Post by Mystik on Jul 16, 2007 8:42:17 GMT -5
Part 1
It was autumn. leaves were falling as I walked across the tiled courtyard. There was an air of desolation. Where was everyone? I was in thought as I paced up and down my hands behind my back. I seemed also to be talking to myself, waving a finger in the air as I made a point.
I was dressed in white robes, laced with a black border of square lines like battlement patterns superimposed one over the other. A dog came to me. I knelt down and ruffled its black fur as I talked to it. The dog had come to me because there were visitors, soldiers with swords drawn. The leader strides into the courtyard first. With his arm he waved, and other soldiers entered the courtyard. They took positions around the sides.
Now an older man stepped into the courtyard. He had silver grey hair but was tall and straight in bearing. He wore a band of some kind of green material around his head. The soldiers seemed poised, ready for action, but the tall man was relaxed, and he calmly waved back the soldiers as he walked to meet me.
"Tirus," he said as he took my arm. "Too long have you been here in the countryside looking after your goats and growing your grapes!
While you have been hiding away here in this rustic place have you not noticed life growing steadily bleaker?
Where are your servants? Many of them have fled I know. Since the garrisons have pulled steadily back and the raids have increased."
"Yes" I said. "But Ponteus, what has brought you from the centre to this lowly farmstead of mine?"
Ponteus smiled in answer, but it was not a joyful smile. He put his hand on my shoulder.
"You must come back with me Tirus and judge the weight of the matter for yourself."
I looked at Ponteus. He seemed serious enough.
"Don't you remember, old friend that I was exiled? On pain of death never to return? Now I know that news travels slow to these isolated parts, but travel it does, and I had not heard of a pardon granted yet."
"And neither you shall dear friend, the old emperor is still in deep hate with you. His old age sours him and he will not admit he was wrong, though the gods know enough have lost their lives to show him.
I eyed the guards. "Well I am not prepared to comment on that. I just live quietly here in my villa. The days are warm and I have all I need here. The affairs of the empire are far from my heart now. I have put them away and embraced my solitude here."
Ponteus noted my reluctance to speak in front of the guards.
"Take no notice of them. They are loyal to me first and foremost. They have sworn their lives to me and no other."
I raised an eyebrow. "Strange happenings indeed. For I have never yet seen a soldier of the empire who has sworn his life and liberty to a mere senator over the emperor himself."
Ponteus suddenly looked tired. "May we sit in private?" he said.
"yes of course, I am forgetting my manners. We are very informal here."
A young woman came gracefully into the room. She wore a short tunic as those who were ordinary folk in these parts did. It was green. Its edges finely embroidered in white and gold in an interlacing pattern of great complexity. Her hair was long and bound simply with a silver circlet. Her eyes intelligent and warm. As usual when she appeared my heart melted. She was twenty years my younger and yet we matched each other so perfectly. With her I needed nothing else and so I was to her. We interlocked like the patterns on her tunic, each so aware of each other that we sometimes shared a common mind. Even at a distance, when we were far apart our minds reached out to each other. She carried a tray with cheese, bread, and our estate's sweet wine. I sensed her mind and knew that she was already aware of what this old friend of mine had come for. She saw into people as though they were clear pools of water. She served Tirus and myself, and departed silently.
I saw Ponteus' eyes appraise her as she walks away.
"She is my wife, Ponteus." I say softly. "You know what happened to my last wife, and my children as well, do you not?"
He nodded. "Aye I heard the news," he said gravely. "Tortured and sent as slaves to the emperor's wife, and she did what she did with them. The story was all over the empire."
"Yes it was." I could not disguise the sharpness in my voice that the memory brought to me.
"And none lifted a finger to help or succour them." I continued.
"Not even you, dear Ponteus."
My mood was souring.
"So tell me old friend, what really brings you here?"
Perhaps I had emphasised the 'old' a little. Ponteus seemed a little unsettled.
He glanced obver his shoulder at the entrance before he replied.
"Believe me. Change is about to come." He leaned forward and almost whispered to me.
"He is dying and only I know it. There are possibilities here, Tirus. You will be not only granted a pardon, you will be elevated to the highest of positions. To stand at my side!"
His eyes gleamed. His was the dream of madmen and fools. Kings though they may become, still madmen and fools were they. And he wanted me to be his second in command, or perhaps just to use me. How could I know?
But one thing became icily clear to me now. Were I to refuse him outright, there would be none to live to tell the tale of his treason.
Instantly Saria was in my mind. "Aye, husband dear. You can see what he intends. I saw his eyes when he looked at me. There was no honour there. I have seen his mind. He means to make you the scapegoat if he fails. He means to have me whether he fails or succeeds. I have seen it husband. He was the instrument of your first wife's death. It is written across his mind."
"Flee Saria. Go now on some insignificant errand and do not return til he has gone." I sent urgently with my mind. I saw her obey and leave with a basket, apparently to go collecting wild fruits from the forest some distant away. I saw the guards watch her retreating figure. They were not suspicious, only lustful.
-end of part one-
It was autumn. leaves were falling as I walked across the tiled courtyard. There was an air of desolation. Where was everyone? I was in thought as I paced up and down my hands behind my back. I seemed also to be talking to myself, waving a finger in the air as I made a point.
I was dressed in white robes, laced with a black border of square lines like battlement patterns superimposed one over the other. A dog came to me. I knelt down and ruffled its black fur as I talked to it. The dog had come to me because there were visitors, soldiers with swords drawn. The leader strides into the courtyard first. With his arm he waved, and other soldiers entered the courtyard. They took positions around the sides.
Now an older man stepped into the courtyard. He had silver grey hair but was tall and straight in bearing. He wore a band of some kind of green material around his head. The soldiers seemed poised, ready for action, but the tall man was relaxed, and he calmly waved back the soldiers as he walked to meet me.
"Tirus," he said as he took my arm. "Too long have you been here in the countryside looking after your goats and growing your grapes!
While you have been hiding away here in this rustic place have you not noticed life growing steadily bleaker?
Where are your servants? Many of them have fled I know. Since the garrisons have pulled steadily back and the raids have increased."
"Yes" I said. "But Ponteus, what has brought you from the centre to this lowly farmstead of mine?"
Ponteus smiled in answer, but it was not a joyful smile. He put his hand on my shoulder.
"You must come back with me Tirus and judge the weight of the matter for yourself."
I looked at Ponteus. He seemed serious enough.
"Don't you remember, old friend that I was exiled? On pain of death never to return? Now I know that news travels slow to these isolated parts, but travel it does, and I had not heard of a pardon granted yet."
"And neither you shall dear friend, the old emperor is still in deep hate with you. His old age sours him and he will not admit he was wrong, though the gods know enough have lost their lives to show him.
I eyed the guards. "Well I am not prepared to comment on that. I just live quietly here in my villa. The days are warm and I have all I need here. The affairs of the empire are far from my heart now. I have put them away and embraced my solitude here."
Ponteus noted my reluctance to speak in front of the guards.
"Take no notice of them. They are loyal to me first and foremost. They have sworn their lives to me and no other."
I raised an eyebrow. "Strange happenings indeed. For I have never yet seen a soldier of the empire who has sworn his life and liberty to a mere senator over the emperor himself."
Ponteus suddenly looked tired. "May we sit in private?" he said.
"yes of course, I am forgetting my manners. We are very informal here."
A young woman came gracefully into the room. She wore a short tunic as those who were ordinary folk in these parts did. It was green. Its edges finely embroidered in white and gold in an interlacing pattern of great complexity. Her hair was long and bound simply with a silver circlet. Her eyes intelligent and warm. As usual when she appeared my heart melted. She was twenty years my younger and yet we matched each other so perfectly. With her I needed nothing else and so I was to her. We interlocked like the patterns on her tunic, each so aware of each other that we sometimes shared a common mind. Even at a distance, when we were far apart our minds reached out to each other. She carried a tray with cheese, bread, and our estate's sweet wine. I sensed her mind and knew that she was already aware of what this old friend of mine had come for. She saw into people as though they were clear pools of water. She served Tirus and myself, and departed silently.
I saw Ponteus' eyes appraise her as she walks away.
"She is my wife, Ponteus." I say softly. "You know what happened to my last wife, and my children as well, do you not?"
He nodded. "Aye I heard the news," he said gravely. "Tortured and sent as slaves to the emperor's wife, and she did what she did with them. The story was all over the empire."
"Yes it was." I could not disguise the sharpness in my voice that the memory brought to me.
"And none lifted a finger to help or succour them." I continued.
"Not even you, dear Ponteus."
My mood was souring.
"So tell me old friend, what really brings you here?"
Perhaps I had emphasised the 'old' a little. Ponteus seemed a little unsettled.
He glanced obver his shoulder at the entrance before he replied.
"Believe me. Change is about to come." He leaned forward and almost whispered to me.
"He is dying and only I know it. There are possibilities here, Tirus. You will be not only granted a pardon, you will be elevated to the highest of positions. To stand at my side!"
His eyes gleamed. His was the dream of madmen and fools. Kings though they may become, still madmen and fools were they. And he wanted me to be his second in command, or perhaps just to use me. How could I know?
But one thing became icily clear to me now. Were I to refuse him outright, there would be none to live to tell the tale of his treason.
Instantly Saria was in my mind. "Aye, husband dear. You can see what he intends. I saw his eyes when he looked at me. There was no honour there. I have seen his mind. He means to make you the scapegoat if he fails. He means to have me whether he fails or succeeds. I have seen it husband. He was the instrument of your first wife's death. It is written across his mind."
"Flee Saria. Go now on some insignificant errand and do not return til he has gone." I sent urgently with my mind. I saw her obey and leave with a basket, apparently to go collecting wild fruits from the forest some distant away. I saw the guards watch her retreating figure. They were not suspicious, only lustful.
-end of part one-