Gitslayer by Darius Hinks

Author:Darius Hinks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-22T07:01:56+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

‘There’s an imperfection in the glass.’ Prince Elaz was peering into one of the six mirrors that lined his bedchamber, stroking the surface, a pained expression on his face.

Toldos thought of his master as a ‘he’, but in truth, Elaz belonged to both sexes. Or perhaps neither. He was unique in form and thought. Elegant and strong, delicate and brutal. Utterly perfect. Toldos loved his prince and would have died for him without hesitation. To see him dismayed was a torment, and Toldos rushed to the mirror. The prince was right. In the top corner of the mirror there was a small, crescent-shaped mark. Toldos pulled his silk sleeve over his palm and rubbed gently at it. Then he rubbed harder, his pulse quickening as he realised that the mark was beneath the glass. ‘I will have it replaced immediately, highness.’ Seeing that the prince was deeply disturbed, he led him gently to his bed and helped him under the sheets. ‘Rest, your highness. By the time you wake, everything shall be as it was. I promise.’

Elaz nodded, but the unease remained in his eyes. Toldos waited until he settled and finally slept. Then he placed a hand on the prince’s perfect shoulder, filled with a terrible sadness. This was all wrong. This should have been a time for celebration. For years, the sky-fleets of Barak-Urbaz had been a thorn in their side. It had been impossible to build a principality worthy of Slaanesh while the Kharadron hounded them at every turn, obliterating their elegant hosts from the skies and dropping explosives onto their ivory palaces. But in the past few months the sky-fleets had withdrawn, abandoning the region and rushing to fight on another front. Elaz had finally achieved his god-given potential, massacring the humans and aelves that stood in his way and reconquering huge swathes of Ayadah. He had claimed so many fortresses and outposts that his reign was assured. If the fleets of Barak-Urbaz ever returned, they would find themselves attacked from all sides. And in Elaz they would find a prince who was so gilded with unearthly power that he was more like a demigod than a man. It should have been the time of the prince’s ultimate triumph, but tragedy had befallen him. A tragedy so strange and obscure that not even his most loyal servant could help him.

Just as he should have been leading his hosts to victory, the prince had become crippled by an inexplicable obsession. Rather than reclaiming territories that were no longer protected by Kharadron, he stayed in his mirrored bedchamber, spending days with his nose an inch from the glass, staring into his own eyes. His wars of expansion had been halted on the cusp of triumph, but Prince Elaz no longer cared. He no longer cared about anything beyond his own beautiful face.

Elaz would sleep for many hours, but Toldos still rushed through the palace, calling out commands to his subordinates. The flawed mirror could not be repaired. It would have to be replaced entirely with an exact replica.

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