Author's Note: I've edited the first two chapters. Nothing major, just some spell-checking and changed a few unimportant lines that didn't sound right. I did change a tiny bit about skekVar's intention towards the end of the last chapter, it was originally implied that he intended to cripple skekLach, but skekVar is rather simple minded and I decided this plan was too complicated for him (further explanation in end notes).
Chapter 3: Honor
skekMal's room had been raided.
Gemstones, metals, silk and satin alike had been picked away so that the room was practically bare. The ivory mask he had once donned in his early days of hunting had been one of the first things to go, bickered over briefly before being stolen away.
skekZok had been the one to discretely take most of the gemstones for himself, and this had not gone completely unnoticed - skekShod even now was still watching him like a hungry arduff - but he had little to fear from the Treasurer. He currently had far bigger problems.
Namely his reputation.
Until recently skekZok had had unrivaled abilities as a tactician and spy. It was he who had, through careful planning and meticulous work, bred the crystal bats that spied for the empire; without his work the garthim would not have been nearly as successful in locating and eliminating the gelflings as they were. With skekNa by his side, he had covered not only the air but the land with all its nooks and crannies. The Slave Master being one of the only few who had learnt soul-speech in the early days when gelflings had still been abundant and eager to teach their secrets.
Only now skekNa had switched alliances and was no longer going to cooperate, and without the Emperor's direct orders, skekZok was powerless to stop him. He had foreseen something like this might happen in the past, and many times he had tried to bribe the Slave Master into teaching his soul-speech, but skekNa had always slyly refused.
So now he had to substitute. All gelflings were naturally capable of soul-speech, some better than others. His new acquired slave was young and its soul-speech would probably not be the best, but to an extent it could substitute skekNa's ability.
At the table, as the morning meal was served by the slaves, more skeksis appeared and settled down into their respective seats.
"skekVar looks angry," skekOk muttered quietly as he sat down in a chair beside him.
The Ritual Master turned to look.
skekVar sat alone, the seats either side of him empty. He kept shooting disgusted looks towards where the Chamberlain was seated, this reason of this became apparent when skekZok noticed that the Mariner was sitting in the Ornamentalist's usual seat - skekEkt himself was currently no where to be seen. But he noticed that this was not the only thing skekVar was doing – the General was also watching the Scientist intently out of the corner of his eye. skekTek himself had not noticed that he was being watched as he in turn was too busy keeping an eye on skekLach, but skekZok saw all. And he was curious as to what was going on.
Once breakfast was over, skekTek hurried away. A minute or so passed before skekVar also left the table and followed after him. skekZok himself did not follow them, but he watched until they were out of sight.
skekVar strode into the Chamber of Life once he was sure skekTek was alone, determined to get answers. The Scientist noticed him immediately, freezing up and stumbling backward in surprise, then he shook himself and glared.
"What?" the Scientist snapped. "What do you want?! Speak or leave!"
He sounded angry, but skekVar could see that skekTek was actually afraid – the way in which one hand reached for the table to keep himself balanced, the nervous darting of his eyes in search of an exit.
Not being one for elaborate words or charm, skekVar got straight to the point of his visit.
"I need to talk to you about skekLach."
skekTek's eyed widened. "What about skekLach?"
"What do you know about him?" skekVar asked.
"Only what everyone else knows. What else could I know about him?" skekTek had regained some of his composure, and he was no longer leaning against the table. "It would be treasonous to even consider that he might have done something wrong."
"So he has done something wrong?"
"I never said that! Don't put words in my beak," and just like that skekTek looked as if he wanted to run again. "Why else would you be asking me about him if you were not after something that might damage his reputation? Well, you will find nothing here! Now get out!"
"Watch what you say, I outrank you," skekVar snarled threateningly. "Now listen here, you quivering quack, I have an idea that could benefit the both of us if only you cooperate!"
"I have done nothing that would upset his majesty!" squawked skekTek. "I want nothing to do with any foolish ideas you might have!"
"I have reason to believe he has been stealing essence from the Emperor's supplies."
"That's a lie!"
"If the Emperor knew, what do you think would happen? The Collector would be banished, we would both benefit. All you have to do is tell the Emperor exactly what he's been doing."
skekTek gave him an incredulous look and promptly started laughing.
"If anyone told the Emperor something like that, do you honestly think he would believe them for even a second?!" he howled in laughter, then abruptly he stopped and narrowed his eyes at skekVar. "And do you honestly think that for one second I would risk my own neck to help you? If he questioned me, I would tell him that it was YOU who was stealing essence from me! And do you know what? He would believe me, because he would rather see you gone than accept that his favourite is a tra-"
Abruptly skekTek yelped, his eyes widening at some sight skekVar could not see. The General turned around quickly, and spotted skekLach standing in the arched doorway, watching them intently with a poisonous smile on his face.
"General, hmm, the Ritual Master said you would be down here," the Collector turned and gave the trembling Scientist an unpleasant smile. "skekTek, you look pale, perhaps you are unwell."
The Scientist didn't answer, merely ducking his head and trying to look as if he wasn't there.
"skekLach," skekVar addressed the Collector respectively as he could, casting only a disgusted look skekTek's way, he hurriedly tried to leave the room.
"General," skekLach stopped him with a simple wave of his hand. "Don't scurry off so fast. I'm here because the Emperor wishes to speak to you."
"What about?" skekVar ignored the jibe, he felt apprehensive. The Chamberlain's words from the previous day rung in his head, what if the Collector had told the Emperor that it was he, skekVar, who had been stealing essence? It would be his banishment for sure if the Emperor would believe such a lie – and skekVar didn't doubt that he would, not with skekLach hanging over his shoulder.
"You have an assignment, a field job," skekLach smiled infuriatingly. "Follow me, he is waiting for you, brother."
"Don't call me that," skekVar snarled furiously. "You are no brother of mine!"
skekLach gave him a confused look, surprised at his sudden anger. Then he simply smirked and led the way back up the spiralling staircase towards the upper floors.
The throne room was already occupied when they got there. The Chamberlain was talking to the Emperor whom looked openly disinterested in what skekSil had to say. The Gourmand and the Ornamentalist were also present, and were at the far end of the room, arguing quietly between themselves.
"-how else would the crawlies have gotten into my workshop?!" skekEkt accused the Gourmand.
"They scurried there?" skekAyuk suggested. "I don't see what the problem is, crawlies are harmless."
"You imbecile! They eat silk!"
This inane conversation came to an abrupt halt as they noticed the arrival of the General and Collector. skekAyuk, always one to read situations quickly, immediately began to lumber off. skekEkt wasn't fast enough. And the Collector headed straight for him, a nasty smile on his face.
skekVar decided he didn't care about what skekLach had to say to skekEkt, and headed towards the throne, and he would have stood before the Emperor and bowed if the Chamberlain hadn't been in the way. Fortunately for him, skekSo wasted no time in dismissing him.
"That will be enough," he said dismissively, cutting off skekSil mid-sentence, turning to face skekVar instead - and missing the glare the Chamberlain sent him. "General, it appears that I am in need of your services.
"Of course, your majesty," skekVar bowed low. "What is it that you would have me do?"
"You know of the garthim that went missing in the mountains a few days ago, correct?" skekSo said boredly. "The Crystal Bats have found them. It would seems they were dismantled beyond repair. You will be charged with retrieving as much of the scrap metal as you can. Take with you a contingent of functioning garthim, but you are to leave them at the foot of the mountain, I do not want any further losses of valuable resources."
skekVar was shocked. Leave the castle? With the exception of Mal, no skeksis had willingly left the castle in over 200 trine now! In fact, this sort of reconnaissance mission would have been left to the Hunter in the past.
"Is there a problem, General?" the Emperor questioned, an odd look in his eye.
Perhaps he was being paranoid.
"Your majesty, surely you could send the podlings?" he said before he could stop himself.
"Podlings would not know where to go in the mountains, and it is dangerous terrain," skekSo answered irritably. "They would likely died before they reached their goal."
"But, sire-"
"ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?!" skekSo abruptly roared, infuriated. "I gave you an order! Go to skekOk, he has the maps you will need! I-"
The Emperor was wracked by a violent coughing fit, enough to cause him to crash backwards and strike his head against the throne. skekSo cursed and growled, even as he continued to cough he turned to skekLach whom had hurried over.
"Bring me skekTek!" he choked, clawing at the arms of his throne. "Bring me that deceitful old fraud! Providing me with substandard essence!"
skekVar bowed low to the Emperor and turned to leave.
But was stopped.
"General, you once offered me your sword long ago as proof of your loyalty," the Emperor sneered. "I want it now, you are to leave it here! Prove yourself worthy of your title, return from your mission successful, and only then will you get it back. Else I find someone more worthy of your title."
"Maps," skekOk said simply, placing the scrolls upon the table and staring intently up at him. skekVar knew that look, the calculating look of a predator, skekOk thought he smelt weakness.
The General deliberately brought both hands down upon the table abruptly, startling the Scroll Keeper. Thinking the better of it, the smaller skeksis quickly corrected his glasses and scurried off.
skekVar spread the map upon the table, its worn edges crinkling beneath his hands. Angrily he began to plot out a path, locating the site the Emperor had specified on the map. His irritation grew as he realized it was not a simple day trip, but calculated the whole journey would take a minimum of three days! Three days out of the crystal's light… skekVar didn't consider him particularly frail, he knew he would survive, but the trip would certainly be unpleasant.
In the Golden Age, when the skeksis had needed to travel long distances, they had had carriages drawn by short narrow-legged beasts to take them. But the wood of these carriages had long since rotten away, the metallic spokes of the wheels melted down into garthim metal and the old beasts that had been used to draw the carriages had been slaughtered and put into a stew many years before.
The idea of traveling on foot was unthinkable though, even though skekVar had done it in the earliest of times as a skeksis it was not something he would consider now. skekVar mused he could bolt some garthim to draw a cart of sorts, it would have to do. He was not skekMal, he refused to walk.
Then he shuddered anew, instinctively, as he spotted where the mountains lay, located directly by the side of the Valley of the Mystics.
The urru were lumbering and unpredictable beasts, whom had sealed themselves away many hundreds of trine before. Crystal bats and garthim alike could not reach them in their valley, no one knew exactly why but it was suspected it had something to do with the strange wall stone pillars situated around its edges that the urru themselves had placed there. Any garthim that passed this barrier immediately fell to pieces, any crystal bat that passed - while they did not die - lost the ability to transmit their view back to the castle. It was a blank space, a dark spot, into which the skeksis could not see.
And it was unsettling.
skekVar sneered at himself and went back to picking out the quickest route, he had no reason to fear the urru, as disturbing as they were. They had never proven to be dangerous, if anything they were cowardly and dim-witted. And he would not even have to see them, they never left their valley after all.
But they were the skeksis' greatest weakness because of how easy would be to fell. And if an urru was killed then so would a skeksis die.
The Valley of the Mystics, a gash in the land where the skeksis' weakness lay.
Weakness...
skekLach.
skekLach had to have a urru, just as they all did. It was his weakness, as it was in all skeksis, and in the darkness that was the Valley of the Mystics, there would be no one to see if this counterpart was hurt, no one to see them fall.
No one would know what had happened.
No one would even see it happen.
skekLach could not be removed by normal means, twisted and tricked into earning the ire of the Emperor, with no chance of getting him banished, the only way to deal with him was for him to completely cease to exist.
skekLach had to die.
It would be for the good of the empire.
As far as anyone was concerned, skekVar was doing exactly as the Emperor had ordered. After a lengthy shaky and night, in which he could barely sleep for the jolting of the small cart every time the garthim went over a rock or obstacle, he finally reached the edge of the forest at the base of the mountain. Here, as the suns began to approach their zenith, he called for the garthim to stop. Clicking and creaking they sunk down upon the ground, and were still and quiet as statues.
skekVar pushed himself off the cart and landed heavily upon his feet, his joints protesting from the strain. Shaking it off, he turned around and began to prepare himself for the job ahead of him. Checking the sky for crystal bats first, he then pulled forth a bag hidden beneath a thick blanket, in which barely visible was the glinting of the jewels upon the decorated end of skekMal's prized bow.
"I am doing the honorable thing," he told himself as he adjusted skekMal's bow and arrows upon his back, and as an afterthought he then pulled his cape up and over them so they were out of sight. "This is the solution, this will be the end. Balance will be restored to the castle, no need for the honorable to live in fear."
There was a very low chance he would be caught, he reassured himself, as the Skeksis Empire had no way of spying on the Valley of the Mystics. His main concern was being witnessed out in the open before he reached the valley. He didn't want to be banished, not like skekGra had been all those years ago, fated to turn to dust in the wilderness, out of sight and forgotten. Or skekLi, after refusing to leave the castle once banished, the tiny skeksis had been publically beaten by skekSo himself. Practically dead, they had tied skekLi to a wild animal and sent it running into the wilderness, the Satirist was never seen again.
Snarling to himself, skekVar then did exactly opposite to what the Emperor had told him to do. He detached the garthim from the cart and sent them into the mountains alone, then turning away, towards where he could see a small spiral of smoke, he headed for the Valley of the Mystics on foot.
It was a relief when he finally passed the row of pillars that surrounded the valley, for he knew now that no crystal bat could spy on him now. Below him lay the valley, a gash in the mountains where the urru hid.
A light mist had begun to form, making it harder to see the entirety of the valley, skekVar feared that he might lose his way if he wasn't careful.
Despite his unease, he found his way down into the valley easily, the urru having carved out a series of smooth sloping paths that ran around the valley edge.
He spotted several of them from the height of the pathway as he descended into the valley, they were dotted about the place seemingly at random, many gazing up at the sky and running theirs fingers through sand. It seemed quite clear to him that every single one of them was insane. For what other reason would they willingly lounge around in the dirt?
Reaching the base of the cliff, without the added height of the pathway, he no longer had an overview of the valley, or any of the urru. skekVar thought about following the edge of the cliff so that he wouldn't become disorientated, but decided against it, fearing the rocks overheard might fall down upon him. Determinedly he looked around, and saw rock, sand, and vegetation. Through the vegetation was a dusty pathway, unpaved but well-worn, weaving through the plants that grew wild and unchecked in the valley.
Frowning to himself, he moved forward, pushing his way along the narrow path.
Too narrow for the breadth of his robes.
Did these urru creatures have no respect for themselves? He sneered as thorny grasses caught and snagged at the ends of his cape and robes, some becoming embedded in the cloth, strands of vegetation were dragged along behind him.
Up ahead of him what appeared to be a large sandy boulder blocked the pathway, he was just beginning to wonder whether he should climb over it or go around it when it began to move on its own, turning around to face him.
Stopping in his tracks, skekVar by reflexively reached for the handle of his sword, a method of reassurance. He only remember that his sword was still back at the castle with the Emperor when his hand closed on empty space.
The crouched urru looked up at him with its dark featureless eyes, a wooden staff grasped in one pair of hands, completely silent.
skekVar stared back at the beast warily. His gaze jumping from the staff in its hands to its dusty robes to its strange twisted face.
It was irrational, and he hated himself for it, but skekVar found himself somewhat fearful of the urru. This one he could currently see was larger than he was, and he knew there were many others just like it nearby.
But they were also unarmed, wore little in the way of armour and they couldn't attack him without hurting one of their own.
The urru still made no move to speak, and it made no attempt to move out of the pathway either, simply staring back at him silently. Realising that the urru was unlikely to anything, skekVar looked the creature over more thoroughly, mainly focusing on the number of eyes and arms it had.
He counted two and four. So he knew this was not skekLach's counterpart.
The urru tilted its head to one side curiously. He snarled back at it and sidestepped off the path, trampling his way through the grass and vegetation to get past the urru.
As he moved further down the valley he passed more urru, and to his increasing alarm he found that as each urru he passed became aware of his presence they too in turn looked up to watch him. He could practically feel all their questioning eyes upon his back.
'What I do is honorable and just,' he told himself, one hand resting upon the dagger hidden beneath the outermost layer of his robes, his steps becoming more hurried. 'It is for the good of the empire, even if it means no one may ever know who brought this about, of what a heroic deed I do today, it will be worth it. It is for the good of the empire.'
He knew he could not afford to fight here. One of these lumbering beasts was his own urru, he could quite literally end up hurting himself if he struck at any of them.
But which of these slow lumbering beasts was skekLach's? He didn't even know which was his own, and they all looked the same!
The current urru he was looking at was missing a leg, and was balancing the weight on the right side of its body with two of its four arms, one of which was twisted and withered. skekVar knew this was skekTek's urru, and he briefly thought of striking it across the face as revenge for the Scientist's refusal to help him – but he decided against it.
There was the sound of rough cloth being dragged upon the ground, skekVar looked up as two new urru came to a stop beside the path, watching him. One was missing an eye, and when he counted its arms he saw only three.
The urru standing beside the maimed individual moved forward two steps and settled between him and the other, giving skekVar a fixed stare. For a moment the General wondered if this was his urru counterpart looking back at him.
How he was going to go about this? Would the other urru attack him if he killed this urru? Surely not, they would be hurting one of their own…but he wasn't convinced and looked around at the gathered urru uneasily. Had there been this many a minute before? Like ghosts, out of the mist they had appeared, a semi-circle of perhaps 6 urru now stood around him.
He drew the hidden dagger forth and swiped angrily at the air.
"Keep back!" he bellowed at them. He looked back to the maimed one, now partially hidden behind the urru that had moved to stand in front of it. "Dim-witted beasts!"
He had planned to shoot skekLach's urru, but with the other urru standing firmly in place he would not be able to get a clear shot. And using a dagger would be too messy. If he got blood on his robes then he would have to explain himself when he got back to the castle.
skekVar considered simply strangling his rival's counterpart.
It was in that moment though, the maimed urru chose to lean to one side, leaning the side of its head upon its walking staff, and skekVar realised that its missing limb and eye were on opposite sides of its body. They were not both on the left as skekLach's were.
This urru was not skekLach's at all, it was the Slave Master's.
A panicky feeling fluttered briefly in his chest at the near butchery of his plan, it would have been terrible to return to the castle only to find he had killed the wrong skeksis by accident. But skekVar quickly crushed this feeling of uncertainty with thoughts of skekLach's demise, and turned to inspect the gathered urru again.
None of them were the one he was after.
Then one of them spoke.
"I know why you are here," said the largest of the urru, startling him with its voice - and it haunted him how familiar the voice sounded, how the language was the same as his own, from so long ago. "It is an unwise path that you follow, it may not end well for you."
"You say may not," skekVar replied harshly. "Therefore you do not truly know! I am here for a valiant reason, I care not for you misguided words! Cotton brain!"
Not bothering to hide the reason he was there any longer, skekVar put the dagger away and swung the bow off his back, holding it aloft like a club in his hands, a threat to any who dared venture near him.
But none of the urru moved from where they were.
Snarling at them again, he turned back to the path and continued on his way. But the urru were persistent and he soon realized, slowly but surely, they were following after him. skekVar pretended not to see them, as he did the other urru that soon joined the procession.
The 6 urru following skekVar were soon 8, soon afterwards 10, and none were the one he was after.
Up ahead there was a fork in the road, where two more urru sat side by side, but neither were the one he was after.
skekVar was about to take the right turn in the path, and head deeper into the valley where he could see more greenery and hear the distant rushing of water, but that was when the two sitting urru began to move. One turned to follow after him as the rest had done, but the other began to shuffle off in the opposite direction, pace markedly more hurried than he had seen in the rest.
skekVar stopped and stood still for several minutes, watching the urru amble away until it was out of sight, and then he turned away from the path he was following and hurried after it, immediately suspicious.
He could have sworn one of the urru behind him made some strange strangled noise of distress, but perhaps he had just imagined it. It didn't matter, they were powerless to stop him.
The path up ahead came to an abrupt halt, opening out onto more rocky ground, stony but scattered with a few plants at the base of a steep cliff. The rocky ground here was smooth, it felt oddly like the castle floor beneath his feet. The ground inclined to a shallow slope, dipping gently into a small cove filled with sand.
Much of the sand here had been drawn into circular spiraling patterns that made skekVar dizzy to look at, elsewhere there were piles of rock meticulously arranged, some situated around the sand paintings, but what purpose they served the General couldn't care less, what did interest him though was the urru crouched alone at one end of the cove, seemingly in a deep trance. He could see from here that it was missing the lower half of one of its left arms, the distinctive scar across its left eye a dead give-away.
He had found urSen.
The urru that he had followed here was no longer anywhere to be seen, but skekVar disregarded this, it didn't matter, he had found his quarry now.
He drew an arrow from the quiver on his back without hesitation, swinging the bow up to shoulder height and notching the arrow.
The urru finally looked up, turning around to gaze back at him in the same blank manner as the others had done.
If urru anatomy was anything like that of skeksis or gelfling he knew the vital shot would be situated towards the upper chest, towards the neck. skekVar had fired a bow before, as the General he had made it his duty to test every weapon, he knew his aim would be true.
"VarMa, do you not remember me?" the beast inquired as he took aim. It spread one pair of arms to him, as if to take his weapon from him, or perhaps embrace him.
For just split second skekVar faltered, the truth was he did remember LachSen. Fragments of memories, shattered like glass, of a tall billowing smiling, smug figure. Other emotions too, none of them pleasant, of rage, jealousy and rivalry.
He was not VarMa, and this deluded creature was not LachSen.
'Long live the Skeksis Empire,' he said to himself as he pulled the string.
"Do not do this," said another voice much closer to him than he had anticipated, large hands gently but firmly took hold of his arm as if to wrestle the bow off him, but it was too late, skekVar never lost his resolve.
He fired the arrow.
Immediately he then swerved around and struck the urru who had taken hold of his arm with the end of the bow.
And instantly felt a crushing blow against his own face.
The bow clattered to the ground as skekVar staggered back to get away from the urru, snarling and cursing. His own bruised face telling him that it was urMa, his own urru, who had tried to stop him.
"Why would you do this?" urMa said to him, but despite this it paid no further heed to him. Slowly it began to plod towards where urSen still stood, arms no longer outstretched. The urru was wincing, one hand reaching up towards the arrow lodged deep in his chest. But despite the surely grievous wound, urSen was silent in his pain.
Detached, he observed.
"I have told my tale," urSen said quietly, and then repeated this several times beneath his breath, before – without a sign of fear or anger – he collapsed upon the ground.
...
Warm sunlight was streaming through the windows into the hallway, the scent of wine and the rich sauce that had been served at lunch was still thick in the air. The Emperor of the skeksis, still weighed down from the midday feast, felt relaxed as he made his way towards the inner courtyard, skekLach following a few steps behind him.
"…skekUng complains of contaminants weakening the metal he now uses," the Collector was reading off a report the Chamberlain had handed in earlier that day. "He says the continuous recycling of old metal is reducing its quality, making it more likely to break. He suggests we prospect for a new mine."
"There is nothing that can be done about that now," skekSo replied dismissively. "He can wait another hundred trine, then with the empire revitalised, when the Great Conjunction comes again, we will see about prospecting for new mines."
skekSo knew metal was valuable nowadays. Hollowed empty the mines below the castle had collapsed some 100 trine before. Now when metal wore down or became rusted they had to melt it down and reforge it. Like in the earliest days as skeksis, when they had had to resort to melting down cutlery and anything metal in the castle they could find to make armour, this problem only resolved once they had the gelflings under their influence. But now the mines were gone, and so practically were the gelflings.
It was just one problem of many that would be sorted once the Great Conjunction came again.
He heard the Collector make a joke about sending the Garthim Master out to find the mines himself, and then he said something about the Scientist being of use, but skekSo wasn't certain exactly what he said, as his mind had been elsewhere, daydreaming of the revival of the empire.
"Could you repeat that, skekLach?"
Behind him he heard the Collector stumble and choke.
"skekLach?" the Emperor questioned, noticing that the Collector was no longer following him. He stopped and turned. "Is something the matter?"
skekLach didn't respond in words, swaying he simply gave the Emperor one defiant last look, then collapsed against the wall, clutching at his chest.
"skekLach!" skekSo looked down upon the Collector with dawning horror, he could see blood now. The Collector was gasping and snarling, still alive but in terrible pain.
For the first time in nearly a 1000 trine, skekSo found himself powerless to do anything, dignity and years of habit dictated that he retained his control and move decisively, but suddenly none of that seemed like it mattered.
"skekTek!" he roared. "Someone get me skekTek!"
Other skeksis arrived there a lot sooner, and there they stood, observing the scene, whispering behind their hands and talking quietly below their breath. None of them offered help and the Emperor never thought to ask them.
He was knelt beside skekLach, having overturned the Collector to try to find the cause of the issue himself. He even resorted to pressing down over the wound to try and staunch the bleeding, this had obviously pained skekLach as he had thrashed around a lot at first, but since then he had barely moved.
And now he was barely breathing.
skekTek finally arrived, slowed significantly by his prosthetic leg. He knelt at skekLach's side once the Emperor gestured wildly for him to do so, and inspected the Collector silently, quickly, nervously.
skekSo found himself growing increasingly infuriated by the gathering of skeksis standing around the scene, their hushed whispering sounding impossibly loud to his ears. Their presence claustrophobic in the narrow hallway.
"Do you serve a purpose in standing there?!" he bellowed at them. "Get out!"
Fearful of his wrath, the other skeksis wasted no time in clearing the room, but they didn't go far.
skekLach had gone limp, skekSo looked furiously at skekTek.
"Do something!" he demanded.
"Sire, there is nothing I can do," skekTek replied, his voice cracking in fear. "His wounds are internal, he's punctured a lung, and it may be even worse than that!"
skekSo grabbed hold of the cloth around the Scientist's neck and shook him fiercely.
"I don't care! You're the Scientist! Heal him!" he demanded again.
"I'm not a healer! Sire, please," skekTek pleaded, managing to struggle free of the Emperor's grasp. "I will do what I can!" He barked an order at some nearby podlings for them to retrieve some equipment from his laboratory, but skekSo knew how slow they would be.
"Never mind them!" he roared. "Chamberlain! Chamberlain, where are you?! Come here!"
But skekSil never appeared.
skekSo shouted again, this time for skekZok, who stepped back into the hallway immediately. He gave the order to the Ritual Master, sending him to do the podlings' job of collecting skekTek's equipment, ending the order with a threat that sent skekZok hurrying from the room in the most undignified way.
skekLach eyes were still open, looking listlessly up towards the ceiling, the light slowly fading from them.
"No! You cannot leave! I will not allow it! That's an order, you hear me," he shouted, trying to get the limp form of the Collector to sit up.
But there was nothing that could be done.
By the time the Ritual Master was back with skekTek's order, skekLach had crumbled to dust in the Emperor's arms.
For a while he was silent, in disbelief he clutched at the robes tighter as the charred and crumbled remains fell loosely upon the floor. skekZok was torn between hurrying away and staying, as Ritual Master it was his duty to carry out the ceremonies that would ferry the dead on their journey, but this was no ordinary death and he had reasons to fear for his own life.
skekTek meanwhile, had watched skekLach fade away with detached glee, but he too now realized the danger that this situation presented.
"Sire," he began, getting shakily to his feet.
It was the wrong thing to do.
skekSo moved quickly, he got to his feet and swung violently at skekTek, sending the Scientist crashing into the wall.
"You failed me, skekTek!" he roared, advancing again even as the Scientist struggled to his feet. "Get out of my sight!"
Stumbling, staggering and gasping for breath, skekTek fled for his life.
skekSo didn't follow him, he simply looked down at skekLach's robes once more. Then to the confusion of everyone watching, he gathered the robes up in his arms, shaking, turned back to the hallway and continued on his way towards the courtyard, just as he had been doing mere minutes before.
As if nothing had happened, as if nothing had changed.
And to skekOk the Scroll Keeper, who had been hiding in an adjacent stairwell, he could have sworn he heard the Emperor muttering to himself about metal and mines.
A/N: This chapter took forever to finish! Even now though I'm not 100% happy with it, especially the beginning which seems a bit rushed. I will try to go back over it when I've got the time. Hopefully the next two last chapters will be up within a week or so.
There were a lot of ideas I changed and scenes I cut from this chapter:
Changes:
-skekVar originally only intended to cripple skekLach but ended up mortally wounding him instead by accident. He wanted to shoot his urru in the spine with an arrow, but I've since realised this would be very complicated as to almost have surgical precision, obviously it would have gone wrong and ended up killing skekLach but I felt it was needlessly complicated. Instead, Var now intended to kill him from the very start.
-Originally skekLach's conversation with skekEkt was included in the scene where the Emperor tells skekVar about his mission to the mountains. But it didn't fit and in the end I just left it implied that - because he could get away with it - he was freely insulting skekEkt in front of the Emperor as revenge for attacking him.
-Var originally had a confrontation with his urru urMa following his assassination of urSen – in which they exchanged many more words that I finally stuck to. It was supposed to a be a sort of moral and conscious questioning thingy, but it just seemed too complicated and I doubt skekVar would have wanted to stick around.
Ideas that I wanted to include but didn't make it:
-skekTek refers to skekVar and skekLach's past life's occupations as a diplomat and a museum curator respectfully. It was also strongly implied that Var and Lach as urskek were brothers (or perhaps half-brothers, my headcannon in this regard isn't sorted yet, but there was definitely some rivalry between the two before they even became skeksis).
-skekTek explains to Na that while vital essence does rejuvenate the consumer in the short notice, those that drink it excessively also suffer side-effects in that they begin to age more quickly than normal if they cannot get a continuous supply – i.e. the Emperor and Tek himself (who drunk a fair quantity when he first investigated how to obtain essence, as he often tested his experiments on himself first).
