Tragedy: Act Five, Scene Four
Act Five, Scene Four
Royal Palace
Ilderia looked at the crown, upheld by Century and Sunder. Elsewhere was blood and drama and romance as her forces secured the palace, the last survivors of the Royal Guard fleeing or dying before them; as they staked out the boundaries of the Tyrant’s vast complex of traps and experiments for future exploration by remotely-piloted drones and Century’s spare bodies; but here in this still throne room where the crown on its tray rested, suspended by two pairs of hands, there was only science. She put it on, and she sat on the throne of Novapest. She looked at the camera.
“My name is Ilderia,” she said. “I was born Helen Bishop and raised as the daughter of the Titanium Tyrant, and every man in Novapest knows me. You know that I will rule you with justice, you know that I will continue Sandor Balog’s path of prosperity, of safety, of security. Bloody Lizzy Balog is dead, as are all of her supporters, and I control the palace. To all those who opposed me, I offer pardons. To those who fear for their lives and property, I offer security. The long night of war is over.”
The camera clicked off, and the Century who held it nodded and smiled. “Perfect,” he said. “Sending it out.”
Even as he spoke, she knew, Livia’s soldiers were tramping the streets of Novapest. They were restoring order, for what it was worth, and establishing defensive lines around Prudence’s palace. Other soldiers - and the Centuries, and her knights - were taking over the defenses of the royal palace, searching out secret entrances and taking over strongpoints while the best security experts she and her contacts could hire were working to break the Tyrant’s passwords and crack their way through his gene-lock to give her and her alone control of his resources.
Yet now it was time for the reaction. Had she actually played her hand last? Or was there some other force in Novapest that could oppose her? So far as she could tell, practically every count and knight in Novapest was dead; all the remaining ones had no leadership. All they had was Prudence’s puppet, Catherine, and she was safe in Prudence’s palace.
She sighed. Winning the throne was supposed to be more fun. Of course, the other throne - she glanced over at it - was supposed to be occupied. Eliza was supposed to be sitting on it; beautiful, loyal Eliza. Ilderia would have to track down a resurrection tinker pretty soon, or else some sort of meta-tinker who could help her make a resurrection tinker. One of them had to exist somewhere; it was a big world.
Ah, yes, tinkers. On which topic… “Procure me a new armor,” she said to Century.
“As you say.” He bowed.
“And I also need to speak to Splicer,” she told Century. “In private.”
“Well, ‘Ilderia,’” he said cheerfully, “it looks like we’ve done it!” The two of them were in one of the little side-rooms near the palace designed for this sort of quiet meeting. The floors were easy to clean.
“Your majesty.”
“Oh, yes, ‘your majesty.’”
Ilderia sighed.
“You just can’t understand, can you?”
“Understand what? I understand we’ve won.”
“We’ve won, Splicer,” she said, “because I am Ilderia. I am not quote-Ilderia-close-quote.”
“Oh,” said Splicer, “but that’s exactly what you are. We both know Ilderia is dead. Now, I’ll keep my secret, but between us - Zero put you on this throne, but you’re not the Lightning Queen, you’re still a little lovestruck teenager who happened to get depressed at the right time to awaken as an Idealist Ilderia-with-the-trimmings. I helped make you. I’m not going to forget where you came from.”
“I can’t expect you to forget,” said Ilderia. “I can expect you to stop hinting that you know a deep, dark secret about me.”
“Right, sure, I’ll get right on that,” he said. “Listen, I have to get back to work - “
He looked down. Her sword was through his chest.
“That was exactly the wrong thing to say,” said Ilderia. “Exactly.”
She withdrew the sword.
“You -” He coughed up blood. “Ilderia -”
“Would have done exactly this,” said Nicator, “if you treated her as you treated me. The difference between her and me is that I could wait until I no longer needed you.”
A quiet smile. “The ability to do what’s necessary is one of the trimmings.”
She watched him die. I am a better Ilderia. She could never have made it this far.