Priamus was hardly a knight of true note. A knight and nobleman that was allied to Lucius in his war against Artoria. He fought Gawain to a standstill that left them both near-death. Afterward, he would join the knights under Artoria, become a duke, and eventually be slain by Lancelot.
Priamus himself would be expected to be nothing more than a phantom, unfit to be summoned. However, ironically merged with the woman he would help capture and bring back to Britain after the emperor’s death allows them to both manifest as a Servant, with her being dominant due to her greater presence.
That is what she would have others believe.
Avenable was hardly like other woman of her time, especially for her standing as the oldest child of a duke. If it was up to her, she’d just spend her time with the men out in the wilderness, or maybe even fighting in the grand battles she would hear about.
Those desires were ignored by her parents, working to squash such wishes and bring her up in the proper way of a noblewoman.
That was until another duke named Frollo came and stole their land from them. Mathem managed to escape with his family. All except Avenable, who they were unable to find and was believed to have died in the final assault.
Instead, she had escaped on her own. Instead of seeking out her family, she fled from the forces of the duke, trying to decide what she would do next. Eventually, she would come to the decision that she would reclaim her family’s land even if she was the only member remaining as far as she knew.
So, she traveled to Rome, taking on the identity of a boy named Girsandoles who was an aspiring squire seeking to become part of the emperor’s court.
She had heard stories of the Sword Emperor of Rome, Lucius Tiberius. A man of unmatched power who quickly rose to become a high-ranking government official that ascended to emperor after the previous one’s passing. A fearless warrior that never lost a battle in his entire military career, fighting on the front lines and decimating all opposition.
An imposing figure, the emperor himself welcomed her into his court, even taking it upon himself to personally teach her for some reason. She supposed that maybe the emperor saw something in her, but she couldn’t help but be intimidated by the prospect of the ruler of the whole empire closely watching her.
Would he discover her true identity?
Even as she worked diligently to conceal her gender, she couldn’t help but be overjoyed to do all the things she desired without judgement or restraint. Being a man was just as freeing as she always believed it would be. She could be herself, but the shadow of her past always loomed.
She worked tirelessly under the emperor, Lucius taking an obvious shine to her and eventually making her a seneschal, all while her true identity remained a secret. She was happy with this new life of hers, and, even if it was built on a lie, she couldn’t imagine going back to her old one.
She watched the Sword Emperor every day and admired the strength he possessed. Admired his unerring will and confidence. His absolute certainty in himself and his authority.
Several years passed as her skill and ability continued to improve, but, no matter how hard she tried, she was never able to reach the realm of the emperor. At times, in their sparring, she could glimpse that distant plane Lucius resided on but was always jarred back down to earth.
She wanted to be like him. It was impossible to be like him.
Then the emperor had a dream, and things began changing.
The emperor told no one, not even her, of the strange dream he had. Still, when a stag of pure white raced through the capital, bellowing loudly and describing the crowned sow surrounded by twelve bulls he saw in his vision to everyone under him, frustration was obvious as it burst into throne room and kneeled before him.
The stag then declared that there was one hidden in the woods that could tell him what the dream foretold of, but the man would not be easily found or come willingly. Before Lucius could capture the stag and force an answer from it as to how it had known of his dream, it dashed out of the room and vanished from sight.
The emperor, more angry than curious, declared that he would be leading a hunting party to track down the stag. He had little trust in the words of a magical creature barging into his throne room and was much more interested in it than whatever man it spoke of in the woods. He’d simply pry the answer out of it.
Of course, Grisandoles joined the hunting party, following her emperor into the forest, though they could find no trail to lead them to their prey. The emperor even began searching for the man thinking the stag would likely be close by. Still, they found nothing.
After a week of searching with no traces of either, even the emperor was beginning to tire of the hunt. Avenable, however, was not yet done. She left the group, going on her own believing she’d be more likely to find the stag if they weren’t causing a ruckus wherever they went.
Whether or not that was the reason is up for debate, but she did in fact find the stag. She considered going to tell her emperor, but the stag was already moving, following it deeper into the woods, and eventually arriving at a small ramshackle shack.
The stag had vanished, but there by a fire was a man in white poking its coal with a stick as a pot cooked, steam rising from its contents. He looked up at her and smiled in what she soon realized was mirth.
“Well! I wasn’t expecting guests. Come closer, my lady! Join me in my dinner.”
Avenable was more than a little confused, but she was even more wary that he had seen through her disguise instantly when hundreds before had been none the wiser. She did end up sharing his meal though, and she explained that she had been searching for him. He said he was aware of their searching, but the one he had been waiting for was her. Rather than say why, he instead stated that all would be revealed when he was brought before the king and his court.
Returning with the man in tow, Avenable was surprised to find Lucius had been trying to find her, as she had left without a word. He seemed very irritated and chose to focus it she had brought. He appeared ready to slay the man when he said he’d only explain himself when they returned to the capital.
Restraining his frustration, Lucius waited till they had returned, telling Avenable along the way to not do something so foolish. Avenable, equally as irritated by the emperor’s words, pushed back in front of all his subordinates. She had done this for him and succeeded where he and everyone else had failed, so he had no place to rebuke her methods. Much to their shock, Lucius stormed and didn’t acknowledge her the rest of the way back.
Avenable, while annoyed by Lucius’s unjustified irritation for her, was confused as to where it could have come from. She also felt awash with fear as to what the emperor would do to her after defying him in such a way. She had seen what had happened to those who crossed Lucius Tiberius, but the punishment was less of a concern to her as what she would lose.
The emperor was angry, and he seemed even farther away than ever. Losing her life was one thing, but the thought of losing him was far more frightening. Almost as much as losing her self after only experiencing it for a few years.
The man, in contrast to them, was in very bright spirits, laughing at their argument and saying they really shouldn’t be fighting with how they were entwined. This caused the emperor to order him gagged, but the man hardly seemed to mind, humming merrily all the way to the capital.
The man didn’t even wait till the returned to the emperor’s court, somehow freeing himself of his bindings and revealing himself before all gathered to welcome their emperor home. Before anything could be done, the man threw himself into a long-winded speech of the circumstances leading to the present.
After many sentences of events that everyone there found increasingly difficult to believe, he went on to describe the emperor’s dream to the crowd surrounding them, revealing that the sow and bulls were actually his queen and her maidservants, the twelve of which were actually men. He went on to say they were not the only ones hiding their true selves within the emperor’s court.
Instantly, Lucius was before him, crimson sword cleaving through the mage. That is, if the mage wasn’t already somehow standing where Lucius had been before, which just happened to be next to Avenable. The mage placed his hand on the confused woman’s shoulder and declared that he had been impossible to find until a woman, not a man, had done what the others had failed to.
Lucius fumed as the onlookers processed the mage’s words and their meaning, and Avenable felt her world crumbling around her as the man in white laughed joylessly. He then declared his work was done as though he had accomplished something incredible and vanished from sight.
The emperor, still a being of authority and power, was able to gain control of his people in spite of the magus’s revelations. Saying he would personally deal with both Grisandoles and his empress, he and his entourage swept her away back to his palace.
Avenable could feel their eyes on her. Not just the people of Rome, but the soldiers and knights that she had traveled with, fought with, laughed and ate with, all looked at her like she was a stranger. It was just as she always feared. Her only thought was that if she was forced to once more wear the same mask her family placed on her, she would rather die.
Lucius wouldn’t even glance at her.
The emperor called for his empress to be brought before him, the woman arriving with an annoyed look on her face. Lucius told her about the vision and the interpretation, and she didn’t even attempt to hide her actions. Instead, she attacked him, saying it was not as though he hadn’t played a part in it. She had just found men willing to do what he wouldn’t and, apparently, he had done something similar, considering word had already reached her of the woman among soldiers.
Her execution was set, and she was taken away, Lucius telling the rest to leave him alone with Grisandoles. Avenable was ready. She had been deceiving the emperor all this time, but she wasn’t one who required a public execution like an empress. A part of her was just thankful he decided to do it himself.
The emperor sat there and let out a sigh of frustration.
“That man should have kept his mouth shut like I did. I didn’t need a dream to know what took place in my domain.”
She was confused as he spoke as though alone about how he’d already suspected that his empress had lovers, but he was more than willing to ignore it. Death was not something he foresaw in his future, and any child born wouldn’t be a threat but would alleviate the naysayers that he needed an heir.
Her confusion only grew as he continued on, saying they just didn’t seem to understand that he didn’t need anything like an heir. He was a god made manifest. A being of power that was never going to die, let alone be overthrown by a normal human.
He was the emperor. He was the only one ever able to wield Florent. He was power and authority personified! Why do they question him on such pointless and trivial things?
She stood there stunned as the emperor continued his tirade, the ever confident and critical man she admired ranting about grievances she didn’t even know he had and some of which she even found foolish.
Eventually, the list reached her. Surprisingly, his irritation was not because she deceived him, true gender, or that she was the reason he’d have to execute his empress. No, it was because now he had to figure out how to keep her in her current position.
Avenable didn’t know what to say as he let out another sigh before rising from his seat, his normal expression reasserting itself as he walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry. You’re still my subject.”
And then, he was gone, and she was left working through the implications of all he’d said. Had he known since the beginning, even if no one else had? How? Maybe it was just after all the time they spent together. He was the person she spent the most time with, but she had never once let it slip, had she?
He hadn’t seemed to care.
It was not one day after the empress’s execution that Lucius announced his new empress. Avenable was as surprised as anyone by his proclamation, considering she was the subject.
None of his subjects questioned his reasons, at least not openly. There were rumors this was his plan all along or perhaps he simply saw the chance to use someone he molded and knew was loyal to prevent what had occurred with his previous wife.
The emperor never gave an answer, not even to her. All he said was that she could now do what she wanted, and if anyone had issue with it, they would have to answer to him. Avenable was grateful, possibly more than the emperor realized, but she also remained frustrated by all the events leading to this and how it still changed the way people acted around her. Now, she was seen as the empress that deceived her way into the bed of the emperor, not the capable and favored seneschal she had been not too long ago.
As time went on, Avenable’s love for both what she once desired and the emperor waned with every unspoken rejection she observed from her former peers. Why did it matter that she was a woman if she could do things just as well as any man? All Lucius had done was give dissenters more reasons to dislike her. She thought just being able to do what she wanted would be enough, but the fact she was excepting while doing them for so long meant a lot more than she realized.
Perhaps it would have been better for the emperor to simply kill her than let what she loved slowly be drained of joy.
This reached the point that Avenable decided she would leave the capital, hoping to start again hopefully for the last time somewhere else. She approached her emperor and told him she couldn’t be empress any longer. She couldn’t continue to stay and be something she wasn’t, so she asked him to allow her to leave.
The emperor didn’t seem angry or disappointed. If anything, he looked placid, but her years with him allowed her to notice the slight strain in the expression.
“Did my decision not satisfy you?”
There wasn’t scorn or worry in those words. It was a genuine question, as though he couldn’t understand why she was bringing this up.
“Nothing you could have done would.”
A frown creased his lips before he left, telling her to remain there until he returned. She stayed, waiting with growing dread of what he would do when he returned. Perhaps he would take her life now that she had rejected his solution. Still, she remained, believing she owed him more than enough for that.
“When I drew Florent, my ascension was assured.”
Lucius returned with an object wrapped in cloth, stopping in front of her as he spoke.
“Even before then, I knew I would be the one to rule. To hold the power over all and change this world. It was my Divine right. It was my destiny.”
He unwrapped the object, revealing a battle-worn sheath holding an ornate golden blade.
“This sword belonged to my family, but they forgot what it meant long ago. I decided to give it a new meaning. Now, it’s your turn.”
He placed the sword in her hands but kept hold when she tried to pull back.
“Who you were doesn’t matter. No matter where you go, you are still my subject, and, so long as you never forget that, I will always watch over you. Now, go.”
That was the end of it. He left without another word, and she was expected to leave in kind. She did, but she would often look back, wondering if things could have been different if that man had just kept his mouth shut.
Taking on a new name, she once more portrayed herself as a man and traveled to Florence, eventually becoming a respected knight. She worked hard and began to find that happiness that had been fading before, but it continued to linger in her mind of how quickly it could all turn. Respected, but also closed off, the knight known as Priamus was an oddity to they’re peers.
And so it was that the years passed by, and the emperor once more entered her life. He was planning to bring the British Isles back under Rome’s, and therefore his, control, and required the forces to do so. The army of Tuscany heeded the emperor’s call, and Avenable traveled with her fellow warriors for the land of the Britons, wondering if she would once more see the emperor, or if she even wanted to see him.
She was spared that question as the emperor did not accompany them on the initial assault, which many attributed as the reason they were repelled from the island by the British army. The emperor would lead them in the battles to come, but no longer as an invader, but now as the defender himself.
Avenable marveled at the power of the warriors of the British king. Knights with magical weapons and power enough to take on dozens of warriors at once. They cleaved through their army, showing just how great the divide between them and the inhabitants of the island were.
Then, they watched their emperor fight against the knight called Percival, one of Arthur’s knights wielding a spear that could wipe away ranks of soldiers with a single movement. The battle raged on around them, warriors on both sides being caught up in the duel between the supernatural beings, leading most to avoid them while trying to kill each other.
When Percival finally fell, Lucius held the knight’s spear overhead, ordering the remaining Britons to surrender. Once they had and were taken prisoner, he told his men “What was born of Rome will always belong to Rome”.
The message was clear. Britain was Rome’s, was the emperor’s, and he was taking it back. In that moment, Avenable knew without a shadow of doubt that he would stop at nothing to defeat the king that had claimed Britain.
Sadly, Avenable would never see her emperor accomplish that goal because she would fall in defense of that man. In one of the many battles the emperor could not personally lead, Avenable found herself sword to sword with another of Arthur’s esteemed knights. One whose power shown like the sun and grew stronger as it rose in the sky.
It was a truly grueling battle on both sides, with Avenable barely able to consider how evenly matched they were. She fought with everything she had, and she felt alive. It was moments like these that she had always craved, and ones she had sought out all her years under the emperor.
However, the end did not come from a decisive blow, but from the quality of weapon. For all its strange power, Avenable’s blade shattered, and with it, her will faltered for the briefest instant. So it was that her numerous injuries, several of which were grievous, finally caught up to her.
She fell, but she died doing what she loved.
Originally Posted by Spelror
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