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SAVING THE EMPEROR

Simon R. Green

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A man on the run. A woman on a mission. A renegade esper...and the Emperor’s life hanging in the balance. Time is running short, and to save an empire, an outcast must rise from the bowels of the Imperial City of Virimonde and become—and begin—a legend...


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The young bravo known as Hadrian Steel was stalking a saber-toothed tiger through the Garden of Death.

In the Imperial City of Virimonde, there were worlds within worlds. Special areas set aside, where everyone could pursue their heart’s desire. The Garden of Death used to be a rookery, back in the day; a haven for thieves and rogues and political opportunists. The kind of place where the local law never entered, because they knew they’d never come out again. But eventually the rookery’s villains went too far, perhaps because there was nowhere else left for them to go, and the Emperor Ethur sent in his personal troops, the Praetorian Guard...And by the time they were finished, there wasn’t enough left of the area to be worth salvaging.

The maze of dark and gloomy streets was left to rot and ruin, and strangling vines and hungry mosses crawled all over the crumbling buildings—until finally, someone saw a business opportunity. And so the Garden of Death became a sporting arena, for anyone who wished to enjoy the thrills of the hunt. The shadowy streets and squares were stocked with dangerous beasts and aliens from a hundred worlds, and anyone who could pay the price was free to test their courage and their skill in the most dangerous part of the most dangerous city on Heartworld.

The sign at the entrance said Enter at your own risk, though really it should have said Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Because while you were hunting the beasts and the aliens, there was a very real chance that something was hunting you.


Hadrian Steel moved silently down a shadowy back alley, his sword ready in his hand. He could hear the distant sounds of blasting energy weapons, the roars of ambushed animals, and the occasional scream from a hunter who’d underestimated his prey, but he kept his attention fixed on the massive beast ahead of him. He eased forward, step by step, being very careful where he set his feet so as not to make the slightest sound. The multicolored moss sprawling across most of one wall twitched and stirred as he passed, but it had already fed well that day, on a hunter who should have had eyes for something other than his prey, so the moss just went back to sleep again. And Hadrian took his left hand away from the energy gun holstered on his hip. He slowly closed in on the saber-toothed tiger as it padded calmly through the shadows of the alley, convinced it was lord of its domain.

The tiger was a magnificent creature, almost ten feet long, sleek and powerfully muscled. The silver stripes on its jet-black skin made it a part of the shadows, though light gleamed briefly on the huge curved fangs that gave the beast its name. It stopped abruptly, sensing some danger on the still air, and Hadrian froze where he was. And in the shadows behind him, Anastasia Charm stopped where she was too.

The tiger’s great head came up as it sniffed the air carefully, and then its tail twitched as it took a cautious step forward. Hadrian took a step too, and his left hand snapped forward with vicious strength as he threw a knife into a dark opening in the wall ahead of him. There was a brief startled sound, and then a dead man fell forward into the alley with the knife in his throat. He hit the ground with a solid thud, and the saber-toothed tiger was off and running before the echoes had died away. Hadrian didn’t even glance after it. He knelt beside the dead man, retrieved his knife and stood up again, casually stropping the blood-smeared blade against his legging. And then he looked back at the shadows where Anastasia was standing very still.

“You can come out now, if you want,” said Hadrian.

Anastasia moved carefully forward into what little light there was, holding her hands out to show they were empty.

“I’m Anastasia Charm. Call me Anna. I already know who you are. How did you know I was following you?”

“The same way I knew he was there,” said Hadrian, nodding at the dead man. “I pay attention.”

“Who was he?”

“Just a bounty hunter, looking to collect the price on my head. I let him ambush me, so I could collect the price on his.”

They studied each other carefully, taking their time. Hadrian Steel had the same look as the tiger he’d been hunting: a lean and muscular predator, with a handsome enough face, close-cropped dark hair and cool gray eyes. Barely into his twenties, he looked like he’d seen a lot of rough mileage. He wore simple leathers with no adornments, but the scabbard on his hip had all the elegant style of a family heirloom.

Anna was a tall, buxom woman, in a smart but practical outfit. Good-looking in a harsh kind of way, she had a mane of long blond hair and at least ten years on the young man standing before her. The body and the blood on the alley floor didn’t seem to bother her at all. Hadrian nodded, acknowledging her composure. He didn’t lower his sword.

“Why were you following me, Anastasia Charm? Assuming that really is your name?”

“No one uses their true name, in places like this. Or am I supposed to believe you’re really Hadrian Steel?”

He smiled suddenly. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Would you really have gone up against that tiger with just your sword?”

“That’s why I came here. The sword is an honorable weapon.”

“But are you an honorable man?”

“Depends on who you talk to.”

Anna glanced at the dead man. “There’s an unusually generous bounty on your head.”

He shrugged. “My people aren’t speaking to me anymore, just because I lifted a few family treasures when I left, to fund my new life. So...why are you here, Anna? Do you think you can collect the prize money, where the other gentleman failed?”

“I’m looking for a few brave and disreputable types, to help me save the Emperor.”

Hadrian raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware the Emperor needed saving.”

“Ethur is in danger,” Anna said steadily. “A rogue esper has infiltrated his Court, and turned the people around him into puppets. Once she gets close enough to Ethur she’ll put her thoughts in his head, and rule the Empire through him. We can’t let that happen.”

“Why not just alert his security people?” said Hadrian. “Let them handle it.”

“Because the esper has already got to some of them, and I don’t know who I can trust. We have to fight our way into the Imperial Court, and warn Ethur personally.”

Hadrian smiled slowly. “So...you want to break into the Imperial Palace, the most heavily defended structure in the city. And then fight your way past the Emperor’s Praetorian Guard, the finest warriors in the city. And finally, take on an esper who can dominate other people’s minds?”

Anna beamed happily. “Exactly!”

“Why should I risk my life to save Ethur?” said Hadrian. “From everything I’ve heard, he’s a hard-hearted son of a bitch.”

“Comes with the job,” said Anna. “He’s as kind as he can be, to keep all the worlds safe and sound. But if the esper makes him her slave, the whole Empire could descend into chaos.”

“How did you find out about this threat?” said Hadrian.

“I used to be part of Ethur’s security force—until I noticed something was happening to the people around me. The next thing I know, someone was trying to get inside my head. Unfortunately for her, I’m part of the Vom Acht family. Gengineered long ago to be immune to psychic attacks.”

Hadrian nodded slowly. “I’ve heard of them.”

“When she realized she couldn’t control my thoughts, the esper had her puppets denounce me to the Emperor, and I left the Palace one step ahead of the Imperial guards.”

“How are we supposed to deal with this esper, once we get into the Court?”

“I used my security connections to make contact with an underground techsmith,” said Anna. “And he built me a device powerful enough to shut down any esper’s abilities.”

She showed it to Hadrian, and he nodded slowly. “We’re going to need some seriously powerful allies, to break into the Imperial Palace.”

“I know where to find a couple of very special renegades,” said Anna. “They’re currently hiding out in the starport, trying to acquire passage offworld. I tracked you down first, so you could help me get to them.”

“The starport is a very dangerous place,” said Hadrian.

“But no one will mess with me, if you’ve got my back.”

Hadrian looked at her thoughtfully. “Why choose me, out of all the bravos in Virimonde busy trying to make a name for themselves?”

Anna took a step closer to him. “Because you looked like someone I could trust to get the job done.”

“There haven’t been many people I could trust,” said Hadrian.

“Everyone has to start somewhere,” said Anna.

Hadrian smiled. “It would make a nice change, to have someone I could depend on.”

“You can depend on me,” said Anna.

Their eyes met, across a shadowed alleyway.

The saber-toothed tiger roared deafeningly as it burst out of the shadows behind them, launching itself at Hadrian. But he was already turning, his sword thrust out to meet the attack. The long blade slammed into the beast’s chest, and the sheer impact from its leap forced the sword deep into the tiger’s body. The oversized fangs strained for Hadrian’s throat as the dying animal forced itself along the extended sword blade, until man and beast were staring into each other’s eyes, its hot breath panting against his face...and then the light went out of the tiger’s eyes. Hadrian lowered his sword, letting the huge body fall to the alley floor, and then he pulled the blade free and stepped back.

“I heard it circling around behind us,” he said.

“You knew it was there, all the time we were talking?” said Anna.

“Of course,” said Hadrian.

“And you let it attack?”

“I thought you’d want to be sure you had the right man for the job.” He grinned suddenly. “And the pelt should bring a good price in the markets.”

“I’m not helping you carry it,” said Anna.


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Sometime later, they traveled to Virimonde’s starport in a sedan chair levitated by an indentured esper. The comfortably padded conveyance floated serenely through the wide-open streets, wending its way through the bustling traffic of hover sleds, antigrav transports, and the occasional pack of aristos on stilts. Towering buildings blazed brightly as night fell, while uniformed guards gathered on every corner to keep a watchful eye on things. The esper driver out front of the chair chatted away cheerfully.

“At least I get to see the sights, in this job. More than I would from a prison cell, which is where I would be if they knew everything I’d done. Having a nice ride, are we? Good, good...Don’t feel you have to join in the conversation. And don’t forget to tip your driver. It’s good karma.”

He dropped them outside the starport’s main gate, and Hadrian looked meaningfully at Anna until she dropped a few coins into the driver’s outstretched hand. He stared at them for a moment and then sent the sedan chair shooting off down the street, in search of more generous passengers.

The security men at the gate were a scruffy bunch, but their weapons looked professional enough. A slightly more generous handful of coins persuaded them to glance the other way, and soon Hadrian and Anna were shouldering through tightly packed crowds with just enough arrogance to open up a path without starting a fight.

“Where should we look for these very special renegades?” said Hadrian.

“A bar called The Hawk’s Wing.”

“A cheap and nasty place, in a really bad location,” said Hadrian. “I know it well. When we get there, stick close; they’ll steal anything, including your shadow.”


The actual starport was the great open space inside a circle of ancient buildings. Ships from all over the Empire teleported in, hung around long enough to pick up some cargo and the occasional passenger, and then blinked out again. Berths for people who wanted to get offworld in a hurry were always going to be at a premium, and the necessary transit papers that made it look like they were allowed to leave Heartworld were even scarcer. Such papers passed quickly from hand to hand, gaining value with every transaction, but most ended up being prized from the cold, dead fingers of the previous owner. Which was why starship captains always made a point of checking transit papers for bloodstains.

The buildings surrounding the starport started out as accommodation for support technicians, but down the years they’d been taken over by all kinds of small and suspect businesses, and people desperate for somewhere to live while they struggled to find a way offworld. The buildings had joined together into one great circular structure, supposedly because that made it easier for everyone to stab each other in the back at the same time.

The starport became yet another area cut off from Virimonde and its laws—a modern-day rookery. Once you’d made it inside, you could be sure no one would come in after you, because the starport protected its own. But the price of that security was that if you tried to leave, the city guards would shoot you on sight. On the grounds that you must have done something to deserve it.

All of which meant that some people had been living there for a very long time, scraping out a living by being useful. Hadrian and Anna passed rows of booths offering every delight or necessity you could think of, and a few that came as a definite surprise, while colorfully clad barkers shouted their wares and did their best to drown out everyone else. Here and there along the way, small groups of bullies and bravos with heavy face makeup and intimidating clan tattoos would take a thoughtful interest in Hadrian and Anna—until Hadrian turned his head to look at them, at which point even the biggest and best-armed would suddenly find a reason to become interested in something else.

“I didn’t know you had such a reputation,” said Anna.

“I don’t,” said Hadrian. “They just know the real thing when they see it.”

“Then they should be looking at me,” said Anna.

“They’re probably too intimidated,” said Hadrian.


Finally they came to The Hawk’s Wing; a small disreputable backstreet bar with few charms and even less character. The bouncer in barbarian’s furs nodded briefly to Hadrian, stepped aside to allow the two of them to enter, and then went back to scowling at the world. A heaving unwashed crowd—humans and aliens and every possible combination—packed the bar from wall to wall, drinking hard to forget the kind of day they’d had, because they had to do something to pass the time while they waited for a ship. Hadrian pressed steadily forward, and everyone seemed to just ease out of his way without even realizing they were doing it. Anna stuck close to Hadrian, peering around until she could point out the two very special people they’d come in search of, currently engaged in a shouting match with a local villain over by the long wooden bar.

“Ruby and Indigo,” said Anna. “Almost certainly not their real names either.”

“An Investigator and a Defender?” said Hadrian. “We might just pull this off after all.”

Ruby was a tall, powerfully built woman, with the deep crimson skin that marked her as an Investigator, enforcer of the Emperor’s justice. Just standing there, she looked dangerous as all hell. Indigo’s skin was sky blue and covered in lines of silver circuitry, identifying him as a Defender of Humanity. A little shorter than average height, and lithely built, he stood easily at his partner’s side as they faced down a local thug who clearly fancied himself a force to be reckoned with.

The oversized fellow in grubby silks was raising his voice to Ruby and Indigo in a way that suggested he wanted everyone in the bar to hear what he was saying. He was backed up by two glowering Hard Men: vat-grown clones from the local franchise. Mostly muscle, with just enough brains to follow orders, they waited patiently to be told to hurt someone.

“Who is that loud and obnoxious person?” said Anna.

“Stack! de Vere,” said Hadrian. “A facilitator of surreptitious business. Also, an alien hybrid—which you probably guessed from his compact eyes and antennae.”

“Is he important around here?”

“I think he’s about to find out that he isn’t.”

Stack! thrust his face forward, almost apoplectic with rage that Ruby and Indigo weren’t properly intimidated by his presence.

“The price for your transit papers just doubled! Pay up, or you’ll never see them. Argue with me, and the price will double again!”

Ruby took a step forward and Stack! retreated in spite of himself, bumping up against his bodyguards.

“Nobody cheats us,” said Ruby.

“What she said,” said Indigo.

“It’s bad for business,” said Ruby. “And we really don’t like being shouted at.”

Stack! stared at them, shocked speechless at being so openly defied, and then he snapped his fingers at the two Hard Men.

“Kill them! Kill them both!”

Ruby blinked out of existence, and was immediately replaced by something else. A good foot taller, and only roughly humanoid, the new form was covered in seamless golden armor. The Investigator’s battle form had a solid bullet head, four arms, and energy guns protruding from its barrel chest. They fired twice, and the two Hard Men were dead before they hit the floor, because they didn’t have heads anymore.

Stack! dived for cover, screaming to be heard over the raised voices of the crowd.

“A hundred credits for each of their heads!”

And just like that, everyone in the bar had some kind of weapon in their hands. Indigo disappeared, replaced by something huge and blocky with metallic skin and razor-edged claws sprouting from its hands. And even the hardened denizens of The Hawk’s Wing hesitated, faced with a Defender wrapped in his anger.

“Two hundred credits!” screamed Stack! from behind an overturned table.

The crowd surged forward, and the first rank died as Ruby’s guns swept back and forth. Bodies crashed to the floor, and the bar’s patrons jumped over them to get to their enemy. Indigo moved so quickly he was just a metallic blur, and wherever he went men fell screaming, cut open by blades moving too fast to be seen. The Investigator and the Defender took on the entire bar, hugely outnumbered but not seeming to give a damn. Hadrian considered the odds and then looked at Anna, raising his voice to be heard over the din of combat and the screams of the dying.

“Are you sure we need them?”

“They’re the only ones who can get us into the Imperial Palace,” said Anna.

Hadrian shrugged, drew his sword, and hacked his way through the fray with calm professionalism. Blood flew on the air as he cut down everyone who got in his way, because no one was good enough or fast enough to stop him. Soon he was standing behind Ruby and Indigo, guarding their backs so they could concentrate on the slaughter in front of them. The crowd quickly decided that the odds had turned against them, and that two hundred credits weren’t nearly enough. In a few moments they were fighting one another in their eagerness to leave through the only door. The bar was suddenly very empty, and very quiet. Stack! peered out from behind his table, saw he was now on his own, and reluctantly stood up. He smiled weakly at the transformed Ruby and Indigo.

“I’m sure we can come to some agreement . . .”

Ruby shot his head off.

She resumed her human form, knelt down beside the headless body, and searched the pockets with unemotional thoroughness. She shook her head, got to her feet, and looked to Indigo, who was also human again.

“He didn’t have the transit papers on him. We’ll have to try somewhere else.”

“Good fight, though,” said Indigo.

They turned to Hadrian, who was calmly cleaning blood and gore off his blade with a piece of cloth.

“We didn’t ask for your help,” said Ruby.

“Didn’t need it,” said Indigo.

“You’re welcome,” said Hadrian. “Now, this lady has a proposition you might want to listen to.”

“A guaranteed way to get you the transit papers you need,” said Anna, stepping lightly over the dead bodies to join them. “Is there somewhere more private where we could talk?”

“Why not?” said Ruby.

“What she said,” said Indigo.


The rogue Investigator and Defender occupied a single room above the bar. It was small and basic, with furniture that didn’t even try to match. The barred window let in slices of light from the street, and the door had half a dozen locks on it. Something smelled really bad, but everyone was far too polite to mention it.

“It’s not much, but it’s nothing like home,” said Ruby.

“Just as well,” said Indigo.

“How much are they charging you, for a dump like this?” said Anna.

“Twenty credits a day,” said Ruby. “I know—you wouldn’t think they’d have the nerve to ask for it. But that’s what it costs, when people like us are on the run.”

“Still worth it,” said Indigo.

“How did an Investigator and a Defender end up here?” said Hadrian. “Hiding from the law, instead of enforcing it?”

“The Emperor turned on us, for no good reason,” said Ruby. “After everything we’d done for him, it turned out all our years of service meant nothing. And now we’re stuck here.”

“Looking for a ship,” said Indigo.

“There’s a lot of that going around,” said Anna.

She explained about the Emperor and the rogue esper, and what needed to be done. Ruby and Indigo stared coldly at Anna.

“You expect us to save Ethur?” said Ruby.

“Why should we?” said Indigo.

“To have all your sins forgotten, and be reinstated,” said Anna. “Or acquire the transit papers you need to get offworld. Getting past Imperial security and blasting our way into the Court is almost certainly going to be the most dangerous thing you’ll ever do, but the odds have to be better than hanging around here, hoping to jump a ship before your chances run out. Save the Emperor, and he’ll be grateful. Because that will encourage others to protect him in the future.”

Indigo looked at Ruby. “She has a point.”

“How, exactly, are we going to fight our way into the most heavily protected building in Virimonde, and gain access to Ethur’s Court?” said Ruby.

“I’d be interested to hear that,” said Hadrian.

“The Imperial Palace is being rebuilt again,” said Anna. “Because Ethur gets bored so easily. Which means that, for a short period, security around the palace will be somewhat patchy. I have a small attack ship . . .”

“How did you get your hands on something like that?” said Hadrian.

“I won it in a card game,” said Anna.

She glared at him, defying him to challenge her story. Hadrian just nodded, and she continued.

“I will pilot the ship,” said Anna, “while you run the weapons systems. Ruby and Indigo, you will fly alongside in your most powerful battle forms, ready to take on the Imperial defenses. I will fly us into the palace and position the ship over the roof of the Court. We smash our way through, crash as painlessly as possible in front of Ethur’s throne, and I will use my special device to take down the rogue esper.”

“And then?” said Hadrian.

“We explain ourselves to Ethur, and allow everyone in the Court to applaud us,” said Anna.

They all looked at each other for a long moment.

“Who knows?” said Hadrian. “It might happen that way.”

“When do we go?” said Ruby.

“Now,” said Anna.

“Right now?” said Indigo.

“Do you have anything better to do?” said Anna. “Those gaps in security won’t be there for long.”

Ruby smiled suddenly. “What the hell; it sounds like fun.”

“Big time,” said Indigo.

“I can’t wait to see how this is going to play out,” said Hadrian.


The attack ship turned out to be a sleek and stylish little number, with surprisingly sophisticated weapons systems and force shields. Hadrian refrained from saying It must have been one hell of a card game, but only just. He familiarized himself with the ship’s gun controls, while Anna fired up the ship. She’d hidden it away on the edge of the starport, and had it up in the night sky and on its way to the Imperial Palace before anyone in authority could even think of objecting.

Ruby flew on the port side, in another of her golden armored bodies; something streamlined and vicious. Indigo took the starboard, in a bulky metallic battle form that looked like it could fly through a mountain if it felt like it. The crew shot across the gleaming city, scaring the hell out of all the air traffic they passed, and headed straight for the Imperial Palace.

Workmen were crawling all over the palace exterior, floating here and there in antigrav belts as they hammered new pieces into place, but they were all far too busy to pay attention to one small ship. Gun towers marked the perimeter at regular intervals, like massive steel sentinels that never slept, bristling with sensor arrays and row upon row of energy cannon. Anna steered her ship carefully between two of the towers, holding her breath for a challenge—and then both towers suddenly opened fire.

Dozens of energy cannon filled the night sky with flaring colors, as searing energy beams slammed into the attack ship. It rocked back and forth under the repeated impacts, its force shields failing. Warning sirens shrieked on the control deck, and somewhere something was on fire, but Anna just hunched down in the pilot’s seat and aimed the ship right into the raging storm.

Hadrian’s hands moved swiftly over the weapon controls, targeting Imperial attack ships as they lifted off the ground to intercept. His weapons were too much for their shields, and one by one he blew them apart like targets in a shooting gallery. But there seemed to be no end to their numbers, and he knew it was only a matter of time before some of them would get past him.

Ruby and Indigo streaked across the night sky, slipping past the stabbing energy beams, and flew straight at the two towers. Their armored bodies slammed through the force shields and hit the gun towers head-on. They punched through the massive structures and out the other side, swept around in a tight arc, and hit the towers again, surging back and forth inside them. Pieces of shattered energy cannon rained down on the streets below, while vicious explosions tore through the tower interiors. The Investigator and the Defender were having fun.

Suddenly the attack ship was past the towers and out of range, and Ruby and Indigo shot across the night sky like blazing comets to rejoin it. The ship was limping a little now, but Anna’s hands darted over the controls, nursing it along. The Imperial Palace loomed up ahead, its brilliant lights sparkling against the dark like a crown of many jewels, but Anna only had eyes for the unfinished glass ceiling over Ethur’s Court. She sent the attack ship howling down out of the night, with Ruby and Indigo diving in after her. The ship crashed into the Court, trailing glass and flames and smoke and discharging energies, and hit the ground so hard it bounced twice before finally screeching to a halt.

Anna hit the fire suppressor systems, shut down everything else, and then hurried out of the ship. Hadrian stuck close behind her, sword in hand. And as they emerged into the Imperial Court, Ruby and Indigo dropped lightly down beside them and took on human forms again.

A low ground fog of psychotropic pleasure drugs coiled sluggishly around the crew’s ankles as they moved cautiously forward, passing through a forest of abstract sculptures fashioned from the living bodies of people who had displeased the Emperor. Lobotomized aliens lurched around the Court, looking cute and cuddly and endlessly confused. Politicians who were no longer in favor stood like statues, because their time sense had been slowed right down. To entertain the Court, and encourager les autres. Courtiers in wildly stylized gowns watched silently as the invaders made their way through the Court.

The Emperor Ethur sat on his Steel Throne, and watched them come to him. Over four hundred years old, his body was riddled with medical support systems and gengineered organs. He didn’t rise from his throne because he couldn’t. He was plugged into the medical machine that was the Steel Throne, while chemicals pulsed through a multitude of transparent cables. He had pale leathery skin, and his complexion changed constantly as chemical tides rose and fell. He wore no clothes, no robes of state, because he wanted everyone to see what he was; what he endured to remain their Emperor. His face was lean, with a beak of a nose and a straight line for a mouth. His eyes were as old as the world.

He gestured imperiously with a pale hand, and dozens of heavily armed Praetorian Guards came rushing forward to protect the throne. Ruby and Indigo took on sleek new enforcement bodies and neutralized all their energy weapons, so the guards abandoned their guns and drew their swords, because steel always works. Ruby and Indigo grew swords from their metal hands, Hadrian hefted his sword in a thoughtful way, and the two sides slammed together.

The Investigator and the Defender raged through the guards, untouchable and unstoppable in their altered forms, cutting down everyone who got in their way. Hadrian danced among the guards as though it was all just a game, hacking and cutting with elegant style as he carved out a path to the throne. Swords rose and fell, steel jarred against steel, and the finest guards in the Empire never stood a chance. Ruby and Indigo hit them like the wrath of gods, while Hadrian showed what one man with a sword could do, when he’s spent his entire life training to do nothing else. The battle was soon over, and Hadrian cut down the last few men between him and the throne without ever taking his eyes off Ethur. Ruby and Indigo became human again and looked thoughtfully around the Court.

“There’s no rogue esper here,” said Ruby. “My battle form would have detected her presence.”

“No controlling thoughts anywhere,” said Indigo.

“I don’t see any threat to the Emperor,” said Ruby.

“Oh, there’s a threat,” said Anna, walking calmly forward through the carnage.

She pointed her special device at Ruby and Indigo, and they crashed unconscious to the floor. Anna smiled brightly at Hadrian.

“I just shut down their systems for a while. Nothing like having implanted tech, to make you vulnerable to outside control.”

“That device isn’t what you said it was,” said Hadrian.

“It’s more a sort of super remote control,” said Anna. “Capable of overriding absolutely everything. It was created by Imperial Security, for situations in which they couldn’t trust any tech. I stole it when I left the Court.”

“You lied to me,” said Hadrian.

“You wouldn’t have come, if I’d told you the truth,” said Anna.

“I might have,” said Hadrian.

Anna shrugged. “I couldn’t risk it.”

She turned to face the Emperor on his Steel Throne, and he nodded slowly to her.

“Hello, Anna,” he said, in a voice like a cemetery full of dust. “I see you’ve returned my private attack ship.”

“Hello, Ethur,” said Anna. “It’s good to be back.”

“What is going on?” said Hadrian.

“I was married to Ethur,” said Anna. “One of his many wives; but he promised to make me Empress. All I had to do was give him a son. He’s outlived all his previous children, or had them killed, but the throne needs an heir...He’s so old now it’s impossible for him to father a child without extensive medical support, but he keeps trying.”

“I’m guessing something went wrong on the heir front,” said Hadrian.

“I found out just how much the Imperial surgeons would have to alter me, before my body could accept his ancient seed,” said Anna. “You think Ethur looks bad; you should see what the medical techs had planned for me. So I said the hell with it, and disappeared into the shadows. Because I really did work for security, once upon a time. But I still thought I should be Empress. So I worked up a plan, recruited a few useful fools, and here we all are!”

“What happens now?” said Hadrian.

“Yes,” said the Emperor. “I’d be interested in hearing that myself.”

Anna pointed her device at him. “Back in my security days, I discovered this very useful little toy, buried away and forgotten. I can use it to shut down all the medical tech in your throne, and then...I think I’ll just stand here and watch you die. There are factions in the Court that will support me as Empress, rather than allow a power vacuum. And I will finally have what I was promised!”

Hadrian’s left hand whipped forward impossibly quickly, and Anna cried out in shock as his throwing knife knocked the device out of her hand. It went skidding away across the floor, and Hadrian moved to stand between it and Anna. He smiled at her easily.

“I do admire ambition, but I think in this case it’s definitely a case of better the devil you know.”

“You’d defend Ethur?” said Anna. “You think you can trust him to be grateful?”

“More than I trust you,” said Hadrian. “I knew all along you were up to something.”

“How could you know?” said Anna.

“You claimed to be a Vom Acht,” said Hadrian. “But they’re the family I ran away from, and I didn’t know you at all. And since I know all about psionic immunity, I could tell your little device had nothing to do with shutting down a rogue esper.”

“You let me come all this way . . .” said Anna. “You killed all these people!”

Hadrian shrugged. “I was curious as to how this would play out. And I wanted to show what I could do.”

“It’s not too late,” said Anna, holding his gaze with hers. “Let me do this, let me be Empress, and I will be very grateful.”

“But how could I ever trust you, when all you’ve done is lie to me?”

“I had to!”

“No,” said Hadrian. “You didn’t. We could have been partners.”

“I didn’t want a partner,” said Anna.

“I know,” said Hadrian.

“You’ll have to kill me to stop me,” said Anna.

She was suddenly holding a concealed energy weapon, but he was already moving before she could bring in to bear on him. His sword leapt forward, to punch through her chest and out her back. She stared at him over the extended blade, and then the light went out of her eyes and she dropped to the floor. Hadrian pulled out his sword.

“You told me I could depend on you,” he said quietly. “I could forgive anything except that.”


Some time later, Hadrian and a revived Ruby and Indigo stood before the Emperor. He offered the Investigator and the Defender pardons for all past sins, and full reinstatement, but they politely declined, in favor of transit papers for offworld travel. Because the Emperor didn’t seem to remember who they were, and what they’d been accused of, they thought it better to not still be around when someone reminded him. The Emperor turned to Hadrian.

“It appears I owe you my life. What can I offer you?”

“You need someone to protect you, who knows what he’s doing,” said Hadrian. “Someone you can trust.”

“I do seem to be a little short on Praetorian Guards at the moment,” said the Emperor. “Very well, you shall be my official bodyguard. Did I hear right, that you’re a Vom Acht?”

“Not anymore,” said Hadrian. “I think a new name would better suit my new life.”

“Then what should I call you?”

“The name is Deathstalker. Giles Deathstalker.”

Ethur smiled. “Welcome to my service, Sir Deathstalker. I’m sure you’ll go far.”


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Framed