Rose landed just as the door opened, brushing her hair back into place. Marius swept in with a pair of guards, stopped short, seeing her unbound arms.
"Well, then," he said. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."
"I'm very crafty," she said calmly.
"Oh, yes, I know," he said.
She held out her wrists, raising an eyebrow.
"Did you want to bind me again, husband?"
"Oh, what's the use?" he said irritably. "It's just a waste of good rope."
"What do you want, Marius?"
"Solarius and I want to show you something," he said, gave her a cold smile. "Come with me."
She followed him to the balcony, the guards keeping her under careful watch, their hands going to their swords every time her hands so much as twitched to her sleeves. Solarius was waiting for them, inclined his head to her with a sarcastic little wave of his hand.
"I do wish you'd hurry it up," Rose said coolly. "I'm getting old. I'm tired. I'm starting to catch a chill."
"Oh, shut up," Marius snapped. "Stop whining."
A crowd had gathered outside the palace. Some of the citizens were kneeling, voices raised in babbling prayer. Others were pounding against the anti-magic shield around the palace, shouting furiously. The soldiers behind the shield looked skittish. Solarius walked to the edge of the balcony and raised his hands, and the crowd fell silent. Marius raised his voice.
"Citizens!" He cried. "The demon foe we face today may seem terrible, but I assure you all, he can be beaten!"
Rose surveyed the crowd, caught a few familiar, hard-eyed faced, and sighed in relief. Some of the rebel slaves had managed to escape the raid on the safe house. Some things, at least, were going according to plan.
"We stand on the brink of a new era," Marius continued, pompous. "The birth of a new divinity!"
"You're insane," Rose snapped bluntly. "It's going to kill you- if you're lucky."
"Be quiet," Marius snarled.
Rose fell silent, looking at him, suddenly saddened. She had never really loved him, she thought- how could she, after the man she'd once known? But she'd been fond of him, once, back when her back hadn't been so bent, back when he'd still had all his hair. Marius turned away from the reproach in her eyes, thin shoulders set.
"And now you must drink!" He cried, addressing the crowd. "Drink of the nectar of Emperor Solarius, and it shall be your salvation!"
Rose felt her eyes widen as she realized what they intended to do.
They were going to use their own citizens as weapons. That was why Florian had pulled the guards away from the shrines- he planned to expose his own people to the virulent magic ooze. He'd planned it all along. She was surprised- not even she would have gone that far. But then she looked at him, saw his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. He'd gone well and truly mad, she realized She only wished she'd seen it sooner.
"Stop!" she cried. "Don't listen, it won't save you!"
Citizens were swarming to the shrine, weeping. Her revolutionaries stood back, looking uncertain.
"Don't drink it!" she shouted.
"Keep her quiet," Marius hissed.
A guard dragged her back, hand going over her mouth. She fell silent, staring in horror as those who drank the ooze twisted and changed, turned and charged at those who had hung warily back. Then the screaming started. Rose turned away, feeling sick. Florian laughed behind the mask, a high,sharp giggle. The guards glanced at him, startled, and Marius gave them a wary look.
"Time to go, I think" he said. "The Emperor needs his daily rejuvenation."
"What should we do with her?" a guard asked him, gesturing to Rose.
"Take her to the palace dungeons and clap her in irons." He gave her a cold look. "I'd like to see you try to escape from that."
The guards led her away, the screams from the courtyard ringing in her ears.
-x-
"Oh, gods," Juno screeched, sounding horrified.
Kelda took the stairs down to the throne room two at a time, expecting something awful. Gnarl had sent her out of the throne room, claiming that her constant pacing was distracting him. Instead, she'd practically paced a groove into the floor in the private quarters, had gnawed her fingernails down to the skin.
"What?" She demanded, worried.
Juno was pointing a manicured finger at the display Gnarl had summoned up. It flickered and arced with lightning, hanging below the portal like a mirage.
"It's...it's awful," she cried. "It's hideous! I've never seen such a fashion disaster!"
"Oh." Fay perched on the steps of the dais next to her, sounding surprised. "That's Florian!"
"What in the name of all that's chic is a Florian?" Juno demanded.
"He is- was-my lieutenant, in the Sanctuaries. The Empire captured him weeks ago. I thought he was dead!"
"Good thing for him he's not," Juno sniffed. "I wouldn't want to be caught dead in those clothes, either."
"I escaped the Arena dungeon with the aid of a helpful fairy!" They heard the elf say.
"Lucky me," The Overlord snapped.
"I'm going to find Solarius," Florian declared. "He'll be a very different man when I'm finished with him!"
Gnarl pulled himself onto the stones next to them, grinning.
"Oh, so he's going to whinge at Solarius until he kills himself, is he?" He tilted his head, considering. "Hmm, could work."
Fay sat straighter, her mouth a tight line, hands knotted in her lap.
"Idiot," she snapped. "He's going to get himself killed."
"I thought you didn't care," Kelda said.
"I- I don't, of course not. But still. He's an idiot."
Fay leaned forward, frowning. Kelda glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. It was the most emotion she'd seen out of the elf woman yet.
A clash of iron on armor drew her attention back to the display. She bit at her thumbnail. Gnarl reached over and gave her arm a gentle swat.
"Mistress, the Master's not going to be happy if he comes home to find you've gnawed off all your fingers," he said. "Stop fretting. He's the Overlord. He'll be fine."
"I wish you'd have let me go with him," she said, frustrated. She raised her voice so the witch boy could hear her clearly. "I wanted to fight by your side, love, but Gnarl pitched a fit! And he hid all my spears, too."
She gave the old minion a dirty look. He just shrugged, unrepentant.
"How come you got so upset about me going with him, anyway?" Kelda asked him grumpily.
Fay hushed her hurriedly. Florian was saying something.
"Things would have been very different if I'd been magic, Scourge," the elf was saying, sounding regretful. "You know the other elves made fun of me? Elves are supposed to be magical, but I couldn't even make grass grow."
"A failure in life, too, then," Gnarl said, amused. "What a surprise."
"Don't call him that," Fay snapped, suddenly angry.
The three of them were staring at her, two quizzical sets of human eyes and a pair of goggling minion orbs. Fay sat up straighter, frowning back at them.
"He was a good lieutenant," she said tersely. "Well, at the very least, he tried."
"I'd hoped your predecessor's Tower Heart would unleash my potential," The elf was saying. "Which is why I tried to steal it, all those years ago. I mean, how was I to know that it would become unstable and slightly explode?"
Fay gasped, and Gnarl's eyes widened even further. It was a more than a little unsettling.
"So Florian caused the Cataclysm, eh?" Gnarl said. He chuckled. "Bumbling elf."
"Oh, Goddess," Fay said softly, reeling. "Florian, you poor, stupid fool."
She'd always known that he'd resented the Mother Goddess for the way she'd made him. And it was true, the other children had been merciless to him, when they'd been growing up. He'd taken it all with a smile, though, had shown them all nothing but a wry, sardonic mask. She'd never dreamed that he'd do something so utterly foolish.
"And then people started to fear magic. And along came Solarius, and he rose on the tide of their hatred and paranoia!" The elf gestured. "Hurry up, Scourge. The magic containment room is just through here."
He vanished through a pair of doors, and Fay caught her breath, realizing that she did, in fact, still care. Her lieutenant might be more than a little ridiculous, she thought, but he'd been clever, had risen through the ranks of her army on nothing more than his own wit and skill. But without magic, he didn't stand a chance against Emperor Solarius.
The Scourge followed him, more slowly. The magic containment room was vast, carved of white marble, flickering with an eerie blue light. Viscous, wild magic surged furiously against the walls of a vast pit, fighting the bonds that held it trapped.
Marius was perched above the pit, staring down at it, rapt. Florian dropped down behind him, and Kelda leaned forward eagerly.
"I'll take back every bad thing I ever said about him, if he pushes Marius off that ledge," she said eagerly.
"Everything is prepared for the ascension, my lord," Marius said, without turning. "People will talk about this day in whispers and-"
"Oh, do shut up, Marius," Florian snapped, struck him hard enough to knock him down.
Kelda let out a little cheer, and Juno clapped softly...and then stopped, startled, as Marius pulled himself gingerly to his feet and bowed to the elf, handing him a golden mask.
"Sorry, Lord," he said subsurviently.
"Anyone would think you were about to take over the world!"
The mask fit Florian perfectly. Fay sat, stunned.
"Florian?" she whispered.
"Well, then," Kelda said softly.
Juno just gaped.
"The god-Emperor Solarius...is an elf?" she murmured.
"Shall we continue?" The Emperor asked the witch boy, smirking beneath the mask. "I assure you, your complete and total annihilation is just around the corner."
The Overlord leaned on his axe, eyeing him warily. There was no clear way, he thought, to get to the Emperor, and the elf was too far away for his magic to be much use. Perhaps, he thought, if he threw a minion hard enough...
"Do I really have a choice?" he asked, dry. "Or do I have to sit here and wait whilst you monologue?"
The Emperor ignored him, striding to the edge of the pit, the eerie blue glow reflecting from his mask.
"As you can see, Florian still has his uses. Helping me play with your little barbarian head, for one. And by maintaining him, I could bring the Sanctuaries down from the inside, piece by piece. Ah, I really hope that bit of delicious irony isn't lost on you, Scourge."
"Perhaps you should explain it again, more slowly," The Overlord said. He glanced down at a brown, back at the elf, trying to decide whether or not he could manage the throw. "Just so that it gets through my thick barbarian skull."
Fay was white as a ghost.
All that death, she thought again, and then she remembered. It had been Florian who had suggested she give the Scourge the power of her shrines. It had been Florian's ship that had led the Overlord's ship to the gates of Everlight. And it must have been he who had shown the Empire the way into the heart of Everlight itself.
How could she not have seen it before?
"I collected the magic here," Florian said, and with a gesture, his garish costume rippled and changed, settling into the regal robes of the Emperor. "I refined it, and used it to help my citizens until they became...pliable. Though of course I sampled a little. Took what was mine."
"Florian," Fay said again, remembering the boy she'd known so many years ago.
"Here are people's dreams and nightmares, their fears and will! They will be reborn in me, as I rise from elf to Emperor to God!"
She knew what he was going to do, Fay thought, horrified. He'd always wanted to be like her, like her father, like all the other elves. He'd craved it, needed it, until it had finally driven him mad.
The Emperor stepped off the ledge and plummeted down into the raw, wild magic.
"Well," the Overlord said coolly, looking over the ledge. "Is it too much to hope he's killed himself?"
The room began to shake, marble pillars toppling, and he swore under his breath, backing hurriedly away from the edge. Something heaved itself from the pit, oozing and amorphous, howling, tore its way through the wall of the palace and plunged into the burning city beyond.
Marius was practically vibrating with excitement, the monocle popping from his eye.
"He's beautiful!" he shrieked. "He's beautiful! My god is a wondrous sight!"
He raced away after the abomination, cackling. The Overlord stared after them, astounded.
"What in the hells just happened?" he asked slowly.
"I think that thing is Florian!" Gnarl exclaimed. "It looks to me like all that magical energy isn't taking kindly to its new host!"
"Well, he's destroying my city. Any ideas on how I can take him down?"
"I suggest a healthy dose of thwacking it about until it's dead, Master."
"Thanks, Gnarl. That's helpful, as always."
He gathered his minions and set out to save the city he hated.
-x-
Rose felt the moment when the shield over the palace dissolved. She felt the questing touch of the Sentinels on her mind, realized with a curious affection that they'd been searching for her. She sent out her will, summoning them, as the guards brought out the manacles, ready to chain her. Her guards' eyes widened as the Sentinels shimmered into place around her, and they made superstitious little signs against evil, hands going to their swords.
"One chance," she snapped at them. "Drop your swords and run."
Steel rang on stone, and as a man they turned and fled. She smiled, grim, then stopped short as the foundations of the palace shook. She felt magic crackle and surge in her very bones, heard the Sentinels keening, their hooded heads twisting to look towards the magic containment room.
"Oh, no," she breathed.
Her son hadn't been able to stop Florian in time, she thought.
She hurried from the dungeons, as fast as her legs would take her, got to the palace courtyard just in time to see something impossibly vast and monstrous burst from the marble walls and lurch its way towards the city. She stared after it, shocked. The Sentinels drifted after it, drawn to its magic like moths to a flame, keening piteously. She drew them back to her with an effort of will, shuddering. She could feel the savage, feral power in the hideous thing, knew that it would crush her fragile Sentinels like ants if they got near it.
Up ahead, she saw her son jump down from the ruined wall, followed by the remains of his ragged minion army. She summoned her remaining Sentinels and went after him.
The god-thing was rampaging, mindless, crushing everything in its path. Marius was standing on a balcony, looking down at it like a proud parent.
"Bow down to the great devourer!" he cried, his eyes gleaming. "Kneel, you pathetic fools! Kneel, and let him destroy you!"
Rose looked up, frowning, caught a glimpse of firelight on steel. There were archers crouched on the rooftops above the courtyard, wearing black, faces smeared with soot. As she watched, one let an arrow fly, and her son grunted in pain as it struck his shoulder, trying to focus his attention on the newborn god. She raised her hands, drawing on the Sentinels' power, and the archer toppled, choking, as she drew the very air from his lungs.
"No!" She snapped. "There must be balance! The cycle must be maintained."
The archers on the rooftops hesitated, bows swinging towards her. The Sentinels turned dark hoods towards them, and they turned and fled. Marius gave her a venomous look, his eyes mad.
"You can't stop this now, Rose!" He cried, laughing. "My God will embrace us all!"
Her son glanced at her, keeping a wary eye on the ravenous god.
"When one force grows out of control, another always rises to stop it," she told him. "If you don't cut him down now, the world will tear itself apart until either he or it is destroyed."
The god-thing howled, tearing its way through a wall, humping off into the city. Her son made to follow it, but she put her hand on his arm.
"There cannot be light without darkness," she said softly. "And you are that darkness. His aggression shows fear- he can be killed."
He looked down at her, expressionless, and pulled his arm away. She stepped back to her Sentinels and gave him a weary, wary smile.
"Good luck."