This one went faster than expected.
A friendly reminder that this is rated M for a reason.
Edit(10/07): I am currently in the process of changing the name to Esdese in all the chapters of this story. I haven't gotten through all of them yet so there is a small discontinuity between chapters regarding her name. It will be fixed soon.
Setting fire to sleeping giants.
In the early morning, a young man was standing outside of Esdese's chambers. Knocking on the big doors as the sun was rising. He carried the uniform of a messenger of the imperial court. He had been standing there for almost ten minutes now and was starting to grow restless.
He had tried to open the doors but they seemed to be jammed from the other side. He couldn't even get the handle down. He was now banging on the doors, almost as hard as he could. His friends would probably say that he was crazy to try and draw Esdeath out when she obviously didn't want to open. But he knew that fortune favours the bold. Besides, he did actually have a important message to deliver.
After a while he heard steps inside the chambers. He took a step back, dusted of his clothes and stood at attention. The steps stopped on the other side of the door. He expected to hear the sound of a lock being switched but it didn't come. After a couple of seconds he jumped up in the air as one of the doors were torn from it's hinges and pulled into the apartment.
Esdeath threw the door back into the room, not having the patience to try and fix the lock she had ruined yesterday. It crashed down on the floor with a loud bang. Making the young man flinch at the noise. She then turned to the soldier with a rather hard gaze. Waiting for him to explain himself.
The man had seen Esdeath before but always from afar. Now that he saw her up close he was not disappointed. She was worth all the trouble he had gone through to be assigned this task. She wasn't wearing her hat nor the gloves that reached up her arms. Neither was she wearing her calf high boots. She was basically standing barefooted in nothing but her uniform.
This one is gonna be worth all the effort, he thought, before straightening up once again.
"General Esdeath. I'am Isamu. I carry a message from the emperor himself." he said and saluted her.
She looked at him for a second and then turned around and walked back into the apartment. He walked in after her. Assuming that her lack of response was meant as an invitation. He took a couple of steps into the the big room and then stopped there. Watching Esdeath as she walked up to a bowl of fruits that was standing at one of the ornate tables in the room.
"Well?" she said in her authoritative voice, with her back turned to him as she picked up a fruit.
"The emperor has summoned an emergency meeting. All generals currently stationed in the capital are called to attend it. I have the official decree right here." He walked up to her and gave her a sealed letter. "Here you go, my beautiful lady."
Esdeath gave him an empty look before taking the letter and opening it. She started to read through all the seals and signatures affixed to the simple message while she took a bite from the fruit. After a little while she turned her gaze up to the military courier again. "Was there anything else?" she asked. Wondering why he was still there.
"General Esdeath, would you please listen to my request?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. Letting him speak his mind.
Let's do this, the young man thought. "Esdeath, I want you to start going out with me!"
Stepping a bit out of line,are we?,Esdeath thought. More amused than annoyed. "You are aware that I already have a partner?"
"I'am sure that he is great guy, my beautiful general, but I'am sure that I can make you happier than he can."
"You are a confident one, aren't you?"
"I have been a part of the imperial military for less than a year and I'am already carrying messages for the emperor." he said with confidence. "There are few who have risen as quick as I have among the military couriers."
Esdeath sized him up with her gaze. He was tall and very well trained. His face had some rather elegant features. He had a thick mop of blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Esdeath had a feeling that many girls had been swooned by those eyes. He smiled a confident smile at her. Showing off his white teeth.
"You are dismissed, soldier." Esdeath said and started to turn around.
"Wait, general Esdeath. Please just give me a chance. I promise that I will impress you!"
Esdeath would have had a lot of patience with him if he had just been performing his duty. But now he was venturing far outside of his duty and he was taking away from the time she could spend in bed with Tatsumi.
She turned to him. "Okay then," she put a hand on her hips. "..impress me."
Esdeath was not one to give people a second warning. If he was taking from her time after she had shown that she was unintrested then she would gladly emasculate him.
He was obviously taken aback a bit by that. "What? Right now?"
Esdeath just looked at him and took another bite from the fruit. Her sharp teeth tearing away the flesh from it.
The young Isamu was a bit unsure of how he should handle this. Usually he would just have gone in for a kiss or a suggestive embrace. Trying to sweep her of her feet by mere natural charm. However, he knew that this was not a woman you should get physical with, just like that.
The few seconds he spent considering his options was enough to make Esdeath run out of interest. For her, it was hard to find joy in breaking the confidence of people who displayed none. "Get out of my sight."she said in a disintrested voice. She turned around and started walking back to the bedroom.
Isamu decided that this battle was lost but he refused to give up on the war.
"As you command, but keep your eyes open for me, Esdeath. I will make sure that our paths cross each other again. And I promise that, next time, I will make you fall for me."
Esdeath looked at him over her shoulder.
She felt something stir in her deeper parts when she heard the gusto in his statement and saw the self-confidence he was so proudly displaying in front of her. That unwillingness to give up and how he refused to be denied awoke an urge in her.
She wanted to break him.
To bend that strong, youthful spirit until it snapped. She wanted to castrate and domesticate him. To break the beautiful wild creature until nothing remained but a limping shivering shell of a man. To destroy all his pride and dignity until she grew bored and discarded what remained of him. For the world to see how pathetic she had made him.
His promise about charming her had, unbeknownst to him, had the effect of making Esdeath feel challenged. And that made her urge to destroy and dominate him rise.
She quickly supressed and quelled these urges though. He was a servant of the empire and an ally to her. She would not make him suffer because of comments that could be interpreted as compliments. She was his superior and she had a duty to be fair to him as long as he did as he was bid. She had her standards.
"Okay, then." she said. Giving the man the first smile he had received since she had torn the doors open. "If you manage to catch my attention again, I will give you a new chance to show me your true value. If you impress me enough, I will offer you a chance to give yourself to me."
She gave him another glance over her shoulder before she started walking again. With the proper training she could probably turn him into a rather entertaining pet. For a little while at least. Usually her rather loyal nature towards her underlings wouldn't allow her to use their lives for entertainment purposes.
But he wasn't her subordinate though. Not one of hers. So should he actually choose to pledge his life to her, then...
She smiled as she walked back towards the bedroom.
The young man felt joy fill his body when he heard her words. Unaware of her motives. He bowed deep and gracefully towards her back. "Until next time then, beautiful ice queen."
He then turned around and started to walk out, feeling a bit more encouraged to continue his pursuit of her. The harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph, he thought as he walked past the attendants that had already gathered and started to replace the broken doors with new ones.
Esdeath walked back into the bedroom and closed the door behind her with her foot. She walked up and sat down on the bed with her back against the wall. Remaining in a sitting position with her legs up on the bed while she read through the last bit of the letter. Still holding the fruit.
She remained so for a little while and then put the letter down on her side. She reached down with her arm into the pile of sheets that was laying beside her and scooped up Tatsumi. One arm around his chest.
"Hey!" he halfheartedly yelled in a complaining tone.
She placed him between her legs so that his back rested against her stomach. His head falling back on her breasts.
"I could have been sleeping, you know?" he said.
"And you think I wouldn't be able to tell the diffrence?" she answered absentmindedly. She placed the fruit in front of his mouth, feeding him a bite while she picked up the letter again.
"So, how was this new admirer you have attracted?" He said as he chewed. Having heard the entire conversation. "Did he manage to get your interest?"
"Well, he was rather good looking and a bit of a hunk. He did seem to be used to get what he wanted." She raised the fruit to her mouth as she read through the letter again. "It could probably be fun to play around with him for a while." Her teeth tore into the fruit again.
Tatsumi made a mental note to go and meet this man and warn him of the path he was about to embark on. He was well aware of what Esdeath meant with that last sentence and there were very few people in the world that Tatsumi wished that fate upon. "Oh, so my partner's heart has been swayed by another man. Woe is me." he exclaimed.
"It's hard for him to sway what you have already stolen." she said casually as she put the letter on a nightstand by the bed.
"So he only managed to get your favor through pure carnal attraction. As a man, that's almost worse for me." he said. Feigning despair.
That actually made her laugh a little. "You already know that you are the only one that I react to in that way." she said. Her free hand slowly creeping down his well defined stomach in a very suggestive way.
"You're insatiable." Tatsumi said. Thinking about how little sleep he had actually gotten this night.
"Pretty much, yeah." she admitted. Taking another bite from the fruit. She was way to dominantly minded to be ashamed of any of her appetites. "But I'm afraid I don't have time to indulge anymore right now. I must leave pretty soon. I have been summoned by the emperor himself."
Of course you have been, Tatsumi thought. His excitment rising. He started to move out of her lap when he noticed something he had not been able to see during the night.
"Hey, have you gotten us some new bedclothes while I was gone?"
"Have you ever thought about all the little inconveniences that it seems people in power are demanded to put their followers through?"
Makeias mused to himself as he walked up the long stairs that led to the emperor's audience chamber."I mean, it seems pretty obvious that no one is going to have more people requesting an audience with him than the emperor himself."
He had two guards with him. People so long and slender that they almost did not look like humans. Part of a now long gone tribe.
Though I might as well have been talking with the wind, Makeias thought. Since these guards rarely spoke, unless forced to. "So why then, do you put his court room on one of the highest floors in the castle? Instead of placing it in a more central location. To demonstate superiority? That just seems insecure."
He scratched his mid section. His wound itched terribly today. He had never been a superstitious man but somehow his teigu always seemed irritate his body more when something unfavorable was about to happen to him. "What I'm trying to say is that I hate stairs."
They reached the end of the stairs and found themselves in the waiting room outside of the emperor's main audience chamber. Makeias could already hear the commotion on the other side of the big, closed doors leading into the room. His attention was however grabbed by a huge man standing in front of those doors. Surrounded by men from the imperial guard that the man in question was so proud of.
"Ahh, great general. I didn't get a chance to talk to you after the assembly, the other day." he exclaimed and walked up to the man and the ten guards that stood behind him. Makeias could tell he was not popular here from how silent they had gotten. As he got closer, they tensed up in a far more agressive way than what his rank usually caused people to do.
"General Makeias" Budo answered with hard look. Arms crossed over his chest.
"Your guards seems to be nervous. Or maybe they just don't like my clothes." Makeias said with a ridiculing smile.
"They just regard people that can't follow rules and orders as a liability." the great general answered in a hard tone. Still staring the other general in the eyes.
"Ohh, I wonder where they could have gotten that notion from."
"Don't play coy with me,general. I have been very clear about what I think about your last campaign.". Budo had always had a harsh demeanor but Makeias couldn't help but notice that his tone was a bit more unfriendly than usual.
"I accomplished my original mission, didn't I?" he said with a shrug.
"You were ordered to defend and take control of strategic positions along the border. Yet, you marched into another nation with an imperial army. Changing the empire from a defensive standpoint to an invading one in what has to be the biggest act of insubordination I have ever seen. Taking it upon yourself to decide what the empire's entire stance upon the situation was."
"Me taking things into my own hands brought one of the empire's more hostile neighbours to it's knees." Makeias defended. Still smiling.
"Which the emperor has rewarded you for. But he was too kind when he ignored all the protocols you breached to reach that goal. You should not have been allowed to keep your rank." the big man concluded.
"The rank you bestowed upon me. Have you forgotten?"
"I gave you that honor because you deserved it. Just as you deserved the rewards you recieved for humbling the foreign forces that challenged the empire. That does not wash away all the other acts you have done. Your good acts have been rewarded. Your bad ones should have been punished."
No love for the pillager here either, Makeias thought. Seems like there are few people in the capital that are happy that I returned. But that is probably pretty smart of them, all things considered.
"Well, sadly it is no longer your choice alone to make."
The great general simply closed his eyes. His expression as unmovingly stern as usual.
"Nowadays, you need the emperors mandate if you want to demote me. Its seems to me that the whole hierarchy of the military has become a bit more... political, since the last time I was here." he said with a knowing smile.
The great general opened his eyes but he directed them towards the stairs behind Makeias. Makeias could already tell that the last general in the capital had arrived. He turned to the stairs and watched how Esdeath climbed the last steps of them. Tatsumi walking a step behind her.
"Ahh, the ice queen has arrived to warm up the mood." Makeias exclaimed. Mockingly bowing lightly to her when she got close.
Esdeath smiled. "Ohh, are you a little bit grumpy today,pillager?" she said and patted his bowing head."Has the little boy not gotten enough sleep?". She sounded like she was talking to a dog. Turning his mockery upon him.
She seemed to be the only one in the city who had actually been enjoying his presence since he arrived, Makeias reflected, but he held no illusion that her playfulness meant the same thing as affection. He had seen how that same playful nature manifested itself when she fought and killed. Still, he prefered this over the chiding that so many other in the capital gave him.
Budo put his arms down from his chest. "All three of us have arrived. Behind me." The great general turned to the doors with a gesture for them to follow him.
Makeias straightened up. He looked at Tatsumi and gave him a smile. The younger boy nodded to him. A gesture that Esdeath did not miss.
She did not like it. Had they established some kind of relationship she did not know of?
While she often liked to play along with Makeias jests and jokes she made no mistake about the man's true nature. She knew that he was a schemer. Probably a pretty good one at that, if his military rank was any indication. She did not want him to involve her Tatsumi in whatever plans he was currently hatching. Hopefully she would get a chance to subdue Makeias enough to make him tell her about it in their sparring match later today. Otherwise she could maybe coax it out of Tatsumi in bed.
Budo pushed open the huge doors and walked into the audience chamber. The generals followed on his right and left side, only a few steps behind him. They walked up on the long red carpet that led to the end of the room where the emporer sat on his throne. Tatsumi and the other general's retinues walked off to the side and into the crowd of people that had gathered. Tatsumi himself went to the back of the room. Resting his back against the wall.
The room was filled with people but most of them grew silent when the great general entered. The front row was occupied by politicians and higher-ups within the military who had been taking turns to express their opinions and their advise to the young emperor. The emperor himself had remained silent through most of the meeting. Sitting high above on his throne with the prime minister standing at his side. He rose from his seat when the great general got closer.
The great general kneeled with dignity. The other two generals followed his example behind him. Esdeath gracefully and Makeias graceless.
"Emperor Makoto, the highest ranked military in the capital have gathered at your command. The imperial army is ready to do your bidding." Budo voice boomed through the hall.
The little emperor walked a couple of steps forward and then started what seemed lika a already rehearsed speech.
"Thank you for coming generals. The empire is in your debt, as always. " The little boy took a deep breath. "Each one of you have accomplishments that are known throughout the entire empire. You are the greatest fear of the empire's enemies and the biggest protectors of the empire's intrests. Sadly though, it seems that some of our enemies have been hiding in our own ranks. Generals, the warden of our western territories has betrayed us."
If any of the generals were suprised to hear this, they did not show it.
The empire was a huge nation so it was hard to control through a fully centralised government. Therefore, the imperial court had placed out four wardens across the empire. Their role was too see to it that the will of the empire was uphold and followed on a political level in their region. It was a powerful position politically. Even if they didn't have any authority in the military.
Tatsumi was standing in the back. Listening carefully, even if he already knew where this was going.
"This man has forsaken the trust and duty placed upon him by the empire. Our agents and spies have been able to reveal that he has, since a long time back, not only been working with the revolutionary army but also been trying to set up relationships with foreign countries against the empire's will." the little emperor went on.
It was a shame that the warden of the west had to go, Tatsumi reflected. He had been aiding the revolutionary army greatly. He sectretly opposed the slavery that was so abundant in the empire and he had tried to halt the escalating conflict between the empire and the western nations. It was a testimony to his intelligence that he had managed to stay undiscovered for so long. They revolutionary army had no ally who carried so much power within the empire.
But he was a necessary sacrifice. The first betrayal the empire would discover needed to be a a big one. And it needed to be real. If it was revealed that the first one in a long line of betrayals was faked and just a case of someone being framed, then all the ones that came after that would be doubted as well.
"Since the man was the warden of an entire region of the empire, I want each one of you to thoroughly look through all forces you have or have had stationed in his region. The traitor might have contacts hidden in your ranks." the little emperor ordered.
Tatsumi looked up at the prime minister who was standing a bit behind the emperor. The biggest betrayal in a long while needed to be destroyed thoroughly, he thought, but there is only one person you can trust with that mission. Budo might come to find out more things he can use to denounce you if he start searching through the information a traitor might have gathered about you, Tatsumi thought. And from what I could tell from the meeting with him yesterday, you don't got Makeias pinpointed. So you will have to use one of your older allies to root out this problem.
Tatsumi smiled.
"General Esdeath," emperor Makoto called out."You are widely regarded as our strongest warrior. You will go and demonstrate what it means to betray the empire."
Esdeath smiled. "It will be my pleasure, emperor Makoto."
Tatsumi wanted to kiss her for being the sadistic, terrifying monster that she was. She would make everything work. She would destroy the warden of the west without caring about the consequences. She wouldn't question the things she would find on his property. She would be glad to find what Tatsumi had hidden there.
"Budo and Makeias, when Esdeath has cut of the head from this snake, I want you to confiscate all the wardens resources and absorb what you can from his personal forces into your own. What can be saved and what can not will be up to your individual judgement."
"It will be done." Budo exclaimed. Makeias simply nodded.
"Now go and see my will be done." the young emperor shouted. Dismissing them with a wave of his arm.
The great general stood up and started to walk out. The other generals followed after him. Tatsumi left his position and started to head out to meet Esdeath outside. Behind him the meeting with the politicians continued. Arguing about who would get what part of the soon to be dead warden's properties and land. Like vultures circling a dying man.
When he came out to the waiting room outside, Makeias and Budo were already discussing who would take care of what part of the warden's forces. Esdeath was just sending away a courier with a message. The generals usual bickering immediately dicarded so that they could perform their duty.
He walked directly up to Esdeath. When she turned around he reached up and kissed her. Pressing his lips into hers with force, before she could react. Suprising her a little, since she usually had to be the one to take the initiativ.
Even if he for the moment had modulated himself into the role of her lover he couldn't help but feel a genuine affection towards her right now. Ever since Mine's death he had defined his entire existence around the destruction of the empire. And now she was going to help him do it. For a little while, she was gonna become that purpose. Even if she didn't know it. For the moment she was going to become his anger, his wrath, his vengance. And he loved her for it. At least in this moment.
Esdeath's suprise lasted less than a second before she answered in kind. Unwilling to be outdone or on the recieving end even in this area. If he was demonstrating his love for her then she would show how much greater her love for him was.
She immediately wrapped her arms around him and lifted him until he stood on his toes. Making out with him with such enthusiasm that he felt like she was eating his face. Breathing heavily with a focused look in her eyes. She pulled back from from his face and smiled a ravenous smile at him. "To think that you already have regained some hunger after tonight. You really are the one for me."
She leaned in a bit his lower lip. Pulling it out while watching how a pained expression formed on Tatsumi face. Her own expression growing more amused.
Tatsumi was already regretting that he had let his feelings go for a moment. Esdeath had never felt any shame about these kind of things. Always proud to show the world her desires and wishes. Daring anyone to oppose her.
But now he was starting to worry about how far she was intending to go. Considering where they were. He did not try to stop her though. The fire that had briefly been ignited for her in him still burned in embers and every part of him that could be defined as male was screaming for more. He actually felt a slight irritation when her attention was forced away from him.
"Do you ever get that feeling of déjà vu?" Makeias asked, suddenly standing a mere two meters away from them. Tatsumi had not even noticed that he had walked up to them. He had been too engrossed with the thought of having Esdeath fight for his cause. He hadn't even noticed that the great general had already left.
Esdeath looked at Makeias with unconcealed anger. Twice had he stopped her intimate moments with Tatsumi now. Makeias noted that he actually got a slightly irritated glance from Tatsumi as well, this time.
Well, nothing like an common enemy to bring people together ,he thought. "Spare me your grievances." he said. His smile got a condescending tone and he turned to Esdeath. "We have work to do. When are you leaving?"'
"Within an hour or so." Esdeath answered. Lightening her hold on Tatsumi a little bit. Letting his heels hit the ground.
"Good. I have talked with Budo and we have come to an agreement about our proceedings. We will start taking over and recruiting all the forces belonging to the warden of the west by nightfall. See to it that he has been unseated by then and make sure that his forces know about it."
He turned around and started to walk to his two guardsmen, who were waiting for him by the stairs. "Oh, by the way," he turned around." I guess this means that we will have to postpone our little sparring match." he said. His sly smile returning.
"We will have it as soon as possible after I have returned." Esdeath answered. It was more a statement than a suggestion.
Makeias nodded and then turned around and walked away.
Esdeath watched him as he left. When they were alone Tatsumi answered to her embrace. Moving his arms around her slender,yet insanely strong back. His hands grabbed hold of her uniform. He put his forehead down where her collarbones met. "Don't you dare die on me now."
It was a completly genuine request. If she somehow died now, everything he had planned would collapse. Now it had started. Now he relied upon her strenght.
But there was also something else inside of him that didn't want her to disappear. Something born from what had awoken in him when it was finally decided that she would inadvertently help him with his goals.
And it scared him.
Esdeath was once again suprised by her lover. Through all of the bickering, arguments and disagreements they had had she had never heard him voice concerns about her survival. She felt a little bit of warmth fill her since his concern was just another form of affection. It did, however, make her wonder why he was worried now, all of a sudden. This was not gonna be a dangerous task for her and he knew it. So why then?
She put that question aside for later,though. Now she was busy with just enjoying the feeling of him clinging desperatly to her. Like she was all he had. It was rare for him to be the clingy one of them.
She stood there for a couple of seconds. Simply enjoying the sensation for awhile before reaching up with an arm and starting to stroke his head.
"Hey." she said softly. "Have you forgotten who you are talking to?" She took hold of his hair and gently bent his face up so that she could look down on his eyes. Giving him a smile that was partly dangerous and partly caring.
Tatsumi's eyes narrowed a little bit. "I will haunt you through whatever hell is waiting for you if you leave me behind in this world now."
Esdeath's smile grew wider. "That only means that if there is an afterlife, I will have you with me there as well."
Tatsumi smiled and shook his head. "Crazy woman."
"Stubborn little boy." she returned. Rubbing her chin against his temple.
She took a deep breath of his hair before letting him go. "Now I have a politician I need to remove from his office. Don't do anything that you will regret while I'm gone, okay?"
She had briefly considered taking him with her on this mission but she had been ordered to make an example of the warden of the west and she intended to make that as entertaining as possible. Tatsumi would not enjoy this mission so she had chosen to let him stay. The bigger part of her was proud that she now had the restraint to make that choice. A year ago she would have dragged him with her either way.
But there was still a small part of her, a part more driven by instincts than reason, that for some reason was telling her that she shouldn't leave Tatsumi alone. That was not something unusual for her to feel though so she quelled it pretty quick. Even if it was a bit more agressive than usual this time.
"Yeah,yeah" he said while scratching the back of his head.
"I will probably be back tomorrow. Leave a message in the bedroom, telling me where you are if you go out. So that I can come and find you when I return."
"Okay"
She brought up a hand and cupped his face for a short moment, looking deeply into his eyes. Then she turned around and left without another word.
He watched her head disappear down the stair and then remained standing there for a minute.
"I won't do anything that I will regret." he said silently and started walking out of the room as well.
In one of the castle's many training yards, Wave was standing and shouting at a small group of warriors. Training them hard in diffrent forms of close combat.
"I prefer that you are alive and resenting me, than dead because I wasn't harsh enough on you." he shouted to a couple of his trainees that had started to complain. "Now keep it up!"
He was interrupted from lecturing them further by a voice behind him. "Wave of the jaegers. Do you have a minute?"
Oboy, Wave thought as he turned around to the familiar voice.
Bellany was standing in the middle of the entry to the training yard. Together with a couple of other soldiers that Wave did not recognize.
He made no attempt look enthusiastic about meeting her again. "Why are you here, Bellany?"
"I need to talk to you,Wave. It is quite important." Bellany said.
He sighed. "Fine.". He turned to the students."Keep doing your exercises until I return."
He walked to Bellany, who turned around and walked out of the yard. Wave following her and the soldiers following behind him. When they were out of earshot from those in the yard she turned around to him.
"Are those the warriors you have been training to become jaegers? They seem to hold quite a lot of potential" she said with a friendly smile.
Wave noticed how the soldiers she had brought with her closed a circle around them. He smiled. "Thanks, Bellany. Sadly Esdeath doesn't seem to believe that much in them but I will try to give them a chance." He crossed his arms over his chest. Still smiling. "And you should have brought more soldiers if you wanted to intimidate me."
Now it was Bellany's turn to sigh. "Why must you always make our interactions so difficult,Wave? I have always been kind to you."
"You are too intelligent to not be able to figure that out."
"No, I really don't understand. Why do you take that former vigilante's side in all matters?"
"Why don't you give him a chance?"
"Why does he deserve one? You know how many people there are that fall victims to the internal conflict within the empire. What did he do to deserve the chance that everyone else didn't get."
Well, he caught the attention of the strongest warrior in the empire, Wave thought. The injustice was not lost on him but that didn't mean that Tatsumi should be punished for having that amazing stroke of luck. That didn't seem right to him at all.
"You trust Esdeath completly in almost everything Bellany. This is well known. So why do you doubt her judgement when it comes to Tatsumi?"
Bellany looked at him with irritation. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Wave, I haven't come here to try and intimidate you. I do have a serious question that I hope that you can answer to truthfully, despite our diffrent opinions."
"Shoot!" Wave said in a rather up-beat tone.
"A bit past dinner yesterday, Tatsumi visited the dungeons. More specifically, his old Night raid comrade. Do you know anything of this?"
"No. Not at all actually." Wave answered. Genuinely suprised.
"You were seen walking with him just a little while after his visit. He didn't tell you anything about it?"
You seem to have a lot of eyes backing you up, Bellany, Wave thought. "Nope. We did indeed talk about the prisoner but thats it."
"What were Tatsumi's thoughts on having his old comrade on death roll?" Bellany asked. More intrested than spiteful.
"Why don't you go ask him? If you yourself are so utterly lacking in imagination." He turned to leave. "Now if there was nothing else, I have some students that need my help. Even if they don't know it themselves."
"No, thats all, Wave." She said tiredly. "Go. Make them as good as you can. God knows we need more people like you in the army." Bellany signaled to the soldiers to let him pass.
Despite the rather cold atmosphere, Wave decided to shoot her a kind smile before he walked off.
Bellany watched him go. He was such a good soldier, she thought. Loyal, caring, strong and always thinking about what was best for the empire as a whole. It was such a pity that his judgement failed him on this issue. But even her beloved general seemed to have made a mistake when it came to Tatsumi so she really couldn't blame Wave that much.
When he had disappeared from sight she turned to the soldier nearest her, "I want Tatsumi put under complete surveillance while Esdeath is gone. If he does anything strange I want to know it within an hour."
Later in the evening, chaos ensued on a large estat in the middle of the empire's western regions. People were bustling around inside the large manor. Trying to get everything ready for the unlpanned event that had ocurred.
Esdeath had payed a suprise visit to the warden of the west's home. Coming alone, flying on top of her dragon.
Everyone was unsure as to why she was there but the warden had chosen to bring out all the hospitality the manor could muster. It was not often you got such an important visitor.
When Esdeath had landed and walked up to the front doors they opened up for her. A butler she thought she had seen before came out to meet her.
"Lady Esdeath, we are most honored by your visit. As always. The warden is waiting for you. Can I help you with any luggage or equipment you do not wish to carry around."
Esdeath smiled a intrigued smile. "No, not at all. I have brought a smaller garrison with me but I choose to fly a bit ahead of them so that I could talk a bit with my old acquaintance. Lead me to him."
"This way, my lady."
He led here to a room with a lot of paintings on the walls and a large open fireplace with two great armchair next to it. The warden of the west was standing in the middle of the room. Waiting for her arrival. He was a man in his late fifties. He was rather overweight and had a muastache and long sideburns. His hair white and grey. He had dressed up to the occasion. Wearing a black tailcoat and a top hat. A golden monocle sitting over his left eye.
He immediately walked up to her when she entered."Ahh Esdeath, you grow more beautiful every time I see you!"
He bowed down and kissed her hand. "While I only grow more ugly with every day. May I offer you some wine? I have saved some of that vintage wine you liked the last time you dined here at my manor."
"Some wine would be delightful" she answered with a smile.
The older man nodded towards the butler who quickly walked out of the room."Have a seat." he said and gestured to the armchairs in front of the fireplace. Sitting down in one of them himself.
She sat down in the other one. Resting her rapier against the side of it.
"So, two visits from the empire's most acclaimed general in six months. To what do I owe this honor?" He said with a smile. He took forth a pipe and started filling it with tobacco. The butler had returned and was filling up two wine glasses and putting them on a small table standing between their chairs.
"Oh, you have made both these visits happen on your own." She answered with a calm smile. Picking up one of the glasses.
"Do explain, my fair lady. Oh, and by the way, I hope that you will be staying for dinner? The chefs are dying for a chance to impress you." he said with another big smile.
"I will be staying here for a while but your chefs will not cook another meal in their lives." She said and took a sip of the wine.
The older man was just about to light his pipe but stopped in the middle of the motion. "What do you mean, my lady?"
She looked over at him with amused eyes. "I have come here to demonstrate what happens to those that betray the empire. Such as yourself."
The warden brought his pipe down. "I don't understand what you mean, general Esdeath?"
"There is no purpose in denying it. The emperor has already issued the order." She said and took another sip of his wine.
The warden was no fool. He knew that if the order was already issued, there was no going back. He put his pipe down beside his wine glass.
"Is that it? Have you just come here to kill me in my own home" he said. All the mirth and joy gone from his voice. Revealing the distressed state he had been in since he had heard about her arrival.
"No, I won't kill you here." Esdeath said with a casual tone. As if she was talking about the weather. "I was tasked with making an example out of you. I will hurt you a bit here but I will bring you back to the capital. There I will show you off to the public after I have... reduced you a bit. Then you will die."
The older man had seen examples of what she did when she reduced her opponents. She had once visited his estate right after a bigger battle and had brought the leader of the opposing forces with her. Esdeath had crushed the man until he was little more than dog. Leading him around with a leash, naked and crawling on all fours.
She had apparently been parading him around in front of the people that had believed in him and the soldiers that had put their trust in him. Making him run around, do tricks and lick the ground she had walked on. She grew tired of him after she arrived at the warden's estate though. So she told him to to go and try to fight her pet dragon with a stick, which he happily did. Both getting rid of the unwanted pet and feeding her steed at the same time. She hadn't even stayed to watch it but the warden had. He had nightmares about it weeks after that.
He swallowed hard. His throat dry.
"And you have no qualms about this at all? After all the kindness and hospitality I have shown you? Haven't we known each other ever since you became a general?" He looked her straight in the eyes but the gaze he was met with held no sympathy or compassion.
"You made a huge mistake when you chose to oppose the empire that I represent. I thought you would have been smart enought to understand that." she said. Still wearing a calm smile. Even if it now had a darker tinge to it.
"The only reason I started negotiations with the western countries in sectret was to lessen the hate and racism that is growing on both sides of the war."
"I have been told that you have been harbouring other people's slaves and vigilantes fleeing from the imperial court, as well."
"All I have done is to save the orphans and refugees this conflict within the empire has created." he said. Keeping a proud tone. Even if his face was getting sweaty.
"By giving them to the revolutionary army?" Esdeath's smile got a mocking tone to it. "Knowing that they would go up against me and my kind sooner or later? Not that I mind but didn't you realize how futile that idea was?"
The old man took a steadying breath. Grabbing hold of the arms of his chair in order to conceal how much his hands were shaking. "I may not look like it, but I believe that it is better to die fighting than living your life begging on your knees. Can't you at least relate to that?"
"I can understand that some people choose death instead of life. It seems reasonable if they can't handle the conditions they have to live under. Doesn't mean that I relate to them." She looked over at him again. Smiling a smile that almost seemed joyful. "And believe me, you yourself will be begging in the end either way."
"So you will treat me just like every other enemy you have faced?"
"I can't say that I have high hopes about your endurance. The spirit usually breaks pretty quick when your body is not used to pain." she poured herself some more wine from the bottle the butler had left on the table. "So I don't think I will get much entertainment out of you. But I am intrested in how your squeals will sound since you have such a dignified voice normally." she said nonchalantly.
"What about the staff of my estate?"
"My garrsion should be here any minute. You will be the only one I bring back alive to the capital."
The older man sent a gaze to his butler who was standing in the back of the room. The other man nodded and slowly started to leave. Esdeath noticed it without looking but she didn't care. Her hunters would catch most of those who tried to run away. She smiled at the warden and when he returned his eyes to her she slowly shook her head.
She reached over and took the wine bottle. "But I must say, this wine is really good. I should get a hold of some for myself." she said as she read the labels on the bottle.
"General Esdeath!" the old man gathered all the resolve he had. He rose up and walked over to her. He kneeled in front of her chair. "Please, I beg you." With shaking hands he took of his top hat and bent his head down in front of her. His pretty monocle falling down on the carpet.
"I have almost a hundred peolpe working for me here. Only four or five of them knew anything of this. Please let the other ones go. For the all the food and wine, for all the words and rest I have offered you, please do me this last favour." he said. His voice unsteady as he begged the girl who was young enough to be his daughter.
Esdeath slowly placed one of her boots on top of his sweaty head. Pushing it down slightly as she drank from her wine glass. Considering his request. In the end her sense of loyalty got the upper hand. He had treated her to a lot of good meals.
"Fine. If you bring me the ones who knew of this, then I will only kill a tenth of the people you have working here. The rest may go."
"Will you let me go and tell them?"
She considered it for a moment."Yeah, I will give you a little time. My garrison isn't quite here yet, it would seem. And I am sure you know that you can't escape me."
The older man nodded and rose up. Leaving his monocle and hat lying on the floor. He straightened up and walked out of the room with all the pride he could muster.
Esdeath remained sitting there for a while. Looking at the fire while drinking the last of the wine. The old man seemed to have some spirit left in him, she thought. Maybe this would be enjoyable after all.
She suddenly heard a scream from the floor above her. She got a premonition and rose up. She grabbed her weapon and walked out of the room at a fast pace. After a little while she found stairs leading up to the second floor. She walked for half a minute before she found the source of the scream.
It was a young maid who were sitting down in the entry of a doorway leading into what seemed to be a small study. Covering her gaping mouth with her hands. Tears running down her face.
How boring, Esdeath thought as she looked into the study.
The warden of the empire's western territories was hanging from a beam in the roof with a rope around his neck. His body swaying slightly. A chair laying tipped over at his feet.
I guess he was lucky he was so heavy,she thought. If the fall hadn't snapped his neck, I might have discovered him before his death.
"If this is what you meant when you said that you prefered to die fighting then I am not impressed." she said. She walked forward and cut off the rope holding the body up. Watching it fall down to the floor. "Then again," she smiled and adjusted her cap with her hand,"you did actually manage to escape me."
She shook her head and turned around to the maid who was now sobbing. Her face hidden in her hands.
"I guess we will have to settle for making an example out of a hundred little servants."
Tatsumi walked into the same old restaurant that he had fallen asleep in the other night. This time he just walked up to the counter and ordered a beer. When he had gotten his bevearages he payed the barmaiden who was serving him. She gave him his receipt along with a bottle filled with some kind of dark liquid. He took them and walked off to a table.
He sat there alone for a while. Slowly working his way through the beer. When he felt that he no longer had any attention on him he gave the receipt a closer look. He looked through the numbers. Finding the values he was searching for.
Okay, he thought. One hour then I will move out. He looked out through one of the windows of the bar. It was almost midnight and the streets in this part of the city were not well lit. This was a good starting point. He would need to move away a bit from this bar before he began with his mission though. In case someone would recognize him.
He had actually been coming to this place a little bit too regulary during the last two months. He needed to find another contact to go through somewhere in the capital. If this continued on it would be easy to trace him to this place. Should he be caught.
He looked down on Incursio. Making sure that it was properly wrapped up in cloth. Disgused as a normal sword. He would need it tonight. His mission tonight would be relatively easy but it was one of the more important steps in the bigger picture. Setting everything up for tonight had also been very troublesome. It had required a lot of people. So it had taken it's sweet time. But now everything was ready. Now he just needed to light the fire. Literally.
When he felt that enough time had passed he grabbed the untouched bottle and left the bar with it. Moving down into the smaller and darker alleyways of the slum. After a little while he stopped in a backyard between two houses. He attached the bottle he was carrying to his belt.
He started to take in his surroundings as well as he could. He couldn't detect anyone else. He took a deep breath. Here we go.
He jumped up as silently as he could. Doing some small wall jumps between the two building until he reached the roof of one of them. When he was up on the roof he started to move in long quick jumps between rooftoops. Moving towards the nearest military district.
This, along with his starting position, had all been meant to make it harder to follow him or discern his final destination.
He jumped over a couple more rooftops and then stopped when he reached the wall that cut off the military district he was moving towards from the civilian houses. He could see his destination from here.
A huge stone building just some kilometers away. The imperial archives.
The one place where all the history and background of the military was documented. Along with all the information and identification of every soldier in the military and their backgrounds. Every battle report, every order issued, every mission summary and every written rule about military conduct was kept there. Without it, the imperial army would be one step closer to chaos.
It had been considered as a target by the revolutionary army many times but due to how close it was to the palace it had never been attempted. Plus the fact that the building was huge and made entirely out of stone. You would need a couple of really big barrels of fuel and a great deal of time if you wanted to destroy the important papers inside of the building walls. It was almost impossible to accomplish from the outside.
However, if you already had a lot of fuel hidden inside of the building, it was a diffrent story.
If you had flammable fuel hidden away in the covers of countless of books that had been borrowed and then returned. If you had fuel dyed into the pages of hundreds of mission reports. Turned in by many diffrent people over the course of six months. If you had all that and the positions of the hidden fuel mapped out properly, then you would only need a liter of fuel to turn it all aflame in a minute or two. He reached down with a hand to ensure that the bottle was still attached to his side.
Tatsumi smiled. Let's go start a fire! ,he thought.
He grabbed Incursio, transformed and immediately turned invisible. He planted both his feet into the roof and jumped over the wall.
Unaware that he had been watched until the moment he turned invisible. Through a pair of binoculars from very far away.
Author's note:
A bit of a build-up chapter for the two next ones. For some reason I was able write this faster then I had expected. Don't really know why. My schedule will have cleared up after the week-end so expect the next one in about 7 days.
The last chapter was so littered with spelling mistakes that I actually had to go back and correct the worst parts of it. Hopefully this one is better. I would like to avoid having to spend time on correcting old mistakes since it takes time that I could be using to get a new chapter out. So I might have to get someone to spell check or betaread this story if it continues to get more followers.
As always, thanks for reading this little story of mine. I sound like a broken record but the fact that people have taken an intrest in it makes it a lot more fun for me to do. Heck, if no one had followed it I would probably have dropped it after the last chapter I released. So thanks once again.
Have a good day and take care of each other.