Let it be known that the following individuals are wanted for the heinous crime of regicide:

Manuss Ofelia, Hassan Allarror, Lentz Allarror, Rolunn de Tchekkov, Zainsurra Sybban, Felde Grana, Romunn Pellinor & Bron de Terre
WANTED ALIVE IF POSSIBLE

Be warned that these men are so called ‘immortals’ – heathens and freaks who delight in making others feel pain. Do not approach unless armed. A bounty of two thousand ducats shall be paid for each conspirator brought to justice.
Imperial proclamation send to all four corners of the earth

One of the many as yet unsolved questions in the history of the imperial navy remains the sudden disappearance of the HMS Grande in 2E.1048 – the HMS Grande was traversing the burning sea when it vanished. Cargo of note: five hundred copies of the imperial proclamation following the assassination of Emperor Victor Francisco. The HMS Grande was the only ship allowed to carry imperial proclamations. Coincidence?
Unknown author
A pamphlet on the unsolved mysteries of this world

 

VI

August, 2E.1048; the grand city of Vimé, the capital city of the empire of the old world, and home to the Emperor.

Manuss looked into the faces of those gathered in the small room above the square in which Gimignano was being taken away after killing Mikke just moments before; Hassan and Lentz Allarror, Rolunn de Tchekkov, Zainsurra Sybban, Felde Grana, Rommun Pellinor and Bron de Terre.
“Hassan, Lentz and Rolunn, you’re with me. We’re going to move fast and light. Zaubsurra, Felde, Rommun and Bron; get back to the ship as fast you can, prepare her for cast off. As soon we four are done in the palace the city’s going to be swarming with soldiers.”
“Manuss” Hassan interrupted him, “don’t worry; we all remember the plan.”
*

July, 2E.1048; in an abandoned house in the grand city of Vimé.
“Gentlemen” Manuss began “we’re the last of the immortals.”
“Correction” Hassan butted in, “we’re some of the last. I don’t see any of our friends Gimignano or Giorgio here.”
“I’ll get to that in a bit Hassan. Mostly they’re not here because if they knew what we were going to do then they’d go absolutely ballistic, probably with good reason. But you people; you people should be fine with what I have to say and what we have to do.”
“Is this about the Emperor’s decree that all immortals should be executed on sight?” Rolunn questioned the general. Manuss nodded.
“It has only been a week since the decree and already over five dozen immortals have been butchered, not to mention the innocents who got wrongly turned in to the authorities for hope of coin. We cannot do anything to help the other immortals; the Emperor’s forces are too strong.” It was Mikke’s voice that spoke this time, and as he spoke Manuss listened, but it was clear that Manuss was intent on doing something about the dilemma, but what? Mikke suddenly got the feeling that what Manuss was about to say was very wrong.
“Even if one immortal survives then the Emperor has lost” Manuss started to speak but was interrupted by Mikke again.
“But the Emperor knows who all the immortals are. We can’t hide if that’s what you’re intending to do.”
“We need an immortal that the Emperor doesn’t know” Manuss continued. “Someone who we can keep silent, keep secret, who nobody knows exist save us. I think you know who I’m talking about.”
“Fuck off!” shouted Mikke, rising from his seat “that child isn’t even born yet and you’re intending to steal him or her upon leaving Caterina’s womb!”
“Now you know why I did not invite Gimignano, Caterina or Giorgio. They would not like this one bit, but desperate times call for desperate measures Mikke! We must act!”
“I would rather assassinate the Emperor than steal a new-born baby!” Mikke yelled across the room.
“That will be organised as well.” Manuss shot back. At that the other immortals in the room perked up.
“If we assassinate the Emperor first then the authorites will gain the family trees of our ancestors and be able to track down all the immortals left. But if we assassinate the Emperor second then the family trees will not be updated and therefore the one last immortal will be safe!”
“You’re a fucking cruel bastard Manuss, you know that?!
*
Manuss, Hassan, Lentz and Rolunn left the small house first. Then, five minutes or so later, the other immortals left after them.
Where Manuss’s group walked into the square and made their way slowly uphill to the palace, the second group of conspirators walked away from the square, downhill, towards the quay.
They walked at a fast pace and soon came to the port. They walked along the port for some time, no-one muttering a single word and all cautiously looking over their shoulders as if in constant fear someone was following them. The dock right at the very of the port held a magnificent ship.
It was called Y Llong Du, which is the old tongue for The Black Ship. Its name was apt. The sails, the oars, the body of the ship, even the semi naked angel reaching out into the air attached at the front of the ship, were all black. The ship was well over one hundred yards long and wide enough to fit multiple ballistae on each of its two sides.
The four immortals climbed aboard. It was silent on deck but, below decks, it was teeming with life. In the latter days of the war Hassan had sent a number of prisoners of war to work in the ship, chained to benches in its lowest levels as rowers. Rommun went down to the lowest level as Felde pulled up the large ships’ anchor. On Rommun’s word, the ship started to pull out of the dock and into the centre of the bay that the port of Vimé collapsed in around.
Once out into the centre of the bay Rommun told the workers to stop rowing and Felde dropped anchor again. As part of the pre-ordained plan the four immortals rushed towards the numerous ballistae on and below the top deck, arming them for battle. Felde took command.
“Once Manuss is done up the palace they’ll be coming for us. Get all the ballista armed and prepped, aim the weapons at the other ships in the dock! We’re going to need a clear getaway after this!”
Once Felde was happy with the ballista being armed he rushed up the two masts himself and dropped the sails right the way down for maximum speed out of the quay. After that he dropped back down to the top deck and joined the other immortals at the wheel, looking up at the palace, just waiting to see their signal appear.
*
Manuss looked up the roof of the bank across from a stained glass window of the palace’s third floor some fifty yards away. Hassan was making sure he had everything he needed on him before he made the climb up.
“Once our job in the palace is done, we’ll break open that glass window and throw a rope across. Attach the rope to the roof and we’ll come across as if it’s a zip wire.”
“I told you before Manuss, I know what I’m doing here, so you don’t need to constantly worry yourself otherwise.” Hassan stared into Manuss’ eyes as he spoke. Manuss took a deep breath, he was tense, that much was obvious; and everyone could see it. Hassan started to climb.
Manuss, Lentz and Rolunn turned on their heels and began to walk towards the palace entrance, fast.
“The drawbridge will be down” Manuss said as they walked, “I had a palace servant in my pay literally through a spanner in their drawbridge mechanics – and the portcullis. The guards won’t stand in our way.” As if on cue the trio of men turned a corner in the street and walked out into Palace Square, so called because the square looked onto the palace. Two guards stood at the bottom of a drawbridge shouting orders up to a third guard standing by the balcony with the drawbridge mechanism. After a few seconds one of the guards noticed the trio, who were walking confidently towards the gatehouse.
“Hey!” the guard shouted, “stand back!” The trio however continued to walk forwards. Rolunn took hold of a loaded crossbow which had been sitting neatly on his back. At the sight of this all three guards drew their own weapons. Rolunn was one step faster however; he aimed his weapon at the guard up on the balcony and took the shot. The bolt held true in the air and, barely a second after he had pulled the trigger Rolunn had killed a man.
The two remaining guards looked up as the dead man toppled off the balcony and collapsed onto the drawbridge with a dull thump. They gulped and looked again at the trio, preparing themselves for a fight. Lentz had already drawn his sword, a thin rapier, but Manuss was making a big deal making his self-forged long sword look as dramatic as possible. It took away the attention of the two guards with ease and Lentz rushed in, taking advantage of the situation. Taking the guard on the left, he ducked under the blade hastily slashed in his direction. Thrusting his rapier up in the air whilst at the same time twisting his body around the unfortunate man Lentz pierced the soldiers shoulder and knocked him backwards with a shudder. Lentz turned on his hip, drawing his blade out of the guard’s body and threw him off the drawbridge altogether, falling  over two dozen yards to his death below. The final soldier turned to run, but tripped in his haste, dropping his weapon and falling flat on his face. Trying to roll over, to still somehow escape, he only saw Manuss moving in, holding his long sword in a vice like grip over his neck. It was over in a second.
The trio stepped into the courtyard beyond the gatehouse, not bothering to dispose of nor hide the bodies. They made a beeline for a small vertical window beyond the Mahogany double doors of the palace. Manuss put his fist through the window then proceeded to use the pummel of his sword to clear away the glass shards so that they could pass through.
Climbing through the window the trio dropped down into the servants kitchen. An overweight guard was sat in a chair almost ready to buckle as he scoffed down leftover food, doubtless from whatever impromptu banquet Victor Francisco had recently called for. Rolunn put a bolt in his heart as Manuss kicked open the door.
The door led out into one of the many servants corridors in the palace. They kept a fast pace as the strode through the palace halls. After a few paces a door some twenty feet down the hall burst open. Rolunn aimed his crossbow. A young girl, no older than eighteen, no younger than sixteen, burst into the hall. Her clothes had been torn off. Rolunn guessed what had happened straight away. Upon seeing the three men in the hallway the young girl stopped in her tracks and stared blankly at the immortals. She gulped. Lentz put a finger to his lips and told her not to say a word. An instant later not one but two guards, two would-be rapists sauntered through the door into the hall. The first was met by a crossbow bolt shattering his temple. Manuss had rushed forward and engaged the second assailant, thrusting his blade up into his opponent’s guts, wrenching it violently as he held the man’s mouth shut, clamping down on his jaw. The young girl just stood there and watched. After the trio had walked onwards, she turned and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
The trio finally reached the end of the servants corridor a moment or so later. They entered into a small room with a metallic spiral staircase in one corner leading up to the higher levels of the palace. Manuss led the way up. He was pleased how well he remembered the layout of the palace, despite last being here a good five years ago.
Manuss led the group up four flights of stairs then stepped off the stairwell and walked into an empty room with no other doors out of it than the one they had just came in from. Manuss  just smiled and took out a large golden key from his pocket. He walked across the wooden floor, which was old and rotting, and pushed aside a large tapestry of two knights competing in a joust. The wall was cobwebbed and dusty but Manuss knew what he was looking for. He ran his hand along the wall until he felt a hole – or more precisely, a keyhole. He put the key in and turned it. The lock mechanism was intact and, by turning the key, he revealed a secret door in the wall which Lentz quickly pushed open. “We are now in His Royal Emperor’s private wing” Manuss said. They stepped into the lavish room beyond.
A group of nine or ten scantily clad young women looked at the newly appeared hole in the wall with great shock. “Ah” Manuss said, “His Majesty’s concubines are here to greet us.” Rolunn realised that the expression the women were looking at him was not shock. It was fear.
Manuss, Lentz and Rolunn all eventually made their way across the room and pushed open the doorway into another corridor, though this one was certainly much more lavish and luxurious those they had walked through downstairs. Manuss closed the door firmly shut behind them and pulled a large cushioned sofa that was nearby across, firmly blocking stopping the women inside from getting out this way.
“There will be no guards in His Majesty’s private wing tonight. They’ll all be downstairs for the moment. Let’s do what we came here to do.”
*
Gimignano walked along just behind the two guardsmen who led the way. Behind him were three more guards, each holding a spear. One was planted firmly into the small of Gimignano’s back forcing him onwards. His hands were bound in shackles. The guards had also taken everything he had on him just after murdering Mikke de Tchekkov. So far Gimignano had first been marched across to the town barracks in the city centre where the captain had hoped to hold him. All the jail cells were full however and the captain had then came up with the idea of going to the barracks down by the docks. They had also been full however so now Gimignano was being hauled to the jail cells of the royal palace. He hoped they were jail cells too and not torture cells. He hung his head and looked down at the ground, not even attempting to look around. He felt good.
Suddenly the entire group came to an abrupt halt, Gimignano didn’t realise and almost walked straight into the captain from behind. He stood with his hand raised high in the air whilst he stared intently forwards. About twenty metres away, two guards lay dead on the drawbridge into the palace. The four men under the captains command looked at the superior, wondering what was going on. The captain turned around. He pointed to the three spearmen who stood behind Gimignano and told them to come with him. He handed the final soldier his crossbow and told him to take Gimignano into an alley and shoot him.
‘Manuss’, Gimignano thought straight away. A feeling of unease shot through right through his body as he was jostled by the shoulder towards a dark cobbled alley off the side of the road. Gimignano’s heat began to beat faster and he could hear himself breathing loudly. He looked into the face of his possible killer – a middle aged lieutenant with brown eyes and black hair. He looked at the crossbow as he was brusquely pushed up against the wall facing the lieutenant. The bolt was aimed at his heart. As the man took aim Gimignano took a deep breath, and acted.
Moving more by instinct than anything else, Gimignano twisted his hips and brought the palm of his right hand up under the shaft of the crossbow, pushing it up above him, and away to one side. The weapon shuddered in his grip as the lieutenant pulled the trigger. The bolt flew over Gimignano’s shoulder and bounced harmlessly off the wall. Still bound, he punched the soldier with both his hands and all his strength to push him back onto the wall of the building the other side of the alleyway. The soldier punched back, and caught Gimignano squarely on his chin, almost sending him reeling. Coming back stronger than before, Gimignano intended to throttle the arbalester, pushing his elbows out wide to hold off any other punches the soldier might send his way.
Slowly, after a half minute of gurgling and gargling, the man fell limp Gimignano’s grip and all attempts to free himself of being strangled ceased. He fell to the floor, dead. Gimignano dropped to the floor with him, hoping to find a set of prison keys. He was unlucky, so he came to another idea. Wrapping his hands around the thin, iron shackles Gimignano made them taut, then he stepped on it the shackles and pulled back with all his might, hoping to shatter the manacles. No such luck.
Next, he searched the guards body for anything that might help him. He found a small hunting knife. It was just large enough to fit inside one of the iron rings made up the handcuffs. Picking one that looked weak he thrust the blade into the middle of the ring and began to twist it. Amazingly, the iron alloy in the metal started to bend, to give way. And then a few seconds later the metal ring broke completely apart, the shackles beaten. Gimignano smiled, pocketing the knife and taking the crossbow as well, making sure to reload it and taking a few of the dead lieutenant’s extra bolts for safety sake. He stood up and made his way towards the drawbridge. The captain and the rest of his men were already well beyond that point, though stupidly the captain had forgotten to leave a man by the drawbridge.
Gimignano walked across the main doors of the palace. He waited for a second and then changed his mind. Upon seeing that one of the windows along the wall was broken Gimignano decided to do the same thing, walking across to a window across the courtyard and smashing it with his fist. The glass was sharp and scraped and cut his skin. He cursed violently and climbed into the palace through the window.
He came out in the middle of a huge library. He knew this room well from when the palace had once been in the hands of the immortals. There had once been a stone stairwell which ran up along the side of the library right to the top of the palace. Although the great library stood across from the throne room and all of its grandeur there was a thin walkway for the personal and private use of the ruler. Gimignano sprinted up the stairwell, hoping that no-one would be in his way. His luck held and almost a minute later Gimignano stood on the top floor of the great library. He rushed through the shelves to make it to the walkway. Pushing the door to it open he saw what bad shape it was in: rotting and derelict, the emperor clearly did not have a penchant for books, or at least he did not like using his walkway and it had clearly fallen into disrepair. Gimignano realised he was panting and took a second to catch his breath then, when he was ready, he launched himself into a sprint as he ran across the walkway and charged through the door into the Emperor’s own quarters with his crossbow raised.
*
The door to the walkway smashed open just as one of the emperor’s two puma’s leapt through the air, claws outstretched, jaws wide open, towards Lentz Allarror. Lentz was staring blankly at Gimignano, not having expected to see him again so soon after Mikke’s murder earlier in the night. The puma would have killed Lentz then and there were it not for Rolunn who, at the last second, fired a bolt from his crossbow into the side of the puma’s body, causing it to lose control and fly through the air now at an angle, completely missing Lentz altogether. The Puma rolled on the floor as it landed, cracking the bolt. The wild cat howled and limped under a table, snarling menacingly. The other the Emperor’s two puma’s leapt to maul Manuss but it never had a chance. In one deft move Manuss stepped backwards a single pace and swung his long sword upwards. The animal had nowhere to go but into the pointy end of Manuss’s blade, meeting its end. The first puma howled loudly upon seeing its mate die brutally to the hand of a human. The Emperor, Victor Francisco, sat back on his lavish bed, cowering in fear at Manuss, Lentz and Rolunn. He looked towards Gimignano pleadingly.
“Help me!” he shouted. “I’ll give you anything! Jewels, coin, women, anything! Just please help me!” and then, in a quieter voice. “I don’t want to die.”
Rolunn kept his crossbow on Gimignano, while Lentz drew his sword and stepped the Emperor’s bedside, just waiting for Manuss’s command. Manuss himself stepped backwards, towards a large window of stained glass. He hit the window with as much force as he could. The window shook and then, a second later, it smashed. Shards of stained glass flew everywhere and the wind outside the palace howled and came into the room giving Gimignano a chill around the back of his neck. Gimignano still kept his crossbow up, pointed towards Rolunn. A moment later, he turned his attention to Manuss.
“Manuss!”, he yelled in the common tongue before switching to the older tongue. “Where is my son?!”
Manuss looked intently at Gimignano. Gimignano looked at Manuss with such hate, such sheer determination to find out the truth that inside, it took something out of him. Manuss dropped his sword and pulled a rope off his back. He handed the rope to Lentz, who sheathed his weapon and tied one end of the thick rope over the top of the chandelier. Then he picked up the rest of the rope, still neatly wrapped up, and threw it out into the night sky. The puma under the table growled but did nothing.
“Gimignano” Manuss began, putting on a sincere face. “Caterina is dead. So is your son. We both saw his cot.”
“Not good enough!” Gimignano shouted back and now for the first time pointed the crossbow at Manuss. All this time the Emperor was still quivering in fear, staring profoundly on at the immortals shouting at each other.
Another burst open and a selection of palace guards stormed into the room. Lentz drew his blade and stood by the broken window facing the newcomers. The puma crawled out from underneath the table.
“Rolunn, Lentz; go!. That’s an order!” Manuss’s two co-conspirators looked at him questioningly but did as he asked. Rolunn handed the crossbow over to Manuss and pulled out a hook from his belt which he attached onto the rope leading outside. The rope was taut so Gimignano could only imagine that someone else was outside. First Rolun leapt out of the window, then Lentz sheathed his sword again and followed his friend. Manuss took his own hook off the belt and stepped backwards to attach himself to the zipline. No-one made a move to attack him and Gimignano wondered, for just a split second, if the palace guards were even allowing their Emperor to be killed.
Manuss aimed his crossbow at the Emperor. The puma crept forward out from underneath the table. Gimignano continued to aim the crossbow at Manuss’s chest. The Emperor continued to cower in fear and the captain of the palace guard continued to hold his men back, unsure of what to do.
“Gimignano” Manuss spoke in the common tongue. During his, in Gimignano’s mind, very opinionated speech, he did not lose eye contact once with Gimignano. “We fight for what we love do we not? Otherwise we would not have the strength or the zeal to do it. Make the most of everything you have and one day you will understand. There is more at stake here than us. Look at the Emperor – Victor Francisco, first of his line and soon to be the last. He has won every war he has ever fought but he will die at age forty-two after only fighting one battle. You and I? We’re so called ‘immortals’, we live for one hell of a long time but the world doesn’t have a scheme for us. The world cares about constant upstarts, about things that only last for two or three years and then they’re gone, because people are too scared to ask the bigger questions. You and me; we are those who have seen everything before. I’ve said it before but we’ve lost our way and we won’t get it back. We’re nomads; in the last ten years alone we ‘immortals’ have realised that it is not us who are too big for the world but that through the actions of everything around ourselves, it is the world that is too big for us.”
“Don’t try to bloody rationalise it Manuss. The world is constantly changing. We do constantly live in a New World, but we shouldn’t change that. And yes, the New World is full of bastards and ne’er do wells, but you said it yourself – we are those who are ‘immortal’. Of all of us in this world, we alone should be able to keep any sense of sanity – or is that not to be?”
“You sound just like Giorgio” Manuss said, and pulled the trigger of the crossbow. A split second later he jumped backwards into the air, falling out of the window on the zipline. The puma leapt with everything it had towards Manuss. The Emperor felt the impact of the crossbow bolt shattering his ribcage and piercing his lungs. He was in his dying breath. Without noticing, Gimignano pulled the trigger on his crossbow. The bolt hung in the air as it sped towards Manuss.
The bolt hit the puma in the back in the back of its head and the wild cat let a huge roar out of its mouth. It hit Manuss as he sped backwards through the air making his escape and it’s sharp teeth ran right down Manuss’s right leg leaving a blood red gash under ripped leather leggings, but it did not bite down on Manuss. It was already dead and the animal plummeted down to the ground with a sickening thud. Gimignano looked across at the Emperor. He was already dead. Suddenly Gimignano fell unconscious as the entire palace guard collapsed on top of him, knocking him unconscious. Manuss, Rolunn, Lentz and Hassan were already putting distance between themselves and the palace.
*
Manuss sat on the bed. It was not the best bed in the world and the pillows certainly needed fluffing up. Other than that he was in the middle of the ship and the ship rocked heavily so he never got any sleep at all despite having the bed. Added to his problems was all the bawling the baby made. How one small baby could make such a lot of noise over a tiny bit of sea-sickness Manuss would never know. “You’re so much like your parents, did you know that” he whispered whilst holding the infant in his arms to try and keep her quiet. He had taken to calling her Caterina, after her mother. “And did you know that your father thinks you’re a boy?” Manuss whispered. Manuss smilled and poked the baby girl on her nose.
The girl’s effective step-mother was asleep. Manuss had found a woman to help Caterina and Giovanni’s daughter grow up. The woman used to be a prostitute. When Manuss had offered her the job she’d laughed, but now she said she prefers a baby’s touch other than horny old men biting down on her nipples. That had made Manuss laugh. He would try to be there for her as much as he could, but just in case he had decided to put her under the care of Lentz Allarror, as far away from his other operations as possible. Lentz would make sure little Caterina would grow up strong, teach her what it meant to be an immortal. But, for the moment, Manuss Ofelia held her close, smiled, and went to sleep happy knowing that Gimignano and Caterina’s legacy was safe and could be allowed to live freely, no longer under fear of the Franciscans. That was what he told he himself but there was more to it than that.

END OF ACT 1