Aurelian
hurried through to the Proconsul’s office. He had a busy day ahead and could do
without a lengthy professional discussion about architects and the newly
redesigned sewage system. He had new, ridiculously young, officers to train.
‘Take a look at this’ said Marthian the
moment that he entered the room.
For a moment he had no idea what he was meant
to look at. The proconsul was standing in the middle of the room glaring at a
human whom he didn’t recognise. The human was being guarded by two guards with
grim faces.
‘Who is he?’
Marthian shook her head vigorously, to
indicate that that fact was low in any hierarchy of importance, and lifted up a
letter. It seemed to have been crushed and then re-flattened. Aurelian felt the tension within him tighten
up a notch. That had to be a bad sign.
‘Should I read it?’ he said, uncertainly.
‘Of course you should read it, general! Why
else would I call you here?’
Aurelian swallowed his instinctive,
irritated, rebuke. It would be easier just to read the letter.
Marthian took a step forward and pushed the
crumpled sheet into his face. He had no choice but to take it.
‘That’s
ridiculous’ he said, after reading the note through three times.
‘And badly written’ said Marthian, ‘the
grammar’s all over the place’
‘Had you heard about this before?’ asked
Aurelian
‘Of course I hadn’t. This group of knights
went extinct long ago, counting human-calendar; I had no idea that they were
suddenly going to pop up again. They pre-date the establishment of the Eth
Federation, I think’
Aurelian looked down at the letter again.
‘And this Baron von Eisen?’
Marthian shrugged.
‘I’ve never heard of him’
‘Have you heard anything from the Praefectus
recently, proconsul?’
‘Yes, of course, but nothing about this’
‘So, how was the letter sent?’
‘Here is our messenger’
Marthian gestured over to the human, who was
as white as a sheet and sweating profusely.
‘This is Mr Lucian Petroff. Apparently he is
a fish merchant from Amansk. It seems that he makes very occasional deliveries
of kippers to the gastronomically discerning here in the city’
‘Really? Isn’t that a big risk for some kip….umm’
Aurelian hesitated, ‘… actually, what is a kipper?’
‘It’s a type of smoked fish, I believe. I
think it’s very much a luxury item… but… that is totally off the point, General.
Please try to focus…’
Aurelian was happy to turn from Marthian to
address the fish merchant. He felt momentarily sorry for the poor man, who
clearly had no idea what he’d let himself in for.
‘Who
gave you this letter to deliver, Mr Petroff?’
Marthian gave him a look which clearly
suggested that she thought he was being too soft. He ignored it.
‘Baron von Eisen’ he stammered, ‘I’m just
doing what he told me to do’
‘For a considerable pay off, I imagine’ said Marthian
‘I’m
just a businessman’ whimpered Lucian, ‘that’s all’
‘Where did you pick up this letter, Mr
Petroff?’ continued Aurelian, wishing that Marthian would shut up for a second.
She seemed to have let her anger get the better of her. He was half-convinced that
this was just a prank or perhaps an attempt to extort money.
‘At Castle Uberwald, in Formor’
‘That’s the address on the bottom of the
letter’ pointed out Marthian
‘Where’s that?’ asked Aurelian to the world
in general. All the elves in the room looked blank.
Lucian forgot his fear for longer enough to
look astonished.
‘How can you not know where that is?’ he
spluttered, ‘it’s the most famous castle in the world’
The blank looks intensified and were
augmented with shaking heads.
‘It’s in the Formorian Mountains. It has
withstood numerous Ethian sieges over the last six hundred years’
Marthian sighed and then smiled grimly.
‘And that’s why we’ve never heard of it. Nine
hundred years of human history has rather passed us by, I’m afraid’
Lucian looked confused and then the penny
dropped.
‘Oh, I see’ he said, allowing himself a faint
smile.
Everyone in the room relaxed a little.
Marthian tried to gather up all her annoyance again to throw back at the
merchant, but her heart wasn’t in it. He was just the messenger.
Marthian indicated that the guards should
stand down. Lucian looked extremely relieved.
‘My apologies, Mr Petroff’ she said, now
quite calm, ‘we have just had bad news and you were unfortunate enough to be
the bearer of it. I hope we did not worry you excessively. Please feel free to
stay in the city as long as you need to’
Lucian looked up at the proconsul and was
relieved to see that their conversation was at an end. He hurried out followed,
at a discreet distance, by the two guards. The last guard to leave pulled the
door shut.
Aurelian
sat down. He waited for Marthian to speak. She stared at the door until she was
sure that they were totally alone and then she leant over and kissed him, very
tenderly. He kissed her back for a few seconds and then broke away abruptly.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, and then she saw
that he was staring at the letter on the table again.
‘You’re preoccupied with military matters…
completely understandable’
‘I’m sorry, Marth – it’s very concerning’
She suppressed a sigh, stood up straight, and
then walked to the door and opened it once more. They had both been so busy
recently.
‘Campanula’ she shouted, ‘could you step in
here for a minute?’
Campanula came rushing in. She knew already
that it was best not to keep the proconsul waiting.
Marthian closed the door yet again and then
gave her the letter. Campanula read it rapidly but Marthian was asking her
questions long before she’d reached the end.
‘Have you any intelligence concerning this?’
‘Not really ma’am’ replied Campanula, ‘but my
contacts are concerned’
Marthian knew that ‘contacts’ in this case
meant a very few Amanskian merchants, but at least she was trying.
‘Why?’
‘Because Amansk is under serious threat’
‘So, they think this is a credible threat?’
asked Aurelian
Campanula shrugged.
‘They tell me that Formor is always restless;
apparently they fight wars against Eth at the drop of a hat’
‘Do you think that the knights could have any
legal connection with the Emperor?’ asked Marthian
Campanula shrugged.
‘I really don’t know…’
Marthian knew that she was asking the wrong
person. She would have to write to John as soon as was possible.
‘They want to use us as a base for their
attack on Monurbis’ said Aurelian, ‘we can’t permit a group of humans we know
nothing about to do that!’
‘No, we can’t’ agreed Marthian, ‘but we can’t
afford to provoke a war, either. Well, not against any reasonable sized army’
She turned to Campanula again.
‘How big do you think their army is likely to
be?’
‘I’m sorry, ma’am, I have no idea’
Marthian looked disapprovingly at her
intelligence officer. She thanked Campanula and then dismissed her, giving her
clear instructions to try and find out more, but not extra tools to allow her
to do it.
‘Well,
we better find out about that army’ continued Marthian after Campanula had
gone.
‘How, though?’ asked Aurelian, ‘we have no
way of seeing what’s going on in some castle in the middle of the Transbarbaria
mountains’
‘We’ll send someone’ replied Marthian
Aurelian looked sceptical.
‘Who, though?’ he said, ‘we have hardly
anyone left who speaks Ethian to a good enough standard for such a task’
‘I know’ said Marthian, pondering the
problem, ‘I need multiple Violas…’
A worrying thought struck Aurelian. He could
hardly bear to mention it.
‘There is someone’ he said, quietly
‘Who?’ asked Marthian
‘Gaius’
Why had he said that? He couldn’t do without
his right hand man. Who would sort out his diary?
‘Of course! Yes, he would be perfect’ said
Marthian.
Aurelian shook his head, his fingers drumming
on the table.
‘No – I shouldn’t have said anything’ he
said, ‘I can’t afford to lose him…’
Marthian scowled at him.
‘Oh really…’ she said
‘Operational reasons ’
‘What operational reasons? He’s your aide-de-camp. It’s not an operational role’
‘Of course it is. Anyway, what do you know
about military matters, Marth?’
Marthian brushed away the question with a
wave of her hand. She changed tack.
‘So, it’s fine for me to sacrifice Viola, but
you have to keep Gaius’
‘No, it’s not the same at all. Viola was more
like, your… secretary’
‘Was she? Is that what you thought of her?’
‘No, of course not – she is an amazingly
brave and resourceful elf…’
‘And so is Gaius. And he’s your secretary
just as much as Viola was mine’
Aurelian’s face was red and his voice was
hoarse. Marthian was much better at these sorts of arguments, and he knew it.
‘Do you want to break the news to him,
general, or shall I?’ she asked
‘I’m sorry – I can’t allow it’ he replied
‘What?’
‘I’m commander in chief’
‘That may be so, but you have no veto on
political decisions’
Aurelian glared. Marthian glared back, but
was determined to have her way. He knew that it was too late; Gaius would have
to go.
Marthian got up and opened her office door.
‘Campanula’ shouted Marthian, snapping into
action again, ‘will you find Lieutenant Gaius for me, please’
Campanula was nowhere to be seen. She had sneaked
out of the building several moments before, as she could hear them arguing very
clearly, even where she was, out in the corridor. It was worth risking a reprimand to avoid
those two in full flow.
Marthian’s mood grew even sourer. She almost
barked at Aurelian.
‘General – please find him and tell him what
is required, and then both of you report back to me’
Aurelian got up wearily. He bowed stiffly and
walked towards the door.
Marthian got up to hug him before he left.
They often argued but she never liked to see him leave too angry. He permitted
her to embrace him briefly and then he gave her one small, oddly formal, peck
on the lips.
‘Make the most of that kiss’ he growled, as
he opened the door, ‘Until Gaius is back here safely – it’s the last one you’ll
be getting ’
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