Jack nodded, “Well, closer to fifty if we need it.”
Dag shook his head, “No, thirty will do. We’re about to make an example out of these five clans... an object lesson for all who hear the story.”
Dag was glad that one of the fools wasn’t Nissa’s brother. He had been doing a little subtle saber rattling in recent months. So Dag planned to make damn good and sure that he could easily look into his future if he tried a stunt like this. He knew it wasn’t reasonable to assume that no one would figure out rudimentary bows, but whoever decided to use fire arrows was a crafty bastard. He could have done very well working for Dag, but he wanted to make a statement.
Well, a statement was called for now... it just wouldn’t be the message he had intended to send. They would lick their wounds, and make sure that those they left behind would have the shelter that they deserved, and then it was time to take to the plains. With nine chariots to run scout and thirty infantry, they would easily outnumber any single clan. With the chariots to round up any who tried to flee, this wasn’t a war, this was going to be a slaughter.
Coming of Age
Not Vengeance
Dag assembled his troops and set off in search of the attackers. Runners had been sent to Riverport, and while it had been attacked, all of the people there had been able to retreat into the tower, and fend off the enemy with arrows. The raid had done very little damage, but it had managed to shake the confidence of many residents of the outpost.
Dag knew he needed to be seen as decisively doing something about the problem. It was no secret that he was pissed about this attack. Ineffectual as it was for changing the political landscape, it still was more than sufficient to disrupt their peaceful lives. Even so, he wouldn’t chase after them like this for simple vengeance. They deserved punishment for their deeds, but alone that wouldn’t have motivated him to delay other tasks to field an ‘army’ this size to go after them.
This operation was about optics. His people needed to see that something was done, and the other clans all needed a good strong visual of what would happen to those who attacked the city, and Dag was determined to give it to them. Even though it meant introducing his own people to some darker aspects of civilization that he had hoped to spare them.
Finding the first clan wasn’t all that difficult. Taking them down without killing them all was more complicated, but Dag ordered arrows to be aimed for legs, and for those in the chariot to lasso any who resisted. Being drug behind the chariot for a distance usually pacified even the most belligerent of captives.
Dag took the captives back to the city where they were placed under guard. Then he rode off after the remaining clans, dragging back the lion’s share of each clan alive. Often injured by alive, the members of the five clans were dragged back to the city and placed on a public trial. By modern standards, it was a show trial, but the spectacle wasn’t one that the locals were familiar with. They took to it was great enthusiasm. Even when, one by one, the men who had directly participated in the raid were sentenced to a lifetime of service in the tar pits, before having both hamstrings cut, to remove any hope of escape.
The rest of the clan couldn’t very well be let to run free. There was too great of a chance for someone to seek vengeance for a condemned father in a few years. Yet Dag couldn’t bring himself to maul women and children, nor to kill them outright when those who had actually committed the crime were only enslaved. So, he sentenced them all to twenty years of hard labor. This didn’t exactly make them slaves, but as very few would live twenty more years, it was a distinction in search of a difference.
Stripped of all possessions, Dag had each of them marked with ritual scarring to denote their status. That some might succeed in running away was a given, but if they came back seeking vengeance, he wanted to be damn certain that they would be recognized by the people of the city. Only the children were marked in places that could be covered by clothing. After all, they were the only ones that really had much of a chance to make it twenty years and see the end of their service. Or as Dag hoped, in a few years to be able to declare an amnesty for those too young to have had any say over events, and free them.
His people obviously approved, and Dag had little doubt that as a deterrent, it would strike fear into the other clans who might otherwise find them an inspiration toward evil. Even so, he felt sick, and was unable to speak with anyone from nearly a week afterwards. It might not have been for vengeance sake, but it wasn’t justice either. What was worse, Dag was the only one who seemed to realize this.
◆◆◆
Novelty Is Gone
As the years rolled on, Dag would remember the day of that trial as a turning point. He no longer found joy in leading his people. Month by month, as John became more capable, Dag happily handed over more and more responsibility to him, and to Devan, his eldest son by Nissa. The one bright spot to Dag’s way of thinking was that the boys weren’t afflicted by the normal, sibling rivalry. Dag attributed this to the fact that John was so much older than his little brother that the younger boy worshiped his older brother rather than sought to outshine him.
The younger children lived a life of relative ease and privilege. Each one assured that their social position was secured. Dag had insisted that each of them understand that their place in society was theirs to lose. It could evaporate, but only if they did not maintain the high standards of the family. This seemed to be a reasonable balance between the need for excellence and the tendency to over pressure the children of public figures. At least Dag hoped that would be the case.
Dag had used the excuse of putting John in charge of dispensing justice on his sixteenth birthday to pardon those involved in the attack, who were under the age of accountability at the time. This mercy was John’s first act, and it made him popular with the people, and even quelled some hard feelings by those breaking rocks in the limestone quarry, or digging more irrigation ditches. That their youngest children would have at least have a shot at a better life. It also played well at the Gathering that year, as many of the newly freed sought a place with the other clans.
For his part, Dag mostly withdrew from public life. He contented himself with spending time with the family and working in the library. He still regularly took the dive suit out, and would submit blueprints for new engineering projects to those who had taken up the trade in the city.
Most of the innovations in the city were no longer Dag’s doing. To Dag’s complete surprise and relief, the city had become self directing and motivated. The only downside, was that the sun priests seemed to be becoming more self-directed too, and more self serving, if that were possible. For his part, though, Dag put it out of his mind. He just didn’t have the stomach for it anymore. It was John’s time to shine, and while Dag would be happy to be here for his son should the need arise, he was quite content to be out of the public eye as much as possible.
◆◆◆
Rise of Religion
When Dag was advanced in years, watching the civilization that he had birthed go through its growing pains under the leadership of his son John, the priests of the sun god made a bid for power. This power play was undermined by John. To stymie the power of the sun god priests, he authorized the building of temples to the god of storms, and the fertility goddess, as well as one to the craftsman god. This new pantheon forced the sun god priests to compete for followers and weakened their power.
Dag was afraid that John had sown the seeds of future defeat, but had to admit, so long as there was only one chief, and many priests each bidding for control that it would make them more manageable. Copper had been discovered in this time and was in wide use. Unlike the iron, it was much easier to work with, and not as easily given to rust. More importantly, along with gold, it had been minted into coins and trade ingots. This eased the tensions on the specialized trade crafts, allowing them to be compensated for their more skilled professions. It also stirred up greed among the various priesthoods for the seductive power that wealth could bring. By Dag’s reckoning, it was a safer quest than for political power.
With Dag’s more advanced economic knowledge, it was relatively easy for he and John to pit one priesthood against the other in a quest for money and influence. He would have preferred not to see his civilization drawn down this path, but like slavery, it was just a part of the human condition. In his more optimistic moments, he believed that his world had vanquished slavery, but in the slightly more honest moments of cynicism, he saw the conditions of most of his birth world, and knew that people were still slaves. The only real difference was how they were manipulated, controlled, and squeezed for their labors and talents.
In these darker moments, he often wondered why he created civilization in the first place. Those moments, though, were brief, as he saw the people fed, and more children make it to adulthood. He saw lives not lived in squalor. They were still far from the self governing paradise promised by his birth nation’s founding fathers, but then again, so was his birth nation by the time he came along. So, with plenty of reservations, he still looked back on his accomplishments as a net positive.
◆◆◆
Generations
Dag could rarely get out of bed these days. His eyes were dim, but his mind was sharp. He wasn’t sure exactly what had failed him, but he suspected that high blood pressure was competing with congestive heart failure and diabetes to claim his life. Nearing seventy now, he had far outlived any expectations he had when he first ended up in this world.
“John?” Dag said in a reedy voice.
“I’m here father.” the young man’s strong, confident voice answered him.
“Ah, good. Is your brother with you?” he asked.
“No, father, Devan is at sea, remember?” John asked, all while trying to keep the frustrated sigh out of his tone. His father had lost all track of day or night and so couldn’t keep track of what was happening around him. John didn’t want to be impatient, but at times it was difficult, especially with all he had going on.
“Ah, that’s right. You’re both such good boys.” Dag’s voice ran down for a moment. Then he said, “I’ve always been proud of how well you two worked together. I... I see the sparks of envy and distrust between your sons. Unlike their fathers, they seem to have no love for the other. You must do something about this, or we will lose everything.”
“They are young father. Given time, they will come around. Young men can be so difficult until they find their place in the world...” He trailed off. It was an old argument. With his father’s end nearing, the old man wanted to see his family line along the path to a secure future. John didn’t want to worry his father, but he had seen the same things that Dag had seen. If the boys weren’t able to work together, it would be a problem. In their early thirties, if they hadn’t learned to work together by now, they weren’t likely to. He just didn’t know what to do about it. He couldn’t act against his brother’s son, he wouldn’t. All he could hope was that they found some way to get along in the years to come.
Dag’s breath rattled as he spoke, “It is more than that, and we both know it. While they are still young, and before my death, if that will tarry long enough. Load up a ship with tools and all of the finest of supplies. Send Devan’s family off to start up a new colony. Perhaps as far as the lands of India. Send him with copies of my writings. Give him and those who go with him every tool for success, but separate my family line, before they go to war against each other over what I have built. Give them the tools to be successful. To shine in his own light, so that he doesn’t covet that of his cousin.”
John sighed, “Must I give up my brother?”
Dag let out a long sigh. “Give up your brother this late in life, or both of your sons fight to the death over this pile of rocks.”
John wanted to answer him, but he saw that Dag had already drifted off to sleep. He sat beside his father’s bed and thought about all that he had said. John determined when Devan returned, they would discuss it together. Perhaps his father was right. Perhaps this could be just the next step in the grand adventure that had been their lives.
