The fools, Vespasian thought as he sat atop one of his white stallions and he looked down on the scene. Little can they comprehend the forces that I am about to unleash.
Gracchus’ instructions to Vespasian regarding his new gifts and the various powers that they would unleash had been awesome in their mazelike complexities, stunning Vespasian and Persephone nearly into speechlessness. The cleric went on to say that because of the supremely gifted nature of Vespasian’s blood, the emperor would be able to call them forth with relative ease. The difficult part, Gracchus had warned, would be to control their ferocity once they had been unleashed.
Through his amazing revelations, Gracchus had at least partly redeemed himself in his emperor’s eyes. Even so, before using his new gifts, Vespasian had insisted that Julia Idaeus perform an auspicium to foretell whether his imminent use of the craft would bring good results or bad. As Julia expected, Gracchus embraced the idea warmly. Vespasian nodded to Julia, telling her to begin.
As the Femiculi walked toward her white birds, she again suffered the bizarre combination of emotions that always roiled up inside her whenever she was forced to participate in this sham of the craft. So as to protect her identity, she must conduct the ritual flawlessly, all the while appearing to believe in its power to help guide the empire. Yet she couldn’t help but worry for Shashida, the land in which she now stood and truly revered. It was not unusual for the Femiculi to perform auspiciums on the battlefield-she had done so many times. But this one would surely be even more awful in its portent, for like thePon Q’tar members, she too had finally been informed of Vespasian’s special gifts. The mere thought of being a part of any ritual that might grant good tidings to such a terrible scheme brought fear and disgust to her heart.
She knew full well that theChikara Inkai would want her to perform her part of the auspicium normally. They would forbid her to try to affect Gracchus’ tampering with the birds’ direction of flight, should Gracchus do so to ensure the favorable outcome that the lead cleric needed. Such interference would surely tell Gracchus that someone was plotting against him, perhaps causing his sharp brown eyes to turn toward her. Above all else, her secret identity as a League of Whispers member and her august position of Priory Femiculi must be preserved.
Even so, she felt that her refusal to expose Gracchus for the charlatan that he was somehow made her a traitor to Shashida. Knowing that she must do nothing to prevent Gracchus from subverting the ritual, she prepared to perform the auspicium.
The ten white sacred birds sat tethered to a golden rail. After coming to stand before the cooing birds, Julia pointed a finger in their direction. At once the tethers binding the birds’ feet to the rail vanished. This time, rather than wing their way home to the Rotunda after their direction of flight had been made clear, the birds would obediently return to the golden rail. Just as she had done many times before, Julia bowed her head.
“O sacred flame of the Vagaries, grant us the wisdom to perform this auspicium and to be guided by its decree,” she recited. “Allow your divine magic to drive the sacred birds skyward and show your humble craft servants which path is best. In our emperor’s name we ask for your guidance. In your name we offer our thanks and our continued servitude.”
With that, Julia raised her arms higher. Amid a quick flurry of white wings, the birds took to the sky.
As always, for several tense moments the birds circled overhead, giving no inkling as to their decree. Then they gathered to fly due north for a short distance before returning to their perch. As the birds landed one by one, from behind the protection of her veil Julia desperately blinked back her tears.
Northward, she thought, her heart breaking. The auspiciums are good and Vespasian will surely act. With Gracchus in attendance, was there ever any doubt?
Julia looked over to see that the lead cleric and the otherPon Q’tar members were beaming with delight. She couldn’t know whether Gracchus had secretly altered the birds’ direction of flight, nor did it matter. All that mattered now was that Vespasian would use his new powers for the first time, and the entire dynamic of the War of Attrition was about to change forever.
“The time has come, my liege,” Gracchus said to Vespasian. “Unleash one of your gifts and finish off Kagoya once and for all. Then we will take the gold fields. Soon we will walk the streets of Ryoto as our own.”
“Do you have a suggestion as to which gift should be summoned?” Vespasian asked.
“I do,” Gracchus answered simply. The lead cleric turned to look down upon the stricken city. “Much of Kagoya still stands,” he said. “I suggest that the same force of nature that began its destruction be allowed to finish the task.”
Vespasian nodded. After giving Persephone a somber look, he again turned his attention toward the beleaguered city. Following Gracchus’ training, he closed his eyes and raised his arms skyward.
At once Vespasian saw the many elaborate banned forestallment calculations whirling in his mind. Their computations were elegant, all-powerful. Selecting the one he wanted, he caused the others to vanish. As the chosen spell came to life for the first time, Vespasian opened his eyes.
Soon the eager Rustannicans could not believe their eyes. The clouds in the heavens were literally obeying Vespasian’s commands and combining into a single huge veil in the sky. As the clouds coalesced, thunder arose, its rumblings terrible, nearly deafening. The rising wind began to howl, and with it came bright lightning that streaked majestically across the sky. Everyone watched in awe as the lone cloud drifted directly over Kagoya, its immense size easily reaching from one end of the city to the other. Soon the cloud slowed, the city beneath it entirely unaware that it was about to be wiped from the face of the earth.
Closing his eyes again, Vespasian summoned the second half of the needed spell. At once the massive cloud began changing from milky white to a bright, raging red. Soon the red form in the sky glowed even brighter. Heat radiated from it, the torridness rising so quickly that it could be felt even by the Rustannican multitudes lining the hill. With another great crack of lightning the raging form split apart, showering down its contents. As Julia watched them fall onto Kagoya, her heart broke in two.
Vespasian’s terrible creation was raining liquid fire.
The orange-red fire fell not as flames, but as great molten gobs, like volcanic lava loosed from the sky. It did not start at one end of Kagoya and work its way toward the other, for that might have allowed the terrified Shashidans a chance to flee. Instead, the awful stuff fell upon the city as a whole, sparing no part of it.
As the gathered Rustannicans watched, Vespasian’s awesome creation immediately ignited every remaining building and flowed down each street, engulfing everyone and everything in its path. Soon it joined forces with the fires that were already raging in the city, turning Kagoya into a gigantic torrent of flame. When the craft’s terrible work was done, the fire vanished, leaving only dense smoke and the smell of burning flesh rising into the air. Nothing moved within the dead, blackened city. It seemed to everyone on the hillside that not only had Kagoya been destroyed, its very soul had been vaporized.
His task done, Vespasian lowered his arms. So exhausted that he could barely remain atop his stallion, he closed his eyes, drew a deep breath and gripped his saddle pommel. When he finally opened his eyes, the sight before him was awesome, unexpected.
Every living soul atop the hill and for as far as he could see into the night was on his or her knees before him, head bowed. Even thePon Q’tar had never witnessed such an amazing use of the craft and they too had taken postures of supplication before the wondrous demigod they had created.
Vespasian ordered everyone to rise. Thunderous victory cheers soon rose into the night, and the throngs of legionnaires banged their gladii against their shields in honor of the great emperor and craft wielder whom it was their privilege to serve. Victory wine flowed among the joyful troops.
Wending his way through the crowd, Benedik Pryam came to
stand beside Gracchus. Looking down at the smoldering ruins of Kagoya, he smiled and handed the lead cleric a cup of wine.
“So it seems that you have finally realized your masterpiece of the craft after all,” he whispered. “I must admit that some of the more skepticalPon Q’tar members were starting to have their doubts. It is fortunate for all of us that Vespasian’s impending terrors reached out to his mind no later than they did. Otherwise we might have begun a campaign that we couldn’t finish.”
“I am as delighted as you,” Gracchus answered as he continued to grin and wave theatrically at the triumphant emperor. “Although we take a major step toward ultimate victory this night, do not think for one moment that the battle is won. If theJin’Sai has reached Shashida, our real fight may have only started. Either way, the War of Attrition is forever escalated.”
As Benedik watched the beloved emperor being joyfully pulled from his saddle and into the waiting arms of the legionnaires who so loved him, he smiled again.
“Tell me, Gracchus,” he whispered. “Now that you have created this wonder of the craft, did you leave the proper spells in place as we agreed? Can you in fact still control Vespasian? ThePon Q’tar has fears along those lines as well.”
“Of course,” Gracchus answered. “After all, when one creates such a monster as this, one must be sure that it is kept in a very strong cage.”
“And that cage remains in place?” Benedik asked.
“Yes,” Gracchus answered. “As we planned, his terrors were not in fact vanquished after the use of his first banned forestallment. Instead, they still lurk in his subconscious. But unlike before, they will no longer spring up of their own choosing. Should our creation become rebellious, I will order the terrors to revisit him. Only then will I tell him how and why.”
Turning to Benedik, Gracchus smiled.
“So you see, my friend, all is as it should be,” the lead cleric said. “Soon the Shashidan gold will be traveling home to Ellistium and we will be dining in the fabled gardens of the Kyuden Shimin.”
Smiling broadly, the two clerics linked arms and drank heartily of the rich victory wine.
CHAPTER XLIV
“JUST HOURS AGO, JULIA IDAEUS AGAIN SECRETLY COMMUNEDwith us,” Mashiro said sadly. “She was lucky to do so without detection, for it is a dangerous thing to accomplish while traveling with Vespasian’s armies. I’m sorry to report that her news is grave.” Before continuing, Mashiro paused and he looked down at his hands.
“Kagoya has been totally destroyed,” he announced. “It was not a large city, but it was a culturally important one. Worse, it was the last bastion between Vespasian and our gold mines. Julia watched the carnage as every Kagoyan civilian and every katsugai mosota posted to its defense was killed. Vespasian used one of his banned gifts to rain liquid fire down onto the city. After more than one hundred and fifty centuries, the Rustannicans have finally violated the Borderlands Treaty. What we have long feared has come to pass, and this war’s deadly ferocity has been forever heightened.”
Tristan looked at Mashiro as theChikara Inkai elder sadly wiped away tears. Although he and his fellow pilgrims were new to Shashida, they felt the pain as sharply as if a Eutracian city had been destroyed. For several long moments theInkai meeting chamber went silent.
It was the morning of the Eutracians’ second full day in Shashida. Tristan, Wigg, Jessamay, and Tyranny had been asked to participate in a hastily called meeting of theChikara Inkai. Tristan had dined with them the previous night, giving them a chance to brief him. All the Eutracians, the Black Ships, and the Minions of Day and Night had arrived safely, Wigg had said. As Tristan might have guessed, the Minion warriors elected to live aboard the ships rather than take up residence in the elegant Kyuden Shimin, or “People’s Palace.” Everyone else had been housed in the palace’s visitors’ wing.
Mashiro had ordered that cradles be quickly built to hold the vessels. They were much like those that the Minions had constructed in Eutracia, Wigg said, but they also showed the stylistic elegance that was common to Shashida. The great ships and their cradles were stationed on the manicured inner grounds of the Kyuden Shimin.
Tristan had retired early last night and he awoke refreshed. After bathing, he walked to his wardrobe. Hoshi had seen to it that his Eutracian vest, breeches, and knee boots had been cleaned and returned. Tristan had never seen his Eutracian clothes so well laundered, and he was sorely tempted to wear them. The breeches were spotless, and the leather vest and boots had been cleaned and shined to a high gloss.
He finally selected a dark blue Shashidan robe. He took up a pair of sandals and socks from the dozens that sat side by side on the spotless wardrobe floor. He then strapped his dreggan and throwing knives into place behind his right shoulder.
He was about to depart his chambers when Wigg, Tyranny, and Jessamay appeared to tell him that theChikara Inkai urgently requested their presence. Like Tristan, they were dressed in Shashidan garb. Leaving Tristan’s rooms, they hurried to the meeting chamber. That had been only moments ago, and as he again gazed into Mashiro’s ancient eyes, he knew that the next few hours would shape Shashida’s future for centuries to come.
“So your assumptions were right,” Wigg said to Mashiro. “Banned forestallments have in fact been lurking in Vespasian’s blood.”
Mashiro nodded. “Yes,” he answered. “And at long last he has chosen to use them. We cannot say why this has not occurred before now, because Julia is not privy to that information. But one thing remains crystal clear. Vespasian’s next goal will be to secure our gold deposits. If he takes and holds the area, he might then lay waste to the lower reaches of Shashida and then finally to the nation as a whole.”
“There is something about Rustannica’s violation of the Borderlands Treaty that confuses me,” Wigg said. “Each time the Borderlands are summoned by thePon Q’tar, their environment is made toxic, so as to kill anyone trapped there. It would seem that the only way to do that would be to use one or more of the banned forestallments. And if that’s true, then thePon Q’tar has already violated the Borderlands Treaty untold times.”
“Given your limited understanding of the treaty, that would be true,” Kaemon said. “When the treaty was ratified, it included a provision saying that because the Borderlands are Rustannican territory, thePon Q’tar is free to use the banned spells there-but only there. We objected, of course, but the Rustannicans remained firm. In the end we were forced to grant the concession or there would have been no treaty at all.”
“If Vespasian’s gifts are as powerful as you suspect, how does thePon Q’tar hope to control him?” Tristan asked.
“They don’t need tocontrol him,” Hoshi answered. “They only need tounleash him.”
“But Shashida is vast,” Tristan said. “It seems impossible that even Vespasian’s gifts could destroy the entire nation.”
“We tend to agree,” Midori replied from across the table, “but we cannot be sure. If he alone can crush one major objective after another, his legions will be free to leave his side and then attack lesser targets at will. Julia reported that Vespasian destroyed all of Kagoya in less than one hour! Because of this, he might decide that only a few of his legions need accompany him from here on. He could then delegate command of the others to Lucius Marius, his First Tribune and closest friend. Lucius’ task would be to overwhelm the smaller targets traditionally while Vespasian uses his new gifts to destroy the larger ones. In this way, the Rustannican war machine could cover great expanses of Shashida quickly and spread our forces thin.”
After thinking for a moment, Tristan looked at Mashiro. “Do the Rustannicans know that I am here?” he asked.
Mashiro sighed. “Julia tells us that they worry about your arrival, but that they cannot confirm it. Because you escaped Khristos at the edge of the Azure Sea, they of course know that you were trying to come here. They are not fools and they will take your possible arrival into their planning. Only one thing remains certain, Jin’Sai.
If Shashida is to be saved, we must grant you our versions of the banned forestallments soon-today, if you will permit it. During yesterday’s emergency session, our governing body ratified our request to do so, and to allow you to then confront Vespasian. Once the spells have been imbued into your blood, you and our armies will be rushed by azure portals to meet him head-on. We humbly ask your forgiveness for throwing you into the fray so abruptly, but the hour is late and there is no other choice. Because of Vespasian’s far superior training in the craft, it is doubtful that you can defeat him outright. But if you can counter his ability to employ the banned forestallments with your own, he might halt his advance and order his legions home. We Shashidans would view Vespasian’s retreat as a victory.”
“But I know nothing about your military and your tactics,” Tristan countered, “not to mention my complete lack of familiarity with Vespasian’s forces. How can I be expected to lead Shashida against an enemy about whom I know so little?”
“Bynot leading her,” Renjiro answered. “Forgive me, Jin’Sai, but although you have commanded your Minions to victory many times, things are vastly different here. You are right-you cannot be expected to lead forces about which you know little or nothing. Therefore, Hoshi and I will lead them. You will be with us, providing the one weapon that we cannot. When suddenly confronted by your gifts, Vespasian might put a stop this madness and return home. As we speak, hundreds of Shashidan cohorts are being sent by azure portal to a staging area south of where our gold deposits lay. The otherChikara Inkai members will remain here. We will inform them of events by way of mental communion.”
Tristan nodded. “I will do so gladly,” he answered. “But I have some requests of you.”
“What are they?” Hoshi asked.
“I want to take my Minions into battle with me and I want complete control over them,” he said. “I know that you find them crude when compared to your katsugai mosota and perhaps they are. But my Minions are gifted and ruthless killers, and their advantage of flight will be useful. Vespasian might not be expecting that.”
Rise of the Blood Royal dobas-3 Page 54