The Courageous Emperor: Tactics

Once upon a time, in a land far far away there ruled a fierce warrior and there also resided a humble soul who wished to serve his lord.

At the age of fifteen he rejected the provincialism of the hamlet which raised him, to seek the wisdom of the Emperor who ruled from a distant capital. Without hesitation he set out to transverse the immense swathes of land separating him from the Emperor's palace. In memory he held one faint recollection of the Emperor though it contained as as much embroidery as truth. On a day, five years past, a small, motley company led by a man, raggedly attired and upon horseback, appropriated the insignificant village square. The villagers quailed, for rumors of the Emperor preceded his appearance. Each tale spoke of defeat and death to anyone who resisted. But, ignorant or innocent, the boy burned with an impotent anger as he observed the cringing peasants, who preferred life to honor. In the boy's eyes he perceived stalwart citizens capitulating to an exhausted band of rouges a quarter their size.

Over a half-decade the anger changed to humiliation and then to adulation. Aspiring to the bravado bravery of the Emperor, and he went aquesting. Though no inhabitant of the hamlet could speak to the location of the Emperor residence, the tax collector directed the boy to the first outpost. Informed he would pass through the gloomy jungle of Rudkus, retracing footsteps of the emperor, now a decade old, the young man remained undaunted. With tribulations only seen by himself and the Emperor's men, he passed through and arrived at the eastern edge where he entered Victory City. Awe grasped his heart, his eyes, and his feet, so he stood gazing without thought at the sturdy walls, constructed from hewn eucalyptus. Behind towered two story structures, and guards wielding bronze spears. Recovering control of the basic locomotive function of the body, he passed through a wooden gate. Inside an old man, clothed in rags and hobbling across the rough path, obstructed the youth's movement.

“Such a young boy,” he said, “and far from home, if my eyes see correctly. What do you seek in our town of destitution?”

“Surely,” replied the boy, “you can't mean the words that flow from your mouth. Destitute? I see around only wealth beyond imagining. Look, there, the bronze statute of the emperor himself!”

“Bronze, hah! Here we have but one monument to Him Who Rules from Sunrise to Sunset, but they reside in his palace uncounted and cast of gold.”

“And that is where I intend to go, but I don't know the way.”

“Why do you seek it?”

“To see the face of the man who men call the bravest of the brave. The Emperor who leads in every conflict, and wears the scars to corroborate his claim.”

“Forget your quest, for I have seen him, and I can tell you of the distinction which enables this abominable being to clasp which ever piece of earth of desires. Place your few belongings upon the soil, and sit there on that dry rock.”

After positioning the lad just so, the man sat on ground, muddy from the recent rain, ran his hands up and down his legs, and began.

“It is true what they say: the Emperor does not fear death. Nor does he suffer defeat. No man alive can speak of a single failure where the Emperor is concerned. Though he is only thirty-five, this is a grand feat, for rumor says he has more victories than years of life. If you ever reach him you will have crossed so many miles your feet will be little more than stubs, and the years will have fled past wasted for though brave, there exists no man worse than he.”

The youth jumped up, astonished and with a puzzled frown. He reached to gather his belongings but the old man's hand clasped his wrist, and the boy found himself eye to glistening eye with the man.

“Listen but a bit longer, and then you can decide for yourself.” The grip relaxed and the youth resettled himself.

“It wasn't long ago we conducted a desperate stand just beyond these walls. Though to any unknowing eye we'd have seemed likely victors. The emperor's force, far from home, parched and fatigued from their journey across Arrakis, seemed as pitiful as a soup constructed without any broth. But He exhibited substantial and unsuspected cunning, a tactician with a slyness which eclipses the deceptions of the senses. He saw the battlefield with the eyes of the eagle, scouting our positions and our feints. With the nose of a dog, he smelt the mixture of trepidation and over-eagerness which emanated from our bodies, and manipulated the flow of battle to bedevil our emotions. When we should have been bold we were timid, and when a defensive posture would have suited, we were aggressive. It was a swift defeat, and he culminated it with a final charge upon our center, demolishing our formidable warriors. It was in this conclusionary strike I suffered everlasting humiliation and a wound which has left me limp for the remainder of my life.”

He looked at the boy, and saw a hint of sadness overawed by excitement.

“You still want to continue onward.”

“I want to meet, to serve the bravest of men. I want to learn at the feet of the master who fears nothing.”

“I will send you onward, for I believe your true desire will aid you in seeing reality, detecting the barbarity of the Emperor. Perhaps some unseen miracle connected tenuously to your quest will end his rule.”

The man used his staff to trace a few crude, trembling lines in the dirt.

“From here you must venture east, south-east and before long you will see a desert that recedes before the eye, into the distance. How you will cross it, I know not, but there are cairns left by the unheeding Emperor. A path left for him to return home by, and fearing no pursuit.”

Then, with a sudden revulsion, the man stomped on the rough map, sends clods of dirt into the air. With a quickness which astonished the youth, he abandoned their conversation and vanished into a nearby crowd which had entered through the gate.

Pleased with his progress so far, the youth prepared for the next part of his journey.

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