The Usurper

37

“It cannot be!” cried Iaachus, to the startled courtier.

“Lord?” asked the courtier.

“Ambitious Julian, dog of the Aureliani, who would seize the throne, yes,” said Iaachus, “but the oaf, Ottonius, his minion, his guard dog, he of the peasants, of the hunting games, the killing games, in a hundred arenas, no! No!”

“It is a captain,” said the courtier, “uniformed and emblemed, insignias in order, Ottonius, officer in the Auxiliaries.”

“You are sure?” asked Iaachus.

“Yes, Lord,” said the courtier, half drawing back. Never had he seen the Arbiter of Protocol so.

“It cannot be,” muttered Iaachus.

“I do not understand,” said the courtier.

“It is nothing,” said Iaachus.

“Is noble Iaachus well?” said the courtier.

“How dare they come here?” asked the Arbiter.

“Lord?” said the courtier, uncertainly.

“Yes, I am well,” said Iaachus. “I am very well.”

“They crave audience,” said the courtier. “Borders succumb. Clubs and torches are brandished in the streets. Rioters rule. Mobs rove with impunity. Guardsmen cower, arrows enquivered, not daring to fire on looters. Lion Ships, unseen, guard corridors. The city burns, the empire totters.”

“Who,” asked Iaachus, “could deny audience, in such a time, or, indeed, at any time, to the august Julian, he of the Aureliani, cousin to the emperor?”

“Indeed, Lord,” said the courtier.

“I shall have the royal family notified,” said Iaachus, “the empress mother in her chambers, the royal daughters, and the emperor, too, who must be summoned, however unwillingly, I fear, from his toys.”

“You do not understand, Lord,” said the courtier. “They crave audience with you, only you, with the Arbiter of Protocol, and in private.”

“I see,” said Iaachus.

“I do not know the reason for the audience,” said the courtier.

“I think I do,” said Iaachus.

“Lord?”

“Have guards about,” said the Arbiter of Protocol. “Then, admit my guests.”

“Yes, Lord,” said the courtier.

The Arbiter then went to a side cabinet, and removed, from its satin sheathing, a Telnarian pistol. It was much like that which Julian bore, for both were imperial issue. It contained six charges. One would seldom consider firing such a weapon indoors, for the charge, as normally fired, its beam focused, might take out a wall. Iaachus, studying the weapon, for he was not familiar with its use, adjusted the beam lens, that effecting the distribution of the charge, that a broader, more fanlike emission might be produced. There is an inverse correlation involved in such things, a narrow beam providing a greater range and a more severe, more localized strike, and a wider beam, in which an impact is much reduced but a much larger area is affected. As the weapon was now set, there would be a sudden, flat oval of fire, some ten feet in width at close range, perhaps, say, across a desk, or, as the impact area expanded, some twenty or twenty-five feet in width, at a target some yards away, say, across a room.

Iaachus slipped the pistol into the center drawer of his desk, which he left partly open. He then seated himself in his chair, behind the desk.