RE: Monarch

A light blue spectral tear zig-zagged through the air, sporadically pausing at seemingly random intervals before it shot forward again, zipping from rooftop to rooftop, thousands of others like it in the backdrop of sky. Its exterior was almost gaseous, trailing wisps like see-through cilia, while its interior was dark, implying the presence of something less ethereal within.

With no warning it plunged downward and slammed into the skull of a fleeing tradesperson, sending a concussive shockwave that reached nearly thirty-span away.

The man should have been dead. But he wasn't. Instead, he writhed on the ground as if swarmed with countless insects, hands plastered over his face—no, his eyes—where a frigid blue-light radiated from beneath them.

And behind him, further down the street, there were at least ten others locked in the same throes.

It didn't take much to put it together. Draugeblod. Wispy entities attacking random people. The talk of possession so recently in mind. The other disasters I'd experienced cycled aggressively through my mind. I let them come, filtering out the fear, leveraging everything I'd learned.

The severity of anything approaching this scale was decided in the first hour. When there were thousands of lives on the line, and imminent danger, people died quickly.

There was no time to think. To ponder why this was happening now.

I opened my mouth, about to give the order to restrain the fallen people long enough for Maya, Vicant, or any of the healers to establish what was happening to them, when armed men rushed the streets.

Blackshields and regular rank-and-file rushed the streets, organized and assembled. But the bigger surprise was the mages. Every member of my father's personally trained honor guard was flanked by a member of the Crimson Hand. They operated in tandem, Blackshields restraining the fallen, while the Crimson Hand chanted incantations over wands or tomes.

"They do," I agreed, thrown off by the sudden reinforcements. In my past life the Crimson Brand were treated much like an open secret. Everyone knew they existed, but they were generally shunned by the military and outright forbidden from taking any action within the bounds of Whitefall. It took a great deal of training and discipline to cultivate a combined effort this effective.

Another surprise from my father. He had no end to them, as of late.

"Keeping rank, or acting to supplement, my lord?" Sevran asked. The banner lieutenant was impassive as always, but his spear was brandished, ready.

I considered that. There was something about this I didn't like. But in a state of emergency, the directive was clear. Regardless of the usual chain of command, in a time of local crisis, the King's orders superseded all others. You either acted on direct commands, or if you happened to be caught out without them, sought the highest ranking person you could find who had orders. Which meant there was really only one choice: diverting from our current course and assisting the greater armies.

"Support in a reserve capacity," I said, reluctantly. Then remembering the unfortunate casualties of the gray plague, as well as several riots and uprisings, amended that statement. "Belay that." I turned to Sevran, imparting seriousness into my words. "Split up, support the core armies as you would otherwise, but concentrate your efforts to Topside. Make sure they're following the same procedures there as they are here."

My orders were technically treasonous. But the lieutenants took little issue. They were all clever enough to realize that distribution of troops in a shitstorm was naturally scattershot, and unless someone could jump through the many barriers of proving our original location and that we moved to Topside with intent...

"And if they aren't?" Sevran asked, the slightest hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Then signal." My stomach tightened, the memories of mass graves filled with beggars and various topside all too visceral in my memory. "I won't be far behind."

Sera frowned. "We don't know the situation at the castle. Someone should go—"

She was cut off as Mari rounded on her, pressing into her space, the much shorter woman intimidating nonetheless. "Didn't take long to bleed purple. Piss off back to the most secure place in the city, pretend you're doing something. Kiss my arse."

Never one to ignore provocation, Sera stepped forward, bumping against the woman's breastplate. "Say it again."

"Mari's right," I cut in quickly, trying to circumvent the conflict before it bore fruit. "In theory, Annette's in the safest place in the capital. But this might be an attempt to draw troops away from Castle Whitefall."

"A smokescreen." Mari grunted, observing the widespread chaos as she absorbed the idea. "If this is all a distraction? It's a damn good one." She backed off with a muttered 'apologies,' which Sera flagrantly ignored.

"On that topic, does anyone else find the timing of this incident peculiar?" Sevran shifted a little, peering into the growing smoke.

"My thoughts as well." Maya spoke up, so quiet up to this point I'd nearly forgotten she was there. "Just as we're about to set foot in the sewers, a catastrophe bars our entry."

"If the creature we hunt has any connection to the chaos above, its intentions are clear." Sevran's terse voice left little room for disagreement. "It'll use the blood-bought time to make its final preparations, or worse, flee."

Zinn assembled beside Sevran. "Piling on the bad news, based on what we've heard already, any store of sustenance that remains will be consumed. If we do nothing, anyone in the lithid's clutches will be lost to us."

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There it was. The moment my father lived for. The one I hated more than anything. Where countless souls hung in the balance, and all it would take was a single misstep to damn them.

I closed my eyes, wrestling with the reality. "We don't know if the people taken are still alive. If my contact is to be believed, it's unlikely. What we do know is that there are countless people above ground under threat. Humans, Demi-humans, women and children. They take priority until we're confident the armies have this under control."

This is why it is better if they fear you.

My father's voice echoed in my mind, as I felt the tenuous grasp of authority I held growing weaker. Between the reluctant expressions, and repeated looks towards Sevran, I could almost feel it coming. They'd been humoring me, to this point. Curious. Committed enough to pledge their allegiance, but not single-mindedly.

They are with us. But they are not us. We have our purposes, they have theirs. They'll abandon you the second the two no longer intertwine.

The quiet fear grew to a fever pitch, driving the aggression deep within me that always roused when survival was on the line.

But before I could speak, of all people, Aetherya interjected. She held her bow loosely in her arm, actively scanning the city instead rather than anyone in particular, making it unclear who she was talking to. "I have met my share of monsters in the Everwood. Slayed many beyond the natural order. They are not in the habit of sparing the living." She eyed Zinn with distaste. "Even if my twisted brethren is correct, and the foul thing uses this uproar to drain those it holds, it would arguably be more motivated to do so if we forsook the capital and set foot in its domain. Monsters do not hold prisoners without purpose. Once its hold is challenged, one way or another, those in its clutches are likely damned."

"So kind of you to finally take your seat at the table, Aetherya," Zinn sniped. But, notably, he didn't argue.

Neither did Sevran.

/////

It was less difficult to reverse the process of possession than it appeared. For perhaps the first time in the history of the bloody institution, the Crimson Brand was entirely forthcoming. They'd received their orders nearly an hour before the mayhem started, complete with instructions on how to reverse the possession.

Someone inside the castle walls knew this was coming, and at the moment, I'd wager the contents of my purse it was Thaddeus. Another quill's jot on the very long list of topics we'd be thoroughly discussing as soon as there was time to hunt him down.

Still, it was surprising how complex the method was, albeit simple in execution. The hardest part was restraining the possessed tightly enough that the demonic symbol for amplification could be inscribed correctly. It required eight contact points, shallow incisions made with an inked needle, and the lines the points formed needed to be filled in. The inscription was placed on the left wrist, above the vitality line. If it passed muster, all that was needed was a concentrated application of mana directly onto the victim's inscription.

None of this would have mattered if the spirits remained aggressive, but once exorcised, they seemed to lose interest, floating away incorporeal. Some lingered, reclaiming form becoming shadows of their former selves, silhouettes blue and transparent, eyes slack and empty, ambling past—and occasionally directly through—the living.

The King clearly put more effort into sculpting the Crimson Brand in this iteration than he had before. This was entirely beyond what I believed them capable of. When Thoth burned the capital to the ground, they hadn't even managed to mobilize. Perhaps they'd been ambushed at their barracks. Perhaps they'd fled.

More than anything, I couldn't get over how in control it all was. My immediate fears were more or less sated. The afflicted subjects were treated carefully. A few had become fully possessed, and gone as far as arming themselves with sticks, swords, or whatever else they could find, but the possession took too long for a coordinated offense to form.

The situation was quickly deescalating into a battle of attrition.

And something about it all made me uneasy.

Sera let out a sigh of relief when we found the castle lined with countless guardsmen, defenses unquestionably intact. She turned to me, horse stirring nervously beneath her. "Maybe I overreacted." Sera hazarded a glance towards Mari. "Should we reconsider—"

"No." I shook my head, somehow more certain now than before that there was something wrong, despite no evidence to support it. "Get in there. Stay close to Annette and the Queen."

"And me?" Maya asked.

I weighed the possibilities, then shook my head. "Stay with Sera." I withdrew the water orb from my satchel, holding it up between us. "If we suddenly start talking casualties, I'll call for you."

Maya raised her matching orb, and I gave mine a shake, confirming the binding still held, coming away satisfied.

"You know where you're going?" I asked Sevran as the infernal half-jogged, returning from the assembly of blackguards he'd been speaking to.

Instead of answering, he leaned in and whispered in my ear. "There are reports of an unquenchable fire in Topside."

"What color?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Sevran confirmed.

It wasn't demon fire. Still. Even a single fire mage could wreak havoc on a city. Normally there were precautions and safeguards to quickly locate such a person. But I had a feeling those measures weren't functioning well at the moment.

"They think it's the work of a magician?"

"Not the sort you're expecting." Sevran shook his head, lowered voice becoming almost inaudible. "The Crimson Brand is, to their credit, working to contain it. I suspect the quick response has less to do with decency than the slow response during the previous fires. Any water they conjure evaporates before it hits the flames. Yet the ordinary men and women carrying pails seem entirely unaffected."

I sucked in a breath. "The void mage."

Void, as an element, was rare. Rare enough that the entire enclave full of infernals seldomly housed over ten void mages like Bell at any given time. I'd caught glimpses of a powerful void mage acting behind the scenes, first during the confrontation with my father's forces outside the enclave. One powerful enough to suppress my sister's magic, bringing her no end of heartbreak. It was possible there were two, and I was inventing a greater enemy where none existed.

But my instincts said otherwise.

"This all seem too easy to you? Too orderly?" I asked Sevran quietly.

"Many things appear easy before they show their true face," Sevran returned. "But if the situation does not transform, and soon, I'd be shocked if it was little more than coincidence."

"Aetherya," I called to where she stood off to the side, peering down a nearby side-street that was a hive of activity. "Keep scouts overhead. Regardless of the situation. If there's something else driving this, or someone, the last thing we need is to be blindsided."

"Always do," she acknowledged.

"I'll be up there with them, so make sure they don't shoot me."

There was a split-second of displeasure before Aetherya answered. "Of course, my lord."

I grabbed Maya's hand, gripping lightly before releasing. "Stay safe."

"You too."

As the regiment disbursed, each heading towards a separate quarter of topside, I slipped into an alley, ditching my armor with the awkward assistance of a regimental squire. As armor went, mine was lighter than most. But the void mage was meticulous. They'd been completely hidden from me to this point. If this was my one chance of catching them off guard, I needed to move swiftly. The way I had in the sanctum.

I pulled the tabard's hood over my head, grateful for any protection against the wind, scaled the wall, and took to the rooftops.