The Queen's Gambit

There was a certain reluctance in Julius’ voice when he accepted the deal of the Queen to meet him personally. He was, after all, supposedly in hiding. But after reassurances by the Queen herself that no harm would come to him as he steps foot in Caspian and that he won’t be talked about at large, he accepted it. He was curious, after all. And it’s not like the Queen would give in on digital conversations anyway.

He still took precautions on the way to the castle, an entourage of four of his closest bodyguards. He also decided to not land on the castle’s official landing spot so as to not arouse any suspicion from the nobility, he even took the liberty of wearing a mask on the way to the Queen.

Even then, he was talked about on the way to her court, some cited him as being the Augustus von Kaiser that people heard stories about, the man in the golden mask and a red royal cape that seemed to act like a God in Concursus. A legendary mercenary general whose dealings are known far and wide yet openly denied.

He reached the throne room of the Queen, 10 marble statues depicting the great Emperors and Empresses of the Empire flanked the sides, they all glared below, as if to silently judge or mock whoever stepped foot in that red carpet towards the Queen. In her head was a crown of gold, diamond, and rubies, in her left hand was a scepter. The orb of this scepter floated and glowed an orange-gold hue, 84 smaller orbs orbited the one in the middle, as if it was the planet Caspian itself that she held in her hands.

He kneeled, as is standard procedure, and stood back up again, “I, Augustus von Kaiser, am humbly requesting a private audience with you, the esteemed Queen Elizabeth XIV.” He announced, complete with his fake name.

The Queen sat there, amused, she knew that voice like it was yesterday. She knew the cadence in his voice, yet the way he held himself now is unlike anything all those years ago, the Queen stood up and declared, “The Private Audience shall be accepted,” She set her Scepter aside and walked to the chambers.

Julius followed after, telling his guards to not do anything until he signaled them to do so. They nodded, and he went inside to an empty carpeted room. On the side was a huge window that overlooked the entire city over greenery in the scenery, in the middle was two chairs and a table, on this table were crumpets and tea.

He closed the door behind him, “Lock the door.” Commanded the Queen, he did so, locking the door behind him as he walked and sat down in front of her, “I think you know why I called you here?”

“No, not at all. Would you please cut to the point, I have a war to manage.” Replied Julius, he held the Augustus persona very calmly and firmly.

“I would not ask you to take off your mask, I know who you are.” She sipped on her tea, this did not faze Julius one bit, he obviously came here as Augustus, but she always would know him as Julius.

“That’s good then, so what do you ask of me?” Augustus tilted his head as if to analyze the Queen, but she didn’t budge to his psychological attacks.

“Let’s let that go for a while, shall we?” She smiled, beneath the mask Julius felt nothing but nervousness. Though with the stale, poker face that the gold mask had, it shouldn’t be too obvious, “Tell me what you’ve been up to.”

“Private dealings, I do not want to say anything further.”

“You’ve been working for us, have you?” He’s been found out, he shoulda thought about the idea that going as Augustus von Kaiser was a bad idea.

“You have no proof, but you don’t need proof don’t you?” Julius reached for the tea cup.

Elizabeth grabbed the tea cup and poured one for him, “Even if I have proof it would be detrimental for me to release it. But it’s good to know about information, yes?” She handed the tea cup to him.

“Ever the courteous one aren’t you?” He grabbed the tea cup and let it sit on his lap, “If that’s so, did you call me here just for a bit of catching up? My, this could just be an email.”

“But we can’t reach you, and that’s the problem, isn’t it? Don’t worry. We’re not watching, not this time.”

Julius felt the tension leave the room, in his peripheral vision he felt the casual glint of a scope disappear. Behind him machinery whirred and stopped, he felt relief, “Fine,” he took off his mask as steam from his dried up sweat escaped the cracks, “You still leave me room for worry, but this is something I can trust you on.” He placed the mask on the table and drank his tea.

“You have a lot of trust for someone that signed you to be exiled.”

“I know it wasn’t your choice. And would it really be fine for me to be here? Under such circumstances?” Julius did not know, nor cared of the fate of the nobles that plotted his exile.

“Aha, of course. Don’t worry, well… How's Caius?”

“You knew that much, huh? Well. The boy’s doing fine, I left him alone, I know he can handle himself.”

“Is that so?” She still remembered Caius as the soft child that almost collapsed at the message of his mother’s death, now he’s surrounded by it.

“Yes, now, can we just get to the matter at hand? We can just catch up later on.”

“Fine, fine.” She sat up, slightly disappointed as she had hoped to catch up really well and casually to an old friend. But as she stared at the fire in his eyes, he knew damn well that any hope for casual talk is over since 20 years ago, she sighed, “I only have one deal for you. I will speak first about what you can get for a deal like this.”

Not really good when deals start like this, an enticement of sorts. Though not even Julius can know what could get him to their side, anything more than money of course. Though there might be something, who knows?

The Queen continued, “We will renounce your exilement, declare you once more as a noble and revive your family name under you and your nephew’s name.” Absolutely tempting, but he had the entire Antediluvian gig going on. No, no, Julius thought about it clearly, he’s deliberately being set as a pawn by the Queen.

“And what would you make me do for such a task?” He kept his cool, but he knew whatever thing she’d ask for would be beyond him, or maybe not? After all, the hook has been set, the line is being held.

“Give me Concursus.” There’s the sinker.

“That’s not something I can do so lightly, even under the guise of becoming a noble under you once more.” He reasoned, “Perhaps if there was something more, I could accept.”

She raised her eyebrows and sipped on her tea, neither of them were in a real position for bargaining, the Queen held what he wanted, he held what she wanted, “So what’s this… ‘something more’ then?”

“I will give you Concursus, so long as I receive permanent governorship upon it and the entire Concursian system.” He was absolutely enticed by her offer, but he didn’t want to ruin 20 years of planning for such a thing handed to him on a silver platter. He wanted more, he wanted to double down.

As for the Queen, she didn’t really mind, “Either way, you would accept the offer, no?” She tried to call him out.

“How would you know?”

“The eyes, Julius. They never lie.” They stared at one another's eyes.

“My Queen," He carefully placed down his cup of tea, "They just did.”

“Then,” The Queen was surprised, last she met Julius he was still somewhat timid, she wonders what occurred in Concursus that caused him to change like this, this machiavellian man that sat in front of her, “Then I’ll accept this deal, but you have one year. If you do not give me Concursus in one year, then it’s off.” She said nothing further.

Julius agreed, she agreed, a handshake, a kiss on the back of her hand. And the deal was sealed. Now all he had to do was figure out how to manage it.