Praeludium
Master Tiberius Titus Wulff. The world will not see his like again, I fear. I spent the best years of my life working for and with the man. Och, he paid me well, and he fed me well, and it’s many the fine adventure I had while taking his coin; some in his company, some alone but on his behalf, and even the odd occasional bit of a job just for myself, you see. For an ex-mercenary soldier like me, it was a fine life, a braw life, and I drank it to the lees, I did.
Most folk, even those who might have been his equals in public, few though they were, knew him as Master Tiberius, but I was allowed to call him Master Titus from the first day we met. We became friends early on, even before I joined his establishment, and he called me Master Archie to my face and in public until the day that he left us.
Master Titus was a man of wit, knowledge, courtesy, and style enough to grace the finest courts and salons in Europe. And he had wisdom enough to rival any sage you can name. I was blessed by his company and his friendship for most of a generation. It is my hope that you will see somewhat of the man in these stories that I now feel free to share, now that he’s gone.