"Pardon my concerns, Eratheen, but, this looks like an extraction, an attempt to get the Lady-Heir back out of the country." I comment as I look over what she has managed to hide amongst the trays of light snacks and warm drinks. There's a bit of everything we can get back at the Senate, though, there's a stigma there for a lot of the Senators. Most of them are absurdly rich and it's a little beneath them to eat public food, despite how good it is. I just quite enjoy the lack of burden I need to put on my modest budget.
"It's not entirely like that." she mutters before putting a hand to her chin so she can think about some more details. Glancing around, I frown once again at how the palace staff have been acting as something silent has gone around them in whispers. Whatever we are doing, this is not their concern, they're all mobilising and moving about as if someone's breaking in. Bewildering as such a concept is for a place like this.
"Are drills commonplace here?" I ask in the event this is like how the senatorial guard are worked into the Senate's greater schedule for the purpose of training. So many incidents have happened so long ago but they all inspire those who guard the halls and chambers to this day. Coups, traitors, assassinations, it's all happened within the confines of those halls. Rumour has it, a fair few have become famous plays in other lands.
"No, the Imperial Guard does not behave like that. They're all the very best The Emperor's lands have to offer to an oft-annoying degree. I have to sometimes hide drilling results to keep good men in my service!" Eratheen explains with a giggle at the end as she looks up and over at some guards bearing the imperial crest, an anvil taking in three separate bolts. Dark, almost black armour rimmed by gold and accented by rare purple cloth. A peculiar red mask hiding the faces of the men in this adrenaline-inducing steel. Unique to the scale of the Imperial Palace as well, some of their gear reminds me of skirmishers I have seen take part in senatorial ceremonies.
Putting a hand to my chin, I stroke it as a brow rises at the difference in behaviour the guards and servants are showing. The Empire's greatest are calm and collected while the servants are hurrying along to block and barricade the extensive system of doors. Even the most basic of halls are eerily reminiscent of a keep's main gate and magic is going into circulation around them. The eyes of statues start to spark and glow, this newfound vision tracking me and The Lady Bosphama specifically.
"We should get moving, perhaps?" I question as I try to see if the magic defences are able to recognise the unique way a senatorial sash is made. Yet, it does nothing, a servant just comes by and puts me back in my seat before rushing off. Turning around on my chair, I watch pointlessly as they whisper like they always do. Strange moments aside, they're often nicknamed the Silent Staff for a reason.
"I don't think there is a lot we can do." Eratheen almost shrugs at as she takes the moment to enjoy one of the snacks. Some kind of hardened pastry that still manages to hold the elements of a puffier one. Whatever its filling is, it leaves a snapping and crackling sound escaping Eratheen's slightly covered and amused mouth. I reach for something myself and put it on the modest, almost pointless plate smaller than my palm.
Only to not eat, only look at it.
"How are you calm...?" I ask as the sound of a heavy bar of metal comes dropping down onto one of the doors out of here. The guards shift about away from their strict, open postures and their weapons come into a ready-handed grip. Despite my already loose toga and senatorial sash, I feel the need to rub at my neck and let more air down my front.
"Do I need to remind you of the stress I have been under these past few decades? Honestly, this is almost exciting." she perkily explains with the eagerness of a curious child and it baffles me quite honestly. Even after my small amount of time trying to help her with her legal issues, I still can't say I quite get her as a person.
"The Imperial Palace feels the need to lock itself down..." I point out slowly and concisely, barely holding back an atypical stutter as I do so. If something like this happened in her keep she'd be hurried to the battlements or deeper fortifications!
She's a powerful woman so I am not really sure how she handles things, certainly have met my share of great-blooded men who hate the idea of conflict.
"Senator, we are in the one place in the country that is more secure than any keep or fortress. Many are daunted by trying to siege the capital itself, let alone the place His Imperial Majesty calls home." she reminds me with held-back amusement as she points out how ornate even our simple stack of snack trays is.
"Fair enough." I say as I start to drum a finger on the clothed table.
The door quakes violently as if a giant tried to kick it in now.
"We may need to move!" I quietly urge Eratheen as I get up and grab her, yet, she remains seated. Her eyes narrowed.
"I know this power..." she mutters before the door flies open with a shower of splinters, a man cloaked in power emerging from the ongoing debris.
"SENATOR BURSPHAROSA, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" I roar angrily as I quickly pick up on the man currently marching up to us unarmed. Soldiers follow him in, also unarmed and they get in the way of the security and palace staff. A strange mockery of what everything here is as if it's all just some protest!
"Senator Caetusi. The Lady Bosphama." the out-of-line senator greets as a familiar object rattles in his hand.
"W-Wait, how did you get that!?" I demand to know as this is all too strange for me now. Why in the name of all the gods has Senator Burspharosa broken into the Imperial Palace with an unarmed army at his back with my entrance fee to The Finest Cut!?
"You know what this is?" Eratheen asks as she steps up to the man as he cautiously watches his men be put down by the superior guard of our royal family. Armoured man after armoured man with greatening haste falls after a strike to the jaw or a shielded backhand.
"MY LORD BURSPHAROSA, HURRY ALONG!" an officer yells back as he is forced to join the docile shield wall against what I can only imagine are annoyed royal guards.
"The Lady Bosphama, I need you to read this." he states with the utmost sternest in his expression and Eratheen cannot help but nearly regurgitate.
"Get away from me you manipulative bastard!" she hisses with a swat of her hand that precedes the crash of thunder.
"Please, The Lady Bosphama, I need you to be aware of the situation right now." Burspharosa implores her as he tries to put the sealed ceremonial item in her hands. The money Senator Lepiaciai put down for me so I could enter The Finest Cut rattling away inside.
"Leave." she cautions him as her patience for the man reaches its limits, a display of dangerous magic now sparking out of her.
"Dammit woman, your daughter was attacked by assassins!" Burspharosa refrains himself from shouting out, making Eratheen calm down instantly.
"Yes... You ordered it...?" she questions before looking towards me.
"The Lady Bosphama, read this, please. I have recently raided but one home of the Partahinobi. Someone in the Senate is after her... The Lady Bosphama, please, I have been straightforward with you like this before."
"So you can torment me..." she utters as she takes it into her hand. I slowly start to step away, a feeling of closeness with Undwote pulsating throughout my body. A cold grip is on my heart, such a very cold grip... What did Senator Lepiaciai intentionally or unintentionally associate me with!?
Eratheen watches my backsteps from the corner of her eyes.
"Read it, it is proof that Senator Lepiaciai or someone under him has tried to have the Lady-Heir assassinated. The attack could've only been carried out by them, dammit, think, why would I try and kill her with what I have been doing these past few years!"
"Caetusi...." Eratheen says with a trembling body and voice.
"We need to go, Erathe-" I urge her as I try to pull her out of here so the royal guard can handle whatever in the good name of the gods this show is meant to be. Only, her magic scorches my flesh with malicious searing.
"Caetusi..." she repeats with heavy breathing as the open container falls to the ground. Coins rattle out onto the floor and a document is revealed that I am unfortunate enough to read.
"W-W-What... N-No! I did not order this!" I cry as The Lady Bosphama's noble blood boils with all the heat in the world. She howls animalistically as her immense magical power acts no better than a wild animal. Many are thrown to the ground but before I can even get up a shoe comes for my face.
I scream as a trail of blood bursts from my burning skin!
"ERATHEEN!" I roar as I struggle to adapt to the need to breathe through my mouth. My nose feeling all crushed and...
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU, SENATOR!? WHAT DID I HAVE MY CASTELLAN HOLD YOU AT BLADEPOINT FOR!?"
"I DIDN'T OR-" I roar back as a strange breeze seems to go up into me. Putting my hand and my side, it slips through where something should be and the bloody hand comes to my warbling vision.
"YOU TRIED TO KILL MY DAUGHTER!" she screams with all she has, shattering windows and popping my ears. My insides are cold and the warmth is leaking away, like a well-fed sewer drain. Keeling over, I notice the bewilderment in Senator Burspharosa's eyes as he tries to make his way through the skin-shredding aura of this noblewoman.
"S-Stop... This is violence!" I urge the bloodthirsty noblewoman as she continues to ruin her otherwise beautifully white kimono with my blood.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screams as her hand plunges straight towards me. I shake and go limp, slipping away on her blood-soaked arm before barely registering the freezing floor. Senator Burspharosa rushes up to me and something happens, all the guards start to block the mother away from me.
Struggling to hold my breath, an armoured hand holds mine and I can barely think straight. So many things are filling my head, some headache this is turning out to be. I cough crimson bile and smack my lips at the familiar-tasting moisture. My grip is weaker than it should be, Senator Burspharosa's voice is clearly loud but I can't hear him...
"I... P-Please... Please..."
My family comes to mind, my life as a Senator of Eusorochii, the friends I have made and the good and bad that I have done... One thing, I manage to focus on one thing as it all seems to go black... My purpose. In the great building in the capital, where men of all classes gather for the benefit of all Eusorochii...
"Please... Do not let... Do let... Not let... M-More... More, more, more! Do not let more fall... The cold and dark sea, it's so, easily understood now... Hi, Dad... I'm sorry I couldn't make you proud..."
I can't find it in me to speak anymore, I want to go talk to Dad one more time. The man holding me is roaring with all he has but it's too late. Whatever I have done on behalf of another, my time has come. I cannot save those who inspired me, who lifted me up...
"Hi, Dad..." I repeat as the thin line of light goes.