[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
breaching the bought peace in an attempt to undermine a western campaign.
He will have to deal with Leontes and the generals differently, as a
consequence. Not an insurmountable problem, but he'd have preferred the
elegance of things had there been a Bassanid attack already launched,
appearing to force his hand and divert troops before the fleet sailed.
He is, after all, pursuing more than one goal here.
It is, one might say, a character flaw. He always has more than one goal,
entwines so many threads and designs into everything he does.
Even this long-awaited war of reconquest in the west is not a thing that
stands entirely alone.
Aliana would understand, even be amused. But she doesn't want this campaign,
and he has made things easier for both of them-or so he judges-by not
discussing it. He suspects that she is aware of what he is doing. He also
knows her unease, and the sources of it. A regret, for him.
He can say, with uncomplicated truth, that he loves her more than his god and
needs her at least as much.
He pauses a moment at the open door to the tunnel. Sees the torches flicker
ahead of him as the air ripples through. Shirvan has not yet attacked. A pity.
He will have to deal with the soldiers now, at the other end. He knows what he
will say. Leontes's pride as a military man is his greatest asset, and his
core weakness and there is a lesson, the Emperor has judged, that the younger
man must learn before various next steps can properly be taken. A staying of
reckless pride first, and then a moderating of religious zeal.
He has given thought to these matters, as well. Of course he has. He has no
child, and succession is an issue.
He turns briefly, acknowledges the genuflections of his advisers, and then
enters the tunnel alone, as he always does. They are already turning to leave
Page 163
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
as the door closes; he has given them a great deal to do this afternoon before
they reconvene in the kathisma at the end of the racing to tell the Hippodrome
and the world that Sarantium is sailing to Rhodias. He hears the door close
and lock behind him.
He walks over mosaic floor tiles, in the footsteps of Emperors long dead,
communing with them, imagining silent dialogues, luxuriating in that silence,
the achingly rare privacy of this long, winding corridor between palaces and
people. The lighting is steady, the air and ventilation carefully devised. The
solitude is a joy for him. He is the mortal servant and exemplar of Jad, lives
his life in the bright eye of the world, is never alone save here. Even at
night there are guards in his chambers, or women in the rooms of the
Empress when he is there with her. He would linger now in the tunnel, but
there is much to do at the other end as well, and time is running. This is a
day awaited since ... since he came south from
Trakesia at his soldier uncle's command?
An exaggeration, with truth in it.
His pace is brisk, as always. He is some distance down the tunnel, under the
evenly spaced torches set in iron brackets in the stone walls, when he hears,
in that rich silence, the turning of a heavy key behind him and then a door
and then the sound of other footsteps, not hurrying.
And so the world changes.
It changes in every moment, of course, but there are ... degrees of change.
Half a hundred thoughts-or so it feels-run through his mind between one step
and the next. The first thought and the last are of Aliana.
In between these he has already grasped what is happening. Has always been
known-and feared-for this quickness, has taken an unworthy measure of pride in
that, all his life. But subtlety, swiftness, may have just become irrelevant.
He continues walking, only a little faster than before.
The tunnel, twisting slightly in the shape of an S for Saranios-a conceit of
the builders-is far below the gardens and the light.
Meaningless to shout here, and he'll not get close enough to either door to be
heard in the lower corridors of either palace. He has understood there is no
point running, because those behind him are not: which means, of course, that
there is someone ahead of him.
They will have entered before the soldiers meeting him in the other palace
arrived outside the door, will have been waiting underground, perhaps for some
time. Or perhaps ... they might have entered through
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]