Chapter 25: Servitude

Autumn stood in the centre of the sky temple. Three blocks of twenty fighters stood behind her. Ka was seated before all of them.

"Welcome to the sky temple, heir. Your service begins. Kneel before me, and receive your first task." Commanded Ka.

Autumn and the sixty gladiators knelt.

"Heir of the monk, your skills are those of the shadows. Infiltration and deception. For a moment I wondered why the Gravekeeper would send you to me… But now I understand. You can do what my forces cannot, and observe those who hide from the sun. You are to spy upon our foes. There is no quicker way to bring them down."

Autumn felt oddly… where she wanted to be. She had always wanted to be someone like her mother: Loyal and with a cause. She kept her tone flat and chilly. "Yes, my lord. Where shall I go first?"

"Your first target will be the imperial forces of The Commodore. We will strike unexpectedly, with daylight as your cover. You may take my gladiators if required, but be warned that they are fighters, not spies." Said Ka.

"What will be my objective?" Asked Autumn.

"The sun sees all its light touches. The Commodore is currently harried by the forces of another navy, and prepares to meet with their leader in order to secure an alliance. You must turn this new navy against him. Bring it to our cause if it's loyalty can be proven."

Autumn considered her options "I am ready to depart at any time. I believe I can sabotage a meeting."

"Go now, into the realm of seas." Commanded Ka, and the sun overhead shone briefly, blinding Autumn for a moment.

Autumn's vision cleared in another realm. Rows upon rows of perfectly uniform white houses lined streets. The sun blazed in a clear blue sky overhead, sparkling on the waves of some tremendously large docks.

Within the docks was an entire navy. At least on hundred ships were stationed there, all with white hulls and sails embroidered with golden thread. Autumn could see only five kinds of ship, the main body of the forces were four-masted, and prickled with cannons. A few ships had five masts and heavy plating that was clearly designed for ramming enemies. They had to be the fronlines. There was a small group of three-masted schooner type ships, all with slim hulls that made Autumn suspect they were highly mobile, and then the two large variants. Four ships had five masts, and unlike the rest of the forces, figureheads graced the bows. They seemed important. And the flagship. Autumn decided that she'd need to stop that one ever moving against her, because it had ten masts, enough cannons to bury a smaller ship under the sheer number of cannonballs it could fire, some kind of ballista on top, and a pristine figurehead carved in the shape of an angelic woman holding a pair of scales. Autumn could see the name 'Judgement' emblazoned on the side.

She shook her head. While enemy numbers were valuable information, Ka knew everything that the sun saw. I need to find the meeting location. If I can steal an official uniform, I can fake an assassination attempt. Or I could plant fake evidence. Or possibly cause miscommunication between this Commodore and the admiral of the other navy… Autumn went invisible immediately. Better not to draw attention.

Where is the other navy? If they're meeting in person, then their admiral will have to come here. Autumn scaled a nearby house. This was no mean feat, but her self-designed ghost training had covered everything it could, including wall-climbing. The view from the rooftop answered her question. The other navy wasn't anywhere near as pristine and grand as the fleet of white ships that belonged to this feat. They were an armada two-thirds the size, but they had the white fleet surrounded in their own port. If one white ship moved, they could sink half the fleet before they got moving. They wouldn't even have to aim, the targets were packed so efficiently. The rival armada was made of a mishmash of ships, but all bore blue sails. Their flagship wasn't as large as the judgement, but comparing the two was like comparing a trained athlete to a hardened war veteran. The Judgement was obviously massively powerful, but had likely never been used before, it was so clean, and that meant the crew wasn't familiar with what it could do. The rival flagship looked like it had won several wars on its own, and bore the scars of repairs to prove it.

Autumn looked over the rest of the town. It was impressively uniform. Only a few buildings were different. There was a cluster of taller, wider buildings with flags, which were likely the city's banks and important temples, and one massive building which dwarfed all others in the area. It was very obviously some kind of palace, with great pillars and balconies that could have hosted fifty people. Autumn hopped off the roof and began travelling there.

Autumn didn't have to bother re-entering stealth often, even though her clothes didn't match those of the townspeople in the slightest. The sunlight was so bright that everybody had to keep their heads down, so Autumn just walked along the side of the areas to capitalise on their reduced eyesight. Her walk was calm and natural, like she belonged there, and so people didn't pay her any attention. It was then that somebody else caught her eye. Somebody with a very familiar navy coat, blond hair and a gun from another world. What in the worlds is Joe doing here? Autumn thought.

This was a dilemma. She could pursue Joe, but that would almost certainly lead to the failure of her mission. Or she could continue with her mission, and risk leaving Joe to die. Autumn gritted her teeth. If we lose the war, then Joe and everyone else would die anyway. I'm sorry, but you'll have to survive by yourself. Autumn walked on, focused on setting the two navies at odds.

She switched back to invisible when she reached the palace. She gently pushed the front door open, and used that as a distraction to climb in through a window. Infiltration was much easier while invisible, but sloppiness invited death. Once inside, it was a matter of finding where the meeting would be held. Autumn didn't dare get too close to any inhabitants of the palace, in case they heard her footsteps against the marble floor. Autumn began a slow sweep of the building.

First, the lower levels for servants. As Autumn expected, nothing here was as clean as it was upstairs, though far from the horrible working conditions some history books had described. The only useful room she found was a laundry room. She picked out a clean maid's uniform and stashed it under a crate in the room for later use.

Next, the ground floor. This floor was at least five times as large, but most rooms needed little more than a superficial check. Autumn kept a mind map of each room, and consciously tried to work out if there were any suspicious gaps a hidden room could exist in. The floor had nothing of use. On the second floor, there were a large number of rooms devoted to art, and four bedrooms, each with beds three metres wide. What does he need this many king's beds for? Wondered Autumn. A check of each room uncovered one useful object: A lady's makeup kit. Autumn was no stylist, but she knew a touch of makeup and a hastily changed hairstyle could make someone look like a different person, especially at a glance. By adding that to the maid's uniform downstairs, she could certainly pass as a member of staff, and be unrecognisible when she washed off the makeup and discarded the uniform.

The third floor had what Autumn needed. A study had two armed guardsmen standing outside, and through the open door a pair of maids were setting the room for a meeting. She crouched silently, cranking the dynamo of her suit to stay hidden. She listened to their conversation.

"It's terrible, Melody. These outsiders have the nerve to just barricade our port and make demands like they own us! I say we ought to just blast them apart."

"Now now, sister. They've got us by the throat. We can't even get crew onto those ships without losing most of them. We just need to play it safe until the commodore can get control of the situation. If worst comes to worst, he can use his abilities. Those ruffians will never know what's hit them."

Autumn stopped listening. It was time to make her move. She first returned to the laundry room and grabbed the uniform, and then took it to the bedroom. She was relieved to find that her own suit wasn't massively visible under the uniform. She quickly tied her hair back and applied some powder to her face to change the skin tone. It wasn't a master disguise, but if she walked and talked like she belonged, then she could go undetected long enough to get the information she needed.

Autumn walked up to the kitchens quickly. Many other cooks and cleaners were present. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was told to prepare for our guest's arrival. I was wondering if you know when they will arrive, sir? I can't serve them food that isn't freshly prepared." She said to a worker overlooking the kitchen's efforts.

The worker looked at a clock. "Twenty minutes. They'll be meeting in the fourth study. Don't mess this up, maid."

"Thank you, sir." Said Autumn, quickly turning and scanning the room. The easiest thing to do now was follow through with her lie, and she looked for an easy item she could prepare… her eyes landed on a shelf stacked with teapots. Perfect. She moved a kettle to boil and put some leaves to one side, before finding a pair of smaller cups and placing them on a tray. Far from glamourous, femme-fatale spy work, but this was a golden opportunity to send the meeting sideways. If she slipped a poison into the commodore's drink, the admiral would assume it was intended for him. And she would be gone before anyone would be searching for her, assuming the commodore was even alive to organise a search. All she needed was a neutral smelling poison… She scanned the room. Nothing was obviously lethal, but it was a kitchen, after all. Autumn realised where she could find something soluble, neutral smelling and poisonous: the makeup kit. Autumn didn't know what the properties of nail gloss were, but she would have willingly bet that it would kill someone if they drank it.

Autumn left the kitchen with ten minutes remaining and a steaming pot of tea on a tray. She carried it to the bedroom and hastily pocketed all three glass bottles of clear substances from the kit. At least one had to be deadly when ingested. She carried the tray up to the room where the maids had been working earlier. Thankfully, they'd completed their task and left a few minutes ago. The door guards remained, however. Autumn walked straight up to them, intending to just walk in as though she were already permitted.

"Halt, servant." Said one guard.

Autumn put on her most neutral, professional tone. "Yes, sir?"

"State your business within this room."

"I'm delivering the tea for the admiral and commodore. It's been freshly prepared."

"Enter. Be quick, the lookout has identified the admiral approaches early." Said the guard. This inspired genuine fear in Autumn. If the commodore walked in on her, then there was a very good chance he would be able to see something wrong with her mannerisms.

"Thank you, sir. I will be only a few seconds." Autumn carried the tray into the room.

Once inside, she set the tray in the centre of the desk, and poured two cups of tea. She had no doubts the tea was of dismal quality, but she'd never done this before. Quickly, she produced the three bottles of clear solutions from her pockets. She uncapped the first one and sniffed it. No smell, and the liquid wasn't as thin as water. Perfect. She poured some into the drink furthest from the door, stirred it and pocketed the bottle again. Then she walked out, thanking the guard on the way past.

Autumn knew the plan could still go wrong. But she could still make sure it didn't. She ran to the empty bedroom and quickly stripped the uniform away to reveal her operations suit. She stuffed the uniform under the bed and entered stealth again, returning to the study.

Autumn crouched in the corner of the study and waited. The commodore entered within a minute, followed by… Someone wearing Joe's coat? Autumn had foreseen one major way everything could go wrong: the admiral would drink the poison. What she didn't foresee was the admiral somehow having the exact same coat as her best friend, that implied... that he might have interacted with Joe at some point. Autumn couldn't see that it was missing the large black stain over the right breast from her corner.

The two commanders sat down at the table, as Autumn had hoped. Now it was just a matter of the commodore sipping his tea.

They began talking, each with strictly neutral tones. Autumn knew a lot of information would need context, but she gathered that the admiral was searching for someone, and that he expected the commodore to know where they were.

They kept talking. The poisoned tea was ignored, and growing cold, to Autumn's horror. If the trap wasn't sprung soon… then there would be no chance of manipulating this admiral.

And then the doors to the room were opened by a butler, and Joe stepped in. Autumn was seriously confused and worried for Joe, but remained cool as ice. Panic wasn't very ghostly, she'd decided.

"Urgent business with the Daelin armada!" said the butler.

The Commodore spoke "Well that's interesting indeed, as I'm speaking with Admiral Proudmoore at this exact moment."

Joe broke the silence "Sir, is that my jacket? Where did you find one like it?"

The Admiral frowned "I would ask you the same question, boy. State your business and name, and I'd better like what I hear."

Joe swallowed. Autumn could see he wasn't prepared to forge a lie. "My name is Joseph Derek Raynor, son of Confederate marshal and military commander James Raynor, and Archmage Jaina Proudmoore. I am here to seek aid, although I realise that I am not on good terms with the Commodore here."

The Admiral frowned deeper. "Tell me. I'm searching for my daughter, who's apparently been around this strange world. Can you prove to me, right now, that you are who you claim to be?"

Autumn considered leaving now. If a fight erupted, things could get messy. The Commodore butted in with "W-wait! He can't be telling the truth! He'll try to turn you against me! Don't listen to the impostor!"

"Silence! I am searching for my Daughter, you insufferable little man! If this boy is who I think he is, then you have a LOT of explaining to do if you want to see this town in one piece! If you threaten my family, you are as good as dead!" Said the Admiral.

Joe drew some glowing runes in the air "I learned these spells from my mother's library. I was only three when everyone disappeared, so I don't have much to remember her by. Only what I taught myself, and what she left at home."

The Admiral looked at Joe for a long time. "Tell me. Your mother killed very few people willingly, but there was one life she chose to end. Who was that?"

"Her father. I'm told she had to kill him for the sake of peace between two nations. But my guardian never told me what her father did that made peace so impossible. He just told me it still haunted her."

The Admiral closed his eyes. "You're real. Her magic was enough to prove it. I just wondered how I was remembered. Commodore, consider our negotiations over. I must speak with my grandson." Autumn smiled. Her task was complete. Now to stop the commodore killing them.

"You've forced me to do this! I can't let you leave alive, even at the cost of my city. I'll destroy you myself!" Said the Commodore.

Autumn decloaked and shot the commodore twice in the chest, causing him to fall over in surprise. She turned to her shocked allies. "You two, leave now. I do not believe we can kill him with just a gun. I'll buy you time." The Commodore was already clambering to his feet.

Joe looked panicked. "Autumn! I'll do it. You won't come back if you fail, I will. Get my grandfather to safety!"

Autumn wanted to doubt this, but her training books had always taught that emotions had to be put aside. "Yes. Admiral Proudmoore, we must leave now. If Joe says he'll come back, then he will." She grabbed Daelin's hand and pulled him from the room.

Autumn scrambled down the stairs as fast as possible, Daelin close behind. He shouted "Are you sure my grandson will be alright? I can't lose him! I CAN'T!"

"Yes! If Joseph says he'll come back, he will. We need to get you to safety now. He cares about his family more deeply than anyone else." Replied Autumn. A pair of guards with muskets rounded the corner, and Autumn dispatched one with one shot to the head, and actually knocked the rifle from the second's hands with her next shot. Without protection effective against bullets, magical or otherwise, guns were instant death. Despite all she'd heard about killing being difficult, soul-damaging and painful… she didn't even think twice. She didn't feel a thing when they fell to the ground.

"Nice aim, woman! How did you reload so fast?" Yelled Daelin, as they ran past the fallen guards.

Autumn was confused, before realising: He might have never seen a weapon as advanced as her pistol. He might have thought she'd fired a flintlock twice in one second. "It's semi-automatic, I only need to reload after eight shots!" Said Autumn. They burst out of the palace's doors, as alarm bells began to ring.

"The armada is this way! Quickly, before the town guard can mobilise!" Yelled Daelin, taking the lead. He was running quite fast for an old man in formal attire.

Autumn sprinted after him, as the bells blared and a few explosions rang out from the building. She didn't dare look.

Daelin reached the edge of the town, with Autumn close behind. Autumn could hear the thundering of an approaching army's feet, and dearly hoped that there was a boat ready for them. Her prayers were answered as she saw a three-masted ship already unfurling blue sails and lowering a plank to board. Daelin charged up the plank, Autumn jumped in, and the ship was already moving.

Autumn saw the rifleman from the corner of her eye. He rounded the corner just as the plank was retracted onto the deck. He levelled his gun. And Autumn knew...

The shot would hit Daelin.

She calmly pushed the old man over, as the rifleman fired. The bullet caught her in the chest, slowing down because of the makeshift armour Tom had supplied but not stopping altogether. Autumn stumbled, and sat down to mask the wound. She looked at it. Deep enough to kill her if she breathed wrong, but she wasn't dead yet. She frowned. "Ka. My mission is complete. Requesting evac." She said calmly.

Daelin stood up to see Autumn bleeding. "By the holy light, woman! Are you okay?!"

"No. But Joe comes first. Knowing him, he'll be out soon." Replied Autumn. She didn't feel as calm as normal, but her composure was holding even while she had a bullet mere centimetres from her heart.

The top floor of the imperial palace exploded. This had the side effect of causing the rest of the building to collapse, while one person who was extremely intact leapt from the crumbling top floor.

"Ah, there he is." Said Autumn, as the sun began to shine. She closed her eyes just before the blinding flash.

Autumn reappeared in front of Ka's throne. Her wound still persisted, and blood trickled out. "I return." Said Autumn.

"An impressive performance… but a true professional could have avoided getting injured. You have a lot to learn, heir." Said Ka.

"Not to be untoward, lord Ka, but I require medical support." Said Autumn. She wasn't going to last much longer.

Ka leaned towards Autumn, seeing the wound. "I've seen worse. Careless, aren't you? Take this." He tossed Autumn a regeneration globe. The bullet spat itself out and the wound scabbed, but Autumn still felt weak. "Now, your next task. The Spider queen, Neithis, is building an army to invade my realm. Your task is to find their weaknesses for my gladiators to exploit, and any other information that might be of use. Should the opportunity arise… sabotage them."

Autumn carefully knelt. "Yes, my lord." She was aware she had the right to be outraged Ka would ask this of her now. But she consciously chose to serve with her life. Because that path was the one that would help her friends, the people she was truly loyal to.

"The entrance is within my realm. Aide, guide her to the darkness. She may take up to eight hours to prepare." Commanded Ka.

The aide nodded. "Come on. There is a place you can sleep."

The hut was simple, with nothing more than a hammock for Autumn. It was enough. Autumn wasted no time in looking over her suit. The aide looked in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"I need to be even harder to find. Not just hidden, but invisible like I was never there." Answered Autumn. She looked at circuits inside her suit.

There had to be something... Some way of increasing the power she fed the suit. Eventually, Autumn worked it out. Her plan was simple but effective.

She looked at none of the electronics, but the dynamo generator itself. It generated power when the handle was turned, and more was generated when the handle was turned faster… She just had to put some kind of system of gears into place. That would theoretically double, or triple or maybe more than quadruple the power output. The only problem was actually getting the parts for that…

"My lord. I wish to ask that you empower my dynamo with a system of gears. It will guarantee success." Said Autumn. Divine favour didn't seem like a terrible plan.

"At last… I am glad to see you learn something, heir. You WILL succeed. Not try. Your request is granted." The device flashed with sunlight. Autumn blinked in time.

The new gears were simple plastic, but they were a perfect fit. The Dynamo would effectively turn… Four times faster. Autumn wasted no time in climbing into the hammock. "Aide. Make sure I am undisturbed. I must rest."

"Yes ma'am. I will return when it is time for you to depart." Said the aide.

Seven hours and forty minutes later, Autumn was woken by the aide. She sprung out of the hammock and snapped to attention, wincing as her wound flared in pain. "I am ready to act. Please guide me to my target, aide." She said.

"Follow me, mercenary of the shadows. I will guide you to the tomb entrance." Said the aide.

The tomb entrance was much unchanged since the heroes had seen it. The main difference was that the doors were sealed. The aide looked to Autumn. "I hope you can turn the tides of battle. The lords are all exactly equal in power, every time Neithis invades with all her might, we are able to repel it with all ours. The lords are effectively six to six, as it stands. We may have an advantage with you. You may be able to tip this war in our favour."

"Six to six? We have five enemies." Said Autumn.

"They have the reinforcements of those from the duat. Those… imitations." Said the aide.

Autumn understood. "The bodies. They're keeping the war in balance."

"Yes. Now please… Break this cycle." Said the aide, pulling the tomb doors open.

The staircase down was dry and dark. Autumn crept down the stairs while invisible, barely able to make out unlit torches on the walls. Autumn eventually reached the bottom, a room with only the barest hint of light coming from a portal in the far wall. Autumn entered stealth, and walked through.

She found herself in pitch blackness. There was no light at all. So Autumn listened. She could hear something faintly… something above her. And something in front of her. Something moved.

Autumn crouched silently. There was a sound of something hitting the wall behind her. She moved forwards, unable to see a thing and listening with all she could. Eventually she decided she needed light to proceed. Autumn took out her laptop, and enabled the screen's brightness. Most people would have had a heart attack on the spot.

A giant spider was filling up at least three quarters of the room, and Autumn was beside it. She felt a primal fear within her, the overwhelming need to scream, but she didn't. She just felt her bruised heart speed up a little. She observed the room. Cobwebs, and blackened stones as if there was once a fire here… And one stone that was clean. Definitely the exit. Autumn reacted to the spider quickly. She threw her electric tripwire at it, and it seized up as it received a few thousand volts to the eye. She dived for the clear stone and hit it with her best kick, and despite the fact Autumn had the least physical strength of the heirs, the stone budged. Autumn kicked it again, and it broke away. Autumn slipped through just as the spider began to try and attack her.

Autumn found herself in a comparatively well-lit chamber, expansive and filled to the brim with nothing but spiders. It was a very good thing she wasn't arachnophobic. Spiders were filling the room like liquid. They seeped out of every crack in the walls. They crawled over the floors. And not all were the same. Autumn could see giant spiders, mechanical jewelled spiders, and more. Everything from 'Wash it down the drain' to 'make someone else deal with it' to 'Burn down the house'. And beyond. Autumn moved quickly. Her suit covered her body, but she had no desire to have even one spider near her face. She needed to find a weakness or cripple their armies.

Autumn looked around the room. She was moderately horrified when she looked up. The entire ceiling was coated in cobwebs. Thickly enough to hide where the ceiling actually was. Autumn decided she needed a plan, and quickly. Cobwebs wouldn't ignite without a lot of heat, so burning them was out. And besides, she wouldn't survive that. Autumn reached into her pocket. A familiar bottle found its way into her hand. Nail varnish remover. Well, it was a plan.

Autumn looked around for a place she could use her poison. She took note of a few sensitive looking clusters of… pods, that would probably not appreciate a bullet. Anything she could do now was necessary. Eventually, she came to a statue. It was of the Egyptian god Anubis, but she didn't know that. All she saw was a large statue of a dog-headed man, covered in spiderwebs. Autumn noticed that the bottom of the statue was held inside a pool of suspicious shadowy liquid. Spiders were crawling out continuously.

Without a better idea, Autumn uncorked her bottle of remover, and tipped it into the shadowy liquid. The reaction was worse and better than she's hoped.

There was an ear-splitting scream as the statue began to glow, and a purple orb formed between its hands. The spiders went wild, all dashing towards the statue as it began to rumble. Autumn was long-gone before the now-active core began to search for her, and the damage was done. It wasn't emitting spiders any more. Autumn took now as her time to strike against the pods that were likely eggs. Bullets were underwhelmingly effective. They must have had some kind of protective enchantment. Nonetheless, the spiders came running. Autumn wished she still had her tripwire. She could have led a lot of them through it.

It was then that Neithis sprung her trap. The cobwebs on the ceiling descended all at once, engulfing the room. Autumn was buried under a horrifying mass of web, and finally, she gave up. There would be no surviving this. She was correct. She could feel a gentle nip on her neck, and then… nothing.

Ka could feel Autumn pass. "Soldiers, you move now. Queen takes pawn… King takes queen."

Sixty gladiators appeared around Autumn, all burning with the sun's fire. The effects on the cobwebs were immediate. The webbing burst into flames as the fire scorched it, and once the first area was alight, the rest followed. Neithis's trap was her undoing, and the end of her forces and realm.

Eventually, the flames died out. The gladiators looked around. Only one smouldering being remained. Neithis stood, her true form revealed and weakened. She was the lady of fear. She had only taken the title of spider queen as a mask to her true powers. But fear is nothing to the confidence of victory. She was a shadowy mass, in which anyone who looked could see their darkest fear, their most ruinous futures. The aide drove his Khopesh through the centre of the mass, before the fear could claim him.

Ka could feel the shockwaves as Neithis fell. Power rippling wildly through all existence, but only a lord would know it was there. He had no doubts… the war was turning in his favour.

Author's notes: And an heir has fallen. Autumn will be missed. Neithis will be missed… significantly less. I hope.

No reviews... Where are you guys?

New talents:

Autumn

Level 4

Sabotage globe, activate to sabotage an enemy regen globe. When the globe is picked up, it deals damage equal to 10% of the target's max health and does not count towards quests or abilities. 45 sec cooldown.

Level 20

Mass override, Override takes control of all structures.

Invisible; invincible, Jammer passively reduces the vision radius of all enemy heroes by 15%, and enemy 'reveal' effects can no longer clear fog of war.

Stealth overload, Autumn is always unrevealable while in stealth, even when attacking. She takes 200% increased damage while stealthed.