Nor was life as we know it threatened by Cartagia's mad reign, during which time the supposedly brave House leaders trembled in hiding, lest they truly lose their heads.
And now...
Well... truth be told ... the life that we have come to know and cherish on Centauri Prime, the goals for which we have fought so diligently... these actually are in jeopardy. Not for the reason that the House heads claim, though. The heads of the Houses live in the uppermost branches of the tree that is Centauri Prime. When one is that high up, it is difficult to perceive that the true problem is root rot.
It took me a little time to discern exactly what has them so up in arms. Most interesting: Milifa, the father of the late and unlamented -except by him -Throk, spoke challengingly to our prime minister. One does not do so if one expects to live to a ripe old age. Milifa apparently forgot that, and is now imprisoned.
A rather foolish move, that.
Tikane came before me, of the House of Tikane. And there is Arlineas, and Yson, and a host of others. Persons who, after hiding in fear from the rampage of Cartagia, feel a greater sense of safety under my more "benevolent" rule. They have also been supporters of Durla, helping to smooth the way to his assuming the office and power of prime minister. I believe they are regretting that decision, and are hoping that I will rectify it for them.
"The Houses, Emperor," Tikane told me with a vast degree of pomposity, "are the underpinnings, the backbone, of your strength." The others nodded in accord.
My strength.
My strength.
What know they of my strength?
It is Durla who runs things, and I... I have been fighting political battles and games for as long as I can remember. For a time I thought that I was truly winning ... except in this sort of game, to win is to lose. Durla feeds on this sort of business, the way a fire feeds on oxygen. The only thing I take comfort in is knowing that even Durla is deceived. He deludes himself into believing that he knows what is occurring... but he does not. He has no idea that he himself is a tool, of... others. Were I to tell him, of course, he would not believe me. He is far too taken with his own sense of self-importance.
Then it was Arlineas who spoke, and he looked a bit concerned. I have no idea how long I must have simply sat there, staring off into space, lost in my thoughts. Next to Arlineas was Yson -small in stature, but looming in charisma -who, as was his custom, said nothing. Very rarely did he speak. As a result, on the few occasions when he did, his words carried with them far greater importance.
But it was Arlineas who spoke. "Highness, are you-" he said tentatively.
"I hear you," I answered him softly. "I hear everything."
"Then certainly," Arlineas said, "you have heard the stories of the massive fleet buildup. Individual workforces, operating independently of each other, each assembling different parts of the whole, but no one person truly knowing its capacity-"
"Or purpose," Tikane said. "No one person except Durla... who now has virtually declared war on the Houses." The others crowded together, all bobbing their heads in agreement. "What does this say to you, Highness?"
"What does it say to me?" I replied. For the first time in a long time, I felt something other than lethargy running through my veins. "It says to me that you and your ilk were more than content to allow matters to progress to this state, when it suited your needs and egos. Durla has made no secret of his intentions. How many of you nodded dutifully and applauded his grand vision. And Vallko ... Vallko, standing in the Great Square, preaching of Centauri Prime's great destiny, which any fool can see means nothing less than the annihilation or subjugation of every other world. How many of you shared his prayers to the Great Maker and sought the Great Maker's blessing for the very endeavors you now decry."
"We are simply concerned for the general well-being of our world, Highness,"
Tikane protested.
"Your own well-being, you mean. You reap what you sow."
They looked at each other in puzzlement. "We are not farmers, Highness," Arlineas pointed out.
I shook my head. "Never mind. I did not expect you to understand. But," I continued with renewed strength, "if you do not comprehend that, then this might serve instead. Something a Vorlon once said..."
"A Vorlon?" There were immediate looks, one to the other. Most of them had never had the opportunity to see a Vorlon, even one inside an encounter suit. I, of course, had not only extensively been in the presence of a suited one... but I was present that amazing day when Kosh Naranek, the Vorlon ambassador, emerged from his suit. Others reported visions of a great winged being, and I...
I saw nothing.
Actually, that is not entirely accurate. I saw ... light. An overwhelming brilliance. But it was shapeless, amorphous, and indistinct. For a moment, it seemed as though I perceived a hint of something, but that was all.
Sometimes I have wondered whether what others saw was some sort of mass delusion... or whether I was simply not deserving of the experience.
"Yes. A Vorlon," I said. "Understand, he did not say this to me directly, but to another. However, things have a habit of being passed around. And what he said was, The blizzard has already begun. It is too late for the snowflakes to vote.' Do you comprehend that, gentlemen?"
There were slow nods from all around. They understood all too well. They were not, however, happy about it.
"So... you will do nothing?" Tikane said. "You will simply allow Durla to do as he wishes?"
"Have you heard nothing I said?" I demanded. "He operates now using the power that your support provided him. He has grown beyond you. To him, you are all simple ground-dwellers. He no longer looks to the ground. He looks to the stars that he desires to conquer, and he has the backing of the military. And the people adore him ... him and his ministers of religion and education and information. You, who have so much, cannot begin to comprehend how much those who have nothing appreciate such things as jobs and building toward a future of conquest. Since they have nothing, they consider it quite appealing, the prospect of taking that which others possess.
"You cannot stand against that, and I do not suggest you try."
"Then what do you suggest we do, Highness?" Arlineas demanded.
I sighed deeply and put a hand to my head. "I suggest you leave. My head hurts rather profoundly, and I would be alone."
They were not the least bit happy to hear that, but my personal guards did not particularly care about the feelings of the noble lords. They were escorted out. The last one to go was Yson, and I felt his rather malevolent gaze upon me even after he was out of the room.
"Leave me," I told my guards. They bowed and obeyed, closing the great doors behind them. The doors of my prison.
I rose from my throne and walked slowly across the room. Every movement these days feels labored and painful. In the past, at least my aches had been courteous enough to confine themselves to what is left of my soul; now they have actually intruded into my joints. Most inconsiderate.
I stood upon the balcony, holding tightly to the railing. I looked into the distance ... and saw something that was most unexpected. There, walking across a field, were Vir and Senna. I had been wondering where Vir was; I had sent Senna to bring him to me, and yet there they were, walking away, speaking with each other like two old friends. Or... more than that?
Then something else caught my eye, on another balcony, to the right and one level up. I knew it welI; it was the residence and offices of Durla. The fact that he had acquired accommodations higher than my own was, I had always felt, a not-so-subtle message from him to me.
What I saw now, though, was not Durla. It was Mariel, and she looked simply awful. She was bandaged, as if she had taken a great fall. I did not have a chance to get a good look, however, because she spotted me looking up at her... and immediately darted back inside.
It was never like her to be clumsy. Then again, age begins to tell on all of us, I suppose.
"What make you of that?"
It was Shiv'kala. As always, I had not heard his entrance at all. Even after all these years of our.. ."association"... I still had no clear idea of how he achieved his comings and goings. I used to think upon it for extensive periods of time, scrutinizing the walls from which he emerged to see if there were hidden passages and such. If so, I never managed to detect them.
"Of them?" I pointed to Vir and Senna, mere specks in the distance. "How kind of you to care about my opinion."
"I have always cared, Londo."
I turned and looked into the face of the creature 1 hated above all others. If nothing else, his unchanging nature was aggravating. My face, my frame, reflected every minute of every day of my life, and not in an especially flattering manner. Shiv'kala, for his part, looked exactly the same now as he had then. "You say 'I' rather than 'we'? I had always thought you spoke on behalf of the Drakh entire."
"You have never truly understood me, Londo," Shiv'kala said. "Believe it or not, you have had no greater protector or friend than me."
"I will opt for 'not,' if it is all the same to you."
Shiv'kala looked at me with what seemed to be a perverse sort of paternal disapproval. "You have not been the best of servants, Londo."
"I grieve for my lapses."
"You do no such thing. Your little rebellions have been numerous, and usually ill timed. That you have survived them has been largely due to my sufferance. Fortunately enough, in recent years they have been fairly nonexistent."
Something about the way he said that caught my interest.
"Why 'fortunately enough'?"
"Because," he said evenly, "matters will be coming to a head. And now would be a most unfortunate time to be... problematic."
I chuckled softly. "Are you not concerned that saying such things may provide
a temptation for me to do exactly what you fear?"
"Fear?" The notion appeared to amuse him. "We fear nothing, Londo, least of all you. However, I have invested a good deal of time in you. The notion that the time was wasted would be displeasing to me."
"Of course..." I said, understanding. "You are concerned that I will be motivated by the complaints. That 1 will attempt to interfere in the plans of Durla, your chosen one." "Any 'attempts' you make will be just that. You cannot stop this, Londo, any more than..."
"Than that vessel, Excalibur, was able to stop your plan to eradicate humanity?"
We both knew precisely what I meant.
"You grow old, Londo," he said after a time of silence. "You grow old... and tired. I can help you, you know."
"Oh, can you."
He stepped in close to me. Once I would have trembled inwardly. Now I was simply bored. "We have our methods," he said. "You need not be a slave to your body. Options can be offered you... if your actions suit our desires. You can be young and strong again."
"I was never young," I told him, "and if I had ever been strong, I would not have allowed myself to get into this situation in the first place. I am not interested, Shiv'kala, in anything you might have to offer."
"When you are on your deathbed, you might have something else to say."
"You are likely right. And it will probably be something like this..." and I put my hand to my throat and produced a loud "Aaaackkkkkk!"
He looked at me very oddly, did the Drakh. "You have a curiously odd-timed sense of humor, Emperor Mollari."
"I have learned that life is short, Shiv'kala, and one must find one's amusements where one can."
He looked out toward Vir and Senna. I could not help but feel that he was studying them in the same manner that I might examine an insect before I step on it. "You have not answered my question, Londo. What make you of that?"
"What do I make of two people walking?" I shrugged. "It means nothing."
"Sometimes that which means nothing means everything."
"You speak like a Vorlon."
It was a passing, offhand remark. I thought nothing of it. But the moment the words passed from my lips, a massive jolt of pain surged through my skull. I dropped to one knee, refusing to cry out... a resolve that lasted for perhaps three seconds before a scream was torn from my throat.
Shiv'kala stood above me, looking down at me with that same crushed-bug expression. "Never," he said coldly, "say that again."
"Never... never..." I managed to get out. Then the pain ebbed, just like that, and I sagged to the floor, on my hands and knees, trying to prop myself up and stop the room from spinning wildly around me.
"And never forget who I am... what you are..."
"Never," I said again.
As if he had forgotten that I was there, he looked back out in the direction of Vir and Senna. "Cotto has been made a tool of the techno-mages. Are you aware of that?"
I shook my head, which was a mistake, because it made the room spin utterly out of control. My left elbow gave way and I crashed to the floor. Shiv'kala did not appear to notice.
"At least he has been in the past. Perhaps they were utilizing him again that day he was wandering the palace and almost came upon me. Well, Londo... what one group can turn to their advantage... another can, as well. And this we shall do... when the time is right."
"Don't hurt him," I gasped out from the floor. "He... is harmless."
"Hurt the next emperor?" He seemed astonished at the thought. "Unthinkable. He is our insurance, Londo. In case you become too troublesome, or decline to remain malleable... you can be disposed of, and Vir instituted in your place. And I strongly suspect that he will be far more compliant than you have ever been."
"I have... complied..."
"On most things, yes. On some, you have not. There should be no exceptions. It is not for you to pick and choose. It is for you to obey."
"Obey... yes... I will..."
"See that you do," he said, and I could feel the temperature dropping significantly. "Otherwise Vir will step in where you leave off. If you do not desire such a happenstance... then do nothing to bring it about."
"I shall do nothing." The pain was beginning to subside, but the lack of control, the sense of humiliation... these were wounds that stabbed far more deeply, and would never depart.
I waited for the response-some retort, some threat, some... thing. But there was nothing. I looked up. He was gone.
I rose on unsteady legs and, as I leaned against the wall, I realized somewhat belatedly that I should have asked him if he knew the circumstances of how Mariel had come to be injured. For a moment, a demented moment, I thought that maybe Durla had done that to her. But then I realized that such a thing could not possibly be. He adored her. He doted on her. Amusingly, there were many who believed that she was the true strength behind the prime minister. I, of course, knew that it was the Drakh. But that was information that I had no choice but to keep to myself.
I have read back on what I have just written. My eyes are tired, and I feel myself growing fatigued. Vir and Senna came back later in the evening, and there seemed to be something in their eyes when they looked to each other... but they also appeared distracted, as if they had seen something that was bothersome to them.
... but I am an old man, and prone to imagining things.
What I have not imagined, however, is the concern expressed by the heads of the Houses. I do not care especially about their personal worries. Whatever ill fortunes befall them, they have more than brought upon themselves.
My memory of late continues to fade in and out, but occasionally I have times of starkly lucid clarity. And the extensive discussion of great vessels, fleets... these things, however, have caught my attention. Perhaps, despite whatever my "master" may desire, I shall see precisely what is going on, in detail. I likely cannot stop it; I am a mere snowflake, dressed appropriately for that status. However, I can at least provide a bit of slush, and see if Durla slips on it.
- chapter 6 -
Senna had never seen Vir looking so shaken. He kept glancing over his shoulder as they retreated from the area of the palace. "Vir, cal
m down .. . you're moving so quickly, I can barely keep up ..."
"I feel like we're being watched." They were the first words he'd spoken since she'd found him on the ground in the garden, and they were said with such intensity that she didn't even try to argue. Instead she simply quieted herself and followed him until they seemed to be far enough from the palace that he was satisfied.
She looked around at the hill where they had come to a halt, overlooking the city, and unbidden, tears began to well in her eyes. Vir, turning toward her, saw them and instantly became contrite. "I'm sorry," he stammered, charmingly vulnerable in his discomfort. "I shouldn't have been so abrupt with-"
"Oh, it's not you." She sighed. Even though she was wearing one of her more formal dresses, she nevertheless sank to the ground with another heavy sigh. "This place used to be ... well... a teacher of mine and I used to come here."
"I had lots of teachers," Vir said ruefully. "I don't especially feel nostalgic for any of them. They had very little good to say about me. Do you ever see your old teacher?"
She looked heavenward at the clouds that wafted across the darkening sky. They were tinged blood-red, which was symbolic somehow. "Every now and again. Up there."
"He's a pilot?" Vir asked, totally lost.
She smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, Vir. He's dead. Long dead."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"So am I." She looked Vir up and down appraisingly. "He would have liked you, I think. Because you're doing something about... about all of this."
"You mentioned that before. I'm not entirely sure what you're talking ab-"
Her gaze danced with amusement. "Don't try to lie to me, Vir. You're not very good at it."
With a heavy sigh he sat next to her. "Actually ... I've not only gotten very good at it, I've gotten very very good at it. Which, on some level, kind of depresses me." He looked at her thoughtfully. "But not with you. You see right through me."