Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  Chapter XLIX

  Astrid

  15th November

  Gradually, the Palace is filling up with guests, some even trying to make themselves known to the Princesses, or the Empress in waiting, and Ardlark itself is on taking a festive air. I will make sure that this wedding is unlike anything that Darkreach has ever seen in living memory.

  To the horror of the staider of Hrothnog’s descendants, I have more say in the way it is set up than they do. Even with the staff, my ideas on how a wedding feast should run cause consternation. To them, it is bad enough that a Tribune of the Antikataskopeía is in the kitchen giving them instructions on particular dishes, but to be told that the wedding dancers will include a Princess of the Empire and that the bride will not have a father present, but instead will have another woman standing in his stead is almost too much.

  The Khitan and Verily have to get new dancing clothes and sabres as they insisted on doing what, for their village, is a normal practice in front of the Court. I wonder how they will feel doing this once they actually meet the groom.

  At least Fãtima seems pleased with what I am doing, even if she is tied up in her duties already. She has even met her husband to be, and while awed and more than a little timid about the magnitude of what she had agreed to, she seems to concur with my assessment of her future mate.

  Just as importantly, I was present for the whole meeting and think that Hrothnog similarly approves of his new wife. With only me and a servant present he went out of his way to, somewhat awkwardly, charm her. I had to try hard to suppress my thoughts about how quaint it was and I ended up thinking a lot about fishing for whales in the northern seas.

  Christopher

  21st November

  I have a map of Ardlark and its environs from this Panterius of Basil’s, and now even have my own staff from his office, as well as a pair of priests to teach. Each afternoon, after I leave the University, I work out where I will go the next day, and when I arrive there on a saddle with Basil to direct me, my detail will be there with an area for me to use that was set aside away from prying eyes.

  It could be in a church, a mosque, even taverns, and once I am sure it was a brothel. They must all be doing a lot of riding. Apart from the local priests, all of them, whatever race they are, even the two who are Insak-div, have the same sort of look that Basil does when he is working.

  My officer in charge tells me that he has often used mages before, but he hadn’t realised the value of using a priest until we had indicated to his men a few people, ones that they had just noticed while they were walking around, who gave off an aura of evil. Every single one turns out to be wanted for one crime or another. It seems that the priests in Darkreach stay confined only to the religious duties unless they are asked.

  It is only two days until the wedding. There was only one other area to check, and we get success with the search, at last. We are in a fishing hamlet to the north of Ardlark, close to the city, but so small that it only has a visiting priest some of the time. I know which house it is straight away.

  “I have found one. We shall take a casual stroll, and you can all try to look less like my guard when we do it, please. You realise that I talk to the people in the villages each time. This time I will make sure that I go past the place and show you which it is.”

  As with the place found in Nameless Keep, this house would now have a constant watch placed on it, and anyone associated with it would be followed and everything about them found out. Some might later find themselves in a cell with a mage, and a keen and urgent desire to be somewhere else. The last settlement that they checked, to the south of Ardlark, but otherwise similar to the previous one, had nothing of importance to be seen or found.

  Astrid

  23rd November

  Hrothnog used the wedding to announce His Treaty with the independent village of Mousehole, and to inform His subjects of the status of His wife as an Ambassador. Her necklace is of diamonds. At least we brought one in case of need. I hope that I have done the right thing by arranging it, but Fãtima seems happy.

  Even the groom seems less rigid. I hesitate to use the word happy in connection to him. I am sick of trying to find things to think about and totally give up trying to hide my thoughts from the Emperor. It doesn’t seem to have any effect anyway apart from provoking small smiles in my direction when I am particularly indelicate on any subject.

  Carausius and his wife are sitting alone in a corner, ignored by the nobles, they need a chat.

  Astrid was soon headed for the Princesses, dragging the trader’s poor wife behind her. Now to stop her bowing herself to death. I need to keep her upright. “Theodora…I want you to meet Theodora.” The Princess, so addressed, looked puzzled. At least this Theodora has stopped trying to bow.

  “One of the reasons that Carausius was so affected on seeing you was that you and his wife share a name. It turns out that her great whatever grandmother was born on the same day as you and was given the same name out of respect, and the senior women of each generation of her family since have all been named after you. He didn’t think to mention this.” At least the Princess looks astonished.

  “There is even a daughter of near my age around, who I am going to call the Little Theodora…which the Father tells me is said as Theodora Lígo, and I want you to make Carausius promise that he will bring her with him on his next trip to us. They have no sons and she is the oldest daughter, so she will inherit the business and our trade, and so she should learn to deal with you rather than have someone do the trade for her and possibly cheat her.”

  After obtaining this promise, Astrid took the trader and his wife to meet Basil’s family, who were just as glad as the trader to meet someone who would talk to them.

  If I thought that the servants were shocked at some of the things I insisted on, I did not have the imagination to encompass the reaction to us from the nobility of Darkreach once they saw the Mice in action at the wedding.

  The whole party from Mousehole, and our guests, went through the assemblage like a gale of wind through a dense fog. From our dress to our behaviour, everything we do always seems to be a shock to someone. The fact that we all go armed in the Palace, even Fear, and even at the wedding is a sensation.

  Apart from some guards, and some attending officers, we are the only people at the wedding who are armed. My spear, even though it is left leaning against a light stand for most of the night, causes continual shock.

  The clothes that I had made for myself and Basil’s female relations are entirely new in design. The men insisted on uniform, even if they are the lowest ranked persons present, but for the women, loose silk trousers, gathered into boots and a short tight silk bodice show off our figures and jewellery very well.

  The Khitan dance, from which I copied the dancer’s tops, is at least well received, although I heard a few shocked comments that included the word ‘Presbytera’ and Theodora’s name is mentioned in shocked tones many times. That the guests should have their own wedding dance, and one of them a Princess, is almost the last word.

  Valeria has many of the men, even men with golden eyes seeking the exotic, chasing her but, while she is happy to dance with them and drink with them, she also seems to be firm with insisting on anyone who wants more to come to the valley. Ayesha is the only one of the Mice who will be going to bed fully sober and even she seemed to enjoy herself. At least she has danced some dances, even if the bride herself had to join the musicians to help play tunes that the Mice all know, but which are unfamiliar here.

  Astrid looked around her when Fatima took the stage. This may be the last straw for some of them. I just wish that I could capture the array of emotions displayed on the faces of the attending nobles. The musicians look like they will die. Given how much Fãtima loves music—they had better get used to her joining them. At least every time I check the groom he looks, and I really do have
to use the word now…almost happy.

  That is odd. There is a little group over there in the corner around one of the musicians that seems happy to do those Freehold dances. I wonder who they are. Now what does Basil want from me?

  Olympias

  It was a fun night until a dance brought me face to face with the Drungarius of my flotilla, Zampea. It turns out that she is only here as an official partner to our Strategos, and she does not know how to react at seeing her junior officer dressed in such a fashion and at the Imperial wedding.

  I had to catch my brother and introduce him before my explanation was accepted. The fact that my brother outranks the Drungarius, and is in the Antikataskopeía, made quite an impression. So did Astrid, when she came over to see what we were doing and was then introduced.

  Basil is at least familiar. Astrid is not, in any way. She offered, if Zampea wanted more confirmation on my, her sister’s, right to be there, to introduce Zampea to the Princesses or to take her to see Hrothnog or his bride but Zampea grew discomfited and declined in a flustered way.

  It is not helped by the fact that Astrid totally refuses to call the Emperor by any of his titles. He isn’t her ruler after all. “Stuffy fool,” Astrid muttered as the woman fled. I am left trying to smother a smile, I hope with some success.

  Astrid

  By the end of the night, Astrid thought she realised what Hrothnog was doing. Darkreach is, despite its apparent vitality, almost completely rigid in the way people act and think. People are so set in their traditions, and their certain ways of doing things, that Hrothnog is using we Mice to be…what did Father Christopher call it? That is right…iconoclasts who might stir the Empire out of its complacency, and wake up some of its inhabitants from the sleep of centuries.

  Olympias’ officer is a good example. She is dead from the neck up. They may be outwardly calm and orderly and safe, but it is at a cost. Lack of change means that they, well, they don’t know how to change. From what I have heard and seen, although life is far better for most of the people who live here, Darkreach is just as closed off to change in any important way as Haven is.

  Chapter L

  Astrid

  24th November

  It is early morning, but the bride and groom are here to see us off in a family farewell. Fãtima thanked Astrid very much. Her face is flushed and, she moves a little tenderly, but she is very happy, happier than I have seen her. I note that Hrothnog even seems a touch younger looking and more alive, if that is even the right word.

  When they left together with hugs, tears and kisses, only Astrid had been game enough to hug and kiss the groom, and even he looked surprised at that. The servants look like they will die of shock, as does Basil. You were not reading me at the time. Now, listen to this. ‘I know one reason that you have done all of this’. She then outlined her idea in her head. She received an inclination of the head in return, which she grinned at and then returned.

  “Puss, that was the Emperor, of whom over half of the world is in terror, that you just grabbed and kissed in public,” Basil said when they had left.

  “He didn’t object to it,” and that honest answer has left my husband open-mouthed and completely speechless.

  That night, when they were alone, she told him about her conclusions that, it seems, were otherwise only known to the Emperor. They both agreed that this was something that, if the Emperor wanted known more widely, he could let it be known himself. They decided that they wouldn’t tell anyone—even the Princesses.

  Basil

  26th November

  Once again, I leave Darkreach with my wife showing her gift for the comic tale by acting out the Imperial wedding, especially the reaction of various nobles and Strategoi that they possibly knew of, in the inns.

  Twice, I have had to stop her from being arrested. I am sure that the officers who had been about to perform the arrests were glad of my intervention, from the expressions on their faces, when she got to the part about her kissing the Emperor.

  This time, Theodora has made no attempt to disguise her features or to hide who she is, and, between the two women, we are managing to cause quite a disturbance as we leave.

  Chapter LI

  Astrid

  27th November

  Although we enjoyed the visit, I am sure that we will all be glad to return home to Mousehole, even if we do have to fly these last legs while feeling our way through the bleakness of a blizzard. Although the magical cloaks keep us all warm as we fly, we are still getting soaked with melted snow. It is not even clean dry snow. These southern mountains have snow that is all damp and clinging.

  Despite that, I want home. I do not want to stay longer at Mouthguard, even though it was fun describing the wedding to Mellitus and watching his reaction, particularly when I told of kissing Hrothnog. It was nearly matched by his face when I went to Theodora and got hold of the Treaty to show it to him. “No duties on goods, mind you, and free passage. We will see you the next time we come through to visit.”

  Rani

  It seems that Thord prefers our food at Mousehole to that at Dwarvenholme. He is here to spend the winter with us. “T’reconstruction, it continues,” he said, “but Dwarvenholme is very cold in winter, ’n’ ’ll stay t’at way until t’ere are many more people t’ere ’n’ t’ey ha’much more of t’city repaired. T’ere is just so much t’at t’ey ha’to make or repair ’n’ it is so hard to keep it all warm.”

  “Every day people find t’ings t’at’re rusted ’n’ not workin’ ’n’ water leaks everywhere. T’Mayor asked where t’water came from for t’city ’n’ everyone just looked at each other. I went to find out to give Hillstrider a run. It turns out t’at t’ere is a dam hidden in t’mountains above Dwarvenholme, with its own abandoned village, ’n’ a whole series of tunnels ’n’ aqueducts that lead back to the city. Dwarves from village used to care for it all once. T’entrance to t’repair tunnels was a hidden in a landfall. T’ere’re so many breaks, cracks ’n’ holes t’at it is a wonder any water at all a gets into t’city. Most of t’repairs to t’at’ll have to wait’til summer. Half of it is under snow ’n’ t’rest you just cannot get to.”

  We need to give him a copy of the Treaty with Darkreach to take back to Dwarvenholme when he returns. “We will need to work out a proper agreement with the Dwarves. You are the Ambassador. Use this to negotiate with and see what you can arrange. Unless it is pretty much the same as this you should check with us before signing anything.”

  “You want me to run up ’n’ down?” asked Thord.

  “When we have dealt with the dragon, we can probably send a messenger up weekly on a saddle…” she smiled, “and even bring some supplies up to you. People will enjoy going up for a ride and it will let us keep an eye on the area as well.”

  Why we had come back without Fãtima is taking some explaining to the rest of the Mice. I admit that it sounds unbelievable, and my wife has brought out our copy of the Treaty and is working everyone through it to convince them.

  I was there, and I still find it hard to believe that one of our own, a former slave, is now an Empress and, not only that, but an Empress to an Emperor that most of us grew up to fear. I am still not sure what Astrid did or why.

  Rani

  Now that we are back to our winter routine, my wife and I can settle down to working out how to defeat a dragon with only nine mages, seven of them very weak, and around twenty useful troops, when the dragon can easily destroy a whole army, and has probably done so more than once before and has most likely eaten whole towns of people.

  Thankfully, like all of its kind, it spends most of its life asleep, usually waking only every year or two to gorge itself on large and easy to catch animals, possibly even from the giant beasts of the Swamp. It will normally eat until it can barely fly and then return to its lair to sleep on its golden bed. Few know much about dragons. No
-one even knows why they seem to like to collect gold and gems as they just seem to sleep on them.

  We have the advantage of knowing that it is coming and, being a dragon and lazy, it will probably come straight to us, but only when it is warm enough. According to legend, which is all we have, the gigantic red dragons do not like cold weather. It makes them sluggish. So, again according to legend, that is why they prefer to show themselves only in the warmth of summer. Those few scraps are all we have to work out a way to deal with the beast.

  Chapter LII

  Rani

  27th November

  Harald has been hard at work while we were away. We now have, deep in the mine, a storage room to put magic items in while they are being worked on. We can put them there while we wait to add to the enchantments.

  This way, with care, no spells will be cast too near the incomplete items being made, and they are unlikely to pick up any influences that are not meant to be in them. It means that our trainee mages can safely go back to work in the village itself, practicing as they need to. Their spells should not have the strength to reach that far and through rock.

  Now that I have the time to complete the tests on Maria, it seems that she has the potential to be a strong mage. I can add her to the apprentice roster. She will have to work hard to try and catch up with the others. At least she is like Naeve in that respect. She comes from a long line of farmers and the chance to be something else is exciting to her.