Empire of Avarice Read Online Free PDF Page A

damned if she would show that to these men.
    “So,” Astiras sighed deeply, “to matters in hand. We had
to act yesterday after I heard of the disgraceful betrayal to the army my late
predecessor was about to enact. It was the final act of cowardice by a man
unfit to be emperor, and it left us with no choice but to act there and then.” He
looked up at Mercos, standing close to the door. “The Captain here allowed us
access into the palace, agreeing it was time to get rid of him. It was a
particularly brave act of loyalty to the empire, and I for one thank him.” He
bowed once to Mercos who looked surprised. The rest of the assembly, except
Amne, applauded him. Mercos even had the grace to look embarrassed and bowed,
something only a few moments before he would never have thought he’d do.
    Amne felt a kick on her leg and looked up at her father
who glanced at her, his left eye widened a moment before returning to its
normal size. Amne, not a stupid woman, hastily applauded too, although she felt
anything but joy.
    Astiras cleared his throat, immediately gaining
everyone’s attention. “My predecessor was about to confirm the independence of
Bragal, thus spitting on the graves of all the brave men who have already sold
their lives to the empire in trying to keep that province ours.” Some of those
present gasped in shock. Only a few had known of the intention, and Astiras,
being Governor of Bragal, had been informed by a palace flunky by letter,
realising that it was something akin to a dismissal from the post. Astiras had
exploded in fury and had decided there and then to take power himself. All the
emperors since the military disaster in the west ten years back had been
useless, and he had decided he’d be better than any of them had ever been.
    A quick bribe to Mercos; a forced entry into the inner
chambers of the palace; the deaths of two utterly unimportant people who had
made the mistake of trying to prevent Astiras from gaining entry into the inner
chambers, and then he was there, facing the shaking emperor, his blade dripping
with blood. Astiras recalled the conversation clearly.
    “You would surrender Bragal to rebels? After all the
efforts to keep Bragal within our grasp? Have you lost your mind?” Astiras had
faced the emperor, breathing heavily, steeling himself to do the unthinkable:
regicide. As a noble and a faithful servant to the imperial cause, it had been
something drummed into him from an early age to loyally serve the emperor,
whoever it may be.
    “It has cost us too many lives, General Astiras,” the
emperor had explained, his hands flapping in the air in some kind of
conciliatory gesture. “The empire cannot afford the losses and to maintain our
borders as they are now. We must withdraw.”
    “With Lodria up in arms too? The army has to suppress
the uprising there. Do you intend surrendering Lodria too? Then after that,
what? You will be emperor of nothing!”
    “There is nothing that can be done, Astiras. The army
has limits.”
    “I know the limits of the army. The civil wars have
sapped its energy and manpower, but it’s still capable of keeping Bragal. We
need Bragal. The loss of the manpower would cripple us! What of the lives lost
in the fight there? Have you no sense of loyalty to them? They died for this
empire, and you would betray them because you are a frightened, little man! There
is a contract between the army and the emperor, don’t you know?”
    “What contract is that, Astiras? I do not know of any –
contract!”
    Astiras stepped closer, his face twisted with fury. “Not
a literal one, but a moral one. Have you not the insight to realise this? The
emperor commands the army, and the army follows his commands, but in turn they
expect him to look after them, to make sure they can win wars they fight for
him and the empire. But you, no, you don’t believe in that, do you? You send
men to die in a province hundreds of leagues from their homes and loved ones. You
have