Cheilin Saga ~ 15

 Cheilin Saga ~ 15   Emperor Dan 

By Len Morgan

  “So, at last, you have returned.   I think seven weeks to answer a royal summons is something of a record,” Emperor Daidan III turned to his chief advisor. “eh Hestor?”  

 “You are correct, as always, ‘divine light of the world’.   The last holder of that dubious record was extinguished by your grandfather, Daidan I, two minutes after he presented himself.   He was five weeks three days late and never actually got to explain his incredibly bad manners.”

“It is so reassuring to have a chief advisor with so complete a grasp of all my affairs,” said Daidan III.   “Welcome Aldor.   We both know your journey would take a normal man two weeks at the most, so what say you?” he asked.

“Ah!   I apologise most sincerely, ‘divine light of the world’ but you never said you wanted a ‘normal’ man.   I’ll just step outside and see if I can find you one, but you know, they are sore thin on the ground in the Emerald Palace.”

The emperor laughed, but Hestor obviously disapproved.   He would have preferred the emperor to request the objectionable young man’s head in a basket, and he would be only too pleased to dispose of it. 

“Come here man, what of your journey, such a long dalliance should be worth the telling.”

Aldor shook his head in amusement.  “Alas Dan, there was no special young woman but, I did meet some very interesting people, and most of them will prove to be of use to us in our ‘Grand Design’ but this is not the place to talk,” Dan locked eyes with Hestor, who scampered from the chamber on cue.

“The Dojo,” said Daidan III.  Aldor nodded once, looking critically at the man before him.  Sixty years old and glowing with health.   The silver-haired emperor smiled and sprang to his feet, fixing Aldor with large intelligent brown eyes filled with deep perception and childlike amusement.   He was known as ‘Dan’ to his very close acquaintances, amongst whom Aldor was proud to be counted. 

“Now would be nice,” said Dan with a grin, his zest for life radiating from every pore.  He was six foot, and that was tall for Cheilin men, his appetite for exercise, new things, news, and gossip was close to insatiable.   As he circled Aldor, seeking an opening, he looked to be no more than forty.   His father Daidan II, lived to be a hundred and three, and only lost his taste for life in the final few weeks preceding a peaceful passing in his sleep.   Daidan III was twenty at the time, third in the dynasty but by no means the last, or the least.   Eventually, he would have to name one of his three sons to succeed him as emperor, who he chose would be known as Daidan IV. 

In the lull between bouts of violent activity, Aldor managed to tell the Emperor an abridged version of his trip to the Abbey at Samishaan.  He told of its crusading monks, seeking out wrongdoers and converting them to the ways of Geoffe.   Then he mentioned his meeting with Doreeta and the plot to discredit him in the eyes of the people of the Eternal city.

“Yes I heard about that.  There were three other attacks prior to that, all perpetrated by a man answering your description.   I am afraid you will have to watch your back awhile,” he smiled, “there is a price on your head of 500 golden.”

Aldor looked hurt, “Is that all, for such an evil and vicious criminal?   I trust you will have it rescinded with all due haste?”

Dan sniggered, “I thought it would teach you a lesson.  Thought it might get you here sooner.”

Aldor shook his head and smiled, seeing the funny side of the situation.   Finally, he told Dan about Sloan, the sharp-witted corporal who had impressed him so. 

“Anti-authority you say?   Reminds me of a young man I know.   I will make discreet inquiries; he could be of use as an intelligence gatherer if he stayed in his current role.   If he were suddenly promoted or demoted in his current unit nobody would consider anything was amiss, because of his prior erratic record.   I will give him the permanent rank of Lieutenant in my Red Guard, but he will be promoted to the rank ‘Sergeant of the Watch’, in recognition of his work in this case.

Dan stopped in the mid punch, “I will summon him to the palace and inform him of my decision, he shall know of his new role immediately,” he said.

“It is after midnight,” Aldor reminded him.  

“Then I will do it tomorrow!” 

“Your enemies are ever watchful Dan, they would be quick to make the connection if he were suddenly to appear at the palace by summons, would it not be better to meet him in some neutral safe house, where neither of you would be recognised?”

“Yes, that’s a wonderful idea a clandestine meeting; cloak and dagger stuff, how exciting.”   All at once, his face became animated, “my wives will be so jealous.”

“No, they must not know, no one must know,” said Aldor.

Dan gave him a quizzical look, “I thought you were a man of the world, thought you knew women, you can’t hide a thing like this from them!”

“Then it must be a tryst, that is what they will suspect anyway.  However we cannot go alone, we will take 'vulture quad', the rest of ‘the scavengers’ can take point.   We will appear to be a half dozen, off-duty soldiers, out on a jolly, with money burning holes in our pockets.   We will meet with friend Sloan in a place of our choosing, arranged by a mutual friend, and loyal supporter…”

“The lovely Doreeta,” said Dan, licking his lips.

“Quite so."

.-…-. 

The following evening a group of off-duty soldiers made their way out through a side entrance to the palace grounds.   They strolled down the Central highway, as if they owned it, heading towards the Arch of Triumph.   Several other groups left before and after them, invisible but available if required. 

‘No reason to spoil the sense of adventure for Dan’ Aldor thought.

Four at least were comfortably ensconced, and quaffing ale, in the private upstairs room at the Green Serpent Inn.  

 Aldor entered the familiar Watch Post.  It was a hive of activity, very different from his last visit.

“We’re getting rid of the rubbish sergeant Brugg left behind,” corporal Dragor explained, “pigs would turn up their noses.   Are you here to see sergeant Sloan?”

He nodded and went into the office. “Hello sergeant so you promoted Dragor to corporal.  A good choice,” he noted the three stripes on Sloan’s sleeve.

“Ah! It’s the clairvoyant.  I thought the lovely Doreeta would be collecting me.”

“Fraid not, she has more important duties to perform than to act as your escort,” Aldor replied.   “You will need to wear this,” he added handing Sloan a full length hooded cape, similar to his own.   “We do not want you recognised and followed.”

Fifteen minutes later, the two men entered the Green Serpent by a side door, through the stables.   To a casual observer, they were just two men, well protected from the elements, they could be anybody, and most people in this neighborhood knew to mind their business.   Aldor walked through to the rear and through a stall marked ‘Killer Horse’, Sloan followed without comment.   Pulling back a stack of hay bales revealed a door.  Aldor closed the door and they went up two flights of winding stairs to the attic, above the guest rooms.   There were no windows or doors other than that by which they entered but the floor was heavily carpeted to mask their footfalls from the guests below.   There was a long trestle table and a dozen wooden chairs.   They took two of the vacant seats nearest the door.  Sloan gave each of the five men a withering stare, evaluating, memorising, and filing away their features for future reference, he never forgot a face.

The older man returned his gaze with one equally searching; he felt under acute critical appraisal.   It was a younger man, to his left, who opened the proceedings.

“This is a safe house used by the Emperors Red Guard and the Tylywoch, for meetings such as this,” he said.

“What cases might that be?”   Sloan asked. 

“The Emperor has need of your services.”

“I am already in his service.”

“The Emperor needs you as his eyes and ears.   He needs to know what is happening on the Streets.”

“But, he has generals and advisors to tell him what he wants to hear…” 

“That is the point,” said Aldor patiently; he needs your candour, and your lack of respect.

 In short he needs your irreverence and your insight; the way you are able to read a situation and see through the surface gloss at a glance.”

But the emperor already has most of my days and nights; it’s because of him I swallow the swaggering insults of young bulls who know absolutely nothing about law and order.  I spend months, sometimes years, turnin them into half competent soldiers and they get themselves promoted or killed; I’m not sure which is worse, but I then have to start over with the next batch of fresh-faced kids who think they know it all!”

“Then where are we going wrong?   If you were me, how would you put this situation to rights, whilst training the next generation of peacekeepers?” Dan asked.

Who are you?  I'm not disloyal, quite the opposite…   But, how can one person administer an Empire from a place so far removed!” Sloan asked.

“One delegate’s responsibility to people one has learned to trust, implicitly over time, people who have proven their loyalty commitment and competence.   One honours and pays them well enough that they will not act in a corrupt manner.   Occasionally, others will be sent to check up on those trusted officers and report back on their current performance.   If found wanting they will be held to account.   They are either dealt with summarily or they are given a period of time in which to put things right.   Sometimes it is their own delegates who are at fault, and sometimes the job has outgrown the man.   People have problems and sometimes we can help to resolve or remove them,” said Dan. 

“Who are you that you can presume to know the workings of our Emperor's mind?   I will have your name!” 

“Just call me Dan,” he replied “I am a trusted member of the Emperor's staff and that is all you need to know at this time.”   He looked sternly at Aldor, who was on the point of scoffing.  “If you do join my small cadre, you will know to give me full, frank, and honest answers, without considering your own safety or that of others.   In short, you will not shield anybody, or hide material facts, and you will report to me alone.   Only me, you, and the Emperor will know what passes between us.”

“That is certainly a daunting brief, but I already have a full and rewarding job,” said Sloan. 

“Sergeant, did I mention that sometimes a man can outgrow a job?  You have been a sergeant before, and you have been pushed down again and again by men who are not fit to oil your boots, simply because you are not prepared to suffer the antics of incompetent fools.   If you walk away from this opportunity, you will never be more than you are today and, this city will be the poorer for it.   What have you to lose?   You will continue in your present post, as sergeant Sloan, accepting the insults and abuse, but you will also be a lieutenant in the Red Guard.  You will have a voice and be able to right the wrongs and injustices you encounter.   You know as well as any, that the establishment is rife with inefficiency and corruption.   You are being offered an opportunity to strike back at all the things you have rebelled against in the past.   The Gods know it is far from perfect but, the right person; one who can identify deficiencies and inadequacies in the system and provide constructive suggestions as to how they might be put right would be a gift from the Gods.   If in addition, he is consistently capable of making good decisions, he is unique and I will not discard him lightly.  Aldor believes you are potentially such a man.” 

Sloan shook his head and smiled, “You have been listening to Aldor?   He has only met me the once in an interrogation room, what does he know, how could he make such a judgment unless he is able to read minds?”

“We have spoken to a number of others, studied the records, and reviewed every case you have been involved with, over the last five years, those that were successful and those that were not; the latter were invariably not your fault.   Aldor is just one conduit, as it happens, he suggested you might be of value, he thinks you are flawed, but he still came to the same conclusion.   What do I have to say to you that will convince you?”

Sloan went silent, thinking; Aldor monitored his thought processes closely; after several minutes he spoke. “I would like to meet the Emperor and ask him first if he is the right man for his job.”

“I’m sure that he would say he is not…” Dan began.

“The game is up Dan,” said Aldor “he has seen through our charade.”

“I’ve often wondered what question I would ask if ever I came face to face with the wielder of such infinite power.   You have answered the only really important question most adequately,” said Sloan.

Dan was about to explain that delegation had always been a key component in the art of leadership but Sloan continued.  “Any man who thinks himself capable of becoming Emperor is either a deluded fool or a very dangerous man and, to my mind Dan, you are neither.”

“What say you then, do we clean up the system?”

Sloan gave a wry smile and nodded assent.

“Do you have any further questions?   I’m sure you can think of at least one,” said Dan.

“Very well, since you ask, there is.”

“Ask it.”

“How do you know who your true friends are?”

Dan’s smiled and answered slowly, “They call me Dan!”

 

(to be continued)

 

Copyright Len Morgan