Fables #38

A young lieutenant rides down the road, stopping to ask for direction to the Imperial City. Crispin Bloom is a new transfer, still getting his bearings in this realm. Today is Petition Day, when the citizens can come to the hall of justice and ask the Emperor for a boon. Of course many will show up, but only those who can pay the price may then go and speak his or her case. The Snow Queen has decided to make a rare appearance, given an inkling that the assassin will strike today. Snow and cold follow wherever she walks, as her personal honor guard clear the citizens in her path with the warning "winter is coming".

Young Lt. Bloom meets his new captain, who is at first confused that he wasn't told of any transfer, until Bloom shows him the papers, explaining he was given the new orders as punishment for beating his old commander at a dice game in front of the other men. The common method of transfer, in other words. Satisfied, Captain Orm began leading him into the city, explaining what they do here. As the Emperor's guard, they would wait until the last moment to choose which path the Emperor will take, then clear all peasants and riffraff, barricade and block all door and windows, and be sure to arrest all peering eyes before he walks through. For security reasons, of course.
Once all is done, Bloom takes his position to the side and watches in shock as a giant armor-clad figure strides past him, his height so tall that Bloom's head only came up to the Emperor's knee.

At the hall of Justice, a long line is being checked and kept in order by the guard. Lord Nivercoop was next. The guard told him to speak only when spoken to, and to never look directly at the Emperor. As he is lead into the hall proper, sitting on the large throne was the armor-clad Emperor, with the Snow Queen standing nearby as elderly aids help clear the snow from the front of the throne with their brooms. As Nivercoop kneels, the Emperor's booming voice asks, "What's your problem?" Nivercoop explains how he and his brother both inherited their father's estate in co-equal shares. But the nervous Lord believed his brother was undeserving, being a crook and imbecile, and he asks the Emperor to change the Will so that he alone owns all land and assets within. But the Emperor decides instead to remove the materialistic obstacle that's harming their family bond, ordering the estate to be burned and the gold to be reclaimed for the Empires coffers. Now the brothers had no reason to fight. A visibly upset Nivercoop is dragged away.

Queen Lumi senses something amiss and calls all to halt. He's here. The assassin. There is a magic cloaking him, but she can still detect his presence in the hall. Lumi calls out to everyone to be on the lookout for anyone that is new, who they hadn't seen before. Captain Orm turns on Lieutenant Bloom, who arrived just today with a transfer he knew nothing about. Bloom pleads that he's not the one, that he is loyal, but Orm runs him through with his sword. One of the old women aids shakes her head and announces that Bloom was not the assassin. She changes her form, lamenting how no one ever pays attention to the peasants. Boy Blue stands revealed, Vorpal Sword in hand. The Emperor, surprised, makes to strike, but Blue is quick, leaping and slashing the tyrant's head clean with a Snicker-Snack from the blade. The crowd is in shock. Then Orm and his guardsmen start to attack him, but Blue takes their heads with the blade as well. Lumi orders her personal guards captain to clear the hall, but not to let anyone who witnessed what happened here leave the vicinity. Blue has no desire to stay and continue the fight, his mission complete, so he changes into a bird and flies. But Lumi encases his body in ice, freezing the bird in place.