After the execution, Miah led Eclant through a veritable labyrinth of featureless halls and stairs that wound up and away into the heights of the tallest tower. Torches guttered on the walls, their light swallowed in the dark stone. Eclant looked at the Conqueror’s leather-covered arm, the one with the distinct impression of bindings.

“Your Radiance, is your arm causing you distress?” He asked. Miah laughed breathlessly.

“Indeed it does. You half-broke it when my dragons paid us a visit.” Eclant flushed red.

“My apologies, your Radiance, it’s just-“ Eclant said before Miah interjected.

“They were frightening. That’s only to be expected. It took me a while to get used to them.” 

They walked in silence for two flights of stairs. 

“Your Radiance, if I may, where did you get your dragons?” Eclant eventually asked. Miah stopped for a moment.

“I found their eggs in a cave,” he said lightly, as he began to walk again. “They hatched while I was asleep.”

“But... dragons weren’t real,” Eclant said.

“That is what happened,” Miah snapped. “Nothing more or less.” Eclant bowed his head.

“Indeed, your Radiance. But your arm- it pains you?” Eclant said, steering the conversation back to safer ground. Miah shot him a piercing gaze.

“You can help me with something in my chambers,” Miah said as the pair finally turned onto a hallway indistinguishable from the others. After a turn or two, they arrived at a door indistinguishable from the others save for the two guards that stood on either side. They were garbed in steel, painted black and red. 

“Men, this is my new Stipator, Eclant. He is to be allowed entrance to my rooms at all times, save for when I decree otherwise,” Miah said. The guards bowed, and opened the doors.

Eclant was struck by how opulent the rooms were, far beyond what the door indicated. The walls were painted with abstract golden patterns, contrasting with the dark stone. Thick rugs covered the floor, and a fire blazed in one hearth to Eclant’s left side. To the right was a washroom and closet, as well as a bedchamber. Straight ahead was a set of steps to a raised section, flanked by two Vakratian Chimaera statues. There was a semicircle of arches leading onto a broad balcony, no railing to be seen. Eclant thought it dangerous and unnecessary, but that was Vakratian work for you. 

Statuary was everywhere, principally ancient princes and gods, mostly in various states of undress. All were in heroic poses- slaying monsters, fighting, flourishing weaponry. Above the hearth was a sword almost as long as Eclant was tall, the last three feet of the blade streaked and infused with brilliant red. Five crowns hung above it, one of interlocking bone, one of thorny iron, one of silver-and-sapphires, one of unnaturally-corroded gold, and one of chunky black diamonds.

Miah sat heavily on a couch by the hearth. He sighed, and looked at Eclant.

“I’ve been on my feet all day. Please, help me with my laces.”

Eclant knelt by the Conqueror and began to undo the laces on his golden boot, starting by his hip. The heat that suffused his cheeks was certainly from the fire. 

The boot slid off, revealing thin white leggings and bare feet. The fire was awfully hot.

“The other boot,” Miah said. Eclant undid the laces of that one too, pulling it off and setting it aside. Then Miah stood, and pulled his gloves off, tossing them to the couch. The lower edge of the bandage was visible on his right arm, soaked with red. Eclant unlaced the jerkin, and let it fall.

The binding was soaked bloody, dripping on the couch when Miah moved his arm.

“We need to get that cleaned,” Eclant said in shock. “Do you want to do it here, or in a bath?”

“Bath,” Miah said. “Less mess.” Eclant offered an arm, but Miah stood and strode into the washroom on his own.

{+++}

Miah sunk into the hot water, sighing as his new Stipator took off the filthy bandage. The water soon turned pink, and Eclant began to sponge the blood off his wound.

“How did this occur?” Eclant asked him. Miah leaned back, and gazed at the ceiling.

“Some fool with a dagger thought he could kill me. I got the wound in the fight with him, when we both slipped and fell to the ground. I ripped his throat open with his own blade,” Miah said in a matter-of-fact tone. Eclant continued to clean the wound. Miah’s eyes shut, tension draining away from his limbs.

“Your Radiance, tell me about those crowns,” Eclant said as he inspected the wound for infection.

“Mm,” Miah said. "The bone one is the unimaginatively-named Bone Crown, made for the ruling Tahharan of the Great Sand Sea. He was a kind of king before he surrendered to me. The silver belonged to the Sealord of Vached, who burned in the flames of Portus’s Fall. The iron crown was the crown of the Hoary Men of Khrakal, who surrendered it to me after I wiped out their fleet in the Bite. The diamond crown is the crown of the kings of Ahazachred. And the gold one is the War Crown of Loraeb’s last king. It could click into a special helm with a little fiddling.”

“You defeated all of them?”

“Not at once,” Miah said in a weary, softened voice. “It took years, and years. My dragons were the size of elephants when I began, still so small... I fear for them, Stipator Eclant. What happens to them when I’m gone?”

“I’m sure they will be fine,” Eclant said as he began to wrap Miah’s arm in a clean binding.

 and he began to drift off.

He suddenly came to, wrapped in a thick towel. He was being carried?

carried strangled blind

No!

Miah twisted suddenly, plunging to the floor. When he hit the ground, thankfully on his uninjured side, Eclant spoke.

“Be calm! It’s just me, your Radiance!” Eclant, he thought. Miah gathered himself up, and stiffly stood.

“What happened?” He asked.

“You fell asleep. I got your arm bandaged, and wrapped you up to take to your bed, your Radiance,” Eclant said, white eyes fixed on the ceiling. “I’ll leave you be.”

“I still require assistance,” Miah said. “Carry your master.”

“As you wish,” Eclant said, sweeping him into his arms and carrying Miah to the bed. After setting him down, Eclant bowed.

“May I take my leave, your Radiance?”

“You may, Stipator Eclant,” Miah said. “Your rooms are to the right of mine as you exit my chambers.” Eclant bowed once again, and slipped out.

Miah wrapped himself in the sheets, dropping the towel on the floor. With a sigh, he stared up at the elaborate ceiling. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind- border disputes, rebellion, knives in the dark...

The Stipator...

No, he was not a concern. It was unlikely that an assassin would think to bribe a single slave guard thousands of miles from the Continent. Unlikely to the point of incredulity.

As Miah fell asleep, he wondered who he was fooling.