Enlightened Empire

Chapter 466: Springing the Trap

 

After a night of violence in Challwala, King Amautu reacted quickly to the shifting situation. After all, he had been ready for a failure of the operation well in advance. While the outcome had been even worse than what he had expected, their defeat hadn't been catastrophic. Not to mention, even a defeat could be leveraged into an advantage with enough finesse.

Sure, the southern ghost warriors had saved all the northern lords and managed to stage their little meeting. However, in order to achieve their goals, their own losses had also been considerable. Not only had many valuable ghost warriors died last night, the lords had also lost most of the warrior guards they had brought into the city. By now, they would be almost without protection, and terrified of the strength of his new secret department.

If Amautu played his cards right, this was certainly something he could work with. For now however, he had to play upset.

Thus, he looked up from the scroll he had pretended to read and looked around this room at the bottom of the Sky Ziggurat. The large stone room had been lit up brightly, though the atmosphere was solemn. Lines of chairs had been erected in the square room, each of which seated one of Master Ichtaka's students, all equal in their position in accordance with their status.

By now, all of them should know about the failed operation which took place the previous night. Although Amautu was unhappy that he, a king, would be put on equal status with these ordinary disciples, he had no room to complain, for Master Ichtaka personally sat elevated and to the side, half-hidden in the shadows, to observe the proceedings.

From here, they would plan how to handle the upcoming negotiations with the lords and southerners, now that their circumstances had changed so dramatically. Even the arrogant scholars had realized that their methods weren't working. Finally, they had begun to take medalan politics seriously. Thus, the king could only play by the rules of the scholars once more. Luckily, his main opponent had made too many mistakes recently, and was too easy to attack.

After Amautu had tucked the scroll into his sleeve, he turned to his senior brother Ohtli, and nodded towards him. In response, the senior brother — who had been made to wait for some time by Amautu's leisurely reading — scoffed and stood up. As the senior disciple, it was his prerogative to open up the meeting, another privilege Amautu was eager to get back.

Sure, you be unhappy, senior brother, he thought as he watched the face soured by his little stalling tactic. The more upset you are now, the more mistakes will you make later.

"Last night, the local barbarians have once more shown their determination to retain their ill-gotten power and prevent progress," the senior brother began. "Even so, the brave Cuauhuehuetque of the Way would not bow to the stubborn barbarians, and enacted the will of the Way upon them. As planned, the two most egregious offenders among the barbarian Chatra were sacrificed to the great Way. The rest were driven from the city, not to return to the embrace of the Way until their lesson is learned."

After Ohtli's bluster, a few disciples nodded in approval. Most however had enough sense to remain quiet in the face of these brazen lies. Meanwhile, Amautu himself wouldn't just let his senior brother's words stand. He couldn't allow him to deny reality, lest their master ended up making decisions based on false knowledge.

"Senior brother," Amautu began his counterattack. "This king has heard all about last night's events, as have all other disciples in the room. There is no need to recount past matters once more, less so if such a recount does not reflect the truth."

In the Way of the scholars, truth was considered a great pursuit, and lying was considered a great unrighteousness. Suddenly, all eyes in the room were on Amautu, who had just indirectly accused his senior brother. In response, said senior brother narrowed his eyes and stared Amautu down, but the king would not back down today. No, in fact, he could not, not if he didn't want to lose control over his kingdom forever.

"Junior, dare you claim this senior has spoken untruth?" Ohtli finally asked when he saw that Amautu wouldn't buckle under silent pressure. As the eyes of the disciples focused on him, the king could feel the tension in the room rise. However, this pressure was just a misguided attempt to prevent him from thinking. After all, the king had long prepared his arguments for today and didn't have to think at all anymore.

"Senior brother, if last night's operation had been a success, there would be no need for all fellows to meet today. Our fellow brothers have come here to decide how to handle the upcoming negotiations. Had all the lords truly fled the city in fear, there would be no reason for us to assemble. After all, who would we negotiate with had we managed to intimidate those lords into an escape?"

Although Master Ichtaka sat in the corner of the room, overlooking the crowd, Amautu wasn't afraid to start a fight this time. After all, his elder brother had been the one to make the mistake, and not for the first time. By now, his failures had become so severe that they threatened to destabilize the kingdom itself.

Even worse for Master Ichtaka, they threatened the very status of the scholars in Medala, a status they had only achieved through Amautu's support. Yet Ohtli seemed remarkably unaware of the damage his greed and arrogance had caused to their master's plans. When confronted with his own failures, the head disciple said no word.

"Hmph." he simply snorted, sneered, and crossed his arms as he sat back down in his chair. Maybe he wouldn't admit his mistakes, but he certainly couldn't defend his actions either, so he had apparently chosen to remain silent.

A child's response. Who would respect you like this?

Of course, Amautu wouldn't just let him off like this. This was too rare a chance to harm his senior's reputation further.

"Senior brother, almost all of Terminus has been eliminated, yet the operation has been a total failure. None of the northern lords have died in the process, and neither has the southern merchant. Now they are sitting together somewhere and drafting a paper of condemnation against the kingdom, or so we assume. We simply cannot know for certain, because we cannot find them," Amautu explained what everyone here already knew.

Though his purpose wasn't to inform anyone of course, it was to establish the truth, so his senior couldn't shamelessly lie anymore. Obviously, humiliating his senior brother in the process was a nice little bonus.

"Two of the Chatra were killed," senior brother tried to insist. Yet Amautu was having none of his nonsense.

"The only ones who died were mere representatives, not real lords. And in order to achieve such a feat, almost all of Terminus has been sacrificed. Now, the strongest arm of the scholarly court has been cut off in a meaningless, zealous pursuit of ignorance."

This time, Amautu's accusations were no longer veiled. They were a direct attack on his senior's character. In response, the various disciples in the circle looked at each other and whispered in shock. Although Amautu wasn't expecting any of them to openly side with him against their senior brother, this would be good enough.

As expected, Ohtli jumped from his seat, probably to accuse Amautu of disrespecting his senior again. However, when he saw all the stares of his fellow disciples land on him, his finger slowly lowered again. Even in his rage, he should have understood that he couldn't arbitrarily force through his opinions, not if he didn't want to get isolated among his fellows.

"That is the role of the Cuauhuehuetque," senior brother instead tried to argue. Although he was no longer accusing Amautu, his voice was still firm. "Their only purpose in society is sacrifice, in support of scholarly duties. This, and nothing less, shall be their lot in life, and they have died to fulfill it. Who could ever argue about their use, when they have done their duties? Soon, their numbers shall be replenished, as is the destiny of Terminus. By then, another attempt at cleansing can begin. Those barbarian Chatra cannot escape their fate for long. Their end has long been decided."

"And while we await the rebuilding of Terminus, the northern lords have long banded together and sent their troops onto Challwala," Amautu sneered in response when he saw that some of his fellows seemed swayed by Ohtli's shallow arguments.

Luckily for him, these people knew very little about medalan culture, despite the years they had spent here. If they did, they would know just how important warriors were for the medalan lords. Their losses last night had been catastrophic. Many of them would be apprehensive about a full-blown war as a result, not when they knew so little about the true strength of Terminus or the Scholarly Guards.

Though the truth didn't matter. So long as his fellows believed that Medalans would treat their warriors like sacrificial pawns like the Chutwa did, there was no reason to assume the lords weren't willing to sacrifice all of them to topple the rule of the scholars.

As Amautu stared around the room, into the shocked and confused faces of his brothers, he could feel the tide turn in his favor.

Yes, surely, you are not used to having your lives threatened. Time to feel the flip side of power, my dear fellow disciples. Let me give you another taste of reality.

"Moreover, there will never be another chance like this," Amautu continued in the face of stunned silence. "After last night's events, the lords will never again enter Challwala, unless accompanied by an army. How exactly will the Markers of Terminus make another attempt at their lives?"

His last question was directly aimed at Ohtli again. While Amautu sat comfortably in his chair, the senior brother still awkwardly stood in the center of the room, surrounded by the apprehensive stares of his brothers.

"What does it matter?" he shot back, though his voice was now a lot more agitated than before. "Those barbarians are swimming against the stream of history! They will exhaust themselves and sink soon enough!"

"Yet they are still strong enough to capsize the efforts of the men in this room on their way down," Amautu shot back. He had long expected sophistry and empty phrases. Not to mention, everyone in this room was a master of language, as most scholars were.

Ohtli wouldn't be able to fool them with these cheap tricks, not unless they willingly played dumb in the first place. For a second, the senior brother stared at the junior with all the resentment of an older brother who couldn't have his younger brother's toy. Finally, he seemed to have realized that he couldn't win the argument, and that the other disciples would remain neutral throughout. No one was coming to his aid. Thus, he finally sat down again.

"What is it you want, junior?" he asked after another long pause. Though his words still sounded resentful, Amautu hadn't expected any less from his petty senior, and so made his only demand for today without concern.

"Senior brother, this junior believes it would be best if you were to stay out of the upcoming negotiations with the northern lords and the minister of the southern kingdom."

For the third time, Ohtli jumped from his seat, and this time even Amautu was shocked by his violent reaction.

"Crazy! How dare a barbarian look down upon his senior brother! Master was nice enough to take you in when you had nothing, when you were only an ignorant child, no more! Master gave you wisdom! Will you now spit upon the gifts received, to ingratiate yourself with these barbarians! once more?" he shouted in a single breath, spittle flying from his lips.

That damn finger of his was also pointing at the king of the north in accusation again. Maybe his extreme reaction was due to his poor self-control, or maybe in his arrogance, he really hadn't expected that Amautu's goal had been to remove him from government affairs.

However, there was also a distinct possibility that he was trying to enrage Amautu with his disrespectful actions. If a junior brother started to openly insult his senior, he would be in the wrong, no matter how good his arguments were. Thus, in the face of yet another improper provocation, Amautu took a deep breath before he replied as calmly as he could.

"Of course not, senior brother. This junior is eternally grateful for master's gift of wisdom, though he is unworthy. Only, doing all this dirty work is truly beneath senior brother. Why bother with all these barbarians and their dirty ways? Would it not be wiser to have senior brother read the classics, or stay with master, in charge of teaching the younger generation, rather than waste senior brother's time on the trivial matters between the unwashed masses?"

This time, Amautu chose flattery rather than provocation, since it seemed like Ohtli was about to explode anyways. Apparently, he had chosen wisely, since at least that damn finger finally went down again.

"Whatever the matters between barbarians, whatever is important, this senior shall decide for himself," he huffed and crossed his arms inside his sleeves. "Should junior negotiate with the barbarians by himself, he would surely go easy on his fellow countrymen, despite all the scholarly servants they have killed last night. After all, junior's blood is irredeemably tainted with the barbarity and ignorance of this land. This senior is simply concerned that the crimes of these fake Chatra would be forgiven. Thus, senior brother would aim to join the talks, to give his advice and guarantee an appropriate punishment for their insolence."

It had only been one night and one morning since the failure of Ohtli's plan, and yet he had already prepped up again. Even now, he still insisted on his faulty opinion. Maybe he would to his last breath. After all, not even a public condemnation of his failure could shame him into admitting his mistakes. While Amautu had hoped for some support from the other disciples to give the senior a final push, they had clearly decided to stand aside and watch. They probably knew that Amautu was right, but didn't want to openly oppose the head disciple either.

Clearly, this was leading nowhere. Thus, Amautu turned towards his master, begging for some understanding from the wise Ichtaka, his last remaining hope for a peaceful resolution of this mess.

"Master, senior brother has sufficiently proven that his violent suppression is not a promising method to promote the light of the Way within these lands. If senior brother insists on defeating the local lords through force alone, they will rise in revolt. Worse yet, they have received help from an enemy kingdom. As they have become more hostile towards the Scholarly Court, that kingdom has begun to arm and organize them. If the central kingdom joins their growing alliance as well, there is a very real chance that the scholars will be driven out of these lands for good. Rather than more conflict, we need to come to an arrangement with them. After all, the teachings say that harmony shall be striven for above all else."

As Amautu's speech went on, he carefully observed his master's reaction in the shadow, as did all the other disciples in the room. When he saw his master slowly nod, he realized that he was on the right path. It had been wise to argue based entirely on the teachings of the Way, rather than relying on logic like his brother Corco would have. After all, the wisdom of the ancients was far beyond whatever any modern person could know. However, such knowledge could be used by anyone, and misused by those with bad intentions.

"Master, this is nonsense!" Ohtli fired back with a broken voice, panic written in his face as he saw his ambitions crumble before his eyes. "The junior shall adhere to the senior, always! Junior Amautu has violated one of the basic precepts of the Way. Such blatant disregard of the laws of the world cannot be rewarded. No, they must be punished in turn!"

Of course, Amautu couldn't just let his senior use sophistry to fool their master again, like he had done so many times before.

"Teacher, this-" he tried to argue, when at last, Master Ichtaka raised his hand, and his voice with it.

"Enough," the old man said sternly, almost in a whisper. Even so, all other sounds in the room stopped immediately, as if his master commanded the air itself.

"As the water follows the path of the river, so shall the scholar follow the path of the Way. A path of resistance is no path at all," Ichtaka explained the Way as he looked at Ohtli. As usual, a few words of wisdom enlightened the whole room.

Upon his master's words, Amautu finally relaxed. With this, his master had sided with him and against his senior brother, for the first time he could remember. Clearly, even master's endless patience had grown weary in the face of his head disciple's endless failure.

"Master-" Ohtli tried to argue again, but this time, it was his turn to be interrupted by Ichtaka.

"Head disciple Ohtli shall go spread the teachings of the Way among the young ones, as he is most familiar with such duties. Second disciple Amautu shall talk to the unlearned, so they shall see the light and cease their barbaric acts."

With his orders given so clearly, there was nothing left to argue. Anything more would be considered rude towards their master. Thus, the unwilling Ohtli had to lower his head and accept his orders, as did all the other disciples in the room.

With his face towards the ground, Amautu could hardly suppress his smile. After today's failure, his senior's reputation among the disciples had fallen to the floor. Now, he would have no more ability to fight the king for power in his own kingdom, at least for a while. Even better, now that this stumbling block had finally been removed from the path, Amautu could face the upcoming negotiations calmly. Finally, he could pave the way for peace, and for the eventual enlightenment of Medala.