The Sun Eater, #1
Empire of Silence
by Christopher Ruocchio
Contents
Chapter 38: Blood Like Wax
Overview
Hadrian’s reputation in the Colosso has grown after months of undefeated combat, but news from the wider war intrudes when Kogan tells him Whitehorse Company captured Cielcin at Wodan and kept prisoners. A violent encounter with Gilliam Vas and Whitehorse guards near the prison block gives Hadrian evidence that something nonhuman is hidden beneath the coliseum. By the chapter’s end, Hadrian’s escape plans are complicated by a dangerous new mystery involving the Chantry, mercenaries, and a likely Cielcin captive.
Summary
Hadrian reflects on months of survival in the Colosso. He has never lost single combat, has gained fame for clever tactics and gallantry, and has avoided killing opponents by disarming fellow myrmidons. Group melees remain deadly, however: Banks dies in a duel with Jaffa, Kiri leaves, and Hadrian sees even Umandh prisoners forced to fight beasts for spectacle.
In the myrmidons’ dining hall, Hadrian overhears newly arrived foederati discussing the Battle of Wodan and captured Cielcin hostages. Switch introduces Hadrian to Kogan, a former Whitehorse Company mercenary, who claims Duke Hauptmann’s forces seized a damaged Cielcin worldship and that Sir Alexei Karelin kept two Cielcin prisoners for sport. Kogan also implies that palatine nobles have traded Cielcin captives, a claim Hadrian has never heard before but cannot safely challenge.
Days later, after sparring practice, Hadrian encounters a Chantry priest escorted by Whitehorse guards pushing a large empty fugue cylinder from the prison section. Hadrian recognizes the Whitehorse insignia and, connecting the oversized cylinder to Kogan’s story, suspects it may have held something nonhuman. Hadrian tries to question the guards and even asks if Whitehorse is hiring, hoping for a new way off Emesh for himself and his friends.
The priest, enraged by Hadrian’s persistence, slams him into the wall and orders the guards to stun him. Hadrian does not resist because striking a Chantry priest would be fatal. Doctor Chand and Switch later revive him in the hallway, and Hadrian explains what happened. Chand and Switch identify the priest as Gilliam Vas, the grand prior’s bastard and a powerful figure tied to Count Mataro’s circle.
Despite Chand’s warning that the Chantry is dangerous and Switch’s plea to let the matter go, Hadrian keeps assembling the clues: Kogan’s war story, the Whitehorse guards, the fugue cylinder, the Legion carrier in orbit, and the priest’s visit to the prison block. Remembering Gibson’s habit of stepping back to see the larger pattern, Hadrian reaches a firm conclusion: there is a Cielcin in the coliseum dungeon.
Who Appears
- Hadrian MarloweUndefeated myrmidon whose curiosity leads him to suspect a Cielcin is hidden below the Colosso.
- SwitchHadrian’s friend; hears Kogan’s story, worries over Hadrian, and urges him to leave the mystery alone.
- Doctor ChandColosso doctor who treats Hadrian after the stunner attack and identifies Gilliam Vas.
- KoganFormer Whitehorse mercenary who describes Wodan, captured Cielcin, and Sir Alexei Karelin’s prisoners.
- Gilliam VasCruel Chantry priest, the grand prior’s bastard, who orders Hadrian stunned near the prison block.
- Whitehorse guardsFoederati escorts carrying an oversized fugue cylinder from the prison area under Gilliam Vas’s authority.
- AmareiSkilled gladiatrix from Hadrian’s recent difficult duel, remembered as evidence of his growing combat record.