Lament, for there shall come the time of broken swords

When the shadow of evil shall lay upon all the lands

The four shall sit in their darkened hall

And the lord of nightmares to rule them, upon his throne of bronze.

‘In the end, we all are capable of evil,’ I thought, as I led the army of the King through the ancient and holy forest that surrounded Illia, city of the dawn star, the oldest and brightest jewel of the elven kingdom. This was a land of almost otherworldly beauty; its lush green orchards and cascading waterfalls of clear blue had been an inspiration for artists and poets since before the lesser races had walked the earth. Colourful songbirds and bright-eyed unicorns were known to grace these woods, creatures friendly to men that might lead lost travellers to a safe refuge or simply appear during a picnic to share a morsel of food.

Yet already the seed of evil was infecting this bastion of purity, as slowly and inevitably as an infected sore. None could put their finger on what precisely had changed - the trees were still green, of course, but their boughs seemed darker somehow and the shadows they cast were deeper and more ominous. Red rosebushes still grew by the riverbanks, but the flowers were crimson, the shade of spilt blood, and every day their floral beauty sank deeper behind venomous green thorns. The inhabitants of this magical forest had been changed too and the song of birds seemed to haunt rather than to welcome. Creatures were rarely spied in these later days, and those who did observe them had no wish to approach. As a cruel carrion bird to a majestic eagle, they now seemed – though none could describe the exact change that had been visited upon them, it was plain to see that with every passing day the goodness and beauty was paling from the land.

“Esteemed guests, My Lord bids you welcome to his city,” I called back to my two captives, allowing myself a mocking smile as I led my master’s host on into his dark city. Though men had long feared the coming of the Lord of Nightmares, none had imagined that he might arise here.

*

“General Aurelian, sir!” The guard-captain saluted me as I made my way forward into the throne-room. He was a greybeard, a man I remembered training us as lads, and I honoured him with a momentary glace as I strode past.

I swept a lock of silver hair from my brow as I looked about myself. The room had, in more virtuous times, been the font from which the elven civilisation had illuminated the world. Yet as with the lands outside the palace gates, all now appeared as imperceptibly altered as though they were lit by a pale and dying sun. The beautifully carved marble statues seemed less an artistic serenade to the human form than a parade of stone corpses, their lifelike pose mere ghoulish mockery. Purple flickers of heartbreak and loss danced across the sunlight that shone through the leering glass windowpanes and even the immaculate marble of the walls and columns had taken on a pallid, pestilential aspect – ‘As white as leprosy’, as the poet said.

I allowed a sigh of vindication to escape my lips. Though lesser men might say that the light of elven kind had been extinguished, who could dispute that in fact it now shone with such radiant splendour that the weaker races had no choice but to acknowledge our pre-eminence? Certainly, our prisoners could find no fault with this assessment. And if they felt reluctance, still, then before the hour was out, they would find that they embraced this certainty with much more enthusiasm.

“Aurelian, old friend!” came a cheerful good-natured voice from the high dais. It was the only voice in the four lands that might address me with such informality. I roused myself from my thoughts, striding crispy down the dark red carpet and falling to a single knee in fealty to my master.

“Your Dark Majesty.”

He stood, acknowledged my submission for a moment before clasping my hand and pulling me to my feet. I was with certainty the only man for whom he would have extended this honour, for I was the boy’s oldest and indeed only friend. Confidants we had been even when we were simply Aurelian and Jaezel, the cream of elven chivalry, who together had only dreamt of the greatness we might bring to our nation. It was I who was thought capable of more in those days, of course, for I was the taller and stronger, not to mention a year older than he, yet all such advantages counted for naught on the day that he came into his unholy power.

“Your scouts arrived this morning,” he smiled up at me, his once-golden, now crimson eyes alight with boyish excitement, “They say you have both of them?”

I glanced over his shoulder at the four thrones, three of ebony and the biggest of shining bronze. Until this day only one of the three ebony seats had been filled; Gor-Ela, the great warlord had been the first of the other three to fall. Orcish society favoured the strongest and, as the defeats mounted, it was only natural that the other clan lords would move to overthrow the high chieftainess, gifting her to the dark lord in exchange for peace. Such a move had of course been foolish, without their great leader it had been simple enough to pick off the divided clans and bring them under the elven yoke. For her own part Gor-Ela didn’t seem to mind all that much, the great warrior had been re-instated as a puppet queen and I observed her with some interest as her eyes – bewitched orbs of purest black – gazed with adoration and arousal at her king as she followed his instruction in all things.

“Indeed, I have them, Dark Majesty,” I bowed my head obsequiously. “Theoderic Copperbeard, hereditary chairman of the Dwarven mining collective, and Lady Sun Min-Ji - the Dragonfly Queen is greatest of the remaining human rulers. They made their stand together at Last Hope Citadel, and I offer them to you now as tribute to your victory.”

The dark lord’s face broke into a delighted grin. “Excellent, truly excellent my friend. Once again you outdo yourself. Truly, I do not think our people have seen so brilliant a commander since the days of Kor-Phaeron the Great!

I nodded graciously. Privately I agreed rather more than the boy might like. Certainly, it was I who led his armies, who crushed his foes and secured his right to rule so that he himself might sit in comfort within the safety of his white palace. Were it not for the favour shown to Jaezel by the dark powers, surely it would be I who now sat upon his throne of bronze.

“I live only to serve, Your Dark Majesty,” I said after a moment, inclining my head obsequiously.

“In any case, I am eager to meet them both,” he said, rubbing his hands together enthusiastically and looking over to one of the other guardsmen, “Are they ready to make their entrance?”

The guardsman, a sturdy dwarf with a grey beard, paled slightly at being addressed so directly by the Lord of Nightmares, but nodded solemnly. “They are, Your Dark Majesty. Which one would you like me to bring out first?”

“Bring them both, I think, and as quickly as possible,” he said, beckoning the dwarf off with a gesture. The easy manner of his command couldn’t help but send a shiver down my spine. There was no theatrics to the boy, no wings of infernal fire or gaudy costume of diabolic black armour. There was only the amiable familiarity of a man convinced with utter certainty that his will would be done.

*

A half-hour later the throne room had filled. Lining the outer wall were courtiers – highborn elves of adequate vision that they had been permitted a place within the inner circle of the new order. There were orcs, too, feral beasts of seniority that had pledged themselves to our cause. No one truly liked having that rabble amongst the pristine beauty of the inner palace but as acknowledged allies it was politically necessary to allow at least a minimal number of their leaders.

This congregation, held to a suitable distance by the elite Imperial bodyguard, had come to see the scene that was unfolding before the bronze throne. Both of our honoured guests knelt in chains before the dark lord, as too did a dozen or so of their closest retainers. Copperbeard was on the left, though he was not yet thirty-five he appeared grizzled and implacable as he stared up at his new master with contempt. Beside him was the Dragonfly Queen. Her once immaculate high bun had frayed on the road and strands of jet-black hair matted to her grimy brow, yet even in her wretched state her back was straight and proud, and she maintained a perfect poise. From my position behind the throne, I smirked in amusement as I allowed her fierce green eyes to meet my own. It would be a fine thing to see this one break.

“You first, your highness,” Jaezel said, pointing his steepled fingers at the queen. Immediately a pair of guards lifted her firmly to her feet and pushed her forward to stand before him. She was tall, of a height with Jaezel himself, and she met his gaze with dignity as he stood before her.

“My queen you must not listen to a word he says. The Lord of Nightmares speaks naught that is true, and his words are as poisoned honey,” cried out her advisor, an older man with a topknot that reached his waist.

“Peace, Counsellor Xiao, for I do not fear this man… this little boy who plays at war.” She spat over her shoulder.

“A little boy who plays at war?” Jaezel said with a smile, “Can you truly believe so? For all here can see that it is you that stands before me in chains.”

“You are foul vermin,” she responded, narrowing her eyes with rage. I wondered then if she might have gone for the man, even if it would have meant her death, if her hands were not bound behind her. “You have broken the peace of a thousand years and brought slavery and death to half of the world. You are a demon, a beast in human form.”

“A beast? You wound me, gracious lady. Only look about you at the beauty of my domain. Is not my city of Illia truly the wonder of the age? Do not the fine buildings, the beautiful art and the sweet music that is played match or even exceed the accomplishments of your own country?”

I glanced over at Queen Gor-Ela and smiled. This was how it had begun, with the formidable Orcish warlord. Only offer a single proposition that the victim could not deny, and all resistance would begin to cascade away. In truth I did not fully understand the strange art that had been gifted to Jaezel by the infernal powers, but I had no doubt as to its effectiveness.

Queen Sun Min-Ji blinked, a moment’s hesitation. “The culture of the elven people is known to us,” she said carefully, “but listen well, child. That beauty is one to which you have no claim. It long predates you and it will endure long after your evil has been scoured from the face of all the lands under heaven.”

“My Lady, I beg you do not engage with this serpent!” Counceller Xiao cried out.

“See this one out,” Jaezel frowned, rubbing his palms together. “I detest rudeness and cannot abide those who call out in presence of their betters.”

“Councillor!” Sun Min-Ji turned about urgently.

“Trouble yourself not, majesty,” the dark lord said affably as the man was hauled away. “The man will come to no harm. I only requested that he be detained for the duration of our interview.”

“You are despicable.”

“Quite…” he nodded agreeably, “But to return to our discussion, you have asserted that I have no claim to the culture of the elves. And yet in this you are wrong, for I have taken it.”

“To take a land is not the same as to rule it justly,” she said, though I perceived for the first time real doubt in her eyes, and I knew then the means by which my master would ensnare her. “You are only alike to a grubby thief who comes in the night.”

Jaezel laughed and I allowed a smile to match, for I knew enough of history to see the hypocrisy in her words. “And your grandfather? Was he too a thief in the night when he took your kingdom’s throne? Tell me, little dragonfly, are you but the scion of a house of grubby thieves?”

“You besmirch the lady’s honour, bastard!” cried out Theoderic Copperbeard, the dwarven leader, an outcry which saw him thrown to the floor by one of the guards.

Sun Min-Ji’s eyes flared with shock and rage – I doubted anyone in her cosseted life had ever insulted her in such a manner - but the strength of his piercing stare reduced her reply to a hushed whisper. “How dare you speak so, you dog, you animal. My family has ruled in the best interests of – “

“Yes, and so to have I ruled in the best interests of my own people!” Jaezel cut in cheerfully. “And just as your family seized the throne by strength of arms, you cannot deny that I too have that same right!”

His crimson eyes glowed as he spoke, and the proud queen seemed to shrink into herself.

“I… I cannot deny it,” she said quietly.

“And if one kingdom might be taken by right of conquest, then why not as well another? Is it not the right of a king to extend his rule as he will, that others might share in the glory of his rule?”

“I… no, it is not right.” She was flailing now, visibly losing herself as she stared into his awful eyes.

“Nonsense, my lady. As you have just said it is the right of the strong to take what they will?”

“I… Yess...”

“And you stand before me in chains, your kingdom fallen. Can you deny that your kingdom is mine by right of conquest?”

A tear trickled down Sun Min-Ji’s oval face and she roused herself, looking desperately for one more who might interject on her behalf. But Councillor Xiao was detained and Copperbeard, was pinned to the ground.

Even then, the stout dwarf forced his head up from the stone, “Your Majesty, no…” he stammered before he was once more confined.

“I do not deny it.” She said with a quiet sob.

And then he moved closer. “And can you deny that you, also, are mine by right of conquest?”

She took a shaky breath and whispered something in his ear. Strain as I might, I could not hear her answer.

“I apologise, lady, but I fear that you must speak it more clearly.” He murmured.

She looked about herself desperately and gave a final, defeated sob. “I do not deny it. I… I am yours.”

“No, Your Majesty, No!” Shouted Copperbeard in disbelief. “You owe the man no fealty, you…”

Jaezel snapped his fingers, a look of bored annoyance on his face. “I will permit no more interruptions,” he snapped, glaring at the dwarf. Copperbeard’s mouth worked silently for a moment, eyes growing wide in comprehension as he realised that he was no longer able to speak.

“Your time will come in a moment, dwarf,” Jaezel added, composing himself. He turned back to the Dragonfly Queen who, since her admission, had seemed to detach from herself. She swayed slightly where she stood, and her green eyes were lost and unfocused. I could not deny that the sight of her sent a shiver of arousal down to my loins and I felt myself harden slightly.

The dark lord spoke softly, so that few in that chamber could hear. Yet my ears were sharp and my fortunate position away from the noisy throng allowed me to make out what was said.

“Since you are mine, it is no great thing that I ask for your loyalty,” he purred as she nodded slightly in agreement, “you will serve as my vassal, and you will honour and love me as your lord.”

“Yes…”

“The love that you bear for me, your lord, shall be boundless. You will obey me in all things, and you will desire me also. Even now you ache for my touch, my kiss. It is your deepest desire to share your bed with me. You will bear me many sons, fierce and strong, and you will bear me daughters, proud and pitiless. Through you I will forever reign over the lands of men.”

She trembled as the eternal truth of his word permeated into her being and I could see the beatific adoration in her eyes as he kissed her, softly, on the lips.

Her eyes closed for a brief moment and when they opened once more, they were the same featureless black as the orcish queen upon her throne. She gripped Jaezel’s hand for a second as she composed and steadied herself, then turned back to her entourage.

“Hear now you brave men and women who have followed me on this strange journey. Our quest is at an end, for I have pledged the might and majesty of the Dragonfly Throne to Emperor Jaezel, the man I will take as my husband. I declare that it is my purpose to defend this man with my life and any who question his rule will face my steel. It is your duty and mine to offer him whatsoever he might ask, that his dark empire might endure without end!”

The queen raised her fist, as though her words might act as a rallying cry for her men. The dwarves indeed wailed and lamented this hollow mockery of the great queen of men, but something strange seemed to come over her own subjects. They did not cheer – the enchantment did not work so quickly as that – but nor did they balk. Instead, the response was a sort of muted chatter, as though she had said something only a little questionable. I allowed myself a smirk. If the fall of the Orcs were anything to go by, this uncertainty would soon evolve into unquestioned obedience, as the hold the dark lord held over the queen emanated out as an imperceptible spiderweb through all her subjects.

The queen cast her blackened eyes once more over her subjects, inviting any who might challenge the decree; but those in her entourage were her most loyal followers and not one had the stomach to denounce her, though some lowered their heads in dejection and old Xiao, who had been readmitted, wept silently as he beheld his queen. After a moment the dark lord gave a signal of dismissal with his left hand, and she inclined her head slightly and took her place on the second of the ebony thrones.

“Do you approve, Aurelian?” Jaezel called over to me, “Surely I will be the envy of Illia, to have a beauty such as she by my side?”

I glanced up at Sun Min-Ji, her inhuman eyes stared unblinkingly but she was proud and regal even in face of her humiliation. “Indeed, Your Dark Majesty,” I bowed slightly. “The Dragonfly Queen is a lady of unsurpassed beauty. Yet there remains one throne unfilled.”

My eyes fell to the dwarf. I confess, I was rather intrigued to see what my lord might have planned. The sentiment was one shared by the guard, apparently, as they looked at each other with no small bewilderment as they dragged Copperbeard before the dark lord.

He spat, sourly at Jaezel’s feet.

“You might have been missing a wee chat with your ma and pa, if you think to sire children on me, lad!” he laughed sourly.

“Indeed, such a thought would be absurd,” Jaezel laughed rather facetiously, “for is not Theoderic Copperbeard the very image of manly virtue?”

The dwarf looked a little confused and then at last gave a slight nod. I smiled to myself and one or two of the brighter dwarves put their hands to their brow in despair – who knew what my master had planned but already he had something that Copperbeard did not deny.

“I ask you then, man-to-man, to surrender yourself and your people to serve under me. You will find that I can be quite indulgent to those that give their support willingly, yet to those who – “

“Are you trying to drown me in words, lad?” blustered the foolish dwarf, “Aye, I get the sense of it, and let me tell you now, Theoderic Copperbeard will never in a million winters give you so much as the grit under his fingernails.”

“Indeed, well… that is a shame.” Jaezel said thoughtfully. He stepped forward and licked his finger before tracing his finger in the shape on a pentagram onto the dwarf’s brow. Copperbeard flinched and pulled back, but his hands were bound, and he could not avoid the man’s touch.

“Aich, what the hell are you doing, you poncy little bastard?”

“Doing? Why, I believe we were just discussing the terms of your surrender.”

“Surrender? Have you got cotton in your ears? Its as I told you, Copperbeard will never…” he broke off and I did not trouble to stifle my laughter as I saw my master’s game. The grotesque little man’s voice had changed. Though crass as ever it had taken on an aspect decidedly… feminine.

Nor was that the only change. I crossed my arms in satisfaction at the dwarf’s alarm as his famous orange beard began to shrivel into ashen powder, until after only a moment the desiccated threads blew away into dust leaving the dwarf’s face naked and diminished.

His jovial features flushed red with rage at the loss and with a bellow he launched himself at my lord. I sprang forward, I know my duty after all, but such intervention was unnecessary. My master easily sidestepped the clumsy oaf, who had advanced so recklessly that he soon lost his footing and crashed into the hard stone dais.

“Peace, sir dwarf,” I called out, chuckling at the ridiculous episode, “We do not wish for you to do yourself an injury.”

“Fuck you!” Copperbeard’s voice was high and soft as honey as he slowly and painfully pulled himself to his feet. I caught a glimpse of amber and I thought for one strange minute that his beard had regrown, but as he turned, I saw with astonishment that his once bald head was now thick with long, lustrous copper locks.

“What have you done to me?” He said, and as he blinked, I noticed his long eyelashes.

“Only made it easier for us to come to some kind of arrangement,” said Jaezel guilelessly. “For as you said, no accord is possible with Theoderic Copperbeard.”

“Aye, as I told you, Copperbeard will never deal with the likes of you.”

Jaezel gave a devilish smile, “Ahh but no such man exists; for before me stands Theodora Copperhair.”

I raised my eyebrows as I felt a slight wave of magic play about my mind. I knew immediately that this was indeed she, famed businesswoman and shrewd negotiator who had led the dwarves since the death of her father. For my own part, and likely thanks to my powerfully trained mind, I was able to hold on to the name of Copperbeard, but it was faint, as though a name from a story I had once read. I doubted the other cretins in the room managed as much.

Copperhair remembered, though, and her mouth dropped open in shock as the memories of her two past lives fought for influence within her mind.

Her hands crept wonderingly to her chest, her leather tunic was reforming into a cotton blouse and her chest was swelling into a very ample freckled bosom. She didn’t lose height – both male and female dwarves tended to around five feet – but her beer belly shrank into a taut, hairless midriff and her hips expanded into a smooth, heart shaped curve.

She was beautiful, in truth, in a common, rustic sort of a way. A vast improvement over her boorish antecedent.

“No, that’s impossible,” she gasped in panic as her hands went to the empty void between her legs.

“I assure you it is not,” Jaezel furrowed his brow indulgently. “For all here remember you as such.”

Theodora gazed in bewilderment at her dwarfish attendants but there was not a sign amongst them that anything was out of the ordinary.

“Milady,” muttered one of them eventually.

“Witchcraft,” she whispered in horror as she looked at her feminine hands.

“Nothing so unsophisticated as that,” Jaezel said, making his way over to her and taking her hand. “But we were discussing your loyalty – “

“And I told you, Copperbeard – “ she said sluggishly, as he caught her in his snakelike stare.

“Copperbeard does not exist,” he licked his lips, “And you, Theodora Copperhair, will pledge your loyalty to me.”

She nodded slowly, “I will?”

“Yes, for it is the thing that you desire above all else.” He slid his velvet fingers underneath her chin and raised her head to meet his eye.

“Yes, it is the thing that I desire above all else.” The girl’s eyes were wide and glazed and her voice was somatic.

“You wish to honour and obey me in all things, and you will desire me also. Even now you ache for my touch, my kiss. It is your deepest desire to share your bed with me. You will bear me many sons, industrious and loyal, and you will bear me daughters, shrewd and cunning. Through you I will forever reign over the lands of the dwarves.”

The dwarven woman trembled at his words and he gave her a soft, delicate kiss on her rosy lips. This time, as he drew back, I fancied I could see something intangible dance away on her breath, and I was certain that a crucial part of her had been lost forever.

She turned to her dwarven brethren, eyes a featureless void, and held her fist to her heart. “I have sworn loyalty to His Dark Majesty, the Lord of Nightmares. It is my life’s honour to serve as his wife and consort, and as first amongst you I declare that it shall be the part of dwarvenkind to furnish his dark empire with jewels of peerless beauty and metals that will form the backbone of its strength.

She offered a simple, though rather clumsy, curtsey to her new master and at his signal took her place upon the third ebony throne.

“At last, all four thrones are filled, Your Dark Majesty,” I congratulated my master as he took his seat upon the great bronze throne at the centre. “The prophecy is complete.”

“Indeed, it is, old friend, at long last it is done.” He shot me a familiar glance, and I saw my old friend beneath the mask, weak and hungry for my approval. The impression lasted only a fraction of a moment before he was again the dark lord. He surveyed the room, eying his subjects with cold contempt.

“My loyal servants,” he said, his voice radiant and commanding, “The war is over.”