The Eternal Empire (33 page)

Dikouros thought quickly. If he alerted
the army and recalled troops from Britannia it would look like he did not know
what he was doing, but if the Saxons attacked at least he would be ready. On
the other hand, if it was not true? What if it was just a wild rumour - or a
plan to discredit him? Yes, that could be it!

He looked at Anemas and fixed him with
a cold, disdaining look. He had regained his composure and some of the colour
had returned to his face.

"Last week," he said using
the tone of voice he reserved for berating a junior officer, "your section
informed me that there was no evidence of this. Now you tell me I can expect to
see the Saxons marching through my headquarters on their way to Hispania! What
will you tell me tomorrow tribune - that a fleet of Arab dhows are coming to
cut off our troops in Britannia!"

Silvanus Anemas was used to his
commanders’ sharp tongue. A professional soldier who had worked his way up from
the ranks, Dikouros had dismissed him as being unimportant a long time ago. He
kept his own anger under control whilst he answered.

"Sir, as of last week we have not
discovered any significant evidence of a pending Saxon invasion," he
admitted, "but our resources are limited. The Minden embassy is better
placed and has access to ..."

"The Minden embassy!"
interrupted Dikouros. "Do you mean that Petronius fellow?"

"Yes sir," confirmed the
tribune, "Cornelius Petronius is the acting head of military intelligence.
He sent the warning by courier."

Dikouros sensed that he had the
corroborating evidence of a conspiracy to humiliate him.

"Does Petronius give the source of
his information?" he demanded.

"No sir, but he does say it is
highly placed and is utterly reliable."

"Yes," said Dikouros
sarcastically, "I'm sure he would say that. Tell me tribune. Have the
Saxons mobilised any of their reserves?"

"No sir, not to my
knowledge."

"Any large scale transfer of
troops from other Saxon border armies?"

"No sir."

"Movement of artillery into firing
positions?"

"No sir."

"Increase in air activity?"

"No sir."

"So tribune," said Dikouros
summing up, "the only evidence we have of this 'imminent' Saxon attack is
this note from a 'junior' diplomat, 'acting' as head of intelligence. And based
on this you expect me to act!"

"All the information we have
received from Minden in the past has proved to be accurate general,"
continued Anemas.

"But how often has he predicted a
full scale war?"

Silvanus Anemas remained silent. The
question was either rhetorical or facetious and did not deserve an answer.
Dikouros continued.

"Cornelius Petronius has already
made it abundantly clear that he does not support the new polices of the
Empire. He has been antagonistic and disrespectful to the chief minister and to
me. I'm of the view that this is nothing more than a rumour blown out of all
proportions by Petronius to make me look foolish."

Anemas suddenly realised what his
commanders’ line of thought had been throughout the meeting. His opinion of
Dikouros, which had been low to start with, sunk to new depths.

"We should at least alert the
legions," he exclaimed, trying to salvage something. "They are
stretched thin on the ground as it is."

"And you would add to their
burdens by putting them on a war footing?" snapped back Dikouros.
"No, we will disregard this rumour until we have some evidence. I'll not
be panicked into taking rash actions just because some insignificant little
diplomat cries 'The Saxons are coming!' ".

Silvanus Anemas started to protest but
was cut short and dismissed. He returned to his office seething with anger. He
looked at the report from Cornelius again and compared it to the meagre data
that he had. Although there was no hard supporting evidence his instincts told
him that there was trouble coming and old soldiers don't grow old by ignoring
their instincts.

Taking an official reply form he wrote
a formal reply to Cornelius informing him in terse bureaucratic style that
there was no evidence to support his warning with the requisite copies for the
files. He then took another, blank piece of paper and wrote a personnel note to
Cornelius describing the meeting he had just had with Dikouros and asking him
to get some solid proof that he could use.

26th
July 1920

Minden,
Saxony

When Katherine called Cornelius a week
later, he asked her to meet him. She picked him up at the side gate again and
they drove to another secluded spot where he told her the contents of the two
notes sent from Augusta Treverorum.

"What do they need proof
for!" said Katherine angrily. "All they need to do is tell the King
that the Empire knows what Godisger is up to and that'll be it!"

Cornelius explained that Dikouros would
do nothing without evidence.

"Then he's a fool!"

"No argument from me," agreed
Cornelius, "but it doesn't help matters. I need something to substantiate
what you told me."

Katherine sat quietly and thought for a
while. Then she turned to Cornelius and spoke slowly and in earnest.
"There's a safe in the study. When I went into the room one evening after
Franz and his friends had gone to bed there were no papers or maps lying
around. I'm certain that they keep them in the safe. I can get them out and
give them to you."

Cornelius was horrified. "No
Katherine, that's too dangerous. They would know that it was you. I told you
before I'll not put you at risk. We'll have to find another way."

A determined look came over Katherine.
"I know where the evidence is and how to get it."

"No!" said Cornelius
emphatically.

"Yes," said Katherine quietly
but firmly. "It's the only way to stop another war," she took his
hands in hers and squeezed them.

Cornelius decided that she was
determined to go through with this. The best he could do was to try and limit
the danger to her. "All right then," he said, "but I'm coming
with you. We'll make it look like a break-in, that way you may not be
implicated."

This time Katherine disagreed.
"Then you'll be in danger," she said shaking her head. "If my
brother suspects you he'll kill you."

"Then he mustn't know that I'm
involved," he said quickly improvising a plan, "I'll hide in the
woods until dark and then meet you in the study."

Katherine looked at him tight-lipped. He
could see that she was trying to find a flaw in his plan, some excuse to
prevent him from being involved. "I don't like it," she said finally
but without much conviction. "I can do it myself."

"No, we do it together or not at
all."

She paused for a moment and then
nodded. "Then we had better do it together."

Back at the embassy Cornelius returned
to his apartment. He changed into some walking and camping clothes, packed his
rucksack and left. If he was discovered in the grounds of the lodge his excuse
would be that he had come to surprise Katherine. The flouting of his
restriction to the embassy would be a minor infringement compared to that of
espionage.

He made his way to the park where he
had arranged for Katherine to meet him. During his time in Saxony Cornelius had
purchased some local clothing, including an excellent pair of walking boots.
Even his rucksack was made in Saxony. After the incident in the Minden museum,
Cornelius had become conscious of the disapproving looks that people gave Katherine
when he was with her, so he had began to dress in local fashion to avoid
embarrassing her.

He sat down on a tree stump near the
road which ran through the park to wait for her. The atmosphere in the park was
very peaceful, with young couples strolling around hand in hand, children
running and shouting amongst the trees and bushes or playing in the open areas.
Watching the scenes around him he could appreciate Katherine abhorrence of the
horrors that a war would bring and it increased his determination to do
everything he could to stop it. He spotted a young family a short distance
away, proud parents with two young children, happy and content. The husband was
of military age thought Cornelius sadly, he would probably be one of the first
to be mobilised and sent into battle.

Katherine's motor carriage came to a
halt in front of him blocking his view of the young family. He picked up his
rucksack, threw it in the back and then got in beside her. "Are you still
sure about this?" she asked.

The young family had come into view
again and Cornelius watched as the youngest child, barely able to walk, toddled
with its arms outstretched from its mother to the father.

"Yes Katherine," he said
emphatically, "I'm sure."

Katherine dropped him off about a mile
from the lodge. She had given him a set of maps for the area and had sketched
out a plan of the house and the grounds. Cornelius quickly made his way into
the trees as Katherine drove off. He then stopped to get his bearings and set
off towards the lodge. It was still light but it would be dark within the hour
and Cornelius wanted to be in sight of the buildings before nightfall.

Arriving at the lodge, Katherine
noticed that most of the motor carriages that she had seen here last time were
absent. She was afraid that Franz and his friends had left and taken all their
papers with them, and then she noticed her younger brothers’ vehicle parked at
the end of the row of covered garage spaces. Next to it was Frederick's motor
carriage.

For the first time Katherine began to
have some misgivings, afraid that her actions would bring dishonour upon her
older brother. Too late now, she told herself as she parked as close to the
exit of the garage as possible. She was committed to trying to stop Franz, and
she could only pray that Frederick would not get implicated.

In the lodge she instructed the
housekeeper to inform her brothers that she was here for the weekend and would
be joining them for dinner. Then she went up to her room to bath and change. As
she closed the door behind her she found that her hands were shaking and she
could feel her heart beating. She lay down on the bed and willed herself to
relax.

Dinner at the lodge was not normally a
formal affair, especially when there were only family members present. Katherine
selected a plain, dark green dress and after a moment’s hesitation decided to
wear the silk scarf that Cornelius had bought her in Constantinople. She
attached it with a silver brooch that had belonged to her mother and made her
way to the dining room.

Frederick and Franz were standing in
front of the fireplace, unlit now that it was summer, pre-dinner drinks in
their hands. As she entered, Frederick put down his glass and made his way over
to her, a beaming smile animating his face.

"Katherine, what a pleasant
surprise!" he said greeting her with a kiss on the cheek, "I was so
pleased when I heard that you were here. It's not often that we're all together
in one place. You look as beautiful as ever, doesn't she Franz."

Still holding his glass, Franz had
slowly followed Frederick. "Yes indeed," he said without interest as
he gave his sister a perfunctory kiss. "Nice to see you here again. Didn't
bring your pet Roman with you this time?"

Katherine stiffened. Does he know? Has
Cornelius been caught? She had not seen any guards when she had arrived, but
that did not mean that they were not out there, discretely patrolling the
grounds.

Frederick saw the change on Katherine's
face and turned on Franz. "That's enough of that!" he barked.
"I'll not have you exercise your hatred here!"

Katherine regained her composure and
smiled sweetly at Franz.

"Unfortunately, Cornelius is
restricted to the immediate vicinity of the embassy at the moment," she
said, "but I'll tell him that you asked after him. I'm sure he'll
appreciate your concern."

"I would restrict him and his kind
to six feet of Saxon soil," snapped back Franz angrily. He had never been
able to win a verbal duel with Katherine.

"I said that's enough Franz!"
repeated Frederick, his voice an octave louder this time. "If you can't
control your tongue you can leave! Now apologise to Katherine!"

Franz glowered at his older brother. He
had always taken Katherine's side, but once the Romans had been crushed and
humiliated he would tell his siblings what he really thought of them. But he
held his feelings in check for now.

He looked away from Frederick to his
sister. "I'm sorry," he said woodenly.

"That's all right Franz," she
said in a condescending manner. "I'm sure you are under a lot of stress at
the moment."

Katherine could see the fury in his
eyes and how he was struggling to control himself. She smiled sweetly at him
again knowing how much it would annoy him.