The White Dragon had several reasons for feeling that she did not belong in this room: it was too warm; her human form was earth-bound and had to walk everywhere; she could not feel the presence of any spirits; and there was a great deal of iron nearby. But above all, the gabble and hubbub of these humans was appalling. A tempting thought came to her. She could resume her dragon form and breathe ice upon them all. Then all would be still and cold. And she could crunch a dozen of them up in her jaws for sustenance. Still, the White Dragon needed these particular humans to assemble their armies against the Sí. So she sat still, modest, and with her hands clenched together, concealed in long, white satin gloves.

It amused her that these minds, so full of self-importance, were so easily dominated. If the brightness of the sun were to represent her full powers while in Uffen, then here the White Dragon’s powers were no stronger than the light of a firefly. Yet, even so, all but one of the leaders of the mighty Roman empire had allowed themselves to become entranced by her. And that one was utterly isolated and presented no danger, despite the wisdom of his words and his alarming insight that the White Dragon might not be a Sí princess.

A slender young male with dark skin took to the podium and began to speak with a feigned wrath intended to earn the favour of the empress and her brother. It occurred to the White Dragon that this young man would make for a delicious snack and she could not but help lick her lips as she watched him wave his hands about in imitation of the speaking style of his leaders.

‘We’ve heard many speeches from this podium, but I believe we have just heard the worst ever. Gaius lacks logic, lacks history, lacks…’ — an obsequious wave towards the empress’s brother — ‘… dialectic. The points about Julius Caesar are spurious. We stand on the shoulders of giants, so we can see further.’ At this point he paused for a moment, hoping for some applause, some approval for repeating the image that Johannes had utilised earlier. But the others in the room had seen the empress signal that she wanted to speak and they were impatient with him.

The White Dragon understood the nuances of human behaviour extremely well, not least because she had a sense of the unvoiced thoughts in their minds. Take this young politician, for example. A large part of his being was concerned with the presence of the empress and her brother in his immediate vicinity. They were looking at him and listening to him. These two, from whom flowed the authority to advance him in position, wealth, and status. How did he appear to them? As a vigorous, dashing champion of their cause, hopefully. Yet while he continued in what he imagined was a rebuttal of Gaius’s speech, the human at the rostrum was beginning to feel anxious. Where were the cheers of his friends? Why did the room feel restless? At last, the realisation that something was definitely wrong caused him to look around. With alarm, panic even, he noted that the empress was gathering her robes ready to stand.

‘And that, colleagues, is why we should strip him of office!’ The young man finished with a flourish and rapidly leaving the rostrum, was relieved to hear the outbreak of a solid round of applause.

Now it was the turn of the empress and the White Dragon studied her with interest. Like all humans, she was weak and defenceless. And she was smaller than most. Yet the fates of millions of people ran through her hands; her iron-clad armies were strong. Even a dragon would have to be careful when facing a legion with thousands of iron-tipped darts.

Lisia Germanica Barbula stood at the podium, her brown hair was just long enough that she could move it back behind her ear in a gesture that amused the White Dragon. Unconsciously, the empress was emulating a craftsperson, one who was settling down to a physical task and did not want distractions. The empress was, in her own mind, a woman of the people and adopted the actions and idioms of the populus without seeing them as a contrivance.

‘Senators and Councillors, we are all familiar with the play by Ennius, in which the character of Florentina is rendered comic, rather than tragic, by the fact that none of her predictions of doom come true, but rather the opposite. When the play finishes, she is famous, wealthy, courted and yet still she predicts disaster. Well, our Gaius is another Florentina.’

Laughter. Some of it authentic. After all, Gaius had made a remark in public about the rotten head of the state — now recorded in the debates of the Grand Council — that could well be interpreted as treasonable. The empress might well have chosen to attack him on those grounds and brought about his immediate imprisonment or execution, but instead, it seemed, she intended to speak in a humorous fashion. Although the White Dragon could sense the underlying rage in the mind of the empress, she was very wisely keeping a tight control over it. The audience was not deeply troubled by what Gaius had said, but if the goal was unanimity in sending three legions to war with the Sí, it was better to address his points than have him dragged out of the chamber and off to prison.

‘We all know that the empire is facing severe challenges. These are deep rooted. Over centuries, our free farmers, the backbone of the army and of our food supply, have dwindled in number. A few have become rich landowners; the majority have become indebted and impoverished. This is the cause of the tensions we feel in the streets of Rome today.’

The room was silent and attentive. Where was the empress leading them? To speak so candidly of the ruination of the farmers would have been impossible for any other person.

‘If we listened to Gaius, we would do nothing. His is the council of passivity. Of defeat. Yet must act. Leadership is entirely about action. To wait until disaster overwhelms us is to be an ant, unable to see that a river is about to burst and flood the nest. Action, as Caesar was fond of saying, rearranges every challenge. He would never have crossed the Rubicon if he had been advised by councillors of the calibre of Gaius.

‘What kind of action did Caesar mean? War, primarily. War has always served us well and has extended the life of our society by providing us with new streams of revenue and large numbers of slaves through whose work the poor can be fed. Yet we have reached the limit of the territory we can govern. If we want to rearrange the challenge facing us, we have to rethink our relationship to Tartarus. The Sí have magic that can solve our difficulties in an instant. Some of you will have heard of Pair Dadeni, the Cauldron of Life. Not only can it bring people back from the dead, but it can produce porridge constantly. With it, we could feed ten thousand Romans daily. Pair Dadeni used to be in the palace of our guest and if we assist her regain her lands, she will make a present of the cauldron to us.’

Even though this was a brazen and daring lie by the empress, she turned to the White Dragon for the confirmation that she knew would be given. As graciously and wholeheartedly as she could, the dragon bowed her head in agreement and smiled to feel the upsurge of excitement in the audience.

‘Gaius must think us idiots — well, we know that he does — when he accuses us of intending to send three legions to Tartarus without proof of what our guest is saying. Nonsense. While we have been housing our visitor and carefully interviewing her over this past month, our scouts have entered the realm of the Sí and confirm everything she has been saying. Síamharaíonnarach, their most powerful sorceress, is dead and civil war is everywhere.’

It was impressive, thought the White Dragon, how good a liar was the empress. Lisia spoke with such conviction that even in her own mind it seemed likely that she was telling the truth. Yet the White Dragon had only arrived at Rome the previous evening, charming her way past various attendants and obtaining an interview with the empress and her brother. There the White Dragon had found that the two of them already had plans to bring the Roman army to Uffen. The witch had been right. It had been easy explain to them how the death of Síamharaíonnarach created major opportunities for Rome.

Everyone in the hall (with the possible exception of Gaius, whose mind was closed), accepted that the White Dragon — Princess Borshea — had been at the place for a month. What reservations and doubts they had held in consequence of Gaius’s speech (and, curiously, some of these minds were so loyal to authority that they had not even recognized their own doubts, except as a slight sense of unease or twitch of the eye) were now allayed and this release of tension led to a great upsurge of applause and cheers.

Excellent, thought the White Dragon, she would soon be able to return to her natural environment and regain her full powers. It only really remained to obtain some seed. That, and perhaps to ensure the Romans had an effective method for bringing their iron-clad legions across the boundary into Uffen. Even for the White Dragon, the ambition to bring a Roman army into Uffen would not be easily achieved, for the border between the realms was fickle, mysterious, and extremely averse to iron.

After the applause had subsided, the empress continued her speech. ‘It is strong evidence for the weakness of Gaius’s position that he had to resort to personal attacks rather than matters of strategy. I’m not going to descend to his level. But I will say this, Gaius is very fortunate that here in Rome we have a tolerant and open government, where the members of the Grand Council can speak freely. These are important traditions that allow a full and frank exchange of views before unity in action.

‘Now is time for unity. And it has long been time for action. Three days from now, on the Day of Mars, we set out for Aventicum, where we are assembling the legions for what might well be the most famous Roman expedition of them all.’

Needless to say, the room erupted with applause and cheers. The noise and fuss created by these animals gave the White Dragon a headache. Again, she contemplated bursting out of her human form and freezing them all with a mighty roar before crunching up their bones in her maw. Pleasant as this prospect was, she restrained herself, maintaining a smile on her face and a modest pose. Sitting through this bothersome noise and fuss would all prove worthwhile once these humans were destroying Sí towers with their ballista and onagers.