Chapter 5; Heren the Hammer
The fire that would one day ravage an Empire had begun as a tiny flame. It had burned in him slowly, yet it would not die. It began far back in his earliest memories. The other children were always teasing him because he had no father. His mother, always lying to hide her own shame, told him that his father had died in a mining accident before he was born. There was always an anger that he felt at the hand this life had dealt him. Every time he saw one of his friends out playing in the park or going on outings with their dads, the flame would jump a little higher.
Then, as if his life was not hard enough to bear, at the tender age of only ten, his mother had been stricken with a horrible wasting disease. He watched her die slowly over a period of nearly a year. As her last days drew near, his mother became too sick even to get out of bed anymore. He never left their mean little place for fear that she would die before he could return.
One night, she called to him in a little voice to come quickly. He ran from his bedroom to hers to find her sitting up looking very strangely at him. "There is something that I must tell you about your father," she said softly. "He is not dead. he is Prince Zinad, heir to the Jeweled Throne. When I was sixteen, I was a hand maiden to his sister, Zia. He was so charming to me that I thought I was in love. After he had spoiled my love, he just threw me away. I was heart broken and told his sister what had happened."
"No," cried Heren, "you're making this up. If what you say is true, then I can never join the Navy and get out of this stinking ghetto that we live in. I will be hunted down to protect them from my claim to their Throne! I am the eldest child, after all."
”My darling son, I would never have allowed that to happen. When Zia found out, she got me quickly married off to one of the kitchen techs. On our honeymoon, a gift from Zia, he fell down a mine shaft and was killed. His name is the one you bear and his little pension is the one we live on now. No one, except my dear friend Zia, knows about you or your true parentage. She has always hated her brother's habits. She was unable to bear any children of her own and loves you dearly.
She has arranged for you to go to the Naval Academy. She is your god mother and has vowed to protect you, if only to spite Zinad. You must make us all proud of you." She then kissed his softly and died.
He covered his mother's ashen face, kissed her bony hand, and walked out of that room thinking what a burden she had carried all these years, protecting him from this shame, hiding her only son from sudden death as a pretender to the throne.
For Heren now realized that he was the fourth in line to ascend that Jeweled Path. If only the world could know the truth. He vowed that someday every living Menzi would pay for the life that she had lived. Somehow he must make them pay.
The group of people waiting outside the bedroom could tell by the look on his face that she was gone. Women began to cry. His Aunt Silvie had come only yesterday from her home to wait. His mother had told her that it wouldn’t be long now and someone must be there for Heren. He had always loved Silvie. They thought that she would be the best choice to be around for comforting him.
Without a word, he walked slowly over and curled up in her ample lap and cried himself to sleep. She rocked him for a time, knowing that he had not slept well in months. He has been so brave she thought, working so hard trying to comfort his mother in her last days.
The next morning, they went to the funeral together, holding each other tightly.
That afternoon, when the house was cleared of consolers and they were finally alone, she took his little hands in her two meaty one and said, "Heren, my sweet, your uncle and I have always loved you like one of our own. We would like you to come and live with us in Taraz. We have plenty of room. It would be just fine. You'll see."
"No!!!" he cried, "It was arranged by Princess Zia and my mother that I should be attending the Navel Academy Prep School."
"But, baby, you are too young to be flitting off half a galaxy to that school. When will I see you? Who will take care of you?"
"I am too grown up to need someone to take care of me," Heren said proudly. "I have been taking care of myself just fine these past months. I must go to this school. Its graduates have the inside track to the Imperial Naval Academy. It is the only way that I can fulfill my mother's dying wish."
This was an argument that Silvie could not defend against. She had lost that little boy forever. He knew that she could not go against her sister's will, and he held her while she cried. He knew she was secretly glad that he wouldn't be coming to Taraz. He was aware of her opinions of the Naval life. She probably was afraid that her darling, little Bert would get ideas about running off following him into the Academy.
They spent the next days getting rid of here sister's house and shipping things home to Taraz to store for Heren. They separated at the Jump Port, both he and Silvie acting brave and promising to write often.
Heren followed the instructions in the packet that had been given to him after his mother's funeral by an Imperial messenger. In it he found Jump stamps, rooms to rest from the sickness, and meal chits at good restaurants along the way. The Imperial Seal got him the best meals and rooms as he made his way on the Jump Path to Naval Prep.
When he got to school, he was immediately immersed in his new life. The Head knew that he was newly orphaned. He was determined that Heren would be too busy to feel sorry for himself. He did wonder how an orphan from the edge of the galaxy could become the godson of an Imperial princess. "I'll bet that is quite a story," he thought.
Every Friday, Heren would write Silvie all about his new life. Silvie loved those letters. They broke the monotony of her home life, and she didn’t have to sacrifice her little Bert to get it.
Heren almost forgot his hatred. Here at school no one had families. Each boy or girl was lost and on their own. Since Heren had been on his own longer, he was already practiced at this. As the Menzi blood flowed through his veins, he made easy use of his natural born leadership skills and quickly earned rank over his fellow classmates.
It was only at holidays that he might have felt inadequate with no where to go, but thank his lucky stars for Silvie. Every holiday, there was a ticket at the desk for a vacation trip home. At last, he was just one of those Naval Cadets, those really cool guys, trying to look taller in their dress blues, hoping the looked suave for all the girls in the Jump Ports that they would beam through. When they got back, they bragged of how many Jumps they could take without having to take those foul tasting sick pills and how many girls they had dated while on leave.
All through those school years, he developed a strong circle of mates. Those people learned and practiced skills that served them well. Through one minor war after another, they served and fought together. Watching each other’s flanks, the ones who survived those battles rose as one. Political skills were used as well as they collectively moved up through Naval ranks.
The ones who survived were the men plotting with him now. Their careers had been tied to his and now they would rule together or die trying. He would make them each a rich and powerful Quadrant Governor when this war was over. He would need strong leaders such as these to actually rule.
Two forms below Heren was a student named Aldo Menzi. he was a constant reminder of what Heren was trying to forget. He was the oldest legitimate son of the Emperor. In truth, he was Heren's half brother. What bothered Heren the most was that Aldo outranked him simply because he was the Crown Prince.
Aldo was never required to do much at the Academy. He slept late and studied little. The Emperor had sent him there trying to keep him out of trouble. It didn’t work. With Aldo's temperament, that was impossible. He was often up on charges for bullying younger male cadets. Female cadets were forever charging molestations.
As the ranking officer in the school's brigade, he was simply impossible to be around. His special pleasure came from riding the boys that had achieved rank by their merit. Heren, as the best cadet around, received the worst tre
atment. The flame that had almost died burned anew with this abuse. Heren went to sleep at night dreaming of the tortures that he would someday wreak on the Menzi family for all these injustices.
The happiest day of Heren's life was the day he graduated with top honors from Prep with a full scholarship to Naval Command College. He also found out that day that Crown Prince Aldo was retiring from the service to pursue studies in the Diplomatic Academy. The whole brigade turned out for a party in Aldo's honor. As Prince Aldo sat at the head of the table, he did not even suspect that these revelers were celebrating their own liberation even more than his retirement.
Heren shook his head to clear the past from his mind. "I've got too much to do to be sitting here thinking about things long gone," he thought to himself. Sitting up straight in his chair, tightening his tie, Heren smiled to himself. "I've got one more retirement party for you to attend, my brother," he mused wryly.
Chasing the Jewelled Throne Page 5