The Emperor

by Norman, John;

  “How is that?” asked Iaachus.

  “There is never a lack of those who would strive for kingdoms,” said Otto, “and those who would so strive would not be eager for competition. The lion who wishes to rule is not likely to call his jungle to the attention of a larger, stronger, fiercer lion.”

  Otto then returned his attention to the slave, who seemed small, kneeling on the tiles before the throne.

  “You are pleased that Ingeld lives?” he asked.

  “Deeply, relievedly, profoundly so,” she said.

  “You are grateful that Ingeld did not do away with you, in furtherance of his schemes, despite the diplomatic advisability of doing so?” said Iaachus.

  “Yes, Master,” said Viviana. “Certainly I would know that the child was not mine.”

  “As I understand it,” said Iaachus, “you were administered a drug which impaired your memory, and were sold to slavers.”

  “Yes, Master,” said Viviana.

  “Interesting,” said Julian. “That would have involved great risk for Ingeld. You might have been recognized, you might have recovered your memory.”

  “I fell into the hands of Urta, an Otung, whose scheme to kill Abrogastes, king of the Drisriaks, I had foiled. He recognized me though I did not know myself. To sweeten his vengeance I must realize who I was and what had been done to me. Accordingly, he obtained a drug, an antidote to that which had affected my memory, and, by means of this antidote, my memory was restored.”

  “Why did Ingeld not have you killed?” asked Iaachus.

  “I do not know,” said Viviana.

  “You were espoused to Ingeld,” said Rurik.

  “As was my sister, Alacida, to Hrothgar, following the rites of the exarch of Telnar,” said Viviana.

  “The marriage ceased to exist, instantly, upon your embondment,” said Titus Gelinus.

  “Yes, Master,” said Viviana.

  “In your marriage,” asked Otto, “did Ingeld touch you?”

  “Do not ask such a question!” said Aesilesius.

  “Did he?” asked Otto.

  “Though free I was as a slave in his arms,” said Viviana.

  “No!” said Aesilesius.

  “I did not know what it was to be in the arms of such a man,” said Viviana. “I did not know such sensations could exist. I would have competed with slaves for his love.”

  “Shameful!” cried Aesilesius.

  “At the feet of such a man there is no shame,” said Viviana.

  “You love Ingeld?” asked Otto.

  “Yes, Master,” said Viviana.

  “Impossible!” said Aesilesius.

  “With the deepest and most helpless of all loves,” said Viviana, “the love of a slave for her Master.”

  Aesilesius turned angrily to Otto. “May I withdraw?” he asked.

  “No,” said Otto.

  “Subside,” said Abrogastes.

  “Now,” said Otto, regarding the slave, “what is to be done with you?”

  “It will be done with me as Masters please,” said Viviana. “I am a slave.”

  “Have you a preference,” asked Otto, “a given market, a given world?”

  “No, Master,” said Viviana.

  “In any event,” said Titus Gelinus, “a slave’s preference is unavailing. It is immaterial to her disposition.”

  “You know the sentence passed upon Prince Ingeld,” said Otto.

  “Yes, Master,” said Viviana.

  “Is it not a terrible sentence?” said Otto.

  “Yes, Master,” she said. “It is a fearful thing to contemplate.”

  “Consider the isolation, the distance, the loneliness,” said Otto.

  “Consider the enormity of his crimes,” said Iaachus.

  “The justice of Telnaria and that of the Drisriaks coincide,” said Titus Gelinus.

  “At least he lives,” said Viviana.

  “Perhaps the worst,” said Julian, “is that he is to be alone, that he may not be accompanied by retainers.”

  “And what retainer, in any case, would choose to share such banishment, to endure such exile?” asked Iaachus.

  “Must he be alone, so dreadfully alone?” asked Viviana.

  “Yes,” said Iaachus. “He is to be denied retainers.”

  “Even a slave?” asked Viviana.

  “The sentence said nothing of slaves,” said Titus Gelinus.

  “I beg to be given to him, Masters!” cried Viviana.

  “What you wish makes no difference,” said Iaachus.

  “The will of a slave is immaterial,” said Titus Gelinus.

  “The free will decide what is to be done with slaves,” said Rurik, Tenth Consul of Larial VII, of the Larial Farnichi.

  “I love him!” said Viviana. “I love him!”

  “Do not speak so,” said Aesilesius.

  “I love him without qualification or reservation,” wept Viviana, lifting her chained wrists piteously to the throne. “I love him without measurements and countings, without contracts and negotiations, without stipulations and calculations, without questions and assurances, without documents and bargainings! I love him with the profound and abject love of a slave for her Master!”

  “I did not know such love could exist,” said Aesilesius.

  “Ask Nika,” said Otto.

  “Ingeld has rejected the slave,” said Iaachus. “He refuses to recognize her as she who was once the Princess Viviana, sister of Aesilesius.”

  “Do you think he knows you?” asked Julian of the slave.

  “I am sure of it, Master,” said Viviana.

  “Why then would he not recognize her?” asked Julian of Otto.

  “Perhaps,” said Otto, “that he not jeopardize her, that he not put her in the path of dangers which might attend him, perhaps that she not share his obloquy, and his fate.”

  “Ingeld is proud,” said Abrogastes. “He may fear his feelings, he may fear love.”

  “Who would be so foolish as to love a slave?” said Rurik.

  “I can think of one,” said Otto, “of the Larial Farnichi.”

  Rurik growled in resentment.

  “Am I to understand,” asked Aesilesius of the slave, disbelievingly, “that you wish to not only remain in bondage but to be given as a slave to the cunning and unscrupulous prince of the Drisriaks, a condemned criminal and traitor, and would accompany him in profound and shameful exile?”

  “Yes, Master,” said Viviana. “She who was once your sister has learned herself, found herself, discovered herself, freed herself—in the collar of a slave.”

  “I fear Ingeld would never accept such sacrifice on the part of a slave,” said Ortog. “How could he repay it? He would be furious, and shamed.”

  “He might kill her,” said Julian.

  “No,” said Otto, “but he might, to salve his vanity, treat her, at least for a time, until his love was won, with great contempt and cruelty.”

  “There is an easy remedy for that,” said Viviana. “Let it be understood that I am dismayed and reluctant to share his exile, that I am distraught and disconcerted to do so, but that I have no choice, that I must, that Aesilesius, he who was my brother, has had me banished, as the slave I am, to conceal the shame my bondage has brought on the line of Aesilesius. I would thus be an unwilling victim, a fellow exile.”

  “Ingeld, I fear,” said Iaachus, “would be a hard master.”

  “What woman does not want a firm and uncompromising Master?” asked Viviana. “How could she love one who was not?”

  “The guards who patrol the cells at night,” said Otto, “have reported to me that sometimes Ingeld calls out a name in his sleep.”

  “A woman’s name?” asked Viviana.

  “Yes,” said Otto.

  “The name o
f a slave?” asked Viviana.

  “It seems so,” said Otto.

  “‘Huta’?” asked Viviana, frightened.

  “No,” said Otto, “‘Viviana’.”

  “Ahh,” breathed Viviana.

  “Are such arrangements in accord with your wishes?” asked Aesilesius of the slave.

  “Yes, Master,” said Viviana.

  “I fear you are lost for freedom,” said Aesilesius.

  “Freedom comes in many forms, Master,” said Viviana.

  “Take this slave away,” said Aesilesius.

  “Yes,” said Otto, to the guards, “take the slave away.”

  “Thank you, Masters,” said Viviana.

  When the slave had been led away, Otto descended from the throne. “Aesilesius,” he said, “I would speak to you in the presence of these others, advisors and confidants, friends, and brothers in battle.”

  “The matter is then serious?” inquired Aesilesius.

  “Quite so,” said Otto.

  “I do not place you in peril,” said Aesilesius. “Yet I have often wondered why, in the games of statecraft, you have permitted me to live. Is that lenience now to be revoked?”

  “You have read books,” said Otto. “You must learn to read men.”

  “I do not understand,” said Aesilesius.

  “Those here,” said Otto, “will do all they can to help you. You must listen to them, but you must make your own decisions. A hundred factions lurk and yearn for power. Law without the sword is empty. He who sits upon the throne is alone; he is in a sense banished, though ensconced in a palace; surrounded by thousands, he is yet alone; to occupy the throne is to be in exile.”

  “I do not understand what you are talking about,” said Aesilesius.

  “I have discussed the matter with these and others,” said Otto. “I have even discussed the matter with the empress mother.”

  “What matter?” asked Aesilesius.

  “The future of Telnaria,” said Otto.

  “I do not understand,” said Aesilesius.

  “I am an Otung, a barbarian,” said Otto. “I do not belong on the throne of Telnaria. I seized it in a time of troubles, abetted by barbarian forces, that the empire might be saved.”

  “That is true,” said Iaachus.

  “Shortly,” said Otto, “we will disband and abolish the senate, a nest of conflict and ambition, and then reestablish it, its jurisdiction then clearly subordinate to the throne. One of the first acts of the newly formed senate will be to celebrate the peaceful accession to power of a new emperor.”

  “I?” said Aesilesius.

  “Yes,” said Otto.

  “No!” cried Aesilesius.

  “In your veins,” said Otto, “flows the blood of the line deriving from the first usurper, another Aesilesius. Do not be concerned. It is common for time to legitimize piracy, theft, and crime. You must be true to your blood.”

  “I am afraid to be emperor,” said Aesilesius.

  “Many seek power,” said Otto. “But only a fool does not fear it.”

  “It will make you a better emperor,” said Iaachus.

  “I am not ready to be emperor,” said Aesilesius.

  “By study in the secrecy of your chamber, you prepared yourself for this day,” said Otto.

  “How did you know?” asked Aesilesius.

  “You are not the only one who can prowl about the corridors of a palace,” said Otto. “Too, few retardates are likely to rifle libraries, stealing, hoarding, and hiding books, books which often dealt with things an emperor should know.”

  “You saw through my hoax,” said Aesilesius.

  “Long ago,” said Otto.

  “On a suitable day,” said Iaachus, “Ottonius, the First, in a plenitude of power and custom, of his own free will, unforced and benignly motivated, will publicly and lawfully abdicate. In the same ceremony, Aesilesius, the Sixteenth, will assume the throne.”

  Aesilesius was silent.

  “You will, of course,” said Iaachus, “given the politics of the day, and the security of the line, require an empress.”

  “I do not want an empress,” said Aesilesius.

  “You must have one,” said Iaachus.

  “No,” said Aesilesius. “You do not understand. I love Nika. I am unwilling to replace her. What would become of her?”

  “You can keep a dozen slaves, a hundred slaves, on the side,” said Iaachus.

  “You do not understand,” said Aesilesius. “I love her.”

  “I have spoken to the empress mother of these things,” said Otto, “of the empire, of your restoration, of the need for an empress, and such.”

  “I was told nothing of this,” said Aesilesius.

  “The empress mother loves you,” said Otto. “And she knows of your love for Nika and her love for you. She wants what is best for you, and for the slave, as well. Indeed, she herself cares deeply for Nika, whom she believes saved you, bringing you from mindless futility to health and manhood. She is grateful to Nika, and loves her. Many see the empress mother as a selfish, stubborn, wily hag, which she may be, but she is also a loving mother.”

  “I love her,” said Aesilesius. “I much regret causing her dismay and pain for so many years.”

  “The empress mother and I have conceived a scheme,” said Otto. “With your consent, we will send Nika to the summer world, to a residence near the summer palace, where the royal family occasionally vacationed, where, in a state audience, I first saw you, your sisters, and the empress mother. There, on the summer world, while she is being trained in arts suitable for a possible empress, a new identity will be devised for her, complete with a genealogy. You need then merely encounter her on the summer world, while you are supposedly seeking a brief respite from the burdens of office. Romance and marriage swiftly ensue, and, shortly, you return with your bride to Telnar, and, to the acclaim of a jubilant population, see to her institution as empress.”

  “This will never work,” said Aesilesius.

  “Such things often work,” said Otto. “I have that on the authority of the empress mother. You merely hear of the ones which do not work.”

  “I suppose it depends on who writes the history,” said Aesilesius.

  “Most likely,” said Otto.

  “What if it does not work?” said Aesilesius.

  “Let us hope it does not,” said Otto. “That would be more honest. Who will gainsay an emperor’s choice of spouse?”

  “Any free woman may legally become an empress,” said Titus Gelinus.

  “Even a former slave?” asked Aesilesius.

  “Certainly,” said Titus Gelinus.

  “Free women may not accept her,” said Aesilesius.

  “The greatest fear of all free women,” said Iaachus, “is that they will not be accepted by an empress.”

  “I do not know if Nika wishes to be freed,” said Aesilesius.

  “She has nothing to say about it,” said Titus Gelinus. “She is a slave.”

  “Do not be afraid,” said Otto. “She loves you. She will do anything to please you.”

  “You have discussed this with Nika?” asked Aesilesius.

  “Of course not,” said Otto, “she is a slave.”

  “May I withdraw?” asked Aesilesius.

  “Certainly,” said Otto.

  Aesilesius glanced at the throne, now unoccupied, and then hurried from the chamber.

  “He speeds to Nika,” said Iaachus.

  “I suspect so,” said Otto.

  “Were you not unduly solicitous in the case of Ingeld?” asked Iaachus.

  “He was a worthy foe,” said Otto.

  “Telnaria owes you much,” said Julian, he of the Aureliani.

  “Perhaps we can again, one day, ride together on Vellmer,” said Otto.
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br />   “Had you remained longer on the throne,” said Iaachus, “I might have made a diplomat of you.”

  “What better reason for leaving the throne?” said Otto.

  “You have served Telnaria well,” said Rurik.

  “Long live the Larial Farnichi,” said Otto.

  “You will now let your hair grow, and put aside silken garments,” said Iaachus.

  “Otungs will remain allies,” said Otto. “Bloods will mix, and one day there may be a stronger, finer Telnaria.”

  “I have long thought,” said Julian, “that civilitas and barbaritas have much to learn from one another.”

  “I trust there is good hunting on Varna, and Tangara,” said Rurik, of the Larial Farnichi.

  “One misses the forests, the wind in the trees, the quiet, the moss, the rain,” said Otto.

  “You are welcome on Tenguthaxichai,” said Abrogastes.

  “Yes,” said Ortog.

  “An Otung, amongst Drisriaks?” said Otto.

  “One Otung,” said Ortog.

  “Such an Otung,” said Abrogastes.

  “I am unclear on this,” said Titus Gelinus. “Can one just leave a throne?”

  “I am an Otung,” said Otto. “I do not belong in a palace.”

  “Still,” said Titus Gelinus, “can one just leave a throne?”

  “Yes,” said Otto, “when the throne no longer needs one.”

  “What is before you?” asked Iaachus.

  “The same that is before everyone,” said Otto, “universes.”

  “What will you do, where will you go?” asked Tuvo Ausonius.

  “Away, to be forgotten,” said Otto. “There was once a peasant, who became a chieftain, a king, and an emperor, and was then forgotten, his is a history to be judiciously overlooked, an embarrassment to proper chronicles, one not fit for remembering.”

  “You have put your hand upon an Empire,” said Iaachus. “Your name may be excised from the histories but the grasp and force of that hand has left its mark on worlds.”

  “Serve Aesilesius loyally and well,” said Otto.

  “We will,” said the others.

  “In some days then,” said Otto “farewell.”

  “In some days then,” said the others, “farewell.”