Cheilin Saga ~ 17

 Cheilin Saga ~ 17  Progress

By Len Morgan

   Six months on from that clandestine meeting a dozen high-ranking officials and army officers were forced, by overwhelming evidence of corruption or incompetence to resign.   More than three times that number of minor and middle ranking officials were retired, resigned, or committed suicide because of revelations that came to light. 

 During that period the general state of the Empire improved steadily.   The replacements were not chosen from their subordinates.  Nobody stepped up into their master’s shoes.   This, more than anything, served to break the chain of corruption. 

 The new officials were carefully selected, from men of principal, recommended through trusted sources who called him Dan.   Their presence was felt immediately, a further stream of underlings were dismissed or demoted and, things really started to improve. 

 However a lot of bitterness and resentment had built up following the change of emphasis.  Surely the Emperor understood, it was argued, that to persuade men of talent to forsake their clan, and forgo considerable power, position, and wealth, there had to be some means of compensation open to them.  

Daidan II had understood and accepted that the greasing of palms was a cheap and effective, way of accomplishing this; it helped to smooth away opposition.    

Daidan III would have none of it and made a point of listing the names, of men who were sympathetic to this view, for future investigation.

.-...-.

The State of readiness:

Aldor saw the look of concern on Dan’s face, as he entered the private apartments.   All was not well.

“What news from the front Aldor?” he asked forgoing the usual small talk.

“They have amassed a hundred thousand to our opposition of twenty-five but we can call upon a further fifty thousand at short notice.”

“It must be costing me a fortune to maintain such a standing army,” said Dan.

“The majority are in training, to defend the empire, and therefore supported by their home provinces.   But, it will start to cost when or if an invasion begins.   I imagine that their logistics must already be hurting them, they are stripping the countryside of Bluttland just to feed that many troops.  They can’t keep them there inactive for long.  They are relying on crossing and foraging food on our side of the Stalbech River.” 

“So, when do you estimate they will attempt to land on the Cheilin side?”

“They will have to make a move within the month; the Conjunction is of particular significance to their plans.   Otherwise, we will be safe for at least another seven months, and they would have to stand down their force or face a famine.”

.-…-. 

  It was just a week before the new race season and Dan was awaiting the official Games opening ceremony, on ‘C20’, like an eager child.   He would not allow the self-interests of a petty minded minority group to spoil his big day.   He would be starting the early races and did not intend to miss any part of the proceedings.  

A steward arrived with a message addressed to Dan that had been delivered to a side door, by a grubby street urchin.   He opened it a feather fluttered to the floor. The smile left his face to be replaced by a look of concern.   He scrawled a quick reply on the reverse and instructed the steward to pay the child to deliver it back to its originator.   His anticipation of the lead in days had been totally ruined.   He was angry with Aldor for sending the message.   His timing was completely off.   There was a banquet arranged in honour of the Games Contestants today, and he would still have to meet them and wish them well as though nothing had happened. 

.-…-. 

Earlier that morning Kalle, a member of Aldor's intelligence-gathering team, had noticed Bordek in the company of a man he knew very well, it was Hestor, one who was close to the Emperor.   He was a trusted advisor, and should not have any legitimate business with a low life of Bordek’s ilk.   What could they be discussing so intimately sitting in a screened corner booth of the infamous Black Gryphon Tavern?   They left separately, Bordek first with Hestor following, fifteen yards behind.   Kalle took up station a further fifteen yards back.   They negotiated the bustling morning traffic which traditionally accompanied the lead in to race days.   They made their way down ‘N1’ towards ‘C16’ continuing on towards ‘N2’, where the bustle began to lessen, and the crowd thinned appreciably.   Kalle followed maintaining the same gap appearing to be, part of a small family party, in a festive mood.   Bodek took an unexpected detour into a side alley, between two houses, and turned to wait for Hestor to catch up.   As Kalle and the family party passed the alley, the two men had already covered half the distance between her position and the fence separating the houses on ‘C16’ from those on ‘C15’.   To follow would forewarn them they had been observed, and indicate a pursuit was in progress.   Kalle could not afford that, and so elected to walk by, detaching from the group after carefully establishing there were no observers, across the street, watching for signs of pursuit.   By the time Kalle returned, the two men had vanished.   An intensive search of the alley eventually revealed a touch-sensitive fence panel that led through into a twin alley, on the opposite side of the fence, leading into ‘C15’.   However, when Kalle eventually came out on to ‘C15’, it was obvious her targets were long gone.   Kalle waited in the shadows for an hour, hoping they would return by the same route, then accepting it would not happen, she returned to Base to report what she saw as her failure and warn other street operatives of the back doorway between ‘C15’ & ‘C16’.   There would be a watch placed on it to observe how frequently it was used and by whom.

 (To be Continued)

Copyright Len Morgan