by J J Moriarty
“This will be a little bit awkward for me”, Persimmon said. “I mean, you’re an Archaier.”
“I am”, Hyzou said.
“But you know what I want to talk to you about, I mean your own conscience tells you that, doesn’t it? I know you, you can’t be comfortable with yourself at the moment”, Persimmon said.
Hyzou smiled.
“I’m never comfortable in my own skin, but as to what you’re talking about, I’ve got no idea”, Hyzou said.
“We were set to marry, the moment she became a Servant of Qi. Then she returns after a few weeks of your tutelage and has gone off the idea. What did you do?” Persimmon said.
“Persimmon I’m a pretty busy man, and I just assumed you two had married. This is the first I’ve heard of this”, Hyzou said.
“I know you’re angry at me. You and Sudgata aren’t friends and that’s fine, but there’s no need to turn Safia against me just because I train under Archaier Sudgata”, Persimmon said.
Hyzou whistled lowly.
“That’s quite a tale you’ve spun. Do you even know Safia? I don’t think I could convince her to breathe if she was against it”, Hyzou said.
Persimmon frowned.
“She says she’s still with me. But it’s all changed so much”, Persimmon said.
“I’m sorry you’re having relationship troubles, but I have nothing to do with them Persimmon”, Hyzou said.
“Then why won’t she marry me? It was all she talked about before she left for the mountains with you”, Persimmon said.
“If she still loves you she’ll marry you, just give her time”, Hyzou said. “That’s what I think anyway.”
“She hasn’t stopped loving me”, Persimmon said.
“There you go then”, Hyzou said.
“But you… You’ve done something”, Persimmon said.
Hyzou shook his head. Tears were forming in Persimmon’s eyes.
“I thought I was going to be so angry when I met you. But I’m not”, Persimmon said.
“That’s good”, Hyzou said.
“I’m sorry, Archaier”, Persimmon said. “I shouldn’t have burdened you with this.”
“That’s quite alright. Servants are humans too”, Hyzou said.
Persimmon nodded. Hyzou stood.
“Archaier, may I ask you a favour?” Persimmon said.
“You may ask”, Hyzou said.
“Would you advise Safia to marry me?” Persimmon asked.
Hyzou didn’t reply.
“Just… Write to her and tell her that you think it would be a good idea. She respects you so much, you’re practically all she talks about. You made her into a Servant”, Persimmon said.
“I don’t think that would be appropriate”, Hyzou said.
“But…” Persimmon began.
“Convince her yourself, you shouldn’t need to resort to trickery. What’s more, I’m an Archaier, and I’m not supposed to get involved in the personal lives of Servants, even when they’re my pupils”, Hyzou said.
“Is that really the reason then? The reason why you won’t write to her?” Persimmon asked.
“It’s reason enough”, Hyzou said.
Persimmon glared at him, but Hyzou didn’t care. He walked from the buttery out into the hall. He had work to do if he was going to be in Aheb tomorrow morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Archaier, you came”, Gardem said.
“Please, call me Hyzou”, Hyzou said.
Gardem bowed.
“What’s that stench?” Hyzou said.
But he knew. He’d smelled it once before in his life.
“You’ll see”, Gardem said.
“Are there troops around?” Hyzou asked.
Gardem shook his head. He began to walk, and Hyzou followed.
“Not many, no. And they don’t do much in the morning. All the troops around here get drunk until late into the night, then wake up at lunch the following day”, Gardem said.
“Sounds like a poor way to run an army”, Hyzou said.
“These soldiers aren’t in an army”, Gardem said.
The light was just piercing through the darkness of the night. Hyzou couldn’t see that far ahead of him, but with the Qi he could make sure he didn’t fall.
“There’s food in Piquea, you know”, Gardem said.
“Is that so?” Hyzou asked.
“Yes. The Supreme Commander thinks a fully-fledged rebellion may emerge from the south, and the city of Piquea may be besieged. So, hidden on the sixth level is enough food to feed a besieged city for two years”, Gardem said.
Hyzou cocked a brow.
“I really hope you’re making all this up”, Hyzou said.
“I’m not. The Supreme Commander, in such a scenario, would cleanse the city of all Piqueans and the Lamyblans could hold out for five years. Have you sensed it Hyzou, when you’re on the upper levels, have you sensed it from them? They’re afraid, their every move is motivated by fear”, Gardem said.
“Who’s this?” Hyzou asked.
“The Lamyblans. They’re so very afraid that they’ll wake one day and find they’ve been stabbed in their sleep”, Gardem said.
“Not much of a chance of Piqueans doing that, most can’t even lift a knife”, Hyzou said.
“For now”, Gardem said.
They continued to walk together and Hyzou probed ahead with his Qi. Gardem had been right, in a large vicinity around them, there wasn’t a single soldier who was conscious.
“What are you expecting?” Hyzou asked.
“I’ve already been shown, Archaier, but you should see”, Gardem said.
They entered Aheb. Hyzou gasped.
“What happened here?” Hyzou asked.
“A lot of it was razed to the ground. More than the Supreme Commander would have wanted”, Gardem said. “But they had to ensure there were no Piqueans left hiding.”
“Those buildings were made of stone”, Hyzou said.
“And now they’re nothing more than rubble”, Gardem said.
Hyzou marvelled, looking at places where once buildings had stood. He walked over to one pile of rubble and began to root among the pile of wood.
“There’s no one left alive”, Gardem said.
“I know. I can sense if there are living creatures inside”, Hyzou said.
But he left it anyway.
“The air is foul”, Gardem said.
“Why are all the soldiers sleeping in the countryside? I’d be staying in the town if I were them, it’s much more pleasant in here. Shelter and a well”, Hyzou said.
“There’s just a small force of them left, and I think they like the quiet of the countryside”, Gardem said.
“Why would they do this? They’ve demolished Aheb”, Hyzou said.
Gardem nodded.
“They have. And Aheb was a lot bigger than you remember Archaier”, Gardem said.
“What do you mean?” Hyzou said.
“In the last few years several thousand peasants and slaves have been moved from their scattered places around the countryside to gigantic holding villages. Aheb was the largest and had a lot of people living here until the Supreme Commander sent his forces out here”, Gardem said.
“What happened to them? The Piqueans who lived here, I mean”, Hyzou said.
Gardem breathed in through his nose.
“What do you smell, Archaier?” Gardem asked.
Hyzou breathed in through his nose.
“Dead bodies. It smells like a battlefield”, Hyzou said.
Gardem nodded. They were walking past one pile of a rubble after another. There was the occasional building left standing, but they were rare, and even they had been gutted by fire. The sun was finally starting rise.
“What else do you smell, Archaier?” Gardem said. “You remember, don’t you? You were there the day Piquea was sacked.”
“Burning flesh”, Hyzou said.
“Very good”, Gardem said. “I can smell it too.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to see this”, Hyzou said.
“Come with me Archaier. We’ll walk westwards. It’s worse than anything you can imagine”, Gardem said.
Hyzou followed Gardem as they left the town westwards.
“Imagine, on the day the Supreme Commander’s troops arrived, they swarmed into the town, and forced everyone in Aheb to march along this very path we’re walking. It’s quiet, isn’t it? Almost peaceful”, Gardem said.
“It’s a nice walk”, Hyzou said.
“I don’t think it was peaceful that day though”, Gardem said. “I wonder how many of them fought and tried to run loose when they saw so many soldiers.”
“The grass is torn up”, Hyzou said.
“Rare, for winter. Dry ground takes a lot of feet on it to be overturned. But we both know a lot of feet covered this ground”, Gardem said.
“I don’t get it”, Hyzou said. “Why would the Supreme Commander do this?”
Gardem laughed.
“Are you imagining that he has a conscience?” Gardem said. “Have you met the man?”
Hyzou shook his head.
“No. But he needs the Piqueans to work the farms around here, doesn’t he? Why would he kill them, wipe out Aheb? Summer is soon, how will he pick all the rice”, Hyzou said.
“Ah, actually, I wondered about that myself”, Gardem said. “But it makes sense.”
“Does it?” Hyzou asked.
“Yes. With his phenomenal victories of late, the Pharaoh has captured more than thirty-five thousand prisoners of war from the Drascian army - most of the Drascian force. I hear that his army gets closer and closer to Drascia by the day, led on by Kyrios Nerikare. Every day, he plunders more and more slaves from Drascia”, Gardem said.
“What’s he planning to do?” Hyzou asked.
“Piquea has been divided up by Kyrios Lysimachus. Small portions for Pharaoh Ganymedes’ allies. They’ll be given land, some Piquean slaves, and a lot of Drascian slaves. They’ll be made rich men”, Gardem said.
“I still don’t understand why they would need to raze Aheb, those buildings were valuable”, Hyzou said.
Gardem nodded.
“They were indeed. But there’s more to that story. If the local populations were kept in place around here, how would the newly made Citizens sent south from Lamybla maintain order?” Gardem asked.
“Use soldiers”, Hyzou said.
“Soldiers are expensive. Especially fighting against rebels who are tied to the land, who will never give up and never surrender to the last man. No, it’s much more practical to prune the land of Piqueans. To the Supreme Commander, Piqueans are nothing more than weeds to be removed from the land to make it healthy again”, Gardem said.
Hyzou let the silence settle.
“How much does the Pharaoh know?” Hyzou asked.
“The Pharaoh and his Vizier and his heir. They rule as a trio, or so I’ve heard. But I don’t know Archaier, perhaps the Supreme Commander is acting to the letter of Ganymedes’ orders; or maybe he and Kyrios Lysimachus are taking their responsibilities a little too seriously”, Gardem said.
Hyzou didn’t know what to say.
He thought he had, after his time in slavery, come to understand everything there was to know about the dark side of the human condition. But this was an evil that was truly incomprehensible. So, as his mind did in such situations, Hyzou picked up on a more insignificant detail.
“Vizier? The Pharaoh never had a Vizier when I met him”, Hyzou said.
“Yes. By all accounts, she’s quite the able politician. She’s about your age, has a sorcerer as her bodyguard”, Gardem said.
Hyzou felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“Is her name Iset?” Hyzou asked.
Gardem looked at him.
“So you two have met?” Gardem asked.
Hyzou shook his head.
“Never. But she’s my cousin. That sorcerer she roams with is my uncle”, Hyzou said.
Gardem looked like Hyzou had just asked him what kind of water he liked to drown in.
“You’re not being serious, are you?” Gardem said.
“I am. My old teacher, she told me about Iset. Last I heard she was in the court in Yobo. I suppose she got transferred over when Yobo fell to Pharaoh Ganymedes”, Hyzou said.
“Archaier, may I just say that I hope to never meet the third cousin”, Gardem said.
“We’re getting closer”, Hyzou said.
“Your Qi can sense the dead too?” Gardem asked in awe.
“My nose can smell them”, Hyzou said.
“That makes more sense”, Gardem said. “They begin just ahead here. Steel yourself Archaier.”
Hyzou did, but it made little difference. Gardem was right, it was worse than anything Hyzou could have imagined.
The land raised slightly and dipped again. It wasn’t notable enough to count as a valley, but it was enough to hide what was behind the hill. The first sign was the burned grass at the crest of the hill, and the burned spokes of an old wheel. Then the impression opened out in front of Hyzou.
Hyzou used his Qi to mute his sense of smell. Gardem had no such faculty available to him, and the old man swooned with the force of the fumes. He took two small cloths from his pocket and shoved one up each nostril.
“Do you want one?” Gardem said. “They’ve been soaked in cow’s piss. It’s the only thing that stops the smell.”
Hyzou shook his head. He just kept walking.
The flies, bloated and loud from all the flesh they’d had to eat, buzzed around Hyzou’s ears. Hyzou swatted them away when they came too close. The place was alive with vultures, swarms of the birds picking over their feast. There were dogs and vermin scurrying among the corpses, and Hyzou even saw a pride of panthers, and a solitary leopard with her cubs, getting as much of this easy meal as they could.
It was a massacre. More than four thousand people at least, but Hyzou couldn’t be sure about that. He didn’t have much experience in counting corpses.
He walked among the bodies, trying to identify the faces, those that were left anyway. The vultures had been to most of the victims, and so almost everyone had had their eyes pecked out. It made it difficult to tell much about the dead.
Still, as he walked among them, Hyzou couldn’t but notice some things.
“Why so many children?” Hyzou asked.
A lot of the dead were younger than eight summers, judging by their height.
“They distract their parents from their work, they can’t do anything to bring in the harvest, and all they do is take food that could go to a more valuable Lamyblan mouth”, Gardem said.
“I see”, Hyzou said.
“They took anyone useful away and moved them elsewhere within the empire. All that’s left here are those who couldn’t wield a scythe for sixteen hours a day. Children, the elderly, women, the infirm. They would have made easy targets for a massacre. You saw the army sent out here didn’t you?” Gardem asked.
Hyzou nodded.
“I did. They were well armed, healthy, and trained. They must have cut this crowd down easily”, Hyzou said.
“I imagine so”, Gardem said.
Hyzou was a third of the way through the pile of bodies.
“The Supreme Commander knows I’m Piquean”, Hyzou asked.
“He knows it well”, Gardem said.
“No doubt he wishes I were one of these bodies”, Hyzou said.
“He considers us to be weeds. I’ve heard him say it many times. Weeds that spoil an otherwise good field”, Gardem said.
“He sees the Empire as one without Piqueans, doesn’t he?” Hyzou asked.
“I’d say so”, Gardem said.
“How long has this been going on?” Hyzou asked.
“As far as I know, this group of one thousand men is the first such army created for this purpose. They’ll move along the road to Lamybla now, slaughtering all the while”, Gardem said.
Hy
zou made sure to step delicately, avoiding all the bodies. In some places this meant he had to leap between the bare patches of grass, but that was fine with him. He wouldn’t make these people suffer a further indignity.
“Do you think more will follow?” Hyzou asked.
“The Supreme Commander plans to remove all the weeds from his field. I’d imagine once Drascia is defeated then he’ll have a full army to implement his plan”, Gardem said.
“What then?” Hyzou asked.
“A hundred thousand killed, a hundred and fifty thousand. Who knows?” Gardem said. “There won’t be Piqueans left in Piquea, in any case. All that will be left will be the refugees who fled, and those who lived elsewhere anyway.”
Hyzou was reminded of a vision he’d had once, of a giant beach littered with corpses. The leviathan bathing in the distance.
They were nearly at the end of the corpses, and the sunrise was fully underway now.
“If these bodies are still here come the rain”, Hyzou started.
“The Supreme Commander has a plan for that too”, Gardem said. “If we walk past the dead, you’ll see.”
“Is that what the soldiers still here are doing? Getting rid of the bodies?” Hyzou asked.
“Yes. But not just for disease purposes”, Gardem said.
They’d reached the end of the bodies. Hyzou saw that a makeshift track had formed. It led westwards. He began to follow it.
“Why else are they getting rid of them?” Hyzou asked.
All around them now were soldiers. Hyzou could sense them, but they were far too drunk to even notice Hyzou, not that he was worried.
“Come back here after the summer, Archaier, and you’d be hard pushed to prove that this atrocity even occurred”, Gardem said.
“You’ve been here before” Hyzou said.
“I have. Just five days ago, when I decided to go into hiding”, Gardem said. “I was blinded by rage, Archaier.”
Hyzou paced along the track. Carts had come along this way; death carts of the kind used in a major city to clean out the dead from the night before. Hyzou saw the marks left by their wide, slow, wheels along the track. He saw the first soldier in person. He was a man who had seen more than forty summers, with a long beard and a huge gut hidden under filthy clothes. Hyzou passed another two, both snoring loudly.