The Dragon King
Page 1
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The Dragon King:
First Emperor of China
Chronicles of the Watchers
Book One
By Brian Godawa
Story by Charlie Wen & Brian Godawa
The Dragon King: First Emperor Of China
1st Edition
Copyright © 2016 Brian Godawa and Charlie Wen.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews.
Embedded Pictures Publishing
Los Angeles, CA
brian@godawa.com
www.godawa.com
ISBN: 978-1-942858-16-4 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-942858-17-1 (Kindle)
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Note to the Reader
Chart of Pronunciation
MAP of China
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37: About the Storytellers
Chapter 38: Great Offers By Brian Godawa
Chapter 39: Chronicles of the Nephilim
Chapter 40: Chronicles of the Apocalypse
Chapter 41: Chronicles of the Watchers
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to our wives, Kimberly and Lika, our goodly queens of love, support and treasure above gold. And to Michael Gavlak, for his ruthlessly loving story scrutiny. And to Sarah Beach, our editor.
NOTE TO THE READER
Translation of Chinese into English pronunciation is a difficult thing. The modern standard established during the 1950s is called pinyin. But for Western English readers, pinyin is problematic because key consonant sounds are not the same as we read them. Since the language of most of my current readers is English, I have provided a table for pronunciation of the Chinese words used in this novel. I have made several exceptions to this rule. First, I have translated the family name of Qin into the older Wade-Giles standard of Ch’in because it illustrates the obvious influence of that name upon the later Chinese culture as a whole. I have also translated Li Si’s name into the Wade-Giles standard, Li Ssu, because of its more intuitive rendering for English readers.
CHART OF PRONUNCIATION
Pinyin translation
English Pronunciation
Shang Di
Shong Dee
Li Si (Li Ssu)
Lee Soo
Qin Shi Huang Di
(Ch’in Shih Huang Di)
Chin Shuh Hwong Dee
Fusu
Foo Soo
Huhai
Hoo High
Mei Li
May Lee
Meng Tian
Meng Tee-en
Xu Fu
Zoo Foo
Fan Zhou
Fahn Joe
Xiongnu
Shawng-noo
Langya
Lang-yeh
Xianyang
Shee-an-yahng
Xian
Shee-an
Yanjing
Yan-jing
Tianxia
Tien-shee-uh
Juren
Joo-ren
Zhen Li
Jen Lee
Yu Huang
Yoo Hwang
Greek words
English Pronunciation
Magi
May-j eye
Magus
May-guss
Xeneotas
Zen-ee-uh-tuss
Antiochus
An-tie-uh-cuss
Seleucia
Si-loo-shuh
Seleucid
Si-loo-sid
MAP OF CHINA
CHAPTER 1
Year 90 A.G., Anno Graecorum, year of the Greeks. (221 B.C.)
Xeneotas stood at attention in the throne room of King Antiochus the Great, in the city of Seleucia on the Tigris, capital of the Greek Seleucid kingdom in Mesopotamia. At twenty-three years of age, he was the youngest general in the armed forces of the king. He had achieved high honor for his fighting skills and battlefield leadership in the military academy. His flowing raven-black hair, dark eyes, high cheek bones and muscular build left his peers with an imposing impression of mystery. He lacked the hairiness of his Greek counterparts, which made him seem superior though alien.
He now stood in line with other generals amidst a grand wedding display in the crowded, pillared throne room. He watched the king sitting on his golden throne at the front of it all, elevated above them.
The monarch rubbed his gray-haired temples from an apparent headache, careful not to remove the diadem, a royal cloth band knotted around his head that distinguished him as sovereign. As all kings before him, he was clean shaven in imitation of Alexander the Great. Most of the military followed this same fashion. He adjusted the regal purple robe that crumpled uncomfortably beneath him, and fiddled with the royal gem-studded scepter, another Greek royal symbol since the days of the Iliad.
He looked tired, crestfallen, and Xeneotas knew why. He was marrying the beautiful Laodice III of Pontus, his maternal cousin. Royal courtiers in expensive wedding garb surrounded his throne before the sea of aristocratic observers in the long walkway to the throne. It was glorious and celebratory, but Xeneotas knew it was not what the king really wanted.
Perhaps it was a life of suspicion that tired the great ruler more than anything else. When you governed an expanding kingdom of such size, the number of those who sought to wrest power from you was equally expanding. His kingdom included northern Mesopotamia and stretched all the way from Anatolia in the west to Media and Parthia in the east. Some one million square miles of territory with over fifteen million subjects.
The Seleucid dynasty had begun over a hundred years earlier with the death of Alexander the Great. Civil wars for power immediately followed until the kingdom was divided between four of his previous generals, the Diadochi, or “The Successors.” Seleucus, the forefather of Antiochus was one of them. The others were Ptolemy, Antigonus and Attalus. Eventually, the Seleucid empire dominated the northern and eastern regions, and the Ptolemies dominated the west and the south of Egypt. The Antig
onids ruled Macedonia. The republics of Rome and Carthage loomed on the horizon as a shadow of increasing danger. But for now, the Seleucid kingdom’s greatest concern was with the expanding reach of the Ptolemies into the land of Palestine. This marriage to Laodice would create diplomatic ties with Pontus in the north, and with it, an ally against the encroaching Ptolemaic interests from the south.
Power could not be achieved or maintained without politics.
The king’s most trusted advisor and prime minister, Hermias, stood beside him like a bird of prey on the arm of a falconer. This grizzled war veteran and ruthless advisor had recently forced another general, Epigenes, into retirement. They had given contrasting advice to the king regarding the rebel Molon, governor general of Media. Molon was leading a revolt against Antiochus. Epigenes had counseled the king to inspire his forces by personally leading them in battle against Molon. Hermias counseled the king to stay out of the fight, and lead from a safe distance. His life was too valuable to risk out on the field of battle. But because the treasury was so low, Hermias promised to personally pay for the battle, if the king led from behind the forces, and Epigenes retired to his home town. Antiochus followed the former’s advice. Hermias was a brilliant strategist on and off the battlefield.
As protective as Hermias appeared to be, Xeneotas knew he still sought personal gain. But his loyalty to the throne had been consistent. His war-scarred body and face illustrated his willingness to die for the Seleucid cause. Xeneotas knew the king respected Hermias for his ability to maneuver his personal interests in subjection to his support for the crown. All men sought power. Those who pretended not to were the ones most suspicious to the king. Xeneotas didn’t trust any of the generals.
But then again, Xeneotas wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy of subjects either. He had a secret of his own. Something he wanted to prove to the king.
The musicians began playing flute, lyre, and harp, as all eyes turned to look for the arriving queen-in-waiting. But Xeneotas kept his gaze upon the king, who now stood to receive his bride. Xeneotas looked with envy upon the man that he felt he knew better than the sycophants and plotters around him did. He could see the pain in the king’s eyes. Though the people treated their kings as gods, Xeneotas knew Antiochus was very human.
Previous Seleucid kings had taken epithets to distinguish themselves with increasing self-aggrandizement. The first Seleucus dubbed himself Seleucus Victor. His son called himself Antiochus Savior. His son became Antiochus God. Antiochus the Great took his title from Alexander, his more human, yet no less imperious, example of power and vainglory.
But Xeneotas knew the king’s secret. He knew why this man could never be satisfied with all the power in the world.
Antiochus the king stared down the long, pillared approach to the throne. The future queen now stood in the entrance, dressed in dazzling display of the finest Greek adornment. A white dress, augmented by gold and turquoise jewelry. Mediterranean cosmetics on perfectly pale skin made soft with honey and perfumed with herbal ointments. A translucent veil covered her braided hair, her darkened eyes, enticing. She was a goddess. She glided slowly past the crowd on her way to the throne where king and priest stood waiting to officiate the holy matrimony.
Yet, Antiochus did not see her. His thoughts drifted away to the painful memories of his haunted past. This woman, Laodice, this royal queen-to-be, was a politically important alliance, she was even a spectacle of poise and beauty.
But she was not Thera.
All he wanted to see was Thera. All he would never see was Thera. The only treasure he coveted in all his kingdom of power and glory were the fading memories of his youth, of a sixteen-year old servant with a mixed foreign ancestry, the only woman he had ever loved.
Antiochus had noticed Thera because she stood out from the plethora of servants in the palace. He was admittedly drawn to her exotic look. Rich black hair, almond eyes, alabaster skin. But even her ways were different from any he had known. Centuries of imperial expansion and the overthrow of kingdoms brought with it an intermixing of all kinds of unusual foreign slaves and subjects. Some kept their cultures, many assimilated. Thera’s family veiled theirs.
But she had told Antiochus her secret name, a memory of her people. She was called Zhen Li by her parents, which meant “truth.” He had kept his vow to never reveal her truth to anyone. It was the only vow he had ever kept. Along with the only memories he cherished. In return, he gave her his princely signet ring with the king’s seal on it. She could show it to no one, for he did not have the authority to do such a thing.
Young, innocent, forbidden love. Stealing away with every opportunity. They pledged their bodies and souls to one another.
Antiochus felt a rising dread within as his memories of her soft skin faded away. He had difficulty remembering the wetness of her lips and the silkiness of her hair. The sweetness of her breath, the musty perfume of her scented neck, her dark and mysterious eyes of beauty were all dissolving in the mists of the past.
The strongest memory that haunted his cloudy, aging mind was the shocking, intrusive pain of their discovery. Of the king’s guard pulling them apart, never to see or touch one another again. Of his signet ring, hidden in her hand as his only capable act of defiance before submitting to the inevitable. Of her secretly kissing the gold ring with eyes pouring out rivers of pain. They could never be man and wife. She was nothing. He would be king.
But the fading fog of that ghost was overtaken by the flesh and blood bride that now stood before Antiochus, reaching to grab his hand. They turned to the magus priest who would marry them before the gods.
• • • • •
Xeneotas stood drinking with the magus Balthazar in the afterhours banquet of celebration. Balthazar was the son of the high priest of Marduk in the temple of Babylon. Magus meant “wise man.” The priesthood of magi had a long history in Babylon and provided the power of magic and wisdom for the king. Magic and wisdom from both sages and the gods.
Balthazar was the same age as Xeneotas, but unlike his comrade, Balthazar rejected power and glory. He had inherited the high priesthood, but had scandalously turned it down. It never made sense to Xeneotas, as so little of the esoteric priest did.
They were surrounded by the loud celebration of royalty and aristocracy. Dancing women, flowing beer and wine, roasted boar, pheasant and gazelle.
“Now is not the time,” said Balthazar. “The king is newly married. Give it some time.”
“I can wait no longer,” said Xeneotas.
A servant approached them with a platter of honey cakes. They turned her away.
“Xeneotas, am I not your trusted friend?”
Xeneotas would not respond. He knew the other was drawing him into a trap.
“Am I not a magus?”
“The gods have never been of much wisdom to me, Balthazar, you know that.”
“At least then, grant me the wisdom of the sages.”
Xeneotas could not hold back his smile.
Balthazar continued, “And they are in concurrence with the stars and the gods. Do not do this. You will lose everything you have worked so hard to gain.”
“I am sorry, my friend,” said Xeneotas, “I no longer care. I have nothing else to lose.”
“My generals!” The voice of the king drew their attention. From their scattered locations in the hall, the generals gathered about the king. Xeneotas saw a winded messenger with the king.
Hermias stared at Xeneotas as the king spoke. “Molon advances upon Babylon.” Balthazar lost his breath. Babylon was his home and the location of his holy temple. It was a mere ten miles southwest of where they were now in Seleucia.
After a moment of reflection, the king concluded, “Xeneotas, I want you to be the chief commander. Assemble a regiment to defend the city and capture this rebel.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The king added, “Use the sorcery of the magi to augment your forces.” Xeneotas exchanged glances with Balthazar. They
would fight beside one another.
This was the moment for Xeneotas. This was his chance to garner respect with a crushing victory that would finally grant him a special audience with the king and allow him to share his secret.
He would gather his forces and leave for the ancient city immediately.
CHAPTER 2
Xeneotas and Balthazar stood on the parapet of the north fortress and looked out over the Euphrates river that ran through the middle of the great city, Babylon. The once great city. Behind her towering walls of brick lay the streets, towers and temples of fading glory. Her hanging gardens, once a splendorous wonder of trees and plants adorning a vast garden complex for the gods, were now gone. Dried up and dead in the heat of the Mesopotamian sun. The huge temple complex housed the ziggurats named Etemenanki and Esagila, step-pyramids that rose to the heavens, now crumbling and in disrepair. They were still used by the magi priests for their services on behalf of the king and his kingdom, but woefully unfunded and rarely visited by the diminished population within the walls.
When her conqueror, Alexander, died a hundred years earlier, Babylon was caught in the middle of the fight for control between the four Diadochi. She had suffered much damage from which she never recovered. Most of her residents had been moved up to Seleucia. But sacrifices were still offered in her holy places by the magi who kept them up with a sacred calling.