A week later Tau limped into town for selection doing his best to ignore the hanging bodies of traitors against the town gate. He could have ridden in the wagons but after a week mostly in bed he relished a chance to move, however painful. He remembered his father’s instructions, but in the chaos of the last few days he had slipped into a numb passivity. A neighbor interested in borrowing some tool or other had found him asleep by his father the next morning. After a few gentle questions Tau had been shuttled into dry clothes and a warm bed. Someone had stitched and bandages his cuts, but he wasn’t sure who. A small funeral was held, presided by Big John as the only man who could read within a few days travel. A community rota was set up to finish harvesting while Tau was recovering, and Tau was left with a few prepared meals and promises to pick him up before selection with his crops already loaded onto the caravan to be sold. Tau’s brain seemed to alternate between overcrowded with thoughts and blank grief.
He kept circling back to the farm. Other boys seemed to have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, half the people in the area were related to each other one way or another, but not Tau. Fourteen years ago his father had shown up in the area with enough silver to purchase a farm, the clothes on his back, and a two year old Tau. Any questions to the man on relatives had been answered with a flat “Dead”, and his father was not a man who brooked nagging. Tau couldn’t imagine running the farm on his own, it had been too much work for him and his father together already. His thoughts kept running back to the selection. If he was chosen he would come home rich, and able to do the work of a crew of men. He wouldn’t have to sell the farm. He wouldn’t have to leave. And so Tau limped alongside the wagons on the outskirts of town and averted his gaze from the corpses on display.
Technically named Southbridge, he had never heard anyone refer to it as anything other than “Town” unless explaining that it did have a real name, the place seemed smaller than he remembered. Growing up the wooden buildings, two, three, and even four stories tall, had seemed uncountable and grand compared to the scattered barns and silos he was used to, but now they didn’t seem to loom so high or sprawl so densely. Just another set of piles of wood, and he could see several buildings in need of repair. Maybe this was growing up? He was the man of the house now. Oh gods, would he have to get married? Images of the only unpromised girl of his age and social class nearby, Scrawny Sal, shown bright in his mind and he had a moment of panic. A hand clapped onto his shoulder and he turned with a start, face full of guilt for the stupid, silly, petty thoughts he was having while his father lay dead.
“Didn’t mean to startle ya son.” Big John loomed over him with a concerned expression as Tau released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. “You go on ahead to the testing grounds with the others now. We sell the harvest in bulk and distribute the money afterwards. Every farmer in the area is involved so no chance of you being cheated. Next year you’ll be right there in the sales council, but for now just focus on the selection. I saw a girl get selected when I was your age, a little slip of a thing. Didn’t hardly look like cultivator material, but that’s exactly the point I guess, else we wouldn’t need a selection, would we?”
Tau tried to respond, but heat flooded through his chest and his open mouth couldn’t seem to form words. Big John nodded sagely as thought Tau had said something insightful, and with another slap of his shoulder was off, yelling at wagon drivers and crowds alike to get the caravan turned and organized for their arrival. Tau stood for a few minutes as the wagon train disappeared around a corner between a warehouse and an in and the sounds of shouting faded into the distance. The crowds around him had given berth to the wagons, but filled the now available space in the street quickly. The sun was past its zenith and starting its slow fall and he estimated less than four hours were left to register. He shrugged his backpack a bit higher onto his shoulders and started walking.
After crossing the plasteel arch that gave Southbridge its name the buildings started to thin but the crowds intensified. The testing grounds were technically outside of town but they were at the heart of the festival atmosphere pervading the area and attracting almost everyone without business elsewhere. Carts and stalls crammed side by side next to the cobblestone road and hawkers cried out their wares and prices to any who would listen. Tau pushed his way through until the buildings to his sides disappeared entirely and his view opened onto a field of grass stretching out into the distance, covered in dotted tents and the smoke from a few early fires. Most of the selectees would have already arrived this morning if not several days ago. The field was roped off except for a few large tents on the perimeter colored in imperial black and red. With a deep breath Tau walked to the nearest tent and stepped past the flap into the dimly lit room beyond.
“Name?” A small woman, her voice light and bored, her face below her brown eyes covered by a blue veil and body hidden behind layers of pale flapping silk, stood before him.
“Taukasima Kor ma’am.”
“Follow me.” The woman walked briskly to the right and Tau had to hurry to keep up. The inside of the tent was dominated by strange constructs of various shapes and sizes. Stone obelisks covered in glowing letters and runes, metal platforms without adornment, several large rings of wood hung suspended from the ceiling, and a single glass cube taller than Tau lay scattered about the room. The woman led him to a simple wooden desk among a row of identical desks against one wall and sat down behind it, gesturing for him to sit as well.
“Can you read and write?”
“No ma’am.”
“Okay, just answer my questions one by one and whatever you do do not lie. I will find out, and it will not end well for you.” A familiar speech for Tau, this being his fourth and final turn at the selection. The woman pulled a metal stencil from somewhere in the folds of silk about her waist and set it directly to the desk where the point lit with a faint blue light.
“Where do you live, who are your immediate parents or guardians, and what is your caste?”
“A farm a few days travel outside the town to the west, Brekker Kor, other family unknown, and peasant ma’m.”
“Do you have any verifiable manifestations of external essence, elemental influence, or psionic ability?”
“No ma’am.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Do you believe you have experienced internal or unverifiable manifestations or the above?”
“No ma’am.” The questions went on in this manner for a short time until the final question Tau had been waiting for.
“Do you have any specific talents or skills relevant to Empire that may be relevant to your selection?”
“Yes ma’am. I’m strong.” The woman’s eyebrows rose slightly at that.
“Explain.”
“I’m strong ma’am. Stronger than everyone in the county excepting my Da and Big John. I can lift a bale of arakka with one hand.”
“Follow me.” The woman noted something on the desktop, stood, and walked across the room to a nondescript gray stone sphere Tau hadn’t noticed previously. It looked polished smooth but was otherwise unremarkable. “Pick this up.”
Tau hesitated for a moment then bent to pick up the stone. He got a good grip on it, it felt rougher than it looked, and heaved upwards. The stone rose for a moment but pain lanced across his shoulder and leg and he crumpled to a knee, one hand trapped underneath the heavy stone for a painful second before it rolled off to the side.
“That was a starter weight, have you lied to me young man?” The air seemed to grow heavy as the woman’s eyes flashed, hard, dangerous eyes. Tau felt fear and an unfamiliar apathy lance through him as he stuttered out a response.
“No ma’am! I’m injured! Demon attack. Killed my Da.”
The woman’s eyes softened slightly and suspicion warred with pity on what he could see of her face. After a moments consideration she walked to the glass cube in the middle of the room, gesturing for him to follow.
“This requires considerable resources to power. If you are lying this will show the truth, injury or no, and you will be executed. Last chance to recant.” A moment of silence was followed by a sigh from the woman. “Go ahead, step directly into the cube. Just pretend its not there, it should let you in.” Tau took a deep breath and stepped forwards.
Tau’s vision was full of a striated red mist against a blackness more absolute than he would have thought possible. Amber tendrils mixed with clouds of rust a streaks of blood and wine drifted across his vision. A voice sounded out of the distance, low and steady.
“Why do you come child?”
Tau paused. “I have to be tested. I’m injured and couldn’t lift the stones.”
A slow earthy chuckle sounded out of the darkness. It seemed closer this time, still directionless, but more real somehow. “Your spirit is pathetic. Do you cultivate your body, or have they sent me a mewling invalid to judge?”
Tau’s face flushed. “I’m the strongest in my county! I can pick up a bale of arakka one hand-”
“Be silent child.” The voice boomed out full of unspoken threat, cold and disdainful compared to it’s previous monotone. “If you do not cultivate your body then say simply say so. Do not waste my time with evasion and posturing. If you lacked any distinguishing factors you would not have been brought before me. So I ask again, why do you come?”
“I told you! I’m strong, but I’m injured, I couldn’t lift-”
“Useless.” The voice was deafening now and Tau could feel the voice’s presence like a physical weight pressing down upon him.
“Weak. Worthless. Ignorant.” The weight bearing down with each word was becoming unbearable.
“Broken.”
The weight mounted to new levels with each utterance, and Tau felt something give way inside of himself. The pressure fell away for a moment, only to be replaced by searing pain.
“Perjurer. Burden.” The voice was screaming in his head now, in his bones.
Tau couldn’t breath, couldn’t think. His entire body was screaming in agony. But at the edge of his consciousness heat was spreading through is limbs, following the pain. He latched onto it. At first simply because it was something other than pain, but soon the heat was filling him. It threatened to run wild, to rampage through him in waves of molten steel, and he knew without knowing how that if he let go he would die.
“Coward.”
Tau lashed out. He felt the fire in his chest and the pain in his eyes and he did not want them. So he gave them to the voice. There was a barrier, a resistance, but he was strong. He pushed harder and with a jarring lurch he was floating in the red mist, free of pain and lucid.
“Interesting.” The voice was calm and distant again. “Why do you come?”
Tau felt empty and drained. He knew he should care, this was his selection, this was his chance at everything, but he couldn’t muster the energy.
“I told you.” His words came out listless and as distant as the disembodied voice’s. “Because I failed the test. This is to see if I’m lying.”
“No child. Why do you come to be selected? Why do you look for strength? Why do you come to Empire?”
Tau’s next words flowed out of him almost against his own volition, unstoppable against their magnitude. “Because I’m alone.”
Tau fell backwards almost to the ground, the striped tent ceiling flashing above him, before he was caught in soft arms and lowered gently to the ground. He thought vaguely he should be embarrassed to be cradled by the woman in blue, but her hand was on his brow and her voice was calming in his ear and he couldn’t speak. He buried his face into her lap and cried. After a few minutes he calmed and finally sat up still sniffling. Her face was still covered, but he thought he could see sadness in her eyes.
“Congratulations Mr. Kor. You just made corporali.”
“What?” Tau was still exhausted, but didn’t feel quite so empty as before, and this caught him off guard.
“Oh you’ll still have to go through the usual selection contests this week. Survivalism, combat, team tactics, deprivation, etcetera, etcetera. If you manage to fail out badly enough I might even reconsider, but the Tenyo do not choose carelessly.” The woman’s eyes drifted out of focus and she seemed to be looking past Tau. “Young man you have just taken on a great debt to Empire. And Empire always takes it’s due.”