Aulus Darby: Margrave Of Lemeth Hold In Aliens: Phalanx

Full name: Aulus Darby
Title: Margrave of Lemeth Hold
Species: Human
Age: In his sixties
Affiliation: Lemeth Hold; Lemeth council
Role: Elected ruler of Lemeth, in his fifth four-year term
Known for: Ordering Mari Jolla executed, stalling the goop weapon, and refusing refugees
Family: His father, the Margrave before him
Setting: Ataegina, after the Rising
First appearance: Aliens: Phalanx (2020)
Status: Dead; taken by a demon and found with his chest burst open in the hive
Injuries (novel): Broken nose from Ahiliyah; hamstring cut by the Margravine

Aulus Darby was the Margrave of Lemeth Hold in the 2020 novel Aliens: Phalanx. He ruled from his chamber with a council of five men and counted on Captain of the Guard Drasko Lamech and the warriors to enforce his word. To runner Ahiliyah Cooper he first seemed a kind and selfless protector. As the demons destroyed one hold after another, he chose hiding over fighting, blamed the victims, and turned refugees away. He was dragged off by a demon during the attack on Lemeth.

Biography

Margrave Of Lemeth Hold

Aulus wore purple robes of office with white trim at the cuffs and collars. He was in his sixties, still straight-backed, taller than almost anyone in Lemeth, with a white beard and thinning white hair. Lemeth held elections every four years, and he had won every one, just as his father had before him. By the time of the novel he was in his fifth term, 21 years in office, and his family had led the hold for thirty-six years. The Margravine of Dakatera mocked how long he had held power, and the scarred demonkiller Sinesh claimed that Aulus controlled the warriors who counted the votes.

The Council And The Runners

Aulus led a council whose other members included Tinat, Balden, Poller, and Jung, meeting in the Margrave's Chamber around a model of Ataegina. Rumor in the hold said he had never made a real run, because his father had kept him away from danger. After Ahiliyah finished her fifth run, he saluted her in the council chamber. When she reported demons hunting in daylight, he dismissed the claim, rebuked Balden for doubting her, and sent her crew out again on a trade run. He later assisted Doctor Talbot at the ceremony that gave her a run tattoo.

The Execution Of Mari Jolla

When the runner Mari Jolla refused to make her run, Aulus called the hold to the training pit and presided over her execution. Drasko Lamech, the Captain of the Guard, carried out the sentence in front of the crowd. Before the sentence, Aulus led the crowd in the mantra that silence was strength and reminded them that everyone knew the penalty when a runner would not run. Mari was dragged in gagged, and Drasko drove a spear into her chest before the Margrave walked out. She told herself that rules and structure existed for a reason, and that the leadership of the hold knew more about politics than any runner.

Secret Orders About Dakatera

Aulus visited Ahiliyah in her room and promised her the post of senior runner once Aiko was done, though he also suggested she might prefer to raise children. He then asked her to spy on Dakatera during her trade run, memorizing its approach, traps, wall, main door, and above all the number of its warriors. He told her he believed the Margravine wanted war, calling the Dakaterans zealots, and he sent her to set up a three-way deal of salt, plinton fruit, and capertine powder that undercut Dakatera's prices with Keflan. Ahiliyah left the meeting proud and determined not to let him down.

Blaming Keflan For Its Fall

After the demons destroyed Keflan, Ahiliyah and Creen Dinashin reported to the council that caminus leaves had stopped burning demon blood from searing Creen. Aulus agreed the discovery needed study but said the doctors were too busy, then let Creen take on the work instead of running. At an assembly in the training pit, he told Lemeth that the people of Keflan might have forgotten to stay hidden and quiet, stopped obeying their leaders, or offended God with their religion. Preacher Tumalo Ramirus echoed him, and Creen whispered that Aulus was using the tragedy to tighten his control.

Refugees And The Goop Weapon

When Keflanian refugees were let into the training pit, Aulus raged at whoever had allowed it and had Drasko clear out everyone except warriors and doctors. After Aiko died bringing news that Jantal had fallen, he sent Creen back to running. In Creen's lab he renamed the caminus paste goop and approved a few barrels for the armory, but refused to risk warriors in a test and forbade Ahiliyah to hunt a demon. When she called him a coward, he warned her that he would not forgive a second insult.

Aulus later sent warriors to turn back refugees from Jantal, and the warrior Brandun Barrow came back from that work with blood on his tunic. When the Dakatera signaler missed a scheduled session for the first time, the signaler Panda took the news to the council. Aulus ordered him to tell no one, threatening him with lockup or a fate like Mari's, and told him to watch for refugees so the warriors could stop them. He also barred anyone except scheduled runners from leaving the hold, and stationed two warriors under Drasko at the stairs to the deck.

The Clash With The Margravine

When Dakateran survivors reached Lemeth, Aulus stormed into the hospital with Drasko, Rinik Brennus, and Shalim Aniketos. He told the Margravine, Herriet, that her people had to leave for Biseth at first light, and claimed Lemeth Hold as his own. She accused him of hiding the demon poison, and he ordered her to lockup. In the scuffle Rinik speared the Dakateran warrior Greg Lindeman through the neck, and Drasko beat Rinik down. With blood on his beard, Aulus ordered the Margravine and Ahiliyah to lockup, blaming the senior runner for letting the Dakaterans in.

Taken By The Demons

On the way to lockup, as screams echoed through the corridors, Aulus threw the Margravine against the wall and kicked her, blaming Dakatera for leading the demons to Lemeth. He demanded Ahiliyah guide him to the surface, and she broke his nose with her fist. He ordered Drasko to kill her, and the big warrior was about to obey when the Margravine cut the hamstring behind his right knee with a hidden blade. The ceiling collapsed, a digging demon dropped through, and a second demon followed it down. Drasko left him, and the demon carried him off through the hole while he pleaded quietly.

Ahiliyah later woke inside the hive and found the Margrave's emaciated corpse fixed to the wall beside her, his chest ripped open from within. Seeing his chest and the eggs helped Creen work out that a Facehugger planted something that grew inside its host and burst out. Creen guessed that caminus leaves in the body might disrupt it, and he urged Ahiliyah and Brandun to chew the leaves woven into their suits. In that way the death of the man who had stalled the leaf research helped prove the leaves worked.

Personality And Rule

Aulus spoke warmly and liked to call Ahiliyah Liyah, and she once worshipped him as the selfless protector of the hold. He relied on flattery, promises, and a calm public manner, and he leaned on Tinat to voice decisions he did not want to make himself. Under pressure his control slipped, and he showed cruelty toward the elderly Margravine. Ahiliyah came to see him as a controller rather than a leader, a man who wanted to hide and would ignore the obvious until it tore Lemeth apart, using the warriors to keep himself in power.

Behind The Scenes

Aulus Darby appeared in Aliens: Phalanx, a novel by Scott Sigler published by Titan Books in 2020. Within the book his given name appeared far less often than his title. Aulus showed up 41 times and Darby 16 times, while most scenes simply called him the Margrave. That made him one of the more prominent secondary figures, below Creen and Brandun but ahead of characters such as Drasko and Panda. The novel never showed him outside Lemeth Hold while he lived, and his story ended in the hive where Ahiliyah found his body.

Conclusion

Aulus Darby ruled Lemeth Hold for 21 years and inherited a family hold on power that went back thirty-six years. He presented himself as a protector, but he executed a reluctant runner, blamed fallen holds for their own destruction, delayed the goop weapon, and turned away desperate refugees. When the demons dug into Lemeth, he was abandoned in a corridor after trying to have Ahiliyah killed. His body in the hive still gave Creen the clue that saved her life.