Death and the Emperor

Book 3 Chapter I: Prince Nalginton

Die Zeit wird alt und müde, der Wein wird schal (Time grows old and tired, the wine sours)
Die Luft ist schwül und stickig im Spiegelsaal (The air is oppressive and stifling in this hall of mirrors)
Unsichtbare Augen seh'n uns beiden zu (Invisible eyes watch both of us)
Alle warten auf das Rendezvous (Everyone waits for the rendezvous)
-- Elisabeth das Musical, Der letzte Tanz (The Last Dance)

Prince Gialma of the House of Caranilnav was sure of two things. One, his cousin was too weak-willed to be a good Emperor. Two, Gialma would be a much better one. He hadn't dared make a move since his friends' plots had been discovered. He had avoided a charge of treason by claiming to be ignorant of their plans.

But now months had passed. He had been a model citizen since the day of the murder. Now he was no longer under constant surveillance from his cousin's spies. So Gialma had hatched a new plot. But he needed someone else's help for it to work.

And so he sat down one morning to write a very important letter.

Greetings to his Highness Prince Nalginton of Malish. Sir, I have a business proposition for you.

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Nalginton-Gudea[1] had not been having a good year. In fact, it would be more true to say he had not been having a good decade. He had carefully planned how he was going to claim the throne. He would stay carefully out of the way while his brothers and half-brothers murdered each other. Then he would sweep in, kill any survivors, and kill his father if the old goat wasn't dead by then.

But then Emperor Tinuviel got involved.

Nalginton had no idea how the Carannish emperor had gotten a hold over Ridanwes-Iqui. But there was no denying it had happened. The Iqui had publicly announced that no one in his family was to do anything that Tinuviel might object to.

If Ridanwes-Iqui had been less cruel or paranoid, this would have been his undoing. Many former Iquis had been murdered when they showed any sign of weakness or vulnerability. The assassination attempts had come thick and fast. All of them had been foiled, and the perpetrators -- invariably sons or nephews who saw an opportunity to seize the throne -- had been tortured to death.

Nalginton was no fool. He realised now was the time for all treacherous princes to panic.

So he had fled from Ihalāiksonen to Turuvith, a distant province of Malish. For the past five years he had lived there, waiting for some sign it was safe to return. But he had not been idle in his self-imposed exile. He had many plans. All he needed was an opportunity to try them.

And now he received a letter that promised to give him that opportunity.

While in Turuvith, he had married a noblewoman's daughter. The average Malishese man saw women as little more than breathing objects. But Nalginton's mother had fought her way up to being the First Concubine, the position second-in-rank only to the Iquiisal[2]. He had seen how cruel and scheming she had been to reach that position. And he had seen what his wife was capable of.

Nalginton had married mainly to provide a plausible reason for his sudden absence from the court. It had taken his wife only days to realise the pious, respectable man she married was a snake in the grass. It had taken him a week to realise the dainty, ornamental woman he married had the heart of a cheldrach[3] and a knowledge of poisons matched by few alchemists.

So he knew not to underestimate women. His wife Jalakanavu, as he had named her[4], had become his co-conspirator in his plans to claim the throne. And so the first thing he did upon receiving the letter was to go and consult her.