But I didn’t really need any smell. All my senses were soon screaming to me, telling me in no uncertain way, that the Blue Haze was in the air. The room’s dimensions were changing, everything was turning dark, turning blue. The furniture started to rot away in front of me. I was soon standing in a moldy, burnt down, dark room. It smelt rotten in the room. I could sense images of people, staring at me. Some looked like other Imperium members, others looked like Draconair. There were more than ten images of that evil man, smiling at me, pointing his infamous sword at me. Three of the images rushed at me, lifting their swords to cut me down. I fell to the ground, crouching to defend myself. I wanted to scream, but no words came out. I was truly trapped here.
And suddenly, the images started to fade, disappearing as fast as they had come into my view. Thankfully, I had released a miniscule quantity of the drug. And yet, in less than a second, I was on the floor, sweating, struggling to draw breath. The hallucinogen was extremely powerful. As I lay there on the floor, recovering, I knew exactly what I had to do.
I was disappointed when Muken was able to prove that the ore did not exist, but what I was pleased about, was the plan that the situation had given rise to. I summoned the man I wanted to see.
Draconair slowly entered my chamber a few minutes later. I wish I could say that the man was surprised that I had summoned him to my chamber after almost a month of no personal contact. But I couldn’t. The man’s face was a mask, as always. The rest of his body was covered under his black cloak, as usual.
“Yoouu summonnnedd me, my llord?” Draconair said, as soon as he was in my presence.
“Yes, Draconair. Thank you for coming at such short notice,” I told him, while sitting on the sofa in my guest reception chamber. I didn’t offer him a seat. It gave me some sense of power to make this man stand as I sat. Although there was no need for it, and it was petty, I wanted to make some gesture towards this man who I suspected was a part of a conspiracy to overthrow my power.
He just nodded. “Of course.” And waited. It was maddening to talk to this man. He seemed so immune to emotion, to pace. He seemed to have infinite patience, and that was really a virtue in any situation, but it was a curse for his opponent, on the battlefield and otherwise.
After a pause, I continued. “I have called you here for an important purpose. I know we have laid a lot of important tasks on you. The search for the swords of legend, the search for Magnot. And while they take precedence, what I am about to tell you is extremely important as well.”
“A few months ago, we found that there was a village hidden from the rest of the main land in the middle of the Deliganti Verde, bang in the middle of Morgenia. Our information also indicated that there was a small Azmoq reserve located under the village.”
I paused to look at Draconair’s face. He did seem mildly interested. Even this man could show emotion when someone mentioned “Azmoq reserve.”
“Now we sent a small unit to take control of that village and the reserve. But for some strange reason, the unit was defeated by the village. Given the importance of this task, I don’t want to risk sending anyone not good enough again. You are the best we have.
“So what you need to do is this.
Go to this village, alone. Destroy the village and secure the reserve. The path is a little difficult, especially for the last few kilometers, where the forests still dominate the trail. Once you secure the reserve, we can send some regular troops to relieve you.”
Draconair was silent. I guess he was trying to process what he had been instructed to do. It was probably difficult for him to understand why I was putting him in charge of such an important mission, especially given the friction between the Imperium and the Order in the last few weeks.
My idea was a simple one. There was no reserve. There was no village. There was only Blue Haze. If this toxin could take down Major Morgan, it would certainly weaken this man. And given his particular powers and sword, he was extremely susceptible to effects of such a hallucinogen. He would probably kill me if he survived, but I could always say that the assassins had lied, order an investigation and get the same evidence that Muken had presented to me. All I had to do was to ensure that Draconair didn’t come to know about Muken and his unit’s story. That was an easy fix. That entire unit had to disappear.
Draconair finally bowed. “I… am honnorred… too be givennn this opportunity… to capturrrre the Azmoq reserve for you, my lorddd. Buttt… ifff I mayyy… be so… bold?”
I am sure he was curious as to why I chose him. Instead of waiting for the slow man to start and complete the question, I preempted the answer.
“I know what your question is. Why you? It is not your mandate, nor is it in our interest to have such a strong warrior outside the High Seat. Is that correct?”
He nodded, slowly, as always.
“It is simple. I have two reasons. One, I have a hypothesis on Magnot’s abduction. I feel the assailant took the chance after you left Magnot, to abduct him. Your presence and investigation has subsequently deterred any further movement. I feel that your departure would ensure that the criminal would have the freedom to move around, and maybe, make another attempt at an Imperium member, when one of the Elite Units can capture that person.
The second is simpler—we need that reserve. I need the best we have, to navigate a difficult terrain, and capture it. And I can’t afford to involve anyone else. That is why I am sending you.”
Both reasons were bogus. I knew it and I knew he knew that as well. But he couldn’t call me out on that. Plus the reasons were constructed to hint to him what my ulterior motives were. The first one told him that the Imperium would plan some move against the Order with him outside the High Seat. The second reason was just to lay out to Draconair, why I felt it was safe to send him—One man, without any back up, couldn’t take the reserve and do anything useful with it. Only with our engineers and miners could the Azmoq be extracted successfully, both of whom the Imperium would retain and control in the High Seat. So, from Draconair’s perspective, I wasn’t allowing him any opportunity to control the reserve, just using him to secure the reserve.
I was sure he would try to think of ways to use this to his advantage. But I was sending him into a forest, to fight a village that did not exist, after a reserve that did not exist, but in the midst of one of the deadliest toxins known to man, which would definitely kill him, given his mental abilities.
Draconair bowed. “Thaankk youuu, My Lorrddd… I willll leeavvee at onncee… I willll deestrroyy this vvillaaggee… anddd ssecccurree theee Azmoqqq… forrr the Imperium.”
I was happy. I had sent the most powerful warrior in the continent on a fool’s errand, which was definitely going to result in his demise.
Appendix
The Valantian Imperium
The Imperium has been in power for 300 years.
It consists of 14 members, with one being designated as the Head of the Imperium. All important policy decisions are made by the Imperium as a group. It is the duty of the Head of the Imperium to call for council meetings, moderate them and in case of a tied vote, cast the deciding vote. The head is just the first among equals, with select powers bestowed in cases of extreme emergencies. The head is either elected from within the Imperium by majority vote or selected by rotation once every 5 years.
Responsibilities:
The Imperium is in charge of all happenings within the continent of Valantia. All individual countries owe their fealty to the Imperium. Every member of the Imperium has a specific responsibility towards the continent. The 13 key responsibilities are:
1.Sustenance, which looks after the agricultural, husbandry planning and production in the Valantian continent
2.Communication, which looks after searching, collation and distribution of regular news in the continent
3.Continental defense, which looks after the military needs of the continent. All military units, except the Elite Units, Final 100 and Order of 7, report to this member.
The exceptions to this exception are:
–during a state of active war, when the position of continental defense is transferred to Head of the Imperium (usually the current member in charge is made the Head)
–within the High Seat (which is under separate charge)
4.External Trade & Commerce, which looks after Valantian trade and commerce with the rest of the world
5.Foreign relations, which maintains diplomatic relations with all the other continents (except the Dark Continent)
6.Future, which looks at all technologies and processes that can be used profitably in the future. The primary focus is developing Azmoqian weaponry.
7.Infrastructure, which focuses on the developing and maintaining continent’s infrastructure, except transportation (which is looked at separately)
8.Imperium Defense, which deals with the internal security of the High Seat. This Imperium member is in charge of all troops (including Elite Units and Final 100) within the High Seat, with the Head of the Imperium being the only superseding authority
9.Internal affairs, manages the diplomatic relations between all countries within Valantia
10.Internal Trade & Commerce, which looks after trade and commerce within Valantia
11.Law, which looks after the law of land. All judicial proceedings are monitored by this council member. The enforcement of justice is under Continental defense.
12.Taxation, all taxation, internal and external to the continent, is handled under this one authority
13.Transportation, which oversees all transportation, by road and sea, and associated policies and infrastructure
Selection of Imperium:
Each member of the Imperium is selected from a pool of eligible candidates, who are identified and groomed from a young age. Once inducted, the member becomes a semi-permanent member for the next 10 years. A person is who is deemed to be unfit by the rest of the Imperium (especially the permanent members), can be removed from the Imperium. At any point in time, there are some permanent members on the council and the rest are semi-permanent members.
Once 10 years have passed, the member becomes permanent till his retirement, which is at the age 75. Once the person retires, a replacement is selected from the pool of eligible candidates.
Selection of the Head of the Imperium:
The Head of the Imperium can be selected only from among the permanent members. Under normal circumstances, the head is selected by rotation, based on seniority. However, in case of emergencies, the entire Imperium votes for the Head. The head is selected when that person gets the majority vote. If no one gets a majority vote, the people with the least number of votes are eliminated until there are only 2 people left standing. The elected member becomes the Head for the next 5 years.
The Valantian Military
There are three forms of military organization in Valantia.
One is at the country level and the other two at the continental level.
The first is the country’s army. The army that is loyal to their respective countries. This army breaks up at the country, state, district and city/village level, and takes care of the peace at each of these levels.
The second is the Valantian army. This army is loyal to the Valantian Imperium. While their mandate is to take care of the continental peace, they do get involved at a country level if asked by the country’s royals, or if instructed by the Imperium.
The last form are the special groups of warriors reporting directly to the Valantian Imperium. There are three groups of warriors – The Order of 7, the Final 100 and the Elite Units. The Final 100 and Elite Units report to the Head of Imperium Defense when in the High Seat, and to the head of Continental Defense when outside. The Order of 7 is different – they report only to the Head of the Imperium.
While the traditional military and to a large extent, even the Elite Units, have a conventional structure, the Final 100 and the Order of 7 are different.
The Final 100
The Final 100 consists of the 100 strongest warriors in the continent. Most of them have powerful Azmoqian weapons, which they have complete mastery over. Each member of the Final 100 is ranked, and the ranks are primarily indicative of their relative strength. A member ranked 5 would be far stronger than the rank 50. But within 4 – 5 ranks, there might be no difference. The ranks are based on:
1.Result of one on one combat: If member A has defeated member B of rank 70, A has to have a rank of above 70
2.Military contributions: Feats of personal valor or strength, ranked by the relevant Imperium members
3.Strategic importance: Their strategic contribution, during times of military distress
For members of ranks below 50, there are consistent fights organized every year. The results of these fights lead to changes in ranks. These fights vary in frequency for various ranks (e.g., rank 90 – 100 have to fight every 3 months, 80 – 90 every 6 months and so on). For the least ranked members, the fights include the High Potentials as well. The High Potentials are people identified as potential replacements of Final 100 members. They are identified and groomed from a young age to serve the Imperium as a part of the Final 100.
The Order of 7
The Order of 7 is a completely different institution to all other military forms. While its primary objective is the protection of the rulers of Valantia, its function is far beyond that.
The Order consists of 3 distinct groups: The first and the most famous are the 7 warriors, who are usually the strongest warriors in the continent. They are most prominent during extreme situations, especially wars.
The second are the High Potentials, apprentices to the 7 warriors. Just like the Final 100 (who took this tradition from the Order of 7), they serve as replacements for the Order of 7. The setup is the same – Each member of the Order of 7 has to fight their respective apprentices, after the apprentices are deemed worthy, once every 2 years. Whoever wins has a place among the 7 warriors.
The last group is the masters. The masters are charged with maintaining the Order, which involves:
1.Grooming and training the 7 warriors and their apprentices
2.Studying, maintaining and improving the Azmoqian weapons that the Order has
3.Identifying the High Potentials: The masters identify the High Potentials for not just the Order of 7, but also the Final 100
There are many other duties of the masters that aren’t well known to anyone, including the Imperium
About the Author
Rajamayyoor Sharma is a first-time author, who was far away from the writing world before this book series took hold in his mind. He is a management consultant, with a degree in engineering from BITS Pilani and an MBA from IIM Bangalore in India. He currently lives in Bangalore with his wife, son and parents. He loves to spend his spare time reading anything with a story, watching movies with his wife and playing with his son.
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[1]Monetary system of Villasboro: Additional details for those interested. You will find a few of these side notes provided by me throughout the book… Who am I? I am not the current narrator. My identity will remain unknown… for now. The reason I want to provide these notes: Well, let’s just say it’ll help you understand this world and the sequence of the events fasterEnjoy (if you are going to read this note) . Here goes - The settlement is simplified before people are asked to settle. There is a large board maintained by the village accountant, where each villager enters what they owe (or are owed) everyone else for the time period. So, this creates a 1000x1000 table. But many entries in this table might be zero, as many wouldn’t have transacted with each other. Now, instead of allowing for potentially 999x1000=~1 million transactions to settle the accounts, the accountant looks at every person’s total sum owed across all other villagers. Then he figures out the minimum number of transactions needed to settle. For example, if A has to receive a total of 10 credits, B has to receive 5, C has 15 credits to be give, the accounts are settled by A and B receiving C’s services/products
[2] A quick side note on horse based rapid transportation—again for those interested. Others can go on with the main narrative. Maybe you’ll miss something important, maybe you wouldn’t… While a horse could ride at a top speed of 60 km per hour, it can’t maintain the speed for long. Additionally it has to carry the traveler and his/her luggage. Now, with a traveler and some luggage, a horse can travel 30 kilometers a day, whereas without any weight an average horse could travel up to 100—120 kilometers while elite breeds could do up to 200. There were two ways travelers got around it. The first was using multiple horses. A traveler would use a minimum of two horses, one from himself/herself the other for luggage. This practice was common, with people travelling with more than two horses, in multiples of two. After a couple of hours of use, the travel would switch himself and luggage to a different set of horses. This worked and could raise the daily distance travelled to close to 70—80 kilometers, close to what a horse could travel without any weight. The second was changing horses. A traveler could use multiple horses from one town to the other, and change them. So each time the traveler left a town, he would have fresh horses. This worked well for long journeys on familiar routes, enabling a person to travel fast, maintaining up to 100 kilometers every day, something that wasn’t possible without changing horses, as they would tire out, even while using multiple horses. Thus a sophisticated system of calculating optimal number of horses (optimizing for speed and cost) and horse rentals agencies developed across the continent.
[3] Although known for the 7 warriors (hence the name), the Order of 7 was much more. It consisted of the 7 warriors, a council of masters who lead the Order, instruct these warriors, study and improve their weapons and 7 apprentices, one for each of the warriors
Age of Azmoq: The Valantian Imperium Page 52