Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2) (5 page)

Taki groaned, rolled onto his belly, and pulled himself to his feet. The night had taken one bad turn after another. Nothing could ever be simple or go pleasantly, at least not while he remained in Tirefire the Lesser. Even his plans to go to the cathouse had failed in spectacular fashion.

But if I’m to die anyway…

Taki reached into the small sack on his belt and came up with a pair of brass Lugers. They were more than enough to buy him admission to the Kitten Pile, which Draco had always raved about. He didn’t need to listen to the insane Imperial woman. She was still an enemy, no matter what some treaty said. Furthermore, if the three Alfa hadn’t shown up, perhaps things would have recovered in the end. He wouldn’t have been outed in front of his fellow Polaris and might have ended the night correcting his most shameful character flaw. But now it had all turned to shit.

He couldn’t change much right now, except for one thing. For a moment, he considered the slim possibility that Draco and the others were being lined up against a wall and shot by Imperial infiltrators. Or being cudgeled to a crimson pulp by angry Black Cross thugs. The images made him almost want to seek his squad out.

Oh, fuck them!

If his time with his companions had taught him anything, it was that the four were like roaches who always found a means to survive—or even prosper—amid chaos. They would be fine without him for a night. Taki smoothed his tousled hair and tromped off in the direction of the Kitten Pile.

Later, he let out a quavering sigh and allowed himself to smile. The Triada Suite was the epitome of ostentatious luxury. He soaked in a cast-iron enameled tub large enough for four, with rose petals floating atop freshly boiled water scented with cardamom and citrus oil. Though he’d been advised to wait for a spell before entering the bath, he’d disregarded the instructions and immediately immersed himself. As a result, his skin had flushed to the point where he resembled a boiled crayfish, but he minded not. After such a terrible night, he needed this.

His thoughts wandered to his companions. They were either dead in a ditch or piled on top of each other in a prison cart. Either way, they were freezing, wet, and smelly.
Good,
he thought spitefully, and took a swig of wine from a glass nearby. In just a few minutes, the woman he’d chosen would arrive. Then, he’d be able to stop obsessing over a stupid kiss that didn’t mean anything.

Taki heard the door unlatch. He smiled and kept his eyes closed while a pair of footsteps approached. There was no need to hurry things. Moments like this were meant to be savored. Someone sat nearby on the edge of the tub.

“Would you like to join me?” Taki purred.

In reply, a hand dipped into the water. Fingertips brushed over his chest and traced languid patterns across his skin. A woman—he could tell by a certain indescribable quality of her scent—leaned in close to his face, and her breath tickled his earlobe. Her hand wandered lower, down the center of his abdomen, ever closer to his sex.

Taki sighed with anticipation and slowly opened his eyes. It was time to behold the woman who’d make him a man.

Lucatiel grinned back at him. “What? Were you expecting some cute girl?”

Taki opened his mouth and let out a shrill scream.

Later, he hurriedly toweled the luxury-scented bathwater off while silently fuming and cursing his rotten luck. Under other circumstances, he might have thanked his creator for the fact that Lucatiel hadn’t turned him into a rosewater-scented corpse. But now there was only bile. His companions weren’t free from his ire, either. In fact, he suspected they’d encouraged the Prince of Maladies to drop in and terrorize him in the first place. He threw on his rank-smelling shirt and emerged from behind the partition into the suite.

His squadmates were busy wallowing in crapulence brought on by the wine and food he’d paid for in the room he’d paid for. Draco was even neck-deep in the tub while Hadassah sat on the edge and soaked her bare feet. Periodically, she applied a pumice stone to the rough spots on her heels. To Taki, they might as well have been in their barracks, save for the fact that the deadliest fighters in the Imperium were within arm’s length.

“I’ll ask again,” Aslatiel said. “What happened? Why were you all piss-drunk and getting into a barfight?”

Lotte shrugged and downed a glass of wine. “Why’d you think it was a good idea to walk into a tavern full of besotted Polaris who’ve lost friends to your kind?”

Aslatiel shook his head. “I concede that, but I thought Principality Mezeta had warned you of our arrival. I sent a letter by courier weeks ago. When we arrived at the Temple, we nearly had to fight your gate watch. We only ended up in this town by coincidence.”

“That was your first mistake!” Draco said. “
Never
trust Mezeta. Hide her missives. Leave rooms when she is present.
That’s
how you survive being
us
!”

Lotte shushed him with a gesture. “You wouldn’t have known it, Imperial, but the principality is a fickle sort. She takes great pleasure from causing strife and hardship.”

“I believe you,” Aslatiel said, and shook his head. “Now, to the business at hand.”

“Hold a second!” Draco waved frantically and sprayed water around him. “Sorry, Imperial, but this chance doesn’t come every day. Now that you aren’t trying to kill us, I want you to tell me why your armies haven’t advanced past the ruins of Berlin. You know, the big pit of burning rubber. Why have your forces been doing nothing for years? Surely that’s ruinously expensive? Are you saying we should’ve set more stuff ablaze to stop you?”

“
You’re
the one who said they’ve got this animalistic fear of fire,” Hadassah said.

“All animals fear fire,” Lucatiel said. She rose from a squat in front of the small fireplace warming the suite and withdrew a poker from the embers. She then stood over Draco and fixed a scowl at him. Steam and sizzle erupted from the water when she plunged the red-hot metal in and let it hover right over his manhood. “I bet you do, too.”

Draco paled and shrank away from her. “I said
atavistic,
not
animalistic
!”

“That’s the same thing!”

“Dear sister,
not now,
” Aslatiel said. “And unfortunately, Master Emreis, I cannot answer your question. That’s classified information.”

Lotte cleared her throat. “Now
I’ll
ask again. Why are you here?”

“We came here to retrieve a member of your squad.”

“Who?”

Aslatiel pointed. “Cornet Taki Natalis.”

Bile rose in Taki’s throat. He blinked, cowlike and stupefied. “Me?”

“Yes, you.”

Lotte stepped closer to Aslatiel and bored her gaze into the top of his head; she was almost a hand’s breadth taller than he.
“For what purpose, Imperial?”

Aslatiel cleared his throat. “Come the morrow, Cornet Natalis will no longer be a Polaris of the Temple. He will be Spetsnaz in service of the padishah of the Imperium. I’m also permitted to conscript the rest of you as I see fit—”

“Whoa!” Hadassah said before losing her balance and falling backward off the edge of the tub. Her foot clipped Draco on the chin, and the pumice stone flew in the air to smash into fragments against a wall. She rolled to her feet and pointed accusingly at Aslatiel.
“Whoa!”

“Dassa, what the
hell?”
Draco reeled and rubbed his chin.

“These guys tried to kill us!”

“Did you just realize that right now? And they are not ‘guys.’ There are two women and a man. Be polite.”

“Don’t sass me! This is really suspicious! Why are you Spetsnaz even here? Are you here for revenge? Have you come to do Natalis in the
butt
? He’s a virgin, you perverts!”

“There will be no further aggression,” Aslatiel said. “We have no scores to settle—”

Hadassah shook her fist. “Don’t tell me we’re supposed to go and follow your orders now. We listen to
our
captain, not
you
. I don’t give a damn what colors I’m supposed to wear.”

“Shut up,” Taki said. His earlier shock was now replaced by realization. “He came for
me,
Dassa. You were there with me when we spoke with the basileus. Now I see what her ‘other option’ was.” He let out a ragged chuckle. “Just never figured she’d go to these lengths.”

“Natalis,” Lotte said, “what the hell are you talking about? What’s this business with Her Grace?”

“Oh, Captain,” Taki said, “I’m being banished. I met with the basileus when you sent me to the capital. She told me I couldn’t stay in the country but promised not to execute me all the same. So I’m being exiled. I’m sorry I kept it from you. I didn’t want you to get involved.”

“Is this because of…”

“Yeah.”

Lotte grimaced and started to pace.

“I can assure you, Captain, that he’ll be well treated,” Aslatiel said. “I came here for a recruit, not a prisoner bound for the gallows.”

“Tell me, Sir Aslatiel,” Taki said, “am I right? Is this what Her Grace desired?”

Aslatiel smiled. “Your new liege wanted you sent to a forgotten outpost on the frontier. But when her request came to my attention, I could not ignore it. Luckily for me,
Ba’gshnar
listened.”

“But why me?”

“Because although we first met as enemies, I was impressed by you, Taki Natalis. Impressed in a way I haven’t been for a long, long time.”

“So you
do
want his ass!” Hadassah said.

Taki wheeled on her. “Dammit, Mikkelsen, no one wants my ass!”

“Actually, a few girls I know and at least one of the guys do. You’re just awkward and unlucky. And a kingslay—”

Lotte cleared her throat. “Do I have any say in this, Imperial?”

Aslatiel shook his head. “Even if you did, would you defy us and place Natalis in danger? This s the only way.”

Taki averted his gaze. He did not want to see what was on Lotte’s face. If he did, there was a chance that he would make a stupid decision that would end in his death.
But if I let go and start anew, especially under someone like Sir Aslatiel…
he balled his hands into fists. He’d miss Lotte, and perhaps even the rest of them, but his life and career were at stake again. He straightened his back. “Then I’m your man, Sir Aslatiel.”

Aslatiel nodded. “I hoped you’d say that, Natalis. In the morning, you’ll be given your severance papers and pension. The arrangements have already been made. And, as I’ve said before, I’ve also been given permission to conscript your squadmates. But only if they agree.”

“Hell, no,” Hadassah grumbled. “I’m
definitely
not fighting for the celestial glory of the Paddy-shaw or some nonsense.”

“I won’t go if she won’t go,” Karma said.

“The padishah is neither a god nor a megalomaniac, and he should not be regarded as such,” Aslatiel said. “His dream is to enlighten all sentient beings through the Way.”

“Great,” Draco huffed. “Buncha fanatics after all. Count me out as well.”

Lucatiel hit Draco with a gimlet stare, and he sank back down to eye level.
“Dassa, help. The Prince of Maladies is looking at me funny.”

“And how about you, Captain?” Aslatiel said. “I would welcome someone of your strength and prowess to our number.
The Temple clearly doesn’t respect your skill.”

Lotte shook her head. “I can’t do that, Imperial. I swore to serve the Temple and will do so until I perish. I cannot change my stars. Not now.”

Aslatiel nodded. “So be it.”

The squad sweated out their hangovers trudging up the road to the Temple. The Black Cross’s blockade had been lifted that morning, and a trickle of Polaris wound the ancient path like ants from a tankard of spilled beer.

Draco yawned and stretched his arms. His breath steamed in the mountain air. “The Imperials aren’t coming with us, eh?”

“Well, there’s no reason for it,” Karma said. “After all, we’re just here to see Natalis off. What’re they going to do in the meantime? Go sightseeing? Get a blowie from the archangels?”

“Ew, Karma,” Hadassah said. “I was actually feeling patriotic until you mentioned those creeps. Now I almost want to strip naked and dance in front of some Imperial altar.”

“If you want to join up, I won’t hold it against you,” Karma said. “The padishah may have pretensions of divinity, but he controls half the known world. Our ‘angelic’ masters are a creep, an obsessive witch, and a thug who runs a prison for cursed children.”

“You know,” Hadassah said, “we
could
just tell the shrine that we’re switching sides. Then they’d have to give us our discharges and bullets. We’d have our freedom and a sack of grad. We could be sellswords and travel the world!”