John Carr - Siege of Tarr-Hostigos

"Until then, Styphon's House has all the power and men that gold and silver can buy. And someone over there in Balph-Archpriest Anaxthenes, according to our inside source, Danthor Dras-is smart enough to know it and he's not afraid to spend whatever it takes to defeat Kalvan. In three years there won't be a Styphon's House if they don't eliminate Kalvan and consolidate their power militarily. Even if they do win it's going to be an uphill fight to maintain a church without a constituency."

"Isn't that what Roxthar's revolution is all about, putting the true believers back in control of Styphon's House hierarchy, including the Inner Circle?"

"That's what Archpriest Roxthar thinks it's about, Sirna. I've seen this before. Fourth Level Macedonian-Imperial has this wonderfully fragile system of government run by the God Alexander. Everyone on the inside who runs things knows that Alexander is really just a mortal man and the god designation is purely traditional and ceremonial; it went along like this for millennia-until God Alexander CXII came to power. A true megalomaniac, he actually believed-as Roxthar believes that Styphon is an actual god-that he was a 'God,' and by Alexander's Ghost, he was going to act like one. Are you familiar with Macedonian-Imperial at all?"

"No, Sain."

"It's a small subsector only about ten or twelve parayears wide. Its divarication point was Alexander of Macedonia surviving the illness that killed him at age thirty-two on all other Europo-American subsectors. He went on to conquer the known world at that time, whopping the Styphon out of anyone who objected. By the time of his death at the ripe old age of eighty-eight he'd not only cowed all his opponents but created, in typical Mediterranean-style, the cult of god worship in his image. He went from a cultural innovator-even bringing his tutor Aristotle along with him to do 'research'-to a typical Persian god king. A perfect example of a Fourth Level quote that's been popular on First Level for some time; 'Power corrupts; while absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Of course, we Home Timeliners have seen this all over Second Level, Third Level and numerous times on Fourth Level.

"To make a long story short, Alexander created the longest-lived and most peaceful dynasty of that entire Sector. Unfortunately, his legacy has not only been peace, but cultural and scientific stagnation. They're still mired at the pre-mechanical stage of development and only recently discovered gunpowder."

"What happened to the God who thought he was a god?"

"Since he was the heir apparent and the closest living descendant of Alexander the Great, the oligarchs who rule in his name did their best to put up with his antics, such as having everyone in Alexandria dress in yellow, no stepping on cracks every odd day of the month or killing all the one-legged children in the Empire. It didn't take long before his demands tried the patience of even his true worshippers, of which there were a surprising number! At first they tried to find a double to act in his place, but he had peculiarly wide eyes and without advanced cosmetic surgery there was no way they were going to find a twin to double for him. They couldn't publicly admit their God Alexander CXII was insane and that he didn't yet have any heirs with whom they could replace him.

"So one of the councilors devised a devilishly evil idea of putting him into a permanent coma and telling the people he was communicating with his godly ancestors."

"How did they do that?"

"One of them must have been in the holdup trade at one time because he came up with the idea of smashing in the Emperor's skull with a leather sandbag."

"That's awful!"

"Yes, but it doesn't leave any marks and turns the brains underneath to jelly. Of course, if the beating is too severe it's fatal. They were very careful in their execution. Once the bruises went away they were able to display him in a crystal crypt, keeping him alive for over forty years. It made everybody happy."

Sirna shivered. "But didn't that end the line?"

Aranth smiled. "No. The rest of his body worked just fine. They bred him like a paralyzed sheep."

Sirna shuddered. "Some of the things that are business as usual outtime make you long for Home Time Line. But getting back to Aryan-Transpacific, if you're saying that Roxthar has the same take on reality as Alexander CXII, then why hasn't anyone slipped a blade between his ribs?"

"Because he's Styphon's House's best weapon in the war against Kalvan; look at how quickly he's been able to mobilize the Inner Circle and Temple bureaucracy. I doubt the Grand Host would have ever come into being without Roxthar's backing. Without Roxthar to mobilize and scare them, the Inner Circle would still be worrying over how to maximize their kickbacks from their suppliers of war materials and transportation.

"But, once the war against Kalvan is finished, Roxthar will then become their greatest liability. In addition, Roxthar also has an important ally, Xenophes, Commander of Styphon's Own Guard."

Aranth paused while he finished cleaning his flintlock pistol; when it was ready to re-assemble, he continued. "First Speaker Anaxthenes has been mobilizing all his Temple resources against the Investigator, but he may still not be able to stop Archpriest Roxthar, who has built a sizable faction and not just among his own Investigators. The Roxthar/Anaxthenes struggle may be as important to this time line as the war between Styphon's House and Kalvan."

Sirna heard shouting coming from outside the Foundry quarters. Aranth Sain motioned her to shush and put his half-assembled pistol back together faster than she would have believed possible, priming, loading and cocking it almost in a single motion. He tiptoed over to the door, his pistol barrel down at his side. The shutters were open and he carefully pulled back the scraped cowhide shade to show the outer courtyard and Foundry building. There were four towers at each corner of the compound and the guards at the front were waving and shouting to someone out on the Great King's Highway.

Aranth used his pocket phone, disguised as a powder horn, to call Captain Kirv and tell him there was some commotion going on outside the gates. He talked quickly and sub-vocally so Sirna was unable to hear his half of the conversation. When he was finished, he put away the phone, saying, "Kirv says it looks safe for the moment. He's already at the stable; he was contacted by one of the lookouts. Let's go outside and see what all the hoopla is about."

Sirna grabbed a flintlock musket out of the gunrack next to the door, loaded and primed it before following Sain into the courtyard. She noticed that Aranth was still holding his cocked pistol by his side. It hit her that Sain was also wearing his back-and-breast and that she'd never seen him outside the Foundry without it, which bespoke of long service outtime on primitive worlds like Aryan-Transpacific, where being prepared meant living to see another day.

Captain Kirv rode up on his horse and indicated for the guards to open the gates. Sirna moved to where she could see out the gate doors, while Sain scaled a ladder and got up on the outer wall's catwalk. She could see a crowd of heavily armored men, all of them with raised visors and pennants flying. One of the flags was the Hostigos standard, a blue halberd on a red field. A lot of the armor looked dented and banged up; one shield appeared as if it had been chewed by giant rats. Several of the men-at-arms had impromptu bandages and missing armor. One of the knights shouted, "Hail Kalvan! The Styphoni have broken-Down Styphon!"

His cry was echoed by a score of voices both inside and outside the courtyard.

One of the officers rode through the gate and into the grounds. He recognized Kirv as the man in charge and asked, "Have you seen any of Styphon's curs today?"