Dynasty: The Glorious Strategist (Dynasty Saga Book 3) (19 page)

Lymee’s eyes went wide as she saw the little girl. There was no way this child was older than five.

“Surprised?” the woman asked with a chuckle as she stepped down the stairs that elevated the throne above the rest of the room. “Many people are. You see her mother, the former Empress, was in a bit of a bind as it were.” The woman smiled as if her choice of wording had been funny. “For she had bared six sons and no daughters. Meaning there was no legitimate heir to succeed her when she died. And to make matters worse she feared that she had become barren after complications with her last pregnancy.”

Lymee felt Kitsune’s fur prickle as the fox stood up on Lymee’s shoulder. That was all the warning Lymee needed to know that this woman was dangerous.

“So I came to the Empress with an offer,” The woman continued as she made her way towards Lymee, her voice reverberating across the halls. “If she made me her Primary Minister of Administration then I would grant her a daughter.” Her footsteps and voice echoed off the polished stone walls as she walked. “How quickly she agreed to such a demand. Saying that she would pay any price if it meant having a daughter. Sadly what she did not know was that the true price would end up being her own life. She died giving birth and with this girl being her only daughter she was born an Empress and as the former Primary Minister I continued my role in service to the new Empress.”

The woman turned around pressing her hand to her chest as she kneeled down toward the little girl still sitting on the throne in mock adoration. She was still too far away for Lymee to reach her even if she went into a full sprint but the fact that she so casually turned her back to Lymee made her absolutely livid. It would seem that the Empress was not the only person this woman was mocking.

With a smile the woman rose again flinging her arms out as she spun around to face Lymee. “Pretty clever huh?” she laughed.

“Diabolical for sure,” Lymee said readjusting her grip on her spear. Oh she was going to enjoy skewering this woman. “So then everything that we thought was done by the Empress was actually…”

“Me,” the woman nodded. “Well, I still did not have the authority to do anything but it’s not very hard to convince a two year old to stamp a piece of paper.”

“Why?” Lymee asked.

“Because I wanted power,” the woman said like it was obvious. “Is that not enough of a reason?”

“No, I mean why run this kingdom into the ground,” Lymee said as she inched ever closer to the woman. “Why all the outrageous laws? The hoarding of natural resources? If you wanted to rule this Kingdom, then why destroy it?”

“Why indeed,” the woman said her voice losing some of its previous chipper tone. “The simple answer is because I have no desire to rule this Kingdom.”

“But you just said-“

“I said I wanted power,” the woman cut Lymee off.

Lymee was now close enough that she could see the woman’s eyes. And the first thing she noticed was that there was something off about them. There was a kind of fire burning behind them but it was a fire unlike she had ever seen before.

No, that was not true. She had seen it once before. Half a year ago when she was saved by a powerful Sorceress. She had those same eyes. Lymee’s heart started to race as she realized what that would imply for this woman here.

“The power of ruling Kingdoms like this one is fleeting at best,” the woman continued gesturing to the room around her. “All the power the Empress may think she wields, the armies at her command, the silver piled in her vaults and a silly drought renders her helpless. What I am after is so much greater, and so much more.”

“Dear god,” Lymee shook her head only half mumbling to herself. “I can’t believe it but I have actually met a cliché fantasy villain. I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised all things considered.”

The woman started to laugh. “Looks as though I was right about you,” she said wagging her finger at Lymee as the two began to circle one another. “At first I thought you might be like me. Using the rebellious Dynasty to destabilize this land in order to make it ripe for conquest. But I quickly saw that your goals and mine were not in line with one another.”

What was she talking about, ripe for conquest? Did that mean that there was someone else pulling the strings here? If there was it would explain a few things. This woman did not wish to rule just one kingdom but instead rule all of them. Or let her master rule all of them anyway. Still a little cliché but at least it was a little less insane. But Lymee swore if there was some kind of blood ritual at the end of all of this she was done.

“However, claiming to be sent from The Heavens was a nice touch,” the woman continued never taking her attention away from Lymee. The woman seemed to be making sure to keep her distance from Lymee never moving any closer or letting Lymee close the distance as they continued to circle one another. “I will have to remember that for next time. When you convince the masses that you are divine and can do no wrong they will willingly follow you into the pits of hell itself.”

Lymee wanted to just attack the woman and be done with it, but if she truly was anything like the Sorceress she met then a frontal attack would be useless. She would have to be clever and try to get in close. In order to do that she had to keep her talking.

“You said you were right about me,” Lymee said as they continued to circle each other in the middle of the Throne Room. “What were you right about?”

“That taking your face and becoming you will be most entertaining,” the woman grinned.

Raising her hand in the air a dark green flame started to build around the woman’s fingers and palm. Lymee barely had enough time to curse as she kneeled down and covered her face with her arms trying to shield herself before the flames reached her. Only there was no pain when they did hit her. Lymee could feel the heat around her but she felt fine.

Slowly Lymee opened her eyes and lowered her arms. She was met with a face full of fur as several giant amber and white tails pushed into her.

“Impossible,” the woman gasped. Lymee was unable to see her because Kitsune was blocking her way but from her tone of voice she acted like she had just seen a ghost.

“Impossible you say?” Kitsune gloated a blue flame starting to build around her hand that was resting at her side. “What’s impossible?” Lymee noticed that while it was Kitsune who was speaking she was speaking with Lymee’s voice and that was more than a little unsettling. Could she always do that? Had she done it in the past at some point? What else of Lymee could Kitsune mimic?

“You being a Heavenly Fox was just supposed to be nonsense,” the woman gasped.

Lymee frowned wondering what the woman was on about, then she realized that the woman could not see Lymee hiding behind Kitsune’s tails. As far as this woman was concerned Lymee had transformed herself into this fox woman. Lymee crouched down lower making herself as small as possible as she all but buried herself in Kitsune’s seven tails.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Kitsune said still using Lymee’s voice. “But you not the only one who is disappointed here. When I first saw you I hoped you might make for a nice challenge. You see, I have as of yet been able to test the limits of my own powers in this world and had hoped that you would provide me such an opportunity. But if that pathetically weak attack you just gave was the best you could muster then it looks like I was terribly mistaken.”

“Silence!” the woman screamed unleashing another attack of green fire.

There was a loud thud as it hit Kitsune but the green flames just dissipated as they struck her chest. Again and again the woman attacked and each time the green flames did nothing. Even Lymee could tell that with each attack they were becoming weaker.

“Now die,” Kitsune said snapping her fingers.

There was a bright blue flash followed by the sound of a woman screaming. The screaming quickly faded leaving only the smell of burning flesh.

Lymee stood up then, poking her head around Kitsune so she could see what had happened. On the ground was a charred, smoldering corpse with small blue flames still burning on the last bit of flammable surface.

“That was unexpected,” Lymee said.

“I agree,” Kitsune said her breathing labored. “Never did I imagine that there would be someone else as powerful as my mistress in this world.”

“As powerful?” Lymee frowned looking at Kitsune. The fox woman’s face was pure white and covered in sweat.

Kitsune nodded wiping off her forehead with her kimono sleeve. “To use one’s spirit as a weapon like that requires immense concentration and determination of will. By making her believe that I was the Heavenly Fox and vastly more powerful than her it broke her concentration and robbed her of her will.” Kitsune then collapsed falling into Lymee’s arms. “Had I not been able to do that she would have easily overpowered me.”

“I see,” Lymee said holding the fox woman in her arms. Kitsune's face was buried in her shoulder her chest heaving with every breath she took.

“Forgive me but I need to borrow some of your youthful energy.” Before Lymee could even flinch Kitsune had leaned forward and pressed her lips against Lymee’s.

Lymee was so surprised by the sudden kiss she did not have the mind to pull away. Kitsune sucked on Lymee’s tongue for a moment before pulling ways. Now it was Lymee who was out of breath.

“I need to rest for a bit,” Kitsune whispered her eyes growing heavy as she sank deeper and deeper into Lymee’s embrace. “Don’t do anything exciting without me.”

“No promises,” Lymee said cupping the small fox in her arms as she brought it back to her shoulder. She wrapped Kitsune around her neck letting her feet and tail hang down the front of her chest. Her eyes were closed and Lymee could feel her racing heart through her belly that was pressed against the back of her neck.

“That was amazing,” the little girl squealed as she ran down the steps of the throne towards Lymee. “Buwan was right. That was a wonderful game. And the colors were so pretty. And how did you make your fox do that?”

Lymee looked down at the little girl standing at her feet. This girl had no understanding of what was going on or the situation she was in. Lymee had come here to kill her but the girl had absolutely no fear of her. To her this was all just one big game.

Lymee heard the grinding like sound of the main door being opened. It was slow and stilted like someone was yanking on it instead of giving it a steady pull. Lymee only had a few seconds to act, scattered fragments of a plan formulating in her mind.

“Listen,” Lymee said kneeling down on one knee so she was close to eye level with the little girl. “You want to play another game?” Lymee was talking as fast as she could not wanting to waste a single second.

The girl’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “Yes!” she shouted jumping up and down. “Let’s play. Let’s play.”

“Alright, then I am going to need you to play dead. Do you know how to do that?” Lymee asked glancing over her shoulder at the door behind her. The door was still being opened but very slowly like there were something preventing them from making much progress.

“Is that when you are asleep but don’t wake up?” the girl asked having to think it over first.

“Yes that’s it exactly,” Lymee nodded, the words still rushing out of her mouth. “You need to pretend to be asleep and you can’t wake up until I tell you to. We are going to play a trick on the people who are coming in here.”

“Really?” the girl squealed again. “Alright let’s play.”

Before the girl had even finished talking Lymee had grabbed her and lifted her up carrying her in her arms. “Now go to sleep,” Lymee whispered turning towards the door. “And try not to make a sound or move your belly. Breath through your nose not your mouth.”           

The little girl closed her eyes and instantly went limp in her arms. Lymee made a silent prayer that she would not blow this by giggling like Ling had done in the garden.

“Empress!” a female voice cried out as one of the guards rushed into the room. She was followed by three more and Lymee’s heart stopped beating for a second. Then Gea and Haru came rushing in behind them and Lymee breathed a sigh of relief.

They all stopped when they saw the little girl that Lymee was holding.

“I’m sorry,” Lymee called out to them her voice reverberating across the Throne Room. “I tried to save her.”

“Save her?” the guard frowned. “What do you mean save her?”

“The Primary Minister,” Lymee gestured with her chin at the charred corpse. “Minister Buwan was actually a sorceress.” Lymee hoped that was her common name and not her true name. For if it was her true name that would raise a lot of questions. But by using her name it played to higher knowledge than she actually had and made it seem like she was not just making this up off the top of her head. Which was exactly what she was doing.

“She had been controlling the Empress with her spirit since she was born,” Lymee continued booming her voice out to make her sound more authoritative. “Using her powers she manipulated the Empress like a marionette.” Lymee hoped they knew what that was. “When I killed the sorcerous her hold on the Empress was broken but I fear severing the connection was too much for her little body to handle.”

Lymee remembered to breathe heavily. Heavy breathing made it harder to detect a lie. Luckily she did not have to try too hard between all the running, fighting and the seemingly energy draining kiss.