S. Turney - Interregnum

“Why the guard, commander? We’ve not done anything you didn’t advise us to do.”

A smile crossed Kiva’s face unbidden. The lad did have a way of coming to the point. No preamble. It possibly took Sabian by as much surprise, given the brief pause before his reply.

“You’ll never make a politician, Darius. No, I’m not here to chastise anyone this time. In fact, I’m about to make things a lot easier for you. In the next few weeks Velutio, along with myself and the army, will be moving out and away from the city, dealing with a number of the other lords. I think you need to carry out the bulk of your evacuation in about three weeks’ time, and be entirely gone within a month. As long as his lordship and I are away east, you’ll only have to deal with the island garrison.”

The commander went silent again and the two eavesdroppers in the next room fretted silently, unable to identify what was going on without enough sound. Finally, there was the clink of crystal on a bronze tray and Sabian spoke again.

“That’s why I brought this guard. I’m taking Cialo and his companies away with me to do battle. Every man I leave here tomorrow, the captain included, is a selfish, treacherous, greedy or hateful bastard, or any combination of these. They were all Crosus’ men through and through and the longer they stay around me the more chance there is of me having an ‘accident’ if you get my drift.”

There was a light chuckle, though Kiva couldn’t identify who had been the source. Certainly the next voice was Darius’.

“So,” the young man asked light-heartedly, “you want us to kill your enemies for you and in return we get freedom and don’t have to kill our mutual friends. That about right?”

Again, Sabian’s voice: “frankly I don’t much care whether they live or die, but it might be in your best interest to keep as many of them alive as possible. You never know what the future holds and as soon as his lordship finds out that they’ve let you escape, their careers are over anyway. And possibly their lives too. You see it’s best for all of us.”

In the next room, Kiva couldn’t help but nod. And now he had a considerably shorter timescale for getting well, he’d best make more of an effort.

“Commander,” Darius commented, “what do you intend to do once we’re gone? I mean, there’s no way Velutio’s going to let us go without a fight.”

Kiva could almost sense the commander shaking his head. “I’ve set the ball rolling. There’s momentum now and if my lord wants to sit on the Raven Throne, he can’t take his eyes off the goal or change his plan. This is the only way it can be done. But one day, when he’s ruling the land, I’ll come for you and you alone, Darius. Whether it means death or glory for you, you’ll not be able to hide from him, but by going to him you might be able to make him relent about the others.”

There was the scraping of a wooden chair being pushed back and Sabian spoke again. “Anyway, this is not a pleasant conversation and there’s much to do. I’d best go and find Sarios. I need to speak to him, but you might want to go and find Cialo. He’ll probably be in the barrack rooms in the Peacock Palace, but he’ll want to say goodbye, I’ve no doubt.”

There was the sound of footsteps leaving the room and as they echoed in the stairwell, Athas let out a sigh of relief and Kiva sagged in the chair.

“Busy little conspirator, isn’t he?” remarked Athas.

Chapter XXI.

Sabian found minister Sarios in the Ibis Courtyard as he left the Palace. The elderly man was looking sprightlier than he’d expected and greeted him with a warm smile. “Commander, it’s good to see you. Shall we adjourn to the dining hall and talk?”

Sabian shrugged. “If you’re not tired, I’d prefer to walk; particularly somewhere out of the way.”

The minister nodded and gestured towards the arch. “Let us amble then. I’ll show you what good work your sergeant has done on the baths.” With a smile he strode beside the commander through the arch and out into the Great Courtyard. A troop of twelve guards in black and white marched past with drill-hall precision, turning their heads in unison and saluting the commander. Sabian grudgingly raised his hand and nodded at them.

He waited until they were out of earshot and then grumbled. “They may look good, but they’re just greedy bastards who wouldn’t last five minutes in the field. Crosus didn’t pick proper fighting men for the guard, cos there’s no way they’d have played along with him. Give me ten of my men instead of fifty of them any day.”

Sarios regarded him curiously. “I did mean to ask about the guard, commander. Why they’re here, I mean.”

“Later” replied Sabian. “I’ve spoken at length about it to Darius, but I want to speak to everyone over dinner tonight. Everyone that you trust, that is. Cialo included.”

The minister shrugged. “I can only assume that what you’re doing has our interests at heart commander. You’ve never been anything less than honourable in that respect. Why do you need to speak to me if it’s not about them?”

Sabian glanced over his shoulder to see how far away the guard were, but they’d disappeared through the arch while the two of them were heading toward the doorway that would take them out away from the palaces and into the quieter areas. With another quick scan to make sure they were truly alone, Sabian cleared his throat.

“I don’t want officially to know about him” he said out of the blue. “I don’t want to know why he’s here or what his plans are.”

Sarios raised one eyebrow. There was no point in dissembling, but two could play the mystery game. “I’d be interested to find out how you knew?”

Without taking his eyes off the bright doorway in front that would lead them outside, Sabian shrugged. “Where else would he go? And his rescuers too. They had to be here and frankly, I had a feeling Darius and I were not alone while we talked a few minutes ago in your study. All I can say is: get him off this island as soon as you can. If his presence is discovered and reported, it’ll mean the end of my career and the death of every soul on this island.”

“You won’t take him then?” the minister probed. “I thought you might, good intentions notwithstanding.”

Sabian shook his head. “He’s done nothing wrong so far. He’s not broken any law, not attacked anyone that I deal with. In fact, I can’t see why so much effort has been bent toward him so far. Velutio is frightened of him, though; what he represents and possibly for all his blustering of the man himself. I refused to kill him before now for merely being a reminder of a different time. That’s not his fault. In fact I rather like him, but I can’t help him. I’ll turn a blind eye tonight and I’ll be gone tomorrow, but if any one of these new guard find him and manage to tell anyone, it’ll all be over. So get him off the island.”

Sarios narrowed his eyes. “You’re a strategist, Commander. Is it wise for you to do this? You can’t be sure that some day he won’t appear as your enemy, and you could avoid all that now.”

Sabian laughed. “And you test me? See how far my sense of justice stretches? Well, I won’t execute an innocent man. If he means some time to meet me on a field of battle, then that I’ll do. I might even relish the opportunity to pit my skills against his. He is, after all, one of the great tactical minds of the last few centuries. No” he said finally, “I won’t betray him now, but his very presence puts us all in danger, so deal with it. Velutio will be the next Emperor and I can’t conceive of a way anyone can stop that. I realise that there was some notion of opposition with Quintillian out there, but that’s over and rightly so. It never stood a chance anyway and I’d hate to have had to kill the Wolves. If you’re all sensible, you’ll find somewhere safe and go there. Somewhere like the northern border where Caerdin came from or maybe across the sea in Pelasia. Anywhere that keeps you all well out of Velutio’s reach forever more. He’s going to be too busy dealing with his opposing lords in the next few months to deal with any of you, I’ll see to that.”