Chapter 55
I woke in a bed that was not my own, in a room I was almost sure that I had never been in before. I had an audience. Blackfin and his father, the Emperor. Blackfin’s new technical advisor – Director Ricbom and my grandfather, Lord Gleneden plus a contingent of four very large and very well armed Imperial Throne Warriors. All of them stood around the bed. Even one would have been a match for me healthy and I was anything but that.
“Tobias,” the wizard crooned as my eyes struggled to make sense as they perused the ornately decorated and fussy bedchamber. Enormous plush chairs upholstered in silk and velvet with plumage designs scattered around the exquisite carpeting. Wallcoverings in silk material not paper – white with gold etched runes. Windows floor to ceiling with hand carved moldings and plasterwork. The steel bars on the windows looked new and crackled faintly with an energy signature that said it was both magic and technical.
“Tobias, when you have eaten and recovered, I will send you on your first mission,” he continued. My hand reached for the expensive loomed silk coverlet arrayed with flowers and sigils. On a four-posted bed, that was a throne of sorts, a testament to the importance of its previous owner.
Portraits and landscapes nearly life-sized adorned the walls but it was the small hand mirror sized one of a noble lady that I focused on mostly. I knew it was the wizard’s mother.
“This is your room, master.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Trifle…blowsy.”
“He calls you master?” The Emperor smiled.
“Yes. I am his master. Over Connacher who thinks he owns Tobias, over Lyr Averon who has cursed him.”
“You control him over the curse’s influence and the Lyr’s original geas?” Avril continued.
“When I broke his will, it broke that hold. He will obey only my orders,” Blackfin promised. “Get up, Tobias. You have work to do.”
I threw back the covers and slid my feet to the carpeting. They all stepped back and the Imperials grabbed their weapons. Sonic rifles by the looks. I wore nothing but a thin seam down my belly where a laser had sealed my recent bout of surgery.
“We healed your injuries,” Ricbom said. “You had a ruptured spleen, broken ribs and punctured lungs. Your enhanced metabolism prevented these injuries from becoming fatal. In fact, I’m not sure if you can die.”
“Only by my hand,” Blackfin stated. “Tobias, you will bathe, dress and eat. Then, I will send you out on your first mission.”
I nodded. His warriors would not deign to perform mundane tasks but they watched as slaves did it for me.
Once clean and dressed in court wear of knee breeches, high boots, high-necked tails with a ruffled blouse and all the jewels that court attire required, I was brought under guard to the Emperor’s throne room.
There was a grouping of his War Generals, Ministers and a small group of children off to the side. Most cowered under the stern eyes of a tall woman dressed as a man and I saw her cuff one particular young boy as he tried to comfort a smaller female that resembled him. There were no adults in the group – none older than 12 or 13.
“Tobias, here is your food,” Blackfin announced gesturing with both hands. I hesitated, the looks in the children’s eyes did not touch me but the fear of breaking Connacher’s commandments made me pause.
“All or one?” I asked softly, my hunger all-consuming yet it was tempered by caution.
“All or none,” he agreed.
My first bite was tentative and when the fire burning rage of my tender belly did not assail me, I went through them with the force of a winter storm until not a one was left standing or alive. I even took the woman soldier who fell under my glamour without a whimper, only a small gasp of pleasure as my deadly kiss caused her to orgasm even as she died. The rush of pleasure I felt was nothing short of galvanic. When I came back to myself, it was to stare in horrified disgust at the mound of drained corpses and fascinated gapes of the rest of the Court.
“You do me proud, Tobias. Yfaed Gwaed,” Blackfin said fondly. “There is a condorla waiting for you in the stables. Take it, fly to Lyr Averon and kill him. Let nothing and no one stand in your way. Once he is dead, seek out Connacher and take his blood. Bring me his heart and his hands. Return here to me when you are done and then, we will see about your pesky little army.”
“Yes, master.” Under armed escort, I marched through the palace past many terrified and astounded faces. Not one whisper of a word came to me as we marched and only the taste of blood on my lips and tongue seemed real.