A Conflict of Orders (An Age of Discord Novel Book 2)
Page 56
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…
Table of Contents
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