For a long time I had let my other activities take precedent over my training time, I had stopped training with my guards to keep in shape, but if I was planning on getting back to my clan, I needed to be at my best. Even without my powers I was able to fight one on one with most of my guards, but when fighting two to one it became very hard and I was forced to use my powers at least for defense. Against three guards I needed the full use of my abilities if I wanted a chance at winning, but I had found that three on one was the best combination to keep the battle interesting without forcing myself or risking injury.
There were some combinations that were harder to fight than others, and I was starting to realize that any combination with Ethan in it was one of those. Even if he was young and had less experience than most of my guards, his nature made others listen to him, and even if Ethan was smart enough to know when to listen to his elders, he also knew when to point opportunities, and since he had been training with me since he was a toddler, he knew my tricks and how to counteract most of my strategies. Facing him was becoming more and more like fighting his father, and I was aware than in a few years, he would be able to face me by himself, and maybe in a few more, he would be able to score a few wins.
I was ready to stop Zhou’s attack, keeping Lukas and Ethan in my eyesight, but a hit on my side broke my concentration. Somehow Lukas had managed to lure me into one of his illusions, luckily, I had kept my psychic wall up and the hit had not made contact, but Ethan was hitting again, using his telekinesis to increase his strength, dividing my attention and allowing Zhou to reach my side and start his own attack. I threw an expansive wave of energy that threw all three of them away from me, and taking advantage of the fact that two of them had fallen, I used my powers to morph the ground and trap them. Lukas tried to attack again, but I was focused on him and was able to see passed his illusions, I pretended I hadn’t seen him and let him get close, and then with a strong punch sent him to the ground, knocking him out.
“I think this round goes to Kaiserin,” Tatyana announced, she was in a better mood since she wasn’t the only one that had lost.
“I think this will be all for today,” I said, “you did an excellent work, but Kimball should be about to arrive and I want to go meet him at the airport.”
“I’m going with you!” Ethan announced, as if I was going to leave him behind. I realized he had already broken his ties and was back on his feet. With a quick thought I freed Zhou before he also decided to break the ground.
“Of course you are, go get ready, we are leaving in fifteen.”
After thanking them for helping me train, I went out, surrounded by a few of the guards that hadn’t been part of the training session and were still on optimum conditions.
Even if we had kept in touch since his departure, I couldn’t wait to see Kimball. It was a little silly how much I had missed him, since it had been just a couple of weeks since I had seen him. His absence had made me realize just how much I had grown used to his presence. I knew that all his negotiations had been successful, but I also knew he had some trouble with the Scavengers, as usual, they had ignored their promises and tried to take advantage of the situation.
Kimball arrived and went straight to where we were waiting for him, but even if most of my attention was on him and my happiness at seeing him again, I couldn’t ignore the fact that he wasn’t alone, Mthunzi was with him, and I didn’t like her attitude.
As Ethan questioned his father, I was watching the leader of the Shadows, I had to recognize that she at least had the decency to give us some time to welcome Kimball before interrupting our reunion, but I could see her patience running out.
“Good morning,” she finally said, interrupting Ethan, who didn’t appreciate that fact.
“Greetings,” I said, acknowledging her presence. Kimball’s arm around me tightened with her voice, a clear signal that he wasn’t happy with the situation.
“Hello,” Ethan said, not even bothering to look at her. It was clear he was mad at her presence, and he was letting her know with his lack of respect while addressing her.
“Mthunzi, I wasn’t expecting a visit from you, what brings you here?” I asked, trying my best to act civil with her.
“I needed to talk to you about what’s going on in the Empire, and since you decided to leave me out of the discussion last time, I decided to come here and talk to you personally to avoid confusion or misunderstandings. I think we need to talk about what happened during our mission.”
“You didn’t have to come here, I’m sure Kimball could have given me the report of your mission, in fact, I have been talking to him and I know most of what happened, like the trouble you found, as well as the success of your mission.”
“If you can call that a success, I’m not entirely happy with the way things were done, and since the Elders Council seems to think you are the expert, just because you were born there, I thought it was best to cut the middle men and come talk to you directly.”
“I’m sure you must be tired, why don’t you go rest for a while and we talk about this tomorrow?”
“I would prefer to talk today, I’m a busy woman, I have a lot of responsibilities to get back to, and the faster we talk, the sooner I can go back to the Island and to taking care of my clan.”
“As the busy woman you are, I guess you should understand that I’m a busy woman as well, after all, I’m in charge of all the Dominion, that keeps me busy. My time is very valuable and right now my schedule is full, even the time I’m taking to see my husband, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, has been already scheduled. I will do my best to free some time for you, tomorrow, I’ll let you know when I can see you, until then, enjoy the Towers,” once I said that, I turned around and me and my family went to our waiting car, that was ready to take us to back to the Palace, while one of my guards stayed behind to take Mthunzi to the Towers, where I was sure they would find some place for her.
I could feel Mthunzi’s fury reaching me in waves, I could also feel the effort both Kimball and Ethan were doing not to burst into laughter, but as soon as our vehicle’s doors closed and Mthunzi wasn’t able to see or hear us anymore, they both started laughing, but I was too mad because of her attitude to join them.
“That was fun,” Ethan finally said, “I’m sure that Mthunzi is not used to be spoken to like that.”
“She definitely isn’t,” Kimball confirmed, “during all our trip she couldn’t stop complaining about how her authority was being minimized and questioned because of my involvement, and I’m pretty sure she thought she could come here and take control back, and that no one would question her. She even doubted that Kgosi had really given me the authority to act in their name. I’m pretty sure she thinks of herself as Kgosi’s successor, and since some people says I should take over him, she might see me as her enemy.”
“It’s more than that,” I said, the pieces falling into place, “I think that she is not only thinking of you as her enemy, but as someone that doesn’t deserve to get the position she wants for herself. Because of her words and her attitude, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a good opinion of us.”
“What are you going to do? That was a good starting point, but you will need to do something more drastic if you want her to accept that she is not the one in control, or she will cause trouble down the road,” Kimball said. “Even if she accepted that I was in charge during the negotiations, she never let pass an opportunity to remind me who was the leader of the clan. I’m worried that she won’t accept my lead or will cause trouble for me when we finally contact the Empire. Do you have any idea when that’s going to happen?”
“Soon. Because of my walks in the fog, I think the moment when the Scavengers and Pompeyo meet will be soon, and once their alliance finalizes, the new Emperor will cause of his subjects to their first annual reunion, and will take the opportunity to present their new allies to the Empire. Most people won’t be happy about that, by the way. I think that will be the perfect moment for you to go there, especially since Malkia will be there, and it will be a good chance to do a show of power, and let them know we will have her back if something happens. To know she was one more clan supporting her will be helpful in the future.”
“If Malkia goes, then Greca is going to be there. There is no way Mthunzi will be able to keep me away.”
“I agree, if she is against you, then she will cause trouble. I think it would be better if it’s you who talks to the Imperialists. Maybe it would be better to take someone else with you, maybe even Ethan.”
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Ethan said, “I’m willing to go, I can even talk to the Elders Council myself and with the King to convince them that letting me go is a good idea.”
“I think I will talk to them myself. But before accepting this mission, before agreeing to it, you need to understand the dangers you will be facing,” I warned Ethan, “it’s not as easy to recognize you as my son as it is with Malkia, but the moment they discover who you are, the rest the of the heirs will see you as an enemy.”
“Then what we need to do is letting them know who I am from the beginning, that way I will be able to identify who are my allies and who my enemies. Telling them who I am up front will cause them to react, and that reaction will let me know how they really feel about me. If I know who to trust and who to be careful about, then I will be at an advantage.”
“That’s a huge risk,” Kimball said, thinking, “you can be right about how taking them by surprise will allow us to get some real readings. Still, you should consider hiding who you are for a while, we can’t deny you are strong, but we also have to consider that they have more experience than them.”
“S show of power, from the start, would be a better way of facing them, if I start by hiding, then I’m at a disadvantage. Besides, if we establish from the beginning that I’m the Shadow’s heir, and show them just how strong we are, then they will have less reasons to fight me, they won’t see me as such a threat if we show them that I have no interest in being part of their clan.”
“I can’t say that I like the idea, but I will take some time to consider it. I just want you to promise me that if I see anything in the fog that suggests that’s not the best option, then you won’t tell them who you are.”
“Of course mom, if you think it’s not a good idea, then I won’t do it. But I really think that’s a good option.”
I had to recognize that Ethan had been paying attention to my stories and my words. I also knew that if he was considering that plan, it was because he believed himself capable of facing the consequences he could find, but he was young, without real experience in the Empire, he could be underestimating the dangers of that place. It also could be that was being overprotective, I had just accepted that with the new Emperor the threat to Malkia was lessened, and Ethan was right that as the heir of another clan he could be seen as less of a threat. Still, the bigger risk wasn’t them being seen as possible opponents to the other heirs, the risk was that my enemies could try to use them against me. But Ethan already knew that, he had been used by my enemies to hurt me, it wasn’t as if he didn’t know the risks, he had lived with them all his life.
“You are thinking about it too hard,” Kimball said, as we got out of the vehicle and went to our side of the Palace, “you will get a headache like that,” he added, teasing. “There’s still time to think about it, and at the end, we will do what you think best for everyone. We have time to decide what we are going to tell your family. Until then, we have to focus on other things.”
“Right now all I want is to be with you,” I said, hugging Kimball and letting him hug me back, “let’s take the rest of the day and pretend we are a normal family, we can go back to the real world tomorrow.”
“Are you going to need some privacy?” Ethan asked once we arrived at our destination. “Because if you want that, let me know now so I can run away,” he joked.
“I missed both of you,” Kimball said, “but if you disappear for a couple of hours I would be grateful,” he accepted, as he put me over his shoulder.
“Kimball!” I yelled, even if I found the situation a little funny, especially with Ethan’s mock horror face before he ran away.
“I really missed you a lot,” Kimball said, and his tone of voice didn’t leave any room for doubt.
“It wasn’t that long,” I said, even if I felt exactly the same.
“We spent way too much time apart already, right now, every moment without you feels like an eternity.”
“This won’t be the last time we will need to be apart.”
“I know that, and because of that we need to take advantage of our time together.”
And we did just that, taking advantage of the time Ethan had given us, so Kimball could remind me of how perfectly we fit each other. But we got out of our room eventually, Kimball needed some time with his son. He told us about his time with Malkia and Greca, and assured me that neither of them was angry at me, and that the lack of communication wasn’t because they were mad at me. Time flew by, and before I realized, we were in a new day and my time to face Mthunzi had come.
Since she had arrived at the Towers she had called my assistant and asked for a meeting, and even if he had stood his ground and didn’t allow her to dictate the time, scheduling her in the afternoon, the time for the meeting arrived faster than I would have liked. Kimball was with me when Mthunzi arrived, and it was clear she didn’t expect him to be there, and that she didn’t appreaciate his presence.
“Good afternoon,” I greeted her, trying to be polite.
“In a few minutes it will be good night,” she said, already in a bad mood.
“I already talked to Kimball and he told me all about your time in the Empire. It seems everything went according to plan, except for the small issue you had with the Scavengers.”
“Our mission is not the issue I want to discuss with you,” Mthunzi said, “it’s the lack of respect you’ve shown while dealing with this situation. Either you like it or not, I am the leader of the Shadows, and the clan is my responsibility, I don’t appreciate how you make decisions without my input, and that you sent someone with no direct relation with my clan to act out of place during the negotiations.”
“I know exactly what your posture is, and I understand your anger, but this is bigger than you, and my knowledge, and Kimball’s experience are key for the exit of the mission.”
“You sent your son to present the proposals for the alliances, you can’t tell me you chose him because of his experience.”
“No, he was chosen because of who he is. In some of the places he went, the fact that he is my son gave his an edge, it also improved his chance of success. Besides, our connection makes it easier for me to see his future, and that way I can make sure he is not in danger. Seeing the future of people I don’t know that well is difficult, and there a greater chance of error. It’s the same with Kimball, it’s easier for me to see into his future and make sure he survives, not so much with a strange person. Not to mention that if some of those negotiations, his connection to me was important. I know that you only had to tell the Assassins about your connection to me, but if you had needed to, you could have used it in other negotiations.”
“We are supposed to be doing this for the good of our clan, for our people, by our people, but you keep getting in our way, in our business.”
“This is bigger than you, and I’m afraid that it’s better if you don’t get involved in the next step. You will have to face the Emperor next, he is young and inexperienced, and very willing to show his worth, if we want to reach our goal, we need to have someone strong, capable of facing him, and I’m sorry, but you don’t have what is needed to face him.”
“I’m a Mzansi’s warrior, of course I have what it takes to face him, you are underestimating me because you don’t want to lose control of the negotiations.”
“Maybe, but it’s not a risk I’m willing to take, and I need to, then I will go to your superiors, but the fact is that Kimball and Ethan are the ones who will go to the Empire and deal with the alliance with the Imperial Clan. And before you say anything,” I added before she could talk, “Kimball has years of experience dealing with the clans in the Empire, and there no one in all the Dominion who knows more about them than I do.”
“I know you grew up there, but…”
“Not only I grew up there,” I said, interrupting her again, “I helped create and destroyed clans, even before I won my place as the Empress, and I know exactly what has to be done if we want to reach a position of power. Most of the clans that join the Empire, do so under the control of the Imperial Clan, but that’s not what we want, we want to join them as equals, not as subordinates.”
“And because of that we will be using our most powerful weapon,” Kimball said, breaking his silence, “and that’s my connection to Kaiserin and the power our relationship represents. You know well that what they respect most of all is strength, and the fact that Kaiserin was the Empress, even for a short while, it’s a proof of her strength, and as her partner, I will be recognized by those who knew her. Besides, if for any reason we need to face them in battle, I know I can win, but I cannot say the same about you.”
“Kimball is right, it can end up in a show of strength, and Kimball has the experience to face that kind of challenges.”
“I have faced my own battles, you are not the only ones with experience fighting, either here or in the Empire.”
“That’s easy then, you only have to show what you are capable of, before the time to go to the Empire comes, we will have a small tournament, you versus Ethan, if you manage to defeat him, then you can go in his place and also will have the option of facing Kimball, and if you manage to defeat him, then you will be able to decide who will go with you.”
“Ethan is just a kid, it wouldn’t be fair to fight him.”
“It wouldn’t be fair, for you, because I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to defeat him, still I’m offering you a chance.”
“Mthunzi, I get that have your pride, and that the way we have been acting can be a little disrespectful to you and your position in the clan, but you have to understand that this is important to us,” Kimball tried to explain. “You know that what we are saying is true, and this discussion is not taking us anywhere. There are many ways to deal with this, and as long as you let us keep dealing with this and making the decisions, we won’t be forced to affect the status quo, you will be able to keep calling yourself the leader of the Shadows, and Kgosi will be able to keep calling himself the King, and we will get the access we need to the Empire. And everyone is happy.”
“That could be interpreted as a threat,” Mthunzi said, a little tense.
“If you knew me at all, you would know I’m not the kind of person that makes threats, I make promises,” Kimball said, and I could see that his words had affected Mthunzi, even if she was trying to act strong, as if she wasn’t affected by the situation.
“I know that you think you can get away with this, but it’s not finished,” she said, before walking out of the room.
“Things are about to get complicated, right?” Kimball said.
“It seems so,” I agreed. For a moment I thought he was thinking about taking a step back, but when I looked at him I could see he was smiling, and then I felt his satisfaction, he, for some reason, was happy with the way things were going.
Kaiserin Novel 