“Led by Julian, of the Aureliani, or Rurik, Tenth Consul of Larial VII?” said Ortog.
“Perhaps not,” said Otto. “Perhaps by another.”
“Oh?” said Ortog.
“It is a long time since I have laughed with steel,” said Otto.
“Sometimes,” said Ortog, “a thousand can fail, where one or two men, or even a slave, can succeed.”
“It is true,” said Otto.
“To a hall there is always more than one trail,” said Ortog.
“I have heard so,” said Otto.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Greetings,” said Julian, of the Aureliani.
“Greetings,” said Rurik, Tenth Consul of Larial VII.
“Greetings,” said Tuvo Ausonius, former finance officer of Miton.
“Your majesty,” said Iaachus, politely.
“Friends,” said Otto, “please be seated.”
The five men sat about a small conference table in a carpeted anteroom, by means of which the throne room might be reached.
“I have an item of which I would that you were apprised,” said Otto. “It deals with Abrogastes.”
“How goes the search?” said Iaachus.
“Poorly,” said Otto.
“I am sorry to hear that,” said Iaachus.
“The location of Abrogastes remains unclear,” said Otto. “As you know, we suppose him to be a captive of Sidonicus, whose plans of universal conversion and ecclesiastical despotism he would oppose, and perhaps of Ingeld, a treasonous son who covets the high seat of the Drisriaks, hegemonic tribe of the Alemanni, or, as you, my friends, might have it, of the Aatii.”
“Yes?” said Julian.
“Abrogastes, we further suppose,” said Otto, “is likely to be in Telnar, or nearby, that in order to have his person conveniently at hand, should it be needed for political purposes.”
“A valuable prisoner,” said Rurik, “but one it might be dangerous to hold.”
“He would be dangerous to hold,” said Otto. “He has the strength of an arn bear and the cunning of a vi-cat. And it would be a rare Drisriak ax which would not be willing to be reddened in his rescue.”
“Is there no clue as to his whereabouts?” asked Iaachus.
“Our spies have been unsuccessful,” said Otto. “Our surveillance of possible informants has yielded nothing.”
“I see one hope remaining,” said Iaachus. “Recall the two prisoners, Corelius and Lysis, former cohorts of the slain traitor, Phidias, cohorts we released from prison. One, Corelius, in prison, fearing torture, betrayed the hiding place of the prisoner, Abrogastes, which hiding place, unfortunately, was abandoned before we could reach it. Our enemies then know that at least one of the prisoners betrayed that secret, but they will not know whether it was one or both, and, if one, which one. We released both, assuming that an attempt on their lives would be made and we might then, if not foiling that attempt, manage to capture or follow one or more of the assailants, by means of which we might be led to Abrogastes, or to others, who might know of his whereabouts.”
“This is the matter of which I wished to speak,” said Otto.
“I gather, as of yet,” said Iaachus, “that no attempt has been made on their lives.”
“We do not know,” said Otto.
“How is that?” asked Iaachus.
“They have disappeared,” said Otto.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“The throne is secure,” said Iaachus.
“A throne,” said Otto, “is never secure.”
This meeting took place in the private quarters of the emperor. Otto wore a lounging robe, and sat at a table. He indicated that the Arbiter of Protocol might sit across from him, which place the Arbiter assumed.
“Would you care for some bror?” asked Otto. He indicated a metal vessel dangling over a small fire, in a hearth to the side. “It is spiced, and honeyed.”
“No,” said Iaachus, “I value my throat and mouth.”
“Kana, then?” inquired Otto.
“That would be welcome,” said the Arbiter.
Otto rose to his feet, brought a decanter forward, removed, with a glass, from a cabinet, and served the Arbiter. He then took a metal goblet to the metal vessel over the fire and, tipping the vessel by means of a tool, inserted at the bottom of the vessel, filled the goblet, put aside the tool, and joined the Arbiter at the table. “Bror need not be drunk hot,” he said. “Commonly, in the halls, the drinking horns are filled with bror at the ambient temperature.”
“I was not referring to the temperature,” said Iaachus.
“I see,” said Otto.
“Where are your slaves?” asked Iaachus.
“I put them in their cages, naked,” said Otto.
“Such things help them keep in mind that they are slaves,” said Iaachus.
“I expect so,” said Otto.
“And serving naked,” said Iaachus.
“Clothing is a privilege,” said Otto. “As a slave is an animal, she need not be clothed.”
“Too,” said Iaachus, “it is pleasant to be served by a naked slave.”
“It is commonly done in the halls,” said Otto, “particularly if the slaves are former women of the empire.”
“Of course,” said Iaachus. “The women of the enemy are suitable loot, as are other valuables.”
“I gave them each a blanket,” said Otto.
“You are generous,” said Iaachus. “I suspect, given an earlier audience, granted in the throne room, that the blankets may not have been identical.”
“No,” said Otto. “The blanket of one, the slave, Renata, is ample, soft, and warm. She clutches it about herself gratefully, but is well aware that she is naked within it. The blanket of the other, the slave, Flora, is smaller, thinner, and of loosely woven, coarse cloth, little more than a rag.”
“You treat her as a low slave,” said Iaachus.
“As the lowest, and most worthless of slaves,” said Otto.
“Yet she is lovely, soft, and well-bodied,” said Iaachus. “Indeed, she is exceedingly well-curved.”
“I like them so,” said Otto.
“Surely you recognize that she is of some value,” said Iaachus.
“Bared, she would market well,” said Otto.
“From the recent audience, and the way in which she was used as a portion of the display,” said Iaachus, “I gathered that she may be in some way special to you.”
“Possibly,” said Otto.
“You referred to a court, and an arena, on Terennia,” said Iaachus.
“I may have,” said Otto.
“That suggests a trial,” said Iaachus, “and a sentencing.”
“I deem it does,” said Otto.
“I gather it was there that you first met,” said Iaachus.
“Yes,” said Otto. “She was an officer of the court, beautiful, arrogant, superior, and contemptuous, and I was a simple peasant, ignorant and untutored, recently arrived from the provincial world, Tangara.”
“You were a lowly person, one without station, wealth, or connections, one easily dealt with, one despised, one without recourse, one then routinely prosecuted, summarily found guilty, and remanded to the arena,” said Iaachus.
“Yes,” said Otto.
“That is a form of justice which, unfortunately, is not that rare in the empire,” said Iaachus.
“I fear so,” said Otto.
“And she, this officer of the court, later, I gather,” said Iaachus, “fell into your power.”
“Yes,” said Otto. “On the cruise ship, the Alaria, seized by the secessionist Drisriak, Ortog, son of Abrogastes, the Far-Grasper, and later on, again, on Varna, the world to which the Wolfungs had been banished, the smallest tribe of the Vandalii.”
“I see no
w how she is special to you,” said Iaachus.
“Too, on the Alaria,” said Otto, “she betrayed her word, most treacherously, putting lives at risk.”
“And now she is in your collar,” said Iaachus.
“Yes,” said Otto.
“Splendid,” said Iaachus.
“She was a Same,” said Otto.
“She is no longer a Same,” said Iaachus. “I have seen her eyes, her movements, her body, its pleading readiness. She is now no more than a needful, begging slave.”
“It is pleasant to have a woman so,” said Otto.
“How helpless they are, so reduced,” said Iaachus.
“She responds well,” said Otto. “One can play upon her, as with a musical instrument, it helpless to resist the performer, bringing forth what sounds one wishes, small cries, sobs, moans, gasps, and whimpers, whimpers of pleading, gratitude, disappointment, hope, and such. Even when she is determined to resist, and tries to steel herself against feeling, she is soon, in her collar, overcome, subdued, and defeated, and, unable to help herself, leaps in my arms, unable to resist the ecstasies which I see fit to enforce upon her, if only for my amusement, those of a helpless, ravaged slave, piteously sobbing herself mine, and fearing only that I will too soon thrust her aside.”
“But, too,” said Iaachus, “I gather that you harvest from her at will the tumults of a master’s pleasure.”
“Of course,” said Ott. “She knows she is helpless. She knows I take from her what I want, when I want it.”
“Does she not sometimes, if only in petulance, feign frigidity, pretend to disinterest and inertness?”
“Such theatrics are soon detected,” said Otto. “One touches her, kindling flame. One is patient. Soon she burns; she is then yours, a slave. Her haunches deny her tongue. Her body denies her mouth.”
“A sight of the whip, even in a free woman,” said Iaachus, “encourages receptivity.”
“Women respond well to male domination,” said Otto.
“They long for it,” said Iaachus.
“It seems so,” said Otto.
“The former officer of the court has undergone a considerable change in fortune,” said Iaachus, “from the dignified, plush, rich robes of judicial office to a scanty tunic, if that, and a collar-encircled neck.”
“It is pleasant to have her now as my slave,” said Otto.
“She looks well in her collar,” said Iaachus.
“I think so,” said Otto.
“Women are especially beautiful in collars,” said Iaachus.
“Slave collars,” said Otto.
“Of course,” said Iaachus.
“They are then as they should be,” said Otto.
“Of course,” said Iaachus.
“More kana?” asked Otto.
“Please,” said Iaachus.
The kana was poured.
“It is unusual to be served by an emperor,” said the Arbiter.
“Sometimes it is not wise to speak before slaves,” said Otto.
“Ahh,” said Iaachus. “Now I understand, as well, the lateness of the hour.”
“So,” said Otto, quietly, regarding Iaachus, “you think the throne is secure?”
“Passably so,” said Iaachus. “Certainly more so than before. Sidonicus, the secret foe of an impartial, tolerant, secular empire, unscrupulous in policy, insane with ambition, has been dealt two serious defeats, the failure of the empress mother’s conversion, a failure public, humiliating, and unmistakable, one holding the exarch up to ridicule, and the failure of more than a hundred knives in the senate to remove from the throne a most formidable enemy, an emperor.”
“I am a usurper,” said Otto.
“It was necessary to seize the throne,” said Iaachus. “There was no viable alternative.”
“Yet, still,” said Otto, “I am a usurper.”
“Do not be concerned,” said Iaachus. “You are the emperor, Ottonius, the First. The city has accepted you. The empire is quiet. Even the senate has acclaimed you so. Too, many an emperor in the long history of the empire, and many of its greatest, most honored, and most revered emperors, have won the throne by usurpation. History is seldom polite. It respects success. Possession is paramount. Fact, sustained, confers legitimacy.”
“You see the papers strewn on the table,” said Otto.
“I recognize them,” said Iaachus. “Do you wish them read?”
“Yes,” said Otto, “again.”
“They are unimportant,” said Iaachus. “They are meaningless, and utterly trivial. They are relevant to nothing. I fail to see your interest in them.”
“Please,” said Otto.
“I do not understand,” said Iaachus. “This meeting is late. None know of it. It is secret. It takes place in the emperor’s private quarters. I thought surely matters of state, of delicacy and moment, were afoot. Is some radical policy to be instituted; is a terrible and cleansing raid on the city’s enemies to take place at dawn; is a revolution to be forestalled, a war declared?”
“No,” said Otto.
“Surely you have not invited me here tonight, in secrecy and stealth, to read to you what anyone, even a literate slave, your Renata or Flora, could read to you, at any time, and is, in any event, not worth your attention?”
“You do recognize the papers, do you not?” said Otto.
“Certainly,” said Iaachus. “They are papers consequent to your earlier inquiry, lists of the volumes missing from the palace library.”
“Please,” said Otto. “Read to me, once more, the lists.”
“As you wish,” said Iaachus.
The lists were then read, again, to the emperor.
“An interesting assortment of books, do you not think?” asked Otto.
“In what way?” asked Iaachus.
“With respect to themes and subject,” said Otto.
“Perhaps,” said Iaachus. “There is no accounting for the tastes of thieves.”
“Would it not be an unusual thief, who would prey on such books?” asked Otto.
“Perhaps,” said Iaachus. “I am sure I do not know.”
“It is my understanding,” said Otto, “that the empress mother has continued to receive, at least from time to time, another mysterious custard.”
“Apparently,” said Iaachus. “And it seems that is much to her relief. Apparently she was muchly concerned, and quite apprehensive, that her reproof of the exarch, her declining of the smudging, the business about the koos, and such, might have meant an end to such treats. Now she is sure, given the reappearance of the mysterious custards, which she understands as miraculous, that she is on good terms with the god, Karch, if not the exarch. Indeed, she assumes that this continuance of miracles, as she sees it, demonstrates a disagreement between the god and the exarch, a disagreement which is not in the best interests of the exarch. She even takes this as a proof that smudging has nothing to do with the gods, or, at least, Karch. Indeed, she hazards the eccentric speculation that the nature of a life lived, if anything, might be more important.”
“How do you explain the custards?” asked Otto.
“I do not take them to be miraculous,” said Iaachus.
“How would you explain them?” asked Otto.
“Trickery, bribery, deceit, something like that,” said Iaachus.
“I thought we eliminated such possibilities,” said Otto.
“May I speak frankly?” asked Iaachus.
“Your speech would be worthless to me, were it not frank,” said Otto.
“I think,” said Iaachus, “that you are behind the matter, that you are somehow, for some reason, responsible for the business.”
“But I am not,” said Otto.
“Truly?” asked Iaachus.
“Truly,” said Otto.
�
�Surely you do not think that gods, if they exist, have nothing better to do than deliver free custards to grouchy old women with a taste for sweets,” said Iaachus.
“Without presuming to be informed with respect to the interests and habits of gods,” said Otto, “I would be very much surprised if they would occupy themselves in such a manner.”
“Then you have no idea as to the explanation,” said Iaachus.
“I did not say that,” said Otto.
“Then you have an idea?” said Iaachus.
“Yes,” said Otto.
“You know the explanation?” said Iaachus.
“I think so,” said Otto.
“Does it have something to do with the missing volumes from the library?” asked Iaachus.
“Yes, in a way,” said Otto.
“I trust that my emperor has his wits about him,” said Iaachus.
“He thinks so,” said Otto.
“I am confused and bewildered,” said Iaachus. “I do not understand this meeting at all, and, least of all, can I understand why it has taken place at this hour in the private chambers of the emperor, under seeming conditions of secrecy. One would think that matters of moment, germane to the state of the empire, were involved.”
“Perhaps they are,” said Otto.
“I understand little of this night’s business,” said Iaachus.
“Before you finish your kana,” said Otto, “I would touch on a further matter.”
“Please do so,” said Iaachus.
“I shall proceed,” said Otto.
“I trust that this new matter is less arcane than its predecessors,” said Iaachus.
“I think so,” said Otto.
“I am grateful to hear that,” said Iaachus.
“I am thinking of a new toy for Aesilesius,” said Otto.
“That is it?” asked Iaachus.
“Yes,” said Otto.
“I am sure he will be pleased,” said Iaachus.
Chapter Thirty
“Remove your clothing, completely, Telnarian slut!” snapped dark-haired Huta, once the high priestess of the Timbri, now the slave of Abrogastes, the Far-Grasper, on the Meeting World, Tenguthaxichai.
The Emperor Page 24