The Storm King
Chapter 1200: Jiaxing

Boredom. Anxiety. The constant knowledge that death hung over his head from every corner and that there was little he could do about it.

Yun stared out across the lavish gardens of the Imperial Palace unable to sit still, waiting for his guest to arrive.

“How long will he make me wait?” he angrily growled to his ever-present shadow.

“Such men are proud,” Zhang replied. “In times where they can, they will flex their strength, even against their sovereign.”

The young Emperor slumped upon the pillow he sat upon, which itself rested on a raised platform within a small pavilion. Far above him, the local sun had just reached its zenith and now began its slow descent to Jiaxing’s horizon. Far to the left, nearly hidden in the blue of the sky burned a bright light—the light of Xixing’s star above their brother plane. Far to the right, barely visible through the haze of distance and the light of the sky, was another visible star—the light of Dongxing’s star above the sister plane.

“Do they not fear that their sovereign will not remember such slights?” Yun grumbled.

“I’ve found that men who let pride speak for them rarely do much thinking,” Zhang stated with a comforting smile.

Yun sighed deeply as he once again looked over his robes for any imperfections. He’d already dressed simply for this meeting despite his lofty station, satiating himself with a white underrobe, a red robe over that, and a long black coat, all trimmed in bright yellow. The dragon symbol of his dynasty wasn’t even present on any of it, though it had been painted on the ceiling of the pavilion he now waited within.

Likewise, his loyal shadow hadn’t worn his glittering white armor, preferring to dress in a simple white tunic and trousers, with functional boots. His long black hair had been tied into a ponytail while a few loose strands were kept away from his eyes by a green and gold headband worn over his forehead. His face was cleanly shaven, as it always was, keeping the features that had every court lady swooning on full display. Despite his lack of armor, he bore the legendary spear Mountain Cleaver—a blatant reminder of who he was and what the consequences of attacking his charge would be.

“At this point, training would be a better use of my time,” Yun complained.

“We could train right now, if you wanted,” Zhang half-jokingly suggested, though Yun knew that he never truly joked about training. “If nothing else, it might make for a striking display…”

“Striking merely in how pathetic it would be. I can’t even use elemental magic yet, and no man who’s earned the title ‘General Who Pacifies the Sky’ will be intimidated by my meager skill.”

“Putting on a display is not always about intimidation,” Zhang sagely stated. “When your father was your age, he made sure all knew that he trained hard even when he was a boy of little skill. Generals and rank soldiers all knew that he trained just as hard as they did—and, in truth, he trained much harder than they did—so that he would always be ready to defend the Empire alongside them.”

“I will never match my father…” Yun whispered.

A moment passed as Yun’s bright vermilion eyes drifted off to the small artificial lake in the center of this section of the garden. Swans and ducks gracefully drifted across its surface, while peacocks strutted about its perimeter. A rich enough sight, but Yun knew that a mere fifty years ere, the woods around the lake played host to a family of trained firebirds while the water of the lake was home to azure deer and water foxes.

Unfortunately, a succession of tragedies had left him as his House’s last heir, and without traditional dynastic allies, his House had lost a lot of wealth and power, forcing the sale of these exotic beasts. A terrible plague had wiped out his grandfather’s generation and many others, hollowing much of the aristocracy, leaving his father’s court filled with those who brought little sense of decorum, ceremony, respect, or institutional or legal knowledge: younger generals and scholars from families that wouldn’t have normally ranked highly enough to set foot into the hallowed Imperial Halls.

And, of course, the eunuchs. His father had relied heavily on them as they had practically raised him—though if their tutelage was anything like what Yun had received, he couldn’t imagine his father was that happy with those circumstances. These eunuchs were often from prominent families, and their families rose with them. Unfortunately, asking his father why he’d elevated these normally ceremonial court attendants to prominent posts within the Imperial bureaucracy was impossible as he’d died relatively young—stabbed to death by a reluctant concubine whom he’d ‘rescued’ from an arranged marriage to her childhood love. Or so the story went, anyway; the concubine and his father’s entire harem had been given the ax before Yun could string more than two words together, leaving him an orphan and an only child.

The Regency Council had been formed to run the Empire after his father’s death and still held all the power in the palace despite Yun coming of age nearly half a decade ago.

Yun ruminated heavily on these thoughts as he and Zhang waited for his guest in companionable silence. He was only allowed to lose himself in these thoughts for a few minutes when Zhang, his gleaming black eyes narrowing slightly as he focused on something in the distance, said, “It seems our waiting is at an end; he’s here, and it seems he’s brought an uninvited guest…”

This in and of itself was no surprise to Yun; his guest had a personal retinue of ten thousand crack soldiers, and that was just what he commanded in the Imperial City—he was in command of the Void Wolves, the finest corps to ever pilot the arks that had forged the Empire, which put him in command of two hundred and fifty war arks and as many transport arks, each transport able to carry up to three hundred soldiers within. A man of such high rank and prestige would never arrive at any meeting, even one with his Emperor, alone; he’d bring guards, attendants, and eunuchs, if only to show his power, even if they had to wait at a distance. Yun knew this; he’d seen the man march about his palace complex with his retainers in tow like it was a mustering ground enough times to not be surprised that he wasn’t alone.

Rather, it was who the man entered the gardens with that had Yun suppressing a ghastly scowl.

Whereas Fang Bao cut the image of the perfect scholar-general, with a toned and cut physique that not even his humble clothing could hide and a piercing gaze that could cut right to the heart of anyone caught within it, the ‘man’ walking beside him was dressed in robes of golden silk, over which he wore a long coat of scarlet silk that dragged across the ground. Such a garment would quickly get dirty, but that was itself a statement—he was so rich that he could ruin even something so valuable as a silk coat with no care. Adding to the intended message were the gem-studded golden rings he wore on every finger, the belt of gold thread about his rotund girth, and the sparkling amulets he habitually wore—Yun had overheard maids speculating that they were enchanted with every protective enchantment that the man could layer upon them.

This ‘man’ wore his hair short, in contrast to the style that dominated Yun’s court, though he still wore a golden hair cap with a glowing silver hairpin running through it. His round, flabby face was devoid of even the shadow of a beard, while his bulbous eyes, seemingly too large for his head, were slightly misaligned.

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The meeting was already ruined with him accompanying Fang Bao, but Yun straightened himself out and put on as regal of a demeanor as he could without the usual accompaniments that an Emperor would be expected to have—he had brought no seraphic maids nor armies of guards and scholars; only Zhang stood by his side, as had been the case for as long as he could remember.

In contrast, following behind Fang Bao were a dozen mages of indiscernible power, for Yun was too weak to discern it, and appearance, for they came fully armored with face-concealing helmets. Cloaks emblazoned with a crest depicting wolves leaping over the moon hung from their shoulders, while the six in front bore polearms with thick curved blades, and the six in the back bore crossbows so heavily enchanted that they could pierce the hull of an ark—which had been proven in times past.

Behind him came the very army of scholars and guards that Yun might’ve brought had he only more arrogance or loyalty amongst his courtiers. Thankfully, these hangers-on halted a respectful distance away, all of them making sure to bow at the waist until they hit ninety degrees in greeting. Only four of the guards accompanying Fang Bao followed him to the pavilion, while two of his attendants followed him—and both were short-haired and beardless, too.

“I am honored to be invited to the presence of the Elevated One,” Fang Bao stated as he stepped up to, but not quite into the pavilion. He cupped one of his hands in front of him and bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle, while his four remaining guards mimicked.

“As am I,” the snake hissed in tones as sweet as honey, his voice ear-piercingly high-pitched. He bowed even lower than Fang Bao had, and when he rose again, he wore an obsequious smile on his oily face. “For our most august, most capable Emperor, of whom not even the gods themselves could find fault, to call the respectable General Fang Bao to the gardens of the Palace of Blue Stars, something important must be afoot! I apologize to you, my most gracious liege, whose countenance shames the very sun, for my imposition! I hope I am not too burdensome of a guest?” His smile widened and he leaned forward slightly, expectantly, his enormous eyes fixing Yun between them as best as the lazy orbs could.

For a brief moment, Yun entertained the thought of dismissing the serpent; his forked tongue certainly wasn’t appreciated nor would it be missed from this conversation. However, he held the rank of Grand Tutor, one of the highest in the Imperial Court. Dismissing him from important business would make enemies that he couldn’t quite afford.

“Grand Tutor Wang Jujun would, of course, be welcome to sit in,” Yun ‘graciously’ allowed. “His input would be well appreciated.”

For a moment, Wang Jujun’s visage bore a grin of triumph, but it was gone so quickly that Yun couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a trick of the light. Fang Bao, meanwhile, entered the pavilion respectfully and kneeled on the hard floor below Yun’s raised platform. A moment later and with no signs of hesitation, so did Wang Jujun.

“You two look in good health,” Yun lied. Fang Bao looked fit and healthy as he always did, but Wang Jujun looked almost ready to pop, though his stubborn skin still obstinately refused to split.

“As do you, Elevated One,” Fang Bao formally responded. Cutting right to the chase before Wang Jujun could say so much as a single word, he continued, “There are many tasks that divide my attention, my highest and most noble sovereign; might I know why I have been pulled away from them?”

Annoyance flickered across Wang Jujun’s face but Yun paid him as much mind as he deserved.

“I wished to hear in your own words, my mighty general, my bulwark against the dark, why the Void Wolves have been ordered to stand down? I have given no such order, and are the Void Wolves not ultimately soldiers loyal to my House?”

Fang Bao was about to respond when Wang Jujun cut in.

“As our highest sovereign, our most knowledgeable and scholarly Emperor is aware,” he practically sang in his soprano tones, “maintaining an ark fleet so high above our heads is expensive; dreadfully so. Especially since they’ve been up there for eight months with no sign of the threat that they were deployed to counter! The Regency Council thought that it was—”

“It is foolish to call the Void Wolves back,” Yun interjected. “Return them to their posts! They will stay there until we are certain that our enemies have been vanquished or put to flight!”

“How long will that be, my young charge?” Wang Jujun asked. “Until the Imperial treasury is bankrupt? There is only so much we can do to keep it filled, as your most elevated self knows well… Though, if you insist upon keeping those soldiers where they are, perhaps we might be able to find the funds required somewhere else?”

’What more that belongs to me do you want to sell?’ Yun angrily thought, though he kept his expression calm.

“How has my Empire been run if the fleet cannot be deployed for even a single year?” Yun shot back. He glanced at Fang Bao. “I am certain that our stalwart defenders haven’t been pissing away gold and silver, so keeping our arks in our local Voidspace might be expensive, but not ruinously so, surely.”

“Our logistics have seen some strain,” Fang Bao admitted, to a momentary smile of delight from the serpent-that-walked, “but the Grand Commandant has seen to our supply chain; the Void Wolves are well within budgetary expectations.”

“Good,” Yun responded with a clap of his hands. “Then the Void Wolves can remain deployed!”

“If that is your wish, my far-sighted liege,” Wang Jujun replied, his obsequious smile back in place, “then the Regency Council will surely make it happen! Why, I shall bring it up the next time we meet!”

Yun thought about pressing the issue; the Void Wolves returning to Jiaxing wasn’t the only matter he had to discuss with Fang Bao, and in fact, might’ve even helped him if this meeting had gone the way he’d wanted it to. However, there were still ways he could salvage this if he was careful…

“Then do so!” Yun exclaimed. “I look forward to hearing my Regency Council, which serves to aid me in administering my Empire, respond to my wishes.”

“None will go against our elevated sovereign’s will, for doing so would surely anger all the gods in all the heavens,” Wang Jujun responded, though he couldn’t help but tip his hand. “Not without good reason, of course. We shall always strive to provide you with the best advice that our long years and leal service have filled us with!”

A thin smile passed over Yun’s face, but instead of addressing the serpent, he said to Fang Bao, “There is another reason I called you here, my stalwart, iron-sided general…”

“Give it voice, Elevated One, and I shall strive to fulfill your desire,” Fang Bao responded.

“There are many things that our illustrious Emperor must see to—” Wang Jujun began, but Yun’s loyal shadow cut the snake off.

“Our Emperor has business, eunuch. I trust you will not interrupt again.” Zhang’s withering glare could’ve frozen an ocean, and the Grand Tutor was no ocean; he blinked and backed down after the briefest of moments.

“My honorable general,” Yun said, “I have heard that you are quite skilled with the sword, lance, and bow. I have endeavored to grow my skill in these three keystones of battle, and wish to learn from you. What say you?”

“I am at your service, Elevated One,” Fang Bao responded. “Though… my duties might take me from this city soon, should the Void Wolves’ return be canceled.”

Yun nodded as he devoted all of his self-control to stopping himself from grinning at Wang Jujun.

“Then I ask that you come and train with me and Lord of Lances Zhang, so that we may all learn together!”

Fang Bao sent Zhang a nod of acknowledgment, and Yun saw a few motes of respect glimmering in his eyes. “I will make time for this, Elevated One,” he said definitively.

“What a…” Wang Jujun hesitated before finding the right words, his oily jowls twitching as his servile smile faltered. “A most judicious and far-seeing plan! I support our Emperor learning from the best and most loyal generals that defend us from the evils beyond our great planes!”

“Then it’s settled!” Yun said with a tone of finality, reveling in having pulled his plan out from the fires of defeat at the last moment, though this was still by no means a victory—he still needed the Void Wolves in his corner, though at least these training sessions would give him a greater opportunity to be around their commander.

Such was his simple dilemma presented to Wang Jujun; as the head of the Regency Council—in effect if not in fact, as the Grand Excellency of the Land, the Grand Excellency of the People, and the Grand Commandant were the three official heads of the council—he could either give Yun greater access to military officers who would almost assuredly support him over the scholars and bureaucrats running the palace, or he could keep the Void Wolves in place. Either way, Yun would get what he wanted…

Unfortunately, Yun’s sense of triumph wasn’t long-lived, for only the next morning, he received news that Fang Bao had suddenly taken ill the night before, and though it hadn’t seemed serious at the time, he’d died in his sleep.

A hasty decision on Wang Jujun’s part—for no one else could have been responsible in Yun’s mind, as the great General Who Pacifies the Sky would never suddenly take ill and die like that. It had to be poison, and Yun was going to make the eunuchs and regents regret that. He would retake control of his Empire, no matter what.