Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Empire of Khlipnor1

Mandragora Furslee, the soothsayer, nervously perused the cup of slow-moving skliks beetles Lord Hearn had cast onto the fortune board. One of the larger red females was moving towards The Star, the other although slower, was definitely heading towards Quadraloops. Three casts and every one the same… it was unheard of!2

“Well!” 3

Lord Hearn, third in line to the head of The House of Coulter, demanded with a foppish wave of the hand.4

Furslee was not mislead into thinking the wave was an inconsequential gesture – little more would be required for the family guards to take him out and severely beat him. He probably wouldn’t die… the guards were very skilled, but mistakes had been made.5

“It’s very clear my Lord – the augury is almost a perfect match to those of your Honourable cousin and Lordly brother.”6

With a rather twee wiggling of his fingers Lord Hearn gestured for Furslee to get on with it.7

“It indicates a stranger my Lord, from far off lands; or possible a small band… but in possession of an immense power.” 8

“For good or ill of the family?” Lord Hearn snapped.9

Furslee swallowed, hard. The other two nobles had accepted his explanation, but neither had Hearn’s reputation for motiveless cruelty. “It is unclear my Lord, as is their place of origin; that is to say…”10

“Don’t prevaricate with me old man – if I had wanted a bunch of double talk I would have got one of those silly mystics – spit it out!”   11

“My Lord.” Furslee bowed. “The name of the place seems clear Lord… but I cannot find that name in any record. As with the power, it would seem to be called sillilth, but what that means - none seems able to say.” 12

Furslee waited, eyes pointed firmly at the floor.13

“Not a great help then.” Lord Hearn said in slowly measured tones, “However, I prefer an enigma to the babbled bullshit of the Mystics’ Guild,” he continued after a moment’s pause. “You will return on the first of next month to recast the augury and in the meanwhile you will seek for more information on the place and power. Clearly there must be some great influence coming to the family.”14

Furslee glanced up and was transfix by the glint of diamond in the watery grey eyes. “I will retain your services at twenty percent above normal.”15

Furslee snapped his mouth shut and swallowed nervously; it was a great coup, it would be both prestigious and profitable - but fraught with risks. The seer bowed lower, but did not fool himself by thinking he had any choice in the matter.16

“This may help as an incentive.” Lord Hearn threw a small purse of coin on the floor before Furslee. “I will of course demand utmost discretion in this matter.”17

Furslee bent so low he was almost doubled over; he had never been paid in advance, nor had his life so subtly, yet unequivocally threatened before. The conflicting emotions of having both in the same minute were difficult to hide.18

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Two Coulter bodyguards, one leading the other following, escorted him through the large and ornate family palace. At the gates the carriage and his own men were waiting but Furslee hardly even acknowledged their presence; for he couldn’t help feel he had inadvertently crossed the line. For forty years, first under his father’s tutelage and then under his own volition, he had walked the tightrope between obscurity and the dangers of fame. To be retained by one of the seven major families was perilously close to the latter.20

As soon as he reached home Furslee grab a bite to eat and took it to his, sanctum-sanctorum; not a soul save him had entered this room for over thirty years.21

For the umpteenth time Mandragora Furslee deliberated the scope and inception of his treason. It had been just a simple hobby - nothing more. Even as a child he had been skilled at riddles and puzzles… this was just the greatest riddle and so too, the finest challenge. 22

It had started with the seven great families, or as they were referred to in the Empire – The Great Wheel. He had noted down their weekly progress, trying to predict where one would prosper or lose ground. He had formed his own notation, for although he was sure scribes of all the families would record such notes; strictly speaking it was illegal. 23

When, unsurprisingly, no great revelation had taken place he had added, three ‘small wheels’; the twenty one other families that could be considered as ‘players’ in the scheme of the Empire. His notation though represented them more like a ball with spokes protruding, for although they were in three loses groups of seven, there were changing links, both to the seven main families and to other families in the other groups.24

   He had after a short experimental period abandoned the three dimensional model for a wall wide chart with pegs and ribbons in five colours to show the relative grades of connections. This had probably been the small change that had taken him from, inadvisable to treason – it had still required several further modifications and ten years before he had made his first accurate prediction. It still gave him cold shivers when he remembered first seeing the pattern and then the financial exchanges – and he had realised the extent of his crime. 25

  The Emperor and the Great Wheel did not power the change, as was always claimed, but were simply part of an incredibly complex pattern that was in dynamic motion and yet once viewed in this way it had clear checks and counterbalances that almost always prevented catastrophic swings and changes, almost always… It had not prevented the demise of the Mclintock family; formally one of the seven in the ‘Great Wheel’ and now seventy years later not even listed in the minor twenty one.  26