I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before Otho, Cecilia and Flavia woke me up by violently knocking on my door. I jumped off the bed, confused as to where I was, then stumbled towards the door.
“Oh, look how adorable he is, all sleepy and wrinkled!” Otho joked, which made Flavia and Cecilia laugh.
“What’s going on?” I asked while stretching and yawning at the same time.
“Come on, they’re waiting for us in the chancellor's chamber.”
“What about Tiberius and Julia, where are they?”
“They already left, come now, we’re going to be late!” Otho scolded me.
We climbed four levels of the grand staircase until we reached the top of the pyramid, Alec's chamber. The outside wall was of glass with a beautiful view of the city. The left wall belonged to a large jeweled fireplace. The warmth of the room immediately made me drowsy. On the opposite wall hung tapestries depicting battles from the revolution. In the middle of the room stood a large round table besieged with comfortable looking chairs. Although the chamber appeared pleasant to the eyes, the air felt oppressive. Almost suffocating. I felt like I was being watched by something malevolent from every corner of the room, yet nobody was there! Tiberius and Julia were already seated at the table. We joined them and waited in silence. Only after a while I noticed the whole chamber was rotating.
“Is the room turning?” asked Otho frowning.
“Quite thrilling, isn't it?” Julia laughed.
It didn’t take long for Alec and Damilis to arrive. They both seemed cheerful.
“Did you rest well? The food was of your satisfaction?” asked Alec as he was sitting down.
“Very much so, thank you,” answered Tiberius, while the rest of us nodded.
“Good… Plato, our chief priest, had some urgent business, so it will be just us and your youthful entourage. So, Vetulonians, what must we talk about?” Alec grinned, raising his eyebrows in a playful manner. I could tell he was looking forward to this meeting.
“Let’s start with Porosia. Does the League have any ill intention towards her sickly and harmless sibling?” asked Tiberius, folding his arms.
“Speak plainly, Tiberius,” Alec rolled his eyes.
“Are you going to war?”
Alec sighed, then answered:
“Why not?” he smiled.
“When?” asked Tiberius.
“When the time is right. In the foreseeable future… Remind me, what concern is that of yours?”
“Every war is a concern to Vetulonia, to all Helena for that matter.”
“Ha ha ha!” Alec’s laugh echoed through the room while Damalis sneered, but kept quiet.
“You people… You ruled over this continent for one hundred years. You massacred whole cities, enslaved countless. My great-grandfather was cooked alive by your great-grandfathers! My great-grandmother was raped by Vetulonian soldiers in front of her children. She was then thrown down the well, for who knows what reason! I always pondered that… Why throw her down the well, what’s the point in that? I guess there wasn’t any. The worst kind of violence is that without purpose.
I have stories of that sort that could keep you up for the better part of the night. But now, only after the gods punished you by letting a star fall... After your sick, twisted empire collapsed... Now you think you have the moral ground to stick your noses into other people’s affairs? And why? Because you drink some brew Giants shit out of their asses and you imagine you chat with the gods?
Porosia is OUR people! Who suffer hunger, disease and tyranny daily! And by whom?! Some incompetent idiot who calls himself king! And his cunt of a mother who created that peacock of an imbecile! I’ll ask you again, what business is that of yours?”
By the time he finished his tirade, Alec was yelling. A lingering silence followed, which was broken by his general Damalis:
“You cannot win a war against us. Nobody can, you must realize this. Even if you set up alliances all over Helena, none can compete with us. This is our time, gods favor us. And we shan’t be afraid to harvest their blessings. The League is the most effective apparatus known to world. Look at this palace, this city. Thirty years ago it didn’t even exist. Imagine what more we can accomplish in the years to come.”
“A great deal of your power – a word that is often grossly misinterpreted – comes from tyranny. The rights of your citizens are questionable, at best. A form of benign slavery, one could argue,” Tiberius spoke with a calm voice.
“Slavery!” Alec growled, “What is slavery? It's merely a necessary aspect of order! Order brings stability, order brings prosperity, order brings peace! Order... is… is an inevitable consequence of power. It is nature, the strongest survives, the strongest rules, the strongest brings order."
"What you're saying goes against nature. This world is a harmonious dance of an unforced chaos. One could call it love. What you're talking about goes against this unforced dance, the flow. No, Alec, slavery is not a necessary aspect of order. It's unnatural. It's ignorant. It's evil," Tiberius countered.
"Oh, now you're talking of morality, ey? Your problem is that you pretend morality is some standard which defines good and bad, while I don’t pretend. Ever! Morality is a tool. Even now – oh, the irony – you're using it as a tool, trying to convince me to do what you perceive is the right thing... I don’t care for that kind of reasoning.
Everything that we are leads to power and order! Order protects. Order manufactures. Order rules. And I see nothing wrong with that. As I see nothing wrong with the so called slavery. Or nothing wrong with one giving up certain liberties in exchange for safety and stability. You could argue one doesn't deserve safety if this so-called safety is being bargained with, yes. But come on now, let's be realistic, shall we?”
"I’m afraid we won't come together on this subject, Alec."
"No. No, we won't."
"May I ask something?" I spoke. Everyone looked at me, but said nothing, so I continued:
"Chancellor Alec, if you were captured by, let's say, an enemy's army and sold to slavery. Would you make peace with your fate, submitting to the philosophy of order you so much speak of?"
"No, I would not. I'd rather die than slave for some imbecile. And this mentality of mine, perfectly excuses slavery as one of the pillars of order!"
"How so?"
"I’m glad you asked, young one. You see, a slave is a slave by choice. One can resist, one can rebel, one can die. The strong either rule or perish. The strong recognize and acknowledge this fundamental part of our reality. This is what makes them strong. The weak don’t. They do not dare to fight as the fear of death is too terrifying for them. They’d rather slave. A slave is a slave by choice."
"Couldn't one be groomed into slavery? Or extorted?” Tiberius tried to oppose Alec’s philosophy.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Nonetheless. Each man has a free will."
"A quite absolute view of the matter. A rude person would even say, simplistic."
"And you're not a rude person, are you Tiberius? Oh, you Vetulonians, you make me laugh. From tyrants to advocates of peace! Don’t you realize how hilarious you are to us?”
“Vetulonian war of conquest happened hundreds of years ago,” said Julia, annoyed by Alec.
“Some things are slow in fading away. Wouldn’t you agree, Vicelord?” Alec almost whispered, leaning forward, staring at Julia as if she’s a piece of meat. She remained calm and serene to the obnoxious provocation of the chancellor.
“Alec, we all have much to lose with war,” said Tiberius. “Why not rather trade, get wealthy, live in peace?”
“Something tells me you have a suggestion.”
“Let’s dismantle Porosia together. Vetulonia will take two provinces. One being the province of Lord Cronos and the other that of Lord Titanus. The League can have the rest.”
“So much of your morality and unforced dance of harmony. Love, you called it! Ha ha ha! And why in the world would Vetulonia be interested in such an affair?”
“Having a province so far east could prove beneficial for our treasury.”
“And what would the League gain by indulging your greed?”
“It would help legitimize your invasion… It’d look better with the other realms.”
“Would it now? Heh. Then what?”
“After we dismantle Porosia, we call for a meeting of all the realms. In that meeting we establish the Great Alliance of Helena. This alliance would be a body consisted of us rulers from each realm. Nations of Helena would, for the first time in history, work together for common goals! We already have a well established postal system. Next would be a network of well maintained and protected roads. For safe trade and easier travels. Also, no member would be able to declare war on another. If they did so they'd be faced with the wrath of all other members.”
“With other words, you’d tie our hands and call it an alliance?” Alec frowned.
“Together, we all have so much to gain.”
“Would Vetulonia share their technologies with this so-called alliance? Your ship-building skills, navigational tools, your concrete, alchemy? All your so carefully protected secrets?”
“Not at first, but as time progresses, we would.”
“The answer is no, no to the joint war against Porosia, no to your so called grand alliance. We’re on our way up, to glory, to conquest, to immortality! There is nothing you can do about our power. Your sages speak of the great flow, the current – and how a well spent life is about flowing with it. So what exactly are you trying to achieve here?
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you something… Lord Cronos, your hospitable Porosian host… He died.”
“How?” asked Tiberius, indifferent as if they were discussing the weather.
“That priest of his, the one he raised as his own, ratted him out to the disgusting king.”
“Why would he do that?” Tiberius asked, still appearing indifferent.
“He was the League’s sympathizer. Imagine that! It wasn’t hard to convince him to tell on his Lord. You see, I figured... If the rebellious Lord Cronos goes away, so does the basis for the Vetulonian invasion of his province. Yes, I know about that. You schemer, you! But you can’t trick me, Tiberius. I’m like the wind. If some shepherd violates one of his sheep in the mountains, I hear of it! I have spies everywhere.
So yes… Lord Cronos is dead. He was replaced by one of the king’s cousins, an idiot of similar magnitude. Now Porosia is even weaker than it was two weeks ago, and hence more conquerable! You must admit, I played that beautifully! Time-frame was a bit of a concern, I wanted for all this to happen before you lot arrived to Abydos. My messengers and spies did a lot of riding back and forth, back and forth… But I succeeded! Ha!”
“What happened to his daughter?” I asked with a voice that gave out my concerns for Calista. Alec looked at me and grinned, pointing his finger at me:
“This one is a hypocrite! His daughter, you ask? You’re not curious about his son? Just his daughter, ey? Ah, I don’t blame you, lad. Calista, from what I heard, is carved beautifully. They forced her to marry the king’s cousin who took over the province. There's a good chance he's penetrating her as we speak. You know how old-fashioned Porosian laws are. He has to legitimize his new position by, you know, inseminating her. Poor girl. And Lord Cronos’s son joined the Faith. Oh, and the priest! Listen to this, it’s hilarious: the rat, after we paid him in pure silver, hung himself from a redbud tree! Porosia is a vessel filled with odd creatures! The League will correct that.”
My stomach was in knots.
“You’re quite diligent, Alec,” said Tiberius with admiration. The genuine tone of Tiberius’s voice confused Alec. He was expecting shock, anger, not praise. But after frowning for a bit, he laughed, accepting Tiberius’s compliment.
“So, Lord of Vetulonia! Anything else?”
“No, that would be all.”
“Don’t hold it against me, this is politics. Our jobs! Oh! What of the trade agreements, iron, spices?”
“Oh, yes. Nothing our ambassador and your treasury minister couldn’t handle…”
We all stood up from the table at the same time. We left the room and descended the grand staircases. The chancellor put on his charm again and talked of the palace. How it was build, how many rooms it has – things of that sort. When we arrived to the second level, where our rooms were, he excused himself, arguing he has some urgent matters that need his attention. He and Damalis left and we lingered in the great hall for a while, trying to grasp what had just happened. The League’s public servants were trotting to and out of their offices, not paying us much attention.
“Flavia,” said Tiberius after long moments of silence.
“Yes?” she answered almost timid.
“Go fetch our ambassador, Cornelius. His office is in the room sixty-five. Bring him to my room. The rest of you, follow me.”
A short time later we were all, along with the ambassador, in Tiberius’s room.
“Well, that went well,” said Julia and smirked. “Saves us a lot of trouble, though,” she added.
“Otho! You said the priest seemed loyal to you!” Tiberius barked.
“I made a mistake,” Otho mumbled, looking at the floor. He then mustered the courage and looked Tiberius into the eyes:
“I made a mistake,” he repeated.
Otho’s courage and sincerity calmed Tiberius who now spoke with a less harsh tone:
“Don’t take it to heart, he had us all fooled… Cornelius, when do you think they’ll invade?”
“They’re not in a hurry. Why would they be? They have elections in spring, perhaps after that, but who knows?”
The League promoted itself as a democracy, but this was a false representation. Villages and settlements voted senators who represented them in the national council. This council, composed of five hundred people, then voted the chancellor. But the whole matter was a sham. The priests, who acted as a secret policing force, controlled the senators. Hence senators voted how the priests told them to vote. And the priesthood was under chancellor’s firm control. And so he couldn't lose and ruled the League as an absolute ruler – all under the weak disguise of democracy.
“Have you anything of value to tell us, Cornelius?”
“No, Tiberius. I’m afraid I do not. Gathering intelligence in Abydos is an impossible task. A few leaks and the ones that are, speak of trivial matters.”
“Such as?”
“That the chancellor and his lot deal with evil forces. I was told there’s a species of snakes that live in the mountains north of Abydos, called Amalea. Licking the skin of these snakes has a similar effect to our Elixir. But unlike Vetulonians, Alec and his lot use it to contact something else. Something evil. Supposedly, to enhance their connection with this force they perform all kinds of abhorrent rituals. Child sacrifices and even worse! But I saw no evidence of this. I regard it as an empty tale, a rumor. The source of this story was a drunk I met in a tavern near the palace. He didn’t say how he knew of this, so I didn’t take him seriously. He was quite drunk too, mumbled about the guilt he carries, silly things like that.”
“You think you could find him? I’d like to talk to him.”
“This happened half a year ago. I haven’t seen him since. But I can you tell this, Tiberius. Alec won’t stop with Porosia. His next target will be Megalopolis. All those mountains filled with gems and metal. He starts drooling anytime he speaks of it!”
“I’m aware of his military reforms and the numbers he possesses... But does he have the might to take out Megalopolis?”
“We'll find out... The hedgehog formation of the League’s infantry... Tens of thousands of people moving like one organism… It’s beyond impressive! Besides, you know best that Megalopolis is a hedonistic, self-important, depraved entity. In the past, yes, they were the most powerful and wealthiest of the realms. But all the riches made them lazy. Bored. Their standing army is only strong in numbers. Their commanders don’t distinguish a battlefield from a podium!”
“Alec did well for himself by killing Lord Cronos. Everything is now more complicated for us... And less complicated for him,” Tiberius sighed.
“I have a favor ask, Tiberius. As you know, my niece is living here in Abydos with me. Please take her back to Vetulonia. She has her parents’ house in Lux and enough money to lead a comfortable life. If she stays here she won’t be safe when things progress.”
“Of course, Cornelius.”
“Thank you.”
Tiberius sighed again and then whispered:
“It’s time to go to bed, sleep will clear our thoughts. We’ll talk again in the morning.”
Back in my room I thought of Lord Cronos, who was no longer with us, and poor Calista. Those passionate blue eyes, her bushy eyebrows, her restless and bold spirit. It made my heart ache.