Chapter 19: Inside The Palace

The interior of the palace was a shambles once I’d gotten down from the western dome and arrived on the third story. Courtiers, servants, and soldiers swarmed about in a panic and all were trying to get to the area of the throne room where the chaos was at its worst. Descending several more flights of stairs, I found myself knee deep (yet again) in cold water and had to wade through both palace attendants and the liquid contents of the aqueduct as I made my way to the disaster site. 

 When I arrived, I found Cilinua, the head of palace affairs, and he quickly ushered me to the entranceway to the dungeon beneath the palace. Most of the people who’d been huddling in terror there for some time were now filing up the steps, many holding torches and lanterns. It was on this stairwell that I ran into Demitos. He was dressed in shiny bright blue ceremonial robes and held a lantern, which lighted the vacant expression on his face.

 “Syndeeka,” he said as we worked our way up the steps to the flooded throne room, “So I guess you failed in your mission.”

 His tone was hollow, broken.

 “I have to ask you, Demitos,” I said. “Where is Fodineo?”

 Demito’s eyes fell. “He stayed up top with the court astronomers. They wanted to continue making observations of the zodiac in spite of the loud noise, and in spite of the burning aqueduct above the palace.” 

 He stopped his ascent of the steps and we were swarmed by a stream of senators and courtiers rising past us.

 “My man thought it would be ill luck to turn his back on an omen like the one we saw through the crystal dome.” He sighed. “How could he possibly have survived this? All of us hiding in the dungeon thought we would probably die. Part of the ceiling caved in and we all had to retreat as the dungeon began flooding.”

 My arms and legs and chest were stinging from the cuts I’d sustained, and I could feel the congealed blood on my skin dry and crust over. In spite of my pain, I placed a consoling hand on his muscular arm.

 “This has been a sad day for all of us. Mala died.”

 Demitos arched his eyebrows. “Mala?”

 I touched a reddened hand to my eye. “Yes. But we need to find your man. Everything…everything is hanging in the balance now.”

 We ascended the remaining steps and entered the wreckage strewn throne room. Men waded through water and ducked under fallen columns and twisted metal snake wreckage to see if they could find the Emperor and his court astronomers. 

 Under one of the stone columns were the burnt, crushed remains of the serpent’s head, now flattened beyond recognition and doused by a perpetual waterfall descending through the shattered ruins of the crystal dome. The crown of the snake’s noggin and the column atop it were drenched in two arcing streams of water, leaving the twisted muzzle somewhat dry.

 An arm in a bloody sleave of pale purple and red trim jutted out from under the chin of the smashed-in serpent’s head. It bobbed up under several feet of bloodstained water, but Demitos immediately recognized it.

 He dropped his face into his hands, then slowly pulled it up to stare at me with watery eyes. “What is left for us now? I know he was a cruel man, a bully and a tyrant, but he was mine.”
 
 I stared at the fallen columns and the collapsed steel body of the serpent. The constant deluge from the aqueduct had finally extinguished  the flames. 

 And maybe also all hope. 

 “I don’t know anymore,” I finally replied. “You will inherit all his things. I know that’s not the same as having him. But…”

 A thought occurred to me.

 I looked to Demitos. “You don’t just inherit his belongings, do you?”

 He wiped his eyes. “No. I get everything. That was ensured by the commitment ceremony.”

 I inhaled deeply. “Wait. That means you’re now Emperor, then!”

 Demitos chuckled hollowly. “He didn’t have any heirs. I guess that would mean…”

 “Did you forget about me, Demitos?” called a voice from behind us.

 We turned and saw Darvino, decked out in gold tunic and trousers and wading his way towards us from under several fallen columns.

 I ran over to meet him. “You’re a murderer. Did you enjoy torturing and killing Nebiat? Mutilating him? Snuffing out his life?” 

 He smiled and folded his arms. “Who are you to criticize me for killing people, Madam Ushe? That’s your whole damned profession.” 

 He sloshed his way past me till he was standing over Fodineo’s crushed remains.

 I followed him to where he now stood by Demitos’ side. “You enjoyed causing him pain, didn’t you? They told me what you did to him. He was a kind, gracious, honorable man.”

 Darvino laughed. “No, Syndeeka, he was just as dishonest and violent as you or me or''-- he looked at Fodineo’s arm– “this disgusting scoundrel.”

 He knelt down in the water and pulled at the Deity Imperator’s mangled arm.

 “Where is his ring?” he asked. “I’m going to claim it as my own (by birthright!) and declare myself the next emperor.”

 Demitos wiped his eyes and then joined Darvino down in the water. “The Imperial signet would be on his left hand. This is his right.”

 The young man squinted at Demitos. “Fine. I’ll just go under the snake’s head and get it.”

 “Be careful,” I said. “Otherwise, you might get crushed too.”

 Darvino gave me a dirty look. “I’m sure you’d like that.”

 He dived into the water and swam down under the twisted remains of the beast’s muzzle.

 I looked to Demitos.

 “Here,” he said, handing me his lantern. “I should probably try and hold the wreckage up so it doesn’t fall on him.”

 “I don’t think you can lift that head, Demitos. Trust me, it’s pretty heavy.”

 He ignored me and grabbed onto the mangled tip of the serpent’s muzzle. There was a grating metallic sound as if the tattered steel were folding in on itself. And then I noticed he was pressing down.

 Darvino’s legs started kicking up from the water, splashing droplets in all directions.

 “Let me help you,” I said, leaning my elbow on the muzzle and putting all my weight into it.

 We were doused in a wet spray for several minutes, then Darvino’s kicking stopped. 

 His legs floated up to the surface.

 Demitos stared at me with wide, theatrical eyes. “By the Lord and the Lady, I think he’s dead. It’s a shame… A shame I never learned to like him.”

 “So sad,” I replied in a flat tone. “He was such a fine young man with such a promising future.” I let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sure his mother will miss him, anyway.”

 Courtiers, guards, and senators waded through the rising waters to surround us, holding their lights above their heads and illuminating us like we were actors in a dramatic performance.

 Suddenly, the shear battery of the day– with all its pain, disappointment, and overwhelming despair– seeped into my skin like an acidic mist and my insides chilled and all the colors around me were washed away, leaving an endless corpse gray. My mission completed, I was left not with a sense of victory or elation, but an all-consuming grief. 

 She was dead, but I was still alive.

 There’d been a reason for self-preservation before. There’d been cause to hold the guilt and sadness at bay. There had been something to keep striving for. Lives to be saved. A world to defend.

 That was all done now.

 As best as I could make it, which was hardly good enough.

 She was dead and I was alive.

 A dizziness overtook me and my head swam. I dropped the lantern, which immediately guttered in the water and sank.

 I cast a sickly, sorrowful stare at Demitos. His eyes met mine with a pained expression of concern.

 “We won, Mala,” I said, falling into his cradling arms. “We won.”