chair away, sitting himself down. He reached to his left and opened the top drawer, taking out a brown leather satchel and tossing it onto the desk.
He continued, 'The talks with the Queen, and her representatives are not going well, apparently. It seems that even though we have sent our Emperor, in person, to the talks this is not enough to convince Her Majesty that we are not the perpetrators of these actions.'
Winterburne looked over at the satchel. 'And are we?'
Martell paused, a trace of a frown passing his brow. 'Captain,' he replied, 'I know for a fact that this is a falsehood. I am the Commanding Officer of the Imperial Guard. If there were such orders, orders which I might add would need the Emperor’s authority, then I would know of them.'
'Perhaps,' Winterburne said, impressed that the man had so far resisted the urge to bite back. He waited a moment trying to read the expression on the Commander's face. 'But what if there really are plans of which you are not aware?'
Martell stood and leaned over his desk, the palms of his hands taking some of his weight. 'Are you really trying to insinuate that there is some great hidden military plan and that the Emperor is lying?' Anger now showed on his face, and a throbbing vein rose beneath the skin of his forehead. 'Or are you perhaps just trying to provoke me further, Captain?'
Yes, Martell, Winterburne thought, it's always there isn't it? The rage. Just below the surface, waiting to be tapped like a pool of pitch. One day it will most likely be your undoing.
'Neither, William,' he replied, 'but my experience in the Watch tells me that things are not always as they seem. I have found that it is usually wisest to keep an open mind.'
Martell took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he sat back down in the chair. He tapped the fingers of his right hand on the armrest for a moment. 'Whether there are, or are not, great plans is not exactly the point,' he said. 'What truly matters is that the Queen has declared that if the attacks do not cease within a three month period then, as far as she is concerned, the Commonwealth will be at war with the Empire.'
Winterburne raised his eyebrows in surprise. He already knew that diplomatic talks were ongoing, hence the absence of the Emperor, but he was not aware that events had reached a level whereby the security of the Empire itself was at risk. 'Well, this is certainly a development I did not expect,' he said. 'If news of this leaked out to the population at large there could be widespread panic and civil unrest, especially in the towns and cities near the border.'
'Quite.' Martell leaned back into his chair again, pausing to pick up a pen that had rolled to one side of the desk. He turned it over and over between his fingers before placing it precisely at the head of his blotting pad. 'And there is more news,' he added.
Winterburne listened intently. This was certainly turning out to be a meeting of great revelations and although he would never have admitted it, he was eager to hear what else the Commander might tell him.
'Our informants from within the Commonwealth tell us that the numbers of troops in the region east of the border are slowly being increased,' Martell said. 'In our opinion, Thomas, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the Queen might be preparing an invasion force.'
Winterburne frowned. There had been peace between the Empire and the Commonwealth for the best part of a century now and it was a widely held belief that because the once disputed lands of New Brunswick to the east were stable and reasonably contented then the status quo would remain. Clearly, that no longer seemed to be the case and something had changed. 'But, what if Queen Ysabel is merely reacting to a belief that her kingdom is threatened by the Empire?'
'What threat?' Martell replied, raising his voice. 'There is no threat from us. We must trust that the Emperor can convince her of our blamelessness or else I fear for the consequences. War is not something to enter into on a whim, even for someone such as myself.'
Winterburne remained silent as he considered the alternatives should such events come to pass. He would be officially drafted and would be expected to lead his men against the Commonwealth. None of them were fighting men and even less than that were fit. It was not a proposition that he looked forward to.
'I have sealed instructions,' Martell continued, 'directly from the Emperor himself, which I have been ordered to share with you.'
Winterburne suspected that this must have been difficult for Martell to say. It was so typical of the man, he supposed, that he could perform his duty as ordered even though it was a task that would, no doubt, stick in his craw.
Martell continued, 'I have been instructed to place the garrison in Highport on high alert. My orders say that this must be done discreetly, of course, and in such a way as not to alarm the people. The Governors of the Nine Provinces have been called to see His Highness for a meeting to discuss the outcomes of the summit, which, by coincidence, means they will arrive just in time for the Emperor’s Feast Ball.'
Martell rose to his feet and adjusted his tunic, brushing a speck of dust off his left breast with the back of his hand.
'And there's one more thing,' he said, as he looked Winterburne in the eye. 'The Emperor will be returning home within the next two weeks, and...,' he said, with a tone that suggested that he did not entirely approve, 'he wants us to organise a parade in his honour.'
4
The Fifteenth Day of New Year,
Imperial Year 2332
Kateryn rubbed her eyes, yawning as she listened to the bumping and banging that floated through the gap between the double doors. She ruffled her hair, shaking her head from side to side.
'I had a really bad night's sleep,' she called across the room. There was no reply.
The doors stretched up to the ceiling, twelve feet above, their decorated faces covered in gilt moulding, the swirling patterns meandering across their width and ending in flamboyant three-pointed curls.
A young girl's face peeped through the gap between the doors, her brown hair pulled back behind her head and plaited. 'I'm sorry to hear that, Your Highness,' she said. 'Should I speak with Master Draper about fetching a sleeping draught for you to use tonight?'
'No, but thank you, Rose,' Kateryn said. 'I didn't sleep too well because I was so excited.' Rose had already disappeared back into the other room leaving her alone again. She frowned.
The morning sun streamed through the windows that filled the stone bays, fully ten feet high, with sill ledges deep enough for a man to stand in. Stained glass patterns of flowers surrounded by blocks of colour decorated the windows and as the light passed through them a warm glow was thrown into the room. The patches of colour added their own hues to the tapestries of reds and blues, golds and greens that hung down the walls all around the room, covering the bare stonework and helping to keep the room comfortable and warm.
'Did you have a preference, Your Highness?' Rose's voice drifted into the room. 'Maybe the red? Or, perhaps the yellow?'
'I think the red might be a little vulgar for this occasion, don’t you Rose? And to be honest, I never really felt that yellow suited me.' Kateryn reached down and lifted her hair from her shoulder, looking at the its ruby red colour. She grimaced. 'Definitely not the yellow,' she said. Today, of all days, the colour of the dress is important.' She smirked, this was politics at the sharp end, after all.
Rose walked through the doors to Kateryn's bedchamber and the Empress looked across the room towards her. 'What were you excited about?' she asked. Rose carried a green velvet dress, her left hand holding out the waist as she checked it over. The neck had been finished in fine gold braiding and was matched by the same around the edge of the sleeve.
Kateryn nodded as she saw the dress. 'Yes,' she said, 'that will work.' She raised her arms as Rose held the dress out in front of her and she stepped into it, the younger girl pulling it up around Kateryn's waist and then up to her shoulders, allowing her to slide her arms into the holes for the sleeves.
'I had some news yesterday,' Kateryn said, 'and I've not been able to get it out of my mind.'
&nb
sp; Rose lifted Kateryn's hair clear, placing it over her pale shoulder so that it fell to the front. She began to lace the dress at the back. 'What news, Your Highness?'
'I'm supposed to keep it to myself, but you know how much of a blabber-mouth I can be.' Kateryn looked over her shoulder at Rose. 'Guess what?'
'I'm sure I have no idea,' Rose replied, as she concentrated on the task in hand.
'Oh, you're no fun at all,' Kateryn said. 'I get more amusement out of Draper. Can't you just guess for once?'
Rose said nothing, picking up the silver brush from the table to her side and pulling it through Kateryn's hair.
Kateryn laughed. 'Frederick is on his way home.'
Rose's eyes lit up. 'No wonder you've had problems sleeping. I'm so pleased for you,' she said. 'Well, for me too, as much as anything.'
'Why for you?' Kateryn smirked. 'You don't have your eyes on my husband, do you, Rose?'
'Of course not,' Rose replied, continuing to brush, 'but I was thinking that perhaps now you'll stop being so moody.'
Kateryn glared her fiercest glare at Rose, but the girl continued working, paying her no attention.
The door at the opposite end of the bedchamber swung open and another young woman entered. She was of a similar height to Rose with blond hair and was dressed in a simple pale blue dress. In her hand she carried a necklace.
'Pearls!' Kateryn said, as she recognised the item. 'You know how much I love pearls. Eleanor, you are clever.'
Eleanor walked over to Kateryn and placed the necklace around her throat, feeding the pearls beneath her hair and then fixing them in place.
'Should we plait your hair today. Your Highness?' Rose asked.
'Not today,' Kateryn replied, 'that will take far too long and the Chamberlain may not be best pleased if I keep him waiting more than necessary. Empress or not, there is only so much I can expect the poor man to take.'
As soon as the two girls had finished, Kateryn stepped over to the full size mirror that was placed to one side of the dressing table. 'Let's look shall we?' she said. As always, she was surprised at what she saw and hardly recognised the young girl that had married the Emperor those three years ago, and yet, there she stood, an Empress, groomed to perfection. Kateryn took one more glance and then adopted a serene and regal stance. It was the one that she had often practised in the mirror, at times when she was alone, but she would never admit to that.
'Do you think my Lord Courtenay will approve?' she asked.
'Definitely, Your Highness,' the two maids said, together.
'Thank you, Rose. Thank you, Eleanor,' Kateryn said, looking back at them in the mirror. She gave them a warm smile.
Kateryn’s thoughts were already beginning to turn to her regular meeting with the Chamberlain. Frederick had suggested that they meet weekly while he was away and as he had often reminded her, ''It is important that the due processes of ruling the Empire continue, whatever the situation''. It was a phrase that she had grown to know by heart; how could she not, her husband regularly repeated it.
'It must be time to go,' Kateryn said, turning to walk towards the door at the far end of the chamber. Eleanor ran ahead of her and grabbed the ivory handles with both hands. For an awkward moment the door resisted before finally giving in as it began its slow swing open. Kateryn nodded her appreciation and stepped out into the corridor.
The hallway was typical of most of the corridors in the Palace, wide enough that the three bodyguards standing at the far end could comfortably march down it side by side.
'Good morning, gentlemen,' she called to the soldiers at the end of the corridor, her voice echoing down the hallway. The guards ignored her, as they always did.
Kateryn headed for the suite of rooms that Frederick