The Power and the Glory

Book 1 Chapter XVII: Necromancy in the Graveyard

Sure enough, the man's tone suggested he was on the verge of committing murder. "Why you little--"

It was time to intervene.

"Both of you be quiet!" Abi shouted. She channelled no magic into her words, but she did imitate her foster mother's most commanding tone. Empress Hatsuayazora usually dedicated her time to arranging social events, patronages, visiting charities, and attempting to ensure the royal family didn't make fools of themselves. She rarely felt the need to personally intercede in court business. But when she did, even the most loud-mouthed officials fell silent. And when she was displeased with someone, that unfortunate soul wished they were at the bottom of the ocean's deepest abyss. "I am Abihira Hartannasvóeln of the Sinistrah clan. The granddaughter of the empress herself. My fiancé and I are here on official business. I order you to leave at once!"

The man gave her a thoroughly unimpressed look. "Well, I am Ilaran Illessilru, Prince of Tananerl, and I sincerely doubt her Majesty considers necromancy official business."

"I was being serious!" Abi protested.

"I know you were. So was I."

Oh. That made things... ever so slightly awkward.

~~~~

"Let me get this straight. You're trying to raise the dead to win a bet?"

"It's not a bet, exactly," Abi said. "Think of it more as avoiding potential blackmail."

Anyone passing who happened to look over would have been greatly confused by the scene in the graveyard. There were Abi and Irímé, covered in mud and looking more like a pair of street rats than members of the upper class. There was Prince Ilaran, in perfectly respectable but utterly unremarkable clothes, who could easily have been mistaken for a bank clerk. And of course there was the corpse. She was both the most conspicuous member of the group, and also the one who contributed the least to the conversation. She hadn't even groaned or wailed as legends insisted the reanimated dead always did.

Of course there was the possibility that Prince Ilaran was lying about his identity. The longer Abi talked to him, however, the more she became convinced he really was who he claimed to be. First was the fact that the Prince of Tananerl was one of the most obscure ruling princes in the empire. He stayed in his own province most of the time, never got involved in squabbles between his peers, and generally did nothing to attract attention. The average person in Eldrin didn't even know his name, and would not be at all interested to hear he was visiting the city. 

Second was his eye colour and his foreign accent. Abi had never been to Tananerl. Nor did she think she'd ever met its prince -- though Kiriyuki had once visited on a diplomatic trip. But she clearly remembered two things her foster sister said upon her return. One was that the Prince of Tananerl had green eyes -- something seen as a great misfortune in Saoridhlém, but as a fascinating oddity in Seroyawa. The other was that the Tananerlish accent was nothing at all like the Saoridhian one. (Which was unsurprising when she remembered the language of Tananerl was unrelated to Saoridhian.)

Lastly, and most convincingly, was how he held himself. Royals and aristocrats everywhere had etiquette and proper posture drilled into their heads from infancy. As a result there was an immediately obvious difference between their posture and everyone else's. They weren't even aware of it unless someone pointed it out to them. Only the most skilled impostor could have convincingly faked it for any length of time.

Therefore there was only one conclusion. Through one of the strangest and most bizarre coincidences imaginable, the person to witness Abi's latest attempt at necromancy was also her distant cousin.