IV
Upon hearing of the arrival of the royal prefect Ahriman and his council rushed to make preparations to accommodate them as quickly as possible.
It was, after all, very unusual to see a royal prefect coming to a frontier city outside of the proper dates (they always came two times a year and six months apart to inspect the local government or receive the yearly tribute)
Ahriman wasn't particularly fond of the prefects and had had several discussions with them in the past about tribute distribution or trade routes preferences for the city.
Since they arrived close to nighttime the talks with the prefect were postponed to the next day at noon, so he could rest from the journey.
After finishing the preparations for rooms, food and other needs for the uninvited pests, Ahriman was ready to go to bed himself but yet another thing came banging at his door.
Several small fires were lit around the city's outer rim.
None of them were particularly destructive but the danger they posed, and the fact that no culprits were found, meant that they could not be ignored.
Ahriman had a quick round of deliberation with the council and decided to send 25 more soldiers from inner city guard to reinforce the outer parts of the city on top of the ones that were already there (numbering 30 before).
"Now they can't blame anything but their own incompetence if they fail to stop these lousy incidents" was all that Ahriman said before closing his door and going to bed.
"Those damn council members!!!" a drowsy soldier shouted full of anger.
From the windows of the city guards headquarters a figure was looking at the soldiers mobilizing to their new positions, many of them noticeably angry.
"Hehehe….they are quite honest to themselves" a melodious voice came suddenly.
This voice belonged to another person that arrived with the caravan of the royal prefect. With strange and heavily adorned clothes combined with a face covered in colors and a strange aroma that was completely foreign to everyone who encountered it, The Magi of the Holy Ones laughed.
"Quite…so" the other person in the elevated room was the temporary commander of the city guard, Jamshid of Syuren.
He was quite uncomfortable in the presence of the priest in front of him. Nothing about them could be easily discerned: their looks were both feminine and masculine and so were their voice and mannerisms.
It was a titanic endeavor to even get their name, Sudabeh.
"There's nothing to be nervous about my good sir Jamshid" they said with a kind tone.
Of course, being read so effortlessly by them made that even more difficult for him.
"Getting back to the topic at hand" he said quickly, "as we have quite a restricted number of men to use I'm afraid I can only provide an escort of five soldiers to protect you on your way to Captain Parkus's army".
"That's more than enough for me"
"Oh...i see...thats reassuring to hear" he did not expect this lack of resistance.
"You have my thanks Sir Jamshid" they said and took their leave from the table to go rest for the journey of the next day.
"A person of few words I see" Jamshid lamented, finally being able to relax.
The next day, after the formal council meeting, Ahriman invited the royal prefect to a private audience.
This prefect went by the name of Himerus of Varyaz.
He was part of a small branch of the great house of Varyaz, one of the seven great houses of Phasan, and the one in charge of governing the region of Margiana (where Amul was located).
Ahriman was of the opinion that this fact had most certainly helped him acquire his position of prefect but he kept that opinion (and the hatred borne of it) deep inside his brain.
Himerus took a quick sip of wine and caressed the armrest slowly.
"So, Ahriman….explain yourself" his commanding voice was sudden and cold.
"W-what might you…mean sir?" Ahriman feigned ignorance.
"Don't play the fool with me old man" he said and frowned, "im talking about this miserable city's situation and the recent mobilization of troops".
The atmosphere was extremely cold and after a minute of it Ahriman gave up.
"My report explained everything" Ahriman said, his body still as a rock.
"Your report was quite vague" he sat up and approached the fearful city chief, "reading all your explanations about magical mist, beasts of the night and "Cursed" castles was quite infuriating to be quite honest".
"What is sir trying to imply?"
"Maybe to justify your petitions to reduce the amount of tribute your city owes us you invented these tales of magic!!" he shouted with very pointed dramatism.
This assertion was not unfounded for Himerus. Chief Ahriman and the people of Amul had been having problems with fulfilling the quotas of tribute for a few years already, often asking for extensions of time to pay it, or downright claiming to be unable to deliver in some instances (a problem that became even worse when the recent disappearances of both people and resources).
This was one of the reasons for Ahrimans third condition for Parkus to bring any treasure he found on Sangar back to the city council.
"That is preposterous to say sir" he also sat up while saying this, "our current situation is too grave to be treating it as some lie"
"Maybe it is….or maybe not, it all depends on what you do now, honorable city chief Ahriman" Himerus smiled with joy while saying this, "I've heard about the recent fires too….we wouldn't want this city to have another shameful smear on its name like with that awful Captain…..right?"
His intentions were clear.
Ahriman tightened his hands behind his back. This repugnant high society beast clearly wanted to force his hand.
Most likely he was already aware of the situation of Sangar's castle and, much like Ahriman himself, had surmised that there were riches there for the taking.
In asking Ahriman about his past mistakes and what he would do about it Himerus managed to put pressure on him to not only pay the tribute sooner but also to expect riches for himself from whatever is found in Sangar to keep his mouth shut about any misdemeanor on Amuls part.
All of this he accomplished without really verbalizing any vile or evil intentions.
"I understand what sir wants…The council will make sure to do something about it"
"Do WHAT about it Ahriman?" Himerus was not going to let anything in the realm of vagueness.
Ahriman could only grovel in his mind before the man's wit.
"The council…w-will make sure to pay up its debts plus an extra…as a token of our loyalty to the holy house…" his voice was meek and docile.
"Oh that's fantastic old man" Himerus smiled and relaxed himself extremely easily, "let's go and put that up in some official papers".
"R-right"
"Ahhh I love it when people are reasonable"
That was the end of the battle.