316 The Archduke

The Archduke narrowed his eyes and sneered sharpened teeth at the unannounced visitor. 

"Who are you? What are you?" He asked. 

Edmar remembered the question from when Lefu asked it of him. He assumed like, as before, the correct answer wasn't 'human.' 

"I am Edmar, a thief, a murderer, and a liar, come on behalf of Tamas." He smiled charmingly. 

The Archduke looked past him towards the back of the room. "Is there proof?" 

"I saw him murder and steal with my own eyes." Lefu spoke up. 

Edmar was tempted to shoot him a grateful smile, but instead stood with eyebrows raised, as if mildly offended that proof should be needed to substantiate his claims.

Then again, he had just claimed to be a liar. 

"Welcome, then, Edmar. Your master, he does not come himself?" The Archduke squinted at him with his engorged colorless eyes. 

"Should you invite him, I'm sure he would be glad to make an appearance here in your… fine… court." Edmar's smile faltered slightly, but he bolstered it. "I am his emissary. Should you pledge your fealty to him, greatness awaits you." 

"I am great already." The Archduke waved a grey hand with long, sickly yellow fingernails. 

"Another world awaits you. One with countless subjects for your murder, and endless riches for your theft." Edmar smiled. He didn't particularly care whether the goblins destroyed Klain, as long as he got to rule his world when they were done. 

The Archduke leaned forward on his throne.

"You think me dull-witted? Our ancestors searched long for a world with enough dark for us. Look at your skin. Like a small giant. They belong in the sun, like you. You come from a bright world, and we want nothing of your alleged riches." The Archduke wrinkled his nose as if Edmar was the one who smelled like a rotting fish. 

"You have murdered the giants, would you not relish the opportunity to wreak more death upon sun-lovers?" The Commodore's sun baited. "It is winter there. The sun sleeps most of the day. Long, dark nights provide ample opportunity for those bloodthirsty enough to take it." 

The Archduke leaned back to consider the statements. Edmar kept his gaze trained on the leader, but tried to be as aware as he could of the feelings in the room. Lefu said that when a leader became weak, the one who murdered him would take over. 

Edmar pulled the stick and special stone out of his pocket, which initially caused the drawing of swords all around him. 

When he held it up, the silence was replaced by the rasping, hissing laughter that he'd heard before. 

Holding the stick, he concentrated and snapped. A portal opened beside him, the size of a doorway. The goblins murmured amongst themselves as Edmar threw the stone as hard as he could into the portal. 

"Are we to wait for your master?" The Archduke sneered. 

"Is it true, Archduke, that when you become weak, the one who murders you takes your place as ruler?" Edmar tilted his head. The goblins on either side of the Archduke stepped towards the man in a threatening way. 

"I am not weak." The Archduke grinned with his sharpened teeth. "You would die before you drew a weapon." 

"It was curiosity, nothing more," Edmar assured him with a half-smile. The Archduke's eyes wandered over to the portal, which still wavered like a dark gash in reality hovering in the middle of the room. 

"This seems a poor way for your Master to meet the people he hopes to subjugate. Not even a show of power to convince us of his formidability. Is he a murderer? A thief? A liar?" 

"I am all, and much greater than you," Tamas seeped into the room in the smoky black form that terrified Edmar the most. 

The smoke coalesced into the silhouette of Tamas, who smiled like a cat. 

The goblins stared, their murmuring silenced when the black smoke had spoken to them. 

"We will not serve a sun-lover." The Archduke's eyes filled with contempt. 

Tamas's shadowy body wavered and morphed, changing and hunching. His skin became grey and his fingernails and eyes grew until he took on a goblin-like form of himself. 

Edmar resisted the urge to flinch back. He dared not breathe deeply enough to find out if the smell matched the sight. 

"You have become weak." Tamas's horrifying new visage sneered. A javelin of dark smoke coalesced into his hand and shot forward, impaling the Archduke between his grotesque bulging eyes and lodging deeply into the wood of the ornate throne. 

The Archduke's eyes remained opened and gaping as blood oozed between them. Not a sound accompanied the death of the goblins' ruler. 

The guards on either side appeared nonplussed by the development, hesitating only a moment before pulling the javelin out of where it was stuck into the wood, and tossing the Archduke's body aside. 

The room, almost in unison, knelt before Tamas. 

"Hail!" They cried in raspy voices. 

Edmar cringed, but kept a smile pasted on his face. He would like to be out of here as soon as he could. 

"Excellent," Tamas's voice hissed. His sharp-toothed smile sent shivers down Edmar's spine. 

_______

Peter stood with Riley on the wall. There was tense silence between them. Neither was assigned to sentry duty, but it seemed like the place to be nonetheless. All other preparations that they could make had been performed. 

Of course, not everything could be planned for, and the two men were not useful for every task that needed doing. 

The signal fires indicating the approach of giants had burned the day before, after which the troops stationed closest had withdrawn into the city. It was only a matter of time before the enemy arrived. 

Apparently, Lysander and Roland had been unable to convince them to turn back, and so the city waited in near-silence. Listening for the alarm to sound imminent danger.  

Last time, Peter had been the one to urge its use, spotting the Void as it approached the city. 

It felt wrong to let someone do all the watching this time. 

"Not eager to get back to your fiancee?" Riley asked after several minutes. Peter studied the older man out of the corner of his eye. 

"She is busy with your mother making plans for the wedding. I would be in the way." He decided deflection was the best course of action. 

Riley's brow furrowed. "It is a nice distraction for Mother." 

Peter grimaced. Upon their arrival, they found out that Riley's next two brothers had enlisted for their year of service to Klain. Since the age had been lowered to fourteen, there was nothing Amelia could do to stop it. 

Peter couldn't fault the boys. He enlisted the moment he turned sixteen, and would have done so sooner had it been allowed. 

With the soldiers lost in the battle two years ago, and the growing threat of the Void and its expanding forces of otherworldly beings, it made complete sense for Klain to look to expand its army. 

Mayra had taken the news with strongly mixed feelings. Though she was ready to dive into danger herself, and to see her elder brother do the same, it was quite different to watch her younger brothers put themselves into precarious situations. 

Still, as brand-new recruits, they would be doing grunt work of fetching, carrying, and cleaning weapons. They would be the last in line to fight the giants… or whatever else might come. 

Peter scanned the mountains north of Klain. The information told that it was the most likely direction from which the attack would come… but nothing was certain. He remembered how the Void moved from one side of the city to another to attack during the battle, stepping out of the Darkness. 

At least there would be no wolves this time. Probably. 

The Void was unlikely to try the same attack twice. The element of surprise was an important part of any battle strategy, and the Void was reportedly extremely clever. 

"Did you hear that?" Riley asked suddenly, interrupting Peter's thoughts. 

The younger man had been concentrating so hard on visually scanning the mountains that he hadn't been listening terribly hard. With a quick glance at Riley, he closed his eyes and tried to listen for anything unusual. 

Thump. 

Peter's eyes popped open, frantically searching for the source of the deep noise. 

"Get ready to alert the hornsman." Riley whispered. 

Peter turned to locate the nearest tower, a short distance down the wall. 

He edged that direction, ready to sprint the moment something threatening came into view. Perhaps the thump was something within the wall, or on the ground, a heavy object knocked over or—

Thomp. 

Peter cringed, and took another step towards the tower. The sound was definitely closer, and louder, than before. The man in it noticed him, and Peter cupped his hand to one ear, then raised two fingers, pointed to his eyes, and gestured North, which seemed to be the origination of the sound. 

The soldier saluted and leaned in the direction indicated. 

Boom. 

On a peak in the middle distance, a strange and harrowing sight met his eyes. 

Three people–enormous people–stood on top. One hopped down the slope, landing halfway down on a wide ledge. 

BOOM!

Peter drew his sword as the horn frantically sounded in the tower. 

It looked like the time had come once again for battle.