Part 4 Chapter 1

PART IV

 

“HOW THE MIGHTY B***H HAS FALLEN”

 

  

CHAPTER 24

 

 

I

n the days of the war between the Highlands and Jehlaan the royals of the time had an idea. They sent a small garrison of soldiers into a wide empty area and stay there. The enemy soldiers would have to pass close by if they wanted to go to Tov’ra. So, when spotted, the Highlands soldiers would send one back to tell all what he saw: how many, any kind of artillery, how fast or slow.

  It worked very well. When the small garrison hid away and a small amount of the Highlands soldiers found the enemy trying to enter their territory a quick but brutal battle ensued that lasted one day to three days. Sometime the Highlands soldiers were victorious, sometimes the Jehlaan soldiers were. Either way there were very few left alive.

  One day one of the royals had the idea that instead of having a small garrison telling the rest of the army then sitting back and watching they should get more involved. So, soon after, more soldiers were sent to the wide empty area. More and more until the wide area was full of soldiers’ tents. The whole army near Tov’ra was still bigger but the royals felt this to be enough.

  Now instead of watching and passing information, they were now supposed to fight them, weaken the enemy army, in both numbers and morale. The Jehlaan soldiers had learned their lesson and brought extra numbers, but were surprised by the early attacks and their defeats increased greatly. The rare times they won they either ran back across the border too scared to go further, or they continued on and were all killed less than a week later.

  This went on until the final week of the war when Highlands’ soldiers crossed the border for a final assault on Jehlaan. Those in the empty area were ordered to stay put in case Jehlaan soldiers were able to cross the border unseen and enter the Highlands. A few times some small groups crossed the border, mostly what was left of the main army running away from the destruction the Highlands army left. These groups kept those in the clearing busy for a while, but most of the time they sat around getting bored. They tried to lighten things up by playing games. Small games of chance at first but then it escalated to small tournaments.

  No one died in the tournaments but it was a good way to keep them sharp, keep their spirits up.

  When the war was over they didn’t hear about it until a cold night eighteen days later. By then intruders from Jehlaan had long ago stopped coming, and all games and tournaments had become the only activity of the day. As soon as they heard everything was packed up and ready to go in five hours. By sunrise the empty clearing was empty again.

  For a number of years that empty clearing is left alone. A few travellers enter it, some even spend the night there, but they always leave the next morning. Then a different royal had a good idea. She turns that empty clearing into a small town. It is built in less than a year and a road is made to it in three quarters of that time.

  The town is quickly filled with those with money and those who are good at working whatever they need to. It generates a lot of money for the Highlands and soon the town grows and grows until it is no longer a small town but a large city called Harvaya. It became so magnificent that to some it rivalled Tov’ra itself. Some royals considered making Harvaya the centre of the Highlands.

  Then after many decades it started its downhill slope. Some of the royals felt the beauty of Harvaya started feeling stale and they wanted to return to Tov’ra. They left, one by one, taking all their business and golden coins with them. Only those with little money left and most of the work they got left with the royals, only those who were working personally with them were saved as they got to go with the royals back to Tov’ra.

  When all hope was thought lost some people with plenty of wealth entered Harvaya to make a home. Those in the city who were out of work went straight for them hoping for something. But most had doors slammed in their faces while others found work. Enforcement, stalking and blackmail, things they never thought they would do.

  Even with all this new wealth entering the city and many getting new jobs Harvaya still went downhill. All the newcomers were criminals using Harvaya for all it was worth. Parts of the city that used to be filled with happy smiling people were filled with starving families waiting for food and death at the same time. The parts that used to house the royals later housed the best of those criminals, or the worst depending on how it was viewed.

  The royals that left had tried to force the criminals out of Harvaya, first by covert means then, when that failed, in more public means. When all else failed the king of Tov’ra sent a group of knights to Harvaya to deal with it. Days later the king heard all his knights were either killed or blackmailed in the city. He sends another group of knights, this time a larger group all with better skills and better hearts so blackmail would be impossible. All of them died in the city.

  After thinking of a better way to deal with this a letter arrives from Harvaya. It didn’t say who it was from but the king could guess. It gave the king a kind of deal; it told him that as long as the king sent no one else to destroy the empire the criminals were building then no one else under the king’s rule in Tov’ra would die. The king felt angry at the first reading and tore up the letter and threw it into a fire. But after further thought he believes it might be a good idea. He thinks of a good way to make his decision public without seeming weak, and then makes all soldiers and knights in Harvaya move to Tov’ra. Those that stayed behind were under the rule of whichever criminal was putting coin in their pouches.

  In the years that people started talking about the city they always referred it to as something else that it’s actual name. This new name caught on quick and became popular among everyone in Tov’ra that one day both the king and queen decided it should be Harvaya’s actual name.

  So a week later they signed a parchment and from that day on the city of Harvaya was thereby named Burden.