The Radiant War

Chapter 1b

     Tarnmetwell, the Brigadier had heard somewhere, meant the Hill of the Blue Flowers in some long dead language. It was one of seven residences possessed by the Imperial family and was the only one of them that stood within the walls of the capital. As the carriage came to a stop in the courtyard of the huge, magnificent palace and the Brigadier disembarked, he reflected how fortunate it was that the Emperor had been in the city for the entire duration of his visit to this country. He could just as easily have been in Jhatov Villa, a thousand miles to the south, or one of the others even further away, which would have presented the Brigadier with a serious dilemma. Either to make his presence felt in the capital in the hope that the Emperor would come there at some point, or make his play in whatever far flung part of the Empire that was currently being honoured by his presence and hope that he didn't leave before he was able to arrange a meeting.

     Around the gravel driveway was a formal arrangement of flower beds containing the blue flowers after which the palace had been named, but the combination of perfectly manicured lawns within the walls surrounding the palace grounds and the built up urbanisation of the city outside meant that they were probably the only specimens of the plant remaining in the city. In the Brigadier's imagination, though, the palace was gone. The tall, black and gold towers that overlooked the grounds were gone, and all that was left was the hill, covered with grass cropped short by horses and wild sheep and scattered with tiny, star shaped blue flowers looking like sapphires shining in the sun.

     Two Kelvon soldiers in dress uniform came forward to meet him. “Brigadier Weyland James,” he said. “Come in answer to the Emperor's summons.”

     “Thank you for coming,” one of the soldiers said. “Please come with us.”

     They took him inside to a reception room. The Brigadier was prepared to wait for at least two hours, even longer, for the Emperor to meet him, and so was moderately surprised when Tyron appeared less than five minutes after his arrival. “Brigadier,” he said, holding out his hand. The Brigadier shook it and bowed his head.

     “I have agents in the Carrow army,” the Emperor then said, waving him to a chair. The Emperor then sat, and the Brigadier sat opposite him. “I doubt this comes as a surprise to you. They report that they have just launched a full scale invasion of your country.” He stared at the Brigadier. “This also comes as no surprise to you.”

     “We've been expecting it,” the Brigadier replied, but he was wondering how his agents had managed to report back so quickly. He must also have an agent in King Nilon’s palace. He wondered whether Wombat and the Kelvon agent ever came into contact with each other. Whether they ever came into conflict with each other, neither knowing that the other was also a spy.

     “Yes, of course. Anyway, our agents report that shortly before the armies of Carrow broke through your Steel Curtain, Radiants went ahead of them. Dozens of them, more than have ever been seen in one place before, except in their own cities. They summoned earthquakes to tear your country's defences apart, then summoned mists to conceal the approach of Carrow troops. They also reported that the Radiants cast curses against high ranking Helberion officers and even attacked physically, with their tentacles. By the time the Carrow troops arrived, they crossed the border with almost no resistance, almost no losses.”

     The Emperor stared at the Brigadier as he remained silent and stroked his large, neatly trimmed moustache thoughtfully. “I brought you here to ask whether you could cast any light on this unprecedented situation,” he said. “You will then say that you explained it all upon our last meeting, and that I grew angry and dismissed you.”

     “I would have put it a little more diplomatically, Majesty.”

     “It was your assertion that elements within my own government were conspiring to bring down the Empire that I could not stomach.”