The Plan

“There are three reasons we can’t just kill Zaurgan,” Aldan said. “First, as discussed, we probably can’t take him. He conceals his strength by working behind the scenes, but in an open battle, I honestly don’t think even Father could best him.”

“I have to wonder why he’s content to play second fiddle, then, since he obviously wants power,” said Rakkan.

“Zaurgan can’t lead,” Ophia sniffed. “That requires social acumen. No matter how strong or clever you are, ruling requires people wanting to follow you, and Zaurgan is as charismatic as dysentery.”

“He does tend to annoy people,” Uthien agreed.

“Or creep them out,” Morenna muttered.

“The second reason,” Aldan continued, “is that Zaurgan is actually very good in his role as advisor; he’s the source of a lot of Father’s policy successes. Removing him would weaken Father’s rule. And that leads into the third reason: if we, the Emperor’s children, were to take out the Emperor’s chief advisor in an act of violence, it would throw the entire court into disarray. A lot of the political factions would stop scheming and bring out blades. And my worry is that the Empire itself isn’t yet stable enough to survive that.”

“It isn’t,” Morenna stated. Rakkan nodded.

“I still have qualms about the second reason,” said Uthien, “but when you lay them all out like that, I see your point. The other two pretty much settle it.”

“Even if you’re right, brother,” said Aldan, “let’s not forget the second reason, because it’s Zaurgan’s weakness and what we can use to finally get rid of him.”

Rakkan blinked. “The…fact that he’s too valuable to get rid of?”

“Exactly!” Aldan said fervently. “Understand that that isn’t normal; no one man is such a prodigy that an entire Empire must depend on his expertise. Zaurgan has made himself indispensable, and what can be done can be undone.”

“He is careful to conceal this fact,” said Vanerra, “but Zaurgan’s manipulations are key to how Father selects his…other advisors.”

“Who?” Rakkan asked. “You mean that constantly changing roster of various rich Rahabin who’re obviously there to scheme for power more than to give good advice?”

Vanerra nodded. “It helps Zaurgan position himself as Father’s most valuable and only truly reliable advisor.”

“But Zaurgan doesn’t have any great genius for governance,” Aldan continued. “He’s only valuable now because he’s managed to undercut all the competition. Father and the Empire would be better off with a stable variety of skilled and experienced professionals in his place. That has to be our ultimate strategy: get rid of Zaurgan by making him unnecessary. And then, once we’ve sidelined him… We can revisit the matter of eliminating him completely.”

“Bro, that’s gonna take years,” Rakkan groaned.

Aldan nodded somberly. “And it’ll be difficult; Zaurgan won’t just sit back and let it happen. Which is why we will worry about that later. Our task right now is to break his grip on me.” He hesitated, then squared his shoulders. “I know…I haven’t been a very good brother, and I’m sorry. I hope now you at least understand my reasons.”

“Well, I don’t think we can say we’ve been a very close family anyhow,” Espa said. “Maybe none of us are in a position to criticize.”

“Except Morenna,” Rakkan added with a grin, “who keeps saving all our butts while having the least incentive out of all of us to do so.”

Morenna shrugged, her ears turning pink, and avoided meeting anyone’s eyes. “It’s not like…I could just let you die.”

“Whatever your reasons, sister, we appreciate you,” Aldan assured her. “I appreciate you. After what you’ve done for my mother and our other siblings… I’m truly shamed that it’s taken me this long to thank you. But I hope we—all of us—can start healing this breach now. If not for our own inner peace, because this is what we have to do if we’re to secure a future for ourselves.”

He paused; Vanerra gave him an encouraging nod, and the rest stood waiting.

“What I’m proposing,” Aldan continued, “is that we make ourselves a faction. Between us, we represent more connections, combat ability, and magical power than any other faction at court. United, even Zaurgan doesn’t have enough influence to dare confront us openly. If we come together as brothers and sisters, we will have the power to advocate for our vision of what’s good for the Empire. And the first step is to take this absurd test that Zaurgan manipulated Father into sending us on, and pass it beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. We’ll emerge as celebrated heroes, and finally be able to exert our own will.”

“Supporting you,” Uthien said neutrally.

“Yes,” Aldan agreed. “As of right now, that’s the plan. If any of you would rather be Emperor, I’m open to that—because frankly I don’t love the idea myself. Father probably wouldn’t go for it, but there’s a workaround for that. I’m pretty sure I’d be a terrible Emperor unless I have the full support of my family. Does anyone think they’d do better? Or want to try?”

Rakkan snorted; Ophia sniffed and put her nose up; Uthien grimaced.

One by one, though, they all shifted their eyes to pensively regard Morenna.

“Did you all seriously just look at me?” she demanded. “Absolutely not, fuck off.”

“Well, looks like we’re backing the heir after all,” Rakkan said, grinning. “So, big bro! If you were briefed about all the dangers down here, do you have one in mind that even old man Zaurgan doesn’t think we can take?”

“That’s the key,” Aldan agreed. “Remember, this has to both establish us as a power bloc and make the statement to Zaurgan that he’s not only not in control, but can’t risk making an issue of it. He prepared me with enough knowledge of the perils in these catacombs to coerce or manipulate each of you into seeing me as your savior, and dispose of any who didn’t go for it. I want us to take on a threat he warned me not to challenge, and turn it into a trophy and a story to build our foundation on top of.”

“That sounds solid to me,” Uthien agreed thoughtfully. “As a unit…we really are collectively a powerhouse. Espa is a secret weapon that can keep us all going if things go badly, Morenna is a trump card for nearly any situation, and I doubt Zaurgan has a handle on the extent of Ophia’s and my new powers.”

“And the rest of us are here too!” Rakkan said brightly. Morenna patted his shoulder.

“Thank you,” Aldan said solemnly. “I’ll do my best not to let you down, all of you. Now, first step is getting to the end of this corridor.”

All of them looked down the metal tunnel of pounding, slicing, blasting death traps, and took a collective step back.

“I propose to cheat,” Aldan said, grinning. “Morenna, is there enough space behind the wall panels to walk through?”

“Hmm…” Morenna frowned at the traps, then stepped backward into a dark spot between two pillars and vanished. Seconds later she reappeared. “It’s a bit of a squeeze around the machinery in a few spots, but I think there’s enough room to slip through the walls and avoid the traps that way. The problem is getting in there; all of you except Vanerra are too large for me to move you through the shadows.”

“Right, we’ll have to make our own holes,” Aldan agreed. “Uthien, do you think you can hammer this wall down?”

“No,” Uthien shook his head, “Machine Men alloys are way tougher than that. But I have a better idea. We can just take it apart.”

“I thought that was supposed to be impossible,” said Rakkan.

“It is supposed to be,” Uthien affirmed, already stepping forward and kneeling next to one of the wall panels inside the corridor, well away from the first set of slashing blades. “See these circles around the edges? The Machine Men made their bolts to fit exactly with no accessible grooves or anything, so in theory nobody could take their machines apart without their specialized tools. But this is no match for the power of gravity!”

“What…does…gravity have to do with anything?” Espa asked.

Grinning, Uthien had already extracted the first bolt. “Morenna, why don’t you explain it to them while I work?”