Chapter 16 #2
Lysandros. Two years ago, Emere had encountered him at Finvera Pass. He had only approached them, which was enough for Emere and his soldiers to fall where they stood, unable to breathe. It was almost understandable that his absence was so keenly felt that the Office of Truth would resort to this.
But this didn’t make sense. “Even if it were so, all you would have to do is alert the Senate … it’s the Senate that has command over the legions. Wouldn’t that be a more efficient way to stop it?”
Septima smiled bitterly.
“It is as you say. If the Senate does not wish it, there can be no takeover. But this plan has been secretly approved by many of the senators. This is a political ritual, if you will, to overcome the dissenters and skip legal hindrances. There have been three such precedents in the history of the Empire. Each time, an Imperator was appointed.”
“An Imperator?” Emere had not heard of this position.
“A special office that can rule without any adherence to procedure, supposedly to bring the wayward Empire back onto its destined path. You won’t find mention of it in any of the Empire’s laws, as the Imperator is above the law.
” Septima paused to sip from her glass. “Ever since the attack two years ago, many senators have become paranoid about the provinces. There have been heated debates in the Senate about this. The Office of Truth has been advocating tighter control over them, while selling the coup to those senators who would listen. The Ministry of Intelligence in turn has been persuaded not to intervene.”
“Are you not Intelligence yourselves?”
Septima frowned. “The Office of Truth did not manage to make us choose their side, but they did force us to keep neutral over the matter. I objected, which is why the three of us were dismissed and are now under watch.”
That was somehow unsurprising to Emere. These people didn’t look like they were following any sort of standard Intelligence operating procedures.
Emere pondered the meaning of it. “So, this is the Office of Truth using the paranoid senators to take power, and install one of their number at the very top of the Empire.” A single leader with an iron fist at the helm of the Empire that could overrule the Senate and the Commons while ignoring the laws.
Such a person could do anything they wanted to the world.
He shuddered at the thought. “And this Cain, he uncovered all this?”
Septima nodded. “Yes. But Cain had become trapped while looking into the Circuit of Destiny and now he can’t leave it. We had just barely managed to make contact with him through the Ebrian, and the first thing Cain passed on to us was the Office of Truth’s plan.”
Devadas broke his silence. “Cain said he was able to talk to the outside through those people’s prayers.”
“Ebrians,” said Septima, “are usually just provincials we surveil and keep in line. But there’s no way for us to talk to Cain except through their prayers.
Ebrians are suspicious of Imperial attention, so we could not reveal ourselves to them.
” Septima let out a short laugh. Clearly, she appreciated the irony of her predicament.
She pointed her chin at the dead man. “He was our line to Cain.” Septima bit her lip, perhaps a gesture of regret.
“We’d let him think we were worshippers of another god looking for divine messages.
” Emere sensed a sliver of regret in her words.
“You said my name came up,” Emere continued, “but you haven’t told me how and why.”
Septima licked her lips. “We don’t know either. Only that Cain is desperate to see you. Which means we must find another Ebrian whom Cain can use, and to do that, we have to leave now.”
Emere sighed. He’d thought by now everything would be explained, which it wasn’t, and the true meaning of his dream in the square would reveal itself, which it didn’t.
Maybe it was going to be like the last twenty years, a glimpse of destiny followed by nothing, or less than nothing.
Perhaps he should leave it all to these three and go home, perhaps ask Ludvik for more security.
After all, what could he, a former prince of a small province, do that would stop the power game happening at the highest level of the Empire?
Emere shook his head at his own thought. He had to keep faith. There was going to be something at the end of all this, something that would vindicate his whole life. He felt a strength return to his grip. The Nameless God dug into his palm.
He looked up at Septima. “All right. Let’s see what we find.”
Septima smiled. “I had a feeling you would say that. Then—”
“But one last thing,” said Emere, holding up a hand. “I may be an idle councillor from a small province, but I do know how Imperial politics work.”
Septima raised her eyebrows.
“The Office of Truth may be powerful,” he continued, “but to cohere as one for this undertaking, and to get the support of a Senate majority, they would need the authority of at least a Grand Inquisitor. But that position had been occupied only by Lysandros for a hundred years, and he left a vacancy that still hasn’t been filled.
And the Commons committee that controls the Office of Truth is in all practicality controlled in turn by Tythonia’s councillor, Ludvik.
He is a provincial councillor. Would he stand idly by as an office under his oversight plans a coup to oppress the provinces?
So, who would have enough influence to make these machinations possible? ”
The stout man grinned. Devadas shook his head.
Septima gave the stout man a look and sighed.
“Councillor, Ludvik is the one who set all that in motion. He’s the one who sent the assassin to kill you. And once the Office of Truth takes power, he is the one the Senate will appoint as the Imperator.”