The Usurper

12

“They learn quickly,” said Julian.

“They are intelligent, highly so,” said Otto.

“Barbarians are to be feared,” said Julian.

“I am a barbarian,” said Otto.

“I fear you,” said Julian.

“Abrogate the project,” suggested Otto.

“It is the only hope for the empire,” said Julian. “The common citizens care only for their ease and comfort, their pleasures and entertainments, and will have others feed them, support them, and defend them.”

“Not all, surely,” said Otto.

“No,” said Julian, “but many are beaten down, and disheartened, crippled by prolonged labor, particularly by the forced labor of munera, in lieu of taxation. Many are mired, too, in the legal bindings, now widely spread, where one must follow one’s father’s calling, craft, or profession, this intelligently instituted to stabilize the tax base, and others are landless tenants, coloni, and others are serfs who, as with the legal bindings, are bound to the soil, who must live and die on the same plot of land. Such folk have little in common but their misery and want, and their hatred for any better off than themselves, for landowners, clerks, officials, overseers, even for the empire itself, which they see as their foe and oppressor. And, too, there are the ambitious, who seek gain, and power, and would pursue their own fortune at the expense of the empire.”

“Such, of course,” said Otto, “are useful to predators, in equipping and funding incursions.”

“True,” said Julian.

“My people,” said Otto, “lack the skills, the expertise, the tools, the resources, the industrial base to design and build fearsome weaponry and ships.”

“Others will do so,” said Julian, “others who remain unnoted, on far worlds, who fear to press a trigger, or grasp a helm, who wait to creep forward and feed on the kills of lions.”

“I am dismayed,” said Otto.

“Be not so, my friend,” said Julian.

“I know something of the forging of a blade of steel,” said Otto. “I know nothing of the forging of a blade of fire.”

“You need not,” said Julian. “It is one thing to manufacture a rifle or pistol, and another to use it effectively.”

“I do not care for such weapons,” said Otto.

“You like to be close to your kills,” said Julian.

“One knows then what one is doing,” said Otto. “One sees the blood, and may consider how far to go.”

“Uneasy restless worlds, several with diminishing, but yet-unexhausted resources, back invaders,” said Julian.

“And you would arm such men to resist such men?” said Otto.

“Yes,” said Julian.

“It is an unwise shepherd who brings in wolves to guard sheep,” said Otto.

“Sheep cannot guard themselves,” said Julian.

“Or will not do so,” said Otto.

“The perimeter is penetrated,” said Julian. “Worlds are lost, or fall away.”

“Permit them to do so,” said Otto.

“Never!” said Julian.

“The palace will have them abandoned,” said Otto.

“It must not!” said Julian.

“Perhaps the empire has grasped beyond its reach,” said Otto.

“Never!” said Julian.

“Perhaps it will draw back,” said Otto.

“To what?” asked Julian.

“To the inner worlds,” said Otto.

“The least retreat,” said Julian, “will be understood as a sign of weakness; it will arm enemies, and inspirit defiance. The first rock removed from a wall makes the second easier to dislodge.”

“Surely the inner worlds are more secure,” said Otto. “Will the palace not have it so?”

“The emperor is a boy, with the mind of a child, coveting toys and fearing insects,” said Julian. “He counts for nothing. His sisters are scarce worth a collar. Power is vested in the empress mother, a vain, timid old woman under the baleful influence of a courtier, one who fears me, and a new order in the palace, one intent to keep things as they are, one intent to protect himself, his position, and his power at all costs, though the empire crumbles.”

“Perhaps he merely sees the empire differently,” said Otto.

“The situation is desperate,” said Julian.

“So desperate that you would arm barbarians,” said Otto.

“Who else would have the courage and will to face foes so fearful, so dangerous and determined?” asked Julian.

“Hereditary enmities exist amongst tribes,” said Otto, “which you would seek to exploit.”

“One seizes what weapons lie at hand,” said Julian.

Here we may suppose that Julian had in mind, in particular, the hostilities between the tribes of the Vandals, amongst which was that of the Otungs, or Otungen, and those of the Alemanni, whose largest tribe was the Drisriaks.

“I respect the empire,” said Otto, “as I might respect the seasons or the stars, the vi-cat or the arn bear, but I do not esteem it. I do not love it.”

“Therein we differ, dear friend,” said Julian. “Understand it. See in it civilitas, the hope of a thousand species.”

“Civilitas, under the sword,” said Otto.

“Civilitas cannot survive without the sword,” said Julian.

“You are my friend,” said Otto.

“Barbaritas?” smiled Julian.

“Yes,” said Otto.

“So simply?” said Julian.

“So simply,” said Otto.

“Is it not much like the bond of the comitatus?” asked Julian.

“I think so,” said Otto.

“One would die for one’s friend,” said Julian.

“Barbaritas,” said Otto.

“Barbaritas,” said Julian.

“You pause, you muse?” said Otto.

“I sometimes fear the future is yours, my friend,” said Julian, “where the blood is hot and fresh, and flows strongly, like a scalding, rushing stream in the veins.”

“The empire has always been,” said Otto.

“Not always,” said Julian. “Once there was no empire. Once there were only nine villages along a river, on a small, unimportant world.”

“Long ago?” said Otto.

“Very long ago,” said Julian.

“It is said the empire is eternal,” said Otto.

“Let it be so,” said Julian.

“Yet I fear for your empire,” said Otto.

“And well you might,” said Julian.

“No longer,” said Otto, “are its standards borne bravely.”

“The thousand suns must flash again on them,” said Julian.

“You weep,” said Otto, puzzled.

“Men no longer seek adventure and conquest,” said Julian. “They now seek comfort and protection. Even a fortress of iron may be eaten away by the rust of neglect, and, when its walls collapse, the vermin within will be prey for the vi-cat and arn bear, or die of hunger and cold.”

“Perhaps they will merely change Masters,” said Otto.

“And their new Masters,” said Julian, “will be the lions of the future.”

“You fear for the empire,” said Otto.

“Yes,” said Julian. “I fear it is no longer loved.”

“Surely a thousand worlds will stand for the empire,” said Otto.

“On many worlds,” said Julian, “there is the loss of soil, soil drained of nutrients, borne away by the wind; there is erosion, widespread desiccation, a scarcity of water, and its contamination; there are seas enfilthed with pollution; there are swamps one cannot approach without protective gear; there is the destruction of forests; there is the abandonment of mines, the exhaustion of mineral resources, cavernous shafts emptied of ore and metals; there is the debasing of currency, famine, disease, chaos, banditry.”

“It is so, and yet the empire sleeps?” said Otto.

“It must awaken,” said Julian.

“To some nightmare,” said Otto.

“No,” said Julian. “But to a new dawn.”

“A new dawn,” said Otto, “but of whose day?”

“Let it be that of Telnaria,” said Julian.

“Resources are finite,” said Otto. “They diminish. The time will come when few will be able to step amongst stars. Engines will be cold. Radios will be silent. Worlds will be alone. The theaters and stadiums will be empty, the altars untended. The vi-cat and the arn bear will reclaim their ranges. The time will come when the forging of the steel blade will become more common than the forging of the blade of fire.”

“Let the empire be eternal,” said Julian.

“As you will,” said Otto.

“The empire is eternal,” said Julian.

“How so?” asked Otto.

“I will have it so,” said Julian.