John Fultz - Seven Kings

Such politics must take priority, even as he began the reconstruction of the shattered city. He was pleased that so many experienced guardsmen chose to pledge him their fealty. The course of history had changed, and most soldiers were wise enough to change with it. They would no longer wear the inhuman masks, but they would still serve King and country. As for those few who remained loyal to the Blood Regime in the face of death, it seemed a kind of madness to him. The mad loyalists died cursing his name.

Now the hour approached for Tong to make his first official address to the People of New Khyrei. He dismissed all but the wizard, his seven human advisors, and the band of twenty Sydathians. The visiting Kings would all be in attendance. Last evening they had dined together and seen Iardu’s sobering vision. After the public address, Tong would call a second Council of Kings and begin forming a plan of resistance. Iardu told him the coming war would see an alliance greater than any in recorded history. Yet in the face of Zyung’s massive forces, even that did not seem enough.

Accompanied by advisors, guards, and Sydathians, Tong walked the broad corridors of the palace and climbed the stairs to the great pulpit adjoining its western wall. Here a broad forum stood lined with the statues of former Emperors and Empresses; all those marble effigies had been cast down and were now only piles of jumbled rock. The forum itself was crowded with freed men and their families, as well as the bulk of the middle-class city dwellers. Tong’s revolt had liberated not only slaves, but also thousands of downtrodden citizens who knew only life in the shadow of terror. Among the common folk of Khyrei there were very few who bore honest love for the Blood Regime. The mass of Khyreins had simply endured tyranny for centuries, an endless parade of sorcerers, witches, and despots stretching back through history.

The multitude cheered as one for Tong when he mounted the high stage of the forum. The thunder of their voices rocked the stones so that he feared the remainder of the black palace at his back might collapse. The morning sun was bright and hot in his face; he squinted to observe the crowd below his vantage. Curious Sydathians milled among the population, sniffing and licking at the grateful and cautious hands of Khyreins. Seeing for himself how these beastlings, so grotesque of appearance, no longer struck fear into the hearts of his countrymen, Tong smiled. Already there was a crude understanding of the eyeless ones and their kindly nature.

Iardu, Tolgur, and the rest of the advisors sat in high-backed chairs behind Tong as he stared across thousands of eager faces. At the last moment Sharadza joined them on the platform. She beamed at Tong with fierce green eyes as she took her chair. He calmed his leaping stomach with a deep breath. At last he raised his arms and the multitudes fell silent.

“People of New Khyrei!” he cried out. “You are free!” His words echoed off the forum’s cleverly designed walls so that they were amplified enough to find every ear in the crowd. A convulsion of cheering erupted across the square. Beyond the leaping, shouting masses lay the gleaming calm of the Golden Sea. The sails of the Yaskathan and Mumbazan navies sat at ease there, silent reminders of the great invasion soon to come.

Tong raised his arms again and was gifted with more silence. “No longer will our families suffer and die under the yoke of servitude. The fields of Khyrei belong to all of us. Together we will work these fields, and together we will share in their bounty.”

Another round of cheering expressed the crowd’s approval. Children bounced on the shoulders of their fathers. Sydathians crawled along walls and rooftops, excited by the fevered emotions. They, too, understood Tong’s words, although they did not speak his language. The bond of the Godstone had joined him to their silent brotherhood. It was this understanding that had guided them in the taking of the city. He wondered briefly how many of them had died to make Khyrei a free nation.

“Emperor and Empress are no more,” Tong said. “Even now the greatest criminals among us are being brought to justice. They will join our former masters in death. Yet far more of those who served the Blood Regime have chosen to side with us. To become servants of our new society. I welcome them. This day Khyrei is reborn!”

He paused again, allowing the people their jubilation.

“In this New Khyrei, none will go hungry. None will labor without fair wages. None will die to feed the monstrous appetites of their oppressors. None will be consigned to live in the dirt of the fields, banned from the city’s comforts. Inside our great wall, every man, woman, and child will live with honor and freedom. All these promises I make as your chosen King.

“New Khyrei forsakes any ambitions to conquer the island nations. We will meet our fellow kingdoms in honest trade, not in piracy. We give up our claims to the trackless jungle and the volcanic mountains beyond. These lands are wild, poisonous, and have little to offer us. Khyrei is no longer an empire. It is a nation. A new nation, reborn in the cleansing fires of liberation. Hail, New Khyrei!”

As he intended, the cry spread across the forum and into the crowded streets. He allowed his words to sink deep into the hearts of all those present, waiting until the bulk of their noise died away. Waiting for the perfect moment when they longed to hear his next words. Their eyes fell upon him like a million flashing sparks.

“Now I would speak with you regarding our liberators, our allies, our eyeless brothers. Many of you have already met them. All of you owe them your lives. Let every man understand this: without the aid of the Sydathians our revolution would have perished. They have fought and bled for us. They have died for us. They have saved us. For this the People of Sydathus have my everlasting gratitude. They will forever be welcome inside our walls, for they are brothers to us all. Hail the Sydathians!”

And hail they did. The eyeless ones leaped and twisted with pleasure as the People of New Khyrei honored them. Some of the commoners even hugged their oblong heads and kissed their pink snouts. Children rode upon their backs, grasping their horns like the reins of ponies. Human and inhuman, the boundaries of the two terms were blurred to the point of non-existence. Both Men and Sydathians were now denizens of the black city.

“Although they do not speak our language, they understand our hearts and minds,” said Tong. “I have spent time in their city, Ancient Sydathus, which lies beneath the red jungle. I have worshipped their Godstone and seen beyond the barriers of eye and tongue. It is because I joined them in such understanding that they agreed to foster our liberation. We owe them our friendship, our lives, and our freedom. And we also owe them our understanding. Therefore, I am sending a hundred men and women to accompany our pale brothers back to Sydathus. These ambassadors will do as I have done. They will gain the wisdom that only the Godstone can provide. When these hundred return, another hundred will be sent, and another hundred after them. Sydathus and New Khyrei will be brother cities, and thus we will stand as no other nation before us. Our brotherhood with the Sydathians will be the envy of all who visit our land. And it shall be the seed of our new security.”

The people roared, and thousands shouted for their chance at ambassadorship. Tong would decide later who to send first. Young Tolgur would be among them, for Tong had it in mind that the sturdy youth should be his chief advisor. In order to earn this honor, he must spend time with the Sydathians.

Tong spoke then of Zyung the God-King and his approaching hordes. His audience grew silent as he described the vision of Iardu and the role the visiting Kings would play in the coming war. “Only together, united with the forces of Yaskatha, Mumbaza, Uurz, and Udurum, can we hope to stand strong in the face of this Conqueror. These nations, formerly our enemies, now join us as allies. Vireon the Slayer, King of Giants and Men, stands with us! D’zan the Sun Bringer, King of Yaskatha, stands with us! Undutu, Son of the Feathered Serpent, King of Mumbaza stands with us! Tyro the Sword King of Uurz stands with us! New Khyrei shall endure!”