Paul Kearney: The ten thousand

Rictus began replacing the stones upon the cairn. “When we meet up with Aristos,” he grunted, “I’ll be sure to ask him.”

That night the scattered bivouacs of the Macht drew together, and for the first time since entering the high mountains they camped like an army, with sentries set out every fifty paces and the baggage in the middle of the encampment. The big centoi were left on the wagons, for there was nothing to cook in them, nor anything to heat them with. The men lay close together in the darkness, chewing raw mule meat and speculating about the fate of Aristos and Gominos. Around them, the wind roared down the valleys of the Korash, picking up until it sounded like the howl of beasts lost somewhere out in the storm. On its white wings the snow began to come down harder, until a blizzard blanked out the world and the sentries were brought in lest they be lost within it. The snow raged and thrashed in the grip of the wind, fat, soft flakes that built up into drifts and began to bury the shivering men. When morning came there was no light, no dark, no east or west, only the empty shriek of the wind and the mounting snows, a world swallowed up by the fury of the endless mountains.

When the sun was high, Vorus could stand up and see a single square of blue sky set in the vaulted brickwork of the roof. His cell was small, barely a spear-length to a side, but it soared up in blackened brick curves to come to this point. For a few, magical moments every day, the sun came down through this masoned hole like a ladder of light being lowered for him. He struggled to his feet every time, the shackles cutting into his wrists and ankles, his toes sliding in the sodden straw upon the floor. For that brief mote of time he looked up into the face of mighty Araian each day, and felt as light as the dust dancing in the sunbeam. Then the moment passed and he was in darkness again, awash in his own filth, the iron manacles cutting slivers from his flesh, the rats scuttling in the gloom around him. It seemed as though it had been a long time, this subterranean existence, but it had not been much more than seven days. Or eight-or ten. He was no longer sure. Perhaps it had been ten years. He was a patient man though, and his mind was clear. Since he had been here the only distractions he faced were the arrival of a bowl through the slot in the door every day and the coming of the sun. He had mused upon his condition with equanimity, knowing that things would come around to him again. He had only to wait, and fill in the blank hours with his thoughts.

After Irunshahr he had ridden south amid the mobs of his fleeing troops, not trying to halt them or bring any organisation out of that chaos. It was no longer his job. He had been four days travelling, subsisting on the scraps in his saddle-bag, following the Imperial Road south and east but remaining clear of it, watching the Empire slowly regain control of the army the Macht had broken. He had stayed one night with an elderly farmer, alone in his turf-walled house with his dog and his plot of corn. The old man had spoken of the end of the world, the fall of the Empire, and Mot coming back to haunt the face of Kuf to set the Great Bull free to trample all the works of the Kefren. Word of the Juthan mutiny had spread fast; now there were rumours of uprisings all over the Middle Empire, the slave-race turning on their ancient masters at last. The Bull let loose.

Word travelled fast along the Imperial Road. At Edom, Vorus had been arrested on the orders of Tessarnes, the Kefre to whom he had turned over the army. He had been thrown in here to contemplate a square foot of sky. After they had manacled him, he had lain down and had perhaps the longest and deepest sleep of his life. It had been a long rime since last his mind had truly been at rest.

The lock turned in the door, a sound he had not heard since his arrival. He rose to his feet, naked, his beard matted, lice crawling in his hair, and awaited the new distraction.

Bent almost double, two Honai of the Imperial bodyguard entered the cell one after the other. So bright and bejewelled was their armour that it seemed a little of the sun had returned with them, even down to the golden sheen of their faces under the tall helms. They had naked swords in their hands, and took up station in the corners of the cell without a word.

A third Kefre entered, this one swathed in folds of midnight silk, komis pulled close about his face. Vorus knew the eyes, though. He bowed at once.

“Your majesty, you honour me.”

The Great King straightened, and did the same thing Vorus had done upon entering the cell for the first time: he looked up at the square of sky high above. He met Vorus’s eyes, his own almost black in the gloom. Nodding, he said, “Leave us,” to the guards.

They hesitated, then dumbly did as they were told.

“And pull the door to after you.”

The Great King and his general, alone together, stood in the stinking straw while the rats rustled heedless around their feet.

“I could not do otherwise, my friend,” Ashurnan said. His voice was thick and raw.

“I know. You are a king, after all.”

“You let Proxis go. You knew what he was about.”

“I had an idea, yes.”

“Why, Vorus-why?”

The Macht sank to his haunches in the straw. “Forgive me,” he said. “I am getting old, I think.” He smiled at the veiled figure which towered over him, as baleful and threatening as could be imagined, except for the real grief in the eyes.

“I wanted to let him choose for himself. I had not the right to compel him.”

“You were his superior, his friend. You had every right.”

“My lord, I owed Proxis a life. Now I have repaid that debt.”

“He has shattered the Empire.”

With great gentleness, Vorus said, “He has freed his people.”

“He has bought his people a generation of war. The moment I heard, I set the army on the road. Jutha will be subjugated once more. The Empire will be reunited. It will endure.”

“It will endure, yes; but perhaps in a different form. My lord, here at the end of my life, I have come to understand that an entire race cannot be enslaved forever.”

“Is it only your friend’s fate which has brought this thought to your mind, or has the pursuit of your own people changed you? The Vorus my father knew would not say things like this.”

“I was younger then. I had not seen quite so much death. And yes, seeing my own people again has changed me. If Proxis had not deserted at Irunshahr, I would have destroyed the Ten Thousand, and now I am glad that I did not, glad that Proxis took his people home, glad that my people escaped.”

“I thought you were loyal. I thought you were my friend.”

“I am your friend, Great King. But you and the Empire are not the same.”

“They are; they must be. My race, my blood conjured up this ancient idea out of nothing. They ordered the world, quelled all wars, made it safe for the farmer to till his land. They brought peace to millions. What have your Macht done to make them so mighty?”

“They believe in freedom,” Vorus said. “And that will never be taken out of them, not by you or any other king who ever wears a crown.”

“Freedom! Was that what they were teaching the people of Ab-Mirza? They are barbarians. They have brought war throughout the Empire, and just when you had it in your power to crush them, you failed.”

“Yes, I did. And yes, they are barbarians. But they are my people, when all is said and done. I shall die one of them.”

There was a pause. Then Ashurnan asked, “Your black armour, where is it? You were not wearing it when you were taken.”