Wyrd: Book One of the Witch War Trilogy - WATTYS 2018 WINNER!

Chapter 12: Where Her Opulency Reins in her Fury

She looked over at her two guards, signaling with her eyes for them to block the doorway. Her Grand Physician was somewhere in the throne room, too, likely leaning insolently on something expensive while her back was turned.

"Tell me, again, what happened. Stop your stuttering. And leave nothing out this time," the Empress ordered.

"Holding C..C..Camp 344 was hit by reb ... rebels. Forty-two guards and one mage were killed. Three men were spared but saw nothing – they were in bathrooms or offices and only wi... witnessed the aftermath. One man from the .... ev... event was left injured. He... he... he ... he was incapacitated and not talking. Thirty-six tainted or rebellion supporters e ... e ... escaped."

She glared at the soldier, thinking.

There had been other operations like this. This wasn't the first and it wouldn't be the last. Where had the rebels gone afterwards? Where were the Tainted-lovers hiding? The rebels were dangerous, as were the escapees, for so many reasons. She wanted nothing more than to find their hideaway and snuff them out for good – the rebels, yes, but every single last Tainted, too. They made the world dirty, poisoned the air, threatened her way of life. She could not let them drain the world of magic.

"What did you say your name was?" The Empress asked the soldier.

"G...G ... Gerald."

"Well, G.. Gggg... Gerald," she taunted him. "I said I wanted all the details this time."

It was likely an effort in futility but perhaps there was something new, something different that could help. And at any rate, watching the messenger flush red as he struggled with embarrassment was entertaining enough to help calm her frayed nerves. Presenting to her was clearly excruciating for the man.

"Like what, your Op.. Opulency?" He was shaking.

She sighed.

"Well, for starters, don't make me do your job for you," she sneered. "How were the Ff killed? How did the rebels get in? How did they escape?" She projected her voice, picturing it burrowing a hole into his thick skull, ending the ugly stutter once and for all.

"We su.. suspect they climbed the wall on the north side and let the others in. Those at the viewing stations and near the gate were cu..culled with a blade, certainly. Ni...nine men, like that." He snapped his fingers, showing his disbelief at the ease and quickness with which these trained soldiers had been dispatched. "Between the dungeons and the sleeping q..quarters there were about seven men also killed that way. But the rest were all together in the main room, Your Op..p..pulency. They were ..." He paused nervously, "burned to death. Scorched and ... it was disgusting. Some of the ... the soldiers were nothing but piles of ash. Only one survivor and his body is co..." he stumbled, trying to move through the word without repeating the first consonant "...vered in third degree – "

The Empress raised her hand for him to stop. "Burned?"

"Ye...yes. Perhaps an elemental wizard or witch. F... fire wielder. So..so..so much fire all at o...once. Very unusual. Not na..natural, cer... certainly. Traces of magic on the men and the fl ... floorboards. Tw... twenty-se..seven men all burnt up in a ma...matter of mo...mements."

The Empress's anger paused for a moment in triumph. Could it be? Could the girl be that stupid? She was amazed she could be so lucky?

"Has the survivor talked? Told us about his experience yet?"

"N... no, Your Opulency. He is in and out of consciousness. He seems incapable of doing much other than to moan in p ... pain."

"Officer Gerald of the 2nd Investigations Brigade ..."

His eyes widened in horror. He could not disappear into anonymity; the Empress knew who he was now.

"I do not like you. You seem weak. You have a speech impediment you need to get under control. It's despicable you can't even deliver a proper debrief. I suspect the other soldiers chose you to deliver the message because you're pathetic. Do you understand that soldier?"

It had only just dawned on him that he was likely going to die. Not such a quick mind either, then, she thought.

"Ye... ye... ye... ye... yes your Oppulencey," answered the envoy, still edged with a tinge of hope that the tables might turn, that pity was an emotion his Empress might possess.

"You're lucky, G..G.. Gerald. I'm not going to kill you ..."

Relief washed over him as he turned thankful eyes up at her.

And then she dropped the anvil.

"– yet, if ..." He was trembling again, not knowing what it was she was about to ask of him. "You find a way to make the burned man talk, ideally faster than you do. Press his burns, torture him, cut of limbs if you must, but I need to know what happened in that room. Get the information at all costs."

He opened his mouth to speak, letting the staccato sounds trip out without censoring his stupidity.

"Bu.. but... he ... he... he was injured in service to ..." The words died in his throat at the Queen's resolute look.

There was no bartering with the will of her Opulency, it said, and if he didn't acquiesce without protest, he would be signing his immediate death warrant. She would be happy to see this bumbling man swing.

"Ye...ye... yes, your Opulency. I'll make him talk." He said, as he backed towards the door, looking behind him at the refuge of the oak slab that would soon lay between them.

"You do that," the Empress said. And then, to her guards and her advisor and mage, "Get ready. Now. We're going to go visit Holding Camp 344."

The Grand Physician sauntered over to her from a nook off in the shadows, a sneer on his face. He was tall and thin, too, shrewd, dark eyes, sharp features, and black hair that just barely brushed his shoulders, with a deep scar across his face. He looked to be somewhere in his late fifties. He wore dark leathers with a long, simple black cloak and carried a large oak staff.

"Isn't this sort of thing normally a job for your minions?" He inquired. He was the only one she would suffer any cheek from, and he knew it.

"Not this time," she answered him seriously. "I suspect that Rowan Aary was in the group of rebels who hit the camp."

"But I thought she was dead." Realization dawned on him before the Empress had a chance to respond.

"That's what I wanted everyone to think. It's not like I could have an heir to a rival throne running around alive somewhere!"

"But you didn't even tell me?" He pouted ever so slightly.

"I thought it might be true, yet I wasn't certain. I searched and there had been no sign of her for almost ten years. And, now this rebellious Tainted break. If there's any trace of where they went, you and I are the only ones competent enough to track them. We will find out where they went," she concluded, resolute.

His eyes glinted. "This is going to be fun! Lets go find us a pretender Queen and chop of her head." He smiled, a wicked, playful smile at his Empress.

"Lets. Burning didn't seem to do the trick last time," said her Opulency, smiling back at him.

It was time to do away with the last impediment to her destiny. She wasn't worried about the prophecy. Prophecies were given by Wyrds, by the daughters of Wyrds, or those touched by Wyrds and were thus ordained oracles. Once given, prophecies always proved to be true, somehow, though they could be slippery things. They were recorded and held by the school of the Oracle. They could only be accessed by those who had heard them, told them, or by the bloodlines of those referenced in them. There was one very important one held by the school of Oracle about her and the Aary family. But she knew something about that particular prophecy that no one else did.

That prophecy was incomplete.

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What did you think of the Empress? Do you enjoy seeing from the POV of the villain? Please comment and vote if you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks so much for reading. ~ Emmy