The Usurper

30

“These are the darkest of days,” said Tuvo Ausonius. “The empire is doomed.”

“I will not have it so,” said Julian, striking his fist on the rude plank table, in the training camp.

“The fleets of Abrogastes loom,” said Tuvo Ausonius. “The ships of the empire, what few with scarce fuel remain, are inert in their steel concealments. Worlds prepare to welcome barbarian lords.”

“Telnaria stands,” said Julian.

“And muchly alone,” said Tuvo. “What say you, dear Ottonius?”

“I know little of what is going on,” said Otto. “I know the sword, the bow, the noble, declared foe. I know little of politics, or secret wars.”

“The comitates have withdrawn,” said Tuvo.

“Some remain,” said Otto.

“I remain, my king,” said young Vandar, who had been the first, long ago, in a simple hall, to accept meat, meat cut from the hero’s portion by a giant, blond stranger, one who had brought the pelt of a white vi-cat to a hall of Otungs.

“I, too,” said two others, Ulrich, who had conducted the stranger to the hall, and Citherix, who had been bold enough to challenge a king.

“We, as well,” said Astubux and Axel, who had known Otto since Varna, where he had ascended to the chieftainship of the Wolfungs.

“The tents are empty, the camps abandoned,” said Tuvo Ausonius.

“I feared it would be so,” muttered Julian.

“How could men withdraw from kings in honor?” asked Otto.

“In the name of a higher honor,” said Julian.

“It is the medallion and chain, once held by Genserix,” said Vandar. “It is the talisman of the Vandal Nation, what unifies the Vandal Nation, what unifies the Otungs, the Darisi, the Haakons, the Basungs, and the Wolfungs. It is tradition that the tribes will follow he who holds the talisman.”

“Why then,” asked Otto, “have you, my friends, not also departed?”

“Once,” said Astubux, “there was no tradition.”

“If a pig wore the medallion and chain, if it were slung about his neck,” said Citherix, “I would not then follow a pig.”

“Many would,” said Tuvo Ausonius.

“One follows men,” said Axel, “not workages of crafted metal.”

“I feared this would occur,” said Julian. “Long ago, in investigating the antecedents of dear Ottonius, I journeyed to a remote festung high amongst the crags of the Barrionuevo Range, the festung of Sim Giadini.”

“I was raised in the festung village,” said Otto.

“There I learned that an infant, retrieved from the mud and snow, from the debris of a march of prisoners, one suckled by a dog, had been entrusted to the brothers of Sim Giadini, in particular, to a salamanderine, Brother Benjamin. With that infant had been found the medallion and chain.”

“We may conjecture then,” said Ulrich, “that after the death of Genserix, the medallion and chain, if it is the true medallion and chain, was concealed, probably by his queen, Elsa, who was said to be near the time of giving birth. We may further conjecture that she, a prisoner, gave birth during the march, in which she, as many others, perished.”

“The child, as I had it from Brother Benjamin, was brought to the festung by a Herul warrior, named Hunlaki,” said Julian.

“Why,” asked Otto, “would a Herul warrior have any interest in a human child?”

“I do not know,” said Julian. “But Heruls seldom act without reason. In any event, Brother Benjamin guarded the medallion and chain for many years.”

“The festung was destroyed by imperial ships,” said Otto, bitterly.

“But the medallion and chain, the talisman, was not found,” said Julian.

“It may have been destroyed,” said Otto.

“Possibly,” said Julian, “but it, it seems, or some surrogate, was delivered to Drisriaks.”

“Perhaps there is no such thing,” said Axel.

“I saw it, in the cell of Brother Benjamin,” said Julian.

“The medallion and chain is a Vandal thing,” said Ulrich. “Why should it have been delivered to the Alemanni, to Drisriaks?”

“No Otung would do that,” said Vandar.

“No loyal Otung,” said Citherix.

“The point,” said Julian, “is to join the barbarian nations for a common onslaught against the empire.”

“One which could not be withstood,” said Otto.

“One which must be withstood,” said Julian, angrily.

“And so perished your plan, noble friend,” said Tuvo to Julian, “of enlisting barbarians to defend the empire against barbarians.”

“This outcome might have been envisaged,” said Otto. “Barbarians have more in common with one another than with men of the empire.”

“Not Vandals and Alemanni,” said Ulrich. “They are blood enemies.”

“Many have doubted the wisdom, friends,” said Tuvo, “of settling barbarians on imperial worlds, of arming them, of training them in the arts of war.”

“There was no alternative,” said Julian.

“Surely they would think soon of gold and worlds, rather than acres and a mercenary’s fee,” said Otto.

“There was no alternative,” said Julian.

“In any event,” said Citherix, “given the medallion and chain, Vandals and Alemanni now enleague themselves.”

“And the empire trembles,” said Axel, “doomed, happily, to be felled by the sword of barbaritas.”

“No,” said Julian. “Telnaria stands.”

“For how long?” asked Axel.

“I do not think Abrogastes is much mixed in this brew,” said Otto. “I read him as proud and powerful, a true king of the Drisriaks. His way is the ax and challenge, not tricks, not poison, not whispers.”

“Who, then?” said Julian.

“Another, I think,” said Otto.

“But Drisriak,” said Julian. “The medallion and chain is in the counting house of the Drisriaks.”

“One high,” said Otto, “perhaps Ingeld, perhaps Hrothgar.”

“This business is independent of Abrogastes?” asked Julian.

“I think so,” said Otto.

“I still do not understand,” said Ulrich, “how Vandals and Alemanni could sit at the same table. They are blood enemies.”

“To feast on the riches of the empire,” said Tuvo.

“Two can lift a weight which might not be borne by one,” said Axel.

“And what,” asked Otto, “when the feast is done, when the weight need no longer be borne?”

“Then,” said Ulrich, “knives will be once more unsheathed.”

“I know little or nothing of the medallion and chain,” said Otto, “though I now understand its importance. Perhaps this was understood, as well, even long ago, by Brother Benjamin. Why, then, would he, a creature of peace, a gentle creature, a seeker of holiness, relinquish the talisman, and its power, to either warlike Vandals or Alemanni?”

“I do not think he did,” said Julian. “I think it was stolen, and the festung soon destroyed, to conceal the matter.”

“The matter had naught to do with heresy?” said Otto.

“Very little, I suspect,” said Julian. “The first project is power, the controlling of worlds. Heresy may then be extirpated at one’s leisure.”

“I did not even know it existed,” said Otto.

“It had become much a thing of legend,” said Julian.

“But now,” said Tuvo, “it appears, as if from nowhere, and in the hands of Drisriaks.”

“It is not just the Drisriaks and the Vandals,” said Julian. “Tribes, peoples, and worlds are affected, as well. Many look with envy on the empire, and, seeing the Vandals and the Drisriaks joined, will flock to surprising standards, that they, too, may hurry to so golden a trough.”

“And, in the light of the talisman,” said Tuvo, “the empire is lost.”

“No,” said Julian.

“How, no?” asked Tuvo.

“I have seen the talisman,” said Julian.

“So, dear friend?” said Tuvo.

“I have a plan,” said Julian.