A Conflict of Orders (An Age of Discord Novel Book 2) (71 page)

More troopers marched by her, heading deeper into Ministries. Dai turned ponderously to watch them pass.

What was going on?

She was near the entrance now. It was a great flat-roofed rotunda, into which many corridors led. In the centre of the chamber’s floor, a gentle ramp led down, into an open valley of dressed white stone, giving access to and from Ministries. Through the arched windows in the rounta’s wall, she could see the flanks of boats.
Many
boats. And many more troopers.

Dai became aware of someone’s gaze upon her. She looked round and spotted a figure in black lurking in the shadowed entrance to a corridor across the room from her. A slight shift in the figure’s stance and she caught a glimpse of curved silver from the figure’s head.

An Involute!

And he was watching her.

Pretending to nonchalance, Dai turned about and waddled back into the hallway from which she had exited. She took the first turning from the main corridor, avoiding the troopers emptying the building. She increased her pace. The corridor was deserted, the doors on either wall shut. Behind her, she heard the regular tread of boots on the stone flags.

A trooper? Or the Involute?

She left the corridor and crossed an internal courtyard. As she exited it, she glanced back. Whoever was following her wore black. It must be the Involute.

Now she was running. Despite her apparent size, she did not weigh much. She spotted a door ahead which had not been fully closed. She slipped through it and carefully closed it behind her. A suite of offices. She stood in the waiting-room. Ahead of her ran a straight hallway, with offices to each side. Each office door boasted a glass panel. She could hear no one; the suite was deserted.

She ran to the last office on the right, entered and shut the door behind her.

Quickly, she stripped and shed the padding which had given her the physique of a fat man. She ripped the make-up from her face, and peeled off the the wig she had been wearing. Beneath the masculine hair, her head was as bald as the Admiral’s—she had shaved it so the wigs would fit better.

The padding she had worn contained hidden within it a fall-back disguise. As quickly as she could, she donned this. Underwear, and a gown of a type worn by a minor noble. Soft sandals to suit. A wig of long red hair, elaborately styled. Cosmetics.

Ten minutes later, a baroness—neither young nor especially old, neither attractive nor striking in appearance, who by her dress had known better times—left the suite of offices. In her sandals, she whispered along the empty corridor.

A squad of Imperial Grey Jackets abruptly appeared round a corner. The woman let out a shriek and put her hands to her red-painted mouth.

The squad-leader, a lance-corporal, saluted smartly. “My pardons for that, my lady. We are evacuating Ministries and must ask you to come with us.”

“Is that where everyone’s gone?” asked Dai.

“Yes, my lady. If you’d follow us.”

Escorted by five troopers in grey jackets, Dai left Ministries.

The Involute was nowhere to be seen.

Empress Flavia I longed to strip off the ornate gown she wore, to rip the wig from her head and scrub her face clean of make-up. But she could not. She was empress now and these ridiculous trappings were expected of her.

As was putting up with the fools who populated Imperial Court.

She had hated their sycophancy when she had been an Imperial Princess. That was one reason why she’d joined the Imperial Navy. Let her sister Aurora play the role of Court darling. There she was now, surrounded by a crowd of admirers, entirely unaffected by the siege and her sister’s subsequent coronation. Perhaps she thought their father
really
was ill. Their brother, Prince Hubret, had not been so forgiving. He remained on Minami, Shuto’s other major continent, a guest of the Earl of Hoo.

The Empress propped her elbow on one arm over the throne and cupped her chin in her hand. Look at them all, she thought. They think it finished. The Imperial Palace was a ruin, Ahasz dead—damn those Involutes for murdering him!—and now she had closed down the civil government and sequestered its riches.

The Electorate were scared. They had already come to her, demanding to know what she was doing. But they could do nothing. She controlled the greatest fleet and army the Empire had seen since its founding.

But it was not enough. She needed more—more ships, more troopers, more cohorts of knights. And she needed money to pay for them all. The civil government was rich. The regnal government was penniless and the Imperial Exchequer empty.

She smiled as she remembered the expressions on the faces of the delegation from the Electorate. For one thousand years, the Electorate had controlled the Imperial Throne by keeping it poor. No longer. Now there was a new balance of power.

It was needed.
She
was needed on the Imperial Throne. It was why she had mutined six years ago, why she, Ahasz and the Involutes had concocted this conspiracy…

The Baal were coming back. In force.

When they arrived, the Empire would be ready for them. Empress Flavia I would make sure of it.

TO BE CONTINUED…

• CHAPTER ONE
  
  • CHAPTER TWO
    
  • CHAPTER THREE
    
  • CHAPTER FOUR
    
  • CHAPTER FIVE
    
  • CHAPTER SIX
    
  • CHAPTER SEVEN
    
  • CHAPTER EIGHT
    
  • CHAPTER NINE
    
  • CHAPTER TEN
    
  • CHAPTER ELEVEN
    
  • CHAPTER TWELVE
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    
  • CHAPTER FOURTEEN
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    
  • CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
    
  • CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
    
  • CHAPTER NINETEEN
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
    
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
    
  • CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
    
  • CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
    
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
    
  • CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
    
  • CHAPTER SEVENTY