Wars of the Aoten

  Chapter XXXVIII

  Of all the Raspars, Rhodan dwelled upon his curiosity the most: What took place each day in the surrounding world, what might lay outside the walls of the city. In years past he had served as a harvester, one who tended and gleaned the clan’s paltry fields. He relished this work that most Raspars keenly despised, simply to see the earth up close and feel it under his feet. He gladly traded the cold security of stone towers for the crumbling softness of Medialia’s soil, if only for short periods of time.

  Rhodan had been raised a scholar, steeped in the finer points of Raspar culture, but in his youth he rejected his training. Then, the elders determined he enjoyed his reaping perhaps too much. As discipline, for long years he was restricted to the catacombs beneath the Eternal City. There he developed an appreciation of the delicate engravings and drawings covering the walls. He also learned by the dim flames of candles the intricate labyrinth of tunnels.

  A wild shock of hair crowned his head, the only physical mark that separated him from any other Raspar. His mouth may have been another, but only for what came out of it.

  As morning arose he sat upon a tower roof, along with Wessex and a handful of others. Wessex silently chipped away with a hammer and chisel, slowly forcing a block of stone into a dragon’s head. None of them knew what to say about the previous day’s events.

  “Aye, I will kill them!” one with a cruel face finally erupted. He was Severus.

  “Nay, but ye will do nothing,” replied Wessex, not taking his eyes from his task.

  “Lo, but I want to kill them!”

  “Nay, ye shall not. Gryphon will see, and he will not be pleased.”

  “Lo, Gryphon does not see us,” said Rhodan.

  “Aye, Gryphon does not live,” added Severus.

  “Lo, yet ye will still do nothing,” said Wessex, and the men fell into silence once again.

  The chipping sounds ticked off the seconds, and Rhodan broke the stillness again. “Aye, the Raspars would do well to test what the outsiders know and think.”

  Severus sneered at him like a rabid animal. Wessex intoned, “Nay, ye shall do nothing as well.”

  “Lo, for too long the Raspars have hidden from outsiders. Now they are upon us,” continued Rhodan.

  “Aye, many more than we want. Some who tear down our walls, and others who would peek over them,” said Wessex.

  “Aye, and they will find their way.”

  “Lo, I will kill ye!” screamed Severus, striding toward Rhodan. “No outsider can breach our walls!” Severus had but one emotion, fury, and one reaction, hatred. He never had much to say short of threats. In truth, the close quarters of the Raspars’ city and the toll of their requirements had driven him quite mad, but with a quiet, conniving insanity.

  “Nay, but ye will hold!” declared Wessex, the pitch of his voice climbing. “Raspars will do no harm to a clansman, within the safety of the Eternal City! It is our first law! Ye will hold your anger!”

  Severus screamed at Rhodan, both fists clenched, but retreated to a far side of the roof. Wessex continued sculpting.

  “Lo, do ye suggest that the Raspars have something to learn from barbaric outsiders?” he posed to Rhodan.

  “Nay, certainly no. The Raspar culture far outshines those who sit in trees,” Rhodan replied.

  “Aye, but that be true. So what do ye support?”

  “Lo, there exists much beyond these walls,” said Rhodan.

  “Aye, much that is dangerous.”

  “Nay, we can not remain afraid forever.”

  “Lo, good reason to fear stands before us. Giants who pull great stone blocks out of city walls, for instance.”

  “Aye, and perhaps the enemies of such giants also dwell without.”

  “Lo,” said Wessex thoughtfully, and he chipped away.

  “Aye, too long have the Raspars hidden in safety, when we could have made a wider world for ourselves,” pressed Rhodan.

  “Lo, and now ye speak heresy against the forefathers,” retorted Wessex, “for in ages past they set these stones upon each other to guarantee the survival of the clan.”

  “Aye, they were set upon each other in fear, and secured by murder.”

  “Aye, and blood is spilled. Would ye now have Raspar blood shed for an ideal ye have never tested?”

  “Nay, but a dozen men could spill but little blood,” said Rhodan.

  “Aye, but then suppose we rest their bones here? Four clans — Koinoni and these others, the Rufoux, Melic and Bedoua. What then, when these clans bear down upon us to avenge their missing leaders?”

  “Lo, but is it not ye who now betrays lack of faith in the forefathers’ walls?”

  “Nay, it is but a question.”

  “Lo, will they punish us any worse than the giants?” said Rhodan pointedly.

  Wessex listened silently.

  “Nay, I suspect greater retribution from the greater beings. So, if we kill no one but these men, we may not still remain when their clans’ vengeance arrives,” Rhodan continued.

  “Aye,” said Wessex, and he chipped away. “Ye must bring this thought before the council. But only if ye find an advocate. And we must remember the outsiders are inferior.”

  “Aye,” said Rhodan, and he disappeared through a hole in the roof.

  “Lo,” Wessex looked to Severus and pointed to Rhodan’s exit. Severus nodded and followed through the passageway.

  As the morning drew on, the council members gathered to their summons. Mercedi, as Wessex’ daughter the regent-in-waiting, would be expected to attend. As she made her way through the crowded halls, a hand gripped her roughly by the arm and pulled her against a wall. Dozens of Raspar clansmen passed, seeing but not seeing.

  “Aye, ye conspire against the Raspars,” hissed Severus in her face.

  “Nay, but ye can not frighten me, Severus,” she replied.

  “Lo, do ye think that because ye are regent’s child ye can survive as traitor to the clan?”

  “Lo, and what mean ye, Severus?” She tried to wrench her lithe arm free but failed.

  “Aye, I have seen ye in your comings and goings.”

  “Lo, all see and none see. It is our first law,” Mercedi said.

  “Nay, but I see. I see all.”

  “Lo, what then?”

  “Lo, do ye deny that ye would give entry inside the walls to the outsiders?” Severus growled.

  “Nay, but ye are mistaken.” Mercedi turned to fully face Severus.

  “Aye, ye prepare to let the walls of the city be breached.”

  “Nay, but I will show ye what I am prepared to do,” and she took him by the lapels with both hands. “Ye are a man known to me, but not as well as I’d like.” Mercedi drew her face closer to his. Severus let his grip on her arm grow slack.

  “Aye, ye fill my dreams in the night, and thoughts during the day.” Mercedi’s hips rolled gently as she crept closer to him. “Ye shall fill my arms as well, as we consider what next to do,” she said in a husky whisper.

  She pulled Severus closer into her breasts as he stared dumbly back at her and moved slowly backward. Mercedi brought him nose-to-nose with her as he looked, confused, into her deep eyes. She turned him gently to one side and shot her arms out straight, sending him tumbling down a spiraling flight of stairs. Raspars walked by, this way and that, said nothing and made way for the cascading man. Wheeling about, Mercedi set out for the council room again.

  There she found her father – bits of stone still clinging to the front of his shirt and trousers – Rhodan and a room packed with men and women. The council sat around a table in the center of the room. Hearing Wessex’ voice already at a fever pitch told her the room was too crowded and the talk heated, but she squeezed in anyway.

  “Nay, but I do not wish to bring outsiders into our city,” Wessex was in the midst of saying.

  “Nay, nay, nay,” a collection of voices repeated.

  “Aye, but neither can we defeat them, as long as they will not atta
ck,” he continued.

  “Lo, they must be wiped out. Are they not Koinoni?” said Vespus.

  “Lo, but they can not be wiped out, when they remain in hiding. They are merely men, even the Koinoni, and they will not attack,” Wessex repeated.

  “Aye, they have no intention to attack,” broke in Rhodan, “for they are too few.”

  “Nay, ye shall not speak,” said Wessex, firmly facing Rhodan, “unless ye have an advocate. A single voice will not testify — it is our first law.”

  “Aye, but my advocate has arrived,” said Rhodan, and he looked toward Mercedi.

  “Lo, daughter?” said Wessex in surprise.

  “Aye.”

  “Aye. Then speak,” said Wessex with a perturbed look, but his low voice betrayed resignation.

  “Lo, the outsiders do not attack; they only seek an audience. They only wish to talk,” said Rhodan.

  “Nay, nay, nay,” the same chorus chanted.

  “Aye, they have come to speak of the giants, the giants who do attack,” said Mercedi.

  At that moment Severus appeared in the doorway to the room, looking battered and moving stiffly. He scanned the room until his gaze fell upon Mercedi. “Aye, and I will kill ye!” he seethed.

  “Nay, but hold!” ordered Wessex, giving him a look of disgust.

  “Nay, I want to kill ye!” Severus continued wildly.

  “Nay, but hold!” Wessex said once more in full high voice. “Ye have failed me. Ye will do no harm within the walls!”

  “Aye,” said Vespus, glowering at Severus with his one eye.

  “Lo,” Rhodan began again, “for the first time in generations our city is under siege. The threat does not come from the men of Medialia.”

  “Aye, not at the moment,” said Wessex. “But what of the future?”

  “Lo, will we have a future?” asked Mercedi. A buzz spread throughout the assembled Raspars.

  “Aye, and what of that? What are the prospects of the city and its people? Linus?” said Wessex. He rubbed his hands together and looked to the man at his right.

  Linus scratched the bottom of his nose with a finger as he considered his answer. Comparatively young among the ancient clanspeople, his face looked drawn nonetheless. His words were spoken frank and rough, but it served to reveal his basic honesty. He wore a long coat with a high collar that hid his neck from view.

  “Aye, as rationing minister,” he said in time, “I can tell ye the Raspars will survive the weeks to come, as long as the damn walls protect us as they always have. But I can say also leaving the city to glean the fields grows ever more difficult. Fearing attack from the bastard giants, fearing detection by the outsiders — we are loathe to scavenge as freely as only a month ago. Aye, but we will not survive long once the grains run short and we remain flipping afraid to tempt danger. Raspars must become bold, either to leave the safety of the walls or allow entry to others.”

  “Lo, ye should ration your words. Ye talk too much,” said Wessex sourly. Linus shrugged his shoulders and folded his hands upon the table before him. “As long as I remain regent, outsiders will not see the inside of Raspar walls.”

  “Lo, the outsiders defy the giants as we do,” said Rhodan. “Our only hope to save the Eternal City may lie with them.”

  “Nay —” said Wessex, but a sudden, high-pitched whistle cut him off.

  “Aye, and they are coming!” Hadrian’s faint voice called from far off. The room arose in one voice: “Aye, and they are coming again!”