Chapter 70

There lay a great many corpses on the narrow stone of the dungeon's floor. Starved and mutilated, old and young, male and female, they lay there as a testament to the cruelty of war.

Nolan's head swam as he ran, the stench of the corpses suddenly stronger.

"Escapees! The prince is among them!"A guard shouted from behind as the three charged toward the door Richard proclaimed would lead them to safety.

"After them!"

Jayne pushed open the door, leading into utter darkness, and the music of trickling water met them.

The golden light of his prosthesis lit the chasm, for that was what it was. A door beyond which was no ground. Below them was water, filthy and filled with nothing good.

"What is this!?" Nolan asked louder than he should have, but he could hardly hear himself over the ringing of his head. The soldier had struck him a solid blow.

Richard smiled. "An opening to the city's sewers!" Nolan inched back. His companion sighed, "Children…tsk." And gave him a shove.

He fell with a splash. Never had he held his breath or closed his mouth as well as he did now. His head broke the water's surface, and he took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he found himself wading in a sea of corpses and blood-red water.

"Come, boy! Forward!" Jayne cried.

It was dark save for the little light his prosthetic gave. Nolan was concerned about the electricity meeting the water. His arm stung a little more, and the sparks turned brighter and louder but did little else.

Thankfully, the sewage was sloped downward, so they knew where to go. Shivering, they pushed corpse after corpse, and even some living who were better off being put out of their misery, out of their way.

Thunk. Something hard jut itself into Nolan's side. With a grunt, he pulled it out of the water. A sword. It was rusted beyond saving, and the end had already crumbled. He dropped it and moved on. 

"Where does this lead?" Jayne asked.

Richard sneezed. "I don't know."

Nolan turned on him. "So you thought jumping in was a wise attempt?"

"What would you do then, my prince? Catch your beauty sleep so you look your best when they impale you?" Richard returned.

"Better that than this. We all have wounds, and now this water will have infected them. We are surely dead."

Jayne shrugged as she pushed the corpse of a child away. "I'd rather die like this than rot in a cell or bear the children of a man I have never met."

Richard grunted. "My thoughts exactly. But you needn't worry, my prince. The lightning that consumes you from within, though a curse, can be a boon at times. No infection can avail you that will not be burned by it. Truly, you have never suffered from common illnesses since you were a boy of four."

…that was good. "How do you know?"

"I was your physician."

Nolan hummed. "My father…is it true he knew nothing but his name, as Demos said?"

Richard shook his head. "Sometimes he did not, and sometimes he did. Mania was the mantle of his mind, and battle was his bride. War after war he waged, and now his sins have come raining down on us."

"Your family should have slain the oaf a long time ago," Jayne said. "At least six years ago, preferably."

"Slain him how?" Richard muttered. "An Ascended is not so easily killed. The crown prince, the only other Ascended of our kingdom, is as mad as his father was and is still off in some other kingdom, laying siege to a useless castle while his legacy is put to the sword. Other than the two, the boy has no family. And what would the lords at court care? The king could pay no attention to them even if he wanted to…so they took every opportunity to line their pockets."

Nolan winced. "Light!" he said.

A ray of light streamed in from ahead. After a minute or two of wading, they found a grate. Most of it had been eaten through by rust, but it held. A strike of a sword would take care of that.

Richard cut through the rust.

When they passed through the grate, a flash of lightning took them by surprise. Nolan shut his eyes painfully. Thunder followed a few moments later.

When it subsided, a voice sounded from behind them, "I found you!" A voice he recognized. The grating overtone of Demos. Nolan blinked the white of lightning away and turned.

There he was, wading through the water with another man, the same one who had called them 'Imperial dogs,' behind him. There were swords in their hands.

"Run!" Jayne said, already moving.

Another flash came from the sky, illuminating the world. Nolan saw it all. The field of pikes and sharp, tall things; the living and the dead impaled upon them; the blood-red ground, worse than even the sewers; and the shadow that lay on the floor, watching them, with nothing to cast it.

"Gaius's shadow!" he warned.

It was too late. The shadow rippled, and out of it rose a person. Black as ebony and garbed in wisps of shadow, it cut a bleak figure for their future. The darkness receded, and Gaius stood before him.

A teleportation ability. Nolan cursed.

"We planned on bringing you here on the morrow," Gaius said with a smile. "But well, we don't mind bringing forward your execution."

He stepped back and spun on his heel, taking in the hideous field.

"Your people are watching us."

He was right. Nolan could feel their eyes, at least some dozens at the forefront of the thousands dying here on this field. Their eyes clung to him. Some looked at him with hope, some with sympathy, some with apathy, and some with hatred.

"The king has ordered that your death be entertaining, boy. My father wants every soul in your city that we have left alive to know that your line met a most pathetic end."

Nolan's eyes refused to move from Gaius's back. Even when he heard the clash of swords behind him, he did not turn. Gaius turned. He saw him clearly for the first time. He was young, and his smile was that of a child's. Fourteen, at the most. There were two swords in his hands. He threw one to Nolan's feet.

Nolan bent to pick it up.

Gaius spun his sword in his hand. "Dance with me, princeling."