The Emperor's Legion (Watchers of the Throne #1) - Chris Wraight Page 0,37
his judgement.’
I was getting carried away then, and I recognised it immediately.
The Captain-General remained impassive. I doubt I could have done anything to seriously discomfort him – I was so far below him in the scale of majesty that I was lucky he even deigned to talk at all.
‘You may be right, chancellor,’ he said, evenly. ‘Everything you say may be right, and yet it is all irrelevant. Wars and tactics are for our generals – for me, they are nothing. A thousand worlds might fall, and still it would be nothing. You understand this? Only one thing would compel me to change the ancient law that governs us – if it were His manifest will.’
I hesitated, unsure what to make of that. ‘But… how do you–’
‘That is the task of our lives to unravel.’
There was something exhausting about talking to one with such unbreakable certainty. They had to be that way, no doubt, but I was used to the world of politics, where the art of the possible was all and a person might believe one thing in the morning and another by dusk, and so it was hard to engage with.
‘The High Lords will discuss it anyway,’ I said, clutching at what I could.
‘Yes,’ said Valoris. ‘Your doing, I understand.’
‘Only partly.’ I looked him directly in the eye, as closely as I could bear to. ‘If you’re not there, they’ll debate these issues without full understanding. They’re currently divided, but that might change. I’ve known it before. Suppose they vote to withdraw the law – what then? You’ll be a part of this war, whether you like it or not.’
‘None may compel us.’
‘Maybe not, but the vote would create division. Now, when we really don’t need any more of it.’ I felt myself warming to the theme, and some of my confidence returned. ‘This is the issue, Captain-General – you have control. You can end this for a generation, if you choose. If you’re so sure of your stance, come to the Council. You can take Brach’s seat. You can say what you have said here, to me, and none could gainsay you. Is that not worth it?’
He was studying me. Just then, I saw what he had been doing. My words made no difference at all, and it had always been the utmost hubris to think they might do, but he was interested in me.
‘Why does this drive you so much, chancellor?’ he asked.
‘My duty is to serve.’
‘Impartially. And yet you are so desperate to see the motion pass.’
I floundered a little. ‘I wish to see the war won. Surely all of us do.’
Valoris drew closer to me then. He was looking at me almost hungrily, as if I were one of his many hunt-targets. ‘You were a cynical man,’ he said. ‘You were loyal, but you never took sides. For you, it was simply about the wheels of the machine. And now you are ready to die just to meet me. Have you never considered what is happening to you?’
Jek had asked me the same thing. For once, I was lost for words.
‘There is a maxim,’ said Valoris, ‘that you may be familiar with. It states that the Emperor is within all of us, and that all of us are within the Emperor. If you wish to discern His desire, then look to the desire of those who serve. He no longer speaks to us with a mortal voice, but may yet act through the devotion of those who do.’
This sounded dangerously like heresy. If it had come from any other but him, I might have turned away then. As it was, all I could do was listen.
‘We are not blind to this,’ he said. ‘When Valerian reported back to me after his meeting with you, I might have summoned you then, but did not, wishing to see how far you were willing to go. That sounds like a cruel game? It was not intended to be. We have learned to be wary, for there are more false prophets than true. But your zeal is unfeigned, for if it had not been, you would be dead already.’
I cracked a dry smile. ‘Nice to know that,’ I said.
‘I do not see the way ahead yet,’ Valoris went on, ignoring me. ‘All paths are dark now, and if I had known the route to take with clarity, it would have been taken fifteen years ago. But I cannot ignore what you have done. It may be nothing, just