Joseph V

PA 0

It had been five days since they’d captured Queen Meixiu.

And it was currently the only reason they had even the smallest fraction of a fighting chance.

Admittedly, the party they threw wasn’t the best use of their remaining supplies. But damn if it wasn’t good for moral. People were smiling and laughing more than they had in days, and tensions had settled down to almost pre-war calm.

The party was a break that everyone needed, a reminder that things would get better—that these last few weeks were the exception, not the rule.

Now if only they could get the Queen to join them. Then they’d actually have a plan.

Joseph walked up to the Sun Room, knocking on the door to the makeshift prison.

“Who is it?” a woman’s voice asked from within. Not Meixiu, but Neferati, the woman who’d recently had a daughter.

“It’s Joseph,” he called back, snorting quietly when he heard her yelp in surprise. “May I come in?”

The door flew open, revealing the people within. Neferati, holding her newborn daughter, stood before him, while behind her was the Queen, in much more comfortable restraints.

After the party they had loosened the restraints on Meixiu a bit—rather than the weird table setup they had going on before, they’d switched her to just regular bindings, as a show of good faith. Of course, she was still heavily guarded and restrained—they didn’t trust her that much—but the party had shown she was at least partially willing to play ball.

“My Pharaoh,” Neferati bowed lightly to him. “I didn’t realize you were arriving so soon! I apologize for the delay!”

“Calm down, calm down,” he sighed, a small, amused smile on his face. “I decided to come early today, nothing for you to apologize for.”

“If you say so, my Pharaoh.”

Neferati had become… ‘friends’ was not the appropriate term to use here, but she had somehow managed to build up a rapport with the foreign Queen after the party. Apparently using her (purported) divine powers to give a blessing to the woman’s newborn daughter had earned her some brownie points. Because of that, he’d asked the new mother to visit and talk with the Queen when she could, often bringing her daughter around as well.

Mostly, this was to give Meixiu a ‘face’ to get to know the village through, without having the whole ‘God-King’ thing to influence her decisions.

This wasn’t an enemy, just a new mother gushing over her cute baby daughter. Meixiu would have to be a heartless bastard to not be at least a little bit moved by that, and it was his hope that the peaceful, friendly interactions with his people would turn her into an ally over an enemy.

Hopefully.

“If it’s alright, may I come in?” he asked, leaning around Neferati to ask Meixiu. “I’d like to speak with the Queen for a bit. Alone, preferably.”

Meixiu narrowed her eyes at him, but nodded slowly. “It’s all right, Neferati, we can finish talking later.”

The woman glanced at the Queen, before glancing back at Joseph. Finally, she sighed, stepping out of the building. “I understand,” she bowed to them. “I’ll see you both later.”

“Thank you,” he smiled at her as she left, rolling his eyes internally. Honestly, people made such big deals out of everything.

Nodding to the guards, he entered the room, closing the door behind him.

“So, what do you want today?” Meixiu scowled at him, lounging against the wall.

“You know why I’m here,” he replied, sitting down across from her. “Have you considered my offer?”

She didn’t speak up at first, simply staring at him silently. She stayed quiet for so long he wondered if she was even going to answer.

But then, just as he was about to move on to another topic, she asked him, “Can I trust you to keep your word?”

“My word?”

“I’ve been burned before,” she scowled at him, though this one lacked the heat he was used to. “People are cruel, petty creatures. I understand this now. But recently, I’ve been, ah, gifted a lot of time to think. And I realized that, if I were to offer an alliance, I’d follow my ally to the ends of the earth. Because I’m not a traitor. I would never betray someone.”

“I see,” he hummed, choosing his words carefully. “I think I get it. But I also think there’s nothing I could say that would make you believe me when I say I’m not a traitor, either.”

“True, but… I was talking with Neferati,” her brow furrowed, before she looked up at him in confusion. “She said that, a couple weeks ago, Domenic offered you an alliance, so long as you killed that other King you have here—Kay-something. But you didn’t—you refused him on the spot, and proceeded to mock him by… calling him a hamster?”

“It was a Monty Python quote.”

“Ah,” she shook her head. “Whatever, that’s not important. But what I want to know is, why? Why didn’t you accept his offer? It was the most logical choice—you had nothing to lose and everything to gain. So why didn’t you?”

He stared at her for a long moment, before responding slowly, “You’re wrong. I didn’t have ‘nothing’ to lose. In fact, I think I would have lost something irreplaceable if I had accepted that offer.”

“…I understand,” she muttered softly. “I know where we stand now. But to agree to your proposal is…”

“All change is scary,” he told her calmly. “That’s just a fact of life. But that doesn’t make change bad. I’m offering you a way out—a way for us to be allies, instead of enemies. Neither of us have to get hurt here.”

“…I think I want us to be allies as well,” she told him quietly. “But… I want to hear you say it,” she told him firmly. “Out loud. A promise, in front of whatever force you believe in. If you can’t even do that, then I’ll never agree to follow you.”

Joseph closed his eyes, then opened them slowly. Staring her dead in the eyes, he told her clearly. “If you accept my offer, I will never betray you. You will be my ally, my friend, and my equal in all but name. Join me, and I promise, I will fight by your side until the end of time.”

“…Very well,” she sighed, placing a hand over her chest. Then, visibly gathering herself, she turned to face him with the bearing of a Queen. “I, Yan Meixiu, Queen of Hulicheng, accept your proposal.”

--

After that, they immediately went about setting up a meeting between the two sides. An envoy was sent out, who proceeded to spend the rest of the morning running messages back and forth between them. Where to meet, when, how many people were allowed, and many more things were discussed.

Then, finally, by mid-afternoon the meeting was set up.

Joseph’s group set up outside of the walls, but well within the range of the slingers. He’d brought with him ten soldiers, along with Meixiu and Hsekiu. Kaiden was staying away and inside the city just in case.

Meixiu’s camp was only allowed to bring eight people—the four generals, and a single guard each.

This was a surrender, not a negotiation, after all.

The two groups stood opposite each other, Joseph and Meixiu in front of their side, while the four generals stood at the forefront of their own.

“Amon, Hemede, Gamila, Lukman,” she called out to each general, some measure of warmth in her tone. “I’m aware that you all have had a hard week without me there. For that, even I must apologize. But rest assured, I will return to my rightful place soon.”

“My Queen,” Amon bowed low to her, ignoring or oblivious to how Joseph’s guards startled at the sudden movement. “You have no need to apologize. In fact, we should be the ones begging for your forgiveness, as we let you get captured in the first place.”

“Rise, my loyal general,” she actually smiled at him. “I absolve you of your guilt—what’s done is done, and we might even be better for it in the end. Truly,” she shook her head, “the world works in mysterious ways. But enough about this, we have more important things to speak of. For example,” she motioned to Joseph besides her. “I have spoken with this King, the Pharaoh Joseph. And I have agreed to an alliance. We both agree that the other King, Domenic, is the greatest threat to our civilization. As such, we are going to untie our armies and destroy him, once and for all.”

All of her generals but Amon looked unconvinced—he just accepted his Queen’s word as gospel—but that was to be expected. What she had just said was the ‘official’ story—what we’d be telling her civilians, as a way to downplay the fact that she had technically just lost a war and was surrendering to a foreign ruler.

The treaty didn’t say anything about what would happen to the army after this war would conclude—it would partially disband, with the rest being turned over to Joseph alone to control. Meixiu would still be ruler of her cities, but she’d have follow Joseph’s law over her own—she was as much a vassal as an ally. And they’d also be trading around food—not necessarily a tax, but as a way to keep everyone from starving following the war.

Right now, they didn’t need to know any of that. Right now her ‘divine right’ to rule is where she got most of her power from, so there was no need to threaten that right before a big battle.

The two groups spoke some more after that—asking questions, deciding battle strategies, and making hesitant plans to bring the two armies together.

Soon enough both sides returned to their respective camps—with Meixiu going back to Joseph’s city, as she was still technically a prisoner—to begin preparations for the battle ahead.

The end was upon them.

Interlude III.5

Once they got back, the generals immediately crammed into the command tent for an emergency meeting.

“You can’t seriously tell me you’ll just accept this!?” Hemede yelled, throwing his arms into the air.

“If it is the Queen’s will, I will accept all outcomes,” Amon replied coolly, scowling at the elder.

“Well, I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Gamila drawled. “I mean, sure, we lost—big whoop. But our luck was going to run out eventually. Frankly, this is probably the best outcome.”

“How cowardly!” Hemede shot back. “We could still win this—there’s no need to give up so quickly!”

“I’ve always preferred peace over war,” she scoffed. “This isn’t some grand secret I’ve kept from everyone. War is hell—young people go out to get shot and die while old farts like us bicker in the backlines. But I’m loyal to the Queen, so I fight. But now we’ve been defeated, and the Queen advocates for peace. I’d call that a win in my book.”

“And what happens to us, now that the Queen has no more use for her generals!?” he gestured to all of them. “What good are people like us without war!? Will she dismiss us, forcing us to become—what, farmers? Fishermen!? We aren’t meant for that kind of menial labor! Or, or worse! What if she kills us off!? We’re a threat to her power, after all—if she doesn’t need us anymore, why not simply get rid of us permanently.

The other three were silent, staring at the elder in various degrees of shock.

“If that’s the case…” Lukman rumbled, “Then we should do everything in our power to not let that happen.”

“You all are too paranoid,” Gamila rolled her eyes. “The Queen’s not some saint—sit down, Amon—but she isn’t cruel either. She’s not going to just get rid of us like that. She’s not a psychopath. Now then,” she stood up, making her way to the exit, “I’d like to go tell our people the good news. I’m sure they’ll be happy to know that they no longer need to starve out in the desert—now they can starve in the comfort of their own homes!”

“…I may as well join you,” Lukman said, the armless man following her out.

And then only Amon and Hemede were left in the tent.

“Amon,” Hemede grabbed the general’s shoulder before he could get up. “I need to speak with you before you leave.”

The bald man glared at him with a raised an eyebrow, but simply shrugged, staying behind in the tent. “All right, what is it you wanted to talk about?”

“I suppose I was… well I was just wondering… why? Why do you, uh, follow the Queen so fervently?” Hemede asked, glancing quickly at the entrance.

He needed to stall for a bit, make sure Gamila was far enough away that she didn’t notice anything wrong.

The other general continued to stare at him, obviously confused. “…Because she’s our Queen? You know, the person who the gods appointed to rule us?” he spoke slowly, as if he were talking to an idiot.

Despite himself, Hemede couldn’t help but flush in embarrassment. Damn this man for never taking him seriously!

“I meant, why do you follow her,” he stressed, somewhat flustered. “Not why you should follow her. Why do you, Amon, follow her?”

The other man narrowed his eyes at him, still seeming confused. “Is this a trick question?”

“Oh for the love of—” Hemede sighed, facepalming.

‘You know what? I don’t care anymore. Hopefully Lukman has gotten rid of Gamila by now, I’m done with this idiot.’

Straightening his shoulders, Hemede suddenly pulled his dagger out from his waist, and without warning, lunged.

Amon barely had the time to widen his eyes before the dagger slammed into him. Luckily for him, Hemede was not a fighter—the stone blade missed his neck, hitting his collarbone. Unfortunately, it bounced off and hit his face, carving a line straight up his cheek and into his eye.

Amon roared in pain, shoving the elder back. Half blind, he reached to grab his own dagger, but Hemede didn’t let him, charging back in and stabbing him again, this time managing to hit his shoulder.

The man yelped again, stumbling back once more. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any more space for him to move, and he fell onto the tent wall, causing the tent to collapse on both of them.

There were curses and shouts of surprise coming from all directions—soldiers attracted by the shouting jumping back as the tent fell down.

The two of them struggled beneath the collapsed tent for a bit, limbs flailing as they tried to escape.

Hemede yelped as he was kicked in the face, before scowling and grabbing the leg himself. He barely managed to hold it still, bringing up his dagger and stabbing the leg, over and over again.

Amon howled, startling the soldiers around the tent. They rushed forward, grabbing the canvas to try and free the people trapped within.

Unfortunately for Amon, it was too little too late. He’d suffered a stab to the face, shoulder, and a dozen to his leg. Half of them hit arteries, causing blood to gush from his wounds.

By the time they were freed from the tent, Amon had died of blood loss.

“Uh,” Hemede stared at the soldiers surrounding him with wide eyes, before glancing at the body of the general beneath him. “I can explain.”

As one, they pointed their spears at him.

--

Outside, the other two generals walked through the camp. They passed by slingers maintaining their slings, night guards passed out on bedrolls, and soldiers practicing their forms. As they did, Gamila stopped to inform each of the people they passed about the new alliance, before telling them to go spread the word.

Lukman side-eyed her as she did that, frowning slightly. He’d hoped he’d get more time than this, but unfortunately nothing ever went as planned…

As they walked, Lukman motioned for a couple of his soldiers to follow them, before surreptitiously steering them towards the armory—it was on ‘his’ part of the camp, and he wanted her as deep into his own territory as possible before he made his move.

Eventually, they reached the ‘armory,’ a tent where they stored all their spare weapons and armor. Most of it was extras that they took after conquering new villages, since they didn’t have much time to make new ones. They’d probably restocked more of their own supplies in the past week than they had since the start of the campaign.

“It is… good, that this is over,” Gamila sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I’m excited to go home and relax, for a bit. Maybe even sleep on a real bed for once!”

“You’re fine that it’s ended like… like this? You’d accept this loss?” Lukman asked, frowning. “I would have expected more pride from you.”

“This isn’t about pride,” she turned to give him a slight glare. “And this isn’t a ‘loss.’ I never wanted to fight these pointless battles. But the Queen knows that the other Kings would see us dead or slaves for merely following her, and that’s something we can’t allow. Something I can’t allow. I’ve been a slave long enough. So, I fought for her, to protect my people, and myself. But now this King has made peace with us—our battle’s almost over. We might just have peace. I’m not disappointed, you fool—I’m relieved.”

“Hm,” Lukman hummed, nodding to himself. “I can see where you’re coming from. We all have something to fight for. Be it family, duty, or… power.” Then, he sighed. “I’m sorry, you know. Truly.”

Gamila turned to him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry that you won’t be able to see this peace you so long for. But, perhaps now you’ll be able to sleep.” The armless general turned his head to the side, clicking his tongue loudly.

Suddenly, the four soldiers that had been following them rushed forward, pulling out their spears and surrounding her.

Gamila’s eyes went wide as she spun around, taking in all of them. The nearby soldiers not in on the plot also jumped in surprise, staring at the two generals with wide eyes.

However, none of them moved, their confusion and their loyalty to their general keeping them still.

“Gamila,” Lukman called out, loudly enough for everyone to hear him. “You have betrayed our Queen—you’ve turned her over to our enemy, and now consort with him for your own gain,” he lied as naturally as he breathed, not even the slightest quiver in his voice. “I’m sorry, but you’ve left me no choice. Because of this treason, there is only one option left for me, to save our Queen—I must kill you.”

“You—!” she hissed, spinning around wildly, before finally turning back to the general. “You bastard,” she spat, overcome with rage. “I will end you—!”

“Unfortunately for you, I will not give you the chance.” Lukman clicked his tongue again, nodding his head. “Kill her.”

And the soldiers cut her down.

Lukman sighed, staring at her body as it fell. He felt… something. Guilt or relief, he couldn’t tell.

He shook his head. No matter. He had more important things to be dealing with right now.

“Dump her body in the river. Let the crocodiles feast on her remains,” he told them calmly, before turning to face the rest of his soldiers. “My people! We’ve suffered a grave wound today—our own leaders, in their greed and selfishness, have betrayed our glorious Queen. For you see—the Queen is not a prisoner. She is dead, killed by the King in that city over there. She was betrayed by Gamila, who sold us out to become Queen in her own right!”

The soldiers around him looked at him with wide eyes. Some with suspicion, but most simply accepted his word at the truth—the weakness of soldiers, they were trained to never question their leaders.

“That is why, we must march,” he told them gravely. “The rest of the army has been granted a false hope of peace—in reality, they are to become slaves to the King, used as a bargaining chip to secure her own rule. Luckily, she foolishly told me about this, believing I would follow her into this treason. This has allowed me to stop her madness before it was too late. But we are running out of time. Already she has killed Amon, and was planning to kill Hemede as well! We must move, quickly! Everyone, to me! We must go, to save our allies from the cowardly King behind those walls! My people, follow me, and together we will avenge our fallen Queen!”

The soldiers roared with him, fear and anger replacing the confusion in their minds. Perhaps, if they had the time to think clearly, they would realize something was wrong—they’d be able to pick out the inconsistencies in his story.

But by the time they got the chance, it would be too late.

That day, the first civil war in the world broke out.

--

But even the best laid plans could be thwarted. Sometimes through ignorance, sometimes through cunning, sometimes through sheer bad luck. Sometimes, all three reasons were in play.

For you see, everyone had their secrets. Some just happened to be much more important than others.

The soldiers dragged Gamila’s body to the river, blood and mud mixing together along the muddy shores. Eventually the soldiers reached the coast, and with a heave, they unceremoniously dumped her body into the water.

Job done, they returned to their general, not giving the body another thought.

Perhaps if they did, they would have noticed that the body had long since stopped bleeding.

Once the soldiers were gone, the woman’s body twitched. Arms and legs moved under her, before the woman pushed herself out of the river, her limbs sliding out of the mud with a wet ‘plop’ sound.

Gamila crawled out of the waters, slumping onto the riverbanks with a groan. Her clothes were destroyed, full of holes, soaked, and covered in blood and mud. But her body was pure, as healthy as it had been the day before.

Gamila Senai, a woman born in modern Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. A woman who had been brought to this land to serve as a God-Queen, only to be usurped and taken as a concubine. A woman who had kept her true status a secret from even her Queen, out of fear of her life.

A woman who stood in the river completely unharmed.

A woman who was fucking pissed.

9,948 God-Kings Remain