Arrival V

The Emperor crashed into me, sending me flying off the dais.

Woah there cowboy, I know we've just got hitched an' all but this seems a little... over-the-top... Besides, when this Garb finally comes off... Well let's just say you'll be in for quite the surprise...

“Are you okay?” He asked, voice full of concern.

As it bloody well should be, the hell were you thinking?

“Ye-krruck.. whe-mnngh.. di..did it star-kah.. rain-gurgh..-ing?” More importantly can anyone be okay when you're crushing them to death with your body!

He grinned widely in response to this, an expression I could just about see through the gaps in his armour's helmet. Wait, are those tusks!?

“That isn't rain, my love.” He was still grinning as he responded... and still crushing me to death.

Also isn't it a bit early to talk about love, we've just met after all!

“Can't-uggh... bre..bree...breathe-ugh...” I managed to force out a response to his overly cheerful reply.

“Uhh.. right...” He got back to his feet and I could finally breathe again. Once I looked around however, I almost wished he'd stayed where he was. Judging by my new surroundings, it hadn't been rain I was hearing, instead it was the sound of crossbow bolts pinging off the back of his armour.

Right... before I was rudely interrupted by my marriage – another thing I'd have to shove to one side and deal with later – I was going to warn him about the strange actions of the guards in the parapets...

“Win, are you okay?” A voice cut across the sound of metal striking metal, but I barely noticed it, too focused on the nightmarish scene in front of me. While we were no longer targeted by the guardsmen up in the balconies, it was only because they had become distracted, and were fighting a raging battle with Imperial Guard reinforcements.

The fight up above was nothing in comparison to the fighting on the floor and stands below, however.

Wow, it really is a 'killing floor' now.

The imposters up top may have had poor replicas of the Imperial Guard arms, armour and clothing, but the ones concealed among the stands and the floor below had clearly raided an Imperial Guard's armoury before coming here. They were indistinguishable from the real guards.

Scanning the Throne Room, I tried to figure what had gone wrong in the last minute or so. It appeared that when the guards above had fired their crossbows, their compatriots below had lowered their pikes and struck, bringing down most of the unsuspecting guardsmen.

Stage two of their plan was currently in process, the imposters were making their way down the benches killing as many of the nobles lining them that they could reach. Most of whom were unable to fight back, whether this was because most of the nobles had non-combat Classes or because of the no-weapons policy in the presence of their Emperor, I didn't know.

Still, there were a few pockets making a successful attempt at repelling the attackers. These small pockets of resistance, unfortunately, were scarcer than I'd have liked.

Thankfully, most of the guards on the 'killing floor' seemed to have been the real deal, and though outnumbered they were putting up a good showing of themselves. I could see it wouldn't be enough though, the Imperial Guards with their superior training wouldn't be enough to make up for the disparity in numbers.

It wasn't however, the biggest problem. The Imperials, clearly more accustomed to teamwork and using the equipment that the imposters had somehow stolen would probably have held out much longer before inevitably breaking, even against the veritable flood of attackers. No, the biggest threat they faced were their fellows. Either some form of Mind Magic was at work, or more likely, the imposters had infiltrated the guardsmen so as to sow confusion and chaos when they struck.

The Majority of the imposters not slaughtering the – mostly – defenceless nobles and courtiers were streaming down the bleachers, and breaking upon the guards shields, like the sea breaks upon the cliffs at high tide, and were being thrown back, contained.

There were gaps forming in their defensive walls though, not brought down by the imposters skill or through sheer numbers, but by the men and women who had infiltrated them, hiding among the Imperial ranks. At critical moments during the flow of the battle, their apparent brothers and sisters, guards they were trusting to fight at their sides, to brace them from behind when a large group threw themselves upon their lines, were instead drawing knives and daggers and thrusting them into the gaps between their armour, or occasionally unleashing deadly Magics at close range, taking out small groups of Imperials as they did so and widening the gaps even further.

The Imperial Guards, the elite amongst the fighting forces of the Empire, obviously chosen for their talents and loyalty, were being felled by those they thought allies. They were falling back into smaller formations or fighting as individuals or even as pairs in some instances. The imposters tactics sowing confusion and mistrust among the ranks of the normally stoic guardsmen. Their underhandedness doing what numbers alone, on another occasion, might not have managed – at least not so easily.

With the Imperial Guards falling so swiftly in the face of the imposters – the invaders – attack, and last of the nobles and courtiers being finished off, or in a few notable cases, were fleeing, I realised it wouldn't be long until they turned their attentions to me, the Emperor, and the six others on and around the dais with us.

Wait, six? Where the fuck did that Imperial floozy that married me run off too? Indeed, the tall Master of Ceremonies had disappeared at some point between ending my life for the second time in one day – No I'm not being overly dramatic! Anyone would think their life was over if they got married without their say-so! … Okay so maybe I hadn't quite pushed that situation to one side after all... - and the Emperor pushing himself off me– no, not like that, dirty brain! - I'd just have to track him down later so I could introduce my foot to his face. And his groin. Until they were both unrecognisable. It was the least he deserved after all!

“Win?! Please answer me? Aelwinel, please tell me you're okay!” A strained voice cut me out of my stupor, and I turned toward it.

Right.. that's me...

Standing at the very edge of the dais, facing the 'killing floor' was The High Duke of Ellikir, my 'father'. His face, turned in my direction, tensed in concentration.

Looking up, I realised why we were no longer being peppered with crossbows, it was not because they were too busy fighting in the parapets – a fight that was coming to a close as more and more bolts flew into the remaining guardsmen – it was instead because he had erected a magical barrier of some kind to protect us. A protection that, if his obvious effort was any indication, would soon be ending.

“I'm fine, I'm fine!” I quickly reassured him when he opened his mouth again, as I had spent longer than I thought studying him. “More importantly, how much longer can you hold that?” There was more and more bolts flying in our direction as the seconds passed, and I could already see the barrier flickering in places.

“Not much longer, sealed as I am. Sire, do you mind...” He directed the last to the Emperor who had just been standing there, staring into the room like I had, after he go up.

“Yeah.. I.. yeah... actually,” he floundered, causing me to question his age.

Hearing him in this situation he sounds like he's barely out of his teens... if even that... wonderful, yet another good reason to run away from my 'husband'...

His, now slightly more assured voice continued, breaking me from the thoughts. “I order you all to unseal yourself and protect your Emperor at all costs!”

Yeah... I guess self-preservation is a good motivator...

At his order the high dukes all grasped the identical rings encircling their left thumbs and pulled them off.

In an almost immediate reaction, the barrier protecting us visibly strengthened. Just in time too, a group of opposing Mages had formed a group and were jointly casting some pretty scary feeling dark, shadowy magic.

“You too, wife. No need to be shy about your talents, not now.” The Emperor said, looking at me.

“Uhh...” I gestured lamely to my Garb, which had just shifted into a banana-suit, thankfully, as always, it still kept my features obscured.

Had I mentioned how much I hated this thing yet?

“The uhh, Ceremonial Garb limits or completely restricts all my Skills and Magics, I'm not going to be of much help...” This was, unfortunately, the complete truth. Not that I had any real Skills or Magic to use, but it did stop me from exposing myself, in that I had a real reason for why I was completely useless...

“Oh, yeah,” he replied morosely. “I had forgotten, I guess The Great Spear of Ellikir will have to take a turn being the protected, huh?”

“Yeah.. I'll... Uhh... try not to show my frustration...” So that Elven Lady had such an impressive title, huh? Guess it explains why she took a spear with her to the bathing room... no, actually, it probably just showed she was a bit off in the head...

“Sire, we should make our escape post-haste, it doesn't look like Sarian can hold his barrier for much longer.” The wizened human woman interrupted our awkward conversion with an appropriate statement. Sarian had fallen to his knees in his efforts to hold the barrier strong against the growing number of attacking Mages.

“Ahh.. good point Leris,” he responded, then turned to the dwarf, “Freylder, can you assist Sarian in his escape? You two shall join him as our rear-guard, as you are the only one other than me in Armour.” The Dwarven woman, Freylder, nodded her now helmeted head, a helmet she had pulled from her [Inventory] after removing the ring from her thumb, a thumb which now had a gauntlet covering it.

She took up position directly behind Sarian, one hand holding his collar, ready to assist his backward movement, a necessity so he could keep line-of-sight on the barrier for as long a possible – he could not move this one as it had been formed while most of his Mana was sealed by the ring. Mana that was being drained as rapidly as it was regenerating.

“I will take the lead Sire, my abilities, like that of our companion, Sarian, may be taking just as long to recover, but even with what I have available I am still the one most suited to scouting our route.” This from the red-robed human male, he barely waited long enough to receive another nod from the still glowing Emperor before shadows reached around him, obscuring, but not hiding him from our views.

He tsked at what he probably considered an inadequate result – though I thought it was pretty cool – then loped out through the exit that was behind the massive Throne at the back of the dais. The rest of us followed, the other elf leading the rest of us away from the Throne Room.

“Because I'm a [Monk] remember? I don't need weapons.”

Looking around as we followed him, I figured that made precisely one of us. Other than the high elf bringing up the rear, and our scout, none of the others showed any signs of Magic. All of us were restricted in some manner too. Even if they were no longer sealed, it would still take them a while to fully recover. And after just basically agreeing to the suggestions of his High Dukes, I wondered just how strong the Emperor was beneath his body-covering armour.

With one last look around the Throne Room, and only seeing a few dozen – even that, an optimistic number – Imperials still fighting amid the veritable sea of blood, intestines and other viscera that the dead and dying spread around a floor that had turned its nickname into a reality, I turned and entered yet another hallway. Indistinguishable and ostentatious as all those previous. I again, struggled to keep up with the strides of those around me, no longer worried about stumbling and tripping over the Garb as I followed in the Emperor's footsteps.

“Report, Verrick,” the Emperor ordered when we turned yet another corner, and saw the red-robed High Duke waiting for us there, causing all of us to screech to a halt.

“Quiet please, Sire,” he admonished once he'd walked a bit closer, he pointed toward the turning at the end – unlike the previous hallways I'd walked down, I'd yet to see a branching corridor, so far it'd been the same bending, twisting hall - “there are some of your guardsmen fighting off more invaders just past that bend, there's only a few still standing but there are less than two dozen attackers. If we time it right we should be able to join up with the remaining guards and defeat their opponents.”

“Alright Verrick, I assume you have a plan of attack? Lay it out for us,” the Emperor replied, voice now hushed.

“Right,” the shadow-covered man responded, after taking a few moments to collect himself. “Here's how I think we should do this:

“In a minute or so, I will have enough Mana to cloak another in my shadows, so I propose that Freylder charges round the corner to fill any gaps that may have formed in the guards defensive line. Fenrick - once I've concealed him - and I will use this distraction to sneak past the attackers and ambush them from behind. Hopefully they won't notice our concealed forms until it is too late. At this point Sarian and Aelwinel will-”

“Umm,” I interrupted pointing at myself, “Ceremonial Garb, remember? As much as it pains me to admit it, my current self won't be able to manage more than get in your way...” I broke off as if saddened at the thought of missing the fighting. A fact that couldn't have been further from the truth.

“Right ,of course, my apologies Empress... in that case, Freylder you'll need to support the guardsmen's line by yourself.”

“Shouldn't be a problem, those fools will never know what hit 'em!” She exclaimed, not bothering not keep her voice down at all, which caused Verrick to wince in response.

“Right, err, good.. Good. Sarian are you recovered enough to provide us with magical support?”

“I can manage a few minor Spells, but I'm afraid forming that barrier drained me much more than I expected.” Sarian managed to wheeze out a reply in the affirmative, even though he was still leaning on the armoured dwarf, lest he fell over.

“Well, it's not ideal but I'm sure we can make this-”

“What about me?” The Emperor interrupted, sounding almost petulant. “I can be of assistance!” His voice climbed in volume towards the end, causing the red-robed human to wince one more.

“I'm, uh, sure you could Terrius... Sire, but our primary goal in this situation is to get you out safely, as such we can't possibly risk you in battle. Besides,” he continued, after seeing the Emperor wasn't mollified by his argument, “Leris and Geral both hold non-combat Classes and will need some form of protection if any of the attackers manage to break through.” When even this didn't appear to be enough to quell the Emperor's enthusiasm for the fighting ahead, Verrick looked to me, eyes apologetic, as he used his trump card, “your wife too, Sire, in her current capacity is unable to defend herself, and it would be truly tragic if she met her end just after you were married...”

Try just before they were married... heh... maybe I can find a way to escape during all this confusion... and before the Garb removes itself and my 'husband' gets the shock of his life...

“Fine, fine you win Verrick. Be about it then, locking the door from the Throne Room will have only brought us so much time...”

“Yes,” the emerald-robed elf, who, by process of elimination, must have been Fenrick said as he clasped the blurred form of Verrick on the shoulder. “We should stop dilly-dallying and kill the attackers before the guardsmen all fall.”

Dilly-dallying? Really? Who even says that? … Actually are we even speaking English right now?

My momentary distraction lasted long enough for the two ambushers to disappear from my sight and for the armoured dwarf to almost reach the end of the hall in her charge. Sarian had also managed to shuffle half-way down the hall, leaning heavily on the wall as he did so.

The Emperor was standing poised, in the centre of the hall, waiting for any kind of signal that would allow him to enter the fray. “I wish they wouldn't make me feel so useless! I could have helped,” he grumbled, voice sounding just as petulant as before.

“Be thankful, Lad,” the gnome gruffed, “that they are willing to risk their lives for ours. I am fairly certain that the others could all make their way past the fighting and to safety, leaving us to our fates.”

“You really think they'd do that?!” He responded urgently, “I have to go and se-”

“Stop,” I interrupted, against my better judgement. “Relax, ...Terrius... we can hear the sounds of their battle from here. They haven't run, so we must trust in their skills and wait here.”

His body does relax a bit at my words, but he also crosses his arms as if to ward off any further attempts at halting his progress forward.

“Fine, I'll wait, though only because it's you asking, heart of my heart.”

More of this lovey stuff?.. Please.. just.. stop? It's embarrassing... for you... ugh...

I left the youthful Emperor to his worries and slid down to sit next to the gnome, leaning against the wall.

“You're gunna have your hands full with that one.” He said, after I'd finished settling down.

“Yeah, well, I'll manage.” I said curtly, curtailing any further discussion. Though I still didn't have any solid ideas on how to manage the problem.

We fell into an amicable silence while we waited.

As the sounds of battle were slowly dying away, Leris made her way back to us from the other end of the hallway. When the others had gone on ahead she'd said she was going to scout our retreat, to see how the door at our backs was holding up. The Emperor mentioned the door had some powerful Magics protecting it, but considering the force the invaders had brought to bear, we'd all doubted it would hold for long.

“I could see cracks running through the door, I doubt it'll last much longer.” She reported to the three of us, concern evident in her tone.

“Well,” said Geral, as Fenrick limped around the corner ahead, cuts and abrasions obvious - even from this distance - along his shins and forearms, “then it is fortunate that the way ahead has been cleared.”

The Emperor growled in response, then marched toward Fenrick, demanding an explanation of how the fight went. In answer Fenrick only gestured down the passage around the corner, before limping back out of view.

“As impatient as ever,” Leris sighed, as we all followed along behind.

When we turned the corner, I wished the Garb helped block my sense of smell, as well as pretty much everything else.

The hallway in our immediate vicinity had turned into a minor 'killing floor' of its own, dead bodies lay among the remains of a hard fought fight, blood and other bodily fluids spattered the walls and ran along the floor, soaking the feet of the High Dukes and the few remaining Imperial Guards.

One of the guards, who I'd mistaken for a dead man, due to missing his right leg, grinned at us when we arrived, “Good to see you made it Your Eminence!”

“No thanks to the incompetence of the Imperial Guard!” He responded, causing the guardsman's expression to turn crestfallen, “when I find out who is responsible for this mess I will see they lose their heads!”

“Calm yourself, Sire,” Verrick said as he slit the throat of one of the invaders, ensuring he wasn't playing dead, “these men fought valiantly to protect you, word of your presence rallying them, before they could break completely. I'm sure that you are grateful for their bravery even if you are not pleased with their superiors.”

“Right, right.” He appeared as though he was going to drop the matter there, but a look from Verrick spurred him on, “err, I'll make sure you all get medals... for erm... valour... or something...” His attempts at mollifying them barely lessened the looks of hurt on the guardsmen's faces. Thankfully, Leris interrupted before the awkward atmosphere could get any more strained.

“We must move on quickly, the Throne door won't be much of a barrier to our foes for too much longer. Sire, is there a safe room nearby?”

“I... yes... yes... if we follow this hallway around to the right, then make the first left there's one at the en-”

“Begging your pardon, Your Eminence,” one of the guards said, interrupting. “But, we were guarding that passage when the imposters attacked our company, these men broke through and we had to fall back here in an attempt to hold them off. No doubt the rest of them have already finished with our companions and will be on their way soon. If... if... there truly is more of them on the way from behind, then I don't know of a way out...” she finished, trailing off at the end as despair took hold.

“I'm.. I'm sure there can't be that many ahead, surely you're exaggerating!” The Emperor responded to the guard, not managing to keep the notes of panic from his voice. But to his growing horror, she only shook her head despondently.

“Sire,” Fenrick said, gathering all of our attentions, “is there an entrance to the secret passages nearby? If so we may yet be able to make our escape.”

“I'm not.. errmm...” he mumbled, racking his brain in thought as he broke from his panic at the idea of a way out. “Yes, yes! There's an entrance at the end of this hall! Well done Fenrick you've saved us all!” He exalted, voice now full of hope, causing the rest of us to relax as much as we could amid the slaughter, and amid the growing pressure of our pursuers.

We made our way forward, the female guard assisting her one-legged companion. The other guard picked up a spare spear from among the field of weapons – from which the other High Dukes had already armed themselves – and chucked it to me. I, of course, fumbled the catch, much to the man's surprise.

“It's the Garb,” I responded to his unasked question, “it restricts all my Magics and Skills, I'm afraid I won't be as much help as you were expecting.”

He grimaced at this. “My apologies Your Gr- err, Majesty, I hadn't realised...”

“No matter, we must hurry if we are to escape capture.” I said, trying to chivvy the others along.

However, the Garb, which had been mostly cooperating up to this point, decided to shift its form into something I hadn't seen yet. A bell-like shape grew upwards from my hips, trapping my arms and causing me to drop my newly acquired spear. The growth continued almost until the ceiling.

From what I could tell of the material on the inside, the Garb was now a massive tulip flower with the petals growing up around me.

This of course made the Garb unnaturally top-heavy and I fell on my face. The material of the petals protecting me from physical injury, but not from embarrassment.

I attempted to make my way to standing, but without the use of my arms, and with the weight of the flowered-Garb, I didn't make much headway. At least not until a pair of arms wrapped themselves around me and lifted me in a fireman's carry, which didn't help with my embarrassment.

I think I'll take this moment to reiterate how much I fucking hate this thing!!

Once the Garb shifted out of its flower-like form I hit the guard on his backplate. “Okay, its okay now, you can put me down.”

He practically dropped me in his haste, “wearing that dress must be quite the chore Empress... and my apologies for picking you up like that but you were right in saying we needed hurry...”

“You really have no idea... but think nothing of it, you were only doing your job after all.”

I steadied myself, wondering why we had all come to a stop, but when I saw no presence of any of the attackers, I allowed my tense muscles to relax a bit.

The Emperor was standing in front of yet another piece of ostentatious artwork, this one a massive mural, depicting a dozen naked women dancing around a bonfire under the stars. He had reached his hands into the flame of the fire and was spinning a mechanism hidden within the wall, the grinding sound of gears turning could be heard, before a small door opened in the wall opposite.

“Quick, everyone inside,” Fenrick urged, “I can hear the sound of armour-clad boots approaching from the way ahead.”

I couldn't hear anything from the hall in front of us, but I trusted that his senses were far superior to my own.

We all entered the secret passageway, forced to walk in single file again. Verrick taking the lead and scouting the way once more. The Emperor took the rear, as he had to keep his hands on the opening mechanism until the last moment, rushing across the wide hallway and only just making it inside before the door closed.

*