The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 24

Oceanus

“Signal those idiots to space out,” Kanmi said, pointing off the port of the quinquereme. “If they can’t keep formation, I’ll have them tossed in the sea and have someone else captain their ships.”

His people had started as a seafaring people, and had sailed circles around the Romans and the Egyptians and everyone else they had encountered; but that had been on the middle sea, which was a tame pond compared to Oceanus, with its giant waves that would come out of nowhere, swamping ships before they knew what happened to them. Already he’d lost twenty-two ships, nineteen of which were fully loaded with soldiers, sailing through the neck and around Iberia bound for Britannia. Even hugging the coast, the short sides and low draft made them unstable, and several of the lost ships had been caused by collisions, the oarsmen unable to get out of each other’s way.

If he’d had his choice, he would have sailed ships empty, and boarded them in Germania, where it was a short voyage to the islands. There hadn’t been time for that, since most of the forces on his ships had come from Africa, pulled out of the conflicts in Persia, and there hadn’t been time to wait for the men to march across the continent to meet them. Apparently, the fool they’d sent to conquer the rest of that island had managed to lose the entire thing instead.

It had taken longer than anyone was happy with to get enough ships gathered and get the men loaded up, but the trip itself had gone well. Having sailed on Oceanus before, he’d already calculated in the loss and thought he’d actually have lost more ships than that on the voyage. His annoyance with the captains was more a congenital personality trait than a feeling that things were actually going wrong.

What he cared about was getting to the destination on time with as many men as possible. Once he landed the army, their commanders would take over and his job would be done, but until then, he was in charge and he wanted word of his deeds to reach back to the emperor, whose favors could elevate a man’s family for generations. What he didn’t want was a disaster like the former governor, whose family was even now being rounded up and sent into a lifetime of slavery to pay for his incompetence.

It would still take a week to claw their way through the waves to the island, and then none of this would be his problem anymore.

Devnum

It was late in the evening when a rider found Ky out at one of the semaphore stations close to the city, finally giving the design a once over, informing him that Llassar and an entourage from the Ulaid, including their king, had arrived. The Caledonian had sent a message ahead of him notifying them of their arrival, but that had arrived just the day before and Ky had thought they’d have a little more time before the group arrived.

What they needed was a way to get messages quickly between the islands, but even the shortest points were almost forty miles across and even the large mounted telescopes he’d had Hortensius design and set up could only see about twenty miles and still be able to make out enough to read the other towers signal. They didn’t have the construction materials to stand up to a mid-ocean station, which meant they were limited to messenger boats for now, which was too slow by comparison.

That was a problem for another day, but it occupied Ky’s mind as he raced back to the city to greet the visitors. The men had been gathered at the palace and were held waiting in the currently empty forum, both because it could house the king, his aides and guards and because it was an impressive structure both in size and detail of its construction, which hopefully added a sense of awe that would play into the Britannian’s favor. Ky wasn’t sure he went in for all of the psychology behind negotiations, not that the people of this time would define it as such, but the Emperor did and was a firm believer in holding most meetings there or in the throne room, depending if he wanted to highlight the might of his rule or the democracy and equality of its legislatures. Today’s meeting fit the second need better.

Ky wished the Emperor was here, but he’d ridden out two days prior for Londinium to see the captured city for himself, leaving the management of the kingdom to Ky until Lucilla was out of bed, which thankfully would be any day now.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” Ky said entering the forum and coming down the steps to the corner where the King and Llassar were seated. “I thought you’d be at least another day away from arriving, and was outside the city when word came.”

Ulaid guards flanked the top row, watching over their king and each was paired with a palace guard, both men looking as anxious with each other as they were over their charges.

“So you’re this messenger from the gods I keep hearing about,” Conchobar said, looking Ky up and down. “I hear you can throw a man clear over a building and fire green flame from your ass.”

“Unfortunately I can claim neither ability and I can promise you I have no divine origin. I was from a far-off land, but I am a citizen of the empire now who the emperor saw fit to name Consul, and that’s all that matters for the moment. I understand from Llassar’s messages that you are interested in joining our alliance and becoming part of the empire.”

“What I’m interested in, is protecting my people. Ever since the Fergus fled and I was given rulership, we have been beset by smaller kingdoms who constantly try and chip away at our lands. When it was simply raids, we could manage it ourselves but now they have seen fit to ally themselves with the most powerful empire the world has ever known. It is my duty to find a way to keep my people free, which means not subjected to either the Carthaginians or anyone else who could rule us. Unfortunately, it has been made clear by how close we came to destruction that we are unable to do that alone. Llassar has told me what your people are offering, but I wanted to hear it for myself.”

“Having been involved in negotiations to create this new empire, Llassar is far more than a messenger and knows firsthand what we are offering. His people wanted the same thing as yours, to build the strength to remain free without having to give up those freedoms in return. The Romans felt the same. As you pointed out, I came from neither people and so had no vested interest in either group having the upper hand on the other. We’re offering you the same deal. Does it mean you give up some of your sovereignty? Yes, but everyone else in the alliance gives up the same thing and you will have the same say in what powers you give up, just like all of us.”

“Will that include helping us gain control of the rest of our island?”

“Yes, although from Llassar’s last message, how that happens might not be how you would do it. Some of the minor kings will need to be crushed to keep them from trying to regain their old power, but the smaller villages don’t care who governs them. They just want to live their lives and feed their families. Armies marching through and taking everything they own, killing their sons, and raping their daughters will make them into rebels, not subjects.”

“I’ve heard this speech from your men,” Conchobar said.

“That’s fine. I’m not trying to lecture, just giving you an idea of what you can expect.”

“And what do you expect to get in return? You’re letting us mostly retain sovereignty over our lands, have a say in those laws we do have to follow, and will use your armies to bring my island to heel. You aren’t making this offer out of the goodness of your hearts, so what do you want from us.”

“A fair question,” Ky said. “Primarily, manpower. We’re facing an enemy who conscripts men from across the known world. We’ve killed thousands of them, and only now are we starting to be considered a threat. Just freeing the islands isn’t enough. They already have a large army sailing this way to retake the land we liberated. I think it’s easy to see they won’t stop with that. We have to take the fight to them, and to do that, we need soldiers. Once you join us, we’ll offer any of your people who want to fight a position. They will be paid, just as any worker is paid, and we will make sure they are taken care of while they fight for us, and they will be taken care of afterward. Our manufacturing base is also growing extremely fast to support both our war effort and to create the new technology we’ve begun to produce, some of which you’re people have already gotten their hands on, and we are outpacing the number of workers available. Beyond manpower, we also need crops to support our armies and natural resources to build the weapons of war, all of which you can provide.”

“So you want our resources,” Conchobar said, sounding hostile.

Ky didn’t blame him. What he was suggesting wasn’t a model that existed in this time. In this time, if a weaker kingdom had resources a stronger kingdom wanted, the stronger kingdom would bring their armies and take it, sometimes leaving after they got what they wanted and sometimes staying, making the weaker kingdom a vassal that had to pay tribute into their overlord. What Ky had introduced with the alliance between the Romans and Caledonians, and hopefully with the Ulaid, was a novel concept that the people of this time would find suspicious.

“Yes, but not in the way you are thinking. We are not asking for it as tribute or just taking it. For one, there couldn’t be tribute, because you will not be a kingdom we control, you would be part of us. Although the borders would remain, they are more delineations of responsibility, not a separating of our lands and yours. All of our people are one people, allowed to move freely between all parts of the empire. The land with the resources we need belongs to whoever owns it now. If it’s unowned, how it's disposed of is up to you, as it’s in your territory. You could mine or grow the resources yourself and sell them to the people that need them, or you could sell or rent the land. If local entrepreneurs take the opportunity, it generates jobs for your people and tax revenue for you, to help pay for local services you choose to provide. It generates goods that you could trade within the empire or with people outside. Your people gain wealth, we gain materials. Everyone is bettered by the arrangement.”

“It sounds too good to be true,” Conchobar said.

“We thought the same thing,” Llassar said. “But it has worked out like that. There have been some rough patches. Our people have mostly been farmers, unexposed to things like contracts and business deals, but the Romans have been good about working with us to correct those problems when we find them. It isn’t perfect, but most of our people are better off now than they were before the alliance. Less people are going hungry and they have more opportunities than they had before.”

“Are a lot of your people moving to Rome? Doesn’t that leave you with fewer subjects working the land, hollowing out your kingdom and it poorer?”

Although the Caledonians weren’t exactly a kingdom, Llassar took the question for as it was intended.

“Yes, a lot are. Because we sent a force to fight with the Romans, a lot of men ended up joining the legions. Others moved for opportunities in the factories, but it didn’t hollow out our lands. A lot of Romans have also moved to our lands, and while there, they are subject to our authority and taxes. Again, there have been difficulties, but on the whole it has worked out for our benefit. We have access to markets to sell goods that we didn’t have before, although a lot of that is being bought up by the Empire itself at the moment for the war. We have better internal protection thanks to the imperial taxes paying for Praetorian patrols cutting down on bandits, and some of these new Roman inventions have been making our lives easier. We aren’t weaker than we were.”

“I understand you’re hesitant. You don’t want to give up being your own kingdom, but you know you couldn’t repel a second Carthaginian invasion and you don’t have the power to conquer your rivals and pacify the island under your leadership. What we’re offering is as close as you’re going to get to have both. It’s up to …” Ky said, and then stopped as motion caught his eye by one of the entrances.

Lucilla was leaning against the door frame. Her skin was pale and she looked weak, a byproduct of the nanites dominating her body's resources for repair and one of the reasons he wanted her to stay in bed while she recuperated.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Ky said, giving a look at Llassar for him to take over and then rushing to Lucilla’s side.

“She’s supposed to stay in bed,” Ky said to Modius, who was standing behind her looking equally concerned and ashamed.

“We tried, but when she found out where you were, she insisted that we’d either need to tie her to the bed or let her come here.”

“I’m not a child,” Lucilla said.

“You’re still injured, though.”

“You and I both know I’m going to recover, even if I start moving around. It might be a little slower, but that’s it. Besides, I’ve stayed in bed long enough and you need help with this.”

“We’re doing fine.”

“Has he agreed yet?”

“No, but he will.”

“Probably, but we don’t need him to just agree, we need them to want to be members of the alliance. Anything less than enthusiasm could plant a seed of resentment that will eventually weaken the alliance. You’re good at a lot of things Ky, with amazing ability and knowledge, but this kind of thing takes experience. You did great with the Caledonians, but they saw you fight and you fit into their mythos, giving them a reason to trust you, or at least believe in you. This is a different situation and requires different skills. You grew up learning to fight. I grew up learning to do this. Let me do it.”

“Fine, fine, but after it’s done, you are going back to bed.”

“Of course,” sounding as if she wouldn’t dream of being a problem, before becoming more serious. “There’s something else.”

“What?”

“There was a messenger reporting in to the palace guard captain on his way to see you. Knowing how important this was, I asked him to give me the message.”

“And” Ky said as she paused.

“One of Valdar’s ships sighted almost a hundred ships sailing the coast up the continent towards us. They’re mostly oar-driven or a single sail and the captain said they were having trouble in the high waves, so Valdar’s ship was able to get back here quickly, but they think it’ll only be a few more days before they get here.”

“Do they have any idea where the fleet might try to land troops?”

“No.”

“Which means, we’re going to have to intercept them before they get to the coast,” Ky said, looking back at the Llassar and Conchobar.

“Go. I’ll take care of this. You’re going to need to get on the water now if you’re going to hit them before they make landfall. I already sent a messenger to Hortensius to make sure he got everything loaded that you will need.”

“Good. Right. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Of course you will. You have a promise to keep!” she said, giving him a smile before taking Modius's arm and going into the forum.