'Excuse me!' Harmony interrupted him; 'I refused take the healing liquid offered to me. If anything, you should be thanking my friends for bringing me to you.'
'How do you know each other?' cried Eddinray, unable to contain his jealousy. 'Why Harmony? What does this mean?'
The angel lowered a shameful face.
'Sit down!' snipped the warden. 'Stupid Englishman! Can't you see you're upsetting her? The past has clearly overwhelmed my angel. The shock was inevitable of course, but deep down I'm sure she knew all along that it was I beckoning her here.'
'I suspected.' she mumbled back. 'Nothing more than that.'
'Why did you want us here so urgently?' I asked him, patting a supporting hand on Eddinray's shoulder.
'I wanted you here for one reason alone,' he snootily replied, stubbing out his cigarette on the chest of his bronze swordsman. 'I needed to see the face of Harmony Valour. The rest of you were tools to that end.'
'Who are you?' I said, totally confused.
'In my time,' he started, 'I have fought over sixty battles and learnt nothing which I did not know at the beginning. Immune to warfare, killer of kings and conqueror of continents, the continuous fight was my destiny. My name is Napoleon Bonaparte — Emperor and master of France.'
I gawked back, his chubby face now so obvious. This was not some vague portrait from a history book, but the very man sharing the same air as us. The idea, like the food, was hard to swallow.
'Now proud warden of the 9th Fortress,' he added, 'no other deserves, or fulfils the duties of this office more than I.'
'You service the devil.' said Harmony, her expression hard and voice bitter.
'I service myself!' he corrected. 'But…' he suddenly giggled, 'What woman could understand an Emperor's burden? They are merely a charming decoration, and none more decorative than you Harmony.'
He came to part the hair from Harmony's eyes, causing Eddinray to grasp his chest in pain. Meanwhile, a melancholic Virgil floated harmlessly amongst us, and I regarded him as an ally for the time being.
Still commanding attention, Napoleon picked a banana from a fruit-bowl and took great care in peeling it.
'How do you know Harmony?' I asked him, losing patience. 'What are you two involved in?'
'She was my life support.' he answered, taking a greedy bite of his banana. 'My angel soul-mate. That is the extent of our involvement.'
His bombshell sent a thick and silent stink through the penthouse. Harmony was his life-support, and immediately I understood the unbreakable bond between them.
'My great earthly crime apparently,' he added, aggrieved, 'was to relish the strategy of the battlefield and take pleasure in victory.'
'It was more than pleasure!' exclaimed Harmony, bitterly. 'Yours was an obsession for power Napoleon ¬— to win at any cost! You were a cold hearted monster, a despot who dragged thousands to oblivion with you.'
She spasmed with fear when Napoleon erupted, tipping the food table over in a rage. 'Do not dare judge me!' he roared. 'Wasn't it you, angel, who whispered encouragement into my ear? Your words inspired my desire for that glory, and your hand guided me to every battlefield.'
'I hadn't an ounce of control or influence over your actions!' she cried and moaned.'Your life was yours and you are to blame for it!'
'Your God disagrees!” he returned, mocking her. 'Your influence expelled me from France and you from Heaven. They knew, as I do, that you were in awe of me life support, and that awe is the very reason for the clamp binding your wings, and why you grace my Fortress tonight. You are responsible for my decent, as I am responsible for yours.'
'Let her be!' yelled Eddinray, rushing to her. Quickly, Napoleon intervened, pushing Eddinray to the ground and daring him to retaliate. 'Don't ever touch her Englishman! Don't you ever! Your pathetic little island was the death of me, and my memory has not for —'
A katana pressing against Napoleon's larynges immediately stifled voice.
'Emotional…' Napoleon chocked, and raising his fingers, he clicked them to stir the bronze man into motion. Joints grinding, it stamped toward me, then held its barbaric sword over my skull.
Kat grimaced, as if tasting sick on his tongue. 'Samurai,' said Napoleon, grinning; 'my friend will remove his head without thought or effort; and no matter what indifferent facade you may show on the outside, your insides definitely do not want that.'
'Put down the sword Kat.' I said, feeling a chill from that bronze man. 'We can't fight everything.'
Resigned, Kat lowered his weapon, and the warden smiled. 'I am in charge of this situation.' he stated, ordering his man away from me. 'You do not come to one’s home and spit on their floor. I invited you people to the hospitality of my penthouse, not the cells below it. Previous wardens would not have been so charitable. Enjoy it! Why not take in the splendid sight of my domain? Come feast your eyes!'
'We've seen plenty.' I said, as he went to look over this kingdom.
'It is magnificent.' he rasped, releasing a satisfied exhale. 'This view never fails to stir me. The glory. The power. My God.'
'I am sorry.' whispered Harmony, walking to her far fallen individual. 'How could I have failed you so terribly?'
'Fail me angel? Can't you see that I am above everything? I am in Heaven.'
'You are the regret of my life,' she said, wobbly on her feet. 'The regret of my life.'
'And you are mine.” he whispered back. “I am sorry you were banished to the Distinct Earth, sorry you lost the use of your wings and were shamed so badly. Do you see now how unfair your God is? To inflict such shame upon a creature so proud?'
Gloom stricken, Harmony caressed a hand down Napoleon's back. 'You are unwell. This awful place…it's eating you from the inside.'
Her comment seemed to hurt Napoleon physically — he gripped his guts, turned on a penny and had to restrain his shaking fist from striking her. Harmony raised her chin high and unafraid, but nothing came of it, for Kat had distracted Napoleon. The samurai's instinct to protect us caused him to step forward, as if making to lunge for Napoleon's blood. He too restrained himself, but the emperor had grown weary of the samurai's volatile instincts. 'Bronze-man!' he commanded. 'Teach the samurai warrior a lesson!'
'Is that necessary, sir?' asked Virgil, diplomatically.
'Very! A lesson he will never forget!'
The bronze man obeyed the order and stampeded toward Kat, who paced to the centre of the penthouse. Harmony came to block herself between the pair, but Napoleon snatched her back like elastic.
'Attack!' he screamed. 'Attack now!'
The swordsman held out his weapon, making its massive weight seem light as a feather. David to Goliath, Kat introduced his opponent's sword to his, then cut down the bronze-man's neck. Unfortunately, the katana clanged feebly off his foe leaving no damage or scratch, nor fragment of shrapnel. Kat struck again, harder this time down the tanned, expressionless face, but nothing.
'That's right,' said Napoleon, thrilled; 'my man is impervious to your sword Kat. Guard! Bring me the samurai's head!'
On that command, the bronze soldier threw himself at Kat. The samurai swerved athletically from the mass and its hefty blade broke through the warden's desk to cut it clean down the middle.
'Come on Kat!' I cried.
The crystal chandelier jingled overhead when both warriors’ blades collided, fusing brilliant sparks over the broken desk. They held this lock of steel, but the guard was too strong, too invincible for Kat to out-brute. They separated swords and the bronze-man scored a point down Kat's wrist, causing him to drop the katana. His wakizashi useless in this match-up, Kat was defenceless, so backed away from the bronze-man as a warm glint appeared in those copper eyes.
'That's enough Napoleon!' pleaded Harmony. 'Call off your guard!'
'Never!' he returned, bloodthirsty. 'Kill him swordsman! Kill the Kat! Do not disappoint me!'
Kat retreated until his back was smeared against the wide windowpane. The bronze-man appeared to almost grow in front of Kat. It raised its sword for the killing strike, but the samurai moved faster than eyes. He leapt under
