Sam Barone: Battle For Empire

Obeying Eskkar’s final wishes, Trella had washed and dressed the King’s body in his warrior’s garb by herself. Then she placed the great sword on his breast and folded his hands around it. No gold or jewelry adorned the body, only his favorite cloak with the Hawk Clan emblem draped over the burial shroud.

For many years, two elderly women lived nearby, watching the site for Trella, lest any foolish grave robbers seek to loot the grave. But by now no one showed any interest in the spot, its location almost forgotten.

“Tell me a story, Grandmother.” Escander still held her hand.

He’d followed her gaze, and knew where her thoughts had taken her. Once again she heard the child speaking, but the earnest eyes that met her own looked anything but childlike.

“You’ve heard all the stories, Escander. There’s nothing more to tell.”

“I’ve heard all the tales of the mighty Eskkar and his brave son Sargon, who fought together to save Akkad. Now it’s time for me to learn the truth, so that I will know what dangers to expect. The secrets only you and Father know.”

“The truth,” Trella mused, “after all these years, the truth is hard to remember. . even harder to tell.”

“No one speaks of the time when my father went to the north. Is the truth so difficult to reveal? Is that why he asks you to do it?”

“The good and the bad, that’s what he asked?”

“The good and the bad,” the young man repeated, his voice serious. “Tell me the truth, not a story, Grandmother.”

“It would take hours, even days, to tell you everything.” Trella leaned back in her chair. “When are you leaving?”

“My father the King agrees that it might take some time for you to instruct me. He said the Hawk Clan could enjoy a few more days guzzling wine and chasing women before my journey begins.”

“My son becomes even more presumptuous as he grows older.”

“Everyone knows, Grandmother, that you’re the only one he listens to. At least, since my mother died.”

“If only that were true.” Trella’s eyes softened the words. Sargon did still come to her for advice and counsel, and when he didn’t seek her out, she had other ways of getting her ideas and thoughts into his mind.

Power, she reminded herself, comes in many ways, and Trella still retained much of the authority that had once been hers alone. “Everything? He said to tell you everything?”

“Yes, everything.” The boy settled back in his chair and made himself comfortable, now that he saw her acquiesce.

She gazed into his gray eyes, and realized that the boy she’d raised from a child had truly gone, replaced by the calm young man with the emanation of strength before her. Eskkar, she remembered, had much the same aura, a powerful presence that men deferred to almost without thinking. “You know what your journey to the steppes means, Escander? What it really means?”

“It means that I will be king someday, if I pass the test, and if one of my half-brothers or sisters doesn’t have me killed first. Or I’m being sent to my death, like my older brother before me.”

Trella nodded in understanding. After Sargon’s first wife died, he took a second wife, Escander’s mother. Two years after Escander’s birth, she also died attempting to give life to a still-born daughter.

In his grief, Sargon had taken to his bed chamber a long string of willing women, who produced a multitude of sons and daughters. Trella had tried to restrain Sargon’s passion, warning him about what might happen in the future, but in this, her son had refused her advice.

Now every one of those sons and daughters, encouraged and guided by their scheming mothers, could make some claim to the throne. The danger that Trella had foreseen had come to fruition. The only suitable heir to the Kingdom of Akkad stood in the way of his jealous kindred, each of them eager to rule. The thrust of a knife or a drop of poison hung over his head. Escander did indeed have many enemies.

“You must always beware of your siblings,” she said. “But I will keep watch over the most troublesome.”

Escander shrugged, in just that certain way Eskkar used to do. For a moment, Trella almost lost control of her emotions. She’d loved Escander’s grandfather since their first night, and now as her life drew to a close, her heart went out to this boy.

“Whatever happens here will happen.” Escander dismissed any concerns with a shrug. “I know the ways of the Palace and its intrigues. But what I will face in the northern lands is still hidden. That’s why I must hear the truth now, and not from the steppes barbarians. Besides, if I ever do come to rule, I’ll need to look every man in the eye and read their thoughts, the way only you can, Grandmother.”

They both knew what this journey to the steppes meant. Trella had often wanted to warn Escander, to tell him what he needed to know and what dangers lurked in his path, but it remained her son’s place to tell him these secrets. The Palace intrigue, she knew, unraveled nearly every hidden thought and desire.

Escander would be on his way before anyone learned of his departure, but tongues would whisper about his destination, and the plotting would begin. Even so, she felt satisfied that at last King Sargon had grasped what had to be done, even if he couldn’t do it himself.

She stood up and went to the door and called out to a servant. “Ask En-hedu to join me.”

Trella waited by the door until En-hedu arrived from her rooms down the corridor, then the two women whispered together for a few moments. Trella returned to the table and settled herself comfortably in the chair. “En-hedu will watch the door, to make sure no one hears our talk.”

“What if En-hedu listens?”

“En-hedu doesn’t have to listen, she knows the truth. She was there for much of it.” Trella poured water for herself, and a half cup for her grandson. She gestured to the pitcher of wine, but the boy shook his head. Trella had spoken to him often about the dangers of too much wine, and at least he had learned that lesson well.

“Where should I begin?”

“Start with when you first met King Eskkar.”

“No, you’ve heard those stories before. And even if they seem like tales to impress children, what you’ve heard is mostly true. Your grandfather was indeed a great man.”

She took a sip from her cup. “Your story, what concerns you, began long after the building of Akkad’s great wall, the wall that saved us from the barbarians.” Trella closed her eyes for a moment, to count the time. “Twenty-seven years ago, when Sargon was a year younger than you, that’s when your story begins.”

“So long ago,” Escander said in surprise. “How can it matter now?”

“The very young and the very foolish,” Trella said firmly, “think that everything starts with them, and that only their days are important. But to rule wisely, a king has to think many years into the future, and must always remember the failures of the past. Eskkar learned that lesson well. A good leader plans for six months ahead; a great leader plans six years into the future. The events from long ago can affect you today, Escander, but if you’re not interested, you can leave and let an old woman return to her rest.”

“No, no, I’ll keep silent, I swear it. Not another word.”

“When you have questions, good questions, ask them,” Trella said. “Otherwise, how can you learn anything? Do you want to plod along like your half-brothers?”

“You know the answer to that, Grandmother. That’s why you’ve favored me all these years, though you tried hard not to show it.”

“Let me see, then.” Trella drummed her fingers on the table. “In that time, the lands under Akkad’s control stretched ever further south, ever closer to those of Sumeria. As the Sumerian cities expanded their influence northward, the border disputes began. The age of mighty cities had arrived, and it was inevitable that Akkad would clash with the growing power of Sumeria. In those days, the southern cities grew even faster than Akkad, since they had the trade on the Great Sea as well as the Two Rivers.”