nd, New York, United States

The winery guests all piled into one of the waiting vehicles outside - a mix of APCs and Humvees. Soldiers scanned the sky relentlessly. However, they did not even notice when Akhlys followed Kothin and Ella outside and alighted upon the APC they got into.

Police sirens spun up as they began to escort the convoy of military vehicles to the base.

Once they reached Fort Hamilton, the APC carrying Ella and the others separated and continued onwards to the Aqrabuamelu compound.

Inside the vehicle, Alistair Harris and Everett Marr sat in one corner. Marr looked like he was in shock. Charlie and Ella sat together and held on to one another. And the High Priestess drove while Arcsa and Zaidu discussed the attack and what they knew of the enemy.

Ella was drowsing, even in the loud vehicle. But she forced herself awake and interrupted Arcsa to only say grimly, “We are done reacting. How many attacks can we take?”

She turned to Kothin, “You will tell me how to get to the Emperor?”

Kothin nodded.

Eventually they reached the compound and Ella, supported by Charlie, made her way to a conference room. Alistair and Everett, not knowing what to do, just followed.

“Why did you free us now?” Arcsa demanded. She had said she would, but like this? Without any warning?

Ella collapsed into a chair and fought through the fog of her exhaustion, “Because we are going to be attacking Ekerri and I told you I will only have those willing come with me. But first”

“Everett Marr, you attacked my family.” Her voice was quiet as she said that.

Everett stood up. “I did. So what? I am not going to bow to you. I don’t know what happened, but you will pay. Do you know who I am?”

She laughed… richly and arrogantly. “Do people really say that? I know what you are, a worthless parasite. What good are you?” The scorn in her voice was evident.

“You attacked my family.” She said again and stood up. Marr actually braced himself as she walked over to him, all eyes on her. “You tried to have me killed twice.”

“You? You are that girl. That was Kothin! Kothin!” He pointed to where Kothin was sitting and recoiled when he saw a much shorter creature that looked like rough hewn stone where Kothin had once been.

“Was it?” she mused gently. And calmly took the crappy plastic knife that they had given her, the one she had almost forgotten she had, and drove it up through his left eye to the hilt, the plastic blade penetrating the back of his skull. “We have no use for you at all.”

Charlie yelled, “What the hell Ella! Why did you kill Marr? I thought he was going to lead you to Ekerri?” Her father, Alistair, sat in his chair, pale but watching carefully, trying to understand what he had just seen. What he had seen his daughter’s friend, this Ella, do.

“Because We have him now…” Ella pointed to Kothin.

Kothin looked up, “You are impetuous, but you are still young. Certainly Ekerri was far more mercurial when I began to serve him… But you cannot kill Ekerri. In fact, you cannot beat him.”

“And why is that, dwarf?” hissed Zaidu.

“Because if he dies or should he choose to, he can release the Thousand Kingdoms all at once. It would be… chaotic,” and Kothin shuddered in distaste, as if that was the worst sin.

And suddenly Kothin moved, faster than anyone had thought possible. The special gun Ella had handed him, the one that even Zaidu had forgotten about, appeared in his hands. He pointed it and fired directly at Ella. Arcsa, Bahu, and Zaidu did not have time to react as they suddenly saw glowing liquid appear on the floor between them. There was a sound of wind as something crashed through the door…

“Well, whatever that was,” said Kothin, “I suppose they can be hurt.”

Zaidu was still the first to react, he had pushed Kothin’s hand to the side and disarmed him almost instantly, but Kothin was not resisting.

“I shot them myself,” said Zaidu after first searching Kothin much more thoroughly.

“The bullets,” Ella said. “Those guns you gave us had special non-metal bullets. Polymer rounds…” She looked at Marr’s body on the ground, not really seeing it but visualizing the polymer knife she had used.

Arcsa looked at the puddle and trail of glowing blood that led out of the room, “High Priestess, make sure our troops have the right weapons. I do not know who these are… But they are vulnerable. If it bleeds, we can kill it.”

The High Priestess excused herself to immediately raise the alarm and ago try and arm the soldiers appropriately.

They all sat there for a moment to regain their bearings.

Ella looked at Arcsa, “If what Kothin says is true, we must force Ekerri to step down. Accommodations may have to be made.”

“Accomodations to Utu? Even though I am freed of my compulsions, letting him go… Perhaps you should recast the magic. I do not think the Aqrabuamelu will agree to letting him live.”

Ella looked at him, exhausted from the magic and adrenaline, “I cannot. Nor can he. I fixed you. You cannot be enslaved by magic again. I… cut the cords that bind the Aqrabuamelu to the crown, it was always the crown. The pieces of magic that remain inside of you are inert, but they work to block anyone from putting something else there. I could cut the cords all at once, but to replace them, it would take individualized effort to clear them. And, of course, I will not.”

“Zaidu has chosen to serve me. Unearned as it may be. You can make the same choices. Now I am going to sleep for a year…”

In the end, Zaidu took Ella and Charlie to an unused officer’s bedroom and dropped them off. Charlie, who had just followed along found herself exhausted as well, but Ella didn’t even wait and had pealed off her clothes, crawled into bed, and was out.

Alistair and Arcsa regarded one another.

“What will you do?” asked Alistair.

“The High Priestess and I have been planning for this since Ella told us she would do this. We will meet with our people and give them two options. Continue service or they can go to a place we have set aside. A new homeland for our people.”

“What do you think they will choose?”

“We are not as humans. But I think you can guess the reaction will be much the same: many will feel gratitude for the choice and choose to serve; others will choose the homeland; and some number will become enemies out of resentment and fear.”

Alistair smiled grimly. “You are not so different then. I think this has been salutary for me, I must meet with Mr. Xu and begin to get everything ready.”

He got up and walked toward the door, he was at the threshold when Arcsa called him, “You never asked what I would choose.”

Alistair had a half smile nobody could see since he didn’t bother turning around , “You will choose Ella. Just as I would always choose my daughter.”

Arcsa, for the first time in millennia, had no ready response. Tauthe might be having their first true-born daughter, but Ella was one of them now. One of the first. He resolved to add her to the count he kept on his computer.

Akhlys fled through the base. She had been hurt, and the wound hurt quite a bit. Why that weapon had been able to hurt her, she did not know. But she maintained discipline and carefully left a trail of her blood in one direction, then doubled back to head another way outdoors.