The Usurper

35

“I would feel easier,” said Otto, “if I carried the long sword.”

“So mighty a blade would speak of barbarism,” said Julian. “We need not cleave open the timbers of gates, shatter posts, cut off the heads of horses. Be content with your captain’s blade.”

“Why could I not wear freer garments?” asked Otto.

“Be content with the uniform of your office,” said Julian.

Otto, or Ottonius, it might be recalled, had been commissioned to recruit comitates amongst Otungs, to supplement the auxiliary forces of the empire, this in support of the project of Julian of the Aureliani, to stiffen resistance to barbarian influxes of a hostile nature, to shore up threatened borders, to enact selected missions, to enlist barbarians on behalf of a flagging empire, corrupt and degenerating, unwilling or unable to unilaterally mount and sustain its own defenses. Might not the empire be refreshed and invigorated with new blood? Let barbarians see the standards of the empire as their own, to be fought for, even died for, rather than as those of a foe. Sidonicus, Exarch of Telnar, had managed to acquire an artifact, a medallion and chain, high symbol of the Vandal nation, on Tangara, and have it delivered to Ingeld, a Drisriak, the second son of Abrogastes, the Far-Grasper. By means of this artifact, Ingeld hoped to bring together the Alemanni and the Vandals in a coalition which might doom the empire. The reward of Sidonicus, for the bestowal of the medallion and chain on a Drisriak, was to be the conversion of united barbarian nations to a particular faith, not surprisingly his own, which they would then impose on the empire. Interestingly, he was simultaneously negotiating, much to the same end, with the empire, with the end in view that his faith be decreed the official faith of the empire, whilst all other faiths, as false faiths, dangerous to the koos, or such, were to be rooted out and destroyed. The empire’s reward in this would be that Sidonicus, breaking with Floonian tradition, let alone the teachings of Floon, as nearly as they could be determined, would then release his followers, in their millions, to support and defend the empire, to observe its laws, to pay its taxes, to pledge it allegiance, to take up arms in its behalf, to fight for it, even unto death. In either case, obviously, his faith would be triumphant, whether advanced by the rude insignias of barbarism or by the silver standards of Telnaria itself. The one plot, however, that of the medallion and chain, as we have learned, was subverted when Julian, who was familiar with the original artifact, from the cell of an Emanationist brother in the festung of Sim Giadini on Tangara, produced a great many copies of the artifact, which were distributed widely, to the dismay and consternation of Ingeld’s projected allies. As a consequence the Alemanni, or the Aatii, as they appear in the imperial accounts, remained the major threat to the empire, and other barbarian nations, in particular, the Vandals, remained to one side, like wolves in the darkness, curious, patient, watching a fire, hostile to the Alemanni, but bearing no love to the empire.

“Why needed my beard be shaved, my hair be cut?” growled Otto.

“Your scrub of a beard was not much of a beard,” said Julian.

“Short, it is harder to seize in combat,” said Otto.

“Cease complaining, my friend,” said Julian, walking briskly forward.

“My hair,” grumbled Otto. “What would they say in the hall?”

“You are not in the hall now,” said Julian. “In Telnar men do not wear their hair like the mane of a Herul dog.”

“How many charges have you left?” asked Otto.

“Four,” said Julian. “Two were lost at the river.”

“You could buy others,” said Otto.

“The empire controls such things,” said Julian. “The populace is to be defenseless.”

“Like cattle,” said Otto.

“It is the empire’s way,” said Julian.

“In the streets, in the dark, narrow streets?” said Otto.

“I doubt you can find them there now,” said Julian. “Months ago, one charge might cost five to ten thousand darins, even here, in Telnar. Have you five to ten thousand darins?”

“No,” said Otto.

“I have concealed the pistol,” said Julian. “If it was known we had such a weapon, we might be killed for it.”

“Civilitas,” said Otto, scornfully.

“Civilitas,” said Julian, “is more frequently praised than practiced.”

“Men stare at me,” grumbled Otto.

“And they might stare at a torodont, were it walking here, on Palace Street,” said Julian. “You are large, your stride, your coloring, are not typically Telnarian.”

“Good,” said Otto.

“At least you are not clad in skins, with a necklace of claws,” said Julian. “Remember your troubles on the Summer World.”

This remark pertained to an occurrence which had taken place several months ago.

“There is the senate,” said Julian. “See the columns, the dome.”

“Is this wise, to approach the palace?” asked Otto. “Surely Iaachus, and others, perhaps even the empress mother, have little love for the Aureliani, and any enleagued with them. Indeed, we established on Tangara, from the blond slave, that it was he, Iaachus, who hoped to strike at you, and your plans, by means of my assassination.”

“By the way,” said Julian, “you slew the slave, after lengthy tortures, did you not?”

“No,” said Otto. “We marked her, and sold her to Heruls. She sold for one pig.”

“Excellent,” said Julian. “There are better things to do with a woman than kill her. Their necks look well in collars. Collars keep them nicely in their place.”

“Others escaped,” said Otto, “Phidias, captain of the Narcona, and two others, lesser officers, a Lysis and a Corelius.”

“I have no doubt they reported the work well done to Iaachus,” said Julian.

“And yet,” said Otto, “we approach the palace?”

“Surely Iaachus will not slay us before the throne,” said Julian. “Too, I think things may have changed. Iaachus is a devious fellow, but he is not irrational, no more than a knife or pistol. I think that he, in his way, is as concerned for the empire as we, though doubtless only in so far as it advances his own interests.”

“You will crave an audience?” asked Otto.

“It cannot be refused,” said Julian. “I am cousin to the emperor.”

“If we can make it to the gate of the palace grounds,” said Otto, looking about himself.

“I think we shall,” said Julian. “There are guardsmen about. There is peace here, guaranteed by the drawing of bows, the leveling of spears.”

“Not so elsewhere,” said Otto.

“No, I think not,” said Julian. “I gather that much of the city is in chaos.”

“Somewhere, above the blue sky,” said Otto, “lurk the Lion Ships of Abrogastes.”

“I do not think he can long maintain the blockade,” said Julian. “I would give him no more than four days.”

Otto walked beside Julian, quietly.

“I do not understand the blockade,” said Julian. “Why would it be mounted? What is it to accomplish?”

“Perhaps,” said Otto, “it is not a blockade.”