Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2)
Read Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2) Online
Authors: Bryan Choi,E H Carson
Contents
A Preview of Prince of Maladies
Swords of the Imperium
Bryan Choi & Erica Carson
Copyright © Bryan Choi & Erica Carson
All rights reserved.
Swords of the Imperium is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are a product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
Published by Delphinium Press, LLC.
The Polaris Chronicles:
Guns of the Temple
Swords of the Imperium
Prince of Maladies (Fall 2016)
Knives of the Ring (Winter 2016)
To Domo
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Shay, Whitney, Greg, and Colby for again being my faithful beta readers. I think you all must have read this entire thing four times back to back, suffering along the way. Thanks again to my onions and minions at Ninpocho Chronicles and Frequency Writer's Group in Providence for your support. And finally, I couldn’t have done any of this without the skill, love, and sick burns of my coauthor, Erica. – Bryan
Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to stick with it, especially the Thunderdome team. Double thanks to my inimitable parents, abeonim, and eomeonim for encouraging and supporting our efforts. – Erica
Hadassah Mikkelsen licked the flat of her knife and smiled sweetly. “He’s being difficult. Let’s cut off his head, take his key, and open the chest already.”
“I don’t want to hang for fragging an officer,” Draco Emreis said. He unwound a length of hempen rope from around his fists and drew it tight. “If we all rush him at once, we can hog-tie him instead. Besides, who’s to say the key’s actually on him? What if he hid it somewhere?”
Karma Gillette smacked the wide end of a leather-wrapped cudgel against his palm. “I bet he shoved it up his rear. It’s like a hidden compartment for men.”
“I’m
definitely
not checking that,” Hadassah said.
“I’m in command,” Captain Lotte Satou said. “I’ll check.”
Draco looked surprised. “Captain? You sure?”
Lotte nodded grimly and spat into her right hand. “Mikkelsen, hold him down. He’ll feel more comfortable if women do the deed.”
Taki Natalis clenched his jaw as he swept his squad with the muzzle of his pistol. With his promotion to cornet came the privilege of carrying a side arm within the Temple. The Herstal he had been given was a third-rate castoff pockmarked by rust, but it
worked
. Taki was grateful to have the weapon, especially while backed into a corner and facing unspeakable acts. The only problem was that he only had a single dirty round to his name. “For the
last time
,” he said, “I’m not holding out on any of you! We are
out of bullets.
That
is why you haven’t been paid.”
“Then go to the shrine and get more!” Draco flipped his hair in indignation. “I’ll hold your hand if you’re scared of being robbed.”
“You think I haven’t checked? There’s no more grad in our coffers. Hecaton Mezeta’s the one who fills our stores. She’s been missing for a
fortnight
!”
“Don’t we have savings?” Hadassah said. “Just give us our friggin’ pay! I thought we were
friends
! Why do you have to be so
mean
?”
“I’m not being mean!” Taki replied. “And
you’re
the one who wants to cut my head off or rape me or both!”
Hadassah sniffled and wiped at her nose.
Taki rolled his eyes. “Don’t you dare!”
Karma shook his head. “Are you really making a girl cry?”
“Don’t you feel bad about yourself, Natalis?” Draco asked.
For a moment, Taki considered shooting himself and trying to bleed all over everyone before he died. Hopefully, he’d make Hadassah throw up and Draco slip and break a rib. He wasn’t Lotte—he couldn’t simply beat them all to death—so suicide was the only alternative. He raked his fingernails against his scalp. “Oh, fine! This will definitely get me knouted, but fuck it. I’ll open the box and show you all, if you stop trying to murder me.”
“But I wanted to check!” Lotte said. Her fingers gleamed stickily in the torchlight.
Taki ignored her and holstered his gun. He knelt down, grasped the brass handle of a worn wooden chest, and dragged the chest over the stones until it was in full view of his squad. Then he reached into his leggings, grimaced, and produced a tarnished old key.
Hadassah gasped. “Was that in…in your
bung
?”
Taki shot her a vitriolic glare and turned the key. Slowly, he opened the lid.
“Damnation.” Draco tossed his rope away.
“You all owe me an apology!” Taki’s voice cracked, but his scowl held firm. The balding felt interior of the chest was completely bare. He slammed the lid shut. “I can’t believe you all tried to brutalize me! You
know
I can’t show you lot what’s inside!”
“All right, we’re sorry!” Draco looked at the others.
“Why am I the only one abasing myself here?”
Taki crossed his arms.
Draco flinched. “You want me to kowtow to you? I’ll do it, so long as you stop looking at me like that.”
“That’s enough,” Lotte said. “I’m very sorry, Natalis. I shouldn’t have let things get to this point. But the issue still stands! We need funds. We’re hungry.”
Taki sighed and sat back on the paybox. His expression softened, if only slightly. “Captain, you know the answer.”
“Right. I’ll sell Emreis to a cathouse.”
“
No.
We have to find and talk to
Mezeta
.
Without her, we starve.”
Draco’s eyes widened. “Wait a second. Let’s not do anything rash! Leave her lordship out of this, aye? We can all get by for a bit longer. After all, these are blessed times. We’re no longer in the kitchens, and most of all, that woman’s gone and fucked off to God knows where! My virtue is a small price to pay for it. I’ll make a
fine
courtesan. You know how good I look in a dress. I’ll call myself…Dulcinea.”
“Draco’s delusions aside,” Karma said, “didn’t Mezeta vanish because of a promotion?”
“Yes, and it’s just like her,” Draco said. “She’s the opposite of human decency! An ungrateful hag! Her Grace the Basileus appoints Mezeta the exarch’s direct successor and what happens? The woman deserts!”
“Wait.” Hadassah chewed a nail. “You’re saying that being nice to Hecaton Mezeta makes her vanish? We’ve been going about this all wrong for
years
.”
“No, and I’ll tell you exactly why you’re wrong,” Draco said. “We’re just stupid barbarians to that woman. We’re not her loyal Polaris of the Temple. We’re just shit-flinging monkeys she uses to troll the higher-ups for the sake of her ego. And even after we singlehandedly repulsed the Imperial horde while flying
her
standard, her way of saying thanks is to neglect to pay us. If trying to screw her and trying to appease her yield the same result, then I’d rather keep plotting her death.
If for nothing else, then for the sake of my dignity!”
Hadassah cuffed Draco’s cheek. “You’re turning purple. And did you really just call me what I think you called me?”
“If she’d only dubbed our squad ‘The Dung-Chucking Gorillas,’ we’d all have been spared blasphemy charges and wouldn’t have had to do nothing but peel potatoes for two whole years.”
“So you
did
call me a poo-toucher! I
demand
satisfaction!”
Taki winced at the memory of punishment duty. Hecaton Mezeta was the squad’s commander, but she acted more like its owner. She led in a style that was equally mean-spirited joke, blatant sedition, and part of a greater, if completely incomprehensible, plan. “Captain,” he said, and shot Lotte a warning glance. “Enough dithering. Tell us what to do before we all resort to cannibalism.”
Lotte groaned. “Do you have to always be so forthright?”
“Yes. I’m a commissioned officer of the Polaris of the Temple. Aren’t
you
?
”
“More sass, and I’ll spank you.”
“Go ahead. You’ll all starve in the end, anyway.”
Lotte looked wounded for a moment. “Fine. I think I know where Mezeta is. Come with me?”
Taki glared at her. “Is that your order, milord Captain?”
“If you’re going to be that way, then yes,” she said. “It’s an order. Mikkelsen, come with us. Gillette and Emreis, go round up dinner. Here’s the last of my funds.” She took out her revolver, swung out the cylinder, and held out an unfired cartridge.
“Captain,” Karma said, “I mean no disrespect, but there’s a reason we’re so poor right now. We’ve been eating market meat and fresh eggs at
every meal
. If we just restricted ourselves to the mess hall once a day, we’d save—”
Lotte mashed the lead nose of the bullet against Karma’s forehead and twisted. “I’ll kill us all before I eat another potato.”
Karma shuddered, latched on to Draco’s arm, and dragged the man away.
“Captain,” Hadassah said, “did you have to be quite so flirty with the man? And are you sure old Hecaton hasn’t just abandoned us for real?”
Lotte shook her head. “I’m afraid not. There’s a stench coming from her quarters.”
“I’m
not
toting her body.” Hadassah crossed her arms and spat.
“It’s not corpse flowers,” Lotte said. “Now move along.”
Hecaton Kheiris Mezeta, formerly a major but now a lord principality of the Cloud Temple, had hung a cheery “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door of her office. The office was not only barred from within, but also protected by a retribution mandala. Taki discovered it when he attempted to force the door open with a shoulder check and ended up unceremoniously sprawled on the floor.
“Milord Principality!” Lotte shouted. “Open up! We know you’re in there.”
There was no response.
“You weren’t kidding about the smell,” Hadassah said. She scrunched her nose up at the smoky, cloying odor wafting out from the doorframe.
Taki groaned and slowly rose to his feet. He wiped away a thin stream of blood from his left nostril and reached out to cast a sutra. Before he could follow through, Hadassah kicked him in the back of a knee. He stumbled, lurched around, and pushed her. She riposted with an elbow to his gut, and the two started to wrestle.