We were a sorry sight coming through the Dawn Gate, the grand entrance to Heliqar. Every man and every tuspak was caked in a thick coat of red dust from head to toe. Their heads hung low. The wagon that we had dug out was groaning with every turn of a mismatched salvaged wheel.
The Grand Ledger in the marketplace was the largest single piece of slate in the known world. A massive grid listed "Expected Arrivals" based on the endless seasonal heartbeat of Heliqar's position in the middle of many of the shortest trade routes. The "Iron Wheel" from Carth was due ten days ago. The "Lone Star" courier from Qulomba was due five days ago. The list of names of caravans expected on their return journey trailed down to the bottom of the slate and continued onto the rough stone of the wall itself.
"Our artery is still cut," Bastien murmured, looking at the empty intake lanes.
"We won't have to wait much longer," I responded. "The Empire won't put up with this."
We passed the hiring yard where for my entire lifetime young, strong men waited to be hired to offload cargo for the night. They joked. They gossiped. Today, the yard was silent. Our city's youth were getting bread from the palace.
We passed the public square. My father believed in truth above everything else. "Good leadership doesn't just mean being a good listener," he said, "it means trusting the people with the complete story, even when the news is bad." As with all official correspondence with Olympos, pinned to the information board was a reprint of some official imperial document. Where there usually was idle chatter, a crowd stood around it in total silence. I was too distracted to think of the implications.
"Bastien," I ordered, "Take the men to go to Ishra in the palace infirmary to have their wounds looked at. Then they can get cleaned up at the bathhouse and go home to their families. "I will provide my report to the council."
"You smell like the wrong end of a tuspak, Elyan. You better get yourself cleaned up first."
I took his advice and scrubbed the crust of red dust off. I watched the red swirl around my toes and down the drain.
Once I was cleaned up just enough to invalidate Bastien's comparison, I walked to the palace where my family had lived before, but thanks to my father's reforms, no longer did. Now it was a place for civics. Gardens for the public, a library where common people could read, and most importantly, the chamber where City Council meetings were held. I entered what had once been the throne room of the palace but was now the Grand Council Chamber where my father and the city elders consulted. I gave the guards at the doors a small bow. Theoretically, they were there to ensure order, but had never in my lifetime had anything to do but smile, nod, and step out of the way.
My father, King Nadim, sat at the head of the long stone table. His sole working eye squinted at the neatly placed documents in front of him. Queen Aliya held his hand with one of hers and massaged the tension in his shoulder with the other. My mother's brother, Akram, and my father's most trusted adviser, second only to my mother of course, stood on the other side of the King. Uncle Akram stood stiffly without his usual jovial expression.
Elderly General Kael, his back looking as straight as if a rod had been attached to it, stood at the window staring out at the city.
"Elyan," Mom left Dad and held me with rib cracking strength. She smelled of starsuckle and vellum. "We've been so worried that the Red Flood had taken you. It was the worst in many years."
"We found a place to build Cairn Twelve." I addressed not just my parents, but the entire audience. "I'm not sure if our placeholder cairn still emerges from the sand. Fortunately, all the men survived. They are seeing Ishra and going home to their families." I sighed. "Aukoa didn't make it."
"The men had a good leader. Tuspaks can be replaced far more easily than Princes can." My father scarcely looked up. "Your survival is the only good thing that has happened since you departed."
I looked around at the grim faces of the elders at the table and the two dozen citizens on the benches that traced the walls of the room.
"What happened, Majesty?"
"The Spartovans, of course, aren't stupid enough to siege our walls. But their nibbling is reaching a crisis point. They take caravans whether our citizens or foreign and force the people into helotry, they are taken as slaves to the State, just as the Iron Code of the Hegemony of Spartova dictates. The route is just dangerous enough that the Carthians, the Thensapolites, and the Olympians are routing their caravans the long way around instead of coming through us. We are officially a crossroads with no traffic."
"You made an airtight case to the Curia Imperii." I said. "We've all seen it. We pay what we owe. The Empire's whole foundation is protecting vassal states from situations like this." I was puzzled. "The Empire may be slow, but they are legally obligated to respond with as many legions as it takes to defend trade and punish perpetrators."
Uncle Akram stepped up to me mechanically, completely lacking his usual grace. He extended a beautiful vellum document with the Imperial Seal. "Elyan, this arrived while you were gone. We have the verdict. The Empire's not coming."
I read the elegant Olympian script. "...declines to intervene in this regional labor dispute."
"Declines to intervene?" I said aloud. My stomach felt like it fell to my feet. I shook my head. "They're stealing people. It's a blatant violation of the Pax Imperii! We pay our tribute. Every coin certified by the Observer."
"It's good that you're back, son," my father said. "We need every able-bodied man to guard the caravans. If the Empire can't protect the caravans, we must do it ourselves."
General Kael turned around. "Unrealistic, Nadim." Nobody else used his first name in the Council Chamber. "Heliqar's revenue cannot support a sufficient army. Only the Imperial Legions are of sufficient size. You must find another solution."
The Chief Elder spoke up: "Heliqar cannot win this fight alone. The Hegemony of Spartova is far too powerful if the Empire closes its eyes."
"That's just it," my father said, hands shaking. "There is no solution. We've all been through this, listened to every idea. We built a city of reason in a world that rewards nothing but brutality. We charted the ocean with a steady hand and an eye on the stars, but the Empire is willing to let us drown because it's cheaper than throwing us a rope."
The Elders nodded in cold agreement. The King walked to the window and began to recite an old poem under his breath.
`The laurel is not promised to the feet that fly,`
`For often slow men linger while the sprinters die.`
`The battle does not bow before the arm of might`
`The weak are spared by chaos, while the strong lose sight.`
`Nor is the vault of gold reserved for skillful hands,`
`The inept reap the harvest while the master stands.`
`No bread is guaranteed to fill the sage's store,`
`The fool may glut on excess while the wise go poor.`
`We think that Honor crowns the learned,`
`speaking voice, But history applauds the crowd's erratic choice.`
`We chart the open ocean with a steady hand,`
`Defining every current, measuring the land;`
`Yet Fortune keeps the sovereignty of whom to save,`
`And silence awaits both the coward and the brave.`
He returned to his seat. "We've made all diligent efforts. Random chance has favored us many times. We must recognize it does not always do so."
I spoke up again. "Bastien and I found a Qulomban wagon. There was an old woman, badly injured by raiders. She had these two stones. She wanted to give them to you, King Nadim. She said you were a just ruler. But gave them to me as a substitute." I took the white dodecahedron and the black tridecahedron from my pockets and placed them on the parchments. "They aren't normal stone. Look at the way they interact with the light. Maybe Elias..."
"Elyan!" My father stood again, scraping his chair against the stone floor. He looked as if his son was looking for monsters under the bed while the house burned. "It doesn't matter if Elias wrote about them. He wrote about lots of mythology. What matters is how we deal with this crisis."
"These stones are data!" I argued, stepping forward. "They are an anomaly! You taught me to pay attention to anomalies."
"Enough, Prince Elyan. We're done with making the route safer by building cairns. Put them away," he ordered, his tone flat and final. "I need you to be a Prince now, not a geologist."
The Queen grabbed his shoulder and looked not just at my father, but at all those in the room. "Despair makes a poor counselor. Heliqar will be here tomorrow. It will be here in a week. In a month. In a year. We WILL figure this out. But we won't save our city without rest."
"The queen is absolutely right, your Majesty," the Chief Elder stood. "We all need rest. I propose we reconvene in two days. The news is still fresh. All of us need time to process." The rest of the Elders and the citizens nodded in agreement.
"You are right, Elder," my father said, looking intently at the old man. "We will reconvene the day after tomorrow." He pounded his ceremonial metal staff on the ground dismissing the Council.
I grabbed the stones and walked out. I would head home for the night, not in the palace which belonged to all the people of Heliqar, but in the Royal Residence insula, a nice enough structure but strictly functional. My family didn't believe in luxury.
"Elyan." My mother's voice came from behind me.
She placed her warm hand on mine. "Your father created this city. He knows people. He knows kindness and competence. He restored the aqueducts using physics and mathematics. He rebuilt this city on a geometrically perfect foundation using known rules."
She looked down at my pockets where the stones were. "Elias taught us that what we know is only an infinitesimal fraction of what we don't know and that sometimes we must take the journey to find out the destination." With that she let go of my hand and returned to my father.
I believed in the known rules of science just as well as he did. I would never have guessed how wise my mother's words would prove to be.