Green Eyes

The air was still cold in the north, Manasseh, King of Kalashon, noted as he stood on the edge of his palatial balcony overlooking the vast city of Jermelek, city of kings. Spring came strangely here, he thought. The sun shone brightly as it crested the ridged arms of the mountain that embraced and defended his capital, but there was little warmth in it. Stubborn patches of snow still clung to the nooks and crannies around the palace grounds, refusing to surrender to the sun’s return.

There was an analogy to his situation there, the elderly monarch mused. Two opposite forces on a collision course, both stubborn and defiant of the other. But which was he: the snow or the sun? Manasseh had to admit he didn’t know.

A flash of yellow caught the king’s eye as walked about his overlook. Stooping down, he found a small yellow crocus beginning to bloom, signaling the end of winter and the beginning of a new year. It was delicate and yet vibrant with life.

“Fascinating, isn’t it Lord Jericho?” he called to his approaching general.

“What is, sire?” Jericho played along, unsure where this particularly random train of thought would lead.

“The delicate strength of life,” the king brought the general’s attention to the flower. “Winter still has a cold grip but in defiance of that rises this tiny yet beautiful plant in faith that spring will drive winter completely away, knowing all the while that a simple overnight frost would spell its doom.”

“I’m not sure that I see the relevance to, anything really,” Jericho replied. Sure it was a pretty flower, but what did that have to do with anything? Was the king suddenly going senile?

“I suppose not,” Manasseh straightened up, resuming his regal air. “Just an interesting observation to start the day. What do you have for me?”

“A message from the Lady, sire,” Jericho handed over the envelope, wondering when he had been demoted to delivery boy.

The king took the letter and scanned it twice. His stone face softened slightly as he read.

“Good news, sire?” Jericho ventured a guess.

“Excellent news,” Manasseh nodded. “The Lady’s little game has been played perfectly. Esther is ready to be ours without a single battle fought.”

“Would his majesty like to enlighten his general?” Jericho asked both because he had a general peeve about being left out of the loop and he was beginning to worry why.

“Patience Jericho,” Manasseh replied. “In due time, you will be filled in. For now trust what I have going. But be encouraged that things are going very well. Well enough that by midsummer, we’ll have finally dealt with our three biggest nuisances.”

“Oh, speaking of which,” Jericho fished out another envelope. “Here is another message from the Viceroy, asking for your help.”

“My help?” Manasseh mocked. “These are magical matters and beyond my scope, he knows that.”

“He reports the fugitives have been chased from Beth Haven into the Harosheth and his month of searching the forest has reaped no results. Lord Brutus is now requesting how to proceed.”

“Not a complete idiot yet, it would seem,” Manasseh sighed as he walked to edge of the stone railing and looked over the city and the valley beyond. “Tell him that my orders stand: he is not to return to the Palace until capturing or killing the Navi and her companions by any means necessary. Stress that part in the reply, which should give him the hint he needs.”

“Why not just tell him to go to the Navi Temple?” Jericho questioned.

“Two reasons,” Manasseh supplied. “First, there’s a good chance he’ll beat the Navi there and scare her off. Two, having such a direct order coming from me would constitute a direct act of war and I am not quite ready for that the move. This way, he’ll dither about trying to figure something out before reaching the obvious conclusion and going to his death, all the while claiming his own brilliance.”

Jericho shook his head. “Not only are you getting him to sign his own death warrant, you’re having him write it too!”

“Brutus has never been a particularly bright one,” Manasseh acknowledged. “But his special talents have made him a useful tool. I just hope I can adequately replace him. It’s simply time for us to stop depending on these sorcerers.”

“Agreed my lord,” Jericho nodded. “Steel is far more reliable.”

That got a chuckle out of the king before the two aged men stood side by side overlooking Kalashon.

“When I was boy,” Manasseh suddenly broke the silence, “I would come out here after my history lessons and just stare, thinking I could see the whole world. The view just goes on for miles. After just hearing about how my ancestors ruled the world, standing out here, I felt like the emperors of old and I promised myself then that I would see Kalashon restored.

“We’re almost there, general,” Manasseh confidently sighed. “Just a few more pieces need to slide into place.”

*******

“That is so romantic!” Selene exclaimed.

“And stupid,” Jared snorted.

It had been almost three and a half weeks since all of them had left Bashan. Andre and Stella were right; with them, it was faster passing through the various checkpoints. Plus as senators, they got VIP treatment at every stop. Of course that would mean telling people who they were and that invariably led to demands at the local inns and taverns for war stories from the famed senators and the near-revered mercenary Jared.

Not that Selene minded. For a girl whose life had revolved around stories, the last winter had been almost completely bereft of tales, other than the dry stories that Jared or Mara would tell from time to time. Neither were particularly adept storytellers in any case. But now, she got to soak up true stories of heroism and valor from the people who had actually lived them. Even Jared opened up as he and his mentees told of their various and often harrowing adventures during the Ammonite War.

As Selene listened to the tales, the more she began to understand how right Jared and Mara were about adventures. There weren’t happy endings, not really. People, real people always died. Even their best triumphs, she was told, came at a price. The greater the victory, the costlier the price was Jared’s oft-repeated maxim. All of them had lost many friends and companions during the war, something that Selene could see still wore on them. Would that be her when this was all over?

Was it her now? So often when Stella or Andre or Jared told of someone dying, sometimes in sacrifice and sometimes in stupidity and sometimes for no apparent reason, Selene thought of the people she’d lost, her father and Jael. She wondered if there were others who had suffered and died because their paths had crossed and it was at times like this that Selene found herself asking if it was worth it.

But this was not one of those times. Stella was regaling the young Navi with the daring tale of how Andre became her dashing knight in shining armor, coming to her rescue after she had been captured by a Malchian patrol. Despite the obscene danger of trying to break into a Malchian prison camp, Andre came to rescue Stella and finally steal her heart. It was enough to make Selene swoon.

“It was both,” Stella corrected from her horse as they rode. “Unfortunately Andre made it only as far as the front gate before they captured him.”

“Beat me to within an inch of my life too,” Andre remembered with a wince. “And then they tossed me in with Stella.”

“When I saw him, battered and bleeding, risking his life to rescue me,” Stella smiled sweetly at Andre, “that’s when I knew that he was the man for me.”

“And all it took was a suicidal mission to convince her of that,” Andre dryly commented, although he had the same smile on his face as he and Stella made eyes at each other.

“I came around eventually,” Stella replied.

“Not that it would’ve mattered if I hadn’t saved your sorry butts,” Jared sardonically noted. “Andre, did you ever realize how colossally stupid that was to attack their prison camp alone?”

“Didn’t stop you,” Andre pointed out.

“Two points kiddo,” Jared chided. “One, unlike you, I actually had a plan. Two, you’re not me.”

“Fair enough,” Andre allowed.

“Wait, what happened?” Selene wanted to know.

“Jared came and rescued us,” Stella supplied.

“Yep,” Andre nodded. “He found out what had happened and came for us. Unlike me, he attacked at night when most of the guards were sleeping, killed our captors, started a prison riot, and got us out of there in the process, barely.”

“Daring rescues seem to be a common theme of yours,” Selene noted.

“Only because I’m surrounded by morons who never learn their lessons,” retorted Jared.

“We learned it after that episode, believe me,” Stella recalled with a smile. “You lectured us for two hours about how many different ways we screwed up and how stupid we were. I’ve never seen you so mad.”

“Be grateful that’s it,” Mara commented from her horse. “It could’ve been a lot worse. For the Malchians.”

“I believe it,” Andre agreed. “We had to hold him back a couple of times. But what I found interesting though is that you didn’t chide us for what we did but how we did it.”

“You were both executing cover ops,” Jared lectured, “which are always dangerous and you’re always outnumbered. I had no problem with you missions; rescuing prisoners is always good if you get a shot, which you had Stella. Neither did I have a problem with you going after her Andre, although I would’ve liked you to have sat her rescue out, given your emotional state. But both of you forgot the first rule of covert operations, which is—”

“Darkness is our friend,” the two senators repeated like school children.

“And you also forgot one of the most important rules of warfare,” Jared continued. “Never let your emotions get in the way. As a result, you made some astoundingly stupid mistakes that nearly cost you your lives.”

“But also made us realize that we really did belong together,” Stella added, reaching out and taking Andre’s hand. “If that’s what it took to bring us together, then I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

“And people wonder why I’m opposed to relationships,” Jared groused on Barak.

“A certain Esthorian princess would be very disappointed to hear that attitude,” Selene teased.

“Oh?” Andre looked at Selene mischievously. “Has a woman finally melted the iceman’s heart?”

“I suppose that depends on your point of view,” Selene suggested. “Although from my point of view, that was a very touching goodbye you two had on the road.”

“Do tell us about Jared and this Esthorian,” Stella queried eagerly. “We spent the better part of a decade trying to set him up with someone to no avail. You say a princess? Are we talking about the Esthorian princess? The long lost Princess Micaela?”

“The same,” Selene was more than happy to supply the eager Ammonites with dirt on their former commander and mentor. “In fact, she’s the leader of the Amazons and a pretty good one at that. When they first met, Micaela challenged Jared to a duel to prove that women were superior to men.”

“How’d that go?” Andre wondered with a chuckle.

“He broke her arm,” Selene reported matter-of-factly.

“That’s it?” Stella looked impressed. “I can’t tell you how many of my bones he broke. In fact, I think I got more scars from our training sessions that from the rest of the war. Once, he nearly gave me a mastectomy.”

“Move faster,” Jared shrugged unapologetically.

“It was a lesson that was well heeded,” Stella acknowledged. “Tell us more about Jared’s princess.”

“She’s not my princess and Selene, I suggest you keep your mouth shut,” Jared snapped at her.

“Or what are you going to do?” Selene challenged playfully.

“There’s always been one thing I’ve been curious about when it comes to you Navi,” Jared said. “If you cut off an arm, does the arm grow back or does the tissue just heal around the stub?”

“I don’t know,” Selene pursed her lips at the thought. “Why do you ask?”

“Because if you continue talking, we’re going to find out,” he coldly warned her.

“Point taken,” the Navi closed her mouth.

“How did you tame your unicorn?” Andre questioned, coming to Selene’s rescue.

“That’s a great question,” Selene answered, leaning down to rub the side of her stead’s white neck. Now that he was under control, Selene actually felt a lot safer on him than any other mount. People and animals were far less likely to attack a woman riding an animal with a two and a half foot spike coming out of his forehead and dozens of razor sharp teeth.

“As a Navi, I guess I have a mental connection with animals,” Selene explained.

“Like you can talk to them?” Stella wondered.

“No, animals don’t have rational thoughts like we do,” Selene shook her head. “They operate mostly on basic instinct. What I was able to do with Spike was to exert my consciousness over his, in effect controlling him. In that state, I can make him do just about anything I want: sit, stand, jump, stop. I could probably even make him set the table for us.”

“But you can’t control him like that all the time,” objected Andre, who had been very nervous around Spike for the first couple of weeks of their journey to Jerel. Jared still wouldn’t go near him under any circumstances. Mara was a little more open to the unicorn, though she always kept a wide berth. Deborah, much to her guardians unending horror and dismay, had taken a liking to Spike, sneaking him strips of jerky and beef whenever she thought no one was looking. Thankfully Spike took an equal liking to the girl and hadn’t eaten her. Yet.

“No, I can’t,” Selene concurred. “So I had to come up with another way to get him under my control.”

“What’d you do?” Stella inquired. “Because if we could tame unicorns, that would be a huge military advantage.”

That took Selene by surprise. “You would use these majestic creatures as weapons?” she demanded incredulously.

“Honey, we’re senators,” Stella gently replied. “Our job is to serve and protect the people. Now think about our position: we are the most central nation in the world. Just about all trade comes through us, which makes us the economic kingpin of the world. It also means that every major power wants our land. To the north we have the Malchians with whom we just finished a long and destructive war. To the south we have Anory, who are typically peaceful but there have been some changes in power. To the east is the Esthorian Empire, which is five times our size and probably ten times in population. Their Kaiser has been our friend but he is old and will die soon without an heir. When power vacuums that big form, the little guys tend to get squished.”

“And of course to our west is Kalashon, still the most powerful fighting force in the world and led by a power-hungry king,” Andre added. “He’s been patient, but Manasseh’s only biding his time to strike, a strike that could be very soon. So given how precarious our position is, yeah, we’ll jump at anything that could be an advantage.”

“I suppose that makes sense, in a cold tactical kind of way,” Selene admitted.

“One thing that Jared taught is that victory isn’t achieved by making friends and playing nice; victory is achieved by doing absolutely whatever it takes to win, which a lot of time means fighting dirty,” Andre explained.

“In war, the ends always justify the means because winning is the only thing that matters,” Jared continued the lecture. “Regardless of whatever grand reasons or goals that kings and senates have in fighting a war, ultimately you are fighting to protect your people. Every time you pick up a weapon, you are making a promise to those people that you will protect them from the enemy. That promise is absolutely paramount to everything else. If you lose, they suffer. Therefore anything you do that does not serve winning, whether out of morals or honor or whatever reason, is ultimately a betrayal of that promise.”

“That could lead you to some very dark places,” Selene observed.

“It does,” Mara agreed. “But war in and of itself is a very dark place. At its fundamental core, war is people slaughtering other people. It is the epitome of all evil.”

“You see Selene,” Jared went on. “War isn’t about ideologies or land or power, not really. Oh kings and emperors may say that, but it isn’t. War is about people. One nation invades another to gain resources for their people. The other nation defends itself because it needs to protect what its people have and so on and so forth. And in the process of all of this, you kill men and women who have no quarrel with you but are simply trying to protect their people.”

“While the fat cats sit back and send men to die,” snapped Selene angrily.

“Not Kalashonian lords,” Mara rebutted. “Kalashonian kings and queens always lead from the front.”

“A rare trait to be sure in nobility these days,” Andre commended. “But tell us more about how you tamed the beast?”

“I realized that unicorns are highly social creatures, ferocious appetite and teeth aside,” Selene explained, glad to change the subject. “When Spike was separated from his herd, he got lonely, depressed, and scared. So I made an effort to be his friend, convince him that I am on his side. It was hard at first, getting close enough to him without losing a hand or an eye or something worse. But with patience and practice, he became convinced that I was alright.”

“And it worked? Just like that?” Stella sounded dubious.

“Not exactly,” Selene admitted. “Part of it was taking over his mind to show him that I could control him but that it was okay. I wasn’t going to hurt him when I did. That built trust.”

“Sounds like you’re crediting him with an awful lot of higher thinking,” Jared observed.

“Not really,” Selene shrugged. “Trust is an instinct common to all of us and like most instincts it can be programmed. That’s basically what I did; I associated myself with good things and that made him trust me.”

“For us mortals, it might be a bit harder,” Stella admitted.

“I still can’t believe that after all the work you went through to tame a freaking unicorn, the best name you could think for him was Spike,” Mara grumbled from her horse, the black one from Jasper’s Castle.

“Oh you’re one to talk,” Selene shot back. “What’s your horse’s name again?”

“Shachor,” Mara returned.

“And that means what again in the old Kalashonian?” the Navi demanded.

“Uh, black,” Mara’s head dropped slightly.

“I believe I’ve made my point,” Selene triumphantly declared. It wasn’t often that she scored one over the twins.

“How much farther?” Selene queried after they rode in silence for several minutes. They were going to arrive today, she knew and the distance couldn’t be closed fast enough. Inwardly, Selene felt like a little kid, her excitement lengthening the minutes into hours.

“A couple more hours until we get to the Temple,” Stella answered. “In fact, we should be able to see the city over the next rise.”

Selene tapped her heels into Spike’s flanks, urging the unicorn ahead up to the top of the next rise. When she got there, the sight took her breath away.

Rising out of the earth about ten miles in front of her towered Jerel. The pure size of the city astounded her. An immense outer wall of pure white crowned with pyramidal parapets seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon, interrupted only by towers that scraped the sky every quarter mile or so. Behind that wall rose a second wall even higher, blocking out all of the interior buildings, save one: a ziggurat that rose out of the center so high it brushed the clouds.

“The Navi Temple,” Jared informed as he followed Selene’s gaze.

“It’s breathtaking,” Selene whispered in reverence as she drank in the sight.

“It isn’t what it used to be,” Jared commented dejectedly. “Jerel has sadly fallen into disrepair in the last millennium.”

“Seriously?” Selene’s jaw dropped. “I can’t imagine anything being more awe-inspiring than this.”

“Wait until we get closer,” Jared responded. “You can’t tell from here. The walls are as impressive as ever.”

“How big are they? The walls, I mean,” Selene asked.

“There are actually two walls, as you can probably see,” Jared elucidated. “Between them is a deep moat, roughly 50 yards wide and 50 feet deep. The outer wall is 25 miles long, 200 feet high, and 50 feet thick. The inner wall is roughly as long, maybe a mile or two shorter, 300 feet high, and 150 feet thick.”

Selene gaped. “How long did it take to build?”

“The whole city? Not as much as you think,” Mara informed, joining them at the top of the rise. “If I remember my history lessons correctly, the major monuments took a total of 40 years to complete, from start to finish. The walls took five years each, gates included. The colonnades off each gate took 20 years to complete, mainly because of the art work involved. The palace took 15 years to build. The Temple is what took the longest, 40 years despite the assistance of the Navi.”

“I can see why,” Selene continued to stare at the enormous ziggurat in the distance. “It looks huge from here. I’m impressed with how quickly they built it.”

“When you rule the world,” Mara replied, “finding substantial amounts of labor isn’t that hard.”

“Forced labor?” Selene subtly indicted.

“Not exactly,” Jared responded. “Much of it was conscripted, yes. But the conscripted workers were criminals who were sent to build Jerel instead of waste away in prison or simply be executed. What better way to rehabilitate criminals than to give them something useful to do.”

“Much of the labor was volunteer labor,” Mara continued the explanation. “Jerel was founded in 200 KE, so it was the first real unified world project. Jerel wasn’t a Kalashonian city; it was the world’s city, being a symbol of unity and diversity. Participating was a chance to bring a piece of your culture into one spot, defining what the world was created to be like. As a result hundreds of thousands of people flocked to help, most of whom ended up living there. Building Jerel was the final act that truly united the world.”

“Or at least that’s what history says,” Jared amended. “This was 2800 years ago, so things might not be exactly as we’ve been told.”

“But it’s fairly accurate,” Andre interjected for the first time. “I mean, that’s what most people’s histories say.”

“Although many people distrust or dislike the Kalashon,” Stella added. “Everyone has a special place in their heart for Jerel because we all have piece in it. Like Mara said, it isn’t a Kalashonian city; it’s our city. So it’s safe to say that Jerel’s history has been meticulously preserved.”

“What’s that?” Selene pointed to a long structure flanking the road for about five miles leading up to the city gate.

“Dereki’Habara,” Mara answered. “Literally it means, ‘Way of the Creator.’ It is one of two colonnades built by the Esthorians. The other is on the far side of the city and is called Dereki’Shamayim, or ‘Way of Heaven.’”

“Jerel has two gates,” Jared explained. “The one we’ll go through is called Creation’s Gate and the other is called Heaven’s Gate. The colonnades leading into the city are decorated with statues and murals depicting the creation of the world and the founding of the Kalashonian Empire on the one side and the recreation and restoration of the world on the other.”

“And they’re both five miles long?” Selene scrunched her eyebrows together.

“There’s a lot to tell,” Jared shrugged

“Then let’s go see it up close,” she urged.

She didn’t even wait for them to respond. Selene tapped her heels against Spike and mentally urged the unicorn to charge down the road towards the enormous walls. Behind her, Selene could vaguely hear the sound of her friends’ horses pounding after her but she ignored them. She had been hunted like an animal for over three months all in hopes of getting here. Now that she was, the distance could not be closed fast enough.

Selene had ridden about five miles when a colonnade suddenly rose up on either side of her, creating a processional highway toward the gate. It was as if it was guiding her home.

Home. She had never been to Jerel but it felt like it was home, like she belonged there. With a little more push, she urged Spike even faster.

Suddenly Selene saw a cloud of dust racing towards her from out of Jerel. Her stomach tightened reflexively. Months of being a fugitive had trained her to think defensively but instead of the usual panic, Selene felt angry. She had gone through far too much to be stopped now. Hanging on to the reins with her left hand, Selene extended her right, channeling all of her anger into a concentrated ball of flame.

“Fear not, Navi Selene,” a voice suddenly sounded in her head.