Alutar: The Great Demon

by Tuttle, Richard S.

  Grand General Kyrga’s eyes widened in surprise. “The other members of the Federation will not look upon such an action favorably,” he warned. “There could be trouble.”

  “Trouble?” chuckled the emperor. “I do not think so. Queen Samir is no longer among the living, and King Harowin is soon to die. In their places are two young princes who together could not stand up to their own nobles. No, Kyrga, there will not be trouble. In fact, we should look upon Anator’s death as a blessing in disguise.”

  “King Harowin is soon to die?” questioned the Grand General. “How do we know this?”

  “I have sources,” smiled the emperor. “The Badgers have accepted a contract on Harowin’s life, and they never fail to deliver.”

  Kyrga thought the emperor’s last statement was a bit ironic, but he kept his mouth shut. He nodded dutifully and bowed before leaving the office. After Kyrga departed, Colonel Taerin finished taking all of the documents that needed to be filed and then purposely made a noise so that the emperor would notice his presence. He did not want to be accused of hiding, and the noise would show his inadvertent presence. As he expected, the emperor’s head quickly swiveled in his direction.

  “What are you doing in here?” snapped the emperor.

  “Gathering your papers as I do every week,” Colonel Taerin offered meekly.

  “Do you not know enough to excuse yourself when your superiors are holding a meeting?” scowled the emperor.

  Colonel Taerin bowed respectfully. “My presence has never caused you consternation before,” he replied softly. “Surely, you know that I never repeat what I hear in this office. Besides, such worldly discussions are far beyond my interest. I live to serve the security of the Imperial Palace and to see that your papers are properly archived.”

  The emperor’s glare softened as he sighed and waved dismissively at the colonel. Colonel Taerin bowed again and retreated from the emperor’s office. As he headed towards the archives, the colonel replayed the conversation in his mind. He was shocked that the successes of the Alceans were being so closely guarded, but what bothered him the most was the emperor’s statement about the Badgers. Taerin’s father hated the Badgers more than any other group in the world. For him to suggest that he knew the inner workings of the group of assassins struck Colonel Taerin as disingenuous, unless the emperor was not Taerin’s father after all. The colonel made a mental note to find a way to monitor affairs in Farmin. If King Harowin did indeed die to the Badgers, he wanted to know about it, and he did not expect to hear such news through the emperor or the Grand General.

  * * * *

  Prince Harold heard shouting coming from the king’s office. He recognized his father’s voice and that of General Hanford, but another voice was unfamiliar to him. Out of curiosity, he opened the door and walked in. Everyone in the room turned to see who was entering.

  King Harowin sighed and shook his head. “Not now, Harold,” he scowled. “We are discussing important matters, not whether the poor are eating well today.”

  Harold’s honeymoon with the king had been short-lived. Within days of Garth leaving the city, King Harowin had reverted to his true self. He complained about the prince being involved with the common rabble and constantly threatened to cut off his funding. The prince had managed each time to sooth his father, but he knew that the time for confrontation was quickly approaching. He was about to follow the king’s directive and leave the room when he caught sight of General Hanford, and the highest officer in the kingdom was signaling for the prince to join the conversation. The prince liked General Hanford and had learned that the man was a keen judge of character. He spent several evenings with the general discussing the state of the kingdom and the Federation, and he had learned of the general’s distrust of Despair in general, and of General Larus in particular. Prince Harold nodded to the general and entered the room. He closed the door behind him and slowly approached the group that had already dismissed his presence from their minds.

  “I will not leave this city defenseless,” the king stated angrily.

  “Grand General Kyrga’s demands are quite clear,” retorted General Larus. “Both the 11th Corps and the 34th Corps are to head north to defend Giza. And Emperor Jaar dictates those demands. There is no room for discussion.”

  “This is my kingdom,” shouted the king. “Who are you to tell me that I have no room for discussion? I will not commit my army to save Giza at the expense of losing Farmin. You may take the 34th Corps north, General Larus, but the 11th Corps is remaining right here.”

  “Those are not the orders given,” General Larus scowled. “If you refuse to send the 11th Corps northward, I will remain here and notify Grand General Kyrga myself.”

  “And why would the movements of the 11th Corps interest you, Larus?” General Harford asked calmly. “Do you feel that the 34th Corps must stay in Farmin to protect the citizens from the 11th Corps?”

  “Do not play games with me, Harford,” spat General Larus. “It is my duty to the Federation to see that all orders are faithfully carried out. The 11th Corps has been ordered north just as my own 34th Corps has. We will leave together.”

  “And leave Farmin defenseless?” shouted the king. “I do not think so.”

  “Farmin need not be left defenseless,” Prince Harold said softly and confidently. Everyone turned to stare at the prince. King Harowin’s face reddened at the interruption, but Prince Harold gave him no time for another outburst. “I think I have a plan to solve everyone’s problems. May I speak?”

  “Please do,” General Harford said quickly before either of the other two men could react.

  “There are many able-bodied men in Farmin,” the prince began. “While they do not have the training of a Federation army, they are quite capable of manning the walls for a short duration. If General Harford would have his men offer a half day’s instruction before the 11th Corps left the city, I think Farmin would be very well protected until the return of our armies.”

  General Harford smiled. “That could actually work,” the general quickly agreed. “It might cost a bit of gold to conscript them for a short period, but I am sure that Despair will reimburse the kingdom.”

  King Harowin frowned in confusion. He did not know what General Harford was up to, but he knew that some game was being played. Despair would never consider a reimbursement, and the king was certain that General Harford knew that. Still, he could not determine where the game was going, so he remained silent.

  “You actually think you can take scoundrels off the streets to man your walls?” chuckled General Larus.

  “Why do you care what we do?” retorted General Harford. “If the crown has enough faith in my training to be happy with a citizen army for a couple of weeks, you should hardly complain. You are getting exactly what you and Despair want. Both the 11th Corps and the 34th Corps will be traveling north to rescue Giza.”

  “And the king is getting what he wants,” added Prince Harold. “Farmin will not be left defenseless. Would you like my help in organizing the training, General Harford?”

  “I would appreciate the help,” smiled General Harford. He turned to General Larus and continued, “We have little time if the report from Despair is correct. If you will start getting your men on the road, I should be done with the training by the time the tail end of your column leaves the city.”

  “Very well then,” the king said as he rose. “Unless there is something else requiring my time, I have other matters to attend to.”

  General Harford rose and bowed to the king. He then turned and started talking softly to the prince as they slowly made their way towards the door. General Larus frowned in confusion, but he shrugged with indifference and quickly left the room. As soon as he was well away from the room, the king called the other two back to his desk.

  “You will explain what just happened,” he demanded of the general. “Why have we agreed to a citizen army? You know that Despair will not reimburse us.”

  General
Harford smiled broadly. “The 11th Corps will not be leaving Farmin,” he said. “At the last minute, you will find an urgent reason to change my orders.”

  King Harowin glanced from General Harford to Prince Harold in confusion. “The two of you had this planned?” he asked.

  “No,” Prince Harold replied, “but I know that the 34th Corps was not meant to secure Farmin in the first place. At least not for you. It might be meant to secure it for the Federation, though. Getting them out of the city is good for Ertak and promising to send the 11th Corps with them accomplishes that goal.”

  “If we had continued with the discussion that was ongoing when the prince entered the room,” added General Harford, “we would never have gotten them to leave. You have a very clever son, King Harowin. I understood where he was going as soon as he spoke. If you have no further needs of us, the prince and I should at least put on a show of training some citizens so that General Larus does not have a reason to suspect our motives.”

  King Harowin merely nodded, and the general and the prince left the room. General Harford went to gather the men who would do the training, while Prince Harold went to recruit the thieves. Within an hour, the two groups met in the barracks area and some rudimentary training began. The general and the prince stood together watching the training.

  “I cannot believe what I am seeing,” the general stated sincerely as he nodded at the Rangers. “Those five men in black should be the ones giving the lessons. Where did you find them?”

  “I cheated,” chuckled the prince. “Those five have been giving me lessons. They are my protectors when I leave the palace. They are friends of Garth Shado.”

  “They are skilled warriors,” General Harford noted. “They should be training the people you rounded up. Where did you get so many men on such short notice?”

  “In the slums,” answered the prince. “Farmin has many talents that we have been neglecting. Look at that group of five over there,” the prince added as he nodded towards Bacar and four of his fellow thieves who had been trained by Garth.

  “Each of them would make a fine soldier,” stated the general. “In fact, most of the men you rounded up would do well in the army. That makes me wonder if your offer of a citizen army was actually what you were proposing. I assumed that it was a ruse.”

  “It was merely a ruse to get the 34th Corps out of the city,” clarified the prince,” but it could actually be done if we were desperate enough.”

  General Harford smiled and nodded. “You have turned into quite a clever young man,” he said softly. “How are you managing to revitalize the slums without your father’s gold?”

  “I manage to get some gold out of him,” shrugged the prince, “but my main concern right now is merely feeding the hungry. I manage to do that with donations from the rich and famous.”

  “The rich and famous?” chuckled the general. “Why in the world would any of those snobs give you money to feed the poor?”

  “Oh,” the prince smiled broadly, “they do not give me gold. They do, however, send food for the poor. I make a point of writing each donation in a ledger, and I have made sure that they know that I am doing so. Each of the wealthy are afraid that the lack of a donation may cost them dearly when I come to power, so they make a point of sending food every day. It costs them little, as the food is mostly what they cannot consume without overfilling their fat bellies, but the donations have made a great difference in the slums. The sick are becoming well, and the weak are becoming strong.”

  “How have you managed this?” questioned the general. “I like to think I keep a closer ear to the goings-on within the palace and I have not heard a word about it.”

  “Which of the wealthy would you expect to hear from?” chuckled the prince. “Who among them is going to complain to my father that I am extorting table scraps from them? They would be embarrassed to admit that they are seeking my favor with mere food, and rightfully so. No, General, they will continue to send food for as long I desire. It is the next stage of my plan that might cause them to complain, but that time is not yet here.”

  “What is the next stage?” asked the general, his curiosity piqued.

  Prince Harold grinned. “That stage cannot take place until I am king, but it will be an exciting time. Someone is going to start a rumor about my plans to completely rebuild the slums into an exclusive area of mansions for the wealthy. I suspect that there will be a mad scramble to buy up all of the properties in the slums so that the wealthy can stake their claim to the properties.”

  “How does that help the poor?” asked the general.

  “Before the rumor is spread,” explained Prince Harold, “the poor will be given the right to pay nominal rents on the buildings to be sold. The crown will subsidize those rents. The poor will not be able to be evicted without just cause and the permission of the crown. The wealthy will accept those limitations because they will think that the rentals will be void when the project begins to create new mansions. After the properties are sold, I will pass a law that requires that all properties in the city be maintained properly. The greedy will be forced to fix the hovels that infest the slums.”

  General Harford frowned. “But the poor will not take care of the properties once they are rehabilitated,” he said. “They will turn into slums once again.”

  “I don’t think so,” countered the prince. “You see, there will not be enough people to fix all of the buildings, so the poor will be employed to do the work. It will require some tutoring to make the poor useful to the task, but they will then have some coins in their pockets and pride in their work. If after that, there are renters who refuse to take care of their housing, they will be brought before me. They will be given the chance to mend their ways or leave the city. Eventually, I hope to make productive citizens out of those who have the misfortune to reside in the slums, and they will then begin to pay their own rents. In the end, even the greedy will be better off for the experience. They will end up owning rental properties that will return a decent profit on their investment.”

  “You have given this some thought,” mused the general, “but not everyone can be redeemed. There are some in the slums who cannot work at all.”

  “Agreed,” nodded the prince. “For those who are incapable of working, a sponsor will be found to care for them, but for those who are capable and still refuse to pull their share of the load, they will be removed from the city. I am not naïve, General. The task will not be an easy one, and I know there will be a great deal of resistance from many corners, but my vision of the future involves a vibrant and healthy city for the capital of Ertak. In the end, everyone who participates will be better off than before, rich and poor alike.”

  The general quickly looked away, and the prince followed his gaze. He saw Colonel Roval of the 34th Corps watching the training.

  “I thought General Larus would send a spy to make sure that we were really training the citizens,” the general said softly. “I wonder how long he will stick around.”

  “He must expect that you need time to ready your own troops for the road,” the prince replied. “I will stay with the training and keep it going until nightfall. Even longer if need be. It won’t hurt me to spend a night in the barracks with your men. Go through the motions of readying your men so the colonel does not get suspicious.”

  General Harford nodded and left. Prince Harold stayed and watched the training, at times getting involved with matching trainers to citizens. He even got involved in several of the spars himself, and many of the soldiers were surprised that the sickly prince could handle himself so well. He furtively kept watch on Colonel Roval and finally saw the officer leave right after sundown. The prince kept the training going for another three hours before calling a halt. He felt sure that the 34th Corps was long gone from the city, and he settled down to eat the evening meal with the soldiers of the 11th Corps who had been chosen as trainers. After a while, the soldiers began to accept the prince as one of their own, but the ca
maraderie soon came to a halt when a messenger from the palace arrived. He whispered in the prince’s ear, and Prince Harold’s face paled as he rose to his feet.

  “Is something wrong?” asked one of the soldiers.

  “The king has been killed,” Prince Harold announced. “See that the city is sealed if it is not already.”

  The prince hurried to the Royal Palace where General Harford was waiting for him. The general guided the young prince to the king’s dining room.

  “What happened?” asked the prince. “I though we had constant protection around the king?”

  “We did,” replied the general, “but not around his food taster. The king was poisoned. We found the food taster dead with a golden brooch on his body. King Harowin was assassinated by Badgers, Prince Harold.”

  “You sealed the city?” asked the prince.

  “I did,” nodded the general, “but it will do little good. We have no descriptions to go on. No one saw anything untoward. The poison was not fast acting. King Harowin ate over three hours ago. That is why the food taster survived long enough to make it appear as if the food was untainted. There is really precious little we can do except retaliate.”

  “Retaliate?” questioned the prince.

  “The rumors have proved to be well founded,” replied the general. “And those rumors said that the assassination was paid for by the Spinoans.”

  “There will be no retaliation,” declared Prince Harold. “Listen to me carefully, General. King Samuel is a friend of mine. Whatever rivalry existed between Queen Samir and my father, it died tonight along with King Harowin. I will not start my reign with my subjects talking of retaliation against a friendly neighbor. Let the old kings and queens die in the same manner in which they ruled, but all such thoughts are no longer valid, nor acceptable. Make it clear to your men. Anyone who speaks ill of Spino because of my father’s death deserves to be imprisoned, and I expect you to enforce that. Spino is our closest ally.”