Melody of Mana

It was done, and I had done it. The emperor was dead, his rival was dead, all around me it looked like the battle was closing. I wonder who won in the end? Did it really matter? Well, I supposed it would, either I'd be killed by our enemies, or have to deal with the fallout with our allies, neither sounded particularly good to me.

For now I contented myself with fixing up my sliced arm and collapsing. I still had a bit of mana, not a ton, but a bit, so I wasn't going to pass out right now, but if things went bad, I needed to be rested. So for now I laid down on the roof and watched as the eclipse ended. Someone somewhere would probably be suspicious about the timing, and maybe they were right. Perhaps the moon demanded a fee of blood for what it did tonight. Then again perhaps it was just a good time for an assault, and the movements of the moon and sun and world had nothing to do with it. I'd have thought the latter in my previous life, but magic was an undeniable fact in this one, and sometimes it surprised me.

"Alana, Alana!" Came the cry that made me rise. Ulanion had arrived.

"I'm... well not fine, but not badly hurt," I said, sitting up.

"Thank goodness, I saw the blood, and the damage, and..." I took a moment to look around and realized what he was talking about, the roof I was on was a disaster hovering above an even larger disaster.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I can see why you'd be worried." I looked him over as well, and he seemed mostly fine except for a small addition. "Ulanion, what's that?" I said, pointing.

"A gift for Selene, I think it will help her in the long run," he replied, the small bundle on his side shifting.

"It's bleeding..."

"So it is, I'll have to clean it up, and give her warning first, but there are things she should see with her own eyes yes?" I began to realize what I was looking at.

"...Is that a human head?"

"The torturer," he replied.

"Oh, well I'm glad he's dead, but you'll traumatize the poor girl just giving that to her," I said, hoping to dissuade him from such an action.

"Perhaps, I think I'll tell her I have it and ask if she would like it." He tapped his chin. "That's unimportant though, what is important is that we find out what's going on."

"We won," came a voice from above, slowly landing near us. "At least in most places. Your father will be here momentarily, where is the emperor?"

"Dead," I told Mystien. "Body fell off the roof over there where all the blood is."

He looked stunned at that announcement. "How?"

"Lief, who is also dead now. If you care to gather that body it's the charred one over that way." I waved in the right general direction.

While he was still processing my father and brother showed up. Everyone was rough looking, but all at least alive, small victories. I had to give the full story to everyone while they chewed on the facts. It wasn't pretty, but it was the truth. They wanted a breakdown of how it had happened, and since I still needed a few moments to go over it myself I gave them one.

"I don't know what to do," my father admitted.

"We'll have to support the empire of course, while it gets back on its feet," Mystien replied.

"That's unlikely to work," I said tiredly. "But maybe if we act power can be handed over to the queen quickly and without a fight."

"What do you mean?" Dad said sharply.

I thought back to all of the empires of my first world. Alexander the great, Julius Caesar, ect. Most that rose with one ruler fell with that ruler. That was unless power could be handed over to the heir while the elder was still around like the Japanese leader who had finally won their conflict. Without Durin around to put his son in power and make sure he stayed there, the chances that he made it to the throne were almost zero.

The queen was a better choice, a much better one. Women were far more respected as potential leaders in this world. Sadly that didn't mean that a lot of people wouldn't turn on her. As much as Queen Sophia was liked by many, she wasn't her husband, she had neither his charisma, nor his support from the institutions. Perhaps she could have if she'd wanted to before, but she'd taken a step back to let him bask, and now it would hurt her badly.

"Half of the generals will probably rebel in the next year, some of the more powerful civil servants might too. They'll fall upon each other for the throne of the empire like vultures on a carcass, and more than likely we'll split into several different states. Even the old empire to the east, a lot of their people like our rule more, but culturally they're still quite different."

"This is just the beginning," Mystien said sadly closing his eyes.

"Maybe, if we act fast we might still stop it," I said. "Someone needs to secure the fortress, the gates are too powerful, too dangerous. Another needs to take the nexus we've been building in the capital and hold it as well, bringing in whoever is in charge in that city if possible. With that we might be able to hold out, if the gates are captured early enough we'll still have the best logistics anywhere."

Everyone exchanged looks for a few moments. Most of them seemed surprised that I was suggesting this, but there really was no other way, not if they wanted the current family to keep ruling. I was kind of neutral on the queen, and the prince was a child, but I liked peace more than war.

"I can gather my apprentices and we can put the fortress into a lockdown, tell everyone there's been a disaster but not what. Enough of my people are there," Mystien finally said.

"I know the hub overseer Ron and most of the soldiers, good people... the general though..." Dad said, looking worried.

"Take enough of your people to kill him if need be, and don't tell him anything until your position is secure, at least the gate hub. If I remember correctly it's as fortified as it possibly can be."

"The queen?" Mystien asked.

"I'll tell her, most of their guards are dead, and I can be gentle when I need to be," I said.

"I'll go with you," Ulanion offered.

"Actually if you don't mind, I've got a task that needs doing if we're securing things. One of my former apprentices is currently the dean over at the academy, he'll need to be alerted that we need aid. A few of our people there are both loyal and strong enough to be of great help." Mystien was thinking now.

"Dras, his apprentices, and my own students need to be gathered too, we need to know their disposition," I added.

Before we all broke to go to our tasks dad found a few soldiers he knew he could trust and put them to task guarding me. They weren't special or anything, but it wouldn't do to have one of the idiots who'd attacked us get me now. Soon as I was done here I would be checking my portal tracker. If I knew the makeshift models they used, and I did, then it would have pointed straight at it. Getting the direction would be easy as pie, and if I was lucky they'd lost enough people to not realize they needed to shut it down. Triangulation would be my next task after informing the queen.

The survivors of the party had gathered together in one of the side rooms. I was sure there'd been some effort to move the queen away, but I didn't even have to ask, she was there with her people, looking calm and composed. It was easy to tell that she'd stayed to alleviate fears, a good sign if she was to take over.

Coming in as I did with soldiers in tow I was brought to her quickly. I schooled my face, trying to look as calm and supportive as I could.

"Your majesty, could we have a moment away from the crowd?" I asked after greeting her, it would be best if she heard this in private.

"Something important? A message from my husband?" She must have seen me wince at that question, because she continued. "He's not hurt is he? Surely nothing the priests can't fix."

My face was the only answer she needed. I'd liked Durin, he'd done more than enough to earn my loyalty. I wasn't family, or some old friend, but when I had a moment I would mourn his passing with everyone else.

"What happened to him?" She asked, calm facade breaking a bit.

"Please..." I really didn't want to do this in public.

"Tell me what happened to him, NOW." There was a flare of her aura with her voice.

"Lief..." I tried to form the words, but there was no easy way to say it, and she understood.

"That is a lie, that is a lie!" She stood from the chair she'd been in.

"Majesty, please," one of her guards said, moving forward to try and calm her down.

She slapped the man hard, and there was a brief flash of light. As he fell I could see his veins darken and spread, causing the man to scream in agony. I knew bardic magic, knew it well, it was supposed to be what she used as well. That spell though, that was no bardic spell, that was a priest spell.

"You, you! I'll kill you, you lying little bitch!" She drew back her hands, a glow spreading across them as she did so.

There was no time to sing, no time to dance, or cast any kind of spell. I fell back on my training, throwing out my aura with all I had to push against the incoming storm. I'd learned to resist spells, it was risky, hard, and generally not as good as a shield, but in this case I had no choice, so I pushed with all I had.

Her guards tried to move in to restrain her. Who knew if they'd known she was a priestess or not, but everyone knew that a priest who lost their mind was a danger to everyone. They failed of course, she threw bolts that could wither men into husks, only to be met by their formidable protections. Few were skilled at stopping that kind of magic though, and while it looked like they'd survive, they went down quickly.

Their actions saved me though. I couldn't have survived very long under her full assault, but them taking off the pressure bought me a second or two before she could turn back. The spell she used was pain, pain incarnate spreading. My body and magic fought it, but it still burned like fire. In the background I could hear the panic as realization hit the crowd, screams of 'death priest' and similar as schooled mages grabbed whatever family they had and bolted like rabbits.

I felt it as she turned back towards me though, seemingly determined to end my life if nothing else. Then it stopped, completely. I looked up in confusion, thinking I might see her winding up something truly nasty, but no, I was met with a very different image.

After she'd dropped her guards and sent everyone fleeing it seemed our distressed ruler had forgotten to look around. My mother was there, the small dagger she carried for self-protection in hand, stabbing. As I tried to rise I saw her rip it from the queen's neck, sending a spurt of blood out. It wasn't enough though, as I could also see the wound being mended almost as fast. Mother didn't let up though, stabbing once, twice more, from behind her. Then aiming up, just a few ribs down and trusting as hard as she could, the knife turning in the wound again and again, straight in Sophia's heart.

The queen couldn't see her, but seemed to realize that she was done. In a last attempt at revenge she flashed out once more. The wave of magic she released was weak in comparison to her previous spell, bouncing off my aura like a wave. There were only a few others in the room now, but those that weren't prepared dropped.

The queen gurgled something, her mouth moving one more time before she fell. I ignored her though, running for my own. Behind where mother lay was the prince, also fallen from whatever spell she let loose.

"Mother," I gasped as I fell down beside her, trying to get her attention.

"Mom," I said, shaking her gently, trying to wake her up, but she didn't move. She was pale and still.

"Mom, mom!" I tried to wake her, even singing a few notes to reach out with healing magic.

"Mommy?"