The Paramount had gotten too tired and too ill to be attending court, but as the world would have it, she was now headed to the People's Parliament.
A funny name for a place where only delegates and poor farmers came to complain or collect these days.
Dark times they were to be a chief and she would have given anything for her nephew to return. She hoped secretly that he was among the delegates sent by the one who called himself the King.
Her guards opened the Parliament doors and she went in, met with stares and bows. She was old, maybe too old to receive a full on bow from everyone.
Again, dark times, even more tiring times to be the head of Maagme. The other chiefs and warlords all eyed that seat, some too openly as they discussed things in her presence.
There was a time, she remembered,when they all feared her merely for her name.
"All rise for the Paramount, Soaring Helarin the Wise, third of her name and mother of all Maameans current and forgotten." Her announcer said.
She made her way to the speaker's seat and only when she was sat did the murmuring continue.
Noting all the various families that were present and those that weren't, she looked into her system. Only three major families had sent apologies for not attending, they were all from the Eastern Villages.
A rebellion of sorts?
She didn't see a clear reason yet.
"I call upon all members of the People's Parliament of Maagme, by favour of the New Gods. Do you heed?" She said.
Silence followed by nods and various family emblems being shown signified their acceptance.
"Today we have a delegation from our sister city Citadel the Refuge, four chiefs from both the north and the west, the general of the First Army and three farmers from the Central villages. We shall begin with the farmers.
Come forth."
After the farmers had presented their complaints about a mysterious blight, the chiefs came forth claiming nomadic tribes from the Far Lands had been invading their villages in the night.
It turned out that the general had been called by one of the chiefs, Chief Spinza Spitfire. The seventh chief it seemed had been gaining traction with the Parliament, which Soaring noted as he presented his case.
They had all come to ask for official permission to set a fraction of the First Army on the nomadic tribes.
Soaring had of course refused to give greenlight to a war, small as it was on the tribes. Instead she made the General swear to send scouts and messengers to the Border Guard. No war, she made it clear only a warning.
Spinza had stood there for a full minute a frown on his face staring Soaring dead in the eye. There was malice there, she was sure but she waved it and him away.
The other chiefs in the Parliament had taken note, some choosing to lower their respective emblems and so did some of the major business families.
Before, the delegates took the floor, Soaring got a note from Daizen Bai, the patron of the most powerful family in the city. She still had his support and she was sure the other families saw him nod as she looked at him in the East stands.
"Paramount Soaring, we stand before you as visitors to the Land of the Gods. We ask for favour from their totem,"
It was a man, dressed in all black robes.
"I greet you," Soaring said.
When he raised his head, she almost screamed for joy. It was him Song.
He smiled at her recognition and walked closer to the podium.
"Greetings Maameans,"
He looked around as everyone else recognised their greatest mage and their Great Commander. The boy always did carry an air of mystery to him and it so much drew folks to him. Her nephew.
Soaring saw some of the families' emblem rise again from their fall.
Song brought fear too.
"Speak Great Commander. The People recognise you," Daizen said from his seat.
Soaring nodded in agreement.
"For four months I have been away roaming the Blotlands seeking what our great Oracles had prophesied. Return of the House of Doom, the once totems of the Old Gods the gods of death and darkness. Oracle Shemi had foretold the return of the House of Hellsinger."
He paused noting the reactions of the people. Soaring herself felt a shiver go down her spine.
Much as she didn't believe in the Oracles like the rest of them, she'd been alive when her great grandfather had returned from war against the Hellsingers. He'd gone mad in a month's time and so had all the soldiers who'd seen to the end of the House of Doom. They'd all died from what Oracles and Messenger Mages called the Curse of Shadows.
Soaring had seen it linger for years before she herself had been crowned Paramount.
"Tales of a child in the Wretched city came to me, a child who could wield shadows and one who could summon death at will. I have traveled to this very city and I tell you now, it is true that the House of Doom has returned."
More gasps. The Hellsingers had been the single most powerful family in Maagme, believed to have been the closest to the Old Gods. Their patron Moonrise Hellsinger had been the greatest death mage in history and had been the reason Maameans had not found peace for hundreds of years during the war.
The return of the old Gods or their totems meant war by itself. War upon the New Gods and the Maamean way of life. Soaring could already feel the tide of fear in the Parliament.
It simply could not be allowed.
"The child, a boy has been under the care of the one they call the King in Citadel and it is he who has sent this delegation. I will now call to the floor his Messenger," Song said.
She watched as a woman, taller than any woman she'd ever seen, walked to the podium followed by a very lean young man in similar black robes.
"Maameans I present Beatrix Blackhand from Acropolis," Song said.
As he stepped back, the Parliament went up in uproar. Soaring found herself gripping her robes tighter than she would have liked to.
She raised her hand and the noise died down.
"What business do the People have with worms from Acropolis?" She demanded.
The tall woman bowed.
"I seek favour Paramount,"
"The gods old and new do not grant favour to evil," Soaring said.
"I seek forgiveness for my blood Paramount. Will the gods grant me that?" Beatrix Blackhand pleaded.
"The gods may forgive you but the People of Maagme will not forget. Speak Blackhand.
Beatrix raised her head. She pulled the boy closer to her.
"Thank you Paramount. My name is Beatrix Blackhand, I may have been born in Acropolis but I have been raised in the Wretched city. My brother is the one they call the King in Citadel. It is my duty here to represent his will today,"
Soaring had been looking at the boy, studying him. The more she looked at him, the more she saw her great grandfather's eyes filled with black madness. The House of Doom was here, she was sure.
"What business does the King have with old matters?" Spinza said.
Beatrix, if she heard him did not show it.
"The King has been the guardian to that which you sent your Great General to find. The child born with Hellsinger blood is like a son to him and the Blackhand family. We seek acceptance back to the land of the Gods for the House Hellsinger,"
Soaring stood alongside other chiefs. This was preposterous and surely a parody on the Parliament!
"The House of Doom has been banished from these lands for hundreds of years of now. It shall not pass!" Soaring said.
Soldiers and Parliamentary guards alike struggled to keep angry folks at bay. Everyone wanted to murder the boy and this comedy of a delegation. Soaring would let them.
"The Paramount sent you to bring us the corpse of the Hellsinger child. Why did you not accomplish your mission?" Spinza asked.
Song had been silent this whole time not moving even during the uproar.
He looked around raising his hands to the crowd. Slowly they all calmed as the air in the Parliament became warmer.
"Times have changed Chief Spinza and so has the world around us. The power once held only by Acropolis has disippated into different hands and many of those hands are now outside the city. The King is one of them and his plans stand to benefit us all. That is why I did not kill the Hellsinger boy. And it goes without saying, I could not simply kill a member of the Blackhands without bringing war to these lands," he said.
Soaring dropped back to her seat listening to her nephew. It was true it would have brought war if the boy really was considered a Blackhand. This proved a problem.
It was the power shift she did not understand. She had heard of the terrorist attack on Acropolis but she hadn't considered it too big. The war between Citadel and Acropolis had been going on for years since the truce. It was only a matter of time before there was a full on war again.
"Great Commander, you still failed. What are we to do about that? If we cannot send our very best to accomplish our will even in secret the what are we to do?" Daizen asked.
Song turned to his aunt.
"I may be the best my Paramount but I am wise enough to recognise when my power is only a fraction of what another possesses. Killing the child even in secret would have been impossible. Death would not have allowed it," he said.
Soaring had heard that very line fifty years ago. It only but confirmed that the boy was indeed a Hellsinger. Song had been wise to not kill him then.
"I move for closed court," she said.
It was the only thing she saw fit.
"I call for execution of the boy now!"
It was Spinza, still on his feet, arms stretched in a dangerous position. He wanted to use his magic against the boy. It was stupid, more stupid than arguing against the Paramount when her Great General was right there but fools never change.
She raised her hand to calm him, but he'd already moved for the boy leaping into the air his fist glowing red. Spinza was a power mage whose fists could break a boulder into two. His father had been one too and he was the reason the Nooma Hill was in two.
Spinza never touched the floor or the boy. Song had moved faster than Soaring could comprehend the air becoming dangerously warm, meeting him midair and grabbing him by the neck.
The whole Parliament watched as Song sucked at Spinza's soul as the Chief struggled against his grip. Black wisps went out of Spinza's mouth into Song's till he went slack.
The chief dropped back to the floor with a thud lifeless.
He'd broken the law and the Great General had seen to reverse the sin. It was a great show of power for both Soaring Helarin's house and Song as the general, but it was a big gamble on their position in the Parliament.
Nevertheless, more urgent matters called.
"The Parliament of the People is suspended and the Great Council is called into closed court. House Spitfire is suspended from closed court. I have spoken," she said.