The palace
seemed almost empty now; Marthian could no longer hear the buzz of conversation
or the clump of distant footfalls. Slowly, everything seemed to be going quiet.
She made her steady way along the corridor towards the stairs.
There was a commotion in the entrance hallway. She was too lost in her
own thoughts to pay it much attention at first, but then she heard raised
voices. She turned to see Julia rushing towards her.
‘There you are, cousin’.
Marthian looked at her, astonished. Julia scowled at her.
‘My orders have changed’ she said, ‘I’m taking charge’
Marthian began to say something
but Julia had already assessed the situation.
‘And here is my first executive command‘
She leant over to Marthian and with a deft movement took the dagger
away from her.
‘Grow up!’
Marthian wilted under the High Priestess’s stare. She’d never seen
Julia look so angry or so determined.
‘We’re going to find Perclivius and
sort this out’
***
Marthian
made her way through the city trailing behind the High Priestess. She was both
bewildered and relieved – the more she thought about it the less likely it
seemed that she could have gone through with her self-destructive plans.
However, it had been real enough at the time and she felt belittled, as always,
by Julia’s attitude towards her. Equally, however, she felt grateful to have
had matters taken so forcefully out of her hands. She had no idea, however, how Perclivius
would react to this temple counter-coup.
They reached
the rebels’ headquarters. A crowd of Perclivius’s soldiers surrounded them as
they approached. Julia stretched up to her full height and issued a command.
‘I come on the Lady’s business, you shall not impede us!’
Most of the guards were shorter and slimmer than Julia and her physical
presence alone made most of them scatter. The invocation of the Lady’s name was
enough to awe the others into quiescence.
Julia walked on to the heavy wooden entrance doors. She knocked loudly
three times. The doors opened and a terrified looking doorkeeper let them in.
Julia inspected the doorkeeper, frowned and asked, ‘where is Citizen
Perclivius?’
‘Do you mean Proconsul Perclivius?’ the doorkeeper mumbled.
‘You can call him anything you like’ responded Julia, ‘but I know who
I’m looking for’
The doorkeeper hesitated, not entirely certain what to do next.
‘You need to take Citizen Marthian and me to him’ she explained
carefully.
The doorkeeper hesitated for only a second. Then he led them down a
series of corridors to Perclivius’s command centre. About twenty guards jumped
up as soon as they appeared at the door, but then subsided when they saw who it
was. Perclivius, who had been sitting at
his desk, got up and approached them cautiously. He pasted his gentle,
understanding, smile back on to his lips.
‘High Priestess’ he said bowing, ‘it’s a great surprise to see you
here. Do you have a message of hope from the Lady?’
Julia looked straight at him and stared for a few seconds.
‘No’ she said, ‘of course I don’t. And I’m not in the mood to listen to
your sophistry’
Perclivius’s mouth fell open. He began to gesture to the guards, but
they had all mysteriously disappeared.
The smile fell off his face.
‘What do you want then?’ he asked coldly, ‘this is outside your sphere,
I would say…’
‘The Lady has spoken’ announced Julia, ‘and she wants this to stop’
Perclivius started as if shocked.
‘What on earth can you mean, High Priestess? The Lady has never
interfered in the civic life of the City’
‘She is the City’ Julia responded, ‘and so your point is absurd’
Marthian felt invisible, as the thunder clouds began to bump together
above her. All she could do was wait and wonder.
‘I suggest that you both sit down’ commanded Julia. Perclivius noticed
Marthian for the first time.
‘What are you doing here?’ he snapped at her.
‘Obeying orders’ said Marthian very quietly. She sat down.
Julia stared at Perclivius. Perclivius laughed disdainfully.
‘Guards! Guards!’ he shouted
His troops reappeared tentatively.
‘I need you to do two things. First, escort the High Priestess out as
gently as possible, but make it clear to her that she is not welcome in our
military camp. Second, throw Citizen Marthian into a cell as far away as
possible from Citizen Aurelian’s’
All of the guards made straight for Marthian, who was shocked to find
multiple hands grasping at her where she sat. Julia’s eyes blazed.
‘You will stop all of this, NOW!’
The guards stopped abruptly, as if they were playing some violent
grown-up version of musical statues. Perclivius’s face was as red as blood.
‘Arrest her!’ he shouted. The guards began to move, reluctantly, again.
Julia watched them for a split second.
‘Antropius, Villius, Clematis, Helleborus, desist!’ she commanded, her
voice becoming louder as she spoke,’ I know that you are all worshippers at the
temple. I have seen you and your families
there. Would you risk the Lady’s wrath? Would you?’
The four named guards stopped right away, scared and sheepish in equal
measure. The others stopped too, bewildered by the ricocheting orders and
counter-orders. Marthian wriggled from their grasp.
‘Stop this, Perclivius!’ she shouted, ‘isn’t it clear that this has all
gone too far? If we defy the Lady then we’re all doomed’
‘You will obey me’ said Julia to everybody, ‘it is her Word. I have
come to intervene on her behalf. No citizen will ignore my call’
By now half of the guards were prostrate at Julia’s feet and the others
had fled. Perclivius stood, old and frail, and abandoned. Julia sighed, the
pressure building up in her eyes now becoming visible.
‘And her burden is not easy for me to bear’
Eventually
Marthian and Perclivius sat down.
‘This is disgraceful’ said Perclivius, ‘it’s a co…’
‘A what?’ asked Julia. Marthian
permitted herself her first smile of satisfaction for several days.
‘I dare you to defy the Lady, citizen’ said Marthian, ‘I really do’
‘Shut up, child’ spat Perclivius.
Julia glared at them both frostily.
‘If she’s a child then you’re a bully’ said Julia, ‘I see nothing to
separate the two of you’
Marthian smarted.
‘Can I remind you, High Priestess’ she said, ‘that I haven’t killed
anyone and that I am the lawful Proconsul of this City’
Perclivius mumbled something under his breath, but neither Julia nor
Marthian could hear what it was.
‘None of that is of any interest to the Lady’ said Julia, ‘My job is to
ensure a functioning City while it is besieged’
‘Let me get on with my job then’ said Perclivius
‘Certainly Citizen. You are to lead the defence of the city and so
assume the ancient title of “Dictator”.’
‘What?’ exclaimed Marthian.
‘Please be quiet until I have finished talking, cousin’
‘But…’ Marthian’s voice trailed off.
‘Good’ said Perclivius with grim satisfaction, ‘the Lady’s endorsement
is greatly appreciated’
Julia continued.
‘While the Proconsul will continue to deal with domestic matters – food
supply, public morale, refugee assistance, sanitation and so on’
‘What?’ exclaimed Perclivius
‘Be silent, Citizen’ said Julia, ‘I am still talking’
Perclivius and Marthian both looked at each other, perplexed.
‘How is that going to work?’ asked Marthian, wondering if Julia really
knew what she was doing.
‘I really don’t care’ said Julia, ‘have you not noticed the enemies at
our gates?’
Perclivius shrugged.
‘I have what I want – I really don’t care what she does’ he sneered.
‘Release Aurelian’ demanded Marthian, ‘and all of the other prisoners
you’ve locked up’
Julia nodded.
‘Yes – we must start with a full complement of able bodied citizen
‘That’s ridiculous’ Perclivius growled, ‘they will just plot against
me. How could that work?’
‘He has a point’ conceded Marthian, ‘I might plot against someone who
locked me up for being loyal to my leader…’
Julia looked flustered.
‘Well, you can’t – it won’t be permitted…’
She hesitated briefly, as if suddenly crushed by the impossibility of
this enforced detente, but then she rallied.
‘I will inspect your arrangements twice a day – I suggest that you sort
yourselves out rapidly’
Perclivius stood up.
‘Well, I will go and do something useful. And we’ll see about this. The
only thing that you have said that makes any sense, High Priestess, is that we
need to fight – so I will go and do that.’
He strode out of the room. On his way out he let off a parting shot.
‘Marthian – I expect all of your
troops to report to me immediately.’
Julia and
Marthian sat together for a moment.
Marthian got up to leave.
‘I’m going to find Aurelian’ said Marthian. She felt entirely justified in pursuing her
own troubles, given that Julia was so eager to take things over.
Julia nodded, a little dazed.
Actions had been set in motion but not even the Lady might know their
consequences.
‘Do you really think this will work?’ asked Marthian.
‘Perhaps – at least for long enough’ said Julia. She touched Marthian
hand as Marthian left the room.
‘I really need your help, cousin’
‘You have it’ replied Marthian,
although without much enthusiasm, and then she was gone.
Julia
was left standing alone in Perclivius’s office: steadfast but full of fears.
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