Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

More servants lay dead than still remained, and those still living were all splayed on their knees with their foreheads to the floor, praying or shivering or blubbering with fear. The Emperor was standing defiantly before the Queen and she was shouting at him furiously. Magic ran from Alahativa’s fingers and dripped sizzling to the floor.

‘Samuel!’ she roared oncatchingsight of him. ‘How dare you come before me unsummoned!’

The Emperor said something to placate her and Samuel managed to walk all the way tohisside without being struckdown by her spells.

‘The Queen and I have been having an insightful conversation,’ Edmond said.

Alahativa looked greatly disturbed and she shook Samuel by the shoulders, staring at him as if crazed. ‘I have solved my dreams, Samuel! I know what they mean and so does he!’ she said, gesturing to the embodied Emperor.

‘Actually, I don’t understand what she is talking about, but she refuses to let me leave.’

‘Lies!’ the Queen hissed. ‘He ever lies! He knows my dreams! He is in them. All of them! He knows who he is!’

‘Calm now, Your Majesty,’ Samuel pleaded. ‘Please help me to understand what is happening.’

‘Each day, my memories return. I should have known when I first learned that the Emperor had survived-not only survived, but in a body not of his own. He, too, knows what it is like to be cast into the body of another. In another time,inanother life, we were lovers, but he refuses to admit the truth!’

‘I don’t deny it,’ Edmond said. ‘I do not deny that past lives are possible, especially given my present state, but I have no recollection of any life with you and I simply don’t remember any of these things you are raving on about.’

‘Why are you doing this to me, Thann? Is it because of her? Can you possibly love yourEmpress more than me? Or is it the boy? That’s it, isn’t it? I could never bear you a son and she has given you what you always wanted.’ For the first time, the Emperor looked rattled by what she was saying. ‘Then damn you, and damn them, too! Om-rah!’ she wailed and a heartbeat later the hulking wizard had alighted on the balcony outside. If it had not been so sturdy, it would have been torn asunder, for the room shook as he landed.

It was amazing that Samuel had not felt the man’s presence until he had already alighted-but perhaps he had been too distracted by the Queen’s spells.

‘Go swiftly now to Yi’sit. Kill the Turian woman and her boy. Make sure this night is their last.’ No sooner had she spoken than the arch-wizard had vanished into the air with a snap of black cloth and a clatter of his wings. Alahativa turned about, her eyes wild with emotion. ‘You see? Perhaps when they are dead you will have reason to remember me?’

‘Don’t kill them! I beg you!’ the Emperor said and Samuel could see the genuine desperation in his eyes. He dropped to his knees. ‘Don’t do it! I implore you!’

‘It is done. Om-rah has gone to see to it and I could not recall him even if I wanted to. Get out of here, both of you!’ And she turned from them and returned outside onto her balcony, laughing hysterically as she overlooked her city.

The Emperor immediately grabbed Samuel by the arms and pulled him towards the exit from her room. ‘Quickly!’ he said.

‘What is wrong with her?’ Samuel asked as they rushed past the confused form of Utik’cah.

‘I have no time to explain, butmy wife and sonmust be saved. Please, do whatever you can. You must reach them first!’

‘I cannot,’ Samuel protested. ‘That winged beast will get there in a fraction of the time I could. Without my ring I am powerless.’

‘Then get your blasted ring!’ the Emperor roared out.

Samuel stood firm and looked the man level in the eye. ‘I have no way to get it or evenofknowing where it is unless I can find Balten. Of course I would gladly save the Empress, but there is nothing I can do! I can scour the last sections of the dungeons, but unless something miraculous happens it will just take too much time.’

‘Perhaps I can assist,’ came a third voice and both of them turned towards a hooded figure, shrouded in shadow and lurking outsidethe window.

‘Who is that?’ Samuel said, peering into the darkness,and the figure climbed in, into the light and threw back his hood. At first,Samuel thought it was one of the Paatin wizards for he was dark-skinned and surrounded with a veil of spells and magic of illusion. ‘Lomar. I should have known.’

‘I have been waiting nearby, but the Queen’s tantrum caught my attention and her wizards’ spells are in turmoil. The palace is in chaos and everyone is fleeing to be away from her, or else I would not have been able to enter at all. I have learnt where Balten is being kept. At least, I have obtained a set of directions. If you know the tunnels well, I can describe the way.’

‘Then let’s go,’ Samuel said. ‘Om-rah has the headstart.’

‘From what I understand, it is not far if you know the way, which fortunately, now I do. That Paatin beast can fly, but not quickly. He is fat and encumbered by his armour. If we move fast, we can still save her.’

The Emperor’s eyes lit up. ‘Then quickly-go! Go, Samuel, and I will be forever in your debt.’

Samuel turned to Lomar and nodded,and the two of them raced away, leaving the Emperor behind.

These floors were populated only by the occasional quivering servants, but they met several wizards and scores of armed Paatin soldiers as they rushed towards the catacombs. Lomar felled most of them without hesitation, his magic strikingout furiously.

Before the gaping main entrance, Lomar paused. ‘As soon as we break the barrier, they will know we are here,’ he said. ‘However, they will not know if we are breaking in or out, so we should still be able to avoid them for a time. I would guess few would ever have the desire to steal their way into such a place. It will only mean that we must make our escape quickly, before the tunnels are overrun with guards. There is no point in wizards coming in to find us as they would have no power while under the mountain. Unfortunately, we will also be powerless if we are found.’

‘Then let us be quick,’ Samuel responded.

Lomar threw some spells of concealment over the two of them and they ventured in, sneaking behind the dozen guards who stood before the great entrance at the ready. Samuel tiptoed across the threshold first but,as soon as Lomar attempted to follow, a great wailing sound began from high above.

The guards looked about in confusion as tothecause of the alarm, but no one came bounding out of the tunnel mouth towards them and they could not spy the two magicianspressedagainst the wall.

As more guards came streaming out of the dungeons to see what had caused the commotion, Samuel and Lomar slipped in behind them and beganto movehurriedly along the main tunnel. They stepped into the first side tunnel they met, just as another group of spear-bearing soldiers came running by.

Samuel moved confidently in the dark,andLomar trailed as best he could with his fingerstrailing alongthe wall. Occasionally, they caught sight of a guard station, where two or three of the brutish thugs stood waiting in the lamplight, alert for escaping prisoners. They could not move directly through these spaces and,instead,had to rush around to find alternative routes.

They seemed to walk for a long time, deeper and deeper into the mountain, following Lomar’s directions, but Samuel knew it was the way of the stone to make time seem to pass so slowly.

‘Wait!’ Samuel said as they passed a familiar branch in the passage. ‘We need to free Eric.’

‘Of course,’ Lomar agreed and they started along the way that Samuel had directed.