Free 13 Day War by Richard S. Tuttle Page B

entire stack and retreated to the doorway. He bowed once again and then tapped the door with his foot. The guard immediately opened the door to allow the colonel to leave. Colonel Taerin carried the papers straight to the archives and entered the special room. He pulled up a chair, placed the stack of papers on the table and then proceeded to read each and every one of the proclamations before filing them away in their proper place. The task consumed hours of the colonel’s time, but he found the reading enlightening. What he found most curious was that the proclamations ran back to the days leading up to the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Federation, which had occurred months ago. During that entire time, no one had bothered to do anything with the proclamations except pile them up on the shelves in the emperor’s office. The colonel was amazed until he realized that Grand General Kyrga probably had no idea how the emperor’s office was truly run. After all, Colonel Taerin had been handling that before Kyrga became the Grand General.
    When Colonel Taerin got near the bottom of the pile, he found the most interesting papers. One of them proclaimed General Forshire as the Imperial General, a new position on par with the Grand General, who reported directly to the emperor. The colonel noted the date of the proclamation and realized that it was the very day that the emperor’s original guards were returned to duty. The colonel finished reading and filing the stack of documents . When he finally emerged from the archives, he was surprised to see that the storm had passed and the sun was setting. He grabbed a meal in the same dining hall that he had used for the morning meal and then headed outdoors to check on Colonel Donil. The first place he checked was the bench near the waterfront, but Donil was not there. He headed straight for the old barracks and opened the door without knocking. He saw the colonel sitting on his usual bunk as if he had been waiting for a visitor.
    “I see you are still alive,” quipped Colonel Taerin as he entered the building and strode towards the colonel. “I am pleased.”
    “Wait outside, Donil,” came a steely voice from behind Colonel Taerin. “Keep guard and let me know if anyone comes within sight.”
    Colonel Taerin did not need to turn around to know who the voice belonged to, but he did so anyway. General Forshire stood in the shadows, sword in hand. Colonel Donil gave Colonel Taerin a wide berth as he moved past. When Donil exited the building, he closed the door.
    “I guess you weren’t in Olansk after all,” Colonel Taerin said with surprise evident in his voice. “I should have known better.”
    “If you know so much about my travels, why did you bother to send that urgent message? Did you expect me to respond sometime in the spring?”
    “Actually,” frowned the colonel, “I expected a return message that would prove Donil’s ability to communicate with you. I then planned to use that communication link to discuss certain things with you, but it is far better that you are here in person.” The colonel’s eyes dropped to the long, two-handed sword that the general held in one hand. “Is that really necessary for a simple conversation?”
    “Ordinarily, I would say yes,” smiled Clint as he sheathed his sword, “but you would be a fool to do anything towards me that might require me to use it.”
    “And why is that?” asked the colonel.
    “Let’s skip the small talk, Colonel. What is so important that you needed an urgent meeting with me?”
    “I take it that Colonel Donil brought you up-to-date on what happened here last night?” Clint nodded and the colonel continued. “The Badgers think that you have absconded with some women. I seriously doubt that they would risk entering the grounds of the Imperial Palace unless they were fairly sure of their information. I want to know who those women are and where you are keeping them.”
    “Perhaps