Chapter 10

"I do not believe this!" shouted the Emperor, eyes blazing with fury. "The unmitigated gall of them! Perhaps I should have Farviewed the execution of the conspiracy leader to the lot of them! Perhaps that would convince them of the strength of my convictions!"

Q'yros cast a momentary gaze towards the spot where the Farview audience had just concluded moments before, the very one that had caused the Emperor's mood to go from supreme satisfaction to red-faced anger. He sighed and turned to his sovereign. "As it is, my Emperor, you will need to perform your convincing in person."

Z'haas stared at the Mage for a few moments, as if challenging him to rethink what he had just said. When Q'yros met the Emperor's gaze with a steely one of his own, it was obvious that he would not be so easily intimidated. The Emperor took a deep breath and drew himself upright. "I should not need to do any such thing. I should summon that insufferable buffoon on the Farview now and tell him to stay in his own palace for the duration."

Q'yros paused as he weighed the Emperor's words to determine if the man were serious or simply engaging in a bit of hyperbole. He decided on the latter for the time being. "As it is, they have called for their right as dictated in the Charter. The right of Caucus before the Emperor."

"I do not need you to quote me the law," Z'haas said coldly. "And I'll remind you that I am the law."

"The Nobility does not see it that way."

"To the hells with them."

Q'yros forced himself to remain patient. He was beginning to understand now that Z'haas simply needed to work through his anger. Until he did that, he was going to offer foolish suggestions. It was up to the Mage to deflect them and make sure the Emperor did not attempt to dwell on one long enough to actually implement it.

"If I wanted someone to quote back the law to me, Q'yros, I would not have had the traitor Gondas executed."

"I must admit, my Emperor, I was a bit... surprised to have heard this morning that you had done that."

The reality was that Q'yros had not been surprised. Shocked, but ultimately not surprised. He did not think this boded well for the Imperium in the long run.

Not that he thought the coup should have succeeded. On the contrary, the more he learned about the Portal technology that was being employed, the more he could believe Z'haas' ramblings about a powerful enemy. There was the assumption that the Portals were from this same enemy, but it was a good assumption. The evidence was largely circumstantial in its favor, but there was an awful lot of it.

Not to mention that Q'yros had a strong gut feeling. A Mage's intuition was not that of a normal person. It was influenced by the weave of magical forces that permeated the land. It had subtle effects on the mind, giving the more powerful Mages a very faint, latent prognostication ability. Some Mages tried to cultivate this power, but few had anything more than limited success. Still, its passive form served a Mage well.

The Emperor managed to calm down enough to return to his throne, but there was still a hard edge to his voice when he spoke. "What would court proceedings have bought us, Q'yros?"

Legitimacy, perhaps? Q'yros thought acidly. A sign to the population that you're not trying to become a brutal dictator? "Surely there was a mountain of evidence in favor of a conviction..."

"I was well within my rights to do what I did. It falls under the emergency powers clause of the Charter."

"I thought such powers were granted only in wartime, my Emperor."

"And you do not see this as such? Enemy agents infiltrate our land and open Portals near known rebellious elements in our own nation. Conspiracies to usurp the throne have nearly borne fruit."

Q'yros' eyebrows rose slightly on the Emperor's last statement. That was the the first time Z'haas had come close to admitting he had been concerned about losing power. That was not necessarily a good thing. It meant that he might start making decisions out of fear rather than rationality.

Once he had heard about the execution of Gondas, Q'yros did a little digging. He eventually discovered that all the members of the conspiracy, every last one that had been in that house, had been slaughtered by the Imperial Guard. It was one thing to kill the ringleader outright, and then perhaps token trials for the others, but to execute all of them... !

"Tell me how any of what I have just told you is not an act of war?" the Emperor demanded.

Q'yros paused and shook his head. "I cannot."

"I will make this very clear to the Lords when I meet with them. Their words will not divert me from my course."

The Mage was relieved to hear that the Emperor had tacitly agreed to entertain the Caucus. "The words of Lord Uras did not suggest they will seek to convince you to change course. The impression I had was that they wish justification for your actions and nothing more."

Z'haas bristled at this. "And my word to them should be good enough! It is I to whom the safety of the realm is entrusted, not them!"

"Then make them understand that, my Emperor!" Q'yros declared, trying to keep his temper in control. He felt Z'haas was extremely dense, almost beyond the powers of his patience. "Tell them some of what we have discussed. Stop keeping everything a secret. Show them the danger, and they will likely rally behind you!"

Q'yros was not at all sure of that. The fact that Lord Uras had called upon the Emperor barely a day after the destruction of the conspiracy meant that he had likely heard what had happened. As tight as the Emperor wished to make his security, no known Magic -- or force of Imperial will, for that matter -- could stop a Farview.

Thus it was likely that the Overlords knew of the failure of the coup by now, and were plotting their next move. This reminded Q'yros of the next concern he wished to voice, assuming that Z'haas did not simply retort with yet another variation of "I'm the Emperor and they should just do as they are told."

"There are certain things I am not ready to divulge," Z'haas said flatly. "Specifically so it will not tip off the enemy as to how much I know."

"I am aware of this. And I still wish you would share more with me."

There was a long pause. "I may be forced to."

Now Q'yros was definitely surprised.

The Emperor lifted his head imperiously. "Mage Q'yros. You are the only one I trust. That is not an exaggeration. I trust no one else. Were you not needed as an adviser and as a liaison to the Mage Guild to research these Portals, I would have you as my personal bodyguard."

Q'yros realized that to the Emperor's ears, this sounded like a grand compliment. Instead, it was all that the Mage could do not to visibly bristle at this. As it was, his hands gripped the end of the staff tightly enough that the ancient wood made a faint cracking sound.

Z'haas continued, "Your loyalty to me is paramount in all things. I must have your support in whatever transpires."

"There should be no question of that, my Emperor," said Q'yros, trying to keep the acid edge from his voice.

"Oceanus will march on Colos. Nothing must be allowed to stop it."

Q'yros hesitated a moment, but then nodded solemnly in agreement. He no longer wished to change the Emperor's mind on this score. While he was not entirely comfortable with it yet, he felt that a military excursion might be justified in the end.

News from the Mage Guild grew more ominous with each passing day. Previously, this was due to the growing list of things they did not know about this new Portal Magic. Now they had finally forced it to reveal some of its secrets, and things grew still more alarming.

Yet much of it was supposition. They still had yet to crack the structure of the energy flow itself that created and maintained a Portal. The problem was that a pinpoint-accurate Portal required the use of the focusing spell upon a blue pearl. Thus there were two energy flows: the smaller one from the pearl to the Portal and the larger one from the Portal itself. The two were intimately intertwined with one another, creating the complex energy pattern that opened the Portal.

The Guild Mages had no trouble finding the larger energy stream. What they could not find was the smaller stream, and that was vitally needed. It was like the key to an encrypted message. Without the key, there was nowhere to go.

"I will take what you have told me under advisement, Q'yros," said the Emperor, his fingers tightening on the ends of the arm rests of his throne.

That was far more of a concession than the Mage had ever received from the Emperor. "Very well, my Emperor. I only wish your plans to go as smoothly as possible. Placating the Nobility will go a long way towards that."

"And what of the Overlords? Or will they continue to plague me?"

"I fail to see how they can be much trouble to you any further. I have the impression that Gondas was their last chance. He was a member of the Yassa Clan. They owe a sizable debt to the Joran Clan. We can surmise that this was the Overlords' best contact they could muster."

The Emperor did not look at all mollified by this, but said nothing in comment.

Q'yros considered for a moment. "Speaking of the Overlords... have you given thought to the disposition of Gronnus?"

"You mean because his information proved worthwhile?"

"With all due respect, my Emperor, his information was invaluable. You saw for yourself from your agent's report how far along they were in their plans. Much further than you had given them credit for."

"Do you truly think that I would have fallen, Q'yros?" Z'haas said in a scoffing tone of voice. "Do you really think they might have breached the inner sanctum?"

The Mage did indeed believe it. Z'haas' men were loyal to him, but to a point. Bennis had been the wild card. He was wily enough to pull it off. He has a great deal of charisma and many personal contacts in the Imperium, probably many more than Z'haas will ever know.

Correction: had been wily enough. Or perhaps not quite enough after all. He was as dead now as the rest of them. And despite the Emperor's dismissal of their chances, Q'yros could sense the undertone of anxiety in the Emperor's voice. Z'haas understood how close he had come to being usurped.

"Either way, Q'yros, it was a distraction I did not need. Yes, I am aware that Gronnus' information was useful."

The disdain in the Emperor's voice was obvious, though Q'yros ignored this. "If he has proven himself, he could be a valuable insight into the Overlords' plans, since you appear to be worried about them."

The Emperor's eyes narrowed. "I would be more concerned if the Overlords were working with the Nobility. That is what we must watch for, Q'yros. That cannot be allowed to happen, and that is where Gronnus will prove himself. But make no mistake about it. We witnessed a Portal opening in his Manor. I will never trust the man completely. The moment he crosses me, he will share the same fate as the conspirator Gondas did. And the would-be usurper Bennis!"

Q'yros admitted to being mystified as to the Portal. Yet there was no denying that Gronnus had passed his "test." He could not believe the man smart enough to arrange for a ruse of this magnitude simply to gain trust, not one where so much was sacrificed when it would have been easier to let the coup attempt proceed.

Z'haas took a deep breath and let it go as a slow sigh. "In either case, I will not allow them to have the time to put any plans of conspiracy to work."

The Mage looked askance at this. "My Emperor, are you suggesting the Nobility would stoop to..."

"I make no assumptions, Q'yros! I will suspect them of as much duplicity as the Overlords! That is why I intend to make the Caucus as short as possible."

"If they will allow it. They are worse than Overlords when it comes to political minutiae."

"It is of no concern. Lord Uras informs me it will take at least half a moon to bring together all the Lords, another quarter moon to get them here. The Imperial Army will be ready to march in one moon."

Q'yros gave the Emperor a shocked look. "What? One moon?? How can you possibly train and equip..."

"I have arranged for some assistance. As per treaty."

"Treaty? What treaty?"

"A treaty I have recently signed with the Urisi Nation."

It took a moment for the meaning to become clear to Q'yros. When it did, he gave the Emperor a horrified look.

"What is it?" Z'haas demanded. "Speak your mind, Mage."

Q'yros gripped his staff so tightly that his hands shook. "My Emperor... please tell me you are not using Urisi nationals in your army..."

"Only to fill out the foot regiments. To bulk up the main ground force so that strength of numbers will be on our side at all times." The Emperor paused and raised an eyebrow. "Is this a problem?"

Q'yros gave the Emperor a level look. "With all due respect, my Emperor, you will be lucky if the Nobility do not call for your public execution in the Imperial Square if they learn of this. Then the Overlords will be the least of your worries!"

Z'haas narrowed his eyes. "You disapprove?"

"Argh! Blast what I think! That doesn't matter! I'm telling you what the Nobility will think! You know how they feel about foreign influence at the Imperium."

"This is not the same thing. They will have no say in the command structure. Their field commanders will be subservient to ours. And to me."

Q'yros was exasperated. He could not get the Emperor to understand that it was the appearance of influence that mattered more than the actual thing. Appearances mattered a very great deal to the Nobles, more so than the Overlords.

But there was nothing that could be done about it now. The damage was done. Now Q'yros had to practice damage control. "My Emperor, you must make sure you never allow the Nobility to hear of this... arrangement. Or of the treaty."

The Emperor frowned deeply. "I am not stupid, Q'yros. Stop treating me as such. Why do you think I kept the treaty secret instead of circulating it for their approval?"

"More of your emergency powers, I take it?"

Q'yros had not bothered to hide the sarcasm from his voice. It apparently had pushed the Emperor to his limit. "Leave me, Q'yros. I have important matters to think over."

"As you wish."

Q'yros turned and swiftly left the chamber.

By now the Mage knew of the Emperor's main fault. It was not impulsiveness, or carelessness, or rashness. It was arrogance. The Emperor believed himself to be infallible. Or inasmuch that whatever faults he did have were to be ignored. This was the reason why he was almost taken from power, because he was too arrogant to consider the possibility that someone could move against him.

Or perhaps he did consider it, and that frightened him. The perceived arrogance was a cover for his true feelings.

Whatever the reason, Q'yros could only hope that the matter would end soon. Perhaps it was well and good that the army would march in a moon's time. It would bring an end quickly to this sordid chapter of Oceanus' history.

In the back of his mind, however, the Mage harbored the worry that this was only the start of a very long and dark era for Narlass.

The silence was thick and palpable in the confined space of the outer chamber of Roquan's quarters. Roquan cast his steely gaze between the other two assembled Overlords as they awaited his response.

Roquan took a deep breath and let it go. "No."

Doran threw up his hands, his face red with anger and frustration. He rounded on Rennis. "You see? You see?? This is the same bull-headed stubbornness I have had to put up with for the past half moon!"

"Stubborn? If you wish to see evidence of that, Doran, try looking in a mirror!" Roquan snapped, his eyes icy. "I ask you for more ideas on how we can better penetrate the Imperium, and you continued to harp on..."

Doran whirled around. "I have no other ideas! There are none to be had!"

"If you cannot come up with one, I will surely ask the other Overlords..."

Doran stomped over to Roquan's desk and yanked a drawer open. Rennis backed up a step in surprise, and Roquan looked as if about to surge forward and stop the other Overlord. Doran reached in and pulled out the velvet-lined box containing Roquan's collection of Farviewing pearls. He slammed it on the top of the desk, causing some of the pearls to be unseated and roll about in the box.

"Then summon them!" Doran bellowed, gesturing wildly. "I will gladly wait as you interrogate them one by one and have them tell you the same thing that I will! We have nothing more to give!"

Roquan stared hard at Doran for a long moment. His hands clenched into fists. Rennis saw this and took a wary step forward, as if believing he was going to be needed to break up a fight. He saw the rising fury in his old friend's eyes, and knew enough about the man to sense when he was reaching the limits of his patience.

Finally Roquan's hands unclenched, though his expression remained hard. "I want another option."

Doran raised a hand in anger. Rennis caught it and placed his other hand on Doran's shoulder. "Leave off," he said in an almost pleading voice. "Please. This isn't getting us anywhere."

"I thank you for being the voice of reason as always, Rennis," said Roquan.

Rennis' gaze snapped over to Roquan. There was little in the way of friendliness or support to it. "Then if I am the voice of reason, maybe you'll listen to it. Doran has a point. We don't have any more options left."

"Rennis, he wants me to take a course of action that can only lead to widespread death and misery..."

"Blast it all, Roquan!" Doran exclaimed. "People have already died! People are already miserable!"

"I am well aware of that!" Roquan thundered. "Do you wish me to compound it with more death?"

"Nothing says it will come to that," Rennis cut in before Doran could continue the shouting match. "We are only asking that you speak with the Nobility and seek their counsel."

Roquan raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"Yes, we, Roquan. I'm on Doran's side in this. We don't have any more leverage. Gondas was our last chance."

Doran pointed a finger at Roquan. "By your own words, Roquan, Z'haas is a madman! We should have realized he would resort to this if he uncovered the plot."

"And just how did he discover it?"

"That's unimportant now, Roquan, as all of our options from within the Imperium are gone. Knowing how it happened will not help. But we have an opportunity now if only you will seize it!"

Doran had clenched his hands before him on the last words to emphasize his point.

"You are speaking of the Caucus?" Roquan said flatly.

Rennis raised an eyebrow. "So Lord Uras finally went ahead with it?"

"He was waiting to see how our hand played out, no doubt!" declared Doran with clear disdain in his voice. "Hmph. The man would not show up at his own funeral if he could figure out a way to do it."

"You suppose they're just as shocked as we are as to Z'haas' reaction to the coup attempt?"

"If they had an ounce of sense they would be!" Doran narrowed his eyes and shook a finger at Rennis. "But mark my words, Rennis, they do not have any more leverage over this monster that sits upon the throne than we do! I half-expect the Emperor to bar the doors to the Imperial Palace and not let them set foot inside when they arrive!"

"He could not possibly..." Roquan began, but did not finish the thought.

Doran and Rennis turned to look at him, and it was clear that their mutual friend and finally caught on to a very essential truth.

Roquan nodded slowly in understanding. "He no longer cares. Protocol. Tradition. Common sense. None of it. He is beyond that. He knows only the power he wields."

In a surprisingly calm voice, Doran responded, "Is this not what I have been trying to tell you? And you were the one implying he was insane moons ago, and I would not believe you. I should not have to be the one convincing you now."

"Do you not understand what acceptance of that fact means? It means accepting a military option. It means accepting that control of Oceanus can be taken from Z'haas only by force of arms!"

There was silence in the wake of Roquan's remarks. The pain was evident in the Overlord's voice, even as much as he had tried to suppress it. Neither Rennis nor Doran thought it appropriate to openly acknowledge they had seen it. Instead, they waited for Roquan to make the next move.

Roquan took a deep breath and straightened, lifting his head imperiously as he always did when attempting to recover from a moment of weakness. He opened his mouth to speak, but paused when he felt the gentle pressure on his mind yet again. He gritted his teeth and muttered, "Damn the insolent whelp!"

Rennis looked askance at Roquan. Doran furrowed his brow in confusion.

Roquan sighed. "It is nothing. I am simply being summoned -- yet again -- to a Farview audience I have no time for right now."