Chapter Fifty Four

Purge List

ELSA

"We meet again, Your Grace." Janus' mechanical voice behind the mask was low and menacing, perfect for striking fear into the hearts of people like the weaselly Duke Anton. Somehow, Anton's footfalls had been almost silent in spite of his waddling nature.

The short, plump duke struggled futilely against Janus, trying to shout for help but his words came out incredibly soft and muffled behind Janus' gloved hand. Arms and legs flailing, he tried to break away from Janus but failed quite miserably.

"Scream, and I'll open your throat," Janus' whisper sent chills down even Elsa's spine and she was immensely glad that he was on her side.

Duke Anton nodded vigorously, and sprawled forward on all fours as Janus let go of him. Whimpering, he sat up and stared frog-eyed at Janus and Elsa. "You again." He spoke in English, his voice a frightened squeak any man would deem shameful.

"Keep your voice down." Elsa hissed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He cowered, and if he shrunk back any further, Elsa was sure he would retreat into a hidden turtle shell.

"You remember us." Elsa said.

"Of course I do." Anton's expression turned from one of shock to indignation, glaring daggers at Elsa. "You're that witch. The Snow Queen." He turned to Janus. "And you…you betrayed the Empire, sovrlairn!"

"Be very careful how you speak to her." Janus took a step towards the duke and he scooted backwards in fear. "She really doesn't like being called a witch."

"Don't hurt me!" Anton squealed as Janus snatched him by the front of his shirt and hoisted him to his feet.

"That all depends on how well you cooperate." Elsa said coolly. It was time for the famous 'good cop bad cop' interrogation routine Melody was always telling her about. She glanced at Janus, who gave her a nod of affirmation.

Wide-eyed, Anton stared at her. "What do you want?"

"Are the archives guarded at this time of the night?" Elsa asked.

Anton blinked like a confused animal. "I don't understand."

Janus shook him again. "Just answer the question."

"Alright! It is. Ever since the emperor had all the ministries consolidate their records and accounts in the most well guarded place in the Empire, he's doubled the soldiers guarding the Chamber of Archives."

"And what are you doing skulking around so late at night?" Elsa asked.

"I have a speech I need to deliver tomorrow morning. I've been working on it all night. His Imperial Majesty demanded it of me earlier this evening." Anton glared at her defiantly. "He has the Ministry of Propaganda working around the clock ever since you war criminals showed up in our city!"

"That's enough," Janus shook him yet again and the surly duke piped down. "We need you to clear out the guards."

"Why?"

"We need access to the Chamber of Archives," Elsa said. "Can you do it?"

Nervously, Anton fidgeted with his long nose. "I can't! The emperor, he told me that I am his last hope. He's counting on me to-"

"The emperor's not here, but I am." Janus switched his grip on Anton such that he had his arm wrapped around the front of the duke's thick neck, and a small dagger appeared in his hand. He pressed the point of the blade against Anton's pot belly. "How long do you think you'll hold out before you start screaming?"

"Stop! Please," The duke whimpered.

"Can you do it?" Elsa repeated.

"I'll get the guards to disperse."

"Great," Janus shoved Anton forward roughly and he nearly sprawled again. "Get moving."

"And no surprises," Elsa warned. She exchanged a glance with Janus. Perhaps it was good luck that had seen them run into the miserable duke, though Anton clearly didn't feel that way. A small part of her actually pitied him.

Leading the two intruders, Duke Anton waddled along at knife point towards the Chamber of Archives that was located on the other end of the block. Along the way, Elsa could hear boots pacing the floor, and she and Janus ducked to safety as Anton continued on, affecting his haughty disposition as though nothing was wrong. When the soldiers had gone, the duo caught up to Anton and the three of them carried on towards their destination on the other side of the block.

Before long, Anton called for a halt. He peered out nervously from behind a large pillar. "We are here," His whisper held a noticeable quivering to it.

Elsa saw that a large room with barricaded doors and a bolt and lock stood at the end of the spacious, carpeted corridor. Ten Blitzguard soldiers filled the hallway, some patrolling back and forth while others peered out of the same long, vertical glass windows that overlooked the frozen moat which surrounded the castle.

"Tell them to leave," Janus said in a low voice. "And don't try to fool us. We understand Exonite."

Anton gulped. "They're not fools. They will suspect something."

"Then it's your job to convince them," Elsa said. "You're a duke."

A bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face, the small, round man swallowed again. "Yes, but-"

Janus lightly pressed his dagger into the small of the duke's back. "I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Tugging at his collar, Anton gulped and nodded. Puffing out his chest and plastering on a pompous disposition, he seemed to transform into an entirely different person in one fell swoop. Drawing himself up as much as he could, he strolled out from behind the pillar into plain sight of the soldiers.

"Your Grace," All the soldiers stiffened and straightened as the small duke came round the corner.

Exuding arrogance and a superiority complex, Anton gave them a disdainful look-over, his eyes exuding that none of them were worthy to breathe the same air as he. Wordlessly, he continued towards the doors.

"Your Grace," One of the soldiers - a lieutenant, by the single stripe on his epaulettes - got his attention. "Might I inquire your intentions?"

"Haven't you heard?" Anton drawled, affecting his rich Exonian accent. "The emperor tasked me with delivering an important speech tomorrow in the town square," He glanced round at the baffled soldiers with a pregnant pause. "No? Of course not, it is above you peasants. Now unlock those doors." He waved flippantly. "I have some research to do."

The soldiers exchanged confused glances, but the lieutenant shrugged and gestured for them to do as the duke had ordered. The barricades were removed and the lieutenant removed a key, undoing the great lock on the doors. The bolt was shot and pulled back, and the doors creaked inwards.

"Good. Now leave." Anton said in the most supercilious tone Elsa had ever heard.

The lieutenant looked taken aback. "Beg pardon, Your Grace?"

"I said leave." Anton snapped. "I can't have you fools hovering around while I'm trying to write my speech. How am I supposed to get any work done?"

"But Your Grace, we'll be outside."

"Didn't you listen to anything I said?" The duke spat. "I can't concentrate knowing you peasants are skulking the grounds! Leave me in peace."

"But His Imperial Majesty gave specific orders for us to-"

"How do you think he will react when he hears that a few lowly soldiers got in the way of the speech he wants delivered to the masses? You'll be lucky to remain in the army," Anton snatched the key from the lieutenant and glared at the soldiers around him. "Do not make me ask again, or I'll see to it personally that all of you have no future in the Empire."

Hesitating for just a moment, the soldiers crisply saluted and the lieutenant barked orders for them to form up. They marched off towards the stairwell, leaving the doors unlocked and the Minister of Propaganda alone in the long hallway. Elsa and Janus waited for the footfalls to recede down the stairs completely, then lingered for another minute before surfacing from behind the large pillar.

"Good work." Elsa said.

The duke spat angrily. "The emperor will have a fit when he hears about this. He-"

"He will hear of nothing." Janus prodded him in the back. "Get inside."

Whimpering, Anton entered the Chamber of Archives and lit two candelabra lamps on a table beside the door. Janus shut the doors behind them quietly, masking their presence for the time being. He took the lamps from Anton and handed Elsa one.

Glancing round and holding the candelabra out in front of her, Elsa realised that the Chamber of Archives wasn't the musty, claustrophobic room she'd envisioned. The walls were far apart and the ceiling high, decorated with a single, well-adorned chandelier hanging from it. Shelves upon shelves lined the walls, and even more filled the rest of the room, arranged in rows and columns. It wasn't an archive. It was a fully-stocked library.

"Shit," Janus muttered. He met Elsa's eyes. Just like her, he hadn't expected this. This was going to take way longer than they'd anticipated, perhaps even longer than they had to spare.

"I did what you asked, now let me go." Anton moaned pathetically, every trace of the arrogant prick he'd been just minutes earlier now gone.

"No," Elsa rounded on him. "We still need you."

"What for?"

"Tell us where the Ministry of Economics keep its records," Elsa demanded fiercely. "Hurry."

Anton gulped. "I can't, the emperor, he'll-"

Elsa resisted the urge to let sorcery dance at her fingertips to frighten the simpering man. She couldn't afford to risk exposing her presence to the ever vigilant Mage Slayers. They would be on top of her and Janus within minutes if she used her magic.

But Janus did her job for her. He grabbed Anton by his collar and lifted him off the ground, slamming his back against one of the shelves and causing a couple of files and books to dislodge out of place from the impact. "I'm running out of patience," Janus said, his mechanical voice hissing menacingly as he tightened his grip. "And you're running out of air."

"I'll help you!" Anton squealed, his legs kicking as they dangled above the ground. "Please don't hurt me."

"Then show us where the records are," Elsa repeated.

Nodding vigorously, Anton was lowered and he gasped in relief as Janus let go of him. He began waddling quickly off towards the endless rows of shelves, prompting Elsa and Janus to follow. Weaving in and out between the shelves more gracefully than Elsa would have given him credit for, the duke brought them to one of the many identical shelves and stopped.

"Here," He trembled as he indicated the few rows of shelves around them.

Lifting the candelabra up, Elsa peered closer at the contents of the shelves populated with an endless array of books, files and binders. Cross border trade policies, comparative analyses of production possibilities, historical records of gross domestic product and gross national product, updated Exonian monetary policy, graphical records of inflation level and long run aggregate supply…A tight smile creased Elsa's face. This was it, alright, but they had a whole shitload of content to sieve through.

"Are we in the right place?" Janus asked.

"We are," Elsa said grimly. "But this is going to take us a while."

Janus grabbed Anton before he could crawl away. "Where is the…the…"

"The historical records of the Empire's expenditure." Elsa finished for him. "We need to compare the records across the various expenditure categories."

"How the hell would I know? Do I look like an economist?" Anton squawked, his eyes bulging wide. "I'm the Minister of Propaganda!"

"Keep your voice down," Janus growled.

"You will not get away with this. You think allying yourself with the traitors among us will be the Empire's undoing? You think you will live to see the end of tomorrow?" Anton questioned defiantly, trying to pry Janus' grip loose, his already wide eyes enlarging further. "My speech in the morning will change the course of history. We will hunt down all traitors and purge them. The Empire will have peace!"

"There's just one problem," Janus said. "You can't give a speech with a broken jaw."

"What?"

Janus socked the duke across the jaw and he duke crumpled, his head drooping in unconsciousness. "He was getting on my nerves." He said as he let the duke slip from his grasp and sprawl heavily to the ground.

Shrugging, Elsa turned back to the shelves. The duke had been getting on her nerves too, and it was apparent that beyond this point, he would be useless. Her eyes scanned the shelves meticulously, travelling left to right and up and down, trying to find something relevant to what Ludwig had tasked them to find.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Janus asked.

"Help me find anything that's related to records on expenditure. Consumer expenditure, private investments, government spending, exports, imports," She trailed off as she continued to walk along the numerous shelves. Janus joined her in the search, starting at the other end of the shelves.

"Consumer Price Index, record of labour market conditions, comparisons of unemployment rate…" she mouthed to herself, picking out the files and documents that were relevant. Hans really needed to hire someone to organise the archives categorically.

"Price ceilings," Janus appeared from out of nowhere with a folder in hand, startling Elsa who almost let out a squeak of surprise. "Does this sound right?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, we're looking for macroeconomics," When she saw that he tilted his head in confusion, she held back a sigh. "Think of it like we're trying to look at the big picture of Exon's economy. We're not looking for things like how the various businesses and corporations compete against each other or how prices impede the quantity supplied or demanded."

"Oh." Janus' mechanical voice sounded lost.

"Just look out for key words like expenditure and spending."

"Okay." He slipped back into the darkness.

She let out a quiet sigh under her breath. This really was going to take a while. Reserve banking, currency valuation, cyclical unemployment rates, lists of trade tariffs imposed by the Confederation of the North…Even as Elsa continued searching and filtering out the documents she needed, something constantly niggled at her mind like a desperate fly trapped in a jar. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was a strange feeling that unsettled her. Eyebrows furrowed, she tried to make sense of the feeling. What is it? What did I miss?

After a long agonising minute of racking her brains, it hit her. Duke Anton had been so confident that they would get their comeuppance. He had been so specific in his threat. You think you will live to the end of tomorrow? We will hunt down all traitors and purge them.

Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't picked it up earlier, but Anton knew something the two of them didn't. Documents in hand, Elsa rushed back to where Janus had left the Minister of Propaganda lying unconscious in a pool of his own drool, and dropped to her knees. As she sat down the candelabra and documents beside Anton, she hissed to Janus.

"Janus!"

He was at her side in an instant. "What is it?"

"Anton. I thought it was just an idle threat." She said as she patted down the duke's pockets. "He said he was writing a speech. I thought he was referring to us when he said the Empire would purge all traitors," she stared at Janus, her face pale. "But what if he knows?"

"Knows what?"

"That we aren't acting alone. That the Equalitar exists."

Janus froze.

Turning back to Anton, Elsa continued to check his pockets, and stopped when she felt the inner pocket of his sweat stained waist coat. Her hand touched folded paper, and she fished it out. Unfolding it, she began to read.

"What is it?" Janus said as he saw a muscle jump in her jaw.

"Purge list." She whispered, ashen faced. "Hans knows."

Janus stared at the letter which was written in Exonian, and read aloud.

Anton, it is with a heavy heart that I am asking you to do this. As Minister of Propaganda, the duty falls upon your shoulders to carry out this great burden. It is time to purge our great Empire of the forces standing in the way of greatness. Tomorrow, you will reveal to the public that we have traitors within our midst. Exonians, our very own flesh and blood, who have to be neutralised before they can threaten our success. Below is a list of individuals who have betrayed me and more importantly, the Empire.

Signed,

Hans Tal Westergaard

Janus looked up. "The list below. Ludwig's compromised and so are the rest. Hell, the whole damn House Voda has been condemned."

"Schulzmacher, Salvo, Mano, along with countless others from the different Houses. We have to warn them," Elsa unslung the pack on her back and began to cram the documents and files she'd lifted from the shelves into the pack along with the purge list. "We have to get back to Ludwig and warn him that the Equalitar is compromised. They can still go into hiding before it's too late." She stood up in a hurry and turned to him. "You managed to get the documents?"

"A few," Janus handed a couple of documents to her. "I think they're what we are looking for."

Elsa took a brief look at them. They were relevant. Good. She just had to hope they'd managed to secure enough evidence to damn the emperor and his reign. Jamming them into her pack, she slung the pack across her back. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

"Hold it," Janus stiffened, holding out a hand for her to stay put. "I hear movement."

Elsa strained her ears but couldn't pick anything up in the faintest.

"Blitzguard," He reported in a low hiss. "They must know we're here."

"Open up!" A voice shouted in Exonite. "We know you're in there! Come out with your hands laced behind your heads!"

"Damn it," Elsa felt herself panicking, her heart rate soaring and her hands grew clammy with sweat. We're going to get caught.

"Last chance or we're coming in!"

"Kill the lights," Janus told her as he snuffed out the candelabra in his hand.

She did the same. "Now what?"

Janus glanced down at the duke. "We sure as hell can't take him hostage. He'll just slow us down."

The doors were kicked in with a loud thump, and Blitzguard soldiers streamed into the Chamber of Archives, their white uniforms standing out in the dark. Rifle levelled, the emperor's elite soldiers moved in precise formation, fanning out throughout the library.

"They killed the lights," A soldier - presumably their leader - called out. "Stay in your pairs and keep your eyes open."

Crouching behind one of the many shelves in pitch darkness, Anton already hidden together with them, Elsa was quietly glad that the Chamber of Archives had no windows, so there was no moonlight filtering in and giving away their hiding spots. They could blend into the darkness and hopefully evade their hunters. But even as she thought it, she knew it was a ridiculous notion. These soldiers were trained hunters, the emperor's handpicked men. There was no way she and Janus was going to slip out of here undetected. No, they would very likely have to fight. And that meant blowing their cover.

JANUS

Twelve. Fourteen. Sixteen. Janus' eyes were accustomed to the darkness, and he was sure he hadn't missed any of them out. Sixteen. That was still going to be a challenge to get through without raising any more alarms. And that wasn't even counting the fact that these soldiers were from the Imperial Blitzguard. Could he and Elsa carve through them and escape unscathed?

He knew that he could, with some effort and a little more stealth than it usually took to neutralise a regular squad. But without being able to use her sorcery for fear of alerting the Mage Slayers, Elsa was going to be at a disadvantage. Jaw tightening, he met Elsa's eyes. She knew it too. He was going to have to stick close to her as the two of them fought their way out. Lifting his hands, he began to form signs with his fingers, hoping Elsa understood him. Thankfully, she nodded.

Unslinging the bow from his back, Janus gripped the riser tightly in his gloved fist, dagger in his other hand. He was going to have to work very quickly. As the first pair of soldiers drew nearer, their boots making almost imperceptible noises against the library floor, Janus lunged forward, driving the dagger into the back of one's skull and hooking his bow around the neck of another. He covered the struggling man's mouth and kicked his leg out from under him. The man bucked forward, and Janus leaned his entire bodyweight on him, putting pressure on his neck. A faint crack and the man died.

Close behind him, Elsa tapped his side and imperatively gestured to their left flank. Another pair was coming, though unaware of their presence just yet. Yanking his dagger free, he sheathed it quickly and drew an arrow from his quiver. He nocked, aimed between the gaps in the shelves and loosed, a hand drawing yet another arrow and repeating the process in rapid succession. The new pair of soldiers went down without any fuss.

Four down, twelve to go. "Stay here," He told Elsa, then began to nimbly scale the tall shelf they were hiding behind. Climbing to the top to the shelf, he crouched low. From where he was, he could see most of the remaining guards prowling through the library's maze-like structure.

He drew, nocked, and fired, arms working quickly like a machine. Another two went down. Then four. Six. Eight. A shout broke his concentration and he spun to find himself staring down two rifle barrels aimed up at him. It was like watching his life flash before his eyes as the rifles cracked deafeningly at such close range and two lead balls zinged straight towards him. In that moment, he knew he wouldn't be able to get out of the way, definitely not in time.

A cold stream froze the lead balls in mid air and threw them off course, and another volley of ice punched the two soldiers like enfilade fire, slamming them into the nearby shelf with such force that the shelf toppled. A loud crash ensued, drawing the attention of the last two soldiers in the room.

Janus watched as Elsa intercepted them, freezing their weapons with the wave of a hand and slamming the other straight into one's chest, driving him back with a blast of ice which sent him careening into a wall. The last soldier tried to raise his frozen weapon, only for Elsa to clench her fist and shatter the rifle without laying a hand on it. Immediately, the soldier tried to clobber her to the ground but she dropped low, smashing an ice-covered fist into his knee. The soldier buckled in pain, lost his balance and pitched forward, hitting his nose on the ground. Snarling, he recovered quickly and grabbed Elsa's ankle, trying to pull her to the ground but jerked abruptly as Janus launched an arrow through his forehead.

He leapt from the top of the shelf and landed in a noiseless crouch. "I thought we were supposed to do this quietly." Her way of handling the enemies was incredibly efficient - but it was more of a noisy and messy sort of efficient. And she'd just revealed her presence to the Mage Slayers.

"They were going to shoot you. What was I supposed to do?" Elsa pursed her lips into a hard line. "Sorry. Cloak and dagger operations were never my strong suit."

"By now the Crimson Order must know we're here," Janus gritted his teeth. "We need to get out of here. Now." They raced to the entrance and threw open the doors, where they were instantly met by another slew of rifles aimed at them.