Chapter 1: Sovereignty

The new king of Macedon and his council of advisors struggle to find the collective coordination with which they will rule a potentially great kingdom and conclude that there is much at stake.

             “All hail the new king of Macedon,” a man shouted the next morning through a horn that amplified sound with efficiency equal to that of a microphone and decent sound system, “King Alexander the Third!” The crowd roared excitedly and vehemently. The council of elders stood calmly and idly by that they might quickly intercept the new king as he departed from the stage into his castle. “Sire,” they would tell him, “do accompany us to the throne room as we have much to discuss with you, my Liege.”

         The exploration and military advisors, Ibn and Enoch, respectively, walked alongside Alexander through the lengthy corridor that was his throne room as the conversation progressed. “Okay, get on with it,” Alexander said impatiently as he sat upon his thrown after twenty-four hours of ceremonies. “I grow weary of all this, and my mind is far more focused on the events of tomorrow when I can finally choose my queen.”

         “But lord, would you not marry your sister?” Ibn asked.

         “No, obviously as my last statement indicated, I’ve decided against that--hence the choosing. Now, what on earth is so important that you have to discuss it with me now when I should be sleeping?”

         “Well, it’s just…” Ibn was at a loss for words, so Enoch spoke.

         “Lord Alexander, we merely wish to speak with you about the current state of affairs in this kingdom, and we believe that…”
         “Oh? Is that all? Well, then, I’m off to bed. We can talk about this… in two days.”

         “Two days?!"

         "He's as difficult as his father," Ibn said under his breath.

         "You expect the kingdom to wait two days for you to begin your royal duties?”

         “First of all," Alexander answered, "while I’m king, there will be no use of the word ‘duty’ unless it’s satirical. Secondly, that’s correct. I am entitled to my two days of leisure by law, and I have decided that the day of inauguration doesn’t count.”

         “How wouldn’t it count?!”

         “I’ll be adding that to the law tomorrow as an amendment; that’s how it won’t count. Good night.”

         The next two days consisted of Alexander choosing a bride and marrying her. She was, like him, a beautiful human specimen but had rare, voluptuous proportions and, thus far, the most robust queen of Macedon in its history. Alexander enjoyed his time with her thoroughly, as indicated by their frequent “re-consummation”, as Alexander comically called it, of marriage.

         Finally, the day came when Alexander and his council got to work. They met him in his throne room to discuss matters in detail. “As you know, sire,” said Theodore, chief advisor, “this province, Aztlan, has jurisdiction over the other five provinces of Macedon, as it is all specifically your kingdom to command, and as such, the lower kings of our other provinces are mere knights at your disposal.”

         “I am aware of that,” Alexander said with an annoyed tone between sips of wine.

         “Yes, well, since Aztlan is the royal province on account of it being under your direct rule and home to your castle, it stands to reason that we work mostly on fortifying it and leave the other provinces to their respective lordships.”

         “Is that how my father did it?”

         “He... liked to remain informed but understood...”
         “Rhetorical question--the answer is ‘no’, and I won’t either. You all seem to be under the impression that I was never paying attention to how my father ran things while I was a young prince, but I was. My father handed down as much of his own knowledge to me in his spare time as he possibly could, which was a great deal of information. Do not take me for a fool; furthermore, don’t forget his meet with the Prophet.”

         “You mean the Oracle?”

         “If that’s what you wish to call him. For my father’s good works, he blessed me as well as this nation and spoke good fortune over us all.”

         "The Oracle spake to your father when you were a child, yet you speak as though you were there. I genuinely WAS there. He said, 'Thou shalt behold the end of the world before thy name or the name of thy kingdom be forgotten; may man always remember the names Alexander and Macedon.'"

         "Then, you know as well as I do that I'm blessed. The point is that Macedon cannot fall, so all of this is merely a formality. I could not make any mistakes as king even if I tried."

         "Sire, since then, the Oracle has given your father predictions that did not come to pass. Alexander II requested the fall of our greatest foe, Xylon."

         "Then, it'll happen. Give it time."

         "It was to happen at the hands of the Umerians."

         "... ... And the Umerians were destroyed."

         "By the Zephyrian Sacrodragon five years ago, yes. Your father was also supposed to outlive King Xavier of Xylon and King Naphtali of Zephyr, his two greatest opponents, and they both still live."

         "What about the generations of blessings that did come true?"

         "Those generations are behind us, and it is time you put your faith elsewhere."

         "And where would that be, Theodore? The council?"

         "Yes."

         "It's not that I don't trust you people, but..."

         "Then, prove it! Let us ensure that your name becomes as great as the Oracle prophesied. We've been doing our jobs for a long time; leave it in our hands, and I will not let you down."

         "You? That's what scares me. You said, 'I will not let you down.' Again, I trust the council, but I trust myself more. Greatness is my legacy and my birthright, and I cannot depend on you for that. There were battles I should not have survived, yet I did. Was it the blessing or the Liger Set?"

         Rather than wearing his father’s royal robe, Alexander wore a silver and gold, full-body armor complete with a heavy, double-edged sword sheathed on his right side; together, these were called the Liger Set. The armor shielded his chest with gold plating while outlining his stomach with six perfect, silver abs. His hands were bear, but his arms were armored in silver with gold around the elbows and shoulders. His back was plated in silver with brass around his hind and groin. His silver legs glistened with gold knees and gold feet. Indeed, he preferred his own combat armor to the purposeless, silk robes. His long, brown hair fell just past his shoulder blades as his bronze skin reflected light like his armor.

         "My lord," Enoch interjected, "if I may, there are pressing military matters that we must discuss."

         "Like what?" Alexander asked without interest.

         "Our numbers have dwindled. We need more warriors. I am requesting permission for a five percent increase in the draft rate and a hundred thousand gold coins to fund specialist training to bolster our elite numbers."

         "Perhaps. We'll come back to that. Who's my political advisor?"

         "That would be me, sire," said another robed man with a clipboard. "For future reference, my name is Token."

         "Not important. Whaddya got?"

         "Uh, well, there are occasionally cases to which you may choose to tend. My job is to alert you of court cases that have gone abnormally long without any verdict, and there is currently such a case in Tatsu. This is a Rain Dragon Homicide, according to the report. For whatever reason, Lord Ryūjin has yet to rule on this case. Now, legislation and philosophy can be very dense subjects, and I know they can be confusing. To Theodore's credit, I think this is one of those times when it is probably wise to leave it to your council; this particular responsibility would fall upon me, and I would simply travel to Tatsu first thing in the morning to..."

         "Relax, I'll take care of it."

         "... I beg your pardon?"

         "I don't mean to brag, but I know Macedonian Law like the back of my hand. I studied philosophy for years. You think my father just let me be a general all this time? He groomed me for this seat."

        "Sire, with all due respect..."

        "Next issue. Which one of you is my Economics Advisor?"

        "Here, my Lord," said an old, dark-skinned man. "I'm your economics advisor. My name is Namon, and I'll be advising you on matters of the economy."

        "No kidding."

        "Our gold reserves are excellent; we remain the richest province in the kingdom. Our agriculture has born much fruit, no pun intended; we're well fed. Our only real problem is the rune reserve. We lack runes. We are very low on runes right now, and the runes..."

         "Let me guess."

         "Hm?"

         "They're low?"

         "Well, yes actually."

         "Kay, Namon, here's what I want you to do for me. I'm going to ask you not to repeat yourself quite so much. Now, runes are honestly not important."

         "Oh, but my lord, they are. Without runes, our wizards cannot perform spells. Magic is impossible without runes. No runes..."

          "No magic. Got it. Here's the thing. I think we're forgetting that Aztlan is not a province of Elves or Fairies, what have you... We're humans and, therefore, not very efficient with runes in the first place. Our wizards waste runes in great abundance. It's a fact that humans are just limited when it comes to that sort of thing. We'll be fine if we just accept that. Theodore, you wanted to say something?"

          "Just that I think you're taking us all too lightly. You're overconfident in yourself, and that's no way for a king to begin his reign. It augers disaster if I may speak frankly, Sire, and all this because some Prophet..."

          "Are you hard of hearing? Do I need to get old man Namon to repeat it in your ear a few times this afternoon? The Prophet has practically forbade my failure! I am infallible!"

          "You are NOT infallible!"

          "Prove it!"

          "Cassius is dead!"

          "... ... What?"

          "... On the... night of your anointment ceremony, General Cassius, Aztlan Military's Minister of Defense, was assassinated in his office."

          "..."

          "Ibn and Enoch tried to talk to you about that the next morning, but you brushed them off. You shirked your duties for two days because you are, and I quote, 'infallible'. Obviously, the case is quite cold now, but we need your official command to get the ball rolling on an investigation on this. We can dispatch the thieves with your permission."

          A clearly perturbed Alexander looked down at the floor and nodded, his countenance indicative of shock and discomfort. Theodore placed his hand on the king's shoulder and leaned in to say, "Be honest with yourself. You're not really a king, but neither was your father's predecessor. Your father was a unique ruler; rare is the generation whose king can lead like him. That's what councils are for: kings like you. It's not a fault. Your methods will simply be different. You'll defer to us more, listen to us more, let us lead more... This is how you place the kingdom in good hands. Just let yourself come to terms with that over the next couple days. I think Enoch has one more issue, and then, we'll give you the rest of the day. Enoch?"

         "Right," Enoch began on cue, "Sire, as military advisor, it is my duty to inform you that we have no Sacrodragon. But rest assured, with your permission..."

         “Not one?” Alexander asked, still wearing an expression of shock as it gradually became disgust. “I recall a time when I was still a child during my father's reign when Macedon was famous for having two Sacrodragons. Even in this rare occasion, aren’t you guys supposed to be at least breeding one?”

         “Yes, but in the wake of your father’s death, we just…”
         “You’re kidding. You wonder why I refuse to just leave everything in your hands. You bring this to me as the last item on the list like it's a small issue, but this is the biggest problem we've discussed all day!”

         “Well, it’s bad; I know, but we just need to start cultivating and…”

         “No, it takes loads of time, money, and effort to raise a fully grown Sacrodragon, and we can’t afford to go wasting our funds on arguably the most expensive cost of any major kingdom. Leave it to you guys and Macedon falls tomorrow, I swear. Runes? Are you serious? We got runes higher on the list than this? Without a Sacrodragon, war is an impossibility. The only kingdoms brave enough to wage war with us are those powerful enough to rival us in military strength, and any military that strong has a Sacrodragon already. Without one, we have no deterrent, which means they will simply destroy us by unleashing theirs before we can even get foot soldier across their gates! You wonder why I'm so arrogant? You people make the kinds of mistakes that make me look too damn good! How do you let this slip for years on end like this in the first place?!”

         “So, what do you propose?”

         “It’s time to start tying up some loose ends around here.”

         “How so?”

Reviews

[AJJordan]

You did a good job of painting the advisers as a bunch of power-grabbing, self-serving functionaries that are clearly trying to set the new king in his place as soon as possible. They obviously want a puppet on the throne, with them holding the strings.

Although I like his irreverent attitude, for me the king comes across as naive and almost childish, like a petulant teenager suddenly given command over his parents. I'm sure this will change...:)

I like the comedy, the quick back and forth quips.

What I didn't like (and this is purely subjective) is the lack of description. They are in the throne room, but what does it look like? What does his royal seat look like? Are there tapestries hanging around or fluted columns or servants unobtrusively sweeping dirt in a corner? Perhaps there is sunlight streaming through jewel-like windows, painting a rainbow pattern in the floor...Also, what do the advisers look like? I'm not after a complete facial profile, but right now all I know is that Token holds a clipboard and that Namon is old and browned skinned. I would have liked a bit more description so I could visualize and individualize this group of men who are talking to the king.

Also, I see how the death of the general from the prologue ties in here. This is good, because it is fresh in my mind and I knew to what they were referring. It was also good to see a chink in the new king's armor, so to speak. The news obviously rocked him.

Now, however, I'm wondering how long we have to wait until the other things mentioned in the prologue are played out....and whether, as a reader, I'll still remember the references when they are made. (I'm sorry for harping on the prologue. I just think it could be so much better and less confusing, no offence.)

Oh finally...there are elves and fairies?! I'm not sure how I feel about this, considering I thought I was reading a story set in Earth's and Mankind's pre-history. With just these early humans, you still have a sense that it really could have been true - I mean, how will we ever know to either prove or disprove their existence? I really love that. But with elves and fairies thrown into the mix, any speculation is kind of thrown out the window, and this becomes purely a fantasy story streaked with a bit of sci-fi.