Princess Maiako as Arathou del Tachen stared out her window and looked down the streets of the Occluded City. Almost all the buildings were in flames, and a few remaining Imperial Guards desperately battled against the throngs of commoners trying to overrun them. Blood filled the streets.

Mai could hardly believe that the Occluded City could fall so quickly, or that commoners would dare set foot inside the place of their betters. But she supposed she would have to.

Mai’s sensitive nose smelled smoke coming from beyond the closed door of her room. The Palace itself is on fire! That thought heartened her, as she realized she would not need to endure the madness she saw for much longer. The fire would end her, and whatever would happen would then happen. She did not wish to see the future. It could only be worse.

Mai sat on her bed with its silk pillows and blankets. She formed herself cross-legged and composed herself, determined to wait for her death in a way that would restore at least a tiny bit of honor to her family.

But then a knock came on the door. As Mai got up, it burst open, and General Varsis walked into the room flanked by two of his soldiers.

“General!” she cried. “What are you doing here?” She had thought he had left the palace when all the others did, when the mob had allowed all not of House Tachen safe passage out of the city. “Are you here to rescue me?” A glimmer of hope crossed her mind. House Makini could have stayed loyal despite it all.

“Of course I am not here to rescue you, Princess,” said Varsis. “I am here to make sure you die.”

“I would have died easily enough without your help,” said Mai, indignant.

“I thought as much,” said Varsis. “But I needed to make sure you would be dead. I have to kill you myself.”

“Why?” asked Mai.

“You know all too well what caused this madness, Princess,” said Varsis. “You saw.” His calm tone was almost reassuring. “Your father dropped dead in the middle of his thirteenth annual People’s Address. He dropped dead, leaving you his only heir. And you were born a bastard girl who could not be expected to inherit the throne. The commoners as well as everyone else saw the blatant sign. And so they rioted, with the full support of the soldiers of several of the Houses, and the grudging support of the others.”

“I know this,” said Mai. “I was there, Lord-General. Why do you wish to kill me?”

“Because what happened on that balcony overlooking the walls of the Occluded City was a sign, and I want no one to forget that. The people are believers now, but eventually, some will remember that there is still an heir to the dynasty that ruled for eleven hundred years, and many will want you to rule them, even if you are a bastard.

“But I am a believer,” said General Varsis. “I believe that the sign was for change. I will kill you here, and make sure your dead body is dragged through the streets so none will wish to rally around you. The people might rally for a missing girl, but they would not rally for a corpse.”

“I am prepared,” said Mai. “Do what you must.”

The general, having done her the courtesy of explaining his actions, was not going to waste any more time. Instantly, his left hand, the one made of steel, clamped down on her throat, lifted her feet off the ground and slammed her against the wall.

Mai’s feet kicked, and she hated herself for it, hated herself that she could not go calmly to her death. She was a bastard, and she was good for nothing. As Mai struggled breaths under the iron grip, Varsis drew his knife. But just before he was about to slit her throat, she gasped out, “Stop!”

Varsis dropped her, and Mai was barely able to keep herself from collapsing to the ground. Panting, she leaned against the wall for support.

“What is it, Princess?” said the Lord-General. “I have yet to leave this place, and I am pressed for time.”

“Your…dagger,” said Mai. “It has the Imperial seal on its hilt.”

Varsis briefly examined the weapon, then sheathed it in disgust. “It would be dishonorable to kill you with that,” he said. “I agree.” He started to draw his sword, and then shoved it back into its scabbard. “It seems your father’s House has laid its mark on all my weapons,” said the Lord-General. He surveyed his men. “And those of my guards as well. But no matter. You will still die. Graven!” he shouted, and one of his two bodyguards stepped forwards. “Suffocate her. I and Taros must leave if we wish to reliably escape. Once you are done, throw her to the mob and try to find your own way home, but if you do not make it, I will still know the great service you have done.”

“Aye, Lord-General,” said Graven, and then Varsis and Taros strode out. Graven turned to Mai.

One of Graven’s teeth was missing, and from the little his House Makini garb showed of his naked body, he was covered in scars.

Mai shrunk from him. It was one thing for Varsis to kill her with a blade. That was a noble way to die, and he was a noble man. But this Graven…He looked to be barely of high enough caste to call House Makini his own, and suffocation was the manner of disposing of cats and dogs. Mai knew she was a bastard, but she was no dog.

“How dare you do this?” said Mai. “Use your blade, coward!”

Graven took a step to her. “I dare not be cursed, for then I will never escape,” he said. “This way is better. House Tachen has lost so much honor today, a little more shall not be missed.”

He grabbed her with all the strength she expected from a seasoned warrior. He threw her onto the bed, and Mai tried to relax, though attaining that goal was beyond her. If she accepted her fate, as a princess should, the honor lost would be minimized. Varsis had only ordered this because he had no other choice.

Graven reached for a pillow, and thrust it over Mai’s head. She didn’t try to struggle, but her body still flailed, wanting and needing air. She was a thing of base, and so her body did not understand honor.

Suddenly, however, the pillow was gone, and Mai breathed again. Am I dead? she wondered. But this did not feel like Elysium.

In another moment, Mai was able to see the reason Graven had withdrawn. Another man had entered the room, armored with black leather armor, and sword at his waist. As Mai leaned up, Graven got up, and drew his own sword to defend himself.

However, his actions were too late. The black-armored man rushed at Graven. Their blades met but once, and then the new arrival twisted his sword in a style Mai had not seen before, and then his curved sword penetrated through Graven’s leather, and came out his back.

The stranger’s sword withdrew, and Graven gasped blood and fell to the ground, summarily dispatched.

Mai thought for a moment that the stranger was of House Dunesis. After all, he wore black armor. Perhaps he had saved her so that he could be the one to kill her. There was probably great honor in making her death, she realized.

But as the stranger put away his bloody sword without even wiping it, he did not dash the customary sigil in the air with his blade that those of House Dunesis made after a successful kill. Mai was confused.

Who is he? she thought. Is he a commoner? Instantly her mind filled with fear. If the man was a commoner, then he could have a far worse fate in store for her than a simple death. He could violate her! Mai would never have thought one of the houseless could defeat a warrior of the Makini in honest combat, but on this day of horrors, nothing seemed impossible.

But he did not seem like a commoner. He seemed like nothing she knew.

“What do you want from me?” asked Mai, as the stranger turned to her.

“Come,” he said, and grabbed her arm roughly.

“Take your hands off me, you lowborn!” Mai screamed.

“You will come with me willingly, or I will carry you as a babe,” said the man.

Mai ripped her arm out of his grip. “I can walk,” she said indignantly.

“Then follow.”

The man walked to the door of Mai’s bedroom, then turned back when she did not immediately come after him.

Mai hesitantly took a few steps closer to the man, and he took her hand. The gesture seemed so smooth, she did not try to resist.

Into the hallway they went. It was covered with flames. As Mai stared with disbelieving eyes, she saw a portion of the floor crumble and fall away.

“We cannot get through this,” she said. “I must go back to my room to die with honor.”

“Be quiet.”

Mai did so, utterly convinced that it did not matter, as they were both trapped anyway. The man’s eyes slowly surveyed the room.

And then he moved, quick as a cat, heading right at the largest concentration of the fire, right where the floor had fallen out. Mai’s hand was held tight, and she was dragged with him.

Mai closed her eyes, as, for a moment, she felt the fire burn her.

But then the fire was gone. Mai opened her eyes again, and they were on the other side of the flames, in an area of the hallway that was only starting to catch.

The princess’ eyes widened as the stranger, with one hand, reached down and tore off a large strip from her dress. She was about to say something, when she looked down at it, and realized that the fabric he removed had caught fire. He had saved her from it.

Then the mysterious man was on the move again, dragging Mai with him. He seemed to know the palace by heart, but that was impossible. Mai knew almost everyone who had worked in the building, and he was not one of them. Furthermore, he dragged her through burning passageways and chambers she had never known existed.

Mai had lived in the palace her entire life, and he knew it better than she did.

Minutes latter, Mai found that they had reached the stables. Rows of horses attached to carriages in turn attached to the walls filled the huge room. The horses were in panic from the fire, but the hitches held tight, and so they could not escape.

“The trappings of the rich,” the man whispered. He walked her to one of the smaller carriages, then turned to the horse that was bound to it.

As the man neared, the horse quieted. “I name thee Aruith,” said the man. “Rain. Everything should have a name, and what better name to douse the fire?”

Mai was about to say that the horse probably already had a name, but she thought better of it.

The man turned to her. “Get in the carriage,” he said.

For the first time since the man had quieted her, Mai spoke. “How are we going to get out?” she asked.

“I know a way,” said the stranger, already beginning to unlatch the carriage from the wall. “Get in.” He stopped his work to open the door for her.

Mai did, and the door was closed behind her. The inside of the carriage was lavish, if small, and drapes covered the windows from the inside. Mai had no desire to push them back.

Soon the carriage began to move.