Elf Empire 3, Chapter 51 (Patreon)

Chapter Fifty-One: Reproachment

With a pop of displaced air, Leo appeared on the window of the second story of the inner keep of Haviden castle. An open window.

He checked inside, saw that no one was present in the room, and moved the table near the window out of the way. Then he leaned out the window and stared down into the water garden below. He stood and pointed to the ground beside him.

With two pops of air, Neha and Queen Felicity appeared next to Leo.

He stared out at the approaching dawn for a second. Even in its infancy, the dawn promised a glorious sunrise, the smoke from the city thick in the air. The red of the sky reflected the fire and blood below in Leo’s mind. Not just hyperbole—some of the city was still, in fact, still burning, although the vast majority of it was out.

It was also a huge problem. Leo had been nearly sure that he could have convinced Chester to do what was needed from a safe distance, with the Havi Imperium whole and happy.

But with its capital city gutted by fire, and at least hundreds—more likely thousands—of its citizens and soldiers dead, he knew that his mission was a huge risk.

But something was only truly a risk when every other path wasn’t an utter disaster. And every other path was, in fact, utter disaster.

The only option he had thought of that wasn’t this route was going to another dimension and only letting people through he could eyeball directly, which would likely result in his tiny kingdom falling to pieces. He had no idea how else he would protect those he cared about.

“Dad?” Neha asked.

Leo pulled himself back from the city. “Sorry.”

“What now?” Felicity asked, staring around nervously.

“Let’s go see Chester,” Leo said.

Neha and Felicity both nodded, their eyes wide.

“Where?” Neha asked.

“The place I would be once I had let my enemies escape,” Leo replied. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he was almost certain he did.

They excited the room, Felicity checking first to make sure their were no guards in the hall, and then they made their way to the Omnieye room.

Leo motioned for everyone to stay out and then stepped inside.

Chester was leaning over, his armored gloves off and both palms on the table. He was otherwise dressed in the same plate mail he had been, but it no longer shown, blackened by soot.

“Watching the dead tick up?” Leo asked, his voice sympathetic. “I’m truly sorry for how this played out.”

Chester whirled and charged in one motion. Leo held his hands up and didn’t fight as Chester grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the wall, a couple inches off the ground.

Chester leaned in, his face inches from Leo’s, his eyes intense. “You don’t get to be sorry. You caused this with your arrogance. I offered you a chance, Leo. A chance to get most of what you wanted and avoid war. But, you couldn’t leave well enough along. You had to push. You had to kill my king and burn my people! Well, my kingdom will descend into anarchy now, most likely. But everything you love will die as well.”

Leo tapped his throat, unable to talk—or breathe—but didn’t make an aggressive move.

Chester dropped him to the ground and released his throat a bit. “What? What last words could possibly matter?”

Leo rubbed his throat and coughed. “Your kingdom won’t descend into anarchy. I checked. I wanted to get out and send a message, because I found the solution. Even now, Chester, I promise. And your kingdom, even with the wounds I—and you and Damian—accidentally inflicted will be far better under your stewardship than under Damians.”

Chester’s hand was at his sword hilt, but his brow furrowed a tiny bit. “What solution?”

“Felicity is pregnant with Damian’s child—who is also the grandchild of the Duke of Green Pale.”

“The Green Pale,” Chester said, but he was more thoughtful—and less homicidal—now.

Then he narrowed his eyes. “We still lost thousands, and you burned or stole our fleet. How do you justify that such that I shouldn’t kill you?”

Leo motioned—slowly—to the table, where the map and figures still were. “You were planning on destroying me. You as in the kingdom, not you per se. And you guys grabbed Hugh’s Mom and brother and friends. No offense, Chester, but I don’t have to justify anything to you guys morally. If you want to kill me for that, fine. But Damian was empowering his army by the outright torture of my best friend’s mother, for all the good god’s sake.”

He tapped his forehead, internally having brief near hysterical giggle. “Think, Chester, think! You saw Damian use the powers of Irkuhkt, the tyrant god! You think that would end well? That it was truly better for the kingdom? He was evil. I also know that Irkuhkt is using every tool at his disposal to come after me and turn my kingdom into some kind of interdimensional nexus of tyranny and slavery and everything bad about the world. Worlds. Whatever. The point is, fighting him was the only option, and I’ve done you a huge favor, even with the pain and destruction along the way.”

“Fair,” Chester mused. “But why shouldn’t I kill you now for how you handled it? You still attacked my kingdom and slew my king. That was an act of war.”

“Because you’re a good person, Chester, and because then Irkuhkt gets at least a lot of what he wants. Because then a lot of my people—who were in many cases your citizens before you kingdom betrayed them—will die. If you’re going to give something to the devil, at least make it his due.”

Chester quirked an eyebrow at Leo.

“Sorry, mangled idiom from where I hail from. The point is, I didn’t make the decision to free your slaves until after I had seen the plans to invade me—” mostly true“—and I tried to do it and get out, so there wouldn’t be a conflict. Hell, a war would likely have killed more than even this city fire. And I’m on the side of good. So please, let’s end this as best we can.”

Chester hesitated. Leo was fairly sure at this point he wouldn’t be murdered—but not a hundred percent sure, and he could feel himself perspiring.

Chester finally slumped and backed against the omnieye table. “Damn you, Leo. Fine. I’ll let you live. Never admit you came to see me, however. Also, just so you know, this will be messy.”

“What do you mean?” Leo asked, frowning.

“I mean, you’re right—Damian was evil. But, he was also popular. He attacked dragons, a neighboring country that had harassed us back in the day, and a small, fairly disliked minority. For the majority he did fine. Maybe it would have gone terrible. You’re right, I did see—and sense—Irkuhkt’s power. So yeah, most likely terrible things. But no one will believe me. Also, if they did, his kid would have trouble taking over.”

Leo started to respond, but Chester raised his hand. “Also, Bartholemew Corion, the Duke of the Green Pale, is not a nice man. Older, more patient, and far more cunning and careful than Damian. So you’ll have time, at least. But I certainly can’t promise that I’ll be able to sway the young king or queen—or even the widow regent Felicity—to not invade you, especially with you having burned the capital city and killed the king. You’re enemy number one, Leo. I doubt I can change that. It’ll take a generation, at least, for these wounds to fade in the public mind.”

Leo grimaced. He hadn’t, for some reason, thought that far. There was going to be a ton of bad blood between the kingdoms.

His resolve hardened, however. “I understand. It’s still better for me, and I think you, then letting a priest of Irkuhkt rule. Speaking of which, I would seek out a secret temple stone or something and try and end it, before Irkuhkt uses it to convert someone else.”

“I will. Now, please, Felicity, come out from behind the corner.”

Oh, right, he can see around walls and under doors and such. I wonder if he was pretending to look at the map in case I attacked him.

Felicity stepped around the corner. “Hey, Chester.”

“Hey yourself. I assume that everything Leo is telling me is true?”

Felicity nodded. “I mean, I think so. You know that Damian abused me terribly, and he told me openly that he wouldn’t need me alive once I had a kid. I never saw him use Irkuhkt powers, but it makes sense. He was always into hurting things, especially things he had power over.”

Chester grimaced and risked a glance at Leo. Leo suspected he was embarrassed at letting Felicity be abused, and frankly, Leo thought Chester should be embarrassed. At the very least.

But Leo wasn’t going to bring it up at this point. Damian is dead, and Chester is a half-decent guy at least. And I need him to be happy regardless.

“So what now?” Leo asked.

Chester pointed outside. “You get out of here. I reveal the happy truth that Damian had an heir, which should buy off some anger from the populace. Laurence and I try and keep a war from happening. We slowly rebuild here, I will slowly leak the darker truths about Damian, and we try and slowly rebuild our relationship. But for now, I think they’ll probably be trade embargoes, etc. At the very least.”

Leo nodded, saddened but unsurprised.

And it could have gone far, far worse. This was as near to a happy ending as he was going to get from this situation.

Leo held his hand out. “Thank you. Genuinely.”

Chester stared at it for a moment, but finally reached out and grabbed it. He gave one single sharp shake—and a hefty squeeze—and released.

“Get out of here,” he said, gruffly.

Leo got. He had things to do anyway.