The Eternal Empire (19 page)

John Phocas stood up and bowed towards
the throne.

"Your Imperial Majesty, we all
know that you have the best interests of your people at heart, but the laws you
wish to repeal were passed in accordance with the constitution by both this
assembly and the Senate. They can only be repealed by another law."

There were mutterings of agreement from
around the assembly. The reactionaries might not like the package of laws fostered
upon then in January but they were in favour of maintaining the assembly, and
their own influence, as the prime instigator of legislation.

Phocas sat down and waited for the
Emperor to reply.

"You are quite correct," said
Alexander, who had been anticipating this question, "another law would be
required, under normal circumstances!" The emphasis on the last three
words was heavy and deliberate. Alexander learned forward as though to be
closer to the four hundred representatives seated before him.

"However circumstances are not
normal. Everyone has been telling me what a disastrous state the Empire is in,
the Austerity Law even states this in its preamble."

Alexander relaxed back into his throne
to deliver the next shock.

"As of midnight, the Empire will
be in a State of Emergency as a result of the serious economic situation. As
you are no doubt aware this gives me the power to rule by decree and the
Austerity Law and the other laws that went along with it will be repealed by
decree."

Again a commotion broke out in the
hall, this time it only lasted for a couple of minutes. The elected
representatives of the people were becoming overwhelmed by the series of blows
to their authority. When the noise had subsided sufficiently to allow him to be
heard, the Emperor resumed his speech and that was when he told them of the
cross border trade tariffs and the unilateral imposition of duty on
non-imperial ships.

They were so shocked by the
announcement that at first no one said anything. Then John Phocas quickly
jumped to his feet and started to speak without asking the chairman's
permission. 

"This is madness!" he
shouted, "trade with our neighbours has been the basis of our economic
growth for the past twenty five years. The largest economy in the world cannot
simply close its doors and refuse to deal with everybody else."

There were cries of support from around
him, the few jeers from the ranks of the Senatorial and Traditionalist parties
were easily drowned out by every other parties in the assembly. Phocas
continued.

"You can't arbitrarily start
imposing duty on ships travelling around our borders. Even if such an action
could be justified, it must first be discussed with those states whose ships
will be affected!"

More people started to get to their feet
to speak, but Alexander rose from his throne and followed by his chief minister
left the assembly. His lictors were taken by surprise by the swiftness of his
departure and had to follow him out instead of preceding him as was their duty.
The noise from the assembly followed Alexander as he walked down the corridor
towards the underground tunnel that connected the assembly and senate buildings
to the palace.

Without turning his head or slowing his
pace Alexander spoke to his chief minister.

"It went much as you said it would
Exanzenus," he said, "I hope that you can follow through and deliver
what you have promised."

"The Empire will be rejuvenated by
a return to self reliance your Majesty," Demetrius Exanzenus reassured his
Emperor, "and there will be no more economic problems to distract you from
the more important matters you have to deal with."

The more important matters were the
wife of the commander of the Rhine armies waiting expectantly in the Emperors
bedroom at this moment. Exanzenus knew this but Alexander assumed he was
referring to other political problems that required his attention.

"Good," said Alexander, his
mind already on Stephanie and the carnal pleasures she had intimated would
await him on his return from the assembly, "I leave everything in your
capable hands."

3rd
April 1920

Minden,
Saxony

The clock in the city square struck
eight as Cornelius walked past the legionary guards at the main entrance to the
embassy. There was a chill in the air, but no frost this morning and the clear
blue sky promised warmer weather later on. Katherine was waiting in her motor
carriage and Cornelius smiled at her in greeting before putting his bag on the
back seat and climbing into the passenger seat beside her and giving her a
kiss.

"Right on time. Again," she
said as she started up the vehicle.

"I do like to be punctual,"
Cornelius replied casually.

"I know, I bet you really irritate
some people," she said with a smirk on her face as she turned the motor
carriage into the road that ran south out of the city along the banks of the
river Visurgis.

"Yes," agreed Cornelius,
"some people see it as a reflection on their own time keeping. Fulvia is
constantly scolding me about it."

Katherine took her eyes off the road
for a brief second to look at Cornelius. "And who's Fulvia?" Her
voice had acquired an icy edge that informed Cornelius that she wanted to know
not just who this Fulvia was, but what she was, how old, how pretty, how long
he had known her, when had he last seen her and what exactly his relationship
to her was.

Cornelius thought quickly. It had been
a mistake to mention Fulvia in the first place, other women always seem to
misunderstand their relationship!

"Fulvia is a very good friend whom
I have known since childhood," said Cornelius, "my mother has been
trying to marry me off to her for the past ten years.'

"Oh," said Katherine,
"if she's such a 'very good friend' why haven't you settled down with her?
Is she ugly?"

"Good heavens no!" exclaimed
Cornelius, "Fulvia is one of the most classically beautiful women I've
ever met," and instantly regretted what he had said. It was not the
brightest thing to say to the person who had just invited him away for the
weekend.

But it was fairly typical of Cornelius.
He did not have a natural flare with women and often found himself tongue tied
or saying 'the wrong thing'. If there was any natural talent with the ladies in
the Petronius gene pool, it seemed to have been inherited solely by Titus. For
as long as Cornelius could remember, his younger brother had effortlessly
attracted every eligible young girl he met.

Cornelius moved quickly to recover from
what he feared Katherine may take as an unfavourable comparison. "Fulvia's
like a sister to me," he continued, "we're just good friends, that's
all. We write to each other occasionally, but since we're rarely in the same
place at the same time we don't see each other that often."

"That's a pity, I would like to
meet her" said Katherine, who sounded like she was satisfied by his
answer. Cornelius decided to move the conversation on. He was always
uncomfortable discussing Fulvia with other women. They never seem to be
convinced of the platonic nature of their friendship, and those who had
actually met Fulvia were even more sceptical.

Cornelius talked about the trade
negotiations in general terms only since many of the details were confidential.
He also told her that he liked her brother and how well they got on, but he did
not mention the conversation that they had had a few weeks ago. He was unsure
of how she would react and was determined to avoid anything that might be
controversial.

They stopped at a small village and had
lunch at the local inn. It had warmed up enough for them to sit outside, and
whilst they ate their meal of freshly baked bread and cheese they discussed
their plans for the weekend.

"We can take in the museum at
Pheugarum, this afternoon," said Katherine pouring over a well used map,
"and then drive on to the hunting lodge for the night."

"Sounds fine," said Cornelius,
"what do you have in mind for tomorrow?"

"You mentioned that you liked
walking," said Katherine, "did you bring your boots?"

By way of reply Cornelius twisted round
off his seat and lifted one foot above the table. Katherine laughed. "I'll
take that as a yes." She finished off the chunk of bread in her hand and
washed it down with a mouthful of ale before continuing. "Near the lodge
there's a trail through the Teutoburgwald. I thought that we could pack a
picnic and spend the day walking in the woods."

"I love walking," said
Cornelius, "and to spend the day walking with you would be perfect."

Katherine smiled at that. Perhaps,
thought Cornelius he was getting the hang of talking to women after all.

The museum at Pheugarum was much like
the one they had visited in Minden, but on a smaller scale. The region had
played a critical part in the campaigns that had halted the Ottoman jihad
against the Christian States of central Europe. Cornelius was pleased to see
that the contribution of Imperial Roman armies noted and acknowledged, even if
not that prominently.

“Well it is a Saxon museum Cornelius,”
Katherine pointed out when he mentioned it. “It’s fair to recognise that the
Empire helped out, but the ‘Crusade’ to liberate Europe from the Turks is
regarded as primarily a German affair. The German and other countries suffered
terribly and Imperial armies rather took their time in joining in.”

“I’m sure the thousands of Roman
Citizens slaughtered in Pannonia and Moesia would have a slightly different
view,” countered Cornelius.

Katherine kissed him on the cheek. “I’m
sure they would,” she whispered in his ear, “but not here.”

It was beginning to get dark when
Katherine turned off the main road onto a well kept gravel track, marked only
by a wooden board with the Maleric coat of arms painted on it. After a few
hundred yards they came to a large stone built cottage with some outbuildings
beside the track.

Cornelius commented that her brothers
hunting lodge looked like the perfect place to stay. Katherine burst out
laughing.

"That's just the servants
quarters," she said. Then as they turned sharply in front of the cottage
she gestured with her head towards a three storey mansion that rose out of the
forest. "That's the hunting lodge."

Cornelius stared open mouthed at the
enormous building as Katherine brought the motor carriage to a stop at the
entrance. As they got out of the vehicle, the main doors opened and half a
dozen liveried servants emerged from the 'lodge' and descended upon them. Their
luggage was collected, taken inside and the motor carriage driven away to be
parked. The major domo and housekeeper reported on the state of the lodge and
the cook presented the menu for the evening meal for Katherine's approval. And
this was all before they had managed to get further than the entrance hall.
Cornelius hung back and watched Katherine. She effortlessly took charge of the
servants, giving orders and making a few minor changes to the menu.

A few moments later the servants all
disappeared and Katherine and Cornelius were left alone in the hall. He looked
around at the pictures and stuffed hunting trophies that lined the walls, and
the tapestries and old battle flags that hung from the spiral staircase that
circled up above him.

  "This is some hunting
lodge," he said to Katherine.

"It is rather pretentious,"
she said, "it was built by my great grandfather who was devoted to his
hunting. He spent nine months each year hunting, so he decided to live out here
in comfort."

"It certainly looks
comfortable," agreed Cornelius, "not at all what I imagined a Saxon
hunting lodge would be like."

"I suppose," said Katherine,
giving Cornelius a disapproving look and her voice becoming slightly chilly,
"that you envisaged a romantic little cottage just to ourselves, with a
roaring fire, where we would sit on a bearskin rug sipping hot spiced wine and
you could seduce me. Is that what this 'honourable' Roman had in mind."

Cornelius turned bright red at
Katherine's forthright and, he had to admit, accurate summary of how he had
hoped the weekend would develop. He tried to say something, but nothing
coherent came out.

Katherine silenced him with a gentle
kiss. "Don't worry," she said, the frosty expression being replaced
by a mischievous grin, "the drawing room does have a fireplace which I
have instructed the servants to build up, and the cook makes an excellent
spiced wine."

Cornelius did not know what to say.
Sensibly he decided to say nothing and just smiled, leaving the talking to
Katherine who seemed to be completely in control of everything.

"Dinner will be served in a couple
of hours," she said, "that gives us time to freshen up, relax and
change." She started to ascend the stairs, "come on Cornelius, I'll
show you to your room."

He followed her to the first floor and
along a corridor that led off the landing. Katherine opened one of the doors
and gestured Cornelius inside. His bag was sitting neatly at the bottom of the
bed.