Gaias Went dawdled along the battlements around the palace.
It was a long narrow piece of ground facing a parapet, gaps where cannons used to be.
one could see everything from there, all the little ants.
It had never been used, in fact. A fact that had always empowered and despaired the old commander.
Gaias enjoyed his place as the leader of her Majesty's military police, it was easy.
File this, investigate that; half of his real problems could be solved with a knife in the night. Practical, beautifully efficient.
Occasionally weapons shipments would go missing and that was a worry, naturally though they always turned up. Upstream they would find floating bodies, usually they bobbed into a local village, the commoners talk for the week and then all was forgotten.
He looked out over the flat roof districts of the quarter below. A place as monotone as its people, no matter how much colour they wore.
The palace itself stood more than a hundred feet above the city. A square island that rose from the ground, the city molded around its square shape. He wondered if the metaphor was intentional in the construction.
Did our god have a sense of humour? The thought made him chuckle and a young couple sitting close noticed. Immediately, they turned their heads away when he saw them staring.
Yes, fear me.
He wasn't a particularly ugly man but any man of his rank laughing to himself was a reason for concern. He didn't mind the fear people held to him either, it just made his job even easier.
He passed yet another empty gunning placement, guarded by men half asleep. The stench of alcohol thick around them. Gaias gave the men a grin, pouring all the malice he could sum up at that time.
He didn't bother to see how they responded, he didn't need to.
Arron can pretend he controls everything. I can hold it together for them a little while longer.
For a moment, he wondered if an army was needed at all. Naturally the northern conflict had proven that. But apart from that what did it do?
It had troubled him since the end of the southern revolt, that whole conflict was farcical. They won the city of Penninse and Ponnesa with a single battalion and three cannons.
His greatest battle. A weekend excursion.
He thought the southerners had more balls, he never would have expected them to surrender that fast.
It served for Chrey's self posturing, he supposed. He never had a problem with losing the position of high commandant, only the man he lost it to.
Watching him lead the war had been like leaving a child to make battle plans, spending lives like water. He would have to do something about him too, when he had the time. When it was worth his time.
At least he'd talked the man into only using the dregg armies on the front. They were cheaper.
'Barely training them hardly became a problem, with their mortality rate.' He had said to the man. 'All you have to do is arrest people for minor infractions like theft and there you go, a squad of slave soldiers who can't say no. under commandment of god.
That last part humoured him most. He thought the old Builder was dead. A reasonable explanation for his near two hundred year absence.
They even had a motto written up for though dreggs as Chrey had named them, wrote it up himself.
'You shall be redeemed in service.' and so on. Gaias couldn't remember it, he just remembered thinking it clever.
He hated the commander but couldn't deny his imagination for strategy. In all things men can be moved, not just a battlefield.
The people were so placid that the high houses and stations have had free reign for years anyway. Of course they complained. But that was it.
What a pathetic state of affairs.
He thought as he looked down on the spineless city. Naturally he couldn't fault what was beneficial to him too much. That's what Arron and the queen didn't understand.
Change was pointless if it's more difficult, or if you made it look necessary. He mused on the thought as a group of young courtiers evaded him.
Though that wasn't his cause, profit was the language of the bureaucrat and the conservative. He believed himself to be both. All these reforms were pointless to him.
How Arron hated people like him.
He stayed between the lines, he even started treating the cripples with more respect. The old wolf couldn't touch him.
Maybe he just hated anyone who could stand as a threat. That would make sense.
He also thought the spies Went kept on the queen were part of it too.
He didn't bother with Arron, they all died before they could make a report. Of course, he could never actually admit to having spies on the monarch. Nor could Arron prove it to be him.
They knew that.
How smart they thought they were.
In recent years Arron has seemed more or less infallible to others in court. Gaias wanted to change that.
No one other than the ruler should have that power.
Arron has undermined that power.
Unintentionally. But that doesnt matter.
Whether he knew it or not. He'd made himself too dangerous. A mistake Gaias knew not to make. He knew by watching him.
Gaias had to admit there was something about the Conclave, that order they'll never acknowledge the existence of.
He hated it, but the idea did fascinate him. For all Gaias's social proclamation he didn't think he would ever wipe it out entirely. Just control it better.
But one thing was proven by Arron. The Queen was weak alone.
He looked up at the palace's eastern wing made of all glass and, not for the first time, thought it fragile.
Best not to show your cards till after the game was over.
And Gaias was about to play his greatest cards yet.
He still had flames to fan; people to disappear, people to anger.
He had a meeting with Arron and the queen in an hour, he would love every second of it.
—-
Two hours arguing with the builders guild about accessible designs and this is how I end my day. Marie thought from her baroque chair.
Arron sat across the table from Went, Marie at her place on the table's end.
She didn't think the man ugly. But there were small things that made his appearance hard on the eyes. His hair slightly askew, his teeth slightly too far apart. Apart from that there were the scars, there were countless on the man. Guns were less popular in those days.
They thought it was more dignified to use a blade.
Idiots. Marie thought to herself. What is dignified about war? She had seen some of the few photos that had made it to the capital. To her, war was where dignity went to die.
"Always a pleasure." Went spoke, his voice an aristocratic drawl. The more she thought about it the more perfect he was for the position.
"Likewise, Commander Went." she replied. "Though we would like to know why this meeting was called."
Gaias glanced at Arron. "We indeed." He smiled snidely. "The killer." he said plainly, almost too bluntly to not be seen as rude. Almost.
He let the silence hang between them till Arron raised his brows in a questioning face. "Military police found anything new?" he asked.
"No." Gaias sighed. "But I would like to handle the case, we're clearly better organised for it than the dipshits you made guard captains."
Arron smirked, a look of comic disbelief. "And why are you so keen to take it? I thought you liked your cosy lounges. This might mean you'd have to actually do something."
Marie already felt forgotten.
"And what is it you do? Arron." The Commander cocked his head, matched Arron's growing smile.
"Religious and social affairs." Arron said, eyes hardening as if preparing for siege.
Marie went to get a drink from a table in the corner. Disinterested with listening to another of their 'pissing contests,' as she liked to call them.
The conversation droned on without her and she found more fulfilment in that glass of wine than she did in an entire day's work.
She did wish Arron would include her in the Conclave more, even if she was distant by design. She wished her presence could be more.
"Who have you got investigating it then?" Gaias said. "Unfortunate to hear of the bombing."
He's playing us somehow. He was antagonising Arron. That was obvious.
"Bombs are the M.P's specialty." Arron said and even from across the long room she could hear he was seething.
"Dangerous ground to tread without proof." his grin widened again. "I suppose some weapons become blunt with age."
"Take the case, Went." she said. Killing the conversation before Arron could take his meaning. Arron was becoming more obvious with age Marie knew this. But Gaias had noticed it to. That was dangerous.
Gaias leaned back, looked at the pair, evaluating. Like he was trying to decide who held the leash. She could almost feel his eyes cut as he dissected them.
Arron said nothing, only stared at Gaias with barely concealed hatred.
"Well I suppose we're done then." The old commander said, patting his legs far too comfortably, a big smile forming. He stood, acted as if he forgot something. "My queen." He half bowed. Left without permission, shoes clacking on her floor.
Arrogant bastard. She thought, blocking the man from her mind.
He was becoming a problem. She thought, looking at Arron. Maybe he does need a leash. She thought, looking at her old friend with great concern, and great pity.
"Arron?" she asked gently. He hasn't taken his eyes off the door from which Went had left.
"I think he has something to do with it." He murmured.
Fuck.
She turned back to the mini bar. This would take a lot of drinks to get through.
She had worried this would happen eventually, Gaias and Arron were two sides of the same coin. Never should they meet, or chaos would ensue.