinus. I felt guilty, I was guilty, I’d taken its eye. But when it came after my innocent offspring, it had crossed a line. It should have come after me! No, Marcinus was no friend of mine. I would kill it. Just as I would kill Fajahromo. At the end, only one of us would be left alive.

I took the bowl of gruel and the spoon from Musa and sat on the bed opposite my offspring. Musa sat behind it. It propped its weak body up and its weakened eye stared into mine.

I took a spoonful of gruel and shoved it into my mouth. It was still as disgusting as I remembered it, but after four days of not eating, I could actually taste the sweetness of the grain, somewhere deep, deep, deep, underneath the bitterness. Or at least that was what I tried to convince myself. I took five more spoons of the gruel before lifting a quarter-filled spoon to Nebula’s mouth.

It felt as if everyone in the room stopped breathing.

Nebula took the gruel. It opened its mouth and took the gruel. I waited for vomit that never came.

One spoon after the other, I fed myself the gruel and then I fed it to my offspring. For each spoon it saw me eat, it ate some of its own, until finally, the bowl was empty.

“Get milk! And sweet buns!” I ordered to no one in particular.

Moments later, Musa appeared with a cup of milk and a platter of sweet buns. I fed that to my offspring and, after four days of throwing up and convulsing, it ate it all, and kept it all down. There were spasms, a few in its legs and arms, but no convulsing. No frothing from the mouth. Just peaceful spasms. I’d never thought I’d be happy to see my offspring spasm, but considering the alternative, I was overjoyed.

After it was done eating, it fell asleep. Its body stopped moving of its own accord, unaided by having its motion removed. I exhaled in relief.

“The worst is behind us now sirga,” the healer reassured me.

I smiled gratefully at it.

“I think your imperial will eat now, young majestic.” Arexon smiled at me when I turned to face it. Then it jerked its head to Juke.

I turned to find the young one staring at me. I still could not believe that it had refused to eat because I had. What would inspire it to do such a foolish thing? I nodded in affirmation of Arexon’s words.

Juke squealed in delight. “Yes sirga. Right away sirga!” Then it ran off.

Arexon stood. It walked over to pat me on the shoulder. “That is one loyal noble. What did you do to earn that level of loyalty in so little time?”

I shrugged. Damned if I knew.

Arexon chuckled. “If you would allow me to give you a word of advice, loyalty like that should be rewarded.” Arexon’s gaze flickered from mine, to the imp arranging the dishes and utensils on the table beside Nebula’s bed. Then it looked back at me and smiled. It patted my shoulder one last time before turning to leave.

“Gratitude sirga,” I said, “I am grateful for your friendship, even if I don’t always show it.”

Arexon chuckled. It shook its head at me and walked out of the room.

I turned to find Musa staring longingly at me. “We need to talk,” I said to it.

It nodded. “Tomorrow maybe? It’s been a long couple of days for us all, and I think you should get some rest master. After you eat of course.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Musa.”

It stopped short and blubbered. Had it really been that long since I’d expressed gratitude to it? “Of course, master,” it blurted out. Then it picked up the dishes and utensils and was gone, but not before I saw the wide smile on its face.

I turned to stare at my offspring. Its breathing appeared stronger.

“Your food is in your office sirga.” I heard Juke call out.

I stroked my offspring’s cheek one last time before leaving the room. I walked behind an excited Juke who was doing its best not to appear excited.

When I looked at the food on my desk, I burst out laughing. “Is there any food left in the cooking room?”

Juke appeared puzzled. “But you haven’t eaten in days!”

I sat on a chair by my desk and kicked another chair out. “Eat with me,” I ordered, before it could leave.

Its eyes widened. “Really?”

I nodded. “Really.”

Its wide smile touched its outer eye. It sat on the chair I’d offered and grabbed a leg of fried sky fowl. It was munching noisily on the meat as it reached to pour wine from a decanter into two cups. My eyes narrowed on the cups. It had brought two cups, which meant that it had expected me to eat with someone else. What a cunning little thing.

I took one of those cups and picked a leg of fried sky fowl for myself. “Tell me a story, Juke.”

It plucked a strip of meat hanging out of its mouth, tore it off, and shoved it fully back in. “Which story? The one of how the great Chacip, the first of your line, founded Lahooni and built a bounteous garden that all, from the lowliest of commoners, to the loftiest of nobles, could pick from?”

If I succeeded in reclaiming Lahooni, I would have forever to read of the nobles of my line. I shook my head. “No, tell me a story of your life. Your happiest day.”

“My happiest day was when you granted me the honor of joining your honoraria.” It said in reply.

I smiled. “Then tell me about your second happiest day.”

“Oh,” its mouth rounded, “that’s a long one. It started underneath the Blessed Connection, in the field of Chacip’s garden. It was right after a disseminator told me the tale of Chacip’s procreation, how its intense desire to create one out of its own form, led it to forsake the usual bout and instead make itself the offer in the hatch. I was walking with my siblings and my progenitor when…”

Juke rambled on happily and, after the roller coaster of watching my offspring fighting for its life then finally make a turn for the better, it brought me a surprising amount of joy to listen to the young uspec speak.

Part 5
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Two more days passed, and my offspring still refused to eat the gruel. I could not eat. Juke bore the brunt of my anger. It kept bringing me food and I kept throwing the food away. How was I supposed to eat when my offspring was dying? Musa and Juke cajoled me into leaving my offspring’s room. I don’t know how they managed it.

I stepped out onto the veranda behind my room and saw the sky for the first time in four days.

Uspecs in my honoraria were sparring. I heard the swords clashing. Darlin fought against another two-band noble. Darlin, unsurprisingly, won. But the other two-band noble was good. I looked back at the entrance to my room. Juke stood in front of it, with its arms crossed, blocking the way as if it could stop me if I tried to reenter.

“You promised to spend at least five minutes outside, sirga.” The young uspec reminded me.

I glared at it, but it did not move. Something about its stubbornness made me think of my offspring, withering away on its bed. Would it die here, on the inter-port trail, in a sludge dwelling? Was that to be its fate? I turned my gaze back to the sparring.

Binna went against Cantonia.

Cantonia couldn’t even last two minutes before being disarmed. I spat on the ground, disgusted.

“I should send Juke in to fight against you, Cantonia, maybe then we can pretend that you actually have some value here.” I spat the words out. Uspecs in my honoraria laughed and Cantonia appeared mortified. It stormed off.

I turned my back on the sparring and walked back into the room. Cantonia’s deplorable fighting had only served to further sour mood. If Juke stood in my way, I couldn’t say what I would do to it. It must have sensed my mood because it wisely stepped away from the entrance.

“It was not wise to mock the noble Cantonia like that, sirga.” Juke spoke softly.

I ignored it.

I paced my room. All I wanted was for my offspring to eat the gruel. That was it. I wanted it to be well, I wanted it to heal. I could not live with the loss of another offspring. The first one I had barely known and even its death had hit me hard. This one was mine. I knew it, I loved it, I could not lose it. I reconsidered Marcinus’ offer. Then I shrugged it off. An addict would say anything for its high. Polluted lust. I wanted to wipe the entire existence free of that plague.

I marched into my office and stopped short when I saw Cantonia sprawled indolently on one of the few lounging beds in it. This was where the uspec had stormed off to? Instead of going to better its skill it had come to lie about in my office?

“I have a grievance to bring to your attention, sirga,” the uspec said, as soon as it saw me.

My patience for Cantonia right now was at about the same level as my patience for Marcinus. Marcinus at least I felt guilty for. Cantonia I would happily kill without losing a night’s sleep over it.

“Get out of my office.” I snapped.

The uspec rose from the bed. Its eyes narrowed at me. “You should not make me the butt of your jokes. I understand that you spent the majority of your life in a Hakute slum, and so I can forgive your lack of decorum, but only up to a point. You are not the recognized imperial of Lahooni yet, and if you are not careful, you may never be.”

I stared stupefied at the uspec. Surely it could not be so foolish as to threaten me. I took a step towards it.

“I’m sure you spoke in haste, noble Cantonia, won’t you like to apologize to the imperial?” Juke’s voice rung through the room.

I took another step towards Cantonia. My offspring was dying, and it chose this moment to antagonize me? I would kill it. I’d had enough of Cantonia. Enough!

“Sword skill is not the only skill that exists, Nebud. You should not be so quick to insult those that do not share your gift. I may not be talented in fighting, but I am quite skilled in a very large number of things that could cause you a great many complications.”

That was it. I pulled my dagger out of my belt and threw it at the hand the uspec waved as it spoke. The dagger pierced through Cantonia’s hand, and forced the hand backwards, pinning it to the wall behind it.

“My hand!” It shrieked, its wide-eyed stare looking in horror at the blood gushing out of its hand.

As soon as I reached it, I wrapped my hands around the uspec’s neck and squeezed. I squeezed till its green face bloated, till it could no longer breathe. Its tongue hung out of its mouth uselessly.

Small green hands grabbed onto mine and tried to break my hold. Juke’s efforts were useless. I felt the stilling of Cantonia’s pulse beneath my hands. A few more seconds and it would be dead.

Sharp teeth bit deep into my arm. I instinctively released my hold on Cantonia’s neck and struck Juke so hard across its face that it was lifted off the ground.

Cantonia was drawing in air like it was actually going to live. I reached for its neck again.

“If you kill a Lahooni noble without just cause, the other nobles in your honoraria will leave you. The Lahooni nobles will never allow you to become Kaiser. Please reconsider sirga, when you are Kaiser, you can do whatever you want, but till then, you must be careful.” Juke spoke in a rush.

I was a breath away from Cantonia’s neck. Just a breath, but it was enough time to consider Juke’s words. How much did I want Cantonia dead? Not enough to lose Lahooni over its corpse. I wasn’t thinking clearly. My offspring was in the next room barely alive and this was the time Cantonia chose to annoy me? I pulled the dagger out of its hand, enjoying the sound of its cries of pain as the blade moved.

Once it was free, the uspec darted away. It ran to the curtained entrance. “You make enemies where you should be making friends.” It said. I threw my dagger at it. This time I planned to miss. The dagger clanged uselessly against the wall by the curtain, but Cantonia did not hang around long enough to see the dagger fail.

I walked to the curtain and picked up my discarded dagger. Then I turned my gaze on Juke. It was kneeling on the ground with its hand over the side of its face. I sighed. “Come here.”

Juke rose. It approached me warily.

I took a hold of its arm and pulled it down. Then I pressed a finger against the cheek I’d struck and the uspec yelped. There was blood on its lip. “Apologies, young majestic, I should not have struck you.”

It nodded regally at me. “Apologies, imperial one, I should not have bit you.”

I’d forgotten about that. I looked at my arm and saw blood and teeth indentations. The little demon had actually drawn blood. “What a fine pair we make,” I teased.

“Perhaps next time we can settle our dispute the honorable way, with swords.”

I laughed. It was the first time that I’d laughed since the night of the wrath’s attack. “You’ll have to learn how to use a sword first, won’t you?”

“Then you’ll have to teach me.” It replied, unfazed.

In ten years, I could see my offspring like this. Brave, standing up to me, undaunted. With spasms. If it even lived that long. I would take the spasms, as long as it was alive. I needed it to live.

I patted Juke’s shoulder. “I will,” I promised.

Its smile was so bright you’d think I’d promised to make it a duke. “Gratitude sirga,” it bowed. “I won’t let you down. I’ll be the best fighter in the entire honoraria. I swear it!”

“I don’t doubt it.” I squeezed its shoulder and turned to go back into my offspring’s room.

“Shall I bring you something to eat now sirga?” Juke asked. “You haven’t eaten in days.”

I shook my head.

Nebula looked so tiny in its bed. It lay without motion. Before, I’d been able to tell by the regularity of its breathing if it was awake or asleep, even when it had no motion. Now it all appeared the same. I sat on the bed beside it and just continued to watch it.

Hours passed and I couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than sit there and watch. I was terrified that if I looked away, even for a second, it would not be breathing when I looked back.

“The young majestic says that you refuse to eat.”

My head snapped up at the sound of Arexon’s voice. Musa walked in with it and I saw Juke’s head poke out from behind it. I scoffed at that. “Juke is reporting me to you now.”

Arexon pulled out a chair and sat on the side of the bed beside me. Musa went to sit on the bed on Nebula’s other side.

“The young majestic clearly believes that I am wise and worthy of being paid heed to.” It stated dryly.

This was the first time that we’d spoken since the debacle with Marcinus. The words that I had spoken to Arexon that day…I regretted them. “Forgive me sirga, I did not mean the words I said,” I broke off and looked away. My voice sounded small.

“It is nothing Nebud, already forgotten,” Arexon swore, “but this matter about your eating…”

“I cannot eat when my offspring is dying.”

“Do you know that Juke hasn’t eaten since you stopped? It didn’t tell me that, it was other nobles in your honoraria who told me. Juke only told me that you weren’t eating because I questioned it about its fast.”

I shook my head. “I did not know.” If I had known I would have ordered it to eat. Of course.

“This is what it means to be a leader Nebud. Your people look up to you, they take their lead from you in ways that you may not fully know or realize.”

I nodded. “It will eat.” I would force the food down Juke’s throat if I had to.

@ayshow6102 doh, I'm sorry, maybe this one will make you smile in ekun egbere

@eROCK247 I agree ohh, the way everything has unfolded...it's very very painful oh. CHai!

@Skywalker909 Well, I don't know if Nebula is meant to be a trophy, but Nebud said I should tell you that Nebula is not a burden Anyway, I'm with you hoping for a miracle soon

@Smooth278 I agree

I got up and stretched. Then I walked over to the tray. There was a cup filled with a cyan liquid I immediately recognized as nama milk. It was supposedly good for infants, I could not stand the stuff, but my offspring liked it. My eyes darted to a platter filled with sweet buns and dried jejas. The buns I approved of, the jejas, I did not. The last thing on the tray was a bowl of some horrid looking grey gruel. I picked that bowl up and sniffed at it. I was immediately repulsed by the smell. It wasn’t exactly foul, but it was certainly not aromatically pleasing.

“What is this?” I asked.

The healer responded before Musa could. “Brain food sirga. Herbs mixed with grains and tiho. Your offspring must eat it to heal.”

Tiho was one of the few types of meat that I had never tried and was not particularly keen on trying. It was a strange shell-creature that lived in quicksand. Tiho was cooked in the shell. I’d watched Arexon sucking the meat out of the shell once, and had gracefully rejected its offer to try some. This was what my offspring was to eat? I picked up a small spoon from the tray and scooped some of the grey gruel. Then I put it into my mouth and barely resisted the urge to spit it back out.

“It will never eat this.” I stated.

“It must.” The healer stated emphatically.

“That is why the sweet buns and the milk are here too. It can eat them all together.” Musa’s assurance was oddly comforting. I nodded in thanks.

When I turned around, Nebula’s eye was open. It was staring at me. I walked back to the bed and sat beside it.

“Salutations my precious Nebula.” I greeted it. This was how I greeted it when I saw it in the morning. It was a greeting I had borrowed from the sibling’s Binna and Fabiana.

Nebula smiled at me. It made to rise, but the healer appeared, and stopped its motion with a hand on its chest. “We should not excite it sirga, it is still prone to convulsions until it is fully healed from its injuries.”

I nodded.

Musa placed the tray on a stool beside Nebula’s bed. “Breakfast young master.” It gave it the cup of milk first.

“Only a little, mind you, don’t let it drink it all. The gruel is the most important.” The healer was quick to point out.

“Yes domina.” Musa lifted the cup to my offspring’s lips. I moved around it so that I could support it. I didn’t want it to choke on the cyan liquid, so I propped it up, and made it lean against my chest.

I watched as Nebula swallowed the liquid. Musa pulled the cup back, then made a small sandwich of dried jeja and sweet buns. Nebula ate that to. The gruel came next. Musa sat in front of it and scooped up a small spoonful of the grey gruel. It spoon-fed my offspring. Nebula took the contents of the spoon, and then it spat it out. It spat the grey gruel on Musa’s shirt.

Nebula let out a gurgle of sound and then it began to spasm. Its entire body jerked. I tried to restrain it, but that did not stop the jerking, I was only able to keep it from hurting itself. The back of its head slammed against my chin.

The little food it had managed to eat came out. It threw the cyan milk up with the creamy bun and the yellow jejas. A good deal of the thrown-up food landed on my thighs. I still kept my arms around it, but it continued to convulse. It frothed at the mouth. Blood mixed with white foam streamed out from its lips.

“Should you take away its motion?” I asked, worried that it would reopen its wounds.

The healer shook its head. “The convulsion will pass. It must eat the gruel, if not the convulsions will only continue, and its injuries will not heal.”

We waited for the convulsion to pass and then we tried feeding it again. Each time it took the food it liked but as soon as we put the gruel in its mouth, it spat it out and began to convulse. We tried buttering the bun with the gruel to lessen the bitter taste, but that didn’t work. We tried diluting the gruel with nama milk, but even that didn’t work. Nothing we tried worked. The more it convulsed the worse the convulsions became until the last one lasted for such a long time that the healer decided it was safest to remove Nebula’s motion.

“What about putting thoughts of wanting the gruel into its head?” I asked when I’d become desperate.

“No foreign lifeforces should enter the infant. Pansophy is not meant for one this young, especially not for one suffering the effects of polluted lust.” The healer reminded me of its earlier words. I thought of the motion, then I remembered that it was my own offspring’s motion that was removed and returned, never anyone else’s.

“We will try again later. It must eat the gruel sirga.”

I nodded in affirmation that I had heard the healer’s words. For a long time, I just sat there, holding my offspring in my arms. The healer had made it clear, before leaving, that if Nebula didn’t eat the gruel it would die. I did not know what to do. I was trained to fight. Show me my enemy and I would kill it, or I would die trying. I could fight with sword and cutlass, even with the hoe-spears that I’d been trained to use as a serf soldier in Chiboga. Fighting was what I knew. Killing was what I knew. I knew nothing of sick children.

We tried several more times that day, all with the same abysmal results. Nebula would not eat the foul-tasting gruel, and each time it spat it out, it convulsed. I begged in ways that I had never begged before. It could understand me, that much I knew. Nebula had no trouble understanding instructions. I begged it to eat, I promised anything and everything that I could think of. I threatened, I cajoled, nothing I could do or say was enough to keep Nebula from spitting out the gruel and convulsing. A whole day passed in which I held it in my arms and begged it to eat. I even prayed to Chuspecip. I, more than anyone else, knew how weak it was. Yet I prayed to it, I reached for its voice within me, it just wasn’t strong enough to reach back.

I didn’t clean the vomit off my body until Nebula went to sleep that night. At that point it was already caked up and dried. Once I was clean, I went back to its bed. I did not sleep that night either.

The next day was more of the same.

“You should eat, sirga,” Juke brought a platter of my favorite meals to me. I threw the platter against the wall and terrified the young uspec, but it did not run away. It just went about cleaning up the mess I’d made.

When the second day passed and my offspring still refused the gruel, I was beyond desolate.

That was when Marcinus came.

It appeared standing by the door to my offspring’s room. There was an escort of Arexon’s soldiers with it.

I do not know how I stayed on the bed instead of flying towards it and wrapping my hands around its throat. Perhaps the pieces of Chuspecip in me were stronger than I’d thought, strong enough to keep me from killing Marcinus.

It did not even look like itself. Its eyes were red and appeared swollen. As soon as it saw me, sitting helplessly by my offspring’s side, it laughed. I clenched my jaw. Its laugh was like my offspring’s spasm. It laughed, but there was no mirth in its gaze. Then it heaved after laughing, licked its lips and looked around the room, its pupils shifting rapidly. My offspring could not stop its spasms, but Marcinus could. All it had to do was stay away from the lust for a few more days. A few more days and the longing would be sufficiently reduced.

I looked away from the uspec, disgusted.

“I know how to make the child eat the gruel,” it stated without preamble, “but it will cost you.”

It was my turn to laugh without mirth. My gaze turned to Marcinus. I rose an eyebrow and waited for it to speak.

It jerked its head back and laughed without smiling. “I need lust.”

My dagger was on my belt, so close that I could just pull it out and throw it at Marcinus’ neck. What stopped me? “You need the emetic,” I spat out, “it will remove the longing, for a while at least. We have enough emetic to get you through till the longing drops.”

Marcinus’ tongue darted out of its mouth. It licked its lips and laughed. “No, no emetic, I want lust, I need lust.”

“Look at yourself!” I snapped. “Aren’t you disgusted?”

It stopped laughing and picked at its face. Its eyes flicked wildly, as if they were following a ball bouncing off the walls. “What is disgust, my friend? Aren’t you disgusted, my friend? Friends.” It laughed. “Do you want to save your offspring or are you content to watch it die? What is it to you if I take lust? What is it to you?!” It screamed the last question out so loudly I feared my offspring would wake. “What is it to you? Your offspring brings you joy, lust brings me joy. You want your joy and I want mine. What is it to you?”

I shook my head. “As if you know anything that could help,” I growled.

“Maricus.” Its eyes glazed over. “I know.”

Maricus? Who was that? “Take it back to its suite.” I ordered the soldiers. They forced it away and it squealed and scraped and fought every step of the way. Polluted lust had turned Marcinus into that. I looked at my offspring, and Marcinus’ question came back to me. Aren’t you disgusted, my friend? Marcinus said ‘my friend’ like an accusation. It was right. Maybe that was why I couldn’t kill it; it was my fault. It was all my fault.

Part 4
---------

I watched helplessly as Arexon’s healer placed a metal probe through my offspring’s wound. That probe was made of pansophic metal which mapped information from the brain and conducted it through the metal to the receiver on the other end. The healer was bent over Nebula, who lay with its stomach pressed against the bed. They’d had to use pansophy to remove its motions, that was the only way they could get its convulsions to stop.

The healer grunted, then it took the probe out and stood to its full height. Its silver earrings shook as it reached for its bag. One if its green hands disappeared into that bag and came out a few moments later, with a white gauze and a brown jar.

“What is that for?” I asked, when the healer removed the lid from the jar, scooped out a silverish glob and applied it to my offspring’s scalp.

“A coagulant, sirga, to stop the bleeding.” The healer replied without taking its gaze off the back of my offspring’s head.

I frowned. “Would it not be faster to use pansophy?”

The healer shook its head. “An infant’s lifeforces should not be polluted with foreign ones. When there are other forms of healing, those are preferred.”

I remained silent then, watching as the healer finished applying the ointment. When it was done, it wrapped the white gauze around my offspring’s head. I waited till the healer was done with its ministrations before I reached for my offspring and turned it back around.

Its eye was closed. It had not been left with enough motion to even move that. Any motion in it would have contributed to its spasms. I knew this, still it felt very strange to see my offspring this unwell. The breaths coming out of its nose were dawn out and its chest moved in palpitations.

“It will sleep soon.” The healer said.

I moved away from my offspring and turned to face the uspec. “When will you return its motion?”

“When it wakes sirga. It must eat…” the uspec broke off, “may we speak sirga?”

I nodded.

Juke was standing by the door. It was one of the few uspecs who’d been in the entertaining room during the attack, and hadn’t been injured. Thankfully we hadn’t lost anyone. Amongst my honoraria, Binna’s injury was the most severe. The dagger that had pierced it hadn’t passed through any organs so with a little growth, it would be back to fighting form in hours. My gaze flickered over to Nebula. I shook my head. It had protected me. It was my job to protect it, but it had protected me, and now it was lying motionless on its bed, with a gauze around its head. It was only a month old, much too young to suffer through all that it had.

I led the healer through my suite, to my office, then I offered it a seat. The healer remained standing, it stood at attention. A pious healer, but also a soldier. I had cause to be grateful to Arexon for having one such as this in its army. I shivered at the thought of the risk we would have had to take to find a healer if we didn’t have one that we trusted.

“Gratitude, captain.” I said to the healer, suddenly painfully aware of the fact that I did not know its name. It had come to my offspring’s aid, and I did not know its name.

“I only did my job sirga,” it said, still standing at attention.

“Be at ease,” I commanded.

It relaxed slightly, but I doubted that this soldier knew what it meant to be at ease.

“Your offspring’s brain is malformed, sirga, that is what I saw through the probe.”

“From this injury?” I asked. Was an infant’s brain so fragile? I did not know nearly enough about brains of ones so young, or really brains in general.

“Primarily from polluted lust. The injury only served to exacerbate the symptoms.”

I moved towards the first chair I could find and collapsed into it. I’d gone searching through tomes and never even thought to consult a healer. I did not think of healers until an ailment was life-threatening. I was a terrible progenitor. First, I’d let my offspring go on trips with Marcinus. Granted, I hadn’t known it was happening, but I was progenitor, it was my job to know. How much more would my offspring suffer because I did not know enough? How much would it suffer from the company that I kept? Once, I’d trusted Marcinus with my life, now I could not even trust it with its own safety. Was this the fate of all who I associated with?

I forced my mind from those thoughts. “What is the treatment?”

“There is no treatment, sirga, only management. Infants are young and malleable. The exposure to lust tricked your offspring’s brain into attempting to create the lifeforce itself in order to prolong the pleasure associated with it. This triggered the development of the abnormalities that have now malformed its brain.”

I did not understand. Why couldn’t healers speak plain? “So, it will always crave lust?”

“No sirga,” the healer shook its head, “that is an adult’s conundrum. It will not crave it because its brain believes that it is creating it. It is basically making its own lust, but uspecs cannot make lust and so what its brain interprets as lust is actually just the firing of atypical neurons.”

“What does that mean? Will it never speak? Will the spasms continue? Is there no way to remove the abnormalities?”

“No, sirga, there is no way to remove the abnormalities without removing necessary parts of the brain. Rather, there is no way I know of. There are healers who specialize in surgeries like this, but none have successfully performed the operation without leaving lasting impairments.”

I groaned. It all came full circle. I had taken Marcinus’ center eye and thought that the worst consequence to myself would be the loss of a valued friend. If only I had known that this would be the consequence, my offspring impaired for the rest of its life. If only I had known.

“Do not be disheartened sirga. You stopped its ingestion of polluted lust early enough that it will not be insane. It still has enough healthy brain matter to form speech and perform basic functions.”

“Basic functions.” I spat the words out like the curse they were. “Will it fight? Will it wield a sword? How will it rule Lahooni when its time comes?” I demanded. I placed my head in my hands and stared down at the brown floor. “Tell me that the spasms will stop. Tell me that at least.”

There was a long silence before the healer finally said, “I am sorry sirga, the spasms will not stop. It will have a hard life sirga, but it will still be able to function.”

Still be able to function. I closed my eyes. I was too hurt to feel the anger I should have at Marcinus. It was my fault in the end. Marcinus had only descended to lust because I had taken its center eye. If I had not done that, Marcinus would not now be what it had become. And my offspring? I grieved for it.

“I will be back tomorrow to return its motion. Once it starts eating, the healing will begin. Soon the bleeding and convulsing will stop, and it will be better.”

I barely heard the healer’s retreating footsteps as it left. I stood up from my seat and walked back to Nebula’s room. When I got there, I dismissed Juke. The uspec wanted to stay, but I could not bear it. I needed to be alone with my offspring. I thought I would weep. Juke left, but the tears never came.

I stared at my offspring. It was asleep. I watched it sleep. I sat beside it on its bed, determined to keep all dangers from it. But the dangers were already there. Who could I blame? Marcinus for its addiction to lust. Why had my offspring followed Marcinus in the first place? How hadn’t I known that it had gone? Whenever I was around it never left with Marcinus, I knew that, so it must have gone when I was not around. But why? What would drive Nebula to go with Marcinus? Unless Marcinus had lured it. Had Marcinus orchestrated this whole thing knowing the damage that it would do and the pain it would cause me? I smiled sadly, what a beautiful revenge. It was much better than killing me. Death was easy, living with the guilt of my offspring’s impairment was not.

My mind filled with images of its throwing arm. The way that it had thrown my dagger at the imp who sought to attack me. Skill like that could not be taught. It was engrained. It would have been a great warrior. It would have surpassed me.

I looked down at the sleeping form, at the smooth green face, with only the single eye in its center. At the little nose, at the lips underneath it. My gaze went down to its neck, bare, and featureless. I remembered then that it was irirakun of five, as Checha had been. Its bare scalp would grow horns, its neck would fill with scales, its chest would be covered with spikes, tentacles would sprout from its waist and it would have a kute tail. A kun of five with an arm like nothing I had ever seen before. The aim. The spasms. It would never fight. How could one with spasms wield a sword during battle? How would it command the respect of the port it would one day own?

It would. Somehow, I swore it to myself. Uspecs would respect it or they would die. They would bow to it or they would die. Nebula lived. That was all that mattered, it lived, and it would continue to live. If its life was destined to be hard, then it was my job to ease the burden. At least it lived. Everything else was surmountable.

I sat there all through the night and just watched it sleep. I memorized every feature on its face and took note of the bends in its ailerons. I learnt every aspect of its body. When the healer returned, I was still thirsty to know more of it.

“Salutations sirga,” the healer greeted. “You do not look like you got any sleep.”

I glanced up at the uspec, watching as it walked in. My offspring’s room was away from the boundaries of the dwelling. There were no windows here for natural lighting. I hadn’t thought of that before.

Musa walked in behind the healer, bearing a wooden tray. The sight of the imp reminded me that I had to talk to it. There was much to discuss after the attack. I had to know what had been said in that harsh umani tongue and understand why it had chosen to stay with me instead of healing its people. But now was not the time. My offspring’s health was foremost in my mind, everything else came second to that.

“Good morning master,” Musa greeted. It placed the tray down on a table.

@cassbeat I didn't do anything oh, it's other people, not me

@eROCK247 I agree oh, it's not easy being Nebud either oh. As to whether Chuspecip will survive...

My offspring, now the center of attention, let out a few more high-pitched sounds. Then it ran over to me and climbed onto my lounging bed. It fell flat against me, ribbing my chest with its chin. I watched as it crawled on my body to retrieve the wooden figurine it had thrown. Darlin was right, my offspring had a bright future. If it ever spoke. If its spasms stopped. If it was able to recover from the afflictions of the polluted lust. Afflictions I was still yet to identify.

Before my mind could go on another jaunt of worrying about my offspring’s prolonged exposure to polluted lust, a howl of pain filled the room.

My head snapped to the right. It was Binna. Its hand came off its side, stained with blood. Someone had stabbed it. But who and how and why? I heard another howl and the answer came instantly.

“Pansophy!” I screamed.

I jumped to my feet and pulled my cutlass out of my sheath. We were being attacked by people without appearance. Pious ones, most likely sent by the plenum. When had we gotten sloppy? Perhaps I’d been recognized when I went to the lust den. But the uspecs in the den had been so out of their mind there was no way any of them would remember seeing me. Perhaps onlookers outside. It had taken a great deal of time for us to subdue Marcinus, and an uspec had been killed in the process, that kind of thing tended to draw notice.

I swung my cutlass uselessly in the air, swiveling and keeping my offspring behind me at all times.

Many more cries of pain filled the air. I heard the sound of swords clashing and felt resistance against my own sword. We were fighting something we could not see, and we were losing. Several of my noble honoraria fell.

“Sound the alarm Juke!” I yelled as I continued to swing my cutlass into the air. My cutlass caught on something. I pushed harder and realized that it was bone my cutlass was stuck on. It took me a second to pull the cutlass back, but it was a second I did not have. The time I’d spent in predictable motion gave our attackers enough time to touch me.

I felt the brush of skin against mine and was instantly frozen to the spot. I heard the alarm, but it was already too late. They’d taken my motion. Death was soon to follow. I could not even protect my offspring. Something made contact with the backs of my feet and I fell. I landed on hard sludge ground. My eyes were frozen open, I did not have the motion to move my eyelids.

I could see the terrified look on my offspring’s face, and I felt powerless in a way that I never had before. This was worst than just standing the risk of losing my life, it was my offspring’s life in danger. I was its mater, it was my job to protect it. I would die without even hearing my offspring speak.

The plenum had finally caught up with me. I would not die alone. Chuspecip, still soundless in my head, would die with me. I was the only chance it had at returning to this existence.

“Flare the appearance identifiers!” The order came from a voice I could not recognize, but as soon as the order was given, pink droplets populated the room, like precipitation in a humid soaru port. In the blink of an eye, shapes became visible, pink shapes. It was as if the aerosols clung to those shapes. There were three bent over me. I saw a dagger in one’s hand.

Several things happened at the same time.

I heard Arexon yell, “release the samus.”

At the same time that a foreign voice said, in the one umani tongue I understood, “cease drogher by mother’s wishes!”

Drogher? Why did that word sound so familiar? Mother’s wishes? Samu? I could see with my open eyes that the form of the pink aerosols revealed an uspec and two imps. Uspecs and imps? Not the plenum.

“Samu!” I heard a voice hiss in the umani tongue.

The forms around me moved closer. I was still immobilized, unable to do anything but watch as the pink dagger came closer to my neck. Then Musa was standing beside me. It wielded a sword and knocked the dagger out of my would-be attacker’s hands.

There was a gasp.

“But, firstborn,” an imp said in the umani tongue, “mother…”

That was as far as the imp got before Musa cut it off. Musa spoke in a harsh umani tongue that I could not understand. Its head and eyelid movements showed that it had looked at me for a brief moment. I didn’t want to believe it, but I had a very strong suspicion that Musa had changed tongues to keep me from understanding what it said.

At this point, I had heard and seen enough to know that I was being attacked by the Wrath of Sada. They were the only ones who would call my imp ‘firstborn’, and they were the only ones who spoke of ‘mother.’ The wrath! Not the plenum, but the wrath. How dare they? Rage boiled in me.

I heard the pink uspec snap at the imps.

Appearance identifiers. That’s what the soldier had called the pink droplets. It was what clung to the forms of the ones who’d had their appearances removed with pansophy. And so this pink uspec was one of the uspecs who betrayed its own kind to serve the wrath, one of their servants. Though, there was something about the way it spoke to them.

Then the uspec’s pink hand struck my imp across the face.

Several screeching and affronted voices filled the room. They must have seen it as a great insult for an uspec, even one who was with them, to strike their firstborn. I heard calls of ‘drogher’ several times. That was the only familiar sound I could pick out in the harsh tongue. But where had I heard that drogher before? It sounded so familiar. Musa’s brown hand struck out and fixed on the uspec who’d struck it. Moment later the uspec condensed to pink goo on the ground. Musa had taken its form.

More screeching and arguments in the harsh umani tongue. I could do nothing but watch. After a great deal of time had passed, the pink, droplet-covered, forms began to retreat.

“But we are afflicted firstborn,” I heard a voice reverting from the harsh umani tongue to the one I was familiar with. “The samu bite. If you do not come with us most of us will die before we reach Permafrost.”

Musa continued to speak in the harsh umani tongue, which I could not understand, and I hated it for doing so. It was deliberate of course. It knew that I would not understand its words, which meant that it was saying something it did not want me to hear. If it was being completely honorable, then why would it hide its words from me? It had prompted them to change to the harsh tongue. Why if not to cover more treachery?

“But you must firstborn, you are our only hope, the only cure! Return with us, we need your help. We will die if you do not come with us.” This voice was also in the umani tongue I understood.

Musa spoke in the harsh tongue. It shook its head.

“We will retreat, you order us to leave and so we go. The last brio will live. We cannot say the same for those of us that were bitten. They will be reduced to their last bit before we reach Permafrost. We only ask you to come with us far enough to heal them. Then you may return if you please.” This was also said in the umani tongue I could hear.

Musa replied in the harsh tongue.

“You choose one of their kind over your own people?”

Musa was silent.

“Then I spit on you and I renounce you. The elders will hear of your decision. All of Permafrost will hear of your disloyalty.”

“I spit on you and I renounce you.” One after the other I heard the voices saying the same thing in the umani tongue Musa had taught me. “I spit on you and I renounce you.” Musa did not move. Its head was turned to a spot I could not see, no doubt staring at the retreating forms of our attackers.

“Sirga.” I saw Juke’s head above me.

Musa appeared by my side. Its empty eye sockets did not meet my eyes. It placed its hands on me and moments later I leapt to my feet, my motion returned.

I could not help but stare at Musa. Its head was bent, its gaze averted from mine. I was one of two uspecs in the room who understood the umani tongue. Arexon was the only other one who could have heard what the voices said. Musa had refused to go with its own people to remain with me.

“You took the firstborn’s loyalty!” It all happened so quickly. One moment I was staring at Musa, with my back turned to the assailant, the next my offspring was laughing hysterically.

It took my brain a while to piece it all together.

I remembered seeing my offspring’s hand rise, out of the corner of my eye. It was after I heard the cry. It turned out that the cry had come from an imp, rushing towards me with a sword in its hand. It had appeared poised to run me through, before my offspring threw a dagger at the imp’s neck.

It was my dagger.

When had Nebula taken it?

It didn’t matter, because Nebula was having a fit. It laughed hysterically while tears streamed from its center eye. Its entire body jerked, and its tongue came darting out of its mouth just as it had when it was under the influence of lust. I reached for it, but before I could get a hold of it, Nebula tripped and fell back against the bed behind it. The back of its skull slammed against a sharp edge of the bed, and it slumped to the ground, still having spasms.

Blood seeped from the back of its head, and white froth pooled in its mouth. It was convulsing. Its spasming body jerked uncontrollably.

Part 3
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“We should have more slaves sirga.”

Cantonia was one of those nobles who thought it was a cruel and unusual punishment to have to fend for themselves. I’d made it clear from the start that I did not plan to buy or hire helpers for our little escapade. My identity was such a precious secret that I could only allow the most trustworthy people to be around me. Musa was the only imp I fully trusted…well, at least the only one I fully trusted with the secret of my identity. Uspecs like Cantonia, who hated to tend to themselves, had wisely elected to remain in Lahooni with their wealth and their slaves. It baffled me that the spoilt two-band noble had insisted on coming along. According to Fabiana, I owed the pleasure of its company to its ambitions. Cantonia was a wellborn noble, vaguely tied to the line of the sovereigns of a poor burg. If Fabiana was right, then Cantonia intended to make itself invaluable to me. It had done a rather uninspiring job of it so far.

“I’m bored. If we had more slaves, they could entertain us.” The uspec was one of many nobles sprawled out on a lounging bed in the large entertaining room in our dwelling.

I, unfortunately, lay on a lounging bed only two beds away from the uspec. I tried to keep my focus on the tome I flipped through. With any luck I would find more information of the ties between an infant’s brain and polluted lust. Five days had passed since I’d found my offspring in a lust den, and in those five days, it had continued to spasm. The spasms came at intervals, in jerking heads, or flapping limbs, and only lasted for a few minutes, but it was worrisome. I did not like it one bit.

“Ah, Musa! Come here imp!”

I lifted my gaze from my tome, turning it first to Cantonia who was sprawled out leisurely, its arms and legs hanging off the sides of its bed, to Musa who appeared to be rushing through the entertaining room with large tomes in its hands. It was no doubt on its way to Arexon.

“Leave it be,” I ordered.

Cantonia turned to stare at me, its lazy mouth flapping open like a jeja. “Of course, sirga, apologies.”

I turned my gaze back to the tome. It did not say anything about polluted lust! Why was it that tomes that spoke on infant brain ailments said nothing of lust and those on lust said nothing on infant brains? I sighed. The two were not supposed to be mixed. If not for Marcinus, I would not have had to learn how dreadfully they go together. I felt a sudden urge to have Marcinus’ head underneath my feet. I would stomp on it till its brain came leaking out of its nostrils.

“Sirga,” Binna called out. It lay on a bed beside mine. As soon as it called my name, I gave it my full attention. “Do you subscribe to the annihilates or the adjudicates theory of sparring?”

My gaze flickered to the large tome that it flipped through. My lips tipped upwards. This was another strange thing about my nobles. They read to learn about fighting. Reading could teach a lot, but I was not convinced that it could make a warrior out of an uspec. When it came to swordfight, I believed fully in learning by doing. Which was why we sparred three times a day, every day. Luckily, not all of my nobles were soft like Cantonia. There were at least sixty of them that were quite good, good enough to go up against Arexon’s soldiers. About thirty-five of them were average, like Binna. And the last five were soft ones like Cantonia, and young ones like Juke. Juke, at least, had found purpose. Cantonia did nothing more than whine. The foolish uspec had Fabiana and Binna’s lessons in politics to thank for the fact that it was not already dead. According to them, Cantonia was well liked amongst the higher echelons of Lahooni nobles and murdering the uspec could hinder my efforts to take back control of my port. I groaned. I already despised politics. When I was back at the helm of Lahooni, foolish uspecs like Cantonia would lose their tongues if they wagged it close enough for me to hear.

“Sirga?” Binna’s prompting pulled my attention back to it.

“What is the difference?”

Juke sat on the ground a few paces in front of me. It was playing with wooden figurines with my offspring. At least Nebula was calm now, it had been hours since its last spasm. As soon as Juke heard my question its head snapped up.

“Annihilates believe in fighting to kill while adjudicates believe in fighting to win.” Juke provided the answer. The young uspec had kept its oath and had remained by my offspring’s side since I returned it from the lust den. It only lefts its side when Nebula was asleep.

I smiled at the young one. “Which theory do you think is superior?”

Juke became pensive. It was always jarring how quickly it went from joviality to severity.

“Surely, it must be the adjudicates.” Cantonia cut in unsought. “One must always fight to win, but not necessarily fight to die.”

“I disagree.” The voice that broke into our little discourse was weathered. This was one of the oldest and most respected nobles in my honoraria. Darlin, it was a dignified one, the second offspring of an old sovereign. It bowed to me and I nodded back at it. Darlin was easily the best fighter in my honoraria. It was the one I sparred most with. Its bulk was large enough to rival mine, and we were of a height. The uspec picked up a blue fruit from a bowl and filled a cup with green wine.

“Only a fool fights to win,” Darlin said, “I fight to kill. Give me the annihilates way and I’ll beat you with it any day, any time.”

“You could hop on one foot and you would still beat Cantonia any day, any time,” Binna teased.

I roared with laughter.

“You jest, majestic, I am not quite that deplorable. Shall I prove it to you?” Cantonia had a smile on its face as it spoke, but there was something sly about the uspec. It reminded me of Manus, and any uspec who reminded me of Manus was one I instantly distrusted.

I could not let them spar. Cantonia had pansophy, perhaps that was one of the reasons why I disliked it. Its blade was made of the same metal as most of the blades of the uspecs in my honoraria. It was pansophy conduit, metal that allowed lifeforces to be transferred though it. Losing Cantonia would be no great loss, but I could not countenance losing Binna. It was Fabiana’s sibling. I would have to kill Cantonia if it caused Binna pain.

“I say we should all subscribe to the Fabricates theory!” Juke spoke up before either Cantonia or Binna could dwell on the challenge issued. “Let us fight as if in creation of an epic. Fight like legends I say!”

The uspecs laughed, diffusing whatever tension had been created when Cantonia challenged Binna.

Darlin had made its way to the inner hub of the arrangement of our lounging beds. “You would say that, wouldn’t you, young majestic,” it teased, patting Juke on the head before it collapsed onto an empty bed.

“Do you have dreams of being the subject of epic tales, young majestic?” Cantonia’s sweet voice was prickly, slightly mocking. I glared at it.

“I will take whatever glory I can find,” Juke stated, sharply.

I relaxed into my bed and rolled my eyes. Ranks and ranks and ranks. The hierarchy of my nobility was confusing. As the last offspring of a duke with several older offspring, Juke was most likely to remain a majestic for the rest of its life, never to inherit from its progenitor. Darlin, on the other hand, was the second offspring of a sovereign and so it was more likely to inherit. If it did inherit, it would become a sovereign, and sovereigns outranked majestics. But Cantonia was the offspring of a noble without lands, it would never be more than a two-band noble, which meant that Juke would always outrank it. I wished that ruling did not require me to know so much about each noble line, inheritance status of the offspring, and the politics in each line. I was still learning, still reading tomes to familiarize myself with the large port I was determined to claim.

“As you must. As we all must. And seeing as we have the honor of forming the imperial Nebud’s honoraria, I say there is much glory in store for us all.” Darlin ended its little speech by lifting its wooden cup in the air. The nobles cheered and silence returned to the room.

I turned my focus back to the tome I read and did my best to ignore Cantonia’s mutterings about boredom. Of course, it was too much to hope that Cantonia would stay quiet for long.

“Moat!” It called out. “Come, join us Moat, and entertain us with your epics. Perhaps our young majestic Juke could learn a thing or two to aid in its desire for glory. Come! Commoners normally make such tedious company, but you are always a valued exception.”

I had to resist the urge to hurl my dagger at Cantonia’s throat.

“Sirga?” Moat saluted and then requested permission to join.

I nodded at it, giving it the required permission. I found my gaze turning to my offspring. It sat on the ground in front of Juke, playing with a wooden carving of a bear. I thought the bear bore an uncanny resemblance to Marc. It held the wooden carving of a snow jackal in its other hand and then clashed the bear against the jackal. The bear won and the jackal was sent back to the ground.

I smiled.

My offspring’s gaze rose to meet mine. As soon as it saw my eyes locked on it, its single eye widened, and it squealed with joy. It let out an unintelligible string of words. Nebula still could not talk, but it no longer looked on me with fear. Its fear of me had only lasted that single afternoon, yet I was still wary every time our eyes met. Nebula sprang to its feet and hurled the wooden bear in the air.

At first, I thought it was having another attack of spasms, then I saw that its hand dropped as soon as it was done throwing the artifact.

To my utter astonishment, the wooden bear landed in my open palm, without me making any moves to catch it. I stared with wide eyes at my offspring.

“The mighty Nebula!” Darlin cheered. “Barely a month old and already throwing truer than Cantonia.”

Everyone laughed.