“No one has seen the Emperor for many years. To my understanding he is bed-ridden with a deteriorating disease and relies on Lucas and his trusted advisor to pass on his instructions,” Lallielle said. “Lucas represents him in the court meetings.”
I didn’t know about everyone else but that seemed suspicious to me. Who could trust instructions delivered through a third party? Now that my curiosity was aroused I might just ask a few questions the next time I saw Lucas. I especially wondered how he could keep world-hopping with us when the Emperor relied on him so heavily.
Fury laughed. “Sounds like the perfect situation for corruption to erupt and destroy your world.” She stole a sideways glance at Dune. “We have seen it happen with a false leader and the lies of his advisors.”
Josian nodded. “It’s for this very reason that First World has a council to rule individual lands. No major decisions can be made without complete council approval. They’ve worked hard to make sure one dictator can never dominate.”
“And for many millennia this has worked without drama. The Emperor’s sickness is the first fundamental breakdown we’ve had in our system.” Lallielle pushed back her long hair. “As you know, we only have a few rare sicknesses that cannot be healed by our bodies. I’m afraid there’s no precedence for how to proceed here. It’s messy. And I don’t like that in our leadership.”
Lallielle sounded like she was about ready to step in and get them into line. I knew her family had been Emperors and Empresses in the past. That’s why everyone had so readily believed I was the chosen one.
Thinking about Lucas and the prophecy gave me a headache. Somewhere deep down I believed him. I was supposed to be his Empress and really should be helping to fix the problems on First World. But for some reason my Walker side was stronger, my bond with Brace everything and my mission to gather the half-Walkers had to take precedence.
But that didn’t lessen that niggling guilt.
“So it’s just the seven of us heading to the dark mountains?” I changed the subject.
“I have some of our clan meeting us there; in fact, they’ve gone ahead and are scouting the outer regions for us. So far there don’t seem to be any immediate obstacles.” Josian pushed back his plate and stood. “But we should head there now. I want that dealt with so I can get back to the research and Aribella can move on to the next planet.”
He looked over our heads, toward something no one else could see. “Something tells me time is running out.”
Chapter 10
We stood at the edge of the darkness. The mountains rising before us like the very gates to a dead land. Under my feet there were scattered trees and plants that were still alive, but just beyond our group it was a different story. As if a bomb had been discharged, surrounding the black mountains was a perfect ring of death.
“I didn’t realize it had gotten so bad.” Lallielle stood, hands on her slim hips. Like the rest of us, she was dressed simply: jeans, boots and a light jacket. Perfect for the fog and temperate weather surrounding the mountains. “Life energy is being leached from every living thing in the vicinity.”
“Yes, but what we need to worry about is what they’re using all of this life-force for.” Lucy held her head as she spoke, fingertips resting on her temples.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
She shrugged before wincing, her eyes screwing closed. “The negative energy here has got to be messing with my mind. I’m seeing this scene in front of us but I also keep getting these alternate images in my head.”
“Frannie always saw double images like that when her soothsayer side was trying to warn her of something.” Lallielle patted Lucy’s arm. “Try not to block out the visions. They could be important and I believe if you let them come your head will ache less.”
Lucy crinkled her nose but nodded. “Maybe I’ll actually see something useful rather than terrifying,” she muttered.
“What are the other images?” I had to ask.
She shook her head a little. “Random and disjointed scenes. Zombies again and all the time this blindingly bright light.”
I shuddered internally. Zombies were one of my biggest freak-outs; I covered my unease with a joke.
“Don’t worry about the undead, Luce. When Abby gets bitten by a zombie, she doesn’t turn into a zombie; the zombie turns into Abby.”
Lucy stopped dead, dropping her hands from her head. “Two things, Abigail. First, don’t refer to yourself in the third person. Ever. Again. And second, I know you just took a Chuck Norris saying and inserted your own name.”