“His Imperial Majesty, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Master of all he surveys, and all his servants survey, the bringer of Life, Joy, Hope and Peace to all who kneel before his name, Savoy the Ascendant,” the herald proclaimed. None of the soldiers knelt. “Has sent his royal consort and chief steward to examine what business concerns the realm and bring report to his majesty.”
The herald stepped back and Rizzlethop sloughed forward and addressed the Legionnaire commander. “Well met, protector of the realm.”
Rizzlethop knew people’s faces well enough to recognize one biting off the first and maybe the second thing it wanted to say before settling on, “Well met, sir. What can we do for you today?”
“The Empire and the Emperor himself are always delighted to host their worthy guardians and allies from the far lands beyond the horizon. When they invited you to stay here, they offered you the choicest lands from among the fertile, abundant holdings of all Aedlin, blessed by the gods.” The commander’s eyebrow went up at, ‘invited’. “His majesty gave you and your men your every desire up to half his kingdom. His majesty put every resource at your disposal. His majesty made known to you every mystery. His majesty withheld nothing from his worthy protectors but freely gave as you had need.” Rizzlethop collected himself. He stood a few inches less than the Union commander even drawn up to his full height. He held his tail firmly in check to not give away his agitation. “Yet, His Majesty finds himself grossly uninformed as to the mystery of this night and day’s activity.”
“Is there a question in there, sir?”
The impudence! “What is the meaning of this?”
“This?”
Rizzlethop waved his hands taking in the soldiers, the walking machines which lumbered all over the city, the massive trucks which cracked the paving stones, the electric birds, electric bugs, electric horses and mules and dogs which seemed to be everywhere like a plague of locusts and frogs together. “This! All of this!” The commander, Nakba, Rizzlethop reminded himself, looked around as if seeing all of ‘this’ for the first time.
“Maneuvers.”
“Maneuvers.”
“Yes,” the commander said, “maneuvers.”
“This is all some,” Rizzlethop struggled to find the right military jargon, “training…thing?”
“Sure.”
“Sure.”
“Look, your excellency, I’m a busy guy, gotta empire to protect. If we’re just going to stand here in the street and repeat what each other say…”
“What have you done to our children!?”
“Your..I’m sorry, what?”
“What is happening to our children?” Rizzlethop rephrased the question and lowered his voice. There wasn’t much chance of them being overheard by passerby with the soldiers keeping everyone at a distance with their raucous machinery but even royal guards have ears, and families, and those families have mouths which reach other ears…
“I’m afraid I don’t know what your asking. Please tell me what has happened.”
Rizzlethop stepped back next to the palanquin and listened. He nodded, stepped forward to prominence again, “Some of our children have taken ill.”
“I fail to see how that’s any doing of ours.”
“It is…an unusual illness.”
“And?”
Rizzlethop was called back to the palanquin. The commander stepped toward them and he jumped back in the way to head the barbarian off. “Mummified, commandant protector! They have been mummified in a single night.”
“Wrapped up? What are we talking about here?”
A voice, shrill and angry, burst from behind Rizzlethop, he bowed his head and moved to the side. “Desiccated, O Worthy Protector! Desiccated in a single night!”
“Savoy the Eminent. I’m sorry, Ascendant. I did not realize you had come yourself. What are you telling me? How many children?”
“Does it matter? One is too many! Especially when that one is the heir!”
“Your heir, was..?”
“Sucked. Dry.”
Nakba stood very still. Or at least his feet did not move, which were all Rizzlethop could see of them from his obeisant position. The silence between them held. Rizzlethop stole a peek, the commander’s face was grim, dire grim. The face of one who has seen the first muddy water pulled from the well and knows that the next one or the next after that will pull no water at all, but only sand and cobwebs.
When the commander sprung to life it was jarring and instant like a restarted machine at full throttle. “I’m deeply sorry, Your Imperial Majesty! You have my deepest condolences and the condolences of my masters, your servants! We shall do everything within our power to end this as quickly as possible and will remove our threatening presence from your blessed valley this instant!” He did something to his helmet, “Ops, give me full command override, now. Now! All units, the Sea is Red. Repeat, the Sea is Red. Over. Ops: repeat that command until you have confirmation from everyone…. everyone.” He took two steps back, bowed, “Your excellency, please know this is being taken care of. You have nothing to fear.” He turned on his heel, did not wait for his retinue to fall in with him and boarded one of the now roaring trucks. They, the walking machines, the electric locusts and the electric frogs all leapt up and flew away in a cloud of dust and engine smog.
Savoy looked around him. Blinked in the dusty and deafened aftermath. Looked at Rizzlethop, “Well, what the very hell is going on, Steward?”
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