Of Love and Valor

69: A Great Victory

"Kazmiohn Meskaiavin here to see you, Your Imperial Majesty," a particularly snooty servant announces, ushering the Kazmiohn through a narrow door from a secret passageway into an opulently furnished room.

"I do not come without my associates," Kazmiohn Meskaiavin informs the servant firmly, planting himself just inside the room, without giving the servant enough room to close the door behind him.

"And...two individuals I would prefer not to permit to soil your private chambers, Your Imperial Majesty."

Alderon and I glance at one another. Our formerly pristine Viorzhanim uniforms are, as one might expect after a battle, torn up and bloodstained and dirty, but this hardly seems the time to bother about cleanliness, even in the palace of the Yrivvior.

The Yrivvilon peers past Kazmiohn Meskaiavin, catching me off-guard. For a moment, our eyes lock, and then I drop my gaze to my shoes. I shouldn't be here.

"You will permit all of them to enter the room immediately," the Yrivvilon addresses the servant caustically. "These are two of the warriors who secured our safety today, who might very well have saved our lives, and I will not tolerate any slights to them whatsoever. Get out of my sight."

The servant bites his lip, bows, and scuttles past Alderon and me into the darkness of the passage behind us as we step into the room, which seems to be a small private study with no visible doors or windows.

"Son. Do we need to have another refresher on dealing with servants?" the Yrivvior asks, rhetorical but without malice.

"If you wish it, Father, but I will maintain that he was out of line," the Yrivvilon mutters sullenly.

"Kazmiohn Meskaiavin. I take it that, since you are here, the situation in the courtyard has been...rectified?"

"All hostiles have been disarmed and contained. Ruokharismet and I thought it best for you to make a formal announcement of their fate before we did anything else with them," Kazmiohn Meskaiavin responds tersely, without the honorifics I've come to expect when anyone addresses the Yrivvior.

"Very well. That can be done as soon as you wish it. We both know what should be done with them."

"I would prefer we grant a stay of judgment for a little while longer. As we speak, Ruokharismet is interrogating some of them, and we have interrogated a few individuals of interest before coming to you. But we come with news from the East and West Gates."

"Has Orenxiao been attacked from the outside, as well? Is that what all the bird calls were about, right before everything went mad?"

"Yes. Visserov forces on the Virella to the east, and Erivim infantry to the west. Their approach, signaled by the Orenzhanim's call as soon as they were spotted, triggered the attack in the courtyard today."

"And? How have we fared?"

"Incredibly well, Your Imperial Majesty. At least, according to the messengers with whom I spoke before coming here. Although Old Orenxiao's preparations were not complete and not all of our strategies for defense on our eastern side had been implemented, the Orenzhanim stationed there were able to catch the Visserov in Azerai's improvised web and bombard them with jars of unsavory creatures. And then the archers slaughtered them. I'm told there's hardly any injuries, let alone casualties, on our side from that arena of conflict. The few Visserov who jumped ship to escape our onslaught were fished out of the Virella before they drowned and are being held for questioning."

I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

Alderon's hand clasps my shoulder, grounding me, although my mind keeps racing. It worked. They hadn't even finished construction yet, but it worked with what we had put together. I can't believe it. I can't believe it.