“Father,” Flaming Arrow whispered with a gasp. Tossing aside all decorum, he leaped up the dais and gathered the Emperor to him. “I hate seeing you like this,” he said, his voice low. “I love you, Father. I'll swear by your will. Which do you want, Father: Dignity in death or more of this torture with a remote chance of rehabilitation?”
The muscles on the right side of the Emperor's mouth moved, causing the left half of the lips to open. A drop of spittle trickled to his chin. Flaming Arrow wiped it away. The Emperor's breath hissed into the Heir's ear. No words were on the breath.
Soothing Spirit joined them on the dais. “Lord Heir, the Lord Emperor has asked me to tell you that he wants to live.”
Flaming Arrow thanked the Medacor.
The Emperor slumped in his son's arms, looking exhausted.
“All right, Father. I've instructed the two Wizards to restore you to wholeness. If anyone can help you, they can. Do you want to continue with this circus?” he asked, gesturing over his shoulder.
With a slight nod, Flying Arrow struggled to sit up.
Flaming Arrow helped him to balance, smiled at his father, then returned to his place fifteen paces away.
Soothing Spirit stayed on the dais, moving a pace ahead and to one side of the Emperor. “For this occasion,” the Imperial Medacor said, “the Lord Emperor Arrow has asked this humble servant to speak his words for him. I swear upon the Infinite to be only his mouth, neither to edit his words nor to add my own, and to speak the inflections and intonations of the Emperor's words as he transmits them to me. I swear upon the Infinite to serve in this capacity to the best of my ability.” Soothing Spirit bowed to the assembly.
“I, the Lord Emperor Arrow,” the Imperial Medacor said, “welcome all of you to this ceremony, in which my son, the Lord Heir Flaming Arrow, will present proof that he has fulfilled the requirements of his manhood ritual. Following the presentation, I, his father, will invest him with the title of man.
“Lord Flaming Arrow, have you brought proof?”
Despite the obvious, the ritual dictated their actions.
“I have, Lord Father,” Flaming Arrow said.
“Lord Flaming Arrow, have you brought witnesses who'll attest that you acquired such proof with the effort of your own hand?”
“I have, Lord Father. In all but one instance, the Lord Colonel Gaze witnessed the acquisition.”
“Let the record show that my son has ample witness. Lord Flaming Arrow, you've filed a petition to have your remaining requirements waived. What's the status of this petition?”
“Lord Father, the petition was a ruse to deceive the bandits and isn't valid any longer. Since filing it, I've completed all the requirements.”
“Lord Flaming Arrow, before presenting this proof, do you wish to say anything about the difficulty or morality of your requirements?”
“Lord Father, I wish only to say that the requirements revealed both the father's concern for the son and the Emperor's concern for the Empire.”
“My son has expressed no objection to the difficulty or morality of the requirements. Very well, Lord Flaming Arrow, present your proof.”
The Heir stood, his blue and white robes rustling in the silence.
“Lord Father, first I wish to express my appreciation for all the help I received. Lord Colonel Probing Gaze, thank you.” He bowed to the sectathon. “Lord General Aged Oak, thank you.” He bowed to the wrinkled man. “Lord General Scratching Wolf, thank you.” He found the itchy man among the spectators and bowed to him. “The bandit girl Thinking Quick, who helped me when the Lord Colonel Gaze couldn't and who has joined the Infinite, thank you.” He bowed in the direction of the Tiger Fortress. “All the warriors of the Eastern Empire who followed in my wake, thank you.” He bowed toward the dais. “You, Lord Father, from whom I got the inspiration, thank you.” He bowed to the Emperor. “Thank you, all of you, for your invaluable help.
“Lord Father, you asked me to return with the heads of five bandits. Since the Infinite has blessed me with adequate swordsmanship, I have done as you asked. Since I'm also the Heir, and since our citizens need to know the strength of my moral fiber before I become Emperor, I asked myself what I could do to fulfill the requirements in a manner befitting an Heir.”
Flaming Arrow rose and stepped toward Rippling Water. “Here, Lord Father, is the first of my required bandit heads. Convicted of embezzlement in three Empires and a fugitive from justice for twenty years, the scourge of the western Windy Mountains: Hissing Cougar!”
Rippling Water pulled the cloth off the head. The taxidermist had preserved every nuance of the dying bandit's surprise. Hisses issued from the spectators.
“Next, Lord Father, is a man who tortured, molested and murdered any child he managed to capture,” Flaming Arrow said. “When their parents complained, he murdered them too. Spitting Wolverine.”
Healing Hand revealed a head so reviled several spectators spat toward it. The Wizard-Medacor backed away.
Flaming Arrow moved across to Spying Eagle, the right-most of the five presenters. “Over here, Lord Father, we have a Western expatriate whose crimes we can't judge, but whose life as a pestilence to our cities on the northern border we can. Howling Gale.”
The Sorcerer whipped away the cloth with a flourish. The bandit had died very badly, terror plain on his face.
“Now here, Lord Father, is a bandit whose only crime was refusing to pay taxes. Commensurate with that belief, he thought no one else should have to pay. He killed every tax collector he could, and nearly impoverished the treasury of the Western Empire. Bucking Stag.”
Aged Oak gently lifted the cloth, grinning. This bandit had died happy, grinning.
Flaming Arrow stepped to one side of where Guarding Bear sat. “This last and final head, Lord Father, belonged to a man who had the respect of an Empire. His first crime was to disobey his Emperor in sending his brother to begin colonizing the empty northern lands. Imperial forces took all his holdings and drove him and all his allies from the Eastern Empire at the point of a sword. He advocated for colonization merely to prevent the proliferation of banditry along the northern border of his Empire. After his expatriation, he proved his point by becoming exactly what colonization would have prevented, a thorn in the foot of the Eastern Empire. A bandit. Scowling Tiger.”
Guarding Bear lovingly exposed the head of his hated enemy. Even in death, the bandit general was proud and unafraid.
“Lord Father, Lord Emperor,” Flaming Arrow said, “I believe that this man was a loyal citizen of the Eastern Empire. I humbly request that we expiate the name of Scowling Tiger of all dishonor.”
An uproar greeted Flaming Arrow's request.
The Imperial Medacor's mild voice was inaudible over the noise. “Silence!” Flying Arrow said again through Soothing Spirit's mouth, but no one heard. Guards began to pour into the hall from all entrances.
Then the grizzly roared and reared, a towering mass of terrifying flesh.
In the quiet following the bear's bawl, the Emperor ordered, “Silence!”
No one spoke. The warriors retreated, no longer needed.
“Lord Flaming Arrow, placing such a request before me during this ceremony is an insult! Do you have so little respect for custom, for honor, for yourself, by the Infinite? I refuse, of course. Don't ask again.”
The Heir bowed, growing red with embarrassment. Reconsidering whether he should have made his request in private, he realized that that wouldn't have served his purpose. A public request for Scowling Tiger's expiation was a first overture toward reconciliation. The bandit solution lies not in armed confrontation, he thought, but in our gaining their peaceful cooperation and coexistence.
“Forgive me, Lord Father,” he said, feigning fear and befuddlement. “I, uh, got, uh, excited and arrogant. The ritual must have addled my brains for me to say such stupidities, eh? Perhaps I was among bandits for so long that their thinking infected me. I humbly ask your forgiveness, Lord Father.” F
laming Arrow bowed again, put his head to the stone floor and held it, hoping he had smoothed Flying Arrow's ruffled feathers.
“Well,” Flying Arrow said, more calm than before, “since you brought back his head without his body attached, their thinking can't be too contagious.
“Lord Assistant Colonel, you testified to witnessing the acquisition of these heads.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor Arrow, of all but one,” Probing Gaze replied.
“Lord Colonel, did or didn't the Lord Heir Flaming Arrow acquire all these heads but one himself, without undue help from yourself or other persons?”
“Lord Emperor Arrow, I watched the Lord Heir Flaming Arrow duel and defeat all these bandits but one, with liberal help from only the Lord Infinite.”
“Yes, and plenty of that, eh?” Flying Arrow said, chuckling. “I'm more than satisfied, my son, that you've met the requirements. I, Lord Emperor Flying Arrow, father of this boy the Lord Heir Flaming Arrow, declare him a man…”
Cheering erupted and drowned the Emperor's next words.
The bedlam continued while Flaming Arrow received the blessings and embraces of his friends. Guarding Bear said nothing while they embraced, but grinned madly the whole time, his face an open-mouthed grimace that would have been terrifying were he not so happy. The Heir found he didn't mind the General's silence, feeling grateful just for his presence.
Someone nudged Guarding Bear away. Behind him stood the Imperial Consort Flowering Pine. She embraced her son and said beneath the roar, “I'm proud of you, my son, more proud than I can tell you.”
Tears blurred his vision. He hadn't known she was capable of so much warmth. An empty place inside him shrank. “Thank you, Mother. I love you,” he said inaudibly, hugging her again and wiping the moisture off his face.
“I love you too, Flaming Arrow,” she said. Her burnished auburn hair flowed gently about her shoulders as she released him and retreated.
He smiled after his mother wistfully, wonderingly.
When the exultation had diminished to a quiet roar, Flying Arrow continued. “Congratulations, my son, I'm proud of you. According to custom, you may ask of me, as reward for achieving manhood, anything you wish, within reason.”
The last two words not part of the ritual, Flaming Arrow tried to suppress a grin. He wouldn't have requested expiation for Scowling Tiger a second time. He remembered his promise to Thinking Quick. “Lord Father, I request the implementation of mandatory eugenics.”
“Eh? My son, you should request something for yourself.”
“I don't want anything for myself, Lord Father,” he said, feeling complete and whole and knowing the feeling ephemeral. “Listen, Lord Emperor, right now only the affluent can afford genetic analysis in the first trimester, even though the procedure's simple. In poorer or outlying areas there's little if any prenatal care, and no screening at all for non-viability. Lady Matriarch Water, what's the percentage of non-viable births among your daughters?” He had asked her to research the data.
“One percent overall, Lord Heir. In the Caven Hills, though, it's as high as three percent,” Rippling Water replied.
“The Water Matriarchy, Lord Father, is famous for its beneficence. Not all matriarchies are as attentive.”
Soothing Spirit, still speaking the Emperor's words, leaned toward Flying Arrow with the concentration of psychic communion. “Who'd be responsible for arranging the analysis, Lord Heir?”
“The mother and her matriarch, Lord Father.”
“Not all can afford analysis, as you pointed out, Lord Heir. Who'd pay for analysis?”
“Eventually the matriarchies themselves, initially the Empire, Lord. I propose that for the first five years, the Empire should absorb the cost. Since eugenics is a preventive measure, however, the matriarchies will actually save money, not having the costs of miscarriage, or of the years of personal care and feeding for a child who cannot function well enough to be a productive citizen.”
“Interesting,” the Emperor said through the Medacor's mouth. “What does the Lady Matriarch Water say about this proposal?”
“Lord Emperor Arrow, I feel concerned that having only the matriarchies absorb the cost implies that only mothers' genes are defective,” Rippling Water said. “Fathers give their seed and are equally responsible for non-viable fetuses. Patriarchies should pay as well, eh?”
“Your concern has merit, Lady Water,” Flying Arrow said. “I hereby declare genetic analysis mandatory for every fetus before …” Soothing Spirit looked at the Emperor and gestured a few times as if telepathing something. “… before the tenth week of gestation. Matriarchy and patriarchy shall divide the cost of analysis evenly. I hereby grant your request, Lord Heir.”
“Thank you, Lord Emperor. What should I do with the heads?”
“I imagine the Lord Bear might like to have the head of Scowling Tiger. Have the others delivered to the southern entrance of the Tiger Fortress for the Bandit Seeking Sword's review.
“My son, I'm proud of you. The title of man fits you well.”
* * *
About the Author
Scott Michael Decker, MSW, is an author by avocation and a social worker by trade. He is the author of twenty-plus novels, mostly in the Science Fiction genre and some in the Fantasy genre. His biggest fantasy is wishing he were published. His fifteen years of experience working with high-risk populations is relieved only by his incisive humor. Formerly interested in engineering, he's now tilting at the windmills he once aspired to build. Asked about the MSW after his name, the author is adamant it stands for Masters in Social Work, and not “Municipal Solid Waste,” which he spreads pretty thick as well. His favorite quote goes, “Scott is a social work novelist, who never had time for a life” (apologies to Billy Joel). He lives and dreams happily with his wife near Sacramento, California.
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The Heir (Fall of the Swords Book 3) Page 32