Empire Standing

2

Mina had been kicking ass lately... or maybe she'd been getting her ass kicked. Every time she thought she was starting to grasp some concept about strategy or engineering, Zaiyn would pull the rug right out from under her. She knew she had to learn it and learn it fast but sometimes it felt like he was having fun messing with her. With what she knew now, she wouldn't be all that surprised if he was.  While she didn't trust him all the way, it was clear he had some... interesting feelings towards his father and the way his father ruled.

    She stared blankly at the page in front of her, full of logistics and words that were starting to blend together. She risked a glance up at Zaiyn, who was sitting on his bed waiting for her to finish and he raised an eyebrow.

    "Are you giving up all ready, Aailoni?" He had a light smirk across his face, staring her down as if he already knew the answer. Mina felt a flash of defiance, an eager want to prove the prince wrong.

    "As fucking if Antonious." She sighed and stared back down at the pages before throwing them down and flopping backwards on the floor. Unfortunately, she was also tired and bored out of her mind. "Never mind. I surrender."

    He laughed and walked over to where she was lying, propping her back up and putting the papers in her hands. "As if. I got your brother breathing down my back and you have a solid chance at not turning into a human shish kebab any time soon if you push for a while longer. See? Mutually beneficial."

    She rolled her eyes and sat the papers down with a smack, glaring up at him, "Yeah well neither of us would be in this position if it wasn't for your dad's stupid draft."

    He sighed and shrugged, flipping his wrist at her an walking away. She begrudgingly looked down at the sheets in front of her, but she was paying attention to anything but. "I was told the royal family is supposedly related to your Earth god, and that's why your father thinks it his right to expand his rule across continents."

    Zaiyn glanced over, looking confused, "and? Where is this going?"

    "Are you?"

    "I don't know."

    "What do you mean you don't know?"

    "Its  something everyone says, we're related to warriors and kings of past generations, and one of them was a son of Ekoma. Anyone could come out and lay claim to anything," he scoffed. "Oh gee he's great at swimming he must be the son of Isarri.. What are the gods going to do? Come down and deny it? Ours only has credibility because it's generations old."

    "That doesn't answer my question though." She took a deep breath, and split off on another tangent "Your gods and my gods are not the same. Why is he allowed to lay claim to my people's island under the name of a god who is not ours? Why does no other country in the world seem to have an issue with this? Its just silly."

    Zaiyn shrugged, "it is silly. And I don't think there is an answer for that, at least not now. So all we can do is the best with what were given, which means you need to do the work you were given so you don't die. And stop trying to distract yourself." He gave her a pointed look before turning and heading back towards his bed. As he passed his desk he hesitated over the piles of papers there and swept a stack up to take with him, clearly signaling that the conversation was over. Mina couldn't help but think there was something import he was hiding but she couldn't blame him either; after all, they were barely more than perfect strangers.

*   *   *

    Zaiyn sat at the long, ornate table to the right of his father, surrounded by generals, advisors, and politicians as they gazed at a map of the Empire of Tecaustus, utterly bored but forcing himself to pay attention at the same time. Only ten minutes before he had sent Mina through the servants entrance back to the dingy quarters newly drafted soldiers were made to stay in, saying that he had to participate in some training with the guards. What a lie. Here he was, sat in the middle of a war meeting, but unwilling to tell her the truth. She barely trusted him as is, and it wasn't like he could go up and tell her hey! I know I act like the perfect little prince but I'm secretly working with the rebels, isn't that so fun? Come join me! Your brother definitely won't murder me if you die!

    Besides, the palace had ears everywhere. The safest place was his quarters, and only because he did so well at convincing his father that he was the perfect heir. If word got out to other parts of the palace Zaiyn was fairly sure he would come out of it okay, the most serious accusations would likely be disregard as started by someone trying to weaken the royal family's hold on power, but anyone else involved would be killed for what they dared to say, even if their involvement was only suspected.

    "Send the newer soldiers to scout areas to the south." A rough voice cut through his thoughts like a dull knife, bringing him back to the present. "Have them look between specific coordinate and report back to General Sang. That way if someone goes missing, or if by some miracle they find something, the area would be marked as suspicious."

    The emperor gazed at the short, wide man, who now looked as if he might start trembling, with no emotion behind his eyes, "Are you not just giving them the perfect opportunity to defect? How can we fix this."

    The look on the emperors face caused silence to roll through the meeting room, no one daring to draw a breath. That look said he already knew a way to force the new recruits hands, and that any other answer would be unacceptable. He leaned back against the throne that gleamed gold and green, stroking his short beard with one hand as he challenged anyone to answer.

    The stocky advisor started to open his mouth, but was silenced with a sharp glare. "I think you've said enough St Claire. While your plan seems like it was thought up twenty minutes ago at most, it makes use of an easily renewed and unreliable resource, which means I have virtually nothing to use. So, how do we make the resource reliable?" A hush fell over the table again and the emperor's gaze turned to his son. "Zaiyn? Thoughts?"

    The son of the empire gazed back at his father, putting on a facade he had donned many times before and turning his face steely cold. "Threaten their families. Wives, husbands, children, siblings, parents. If someone is found to defect, none will come out unscathed." Zaiyn hated those words, and he hated that they were coming out of his mouth. He could almost feel the sting of bile rising with them. His father, on the other hand, looked at him with a face that almost shone with pride.

    "Good. However, I would expand that. Anyone even suspected of defecting to the rebels and fighting against me will be a count against their towns. A town with too many will not count as a town for much longer, understood?"

    The emperor stood and everyone hasted to stand as he wave his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Leave me. I expect to hear an updated plan of action within the coming week. A well thought out one this time please, St Claire."

    Zaiyn bowed his head solemnly towards his father and turned to stream out of the suffocating room along with the rest feeling like the walls were starting to press in on him.