Princeps

- Jarat and Gulder are the larger towns in the area. Linden Vale, Velelik and Haya’s grove are the villages. But why do you care about these things? Don’t thump your head over that, rather let me read to you another passage from Joster’s “History of the Imperial Wars”?

- Oh… I just wanna to know who I will be mixing and trading with when I go yee way from this place here. And how I find them, where I shouldda go? I so wanna know!

- Hmmm… it is interesting to notice you already decided to become a merchant. Where did that come from? You still haven’t dug deep enough in the books, haven’t learned enough, yet you already know who you want to be.

- I wouldda plenty of money and a big house, like this one, just safer with scary people who wouldda guard me. If I reckon well master Togrin, ye who has a lot of money, ye is guarded and respected?

Wonderingly scratching his head’s bald crown, the master accepted the youngster’s logic – True ’tis. You know what, here, your first coin. Turn it into a pile and then you can make all your wishes come true.

- Thanks master. I never got a present like this, guard it till I croack, yes I will – Atef joyously exclaimed gathering just enough strength to lean forward in his bead and stretch his arms forward to receive the gift. – Before, a coin I wouldda see only in boss’ hands, I even tried to swipe one... I got battered so much others feared I wouldn’ah pick meself from the ground. But master... my ears still itch to hear a smidge more about those places around us.

- Perhaps later. For now, listen to lessons and stories and remember well unitl you can sit at a table with a quill in your hand. It is worthless to know where to trade if you don’t know how to trade!

Adamant that the discussion is over, Togrin started looking for the place at which he stopped in the leather-bound book of endless boredom. The tome’s casually wiped-off layers of dust stated clearly that there were few who lately cared about the Empire’s history. Catching Atef’s gaze for a moment, Togrin felt stunned by the feeling of menace which radiated from the boy’s eyes.

*

A heavy bronze candelabrum with silver candle fixtures shaped as deer horns was blinking and crackling. It gave shadows a liveliness similar to a macabre dance in the pavilion, fit for a short respite from summer games or a drunken fete before sleep. The black smoke would an everyman interpret as an ill omen, but the speakers were too practical to entertain themselves with such superstitions.

- He bought cheap candles again, that spiteful simpleton! “I dunno m’liege, I was taught by your blissful dadda only to save and always to haggle”. Why haven’t you yet sent that old fool to the mine to put his back to good use? It would be grand if he’d be kind enough to leave his bones in that wretched place as well!

- He distils remarkable brandy. Though, if he were forced to obtain the fruit for it on his own, I wager he would manage to mess that up as well. Leave that be, I am telling you again, the boy is coming to it. He is inquiring too much about the surroundings, as if he is planning something, though I don’t see how he can set foot out of that bed. Glif, Velmer and Roland, may Cidar sow mercifully their souls, almost beat both of his legs to stumps, he can barely lift up in bed. If he were to try a break for it, he’d need to squirm like a worm.

- So you still haven’t absolved yourself from the sweet drop? I don’t see you drunk often, though when do I even see you except in such unique situations such as this one! Alas, let us not dally with empty stories. You are saying the boy is up to something…

Everard pondered anew how to keep the boy docile until the solution to the mystery of Televian mine presents itself. He was frustrated by the circular pattern of Togrin’s fear-laden avoidance, the incompetence that he would soothe briefly with his orders and the ultimate reversal to status quo when Togrin‘d proclaim that all is futile and that boy’s overly dangerous. The steady crackling of candles filled the pavilion once more, interrupted only by the occasional pang of Togrin’s palm, clobbering the mosquitoes that dared landing on him. Mayordomo relinquished himself completely to the wisdom of his master. Everard stopped his train of thought for a moment of disdain, determining that it is hard to find good help even if you had all of childhood to assert dominance. This short, wedged thought didn’t disquiet him for too long, so he sunk back into deep contemplation.

- I used to know well an extraordinary courtesan who had the misfortune of having to put up with us, not so well-off nobility. Knowing that among us exist gentlemen of such fine stature, which are blessed with refined and often deviant tastes, she devised various ways how to protect herself.

- You’re saying you knew a dangerous whore? I wouldn’t take you up for a connoisseur of “superb” ladies. Doesn’t Josefine delightfully meet all your needs of gut and loins’ origin? “Marriage, oh… it is just marriage”, my mother used to put it so well. Sainte…

- Don’t test my patience, rather listen you ass! Otherwise I will tell Wojtek to strap you in with the mules tomorrow to help pulling the work cart. So, if she knew someone was lacking powerful friends, she would treat him with a blade she used to hide in her necklace. Short but efficient to bleed the client enough for a quick getaway before he would come to from the initial shock. For the influential ones she would have a far superior method. A small vial of a crafty liquid that would numb the victim for the night, oftentimes even longer. Uniquely intriguing potion, effect almost instantaneous. You are there, but as if you aren’t.

- So the boy will be aware throughout the ordeal?! He’ll slaughter me the moment he recovers from that mixture!

- From all the terror he will most likely decide to sleep it through or at least to hope that all of it is just another nightmare from which he will wake up broken, but still alive. It worked before; it will work again. Besides, if memory doesn’t err, the potion can be applied for a considerable period before it starts causing trouble.

- Good, I was already picturing the nightmare of having to chain him every time I put him to sleep and feed from a distance so that he doesn’t disfigure me with fire or strangle me with my own belt! You saw what he, bloodied and hapless, did from the floor to Velmer with the three bats! As if he can rule those objects, bend them to his will!

- The more we discuss the boy, the more I conclude that the gift of this estate brought me a coward for a mayordomo. I should find time to personally praise Atef, he gave me a valuable lesson about you. Taking all this ruckus into consideration, I wager that you will guzzle him with the potion with a unique passionate delight, all while he is conscious and you can observe the dread in his eyes. That… that is fit for a coward.

- That same coward saved your hide from deer antlers when we were mere children, protected this stead during the Tricolor war and persuaded your usurers, twice, not to burn the whole damn thing to the ground! The boy is more dreadful than all of that together, and he dealt with you just enough so that he doesn’t connect that your so called “tutoring” character hides much more than what’s observable! I’d jump with joy to switch our roles if you are keen… taking a stroll to Gulder at this time of year would do wonders to my health, you know far well we are already leaning towards becoming “ancient”! Apologise, and continue with your plan!

Everard, bitter to the core, started eyeing Togrin with the ferocity which doesn’t forgive his subject’s self-elevation to equal footing with the master. “An appropriate punishment would shut his yapper, but he is right” – he reasoned. “After all I owe this scamp a lot even though he oversteps his boundaries too often. One of the few who didn’t leave me while the whole world collapsed wanting to eat me up alive”.

- Apologies – Everard rolled over his tongue briefly, with immeasurable weight as if he tried to avoid anyone hearing him, no matter if their presence was in this world or high heavens. Any witness would rush to point out and mock this disconnect in natural order. – Maybe my contact with the boy was too short, maybe I perceive him less dangerous. Maybe I didn’t believe at first what Darek and his drunken bunch claimed to have seen underground. Underestimating own servants’ worth can grow into a delusion and take over with ease, trust me. But now is the most sensitive time of this undertaking and your loyalty and fearlessness will be rewarded! As it always was! Bear in mind the court I promised and your place in it. This dismal place is a transitory life station if I succeed, and you will become my right-hand man! Be warned though, this is not an empty promise and will transpire only if we master Princeps’ powers! He is the first, Princeps, do you understand that! First to touch and grasp the power, the future! At the break of dawn, as soon as Baor appears and Sur is left by Lita, I set out to get the potion and I will need a few days before I return. Until then report daily via letters and in them no mention of any other name than Princeps, understood?! A good sniffer could find out who the boy is if enough effort is put into it. And now, get some of that good brandy, let’s raise our glasses to good fortune and gods! Let it all not be in vain!

Togrin took a moment to observe his master, trying to sense the presence of sincerity coursing through his words and whether he will live to see his promised court if he continues Atef’s farce until the boy is finally under control or he gets the permission to slaughter him. Deciding to take destiny’s hand for a dance, he decisively stood up and without a word headed towards the cellars, smiling to the coming toast. Perhaps, that very toast sends out a little prayer, bringing success to their cause.