Shield of the People by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Author:Marshall Ryan Maresca
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

After Dayne had delivered the day’s report to the press, he was up to his neck in the sausage grind of democracy. Election results for seven archduchies needed to be certified. Officiants were put in separate rooms, with their certifications and sealed election results, while the locked boxes of collected ballots were put under guard in a vault in the marshals’ offices. Each officiant had two marshals guarding them.

Then, to finalize, two members of the King’s Council—the Grand High Lord, Duke Prindale of Abernar, and the High Lord of Protocol, Baron Jameson of Trentinack—oversaw a team of clerks appointed by the Parliament and certified by the Grand High Court. The team of clerks unsealed the election results, compared the results to each other, and researched possible errors or discrepancies.

And all of this was done one archduchy at a time, fully in the view of five select members of the press, from Throne and Chairs, News of Throne and House, The Royal City Press, the South Maradaine Gazette, and The Daily Maradaine. Dayne’s job in all of this was to supervise those five reporters. Which meant he watched them while they watched the clerks engage in the minutiae of bureaucracy. It was dreadfully dull, even for someone like Dayne, normally fascinated with every aspect of Druth history, governance, and tradition.

If nothing else, at least Baron Jameson was an engaging sort.

“Mister Heldrin, it really is a pleasure,” he said, when they met. “I want to let you know that I have, in my limited scope, tried to be a champion for the Elite Orders. I think they are a vital part of our culture and history, and I have pressed that point with the king when I could.”

“I appreciate that, my lord,” Dayne said.

“And your actions last month, that gripping tale of everything you did against the Patriots and Tharek Pell, and saving our good people on the Parliament floor. I was . . . I was moved, Mister Heldrin. And I can tell you, the king was taken by it as well. I have been trying to arrange a proper event at the palace where you could be hosted as the guest of honor . . .”

“That is not necessary, my lord.”

“I think it’s proper, though—”

“Jameson, let it be,” Duke Prindale said. “I’m sorry, Mister Heldrin. We appreciate your service, but we don’t want to cause you any embarrassment.”

As the day ground on, the results of the elections for each archduchy were confirmed and approved by the Grand High Lord. “Largely the incumbents,” one of the reporters noted.

“Same old story,” another said. “A new nobility, with lifetime appointments.”

Dayne couldn’t disagree with that. It was disheartening that there were few surprises. Of the fourteen regular elections they had results for, only three resulted in a new Member of Parliament. Seeing it up close gave the whole exercise a sense of futility. People were dissatisfied throughout the city, throughout the nation, but they elected almost all the same people.

When they finished, the Acoran ballots arrived, and the process began again.

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