The Three Guardsmen
Popular historical novel about adventure and derring-do at the court of Emperor Styryx written by Celestine Floridore, a pseudonym of a high-ranking Imperial noble, and published in 1022.
Plot Summary
In 969, Kerran Saleshshu, the son of an impoverished provincial noble, travels to Capital where he meets and befriends three members of the Imperial Guard (Shasta, Padmos, and Benevis) and becomes embroiled in their rivalries with the household troops of Duke Ibrahim Tancredi, the powerful Minister of State, and in the political rivalry between Duke Ibrahim and Duke Gusztav Halici, leader of the Solomani Faction, who vie for influence over the weak and vacillating Emperor.
When Duke Tancredi learns through his spies that Empress Charmian has incautiously given a Keramish Globe to her lover, Duke Ilkin of Cemplas, a prominent member of the Solomani Faction, the Duke has his agent, Mata Lahari, the lovely widow of Count Lahari, another prominent Solomani sympathizer, steal the jewelled music-box inside the globe and manipulates the Emperor into sponsoring an exibition of Keramish globes at the Imperial Museum.
Prompted by Shaleshu's lover, Alfhild Lloyd, a trusted member of the Empress' staff, he and his three friends travel to Cemplas and retrieves the globe in time for the Empress to loan it to the exibition, Duke Ilkin having had a faithful replica of the music box made to replace the stolen one.
Duke Ibrahim kidnaps Alfhild who is later rescued and hidden away by the Empress. Saleshshu meets Mata Lahari and discovers that she is Shasta's wife, a criminal who had been presumed dead. The Duke orders the Countess to get rid of Duke Ilkin, giving her an Imperial Warrant to absolve her of any crimes she may have to commit along the way. Shasta finds out about this and takes the warrant; he also warns the new Count Lahari, younger brother of the Countess' deceased husband, about her mission. The Count arrests her on suspicion of having killed his brother.
She suborns her guard (who then assassinates Duke Ilkin) and escapes to the retreat on Capital where the Empress has hidden Alfhild. She kills Alfhild. The four friends pursue her and she dies in an epic battle with her and her guards.
On the way back to the city, Saleshshu is arrested. Taken before the Duke, he relates recent events and produces the Duke's Imperial warrant. Impressed, the Duke offers him a blank guard officer's commission. Saleshshu's friends each in turn refuses the commission and urges him to use it himself, which in the end he does, embarking on an illustrious career in the Guards.
Important characters
Fictional
- Kerran Saleshshu
- Shasta
- Padmos
- Benevis
- Alfhild Lloyd
- Countess Mata Lahari
- Count Lahari
Historical
- Emperor Styryx
- Empress Charmian
- Duke Ibrahim Tancredi
- Duke Gusztav Halici
- Duke Ilkin of Cemplas
Influence
Following its publication in 1022, the book has spread to every corner of the Imperium and enjoys immense popularity among adolescents. It has been adapted to the theatre, musical theatre, holodrama, audiodrama, games, holovision, and graphic drama. The scene where Duke Ibrahim issues a blank Imperial warrant to that arch-villainess, the Solomani Countess Mata Lahari, is known to far more people than have ever seen a genuine warrant.
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