A
parley was arranged. Von Eisen and Balliwick, his loyal advisor, came to talk
under a white flag of truce. Aurelian was angry and apprehensive, but Marthian
insisted that they should be let in under the Imperial rules of war. The north
gates were opened, briefly, and they rode in.
They met in the main square in front of the
Palace. Marthian was dressed in her Proconsular toga, Aurelian in his Imperial
General’s uniform. Neither of them had dressed as smartly for several decades.
This was all about demonstrating unambiguously that they were the legal
government of the province.
Von Eisen was wearing his Crimson Flame
commander’s outfit and looked equally suited for his role, or suitably pompous,
depending on one’s viewpoint. Balliwick, in contrast, looked like he’d just
been hunting – he wore a tweed jacket and brown trousers. There was nothing either warlike or
particularly formal about him. Marthian wondered what on earth he was there
for.
The knight and his companion jumped down from
their horses, and walked towards the two Ortian leaders. Van Eisen walked in a
stiff half-march, formal and tense, while Balliwick sauntered over, apparently
completely unconcerned.
Marthian nodded stiffly at the approaching
men. Balliwick smiled, but von Eisen did not respond in any way until he had
come within a few feet of the Proconsul.
Marthian looked carefully at him. She guessed
that this was a man who had a very clear idea of what was right and wrong;
anything he did was right, everyone else was wrong.
‘I have lost several hundred men for no good
reason, Proconsul’ said Von Eisen, standing ostentatiously to attention, ‘why
did you attack an army that came in completely good faith?’
‘You did not come in good faith’ responded
Marthian, evenly, ‘you entered our territory without permission and you ignored
a direct request from my general to come no further. We have the right to
defend ourselves’
‘We come on behalf of the Emperor’ announced
von Eisen, ‘we come to reconquer the lands of the east’
Marthian considered this for no more than a
second.
‘Well then, I would be grateful if you would
show me any legal documents that you have that are signed by the Emperor that
give you authority to enter my city’
The Baron glared at her and then looked up at
Balliwick. He was still smiling. Marthian pressed the point.
‘Where are your documents, Baron von Eisen?’
Von Eisen’s face twitched with irritation. He
held out his empty hands.
‘The Emperor’s will can be done in many ways,
Proconsul. We represent the next generation of the Empire – steadfast, strong
and willing’
And
human, thought Marthian, with all
that that entails
‘We will only obey direct orders from the
Emperor’ insisted Aurelian
‘That is a shame’ said Balliwick, quietly,
‘but it really doesn’t matter’
Von Eisen looked at him questioningly, but
then let him go on once he had seen his expression.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Marthian, despite
herself. Balliwick had the ability to make everything he said seem important.
‘You haven’t met the Emperor yet, have you,
“lady proconsul”?’ asked Balliwick
Aurelian took a step forward, but Marthian
gently pulled him back. This was no time for pointless anger.
‘Of course I haven’t’ said Marthian, ‘we’ve
been stranded here for nine-hundred years’
‘So you don’t know about his lifestyle
choices, do you?’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Marthian
‘Oh, only that he is much more enthusiastic
about males than females, and that he has fairly conventional views about
gender and power’
Balliwick leered – it was perhaps the
creepiest thing that Marthian had ever seen; not only creepy but also profoundly
scary.
‘And so does his lover – General Titanius –
who is also the commander in chief of the Visneorian army’
‘What does this have to do with anything?’
said Aurelian, feeling cold sweat forming on his neck.
‘Well, I’m not completely familiar with the
Imperial hierarchy but I believe that means that, first, Emperor Pallatian is
your boss, Marthian, my dear, and, second, that High General Titanius is your
boss, Aurelian, you poor chap. Which suggests, I think, that very soon you’ll
both be looking for another job’
Von Eisen was visibly uncomfortable. He
looked across at Balliwick and shook his head. Balliwick took no notice.
Marthian and Aurelian felt like they were standing
on a square of ground specifically chosen by the winter frost to freeze their
hearts. They were completely lost for
words. Was all of this true?
Balliwick’s grin seemed to be bill-posted on
to its face. It was meant for nothing except provocation.
‘So, it might well be better to yield at
least a little to these strong, virile, male knights, elf maiden’ said
Balliwick, ‘you see I’m sure that Pallatian will just love them’
Marthian took two steps forward and, very
calmly, slapped the Ethian as hard as she could on the face.
‘Leave’ she said to both of them, ‘I’ll give
you two minutes to ride out of here’
Von Eisen took a step backwards, looking from
side to side, clearly shocked and uncertain as what he should do next.
‘Proconsul’ he said, rather plaintively,
‘this is not how I intended this conversation to proceed. My advisor speaks too
plainly’
Balliwick had not waited for his leader. He
was already on his horse and riding back to the gates. He was rubbing his face
but still seemed amused.
‘I suggest that your advisor might turn out
to be a serious liability’ said Marthian, ‘and also that you should go quickly
or we will capture you; parley be
damned’
Von Eisen walked stiffly back to his horse,
and rode off back through the gates with as much dignity as he could manage
The
doors shut and Marthian and Aurelian stood in their little frozen patch, which
was rapidly thawing into a pool of misery.
‘I think I preferred the Tlaxacans’ murmured
Marthian
‘What a poisonous man’ said Aurelian, equally
quietly.
Marthian frowned and shook herself.
‘He casts an evil spell’ she said, ‘it’s
quite clear that he knew that we wouldn’t yield and wanted to disquiet us as
much as possible’
‘Who is he?’ asked Aurelian
‘Some minor Ethian aristocrat with ideas
above his station – ignore him!’
Both of them would have liked the comfort of
an embrace, but they had not forgotten their row about Gaius and there were
several hundred other elves in the square.
‘What now, ma’am?’
‘We hold on as long as we can and hope that
they get fed up and move on’
Aurelian looked sceptical.
‘We can’t resist an army even a third of
their size’ he said
‘True’
said Marthian, nodding, ‘but you could see von Eisen – he’s not at all keen on
conflict with us – and we’re not their target at all – we’re just in the way’
‘Can you ask John for help?’
Marthian shook her head.
‘No, this isn’t the Hybitor’s fight and we
would put him in an impossible position – who knows what tangled politics sit
behind this… Anyway, how would we explain an intervention from the Hybitor to
the Emperor? Whitecloak was different – the threat was obvious and entirely
external, and it affected everyone. This is too complex to be so easily
unravelled’
‘So, what do we do?’ asked Aurelian, stony
faced.
‘Hold on, and fight back as hard as we can –
what else can we do?’
‘So - you want us hold on until the Emperor
arrives and dismisses us?’
‘We can’t deny his will’ said Marthian, ‘it
is the law’
Aurelian looked up at the white battlements,
still, in places, covered in scaffolding.
‘The emperors have abandoned us’ he
whispered, ‘you know that. And maybe the Emperor approves of this barbarian
army? Maybe he won’t put anything down on paper, but you heard what that Ethian
lord said’
‘I told you to ignore him; he’s just sowing
dissension. What have we got if we haven’t got the Emperor?’
Aurelian turned away from her, his face lined
and grey. He began to walk back towards the barracks.
‘Well, what do we have, ma’am?’ he muttered, as
made to leave, ‘Just a half-broken city and a glimpse of the end?’
Marthian shook her head sadly, put her hand
on his shoulder and turned him round. She kissed him gently on the cheek. A
murmur, half-laughter, half-cheer, went through the crowd.
‘We have each other’ she said, turning as she
spoke to address the whole crowd, ‘and we have weathered worse storms than
this. Anyway, the Emperor isn’t here, and until he formally dismisses me I am
the Proconsul of Ortia. These are uninvited invaders, and we will fight them to
the last elf’
The audience cheered and clapped, this time
without any irony. Marthian turned back to Aurelian.
‘And general,’ she said ‘While I’m in charge,
no-one is permitted to despair’
No comments:
Post a Comment