The Game
Title: The Game
Characters: Fidelias, Ehren
Recipient: terioncalling
Word Count: 2000+
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Series as a whole
Prompt: Fidelias and Ehren have a discussion of spycraft.
Summary: Fidelias has a discussion with Ehren, whether Valiar Marcus likes it or not. Props to Myrrdneopia for the Beta
The Game
I have a project, Marcus, I want you to work with Ehren on it.
That was all First Lord Gaius Tavarus Magnus had said to me, and it was all I was thinking about as I walked down to the office of the Minister of Intelligence. Octavi- His Majesty- and I, have an understanding. I know how he thinks, and he knows how I think. What scared me more than that notion was that The First Lord; despite being the wellspring in a New Age for Alera, if not all of Carna, when he got vague, it usually meant times would be interesting.
That was a tradition he got from his grandfather. Believe me.
Sir Ehren ex Cursori's office was high atop one of the tallest Towers of Riva'smain citadel, which served as the de facto Alera Imperia until further notice. I had to hand it to High Lord Rivus, the architecture in this palace was both simplistic and grandiose. The Hallways curved in intricate designs, but you always knew where you were going if you were supposed to be there. Which just tells you what a slick little slive Rivus could be when left to his own devices.
I stopped short of the office door. Why was I so bloody nervous?
Ehren is a cursor, that's why, a voice replied in the back of my mind. Ehren was a part of the old life, the old way of thinking.
The old Me.
I rolled my eyes. Crows, Marcus, you're getting old. Ehren wasn't even in the Academy when you turned, and when this whole thing began. He's known you only as Valiar Marcus, First Spear of the First Aleran. The only living Cursors who could identify you is his Majesty and Magnus, who already know, and Amara...who has been too busy to notice, Thank the Furies.
I agreed with the voice in the back of my brain and knocked on the door.
"Come in!" snapped a voice.
I blinked, but I did what the voice commanded and entered. Ehren ex Cursori: friend of the First Lord, Hero of The Realm, and-now that Magnus was Tavi's Majordomo-the only active Cursor in Alera. He was a wiry boy, and although he was as old as Tavi, he looked every ounce the boy with his unkempt, brown mousy hair. The freckles from being out in the sun on the western islands didn't do anything to dissolve the illusion. I felt like I had walked in on an academ trying to study for his final exam. I knew that wasn't the case. I had been at the Elinarch when he served as Tavi's standard bearer/spy. He wasn't courageous, not in the same way as his friends. But he made up for it in dedication and more than a healthy dose of pragmatism. That, and from what I hear a ridiculous amount of knives hidden on his person at any given time
"Ah, Marcus," he said, his eyes and his attention on the desk as he rifled through some papers. "I see His Majesty gave you the news?"
"Well," I said. "To be honest, all he said was 'Go There'."
Ehren kept his head lowered, "That sounds like Tavi. Sometimes he forgets he's First Lord and not Rufus Scipio."
"Well, he was Scipio longer," I replied.
Ehren nodded, but still kept his head on his papers.
Something was wrong. Instinctively, I started looking around the room for a hint as to why I was here, or an exit. Aside from the door I came in, the windows were the only way out. And unless I developed a knack for windcrafting in the last few minutes, I don't think it'd be a viable option.
One thing did catch my eye. A ludus board, it was on a table up against the wall of the office. Two stools on either side of the field. The whole set was laid out on a field of Eleven by Eleven black and white squares. The last two rows reserved for the neat order of lead figurines, also in black and white. A smaller board, five by five, was suspended in the center of a board by an small rod, it's own pieces on either far side of the board, facing off.
"I didn't know you played," I said. Trying to at least get some kind of conversation going. This reeked of a set up.
Ehren again didn't move. "I don't. I put that board there for this meeting. I was going to challenge you to a game. But then I realized that it would have been pretense, the board would only serve as a metaphor," And it was then that he raised his head and looked at me, and there was not an ounce of humor or smugness in his face. "And you are Fidelias."
I blinked. And between the split second my eyes closed and opened, I knew I had given myself away. Fear was my first reaction, the Cursor known as Fidelias was still a traitor to the Realm for allying himself with Aquitainus Attis and his wife, Invidia; had helped orchestrate the Second Battle of Calderon Valley. During the Kalare Rebellion, he vanished without a trace, with the pain of death always looming over his head.
But that didn't worry me. If anything, I was worried about how much I wasn't worried. I could feel my shoulders relax, and my face begin smooth out the wrinkles and scars applied with daily watercrafting. In the span of a heartbeat, I was my old self again.
I smiled, "How'd I give myself away?"
"Didn't do much," the young cursor said, and I suddenly became aware of the knives he almost certainly had on him. "I didn't start suspecting until a few weeks ago, at Tavi's wedding. Despite how close you had been to Tavi since Third Calderon, you weren't seen much during his wedding. In fact, I don't recall seeing you around the entire time Lord and Lady Calderon were here. Then there was the debriefing about Lady Invidia
"I didn't say anything,"
"That's right," Ehren noted. "You didn't. Valiar Marcus was always making terse, gruff statements during briefings and meetings. When Isana started talking about Invidia--" he said the word sharply. I didn't blink this time. "--You said nothing. You were too busy trying not to get noticed to get noticed."
I smiled, walking to chair in front of his desk. "I must be getting old and senile," I said, sitting down. " By the way, what you did with Attis was beautiful. You should be proud. "
Ehren nodded, he might have been only a third my age, but he was every ounce the professional. "I did my job,"
"Don't we all? But how did you manage to gain his confidence? Attis Aquitaine was not an easy main to deal with."
Ehren shrugged, "Well, I started with the divorce papers. Discussing the legal and symbolic gesture of divorcing his wife, an obvious traitor. With that, and being the acting witness to Gaius Sextus' will, Attis felt he could trust me."
"Or, at least trust you not to back stab him until after the war was over,"
Ehren nodded again, a faint smirk on his face. "I have a question for you,"
"I am an open book,"
"At least half of that sentence is false," he replied. "How did you gain Invidia's trust? The woman was, and forgive me for saying this--"
I raised an eyebrow, "A heartless bitch, with a serious case of Chronic Backstabbing?"
"Well, yes."
"Didn't take much, I just slept with her for six years. Then I shot her with a poisoned Ballest."
I had to give Ehren credit, he was the sneakiest, slipperiest, most subtle cursor of his generation. Considering that his classmates included the Captain of the First Aleran and the bloody First Lord, that was high praise. However, the absolute look of shock on his face was priceless.
"Oh come on!" I said. "We've both done things for our work. I mean, I heard about your and the Bosun of the Silve--"
"Hey!" he snapped, "That was a rumor I had started to give people the wrong impression."
I raised my hands, fighting the strong urge not to laugh. "I'm not judging. I'm just making a point. We've both gone above and beyond for the Realm."
The steam in Ehren's face let out immediately. That happens when one of the most infamous traitors in Aleran history just favorably compared yourself to him.
I figured I owed this kid something, "I walked out on Gaius because I was tired of all the deception, the lies. Sextus was too busy politicking to protect his own son."
"Sextus told me," Ehren said flatly. "He understood."
"But it was the wrong decision." I looked at my young counterpart for a second and took in a breath. "I did what I felt was right, but I was just continuing the Cycle." I looked over to the ludus board. "You were right, it is a metaphor. Ludus in Old Aleran means "Game". Only a society so bent on maintaining the status quo would just name something as simple as a game with such an Absolute term. We've had civilization for a thousand years, and nothing changed. The Citizens remained in power, the freemen and steadholders were lucky to have breath, and our enemies were bountiful."
"Our thinking became locked, like the name of the Game. Sextus was a product of the Political Game. Too busy trying to ensure our survival to actually let us live. I left him thinking he'd bring us down. Then I went to the Aquitane's, and it was the same Game. Could Attis have been a good First Lord, yes. But he'd have done the same thing, and it would just delay the inevitable when the Vord finally woke up and we'd never had a chance."
I stopped for a second. Small dots began floating in my vision and my head began to feel light. I didn't even talk about this to Tavi, or Magnus. Ehren just drank it all in.
"I understand," he said. "What I'm wondering is--"
"--Why did I start working for him again, against Invidia's will?"
Ehren nodded.
"The same reason why you held your station, Ehren ex Cursori, and waited for the true First Lord to return."
Ehren smiled, "Tavi."
"He changed the game. His whole thinking, his engineering prowess. Gods, I saw what you boys used at Third Calderon. Between those fire bombs and the catapults. Change has come, Status Quo is no longer Static."
I stopped talking, and sank in the chair. That had been the most honesty I had said since I was a kid on the steadhold.
Ehren didn't reply, I just saw the mill turning in his mind.
"Tavi mentioned something about a project?"
Ehren stared at me blankly and then snapped back to reality, "Oh, right. The project. Well, I wanted to start up the Cursors again."
My stomach just sank. "We're starting it up again? The spying, the deceit, the assassinations?"
"No," he said.
"Then why--?"
"I figured we could develop a dedicated messenger system. I mean, that's what the Cursors originally were, right? Messengers? I figure between the two of us we both know the best routes between here and Forcia."
Now, it was my turn to sit in shock. I used every ounce of my training not to show as much emotion as I was feeling. "I-I would very much like that."
Ehren smiled, "Good. We'll start tomorrow."
I stood up. Or at least tried to, my legs started to get wobbly as I put weight on them.
"Before you go," he said. "One last question."
I sighed. It was only a matter of time. "Amara doesn't know."
The young Cursor just looked at me, "and she won't from me." He lowered his head down and went back to his papers.
I nodded and walked out, grateful at that last bit of unspoken professionalism. Amara had been my student, and my first act of betraying Sextus was in betraying her. I had the good luck and fortune of not having to cross paths with her for several years. But it was only a matter of time. When she did find out, well, that would be interesting.
Until then, Fidelias was a dead man. Marcus, former First Spear of the First Aleran, now advisor to the First Lord of Alera would live out his life. But who knew, maybe there was a chance both of them could find peace.
It's a whole new game of ludus, out there, wasn't it?