Ontogeny

Chapter 20b

     “What evidence?” demanded the Emperor.

     “Separatist operations are being funded by organisations that have Helberion connections. Whether these connections go all the way to the palace, we can't say, but it may be significant that none of the acts of sabotage for which we're blaming Helberion have taken place in either Ukrann or Listania.”

     “You think Helberion may be trying to destabilise the Empire?” gasped Kutuvol in disbelief. “Helberion is a small country. Utterly insignificant on a global scale. For them to attempt something so ambitious...”

     “The Empire has always been a friend to Helberion,” said General Petrov. “It would make no sense for them to do such a thing. Could it be that Leothan is telling the truth? That Carrow agents are trying to frame them?”

     “I always thought the evidence against them was too convenient,” agreed Kutuvol. “A Carrow plot feels right to me. We all know what they're like. You only have to look at their history. Leothan, in contrast, is a man of honour, loved by his people.”

     “You've been spending too long in that backward shithole,” said Demos Tiver, scratching at his swollen neck. “Too many banquets laid on in your honour. Too many flattering speeches to swell your ego. You’ve swallowed the line they laid out for you. You don't see them clearly any more.”

     “Perhaps I see them more clearly than you do.”

     “We can’t make policy based on what feels right,” said the Emperor. “And I don't want to be distracted by some utterly insignificant conflict on the other side of the continent. We will keep an eye on the war, but we must keep our attention fixed firmly on the west, where the real threat lies.”

     He stood, everyone else stood as well, and he went to stand in front of the map of the known world. He lifted a monacle to his eye to examine it. Half of it was blue. Darkest in the centre around Farwell, the capital city, growing lighter in patches with greater distance from it to signify provinces with greater or lesser degrees of self-determination. Further away were patches of green or red showing allies and enemies of the Empire, and scattered all over, like patches of inflamed flesh on a plague victim, were irregularly shaped patches of yellow denoting Radiant territories. The yellow patches were spaced closer together towards the edge of the map, but those parts of the world were far away and poorly explored. Educated people laughed at the notion, proposed by fools, that the Radiant territories all joined together to completely encircle the human lands on all sides except the north, where the ocean lay.

     The Emperor examined the light blue patches that denoted the troublesome provinces that had been causing him so much grief lately. “What is it that they want? Do they have genuine grievances?”

     “Their grievances are the same as they've always been,” replied Boros Federos. “More home rule. The right to levy their own taxes to be spent in their own areas...”

     “The more we give them, the more they want,” said Andreas Copill, the Finance Minister. “Your illustrious father made concessions. Instead of pacifying them, it made them worse.”

     “Yes,” agreed Tiver, his whole body jiggling as he nodded emphatically. “No more concessions. They are Imperial citizens, Majesty, they must be reminded of the fact. I recommend a hard crackdown. Teach them what it means to rise up in rebellion.”

     “Has there been any actual rebellion?,” asked Kutuvol. “Last I heard it was nothing but talk. The usual grumblings you always get among the common people.”

     “Talk leads to action. Let them say whatever they want, and soon they'll be planting bombs. Kidnapping officials. Shooting the families of soldiers. We must nip it in the bud. If we show them now that such talk will not be tolerated, they'll soon fall in line.”