Green Eyes

Jericho found the king in his anteroom behind the throne. He had been summoned by the king after the latter had closed court early to work on plans for the invasion of Ammon. The old general thought it strange that the king would be so focused on future, albeit near future, instead of focusing on solving the immediate problems that threatened his kingdom. Very serious problems too, if the messages he had received were to be believed.

“Welcome General Jericho,” Manasseh waved in Jericho.

The king was much less formal here than he was just about anywhere else. His heavy gold crown was off, sitting on a corner of the desk he sat behind. The thick red robe he wore was also gone, draped over his chair, leaving one of the most powerful men in the world wearing a simple although elegant white tunic embroidered with gold.

Manasseh, Jericho noted, looked much more relaxed than he did before the crowds. This was the king’s inner sanctuary, the place he would come to relax and find peace. In a way Jericho felt privileged to be one of the very few allowed into Manasseh’s inner sanctum. Despite the informality, Jericho bowed anyway. Formal or not, he was still the king.

“I was wondering Lord Jericho,” the king pointed to the map, “if we should try invading Ammon using the Harosheth as a screen or use the river. The Harosheth would provide a nice cover but if we strike from the river, we get a straight shot to their capital.”

“Excuse me sire, but should we be focused on the invasion right now when we have the more immediate problem of the Navi and her friends?” Jericho dared to interrupt.

“Lord Brutus is taking care of that,” Manasseh dismissed casually.

“He has failed, your highness,” Jericho informed.

“Oh?” the king looked up from his map and regarded Jericho carefully with is hard blue eyes.

“I have two messages here,” Jericho placed the two slips of paper on the table. “One is from Lord Brutus in Beth Haven saying that he failed to capture the Navi and she has disappeared into the Harosheth. Apparently the town both harbored her and helped her escape so in retaliation Lord Brutus razed the city.” While the general had participated in many bloody campaigns, the sheer brutality of the Viceroy’s actions chilled him. “Also he expresses his doubts that he can find her in there,” Jericho added.

“Good,” Manasseh commented much to Jericho’s astonishment.

“Good? Good?!” Jericho couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Sire, your three deadliest and most powerful enemies have escaped Kalashon and an entire town has been destroyed and you think that’s a good thing?”

“Yes, I do,” Manasseh nodded. “I was worried for a bit there that he might succeed.”

“You were worried that he might succeed?” Jericho repeated, dumbfounded. “Sire, 7000 people were killed and we still don’t have the Navi.”

“I don’t want Brutus to catch her just yet,” Manasseh replied. “For that matter, I don’t want him to catch her at all.”

“I’m not following sire,” Jericho frowned.

“What is the single biggest barrier to us remaking the Kalashonian Empire?” Manasseh asked.

“The Navi and her two friends,” Jericho guessed.

“Close, but not quite,” Manasseh shook his head. “The Navi, plural, are our biggest obstacle.”

“Sire?”

“Consider it,” the king leaned back. “Neither Arad nor Delphi can truly challenge us, certainly not on their own. Anory has never been much of a military power. Ammon is weak from 10 years of brutal war and like all democracies is inherently unstable. Both the Northern and Southern Confederations are in a virtually constant state of civil war. The Esthorian Emperor is old with no heir. The Coastal Empire is too far away and primarily naval in nature. Malchi is the only nation that can legitimately challenge us and we have the Melek and Razor Mountain ranges keeping them at bay for now. By the time we do face off, we will have significant advantages in numbers and resources.

“But if they unite together, like when our empire was destroyed, then we will fail,” Manasseh went on. “The Navi are the only people who have the influence to unite the world against us. That alone makes them our biggest threat and we haven’t even taken into account their raw power.”

“But we do have the sorcerers on our side,” interjected Jericho. “Surely that cancels out the Navi’s power.”

“One look at Brutus’s message should dispel that idea,” Manasseh snorted. “Sorcerers are as much a liability as they are an asset. They are too unpredictable, too unstable, and they have their own agenda that they put above Kalashon.”

“Fascinating as this is sire, how does it relate to Brutus and the Navi?” Jericho questioned.

“We know that the Navi is heading to Jerel, the stronghold of the Navi,” Manasseh elucidated. “That is where I want Brutus to catch up with her.”

It took less than a second for the pieces to click together in Jericho’s mind. “You’re setting up a battle royale between the Navi and the sorcerers,” the general realized, shuddering at the horrific devastation such a battle would unleash.

“Precisely,” nodded Manasseh approvingly.

“But couldn’t the Navi kill our sorcerers?” Jericho postulated.

“In a way, I’m counting on it,” the king replied. “Up to now, the sorcerers have been useful tools in enforcing our control over the people but they, particularly Brutus, have become increasingly unstable and as we expand our borders I question where their loyalties lie. They are too powerful and too unstable to be relied upon and need to be removed from the equation for us to move forward.”

“You’re planning on them annihilating each other,” surmised Jericho.

“I’m killing two birds with one stone,” Manasseh explained. “Remove my biggest threat and remove my largest potential threat in one fell swoop. With those two out of the way, no one can stop us.”

“What about the twins?” the general brought up.

“Most likely they’ll be killed in the upcoming showdown in Jerel,” Manasseh answered. “If not, the Lady and I have another plan in the works, one that will both take care of the twins and get us the throne of Esther without spilling a drop of blood, or much anyway.”

“I guess that somewhat explains this message from the Lady,” Jericho produced a second piece of paper. “She says that the pieces are in place.”

“Excellent,” Manasseh gave a hint of a smile. “As you see general, the Navi and her friends are nothing to worry about. Quite the opposite in fact; the Navi is playing her part in my plan perfectly, leading Brutus and his minions to their mutual destruction like a carrot on a stick. So about the invasion of Ammon, I was thinking…”

Manasseh launched into his strategy for conquering the Ammonite Republic, but Jericho was only half listening. Part of him admired the shrewdness of the king. He had manipulated his worst enemies into unconsciously doing his bidding. Jericho wasn’t surprised; Manasseh hadn’t wrested the throne from his brother without thinking at least three steps ahead. But that made it no less impressive.

The other part of him was disturbed by the cold ruthlessness Manasseh used to cast aside even his most valuable servants. It wasn’t that the general had any affinity to the Viceroy; indeed Jericho found Brutus to be frighteningly unstable and more of a problem than a help. But he had been instrumental in overthrowing Josiah and establishing Manasseh’s rule. And now he was mercilessly being tossed out as if he was of little more value than a sack of rotten potatoes.

Where did that leave him, Jericho wondered. What would happen to him if he ever outlived his usefulness? He had always thought that he would be rewarded for his decades of faithful service but now Jericho wasn’t so sure. It was that uncertainty that made him uneasy.

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