“It is an Earth Elemental, Lord Duke,” Star said patiently. “One of the Greater Earth Elementals, but a young one. It was lured into a trap, captured, and hidden here a hundred years ago or more. This is the source of all magic energy used in the Palace, and most of the magical energy used by the Imperial mages.”

No.

“That’s not possible,” he said flatly. “No Greater Elemental can be coerced into providing anything. You can bind it all you like, but it will never, ever give anything up.”

“The Lord Duke is correct,” Star admitted. “But it will emit magical energy if it is wounded. It must, in order to heal.”

It took a long moment for the enormity—and the horror—of that statement to sink in.

“You mean that you bound it here—and now you are deliberately wounding it—in order to siphon off the magic it uses to heal itself?” he said in a strangled voice.

“We are not,” Star corrected, forcefully. “Humans are. This is a rare moment when there are no humans in this chamber wounding it. They have wounded it enough, and now it is healing.”

That was the sound. That was what he was hearing. The poor, damned thing had been hurt, and hurt, and hurt, and finally left to heal.

And it was crying, moaning in pain, weeping because it knew this was only going to happen again once it healed. And of course, it could do nothing about that. It couldn’t stop itself from healing, any more than he could, if he’d been slashed all over, then bandaged and left to heal.

He had thought he had plumbed the depths of Imperial depravity.

He was beginning to think, now, that he never would.

“And this is a young creature?” he choked out.

“Something like a child. Yes,” said Star.

He wanted to be sick.

“Others of its kind seek it,” Star continued. “They have for some time. They roam beneath the earth of the Empire, hunting for it. They know that the Empire has it. But thanks to the magics surrounding it—those chains and rune-plaques—they cannot find it. The nearer they come, the more the distraction. You may have felt them, from time to time—when the earth trembles for a moment. And you have seen the ongoing damage they do as they seek for their young one, in the City. That is their reaction, their frustration. Always near enough to sense, never near enough to locate.”

“This is wrong,” he managed. “I would—rather see demon pacts.”

“No, my Lord Duke,” Star replied. “You most certainly would not.”

—