The Habit of the Kingmaker

by J J Moriarty

  “Nothing. There’s just no people to work them”, the boy said.

  A vision burst to life before Hyzou’s eyes. It was the same scene he had seen in a hundred different nightmares.

  There was a long table, at which several well-dressed military men sat in tall chairs. They were looking at an old man who bowed painfully before them.

  “Gardem”, the Supreme Commander said.

  Then the vision dissolved.

  “Where have they gone?” Hyzou asked. “How can there be a famine if there’s no problem with growing food?”

  The boy frowned.

  “Lamyblans”, he said.

  Hyzou clenched his fists.

  “What did they do?” Hyzou asked.

  “Everyone had a rice quota to meet”, he said.

  “Did they?” Hyzou asked.

  “Those that didn’t were rounded up”, the boy said. “This was four years ago now, a long time. Each summer they did the same. Then one year the soldiers came and just took everyone who was more than twelve summers in age. Took them and we haven’t seen them since.”

  “Mrya. Give these children all our jerky”, Hyzou said.

  “But Hyzou…” Mrya began.

  “Do it”, Hyzou said, his voice hot with anger.

  Mrya did so, and the children were very grateful, thanking him and even hugging him in the case of the youngest girl. Hyzou was polite, but he left them there, getting on the cart and instructing Alvan to drive. They set off on their journey again, and Hyzou felt an almighty anger in his throat.

  Remember your vows. Hyzou thought.

  He was a Servant of Qi, and a Servant always did their duty.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The first glimpse of Piquea was like the opening notes to a particularly sad song. It arose from the distance, that familiar shape of the jewel on the hill. Hyzou tasted the waves of sad nostalgia as the dusty city in the distance became clearer and clearer. These roads, he knew them too.

  There wasn’t a memory that dominated his mind as he approached. He didn’t find himself reminiscing over the time he had driven along that path, or the time he’d picked fruit by that copse. Instead, it was just an overarching sense that he’d been here before, and that finally, he was coming home.

  Uqing is home. That was the vow you gave. Hyzou thought, as they approached the gates.

  But it wasn’t, and never could be. As Alvan steered them up the curved streets of Piquea, so changed but so similar, Hyzou knew that he was no different from the brownstone edifices on every street corner. He belonged here as much as if his foundations were immovably placed in a Piquean street.

  “Are you ok? You seem a bit quiet”, Alvan said.

  “I’m ok, it’s just been a tough journey”, Hyzou said.

  And it had been. After he fed the four children, their surroundings went from bad to worse. The famine was running rampant through all Piquea. They rode through villages and by farmhouses that were a mirror of Hyzou’s nightmares. Starving children, bodies rotting where they had fallen, and a cold despairing silence settled over everyone they’d passed. They hadn’t the strength to speak.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it”, Alvan said. “But, you know I agree with Mrya.”

  Hyzou wasn’t in much of a humour for an argument.

  “Why’s that?” Hyzou said.

  “Well, you kept saying we could get food in the city, but how do you know that? If there’s nothing to eat in the countryside how can there be enough to eat in the city of Piquea”, Alvan said.

  Hyzou was also worried about that.

  They entered the city, riding under a tall arch. Their view was blinkered at first, but once they’re ridden through the gates, they could see the entirety of first of the city’s squares. Hundreds of square feet of space with no buildings to impede the view.

  The sight made Hyzou almost to wretch. The square was filled with people, all of them begging, all of them starving. Hyzou spasmed slightly.

  “See, they’re starving here too”, Alvan said, covering his mouth from the smell. “You shouldn’t have given away all our food on the road. I haven’t eaten in days.”

  The urchins didn’t move, they were too weak to roll out of the way. They just lay out in the sun, too weak to swat the flies that buzzed around their bodies. Alvan was forced to make the horses move at a slow walk.

  Breathing corpses. Hyzou thought.

  There were more than two hundred in this square alone. Most had stomachs that were puffed out and stretched, beneath skin pulled tightly around a rib cage. For those who were naked, Hyzou could see their pelvises protruding from a shrunken waist.

  The adults ignored Hyzou once they realised that he had no food to give them. The children however, still had a little of their playful curiosity remaining, and their sad eyes followed Hyzou as he passed. They all had their knees pulled tightly into their chest, in a desperate attempt to keep warm. It was nearing summer, but they were all shivering violently.

  Around this collection of people, animals waited in a circle.

  There were vultures, their long necks extended with eyes looking in every direction. They were hoping to see someone drop dead and to be the first bird to notice.

  A pack of dogs was in attendance too, panting slightly in the easy heat. They didn’t look half as starved as the humans. There was plenty of meat to eat, so long as you didn’t mind eating people.

  This scene repeated itself again and again up through the bottom three levels. Crowds of people, some big, some small, would crowd around squares and empty streets, begging or waiting to die. They were all starving, and just a few days from death if they didn’t get something to eat.

  Despite himself, Hyzou found himself turning his face away in disgust.

  Piquea had changed since he’d been here last. The night he had been taken, a fire had burned through the city and its effects could be seen even now. Hyzou saw empty spaces where once there had been buildings, and saw new, larger constructions, where, in Hyzou’s childhood, smaller creations had stood.

  They rode onto the third level, through Nuyin. It was nearly unrecognisable, but Hyzou could just make out where, in the distance, his old house had been. He couldn’t see it from here, but he didn’t want to either.

  Finally, they left the third level and entered the fourth.

  To do so they passed a squad of guards, nearly forty men standing in formation around the gates. Hyzou explained who he was and where he was going, and he was let through to the fourth level.

  Here, everything looked so much more different.

  No one here was hungry. They all looked healthy. There were no beggars, no urchins. Here it looked just like the Piquea of old, a busy city with people milling about on business.

  But Hyzou could tell the one major difference from the place he had once called home. Everyone here was speaking Lamyblan, not Piquean.

  Alvan pulled the horses up outside a simple, but large, house.

  “Here’s the embassy, as promised”, Alvan said.

  Hyzou nodded to him.

  “You’ll be able to find plenty of food I’d say”, Hyzou said.

  “It’s strange alright, seems to be food to buy up here”, Alvan said.

  There were stalls nearby, selling rice and jerky. The only sign that there was a famine were the guards protecting the stalls, a precaution against looters.

  “Farewell Alvan, it’s been a privilege to travel with you”, Hyzou said.

  Mrya was standing behind him, carrying his possessions, meagre as they were.

  “Goodbye Mrya”, Hyzou said.

  She grunted as she handed his things over to him.

  Hyzou hopped down off the carriage and walked around the horses, towards the building. As he came close to it, Hyzou realised that the embassy was deceptively large. Maybe it was because it was built like a normal home, like the one Hyzou had been torn from all those years ago.

  Hyzou hauled his bags towards the door, while the
carriage did a complicated u-turn. He knocked on the thick wood of the front door.

  It took a long time for the door to open, and when it did, Hyzou was surprised to see that it was answered by a young girl, staring up at Hyzou with wide eyes. Her head was shaved, apart from her fringe which had been let grow long. Hyzou hunkered down.

  “Is there someone in charge here?” Hyzou asked.

  The girl began to suck her thumb and nodded.

  “You understand Piquean?” Hyzou asked.

  The girl nodded.

  “Can you find whoever is in charge here?” Hyzou asked.

  The girl nodded and ran back down a well-lit hall. Once she was out of sight, Hyzou heard her shouting, the noise echoing along the high-ceilinged hall to him. There was silence then, and for a long time he could hear nothing.

  Finally, a tall figure entered the hall, the small girl at his side. Hyzou reached out his Qi, and sensed that this man was a Servant, well in control of his Qi.

  “Who are you?” The man asked.

  “I’m Hyzou of Nuyin”, Hyzou said.

  The man’s eyebrows raised.

  “I didn’t know when you were coming”, he said.

  “Well I’m here now. Who are you?” Hyzou asked.

  “Oh, I’m Abraxas”, he said. “And this is my daughter Sitdjehuti.”

  Hyzou hunkered down again.

  “Pleased to meet you Sitdjehuti”, Hyzou said.

  Sitdjehuti buried her head in her father’s leg.

  “She’s shy”, Abraxas said.

  Hyzou smiled.

  “That’s quite alright”, Hyzou said.

  “Please, come in. You must be hungry, I’ll have Gemenfkon prepare you something to eat”, Abraxas said. “He looks after the embassy.”

  Abraxas bowed slightly, then spoke to his daughter.

  “This is Hyzou, he’s in charge around here. We serve him”, Abraxas said.

  Sitdjehuti stared at her father.

  “Go on”, Abraxas said.

  Sitdjehuti turned to Hyzou and curtsied.

  “Come with me, Hyzou, your chamber is upstairs. You’ll have a study and a room for meeting with people too. My wife and three children live here, but I promise we won’t be getting in your way, whatever your business is, Archaier”, Abraxas said.

  Hyzou nodded.

  Abraxas led the way upstairs. The stairs were made of good stone. This building was old, it had survived the fire.

  His chambers were gigantic, a circular construction with a high roof adorned with a fresco. It was a painting of Andras stabbing his brother with the first ever sword. Lorikuy was wearing a tattered grey robe, while around them both a gigantic tower crumbled into nothing.

  There were small sculptures around the room too, one of the death of Tym and Spich; and others of various historical events. All of them were old.

  “Why wasn’t this house looted during the sack?” Hyzou asked.

  “It was, Archaier, everything has been replaced”, Abraxas said.

  Hyzou turned to the Servant.

  “Has the ambassador always slept in this room?” Hyzou asked.

  Abraxas nodded.

  “So this is where Aliya slept”, Hyzou said. “This building is where she worked from, for years.”

  “You knew Aliya?” Abraxas asked.

  “Yes, she trained me actually”, Hyzou said.

  “I served under her for a year. In this very building see”, Abraxas said.

  Hyzou cocked a brow.

  “You were in Piquea for the sack?” Hyzou asked.

  Abraxas laughed.

  “No, I was sent to a town in the south, a kind of autonomous community there. They were celebrating the Breaking of Winter just like they were in Piquea, I returned to find the city in ruins”, Abraxas said.

  “How long were you ambassador for?” Hyzou asked.

  “Just six months, on either end. An Archaier was sent out here for the period in between. His term ended recently”, Abraxas said.

  “And so I step in”, Hyzou said.

  “Your Piquean is immaculate”, Abraxas said.

  “It’s my first language”, Hyzou said.

  “Is that so?” Abraxas asked.

  Hyzou nodded. He began to walk around the room, examining the statues. He laid his bags in a corner.

  “I couldn’t believe it, when I heard that Aliya had survived”, Abraxas said.

  “I was in the same cart as her”, Hyzou said.

  “The same what?” Abraxas asked.

  “The same slave cart. We were both pulled from the wreckage of Piquea wounded, put in the same cart, and brought north to Lamybla”, Hyzou said.

  The strangest sensation of nostalgia overcame Hyzou.

  What are you nostalgic for? The whippings, or the hunger? Hyzou thought.

  “You were in Piquea? So you were already being trained by Aliya? Strange, I should have known you then”, Abraxas said.

  Hyzou shook his head.

  “She wasn’t training me, no”, Hyzou said.

  “Then who was training you? If there was a Servant here we should have known. Did he make it out ok?” Abraxas said.

  “At the time of the sack I was training to be a scribe, at my father’s knee”, Hyzou said.

  “You weren’t a Servant five years ago?” Abraxas said.

  Hyzou shook his head.

  “No, why?” Hyzou asked.

  “Yet you now are an Archaier?” Abraxas asked.

  “Yes. I am”, Hyzou said.

  “They told me you were a prodigy, but that’s difficult to believe”, Abraxas said.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment”, Hyzou said. “But didn’t you sense my Qi?”

  “I wasn’t using my Qi”, Abraxas said.

  “Use it”, Hyzou said.

  “Sorry, I’d gotten used to normal diplomatic life here. There’s not much need for the Qi when all I do is attend meetings and conventions”, Abraxas said. “I only ever use the Qi to contact Uqing with the ekstasis.”

  “Keep in constant access with your Qi”, Hyzou said.

  Abraxas frowned.

  “This isn’t a war zone, we’re not in any danger”, he said.

  “I’ve ordered you to maintain access to your Qi during all your waking hours”, Hyzou said.

  Abraxas bowed.

  “Yes, sir”, Abraxas said.

  “Tell me about this city. Who’s in charge? How does it work? The last time I was here it was King Imhotep that was alive and ruling”, Hyzou said.

  “Gods, King Imhotep, that’s someone I haven’t thought of in a while. Poor guy. Yes, now the city’s ruler is Pharaoh Ganymedes”, Abraxas said. “We’re not an independent city, we’re just a part of Lamybla, same as any village in the River Cities.”

  “The same as Yobo?” Hyzou asked, referring to the third River City.

  “No, Pharaoh Ganymedes does rule there but it’s through a proxy leader. The Priests run Yobo, under the rule of a Divine Master, who serves Pharaoh Ganymedes indirectly. We have no such independence and are ruled directly from Lamybla, through the army”, Abraxas said.

  “The Supreme Commander”, Hyzou whispered.

  “Yes, he’s in charge of the city. How do you know that?” Abraxas asked.

  Hyzou wasn’t about to reveal that he’d seen him in a vision.

  “I heard him mentioned on the road. And who’s Gardem?” Hyzou asked.

  Abraxas paused to think.

  “Sorry, I’m just trying to figure out the best way to explain this. Simply, Gardem is in charge of the council that runs the lower levels of the city”, Abraxas said.

  “He’s doing a terrible job. There are thousands of people starving down there”, Hyzou said.

  Abraxas’ face darkened.

  “I try not to think about them”, Abraxas said.

  “Do the Archai know about the famine?” Hyzou asked.

  “They do, I’ve been telling them about it for years. Regular reports”, Abraxas said.

>   “Years?” Hyzou asked.

  “Years, sir. It’s been slow, but Gardem has been saying for years that this would be the outcome if the Supreme Commander continued his actions”, Abraxas said.

  “I think I’ll have to try and ignore the sick and hungry too. No other way I can do my job”, Hyzou said.

  “It’s true”, Abraxas said.

  “But, and I will say this, I hope you have not gotten used to nice food”, Hyzou said. “Or that you’re ok with eating like a stoic.”

  “Why?” Abraxas asked.

  “Because we’re giving away all our food to the hungry. We’ll only eat rice and chickpeas. Everyone in the embassy, including your children. Have we money saved?” Hyzou asked.

  Abraxas nodded.

  “We’re going to spend it all while I’m ambassador. We’ll buy bitter vetch by the wagon load and set up a pot of porridge every day to feed the hungry. I’ve lived off the stuff myself. It’s not pleasant, but one can live off it”, Hyzou said.

  “That money is needed for…” Abraxas began.

  Hyzou shook his head.

  “We’ll be spending it on providing food”, Hyzou said.

  Abraxas nodded.

  “Yes, sir”, Abraxas said.

  “Who do you meet with? As ambassador?” Hyzou asked.

  Abraxas shrugged.

  “Whoever the situation calls for. The embassy must send regular reports back to Uqing of any news from Piquea and the surrounding area, we are the eyes of the Archai. Apart from that, we just deal with the local ruling council”, Abraxas said. “Trust me, there’s a lot to do.”

  “Everyone should think I’m just a normal Archai. No would should learn my story. Can you do that?” Hyzou asked

  “I’m afraid I don’t know your story, or why it should be kept hidden, but if that’s your desire”, Abraxas said.

  “I ran away from Lamybla as a slave. Pharaoh Ganymedes put a price on my head. That’s all”, Hyzou said.

  Abraxas bowed.

  “I will keep your counsel close Archaier”, Abraxas said.

  There were steps outside on the stairs up.

  “Who’s that?” Hyzou said.

  The individual didn’t seem to have his Qi, he wasn’t a Servant.

  “That’s Gemenfkon”, Abraxas said.

  An old man appeared at the door to the house. A wrinkled face and bald head belied what was once a strong man, no stooping with age for this individual. Gemenfkon was carrying a tray holding a bowl of soup.