It was just
before noon and Marthian sat with Aurelian in her office trying to plan.
Aurelian had brought the military manifests with him and they were sitting side
by side poring over lists of names of officers and army units. They planned
painstakingly to mark each soldier as ‘loyal’, ‘disloyal’ or ‘uncertain’. Although the meeting wasn’t going to be very
romantic, Marthian was very glad to have him by her side, particularly now that
Viola had gone.
After the explorers had left, two day before, the atmosphere in the
city had soured. The soldiers in their barracks had become noticeably more
restless, stirred up, it seemed, by officers who were of Perclivius’s party.
Aurelian could cope with that at the moment – there were just occasional bouts
of insubordination – but the political fallout was more serious, as a
whispering campaign against Marthian began to intensify. A delegation had come to her with a request
that Perclivius should be included in the Executive Council – ‘to ensure
balance’ – and Marthian had said that she would think about it. Now she was
wondering how long she could continue to pretend to think before it became
clear that she was going to say ‘no’.
Aurelian flipped over the first page of the first manifest and began
reading from the top. Marthian, who was standing behind him, half-read the
document over his shoulder. It was headed “First Brigade, Ortia Garrison”
‘Arius - loyal ’
‘Aria – disloyal’
‘Asta – disloyal’
‘Attus – disloyal’
‘Aurelian…’ he said, pausing absentmindedly.
Marthian stared at him
‘Well, if you don’t know, I’m not sure who does’ she said
‘That’s not me, is it?’ asked Aurelian nonplussed
‘Is it?’ Marthian echoed
‘No, it’s not’ he said, sighing, ‘I’m not on this list’
‘Who is it then?’ asked Marthian
Aurelian looked pained.
‘How should I know? There are over one thousand names’ he said, indicating
the whole mass of papers with a wave of his hands.
Marthian’s stare turned frosty.
‘Then how can we do this task?’ she asked in her most exasperated voice
Aurelian looked back at Marthian, irritation creasing his brow
‘I know most of them’, he said ‘or maybe you do…’
‘But you don’t even know someone who shares your name’ she said, ‘you’d
think a person would notice something like that…’
‘Apparently not’ said Aurelian,
‘I’ll mark him down as “uncertain”’
‘I can’t wait till we get to all the “M’s” he murmured to himself.
Marthian began to respond but thought better of it. They sat in silence
for a while as he continued his counting, wordlessly.
Aurelian reached out and took Marthian’s hand. She smiled, somewhat reluctantly.
‘So – what should I do about Perclivius?’ she asked
Aurelian frowned. He clearly
wasn’t happy to hear that name.
‘Do you mean about the council seat?’ he asked.
‘Let’s start there’ agreed Marthian.
‘You can’t let him on to the council’
‘Obviously – but how can I turn the request down without causing more
trouble?’
‘You can’t, and I don’t see why you should’
‘But if I refuse then it may mean serious civil unrest’
‘And if you don’t then you’ll look very weak’
Marthian picked up one of the lists.
‘I know ‘she said, ‘that’s why we’re doing this’.
Aurelian nodded. There was another few minutes of silence.
‘Have you any idea of the odds yet?’ asked Marthian, sitting down
beside him. She squeezed his hand.
‘At the moment – two to one in their favour, I’d say. Perclivius is a
war hero – nine hundred years ago he was slaughtering Tlaxacans while I – was
co-ordinating fire control’
‘You were in charge of buckets?’ said Marthian, under her breath.
Aurelian ignored her.
‘Anyway – I can’t compete with Perclivius when it comes to being
anti-Tlaxacan. You know his claim – that he killed five hundred Tlaxacans. The
weight of ordinary military opinion is sure to be with him particularly now
that he’s firing them up with all this Tlaxacan spy stuff.’
‘Five hundred’ Marthian scoffed, ‘did he line them up carefully and
then shoot very long arrows through them?’
Aurelian smiled very slightly to acknowledge the joke, but looked
uneasy.
‘He was a great soldier – you
didn’t see him fight. You’ll get nowhere if you continue to be so sceptical.
No-one will share your doubts’
‘However, from where I’m sitting scepticism seems a reasonable
response’ she said
‘To you, Marth, maybe, but to your average archer shivering at two in
the morning on a battlement, fearing that every moon shadow is the Tlaxacans
returning, Perclivius is reassuringly straightforward.’
Marthian still held on to Aurelian’s hand, even though she sensed that
right now he’d rather like to disengage.
‘Well, there is no sign that the Tlaxacans are coming back any time
soon’ she said
‘How do you know that?’
She looked away. The sun was really bright today.
‘I don’t’ she said, ‘but I have no intention of running this city in a
constant state of fear. And as far as I can see that’s what Perclivius wants’
Aurelian nodded emphatically.
‘Well, that’s why you have to make it clear exactly what you stand for,
proconsul, and what you will and won’t put up with. And that may mean bringing
him in here and getting an Imperial lawyer to explain it very clearly’
Marthian shuffled a little in her chair. She squeezed his hand a little
too tightly. His fingers began to feel a bit numb.
‘You’re the Imperial authority – make that clear’ he said firmly, ‘for
once…’
She smiled weakly.
‘That’s not always clear to me, though’ she said quietly, ‘the whole
authority thing’
‘There’s no-one else – so hard luck…’
‘I know that...’ she said, ‘...all too clearly’
‘Right – so are you willing to stand fast?’
Marthian let go of his hand. A few seconds before that he had really
wanted her to let go, but now he felt mildly rejected.
‘Yes – but I need your support’, she said, ‘Do I have it?’
Aurelian didn’t hesitate for a second.
‘Yes – every time’ he said very clearly, ‘you know that’
Marthian got up from the table and walked to the window. The bright midday sun illuminated her in a
pool of light. She turned to look at her general.
‘But, is that because you think that I’m right? Or because you think
that you love me?’
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