The first thing Ursa was reminded of as soon as they reached the first tunnel spotted on the cliffside was her apparent nakedness. Yes, she was holding her dress and her undergarments all clumped in her arms-- her shoes were long forgotten in the shallow cave they had fled from. Ivan was no better off, perhaps even doing worse. His giant wound in the middle of his chest had begun bleeding again, and he too was running with his clothes in his arms.
“Your Majesty, before we continue, I think we should put on some clothes… at least, you should put on some pants.” Ivan stopped in his tracks and looked down, finally realizing he was still bare.
“Good idea.” Ursa immediately turned away and threw the dress back on in record time. All of it was still quite damp; however, complaining would get no one anywhere. The two of them
Ursa woke up after two days. The moment her eyes opened, the Oracle and Lord Orlov were immediately informed. A pile of clothes was left at the edge of her bed, neatly folded.“When you’re finished, the Oracle requests your presence, Your Majesty.” Ursa smiled politely and closed the door after the priest. It was the same type of clothes she wore three or four days ago when she went missing. Ursa got dressed quickly by herself and followed the priest to find the Oracle.Orlov paced the room, close to ripping the nails out of his fingers. “You must recognize the issue. I know you feel it, Your Holiness. The darkness. It’s seeping into the energy of the temple, it’s destroying the barrier--”“The barrier is old, young one. It is bound to break sometime soon.&
The Oracle’s secret… was no secret at all. Everyone in the temple knew about it, if they weren’t blind to the truth.Ursa knocked on the Oracle’s door, and one of the priests opened it.“He’s expecting you,” the priest said, sliding out as she entered. The old man sat at his desk by the window, playing with the extravagant gold rings on his fingers.“Your Holiness, I must speak with you about an urgent matter.”“I know you do. I was waiting for you to return alone.”“What? Why would you need me alone?” she asked. The Oracle turned his chair to face Ursa, his kind eyes usually mistaken for complacency were unusually sharp.
“Alright, what was it that you couldn’t say in front of her?” Ivan asked, laying back down in bed. He still felt a dull ache on his chest where he was deeply slashed by that one poisonous creature. Ivan had no doubt that he would be better soon, however, if he was going to fight those creatures head on in a few days time, it would be better for him to take it easy.“It’s nothing that I can’t say in front of Her Majesty, it’s just that I worry she may get in the way of our plans.”“Ursa is harmless in this kind of situation. She has no manna, no magical powers to speak of, and especially no fighting ability. I think she will come around. Besides, Ursa is a tactical person. She’ll understand that it’s better to get rid of those creatures to save all of us in here, rather than wait to be hunte
By the time Ursa had dried off and put her clothes back on, the Temple was barren. Not a soul could be found in the halls, not even the guard outside the Pool of Burvju was there.“No,” Ursa murmured to herself. “They couldn’t have started, I wasn’t in there for that long--” Instinctively, Ursa looked out the window and up at the sky. The sky was an exquisite explosion of purples, reds and oranges. She did not need to be a mage to suspect what day it was. The sky was already setting-- how long had she been in there? How long had the High Goddess Mai kept her in there? Why did the guard not retrieve her?Ursa did not knock as she arrived at the Oracle’s study. She simply burst through the door, only to be met with complete emptiness. Not even the Oracle was here. Where was he? If Ursa ran to the Med Wing, wou
Ivan raised his arms, the manna surging around him, picking up and throwing the creatures around him. Orlov had his back, fending off anything that managed to break through the manna circle. Orlov kept sending worried glances over at Ivan, who had just barely recovered from the forest.However, Ivan showed no signs of immediate injury or signs of slowing down. He cut through anything that came near him, and if he couldn’t kill it with his sword, he would throttle it and then throw it in a random direction.Orlov had the same strategy but to a quieter effect. He did not have the same scope as his pupil, but he managed to get by with what was in front of him.“Kassio! Go help the others!” Ivan ordered.“But--” Orlov was
The God shrunk himself down to a more ‘mortal’ size, but he still towered over Ivan by two or three feet. Ivan was already an undeniably large man, but he looked miniscule compared to the green figure that approached him slowly.“You still have time to turn back, mortal. I will look past the insults if you begged to keep your life,” the God said with a smirk.“Perhaps you should watch your words, since you will be on your knees soon enough.” The God growled loudly and launched himself through the air, his claws extended like knives.Ivan held up his sword in a defensive position and held his ground when the God landed, swiping at Ivan like a cat. Ivan summoned another sword that was smaller and used it to swipe at the God’s stomach. The metal crumbled
Ursa grabbed Ivan’s hand. “You still have to fix this.” Ivan smiled and nodded before closing his eyes gently. A cool and calming feeling came over Ursa, and she, too, closed her eyes to feel the moment. A bright beam emitted from Ivan’s eyes and boomed like a star exploding over the surrounding area. Ursa wanted to back away, but his grip tightened around her wrist, pulling more and more energy out of her. The cool feeling slowly began to burn her from the inside out, creeping through her bloodstream. Her breathing picked up as the beam gained back its brilliance, overwhelming her view of her husband.“Ivan! Ivan!” she said worriedly. Orlov, who stood close by, was also getting worried for Ursa. Someone who had never practiced magic would certainly not be used to channeling-- and with her partner being someone so completely overwhelming, well, he couldn’t he
The sun shone through the window of the great Westlands conqueror’s office, illuminating his curly dark hair and picturesque features. A tired and unfulfilled look troubled his eyes as he stared at the mountain of paperwork left on the side of his desk, leftover from his recent pilgrimage. Orlov sat nearby, going through his own fair share of paperwork-- though not nearly enough, according to Ivan-- smirking at his old friend’s obvious distaste for the tedious affair.It was the same old thing every time: a governor asking for more funds; a farmer complaining about the unfair contract he had signed with the State; an arrogant official trying to curry favor; sometimes, sprinkled in would be marriage proposals. Those have gone down considerably, but many still try to put a concubine in power. Ivan always threw those letters out first; they disgusted him. Too big of a family would be impossi
Aisha spent the entire next day pouring over other material Ursa had pulled from the library and pacing outside of Ursa’s wing. Earlier that morning, she had stopped in to update the Empress on what she and Ivan had found, but the handmaiden Emery firmly stood her ground, chasing away any and all visitors, no matter how important they were.She was like a guard dog, really, the way she looked like she’d bite someone’s head off if they got even remotely close to the doors of Ursa’s apartment. Aisha had wanted to fight Emery on this, but she also knew how much Ivan had been stressing Ursa’s physical recovery from the chaos that occurred at the New Year’s Celebration, so Aisha slinked away back into the library quietly until lunch time, where she and Emery rehashed their earlier arguments. Inside the most heavily guarded doors, an empress laid in her bed with the covers half off, only covering her freezing toes. The rest of her sweated out a non-existent fever, while Cecily dabbed a col
The Poplov townhouse was located in the upper echelons of Ichares. The streets were clean, the houses were opulent and luxurious, the architecture a crude copy of the palace. It was not hard to break into the house, seeing as there were so many windows and not enough guards-- though this criticism could be shared with the palace.Ivan noted this.Aisha and Ivan were both dressed in black clothing-- Ivan in a black poet shirt and tight dark trousers, while Aisha wore a skin tight turtleneck with matching trousers. At present, they sat in a tree, watching the windows as light passed through the dark hallways, a maid checking the corridors.Aisha bounced her leg anxiously, causing the branch to sway with her. Ivan sent her a withering glare, instantly freezing any movement from her leg. They had been sittin
Aisha juggled her broadsword in her hand while her other hand held her dagger tightly. She stared at her brother, only the light from the torches around the arena illuminating his lean frame. Ivan shrugged off his coat and kicked it to the side, his signature sword appearing out of thin air.“How--” Aisha gawked, staring at her own swords that came from the weapons room.“Magic?” Ivan smirked, spinning his sword with his wrist as he got into position. Aisha made sure to note down to have him teach her that trick before getting into her own starting position.Neither of them moved, circling each other. Aisha’s left foot shifted and then she was off, launching herself high into the air, raising her swords up into a crossing motion. She landed on the blunt side of Ivan’s
Ursa gave a shallow wave to the guards stationed outside of Ivan’s study as Aisha trailed behind her with a tray of food. The guards instantly bowed and one stuck their head in to announce her presence. Ivan was hunched over his desk, staring intently at a particular piece of paper as his quill moved on its own-- most likely enchanted by Ivan, writing furiously. “Ivan.” He looked up, surprised to see the two women. “What are you two doing here?” Ursa gave him a funny look. “Our arrival was just announced. Didn’t you hear?” Ivan didn’t respond, choosing to just lounge back in his chair. The quill fell back and landed unceremoniously onto the paper. “We brought you dinner.” Aisha set the tray onto t
“Your Majesty, Lord Volkov is here to see you,” one of the guards from outside said, peeking his head slightly into the office. Ivan only waved his hand as an indication for the other man to come in. It was the middle of the afternoon, a few hours after the morning’s court session had ended and he finished his meeting with his advisors (without Orlov, he thought bitterly), but Ivan felt so very unproductive.He had sat there while everyone talked at him, only nodding or shaking his head, sometimes yelling at people who got a little too presumptuous. It wasn’t that Ivan didn’t understand the things being said in court-- after so many years of attending, it would be quite stupid for him not to have an idea of how these things worked. But Orlov made it easier for Ivan, always taking a load off of the heavy weights that already pushed Ivan to his knees.
“The prosecution would like to call its first witness up to the stand: Yuri Tetsi!” Orlov announced, and waited for the Young Tetsi to make his way to the stand. Ivan sat in his throne in his usual posture, his hand holding his face as he leaned into the side of his throne. Yuri Tetsi clambered up to the stand and took a seat, his hands nervously shaking. Once Young Tetsi looked ready, Orlov began laying the foundation of his questioning, asking simple questions about Young Tetsi himself before delving into the real case. “You claim to have recorded evidence of secret plots against the Empress?” asked Orlov. “I do. My own father, as well as Lord Haschoff, Lady Salisterova, Lord Grieschkov, and Lord Telbor all had conversations with each other and others about a few things. At first, they conversed abo
Ursa returned to her chambers after a quiet dinner with just Ivan and Aisha. It was a nice and gentle dinner, where the only mention of Orlov was Aisha excitedly announcing she would be helping. Otherwise, the dinner was the perfect glimpse of a life without Orlov constantly breathing down Ivan’s shoulder, and Ursa enjoyed it. But even Ursa could admit, a piece of Ivan was with Orlov in his home, eating dinner alone. Ivan would smile and joke with them, but his gaze was far off, not even in the room. It burned Ursa. It burned Ursa even more to know that a part of her also felt deeply while staring at the empty chair next to Aisha. Once upon a time, Ursa thought that she and the prime minister were friends. Friendly rivals, intellectual equals, and respected colleagues. She missed the mirage.
Ursa’s lunch didn’t end up being as peaceful as planned, as the second Vasil barged in on her meal. “Sister, I hear you’re heading the Orlov Investigation!” Ursa put down the little bite sized sandwich Cecily had prepared for her as Aisha made herself at home in the chair across from her. “You heard correctly.” “I want to help.” “No.” “Please?” “This is a delicate political matter, Aisha. My apologies if I don’t think you’re quite ready for such a complex matter.” Aisha slid down her seat, crossing her arms. “I can handle it. I’ll be covert. No one has to know we’re working together.” Ursa smirked as she put he
Ursa dropped a bag of coins into the maid’s hand, and the small girl scurried out of the library. After more than half a year at the palace, Ursa learned who could be bought and who could be swayed to join her cause-- her cause being keeping her in the loop of things she otherwise wouldn’t be. That just happened to be any and all court matters, seeing as Ivan specifically kept her out of political matters. “You’re still recovering, Ursa! I can’t have you getting all stressed about these matters when your health is so fragile!” But her health has been ‘fragile’ for a little more than a month and a half. Physically, Ursa was already back in her original form, and more than capable of delving back into court. But the most work Ivan had even let her see had only been the preparations for the upcoming annual Royal Hunting Trip, renamed to the Imperial