This is an interview with the character Almanian, a Malornian military captain in my novel In the Enemy’s Service. For an explanation of why I’m interviewing my characters, click here.
“Come in,” Captain Almanian calls when I knock on his office door. I open it and step inside, finding myself in a lamplit room that was looks as though it was once a small sitting room for palace guests, now turned into an office. The captain sits behind a large desk covered with a map and several sheets of parchment.
“Have a seat.” He waves me to a chair before the desk. “Let’s make this quick; I have a lot to do today.”
“I understand,” I assure him. “Thank you for being willing to meet with me.” I pull out my list of questions.
1. Do you like your job? Why or why not?
“I do my job.” His voice is expressionless, and he leaves it at that. I wait, but nothing else is forthcoming, so I go on to the next question.
2. Do you have any friends? Significant others?
“Not here in Alasia. I have friends and a wife back home in Malorn. Our two daughters are both grown and married.”
3. What is your idea of success?
“Victory.”
4. What do you hate?
“Incompetence. Laziness. Insubordination. People who are supposed to have joined my side but refuse to cooperate and follow orders.” From the annoyance in his voice, I can tell Captain Almanian is thinking of someone in particular.
5. What do you do in your spare time?
“When I have a moment to sit down by myself, there are always maps and reports to study. I’ve also been looking through different parts of the palace over the last couple of weeks, trying to familiarize myself with its layout and get a better picture of what Alasians are like as a people. It’s fascinating how much you can learn from what you find in an art gallery, a throne room, a royal suite, not to mention a library.”
6. What did you have for breakfast?
“Steak and eggs and weak Alasian coffee.”
7. Did you ever have a pet? Describe it.
“My wife keeps a couple of cats at home. I don’t care much for them, but as long as they stay out of my way, we get along all right.”
8. Do you believe in luck? Why?
“I believe a good soldier makes his own luck.”
9. What is your favorite scent? Why?
The captain frowns as though the question irritates him. “Scent? I don’t know.” He shrugs. “Fresh coffee, maybe. The Malornian kind, of course. I’ve got to ask around and see where to buy it here. There must be merchants who bring it over.”
10. What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?
He considers this for a moment. “People who refuse to accept change,” he replies finally. “Look at Alasia, for example. The citizens know there’s no going back to the way things were, so you’d think they’d settle down and accept our authority and the many advantages of Malornian rule. And yet we continue to face uprisings and rebellion, which only make things worse when we have to crack down harder. I don’t blame the people for being angry about what happened; for hating
us, even. But how will it help them to keep struggling even when it’s obviously too late to save their kingdom?” He shakes his head. “Pride is a funny thing.”
11. What is the most frightening thing that has ever happened to you?
Captain Almanian shrugs again. “It’s always a little frightening planning a campaign or working out a battle strategy. Lives will be lost one way or another, but how many usually depends on how I decide to do things. The men under my command have all accepted the risks, of course, but there are often civilian casualties too. It’s unfortunate when that occurs, as it had to here in Alasia, but sometimes that’s what it takes to accomplish a mission. And like it or not, we all do what we must.”
He pushes back his chair. “Speaking of which, I have to get back to work. I hope this has been helpful.” Rising to his feet, he gestures to the door, signaling that the interview is at an end.
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This is an interview with the character Wennish, a guard in the Alasian palace in my novel In the Enemy’s Service. For an explanation of why I’m interviewing my characters, click here.
Wennish waves me to a stool beside his bed in the palace clinic. He looks weak and pale, but his voice is steady. “I’ve got nothing but time on my hands, so make yourself comfortable.”
I sit down and glance at my list of questions.
1. Do you like your job? Why or why not?
“I used to, back when I had one. The palace is a great place to work, and I loved the fact that I was helping to protect the royal family. I admired King Jaymin so much.” Wennish sighs. “I should have died in his defense, but my life’s goal now is to do anything I can to help his son.”
2. Do you have any friends? Significant others?
He scowls. “Most of my friends were on the palace guard, and they’re dead. But Tonnis and Eleya are helping me get through this, and little Anya, too – I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
3. What is your idea of success?
“Keeping the palace and its occupants safe.” He scowls again, staring up at the ceiling. “Obviously we failed at that.”
4. What do you hate?
“Malornians.” He practically spits out the word. “And traitors like Talifus. He swore the same oath of allegiance I did, but look what he’s done to Alasia.”
5. What do you do in your spare time?
“Lie here.” Wennish gestures around the little room. “Sleep sometimes. Think about everything that’s happened, and about what might be going to happen. What else can I do? Tonnis won’t let me leave the clinic, not that I could get far if I tried. Sometimes he and Eleya and Anya come and sit with me when they aren’t busy, and we talk. But I get terribly bored.”
6. What did you have for breakfast?
“Anya brought some fried potatoes and eggs over from the dining hall. We always get our meals cold now, because those Malornians insist on eating first. Oh, and I had some nasty sort of tea that Eleya brewed up. I have to drink the most horrible medicinal brews you can imagine.”
7. Did you ever have a pet? Describe it.
“My family had a cat when I was a boy. And my parents bought me my own horse when I turned sixteen. I loved being able to go where I wanted any time.”
8. Do you believe in luck? Why?
Wennish hesitates. “I suppose I do. I mean, Alasia didn’t deserve to be invaded. The king and queen didn’t deserve to be betrayed and murdered. If that isn’t bad luck, what is?”
9. What is your favorite scent? Why?
He thinks this over. “Maybe the smell of fish frying. My uncle’s a fisherman, and sometimes when he had caught more than he needed to sell, he and my aunt would come over for supper with some of the extras. My cousins and I used to play at soldiers out back while our mothers fried up the fish with onions and herbs.” He smiles, remembering. “Those were good times.”
10. What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?
Wennish smiles again. “There’s an odd little pile of rocks about a quarter mile off the northeast coast. You can’t see it too well from the shore, but it’s visible from some of the other islands. At the right angle, it looks like the head of some giant creature rising from the sea, looking up at the sky with its mouth open. I once stood at just the right spot at the right time to see the sea monster swallow the moon.”
11. What is the most frightening thing that has ever happened to you?
Wennish’s expression turns grim as he remembers, and he is silent for so long that at first I think he isn’t going to answer. When he speaks again, his voice is low, serious. “It was just a couple of weeks ago. I had the night shift up on the sixth and seventh floors, which is usually really boring. You just patrol the hallways and the stairs, and check in every so often to report that nothing’s happened. Well, about half way through my shift I thought I heard a distant shout from below, cut off right away. I headed down to check it out, and then I started hearing other shouts; and about that time I happened to pass by a window that looked out on the front courtyard. You can imagine my shock when I saw hundreds of soldiers in red and black uniforms pouring into the palace through every entrance. I started yelling, myself, to sound the alarm, and I ran toward where the king and queen have their suite on the fifth floor. But then soldiers were racing through the hallways toward me.”
He stares into space, breathing hard as though reliving the scene. “Two of them attacked me at the top of a stairway, and I managed to hold my own for a moment or two, but I knew I couldn’t defend myself against both for long. At one point, when I turned to parry a blow from the first man, the other slashed out and caught me right across the chest.” He fingers the bulky bandages under his tunic. “I tried to dodge, but it was too late, and I suppose I lost my balance and fell down the stairs. I don’t remember what happened, but Tonnis says I must have hit my head and lost consciousness.” Wennish reaches back to rub the side of his head. “It was a lucky thing, because they left me for dead. I nearly did die, but Tonnis found me still breathing in the courtyard later and brought me into the clinic. I’d lost more blood than I thoughtI had to spare, but he and Eleya and Anya have slowly been pulling me back toward health. He says if I hadn’t fallen backward just when I did, that sword would have sliced right through my heart.”
Wennish shudders. “I still sometimes wish it had, you know?” He seems almost to be talking to himself now. “Why should I still be alive when none of the others survived?” He closes his eyes, exhausted from the long speech, one hand still moving restlessly over his bandaged chest.
“Thanks for your time,” I whisper. “I’ll leave you to get some rest.” He doesn’t look up as I tiptoe out.
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This is an interview with the character Tonnis, a physician in the Alasian palace in my novel In the Enemy’s Service. For an explanation of why I’m interviewing my characters, click here.
I sit down with Tonnis, a stout, graying man in his forties, in the front room of the palace clinic where he works. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with me,” I say, settling myself on one of the benches.
“You’re welcome. No medical emergencies at the moment, so it’s a good time,” he replies, leaning back against the wall from his own bench. “Go ahead.”
1. Do you like your job? Why or why not?
“Yes, I do. It’s fulfilling to know I’m helping people; saving lives, even.”
2. Do you have any friends? Significant others?
He looks away. “Most of my friends are dead now.” There’s a pause, and he clears his throat roughly. “Killed in the Invasion. But the Malornians let a few people live, and of course there’s my wife Eleya. Don’t know how I’d make it without her. And Anya; she’s become almost like a daughter to us in the few weeks she’s been here.”
3. What is your idea of success?
“Helping a patient to complete recovery.”
4. What do you hate?
“Losing a patient.”
5. What do you do in your spare time?
He shrugs. “Usually sit and talk with Eleya and Anya and Wennish, our one surviving Alasian patient. Before the Malornians came and made most of the palace off-limits, I’d often get a book from the palace library and read in my sitting room. Sometimes Eleya and I would go into town and visit our relatives on our days off.”
“What kinds of books do you like?” I wonder aloud.
“Oh, anything I can find about medicine or the sciences. Now and then Eleya will get a book of poetry and we’ll take turns reading aloud to each other.” He looks embarrassed.
6. What did you have for breakfast?
“Oatcakes with syrup in the dining hall.”
7. Did you ever have a pet? Describe it.
“When I was a boy I had a couple of dogs. Big bouncy ones with lots of energy. We lived near the edge of town, and my brother and I used to go hiking with them up in the hills.”
8. Do you believe in luck? Why?
Tonnis considers this. “I suppose so, if you consider luck to be good or bad things people don’t deserve. There’s certainly been a lot of bad luck for us Alasians lately.”
9. What is your favorite scent? Why?
He smiles almost shyly. “Yellow roses. Eleya used to wear them in her hair sometimes back when we were courting. We had them at our wedding, too. One of the palace gardeners knows we like them, and he’ll often bring us a bloom or two when he trims the rosebushes.”
10. What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?
Tonnis considers this for only a moment before starting to chuckle. “It was years ago, but I’ll never forget. Back when Talifus was a sergeant on the palace guard, he took sick one time with a high fever. It was the middle of the night, and he was in bed in the clinic, tossing and turning and talking to himself in his delirium. I had been sitting up with him for hours, trying to bring the fever down with tonics and wet cloths, and I must have dozed off in my chair. When I woke up, his bed was empty and the door was open. I jumped up and ran to find him, and I saw the
outer door standing open too.” He points to the clinic door beside the bench I’m sitting on. “I hurried outside, and there he was halfway across the courtyard, barefoot and in his nightshirt. He had picked up a riding whip that someone had left outside the stable, and he was wielding it like a sword, fighting off imaginary enemies and yelling battle cries in the moonlight.” Tonnis stops his tale to chuckle again, picturing the scene. “Half a dozen guards on duty were already hurrying over to see what was going on. A couple of them helped me disarm him and get him back to the clinic, and I made them all promise they wouldn’t tell anyone what they’d seen. I don’t know if they ever did or not, but I made the mistake of mentioning it to Talifus the next
day after his fever had gone down. I don’t think he ever forgave me.”
11. What is the most frightening thing that has ever happened to you?
Tonnis’s smile fades. “There’ve been a lot of frightening things since the Malornians arrived. The worst was a few days ago when Eleya and I almost got killed for something Talifus tried to pin on us.” He shudders. “I really thought we were going to die. If it hadn’t been for Anya and Lasden, we would have.” He swallows hard and turns to me soberly. “And as long as we’re forced to labor in the enemy’s service, that’ll be a daily possibility.”
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This is an interview with the character Lasden, a lieutenant in the Malornian army in my novel In the Enemy’s Service. For an explanation of why I’m interviewing my characters, click here.
Lieutenant Lasden and I sit down in the empty conference room in the Alasian palace where he has agreed to meet with me. As I face him across the table, I notice he looks weary – not just the weariness that comes after a long day, though that’s there too, but the weariness that comes from discouragement, perhaps depression. His eyes are dull.
1. Do you like your job? Why or why not?
He doesn’t look at me. “I’m a soldier. I follow orders. What does it matter what I like or dislike?”
I wait for him to elaborate, and finally, reluctantly, he goes on. “No, I don’t like my job. Not anymore. Not since being a Malornian soldier came to mean invading a peaceful kingdom and slaughtering civilians.”
2. Do you have any friends? Significant others?
“I’ve got friends in my company, but no one I’m all that close to, especially lately.” He shrugs. “We don’t see eye to eye about the Invasion.”
3. What is your idea of success?
Lasden chuckles humorlessly. “If you’d asked me a month ago, I would have said defeating an enemy with minimal casualties on our side. But that’s pretty much what we’ve done in Alasia, and I can’t feel proud of it.”
4. What do you hate?
He stares, unseeing, out the window, where rain beats against the pane. “What we’ve become. What I’ve become. Oh, I’m a good soldier. I’ve always put everything I’ve had into this job. But I feel like a failure as a human being.”
5. What do you do in your spare time?
Lasden shrugs again. “Haven’t had much spare time since we came to Alasia. Before, I’d usually play cards or dice with my friends. Swap stories in a tavern or around a campfire. You know. On my days off when I was stationed in Sazellia, I liked to go out riding, or just sit down with a good book. Histories, especially.
6. What did you have for breakfast?
He frowns, trying to remember. “I think they served eggs with bacon this morning. Not bad, but the coffee isn’t as good here. I miss Malornian coffee.”
7. Did you ever have a pet? Describe it?
“My family has always kept horses. I think I learned to ride before I could walk.”
I look up from my list of questions, puzzled. “Then I’m surprised you’re in the infantry, not the cavalry.”
“I didn’t exactly have much choice.” Lasden looks away. “My father’s a colonel in the infantry.” His tone of voice makes it clear that further questions along that line would not be welcome, so I go back to my list.
8. Do you believe in luck? Why?
“No. I believe in skill. In my experience, soldiers who rely on luck don’t last long.”
9. What is your favorite scent? Why?
He considers this. “Wood smoke, I suppose. Especially if we’re sitting round a campfire roasting a rabbit we’ve finally had time to trap after days of field rations, on our way back home at the end of a successful campaign.”
10. What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?
Lasden thinks this over. “I saw a family of Mountain Folk up close once. Usually they stay up in the higher slopes of the Impassables, but in the winter they come down low where it’s warmer, and every now and then you see them camped in the foothills. My company was on our way
to the Western Wilderness, and we came across a group of them them trading for supplies in a little village near the Grenn. There were maybe five adults and twice that many children, all dressed in animal skins, most carrying spears. They looked just as savage as people say they are: shaggy hair, shifty eyes, and all. And it’s true, they do smell like the goats they keep. But something about how tenderly they treated their horses made me wonder if they might be a little more civilized than everyone thinks.”
11. What is the most frightening thing that has ever happened to you?
“I don’t know. I’ve had a lot of close calls since I’ve been with the army.” Lasden hesitates. “But usually, when you’re fighting for your life, things happen too fast for you to really feel much until afterwards. Really, I suppose I haven’t been as frightened out on the battlefield as I used to be sometimes at home, when I was a boy. When I did something to make my father angry.” He looks away again, and I can tell by the way his lips tighten that he wishes he hadn’t said that. Abruptly, he pushes back his chair and rises to his feet. “I have to go. I’ve got to make my rounds before the workers turn in for the night. Excuse me.” He strides to the door and leaves the room without a backward glance.
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Want to meet an Alasian?
With my second novel, In the Enemy’s Service, (hopefully) coming out this spring, I decided to create a series of “interviews” to introduce friends and fans to some of the main characters. Thanks to Tina Morgan at Fictionfactor.com, I discovered the idea of creating imaginary interviews with characters to help develop their personalities. Not all of her questions really apply to some of the characters I plan to interview, but I’m choosing to stick with them anyway. It helps me look deeper inside my characters as I consider how they would answer the odd questions. Never mind whether or not they would actually sit down and have a conversation like this with a stranger – if they did, this is what they would say!
I stop at the table in the palace dining hall where Anya has just finished her lunch. She looks up curiously as I take a seat on the bench across from her. “Hello. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
She drains the last of her glass of milk and shrugs. “No, but I might get in trouble if Lieutenant Talifus sees me just sitting here after I’m done eating. He’ll tell me to get back to work.”
“I’ve already cleared this with Captain Almanian,” I assure her. “Talifus will leave us alone.”
“All right.” She brushes a lock of brown hair out of her eyes. “What do you want to know?”
I glance down at my list of questions.
1. Do you like your job? Why or why not?
“Here at the palace?” She glances around thoughtfully at the half empty dining hall and the tired and wary workers finishing their lunch. “I guess so. I mean, I’d rather be back at school with my friends, but it’s fun helping Eleya and Tonnis in the clinic. I’m learning a lot about different herbs and how to use them to make medicines. And most people here have been pretty nice to me. But I’m scared of Lieutenant Talifus,” she admits. “He hates me. I’m afraid if he ever catches me doing something wrong, he’ll kill me.”
2. Do you have any friends? Significant others?
Anya frowns. “What are significant others?”
“Boyfriends,” I explain.
She blushes. “I’m only ten! I don’t think Father would let me have a boyfriend even if I wanted to.”
I shrug. “Maybe not, but aren’t there any boys you’re interested in?”
Anya hesitates, fiddles with her fork, not making eye contact. “Well, sort of. But I don’t actually know him. I’ve just heard about him. He sounds like someone I might like, though.”
“Yes?” I encourage her.
“Well, his name is Erik, and he’s Prince Jaymin’s bodyguard. He’s only twelve, like the prince, but people say he can fight better than most grown men. I just think he sounds really impressive. I’d like to meet him.”
“What about friends?” I inquire. “Do you have many friends?”
Anya laughs. “Of course! I have dozens of friends. But most of them go to my school or live in my neighborhood, so I haven’t seen them in the last few weeks. We have lots of fun together, though; or we did. My favorite thing to do with them is make up stories and act them out for our families to watch.” She grins, remembering. “I always get to play the part of the tragic heroine. You know why?”
I shake my head. “Why?”
Anya glances around as if to make sure no one is listening and leans forward conspiratorially. “Because I know how to make myself cry whenever I want. You want to see?”
I chuckle and glance around as well. “Maybe not right now. People might notice and wonder what’s wrong.”
3. What is your idea of success?
Anya considers this. “Finding out something important from Captain Almanian or Regent Rampus, like information I can pass on to the people helping Prince Jaymin. I’d love to be a real heroine and help him return and defeat his enemies.”
4. What do you hate?
“Traitors, like Lieutenant Talifus and Phenniel.” She scowls. “The king and queen are dead because of them.”
5. What do you do in your spare time?
Anya brightens. “I sew! I love sewing. I made the dress I’m wearing; see?” She stands up and pushes the bench back so she can turn in a circle, arms outstretched. I see that her dress is faded and stained near the collar with what looks like blood, but is of a stylish cut and well made.
6. What did you have for breakfast?
“Bread with jam, and scrambled eggs and sausage.” Anya plops back onto the bench again. “The food here is pretty good, but it’s always cold by the time we Alasians get any. We’re not allowed to eat our meals until after the soldiers have finished.”
7. Did you ever have a pet? Describe it.
Anya nods. “We have two horses back at home. My father’s a merchant, you know, and they pull his cart when he takes goods to and from Malorn to sell. It’s fun to ride them.”
8. Do you believe in luck? Why?
“Luck?” Anya frowns, considering. “I don’t think so. I think bad or good things happen because of choices people make. I guess you could call it unlucky for us that the Malornians invaded Alasia, but they made that choice.”
9. What is your favorite scent? Why?
This seems to stump her. “I don’t know. I don’t really care much about how things smell. I’m not really interested in flowers and perfume like some girls.”
10. What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?
“That’s easy.” Anya’s face lights up with excitement. “A blank wall that turned out to have a hidden door that opens on a secret passageway. I can’t tell you where it leads, though. I promised I’d never tell.”
11. What is the most frightening thing that has ever happened to you?
Anya’s expression turns sober. “It was when Lieutenant Talifus dragged me out of my neighbor’s house and forced me to come work here in the palace. I didn’t know where he was taking me at first, or what was going to happen to me. I thought I might be killed.” She stares down at her plate again. “I guess I still might. And I don’t know for sure if I’ll ever see my friends or family again,” she confides in a low voice. “But that’s one reason I’m trying to find out everything I can from the Malornians. If I can help Prince Jaymin defeat them, we’ll all be safe again.”