Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2) by Bryan Choi, E H Carson Read Free Book Online

last thing from me, and then you’ll need to start your new life. You have great power but also a kind heart. I’m happier having known you. If you’d been older, or we’d been closer in rank, I might’ve…we might’ve…” A tear coursed down her cheek. “But don’t worry about it now. Just promise me you won’t settle for any old wench.”
    Taki felt his face tighten and his chest grow heavy. He clasped his hands over hers. “Dammit, Lotte, I’m sorry!”
    “Don’t be sorry. You—”
    “I’m sorry I ever got dragged into that mess! I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to see things change. I couldn’t get those villagers’ faces out of my mind! I had to do something, and I got used like a tool and thrown away, and now I’ll never see you again. Shit, I’ll never see the others again, even though Dassa’s kind of a bitch and Draco’s a liar and Karma’s a creeper…” He started to sob in earnest. “I’m so sorry!”
    Lotte threw her arms around him and held him for a long time. Eventually, they trudged up the mountain in silence.
     

     
    On the opposite side of the barred window, a craggy-faced neokóros of the Shrine mumbled to himself while he stamped several pieces of vellum with a wax seal.
    “Never thought I’d have the pleasure,” the man said, and pushed them forward. “I always thought I’d prepare your warrants for the gallows, but this will do just fine. Here’s for Cornet Natalis.”
    Lotte took the precious roll of vellum, unfurled it, and checked the seal. The exarch’s signet ring had made a deep, clear impression in the wax, and only a few of the words were misspelled. The scroll was Taki’s only proof that he was not a deserter and not immediately subject to hanging or worse. “And…you’re free.”
    Taki smiled and marveled at his new possession. “Aye, feels good.”
    Lotte glanced expectantly through the bars. “Sir, aren’t you forgetting something?”
    “I don’t believe so,” the neokóros said.
    “Now’s not the time for jests. Where’s this soldier’s pension?”
    The man cracked a smile of rotting teeth. “I thought you’d been apprised of that, milady Captain.”
    “Apprised of what ?”
    “Why, just a few bells ago, I was visited by Principality Mezeta herself. What a lovely and fearsome woman she is.”
    “Get to the point.”
    “Aye, milady. Well, the principality informed me that she’d personally take care of giving Cornet Natalis’s payment to him. I had no right to question her, so I gave her the full sum. She also informed me that as of today, the squad disgracefully known as ‘Tirefire the Lesser’ had also been discharged from all duties as Polaris of the Temple. I was surprised that you only seemed interested in Cornet Natalis’s walking papers, when I’ve prepared them for all of ye. Then, she took all other pension payments as well.”
    Lotte grew pale. “And where is the principality now?”
    “Oh, milady, she gave me such a shock! After the principality received your funds, she disgracefully tore her chain of office from her neck and tossed it under the window to me. I believe she may have deserted and absconded with your milligrad. Naturally, I wasn’t in a position to stop her.”
    “Wait a godrotting second,” Taki said. “You mean that Hecaton Mezeta fired everyone and ran off with our money?”
    “You could say that, young master.”
    Taki wrenched the bars so hard they shook in their casement. “You let her desert with five hundred rounds and didn’t tell anyone ?”
    “Remove your hands from the grate lest I call the Cross on you,” the neokóros said with a grin. “Now, I’ll kindly ask you civilians to leave.”
     

     
    For the third time in his career, Taki found himself held at bayonet point by the authorities. Except this time, they were intent on shooing him out of the Temple as quickly as possible rather than trying to herd him into a cell or onto a scaffold. A hobnailed boot pushed