The Eternal Empire (21 page)

"What's happened?" he asked.

"This!” snapped the ambassador
waving a sheet of paper. It was a statement from Constantinople with the
details of the new trade policy. Cornelius quickly read through the document.

"This is madness!" he
exclaimed aloud. A number of people in the room, both Roman and Saxon turned to
look at him.

"Everything we have achieved and
worked for will be thrown away!" Cornelius was angry. Not just the trade
agreement, but peace between the Empire and Saxony was at stake.

"Control yourself Petronius!"
hissed the ambassador, "we are servants of the Empire. Our job is to
support the policy of the government. I won't have the Saxons see us divided!"

Cornelius took a couple of deep
breaths. "I'm sorry Ambassador. This came as a shock to me. You are, of
course, correct; we are here to promote the views of our government."

"No matter how stupid it is,"
added the ambassador under his breath so that no one could hear. "Yes
Cornelius, in private I agree with you. It is madness, but we must do our best
to calm the Saxons down. If they think that we believe that Constantinople has
taken leave of its senses, it'll only inflame the situation. What we must do is
to put the best possible interpretation on this, whilst we hope and pray that
Exanzenus and the Emperor realise their stupidity in time!"

Cornelius noticed Count Maleric coming
over to them, and the ambassador alerted by the change in Cornelius's
expression turned to face the Count, giving him his finest diplomatic smile.

Maleric's face was sad but stern,
unaffected by the ambassador's friendly countenance. "In view of the
Empire's new policy on trade and commerce," he said carefully and deliberately,
"I can't see any benefit in continuing these talks."

Ambassador Taronites expression changed
to one of shocked surprise, and when he spoke Cornelius understood why he had
been chosen to represent the Empire in this sensitive location.

"Count Maleric," he began,
"I can understand that you are confused by this latest announcement from
Constantinople, but I'm confident that cooler heads will prevail and that we
can soon resume our talks as though nothing has happened."

"I truly hope so, Isaac,"
replied a sceptical Maleric, "but from the tone of the announcement I have
my doubts. The trade tariffs are bad enough, especially in the light of what we
have achieved this past month, but what really fills me with foreboding is this
issue of imposing a duty for using the Rhine and other waterways."

"Just a negotiating ploy,"
insisted Taronites, "with all the trouble the Empire has had recently, the
new chief minister must project a tough image, "he explained, "then,
he can allow himself to be persuaded to moderate his policies."

Frederick Maleric looked hard at his
old friend for a few moments. He knew he was only doing his job and was
probably just as concerned about the situation as he was.

"I wish I could believe that
Isaac," he said finally, "I really do, but Exanzenus does not have a
reputation for being a person to moderate his views. His Majesty the King
evidently thinks the same. I've just heard that a full meeting of the Royal
Council has been called. I'll pass on your comments but I don't believe that my
fellow Counts will be in a receptive mood.

Count Maleric bowed curtly to the
ambassador and Cornelius and walked away.

"He's certainly well informed
about our new chief minister," commented Cornelius as the Count left the
room followed by the rest of the Saxon delegation.

"Yes," agreed the ambassador,
"and I fear Frederick's observations are too close to the mark for
comfort. If King Otto has called a full council meeting, things could get out
of hand."

Cornelius had spent most of his time in
Saxony trying to understand the military and commercial structure of the
country and had only picked up a superficial understanding of the political set
up. He asked the ambassador to explain the importance of a full council
meeting.

"Normally, the King, Otto VIII, is
advised by an inner council of about a dozen senior Counts who are responsible
for trade, finance, foreign relations, defence and so on. On the whole they are
a level headed bunch of fellows with a lot of common sense, like Maleric.
However," continued Taronites, "a full council consists of all the
Counts who hold any civil or military position in the Kingdom, and many of them
are rabidly anti-Roman."

"You mean like Godisger,"
said Cornelius. The image of Franz, the look of virulent hatred on his face
immediately came to mind. How many more like him were there?

"Especially Count Godisger."
Agreed the ambassador."It's no secret that he will take any opportunity to
turn the King and the nobles against the Empire and instigate another
war."

"What can we do about it?"
asked Cornelius, who was beginning to feel out of his depth.

"Well, I'm going to contact as
many of the Saxon nobles as I can and try to buy some time."

"Time for what?" queried
Cornelius.

"Time for you to try and get
Constantinople to come to their senses. I want you to go directly to chief
minister Exanzenus and personally appraise him of the situation here and what
effect this new policy is likely to have."

Cornelius was taken aback. It was a
heavy responsibility and the apprehension obviously showed on his face. The
ambassador gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Cornelius, I have
faith in your abilities even if you doubt yourself. I'll be forwarding a full
report to Gregory Nicerites. I believe you know him?"

"Yes," confirmed Cornelius,
"we've been friends for a number of years."

"That's good. That will give you
somebody to guide you through the bizarre and convoluted politics in the
capital. Talk to the wrong person, in the wrong order and you could make an
enemy for life."

"Anyway," continued
Taronites, "I want you to leave this afternoon. There's a train going to
Colonia Agrippina. You can board an Imperial Airlines flight at the legionary
airfield there. You'll have to make a couple of stops, but you should be in the
capital by tomorrow evening. I'll telegraph the legate at Colonia Agrippina to
make the necessary arrangements. Have you any questions?"

The flurry of instructions left
Cornelius feeling quite bewildered. He had plenty of questions, but none seemed
particularly important or appropriate at that time.

"No ambassador," replied
Cornelius, "I'd better get back to the embassy and pack a few things for
the journey."

Taronites nodded his agreement and
instructed an aide to drive Cornelius back to the city. While the aide went to
bring the car round to the entrance Cornelius wrote a short note to Katherine
telling her that he had to go away and did not know when he would be back. He
added that he knew that she would join him in hoping and praying for a swift and
peaceful settlement to this sudden crisis. When he had finished the note he
asked one of the servants to take him to Count Maleric.

The Count was alone in the same room
where he had spoken to Cornelius about Katherine. He was even staring out of
the same window. The servant showed Cornelius in and announced him.

"I must leave for Constantinople
this afternoon," Cornelius began. "I won't have time to contact
Katherine before I leave and would be grateful if you could give her this
note."

Taking the piece of paper, Maleric's
expression mellowed and he smiled. "Of course I will my boy," he
said, "that was very thoughtful of you. I'm sure Katherine will appreciate
it." His tone of voice said that the Count also appreciated it.

"Good luck in Constantinople Cornelius,"
said Maleric, and added with a sly grin "I hope you can get them to see
reason."

Cornelius tried to keep a blank
expression on his face and not show any reaction to the Count's probing
statement, but was not altogether successful.

"Don't worry," laughed
Maleric, "I haven't been eavesdropping on your conversations with
Taronites. There is only one logical reason why Isaac would send you back to
the capital at this time and on such short notice."

The Count put a friendly hand on his
shoulder and spoke to Cornelius from the heart, a hint of emotion breaking in
his voice. "I pray to God that you will be successful, because the
alternative might be too horrible to imagine."

5th
April 1920

Londinium,
Britannia

It was not only with neighbouring countries
that the Empires new policy was causing consternation. In the province of
Britannia, demonstrations occurred in several ports and major trading centres
and the new laws were denounced in the provincial assembly.

For the past two decades, Britannia had
been capitalising on its location as a centre for trade. Goods from across the
Atlantic, from Scandia, Saxony and the Empire of the Rus would find their way
to ports in the province for trans-shipment to other destinations. Small
trading concerns had grown to become major merchant houses, their enormous
warehouses dominating the wharves of the ports around the island. Britannia,
more than any other province of the Empire depended upon trade for its economic
well being.

These facts were made abundantly clear
to Romanus Philokates, the governor of Britannia by Sextus Capito at the fiscal
meeting following the announcement of the new laws

The governor was examining the figure
filled report in his hands, a sense of gloom clouding the aura of confidence that
normally surrounded him.

"Aren't these figures a bit on the
pessimistic side Sextus?"

"No governor," Capito
replied, "if anything they understate the potential damage to the economy
of the province. This report deals purely with the reduction of imports and
exports that can reasonably be expected as a consequence of the new policy of
chief minister Exanzenus. It doesn't cover the effects on local trade due to
the overall reduction in economic activity - less money earned because of lower
trans-shipments means less money to spend in the shops and markets. There'll be
another report to cover that next week once my staff has finished their
research."

"Thorough as always Sextus,"
sighed the governor, "but I wish Exanzenus had waited until the elections
are over."

Sextus knew that the governor was
concerned about the elections for the provincial assembly which were due to be
held in two weeks time. The anti-imperial feeling resulting from the new policy
could hand control of the assembly to the Federals and Radicals.

After the visit from the peregrini,
Sextus had taken a deeper interest in provincial politics. He had soon
discovered that there was a ground swell of anti-imperial and pro-independence
feelings amongst the provincial bureaucracy. By contacting some of his old
acquaintances in the auxiliaries, he had also learnt that local troops were
highly antagonistic towards regular forces in the province. The situation had
been highlighted when auxiliary units proved reluctant to intervene against
demonstrators and rioters in the unrest which followed the announcement of the
new policy. Imperial troops had to be used to restore order and there had been
numerous repetitions of the type of incident that Titus had experienced.

Luckily for Sextus, the peregrini had
not, as yet, paid him a return visit. They probably had their hands full,
thought Sextus grimly, thinking of the number of arrests and 'disappearances'
of high profile provincials recently. The thought of the peregrini coming to
see him, and expecting information caused a knot in his stomach. He could not
denounce his friends and colleagues, but feared the consequences if he was
marked as 'disloyal'.

"I plan to meet with the leaders
of each party in the assembly during the run up to the elections,"
continued the governor, "I must maintain dialogue with them at all costs.
I believe that I can prevent any rash behaviour on their behalf if the election
results turn out as currently projected."

Sextus nodded in agreement. He admired
the governor a great deal, as did everyone of importance in the province
regardless of their political persuasion. His personal integrity and honesty
together with the fact that he always tried to do what was best for the
province had gained him a great deal of respect. Even those who wanted to see
the province declare itself independent of the Empire would listen to what the
governor had to say.

"Is there anything else that I can
do to help you governor?"

"No, thank you Sextus, your report
will be all for now. I'll be forwarding a copy to Constantinople, together with
my recommendation that the new policy be buried at the bottom of the nearest
dung heap and quietly forgotten."

Sextus looked up from his papers, his
eyebrows raised in surprise at the governors’ language.

"But not in those words of
course," the governor clarified with a look of mild amusement on his face,
"in the mean time we must work at keeping everything calm and under
control." He sat back in his chair and looked thoughtfully at Sextus.
"Britannia is like a gunpowder magazine at the moment. The last thing we
want is a bunch of fire brands running around throwing sparks all over the
place!"