Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights

by Lawrence White

  She nodded, not even remotely aware of what he meant.

  At a thought, the ship rose higher and increased its speed as it crossed the land below. The planet’s curvature became a hint, then a reality. The ship kept climbing until the planet hung below in all its splendor. Tranxte’s two moons hung in the darkness farther out.

  Atiana reached for Havlock’s hand and gripped it tightly enough to hurt as the view forced her to come to terms with a whole new reality. Galborae stood with his hand around Turmae’s shoulder while the man dealt with his confusion as well. The ship crossed from day into night, then after a while back into day.

  Havlock squeezed Atiana’s hand to get her attention and directed her gaze away from the planet. He brought the sun into view and gave her a brief explanation that he figured probably didn’t make sense, then asked her to look up. With just a thought, the stars sprang into view.

  His virtual arm lifted and pointed. “Each of those tiny lights is a world just like your own. Many of them support civilizations, some of them similar to your own, some very different.”

  Her virtual eyes studied the stars for a time. “We’re in a dream. How much of this is truth?”

  “All of it, Your Majesty. The dream is just our way of presenting it to you.”

  She turned a penetrating gaze on him. “Because of the dream, I knew that would be your answer before you spoke it. How many civilizations are there?”

  He lifted his arm and traced the brighter band of dense stars closest to the galactic core. “There are as many stars as there are grains of sand along your river. Not all of them have civilizations, but still, there are almost too many to count.”

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, turning to the stars, then back to him and studying him with a new intensity. “You are truly a Sky Lord. Your presence here honors us.”

  “The reason for my presence shames me,” he answered.

  Her brow furrowed, then she let go of his hand and took his arm with a hard grip. “The demons.”

  “Just so. My enemies brought them here.”

  He sensed her surprise, but her response surprised him further.

  “So you have enemies, too?” she asked.

  “There would be no need for warriors like me if there were no enemies,” he answered. “My Queen rules over a thousand, thousand sky worlds. She rules fairly, but some did not see it that way and revolted. We are successfully ending the revolt, but many have paid a great price in the process, including your world which we call Tranxte.”

  “The demons.”

  “We call them gleasons.”

  “Why us?”

  “Through no fault of your own, that’s for sure. The gleasons have their own world. They killed all the food there long ago and have resorted to killing and eating each other. We’re not certain, but we think my enemies hired gleasons as mercenaries to fight us. The price the gleasons demanded for helping them was a new source of food. I believe your world was chosen by chance from a long list of worlds.”

  She stared at him as the meaning of his words sank in, her expression tragic. A virtual tear fell from her eye.

  Havlock reached out and brushed it away. “I’m so sorry.”

  “So it was not the gods punishing us after all.”

  “No. It was bad people doing a bad thing.”

  “You’re telling me this was all just bad luck?” she asked, her voice touching on hysteria as she motioned to her planet below.

  He hung his head. “I’m afraid so.”

  She dropped his arm and stepped away. She virtually paced the bridge of the shuttle for a time, then returned to the window and looked out at her world. “The gleasons are everywhere?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  She spoke without turning toward him. “I need more soldiers, more sky ships. I demand more soldiers and sky ships.”

  “They’re coming, but it will take a year. Even when they get here, it will be a huge task.”

  “That it will,” she said with a sigh.

  “So you now understand the scope of my problem.”

  She turned on him with fire in her eyes. “Our problem: yours, mine, and everyone else’s down there,” she said pointing to her world.

  The corners of his eyes crinkled in a smile. “I hoped you’d say that. Thank you.”

  She looked uncertain for a moment, as if his words surprised her. “In truth, I’m only beginning to understand.” She lifted an arm toward the stars. “The gleasons are from somewhere out there? Healer Jaffey is from somewhere out there? You are, as well?”

  “Yes. Each of us comes from a different world. Our Queen holds all the worlds together in common purpose.”

  Atiana’s eyebrows rose. “How can one rule so many?”

  “It’s not done the same way as here. She could not rule every world individually. Within our Empire, each world rules itself. She rules only on the interactions between worlds. Even then, she only gets involved in issues that have no clear solutions. She is a great leader.”

  “An interesting concept of leadership. I would like to meet her and discuss it.”

  Havlock nodded. “She comes from the family of Chosen, so named because they are repeatedly chosen to rule. Some of the women in her family are born with certain Traits that the people of our Empire want in their queen. Chief among those Traits is an ability to see into any creature’s mind and determine the truth of that person. That’s one of the tools she uses to resolve disputes. I, too, would like to meet her, but it’s not going to happen. There are just too many of us and not enough of her.”

  “Surely she doesn’t rule alone?”

  “She is assisted by Knights of the Realm just as you are. It was one of her Knights who discovered your dilemma.” He paused, then added, “There are never more than 100 Knights, so even they only get involved in the most complex issues.”

  “We’re not complex enough for your Queen?”

  “Actually, you are. I forgot to mention that in our Empire her Knights speak for her. Their words are her command. It was one of her Knights who discovered the gleasons here and ordered us to send soldiers.” He frowned as a thought came to him. “Have you heard Sir Galborae’s story?”

  She turned to Galborae. “I have not.”

  “Your Majesty . . .”

  “I am Atiana in the dream.”

  “Never to me, Your Majesty. You will always be my queen.”

  Her gaze softened. “I hear you, Knight. Your story?”

  “A great Knight discovered that her enemies had brought gleasons to our world. She also discovered how to fight them, but she did not have the resources to do it herself. She rescued me as I was near death following a fight with a gleason, then she healed me and took me to a far away world where I met Sky Lord Havlock. He leads a small advance army. His people are preparing many more sky ships right now. When they come, there still will not be enough of them to kill all the gleasons. For that reason, he is attempting to develop methods for us to fight the gleasons ourselves.”

  Atiana focused on Havlock. “I’ve been trying to discover why you don’t kill all the gleasons from the safety of this ship. Is that it?”

  “Partly. We do kill gleasons from our ships, but not in large numbers. Gleasons are not particularly smart, but they’re not stupid either. Did you know they have a language?”

  “Many creatures communicate with us and with each other. That does not make them smart.”

  “Agreed, but imagine this: you’re a gleason. A thousand ships suddenly appear and start killing all of you. What would you do?”

  She thought hard, then turned to Turmae. “If we were going to die anyway, we would rise up and fight to the last man.”

  Turmae’s eyes widened, then they narrowed to the eyes of a fighter. Yes, her words felt right.

  She focused back on Havlock. “We can’t let them attack all at once. Our lands would turn red. What’s the solution?”

  “I’m still working on one, but whatever solution
we devise, it cannot force the gleasons to attack you all at once. I’ll never have the resources to protect you from an attack of that magnitude. This I do know: the solution includes showing your soldiers and farmers and merchants how to fight these terrible creatures. To prevail against the gleasons, your people and mine have to join together.”

  * * * * *

  They orbited the planet several times with Havlock pointing out major areas of civilization. He clarified Atiana’s understanding by having the AI outline those civilizations with colored lines. Scientists aboard the transporter had been studying the planet since their arrival, and they were beginning to differentiate and formalize the boundaries of the many kingdoms, some of them quite large. Differences in language tended to follow major geographical boundaries such as oceans, mountain ranges, and deserts, though political subdivisions seemed to play a part as well. Specialists were busy formulating translations which would end up in translator devices.

  “Our world will never be the same again, will it?” Atiana asked.

  Havlock, continually amazed by this woman, found himself once again awed by her leap of understanding. “It won’t. Our standard policy is to leave new civilizations alone, completely alone, to develop at their own pace. The moment the first gleason arrived here, that ended for you.”

  “You say develop. We would eventually build sky ships of our own?”

  “Many civilizations do. That’s when we show ourselves.”

  “What of those who don’t?”

  “Developing worlds go through the same issues a child goes through as it grows to adulthood. In most cases, there are periods of warfare between the various peoples, and in some cases civilizations do not survive.”

  She looked at him in horror. “Entire civilizations cease to exist?”

  He nodded. “You’ve seen our weapons. There are stronger weapons that can destroy all life on a planet. Sometimes wars are even fought with weapons that cause disease.”

  “How awful. So we are like children to your Empire?”

  “You are children who have been ripped from your childhood and forced into adulthood, not unlike the way you became queen.”

  “It was sudden and a shock.”

  “You seem to have the knack for it. I think your people will come to accept us, but it’s not a sure thing. Actually, there’s grave danger for your world as it transitions to adulthood. I’m talking about problems that will arise after we’ve dealt with the gleasons.”

  “If that day ever comes, you’ll be done.”

  He frowned. “Your people have seen our sky ships, they’ve seen our lights which don’t require flames, they’ve seen our communications devices, and they’ve seen and used our weapons. If we give you weapons, then leave, what’s to stop your largest kingdoms from swallowing up the smaller ones?”

  “My province would not be swallowed easily.”

  “Hence more fighting, fighting which could get out of hand, possibly ending your civilization. No, Atiana, we will not be able to leave here for a long, long time.”

  “So you’ll rule us?”

  “No. We have not come to conquer. We might set some examples and we might force cooperation in some cases, but our civilization does not condone taking over emerging worlds. We’ll send scholars and healers and statesmen, but we won’t give you all of our knowledge. We want your people to discover things on their own and become who they choose to become, not who we tell them to become.”

  “This is all new to me, but I don’t see how that can happen.”

  “Neither do I. My people don’t either. Once we’ve dealt with the gleasons, my Queen will send experts to replace her warriors.”

  Atiana chose her next words carefully. “You’re one of those rare people who has the gift of leadership. I sense that clearly. Will you lead those experts?”

  His lips formed into a thin line. “To you I’m Sky Lord, but to my people I’m just a soldier. We’re really just scouts. When the rest of my army gets here, I’ll be replaced by soldiers of higher rank. When we’re done with the gleasons, maybe even before we’re done, we’ll bring scholars to help guide you through your development. They don’t know how they’re going to do that yet—no one does—but they’ll do their best to help you develop as you see fit. My hope is that someday, some day long after you and I are gone, my Empire will leave your planet, but only because you will have become an equal member within that Empire.”

  “I can’t see that far. Until every gleason is dead, I see only today. What’s your . . . what’s our next step?”

  “I’m still thinking about it. You taught me that the lifeblood of kingdoms rests in the farms and towns outside the city, not within the city itself. The caravan was an experiment to see if I could control the movement of gleasons, and it’s been partially successful. The caravan pulled a lot of gleasons from surrounding areas to ourselves. We believe it’s because the gleasons seek the challenge of a hard fight more than they seek food. If we can send out more caravans, we might pull all the gleasons from your lands, allowing your townspeople to return to their homes.”

  He thought for a moment, then added, “My plan might fail, in which case we’ll try something else. I’m not locked into any one particular plan.”

  “What if we help you establish forts somewhere, forts manned by soldiers?”

  “It might be worth a try, but remember—gleasons are not stupid. If I’m right about them seeking challenge more than food, they might try attacking a fort for a while, but if they never get inside, I think they’ll go where they have some hope of winning.”

  “Unless they’re smarter than you think,” she replied. “Maybe the challenge of taking a fort is just what they want.”

  He looked at her yet again with lifted eyebrows. “You could be right. Whatever we do, I welcome your counsel. Gleasons are breeding as we speak, increasing their numbers every day. As bad as it is now, it will be worse next year and the year after that. Equally important, what you’ve gone through in your kingdom is happening everywhere on the planet every moment of every day and night. I have a whole planet of starving, frightened people to save.”

  She reached a virtual hand out to his sleeve and squeezed. “Maybe you should bring food while we figure it out?”

  “Maybe I should move all your people to another world and leave this one for the gleasons. It might be easier in the long run.”

  Her eyes widened. “You can do that?”

  He shrugged. “Probably not, but it remains a possibility if we fail against the gleasons. I am not going to let your civilization fade away through no fault of its own.”

  The fire returned to her eyes, but it was a good fire. “I will hold you to your words, sir. They are words I hope you’ll let me share with other kings and queens and knights.”

  “Will you?”

  “Yes. If you’ve given me nothing else today, you’ve given me a sense of who my people are. My kingdom comes first, then my province, but I will serve my world as well. I hear them calling to me for help. I won’t let them down.”

  “But your kingdom comes first.”

  “Bring me food and healers. It will free me to look beyond my borders.” Her eyes opened wide as another idea struck her. She visibly worked through the details, then gripped his arm harder. “Give me a sky ship,” she said. “With a sky ship I can almost be in two places at once. In fairness, I have little control over how we fight gleasons, even gleasons within my kingdom. You have that control. If I help you spread your message to other parts of my world, it will free you to focus on the fighting.”

  He reached for her virtual hand and pulled it from his arm, then wrapped both of his hands around it while thinking. When he spoke, he utterly failed at diplomacy. “I can’t show favoritism, Atiana. More important, I won’t help you expand your borders.”

  She pulled her hand away and stepped back. She took a moment to get her thoughts together, then came right back at him. “You are not alone, Sky Lord. You will not free us
of the demons by yourself. You have to lead all of us, including me.” She stepped back up to him, their virtual bodies nearly touching, her chin lifted toward his. “Of course you have to show favoritism—you do it by favoring everyone. As for me expanding my borders, consider this: you could walk unopposed through my front gates and take over my kingdom. You haven’t, not yet, but I have no way of stopping you.”

  “I told you . . .”

  “I know what you told me. You gave me your word. Well, here’s my word, sir: I have no plan to expand my borders. I can’t tell you those borders won’t expand, and I can’t tell you they won’t shrink, there are just too many uncertainties right now. But because we’re in this dream, you know I am who I say I am and that I speak true. My only purpose is to rid my world of gleasons.”

  Sir Turmae stepped up to her virtual persona and went to a knee. “You make an old man proud,” he said.

  “Stand,” she commanded. “There will be none of that while we have work to do.”

  * * * * *

  Later, when it was time to end the dream, Turmae could wait no longer as he stared down at his world. He asked Galborae, “How do the people on the bottom keep from falling off?”

  Galborae shook his head in shared fellowship and grumbled, “I don’t know.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Late that night Major Lebac shook Havlock awake from a sound sleep. “Your plan to attract gleasons to the caravan was more successful than you intended,” he said. “They’re moving in on Tricor from all directions. Lots of them.”

  “Uh, how many is a lot?” Havlock asked as he sat up.

  “Our counts are not all that accurate, but if they organize and band together the way I think they will, it could be over a thousand.”

  Havlock came fully awake. “A thousand! We can’t fight a thousand gleasons, Zac.”

  “I know. Our intel suggests they don’t organize, that they’re not that smart, so I might be reading more into this than I should.”

  Havlock closed his eyes and focused his thoughts, reviewing what he knew about gleasons. When he looked back to Lebac, he said, “Our intel comes from their attack against Brodor 2,000 years ago and from ships blockading their planet since then. How much can you learn from a ship in orbit? How much do we really know about them?”