Will Wight - Of Dawn and Darkness

He had just started pulling on the pants when his door swung open and Andel walked in, his white suit as pristine as ever. “Good morning, August and Illustrious Emperor. I’m here to dress you.”

Calder looked from his servant clothes to the robes draped over Andel’s arm. Fabric spilled over his arm in a waterfall of sunlight colors: yellow, white, and a bright, shimmering gold. Clothes like the Emperor would have worn.

“You’re not really going to dress me, are you?”

Andel threw the bundle of cloth at him. “The palace staff seem to think I’m your manservant. They tried to get me to bring your tea.”

“I could use some tea right now, actually.”

“I’m sure Petal would brew it for you immediately.”

Calder held up a smooth white garment, like a loose sleeved robe, and an identical yellow one next to it. “Which of these am I supposed to put on first?”

Andel folded his arms and leaned with his back to the door. “Whichever you decide, do it quickly. The Guild Heads want to meet with you.”

Anxiety sparked in Calder’s stomach as he pulled the white robe over his head. Was this Bliss confronting him about last night? “What for, did they say?”

“What did you do wrong?”

Calder froze with the yellow robe halfway over the white one. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Andel raised one eyebrow a fraction. “It’s obvious why they want to talk to you. Same reason they sent you those clothes. You should start acting like the Emperor now, and they’re going to guide you through it. You wouldn’t have asked unless you were afraid it was something else, which means you did something wrong.”

Calder relaxed, considering the gold robe that was probably his outer layer. Each layer was cut slightly differently, so that some of the previous colors would show through no matter how he wore them. “You have quite the imagination, Andel.”

“If you get us executed after only one night in the Imperial Palace, I swear I’ll make a deal with a Great Elder just to haunt you for eternity.”

“Where’s that tea?”

After looking over Calder’s Imperial clothing and carefully not laughing, Andel led him through the palace hallways, over rare imported carpets and decorations that would cost more than a Navigator’s entire journey. When they finally arrived at their destination, Calder was thoroughly lost.

Not only had they taken more turns that he felt were strictly necessary, this room looked exactly the same as fifty others they’d passed. It held a long, rectangular table in the center, chairs all around, and paintings on the wall. The only difference between this room and all the others in the palace was its inhabitants.

Servants stood around the perimeter, prepared to attend to any sudden requests. Jarelys Teach sat at one end of the table, holding her forehead in one gauntleted hand. Cheska Bennett had traded her hat for a bandana tying her hair back, and she was in the middle of an angry gesture with a rolled-up news-sheet. Mekendi Maxeus was the only one of them who looked somewhat calm, though that could have been the black mask that shrouded his features. His hands were laced together, his ash-gray staff leaning behind him.

A sudden disquiet rolled through Calder’s gut. This was all too familiar. Andel leading him through the door, into a meeting of Guild Heads…just like aboard The Eternal, not long ago. How much had changed since then?

He supposed he’d find out.

“…have to move now ,” Cheska insisted, not bothering to acknowledge Calder. “The longer we wait, the better it is for them.”

Teach spoke without opening her eyes. “It sounds to me like we’ve already made our opening move.”

“The remaining Regents will respond,” Maxeus said confidently. “They will have to act, or else go back into hiding.”

Rather than go stand against the wall with the servants and attendants, as he’d done last time, Andel simply walked out of the room. Calder understood. If he kept acting like a servant, people would keep treating him like one. Best to abandon ship while there was still a chance of keeping his dignity.

But Calder didn’t like how alone he felt as Andel left.

Maxeus was the first to recognize his presence, giving Calder a shallow, seated bow. “The change of wardrobe suits you. Welcome. There’s been some recent excitement here at home, as you may have heard.”

“Did Bliss figure out how to get to the throne?” Surely there could be no more urgent cause than that.

“She’s still working on it,” Teach said. “Apparently the Elders sent something to spy on her last night, so she summoned a team of Watchmen to secure the courtyard. When she knows something, I’m sure she’ll…” The Guild Head hesitated.

“Delay until she feels like it, tell us eventually, and leave out crucial details,” Calder finished.

“I sometimes forget you used to work for her.”

Cheska slapped the news-sheet down on the table. “Enough about the Elders! Light and life, we have enough human problems to last us until Urg’naut devours the planet.”

At Calder’s curious look, she slid the sheet over to him.

IZYRIA IN CHAOS, IMPERIALISTS TO BLAME, the headline declared. The article went on to describe the riots in the east, food shortages, and Guild-on-Guild violence. All precipitated by the ‘Imperialists:’ those Guilds who wanted to raise up a second Emperor after the first, may his soul fly free, was lost to an Elder attack. The writer even managed to insinuate that it may have been the Imperialists who engineered the Emperor’s death in the first place.

The first thing Calder said when he’d finished was, “Imperialists?”

Maxeus inclined his masked head. “That’s the charming moniker the news-sheets have given to our alliance, represented here. The Magisters, the Blackwatch, the Imperial Guard, and the Navigators are Imperialists, while the Consultants, Alchemists, Greenwardens, and Luminians are the Independents.”

“The name isn’t the problem,” Cheska said. “The name is fine. If anything, calling us Imperialists reinforces that we’re on the side of the Empire. The problem is that the news-sheets are all over us. Which means the people don’t trust us. And if the people don’t trust us, they won’t trust whatever slack-jawed idiot we stick on the throne.”

If Calder were a less generous man, that might have offended him. “Thank you, Cheska. If you wouldn’t mind explaining something else to me, though, they claim that this was happening yesterday . Even the fastest Navigator couldn’t travel here from Izyria in less than two weeks.” Calder ought to know, as his ship was the fastest.

Cheska snorted. “Two weeks? With fantastic weather, clear sailing, an empty hold, and the Emperor’s own luck. Maybe.”

“That’s what hurts the worst,” Teach said, frustration bleeding into her voice. “There’s no way they could have known. It’s entirely fabricated.”

There had to be something here he was missing. They were too upset for what amounted to little more than a slanderous lie. “Then what’s the matter? We’ll get the Witnesses to investigate, and they’ll have to print a retraction. Instead of the villains, people will see us as the victims.”

Maxeus steepled his hands again. “Unfortunately, despite their obvious deception, they’re actually correct. Izyria is in chaos, their Regent is missing, and we are to blame. I received the news yesterday, through a method much faster than your ships.”

“So how did they know?” Calder asked.

“They didn’t,” Cheska said, slapping her palm down on the table. “They just guessed , but they’re right, and now we’re sunk if we don’t bail water.”