Elthem: A Short Story

When a door opened nearly an hour later, the paneled door curved inward to allow in a clergyman. The shuffling clergyman, who looked closer to his last breath than his first, wore the red and white liturgical vestments of the Emperor's Church. A sun symbol dangling from a rosary around his neck swayed as his voice rasped, "The emperor sent me here to extend a welcome."

A series of faint popping noises emitted from the man's joints each time he moved and his fingers were broken many times over. Shiny, mangled scars disfigured his face and bald head, an evidence of excruciating and extended torture. Once the man stopped in front of Ramses, one side of his lips quirked up and he said, "It's said that my nephew saw you once and became tempted beyond sense."
"Nephew?" asked Ramses.
Emperor Leroy's brother took his own life when he failed to steal the throne, but Queen Araminta had a brother. Ramses took in the man in front of him, noting the classic Elthem traits of dark hair, broad nose and wide-set eyes. His facial structure was comparable to Prince Cyrillus, but he had nothing in common with Aloysius. "You must be the Disgrace of Elthem."
The crown prince of Elthem who became a treasonist when he unlocked the doors to the impregnable City of Walls and allowed Tyné to conquer Elthem thirty years ago. Currently, he was the cardinal of the Emperor's Church. Lightly, the cardinal said, "Emperor Leroy would have slaughtered the million he held hostage."
Still unable to move his limbs, Ramses settled for a dismissive slant of his head and said, "What information were you sent here to
harvest?"

"They said you attacked the prince during the fight," said the cardinal. "A dagger thrown like a boomerang."

"I used to study the tactics you penned and the techniques you invented," said Ramses. The military expertise of Elthem's heir apparent had been legendary. Regrettably, the golden warrior-prince wilted to the wraith-like husk in front of Ramses after this sister's love affair with the enemy king and his own treachery. "Scholars translated your books into our language and our academies teach your military philosophies."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," said the cardinal. His eyes crinkled when the one-sided quirk turned into a full smile, reflecting none of the fury and pride associated with the last prince of Elthem. "Did the bandits leave any evidence?"

Calmly, Ramses thought about how Aloysius executed the deformed man before Prince Cyrillus' name slipped out and how Aloysius so gratingly silenced Desmond. Feeling a bit like a stroked cat, Ramses said, "There was a Command Medallion."

"Whose?"

Unconvincingly, Ramses said, "Didn't see."

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden realization that he was in control of his own body again. The cardinal, who didn't possess any magic couldn't have done anything, but Ramses was able to propel himself off his knees with a jangle of chains. Wasting no time, Ramses seized the other man before he called out for the guards and wrapped his fingers around the scarred throat.

"I am not." The cardinal sounded amused. "Valuable."

Which didn't matter when the soldiers stationed at the bottom of the tower froze in shock and a few hands crept toward swords they wouldn't dare to use. Within seconds, another group of guards approached, but the leader held the men back and a path cleared for Ramses. Increasing the pressure against the cardinal's throat, Ramses said, "Lead me to the stable."

"He planned this, you know," said the cardinal. The man shuffled before Ramses and lifted a bony finger to pointed out the directions they needed to go. The soldiers circled them warily, but no one took any initiatives to stop him. A shred of instinct, left over from the days Ramses spent on the battlefield, told him that things were going too smoothly. "He needs a reason to lock you up indefinitely."
The monster gems twinkled merrily as Ramses ignored the soldiers and pushed the cardinal toward the entrance the man directed him toward. Ramses had made love with death before, when his obsidian great sword shattered the immortal prophet's soul and triggered Curse of Zephyr. Death was preferable to being the pet of a boy who still owed Ramses his soul, but whose power grew exponentially in the last ten years.
Aloysius wouldn't let Ramses hurt his uncle, right?