Enlightened Empire

Chapter 224 Strengthening the Alliance

Nostalgia-filled, Wacoca’s nostrils breathed in the humid air of his home. Finally, he had returned to Rasacopa, the greatest of the Verdant Isles. While he walked through the halls of his family’s palace, the green council, The verdant prince took in the old-familiar sights and sounds as if it was the first time.

Corco’s ’best men’ had been left on his ships for now. Not only did Wacoca expect to continue on towards Chutwa right after he met with his father, he also didn’t want the crew of misfits to create any problems for him on the way. After all, even with the precious treasures hidden inside the large wooden box in his arms, he still needed to convince his father of the alliance’s value.

In Wacoca’s memory, his father had always been a very calm man, despite his outwardly sloppy appearance. Not only that, he tended towards a conservative attitude, both towards the other colored kings of the Verdant Isles and towards outsiders. He would often probe others before he entered into any sort of deal with them, usually in direct meetings. However, his father’s nature had brought them great returns.

Otherwise, they would have never sought out alliances beyond their borders in the first place. Faced with mounting pressure from Chutwa, the other colored kings had decided to lay low, while his father had feared for the worst and looked for a way out of their political isolation. Without King Taoco’s decision, Wacoca and Sumaci would have never gone to Medala to seek for a marriage with one of their princes, and they never would have entered into an alliance with the southern kingdom. These incidents showed that his father might have been a cautious man, but he was no fool. If the verdant prince simply laid bare all details of Corco’s newest deal, his father was sure to accept the conditions.

Armed with a plan and a chipper attitude, Wacoca marched through the halls in the best of moods, a box of expensive rose wood in his hands to protect the precious gifts he had brought. However, soon a nagging concern burst through and laid itself onto his mind like a sudden layer of clouds on a sunny day.

From his front, from the direction of king’s court, Wacoca could hear muffled shouting, long before he could see the doors. Yet it wasn’t his father’s shouts he heard. In fact, Wacoca could not recognize the voice at all. Still, as he got closer and the ornate, green doors flanked by guards appeared in his sight, he could understand the contents of the conversation, and realized just what kind of pressure his father had been under all this time.

"King Taoco! No matter what you say, your actions have been absolutely preposterous! You cannot make decisions for all the Verdant Folk, even if you control the largest of the Isles. In the first place, why would we need to get this close to the landlubbers from across the horizon? Does the Green King plan to pull away from the Verdant Isles? None of the other Colored Kings are eager to deal with these victims. How many times have we invaded their shores? What happens when we do so again? Will you be joining the foreigners and stand against us? This is nonsense!"

Confused, Wacoca looked at the guards in front of the court room, but he only received an indifferent shrug in return. Maybe these scenes had been a regular occurrence over the last few days.

While Wacoca was still wondering what was going on, the people inside the court continued unperturbed.

"What’re you trying to say, Blue King? Are you questioning me, my loyalty to the isles?" finally he heard his father’s brash voice, almost shouting. In front of Wacoca, he had never sounded this angry. "What I’ve done, I’ve done to give everyone on the Isles a way out of our trouble! We’re surrounded on all sides, get that into your head. After the last couple raids, Chutwa put far too much pressure on us and those around us. Even Medala took action against us two years ago. Without allies, we will die, all of us! Our new alliance with the southern kingdom breaks our isolation. I’m the only one who has given us any proper chance at survival, can’t you see that?"

"We have done fine on our own for centuries, and we will continue to prosper for centuries to come, even if we do not bow down to your new masters in the east," the first voice sneered.

"What did you say!?"

Inside the room, something fell onto the floor with a loud clatter. Already, Wacoca’s free hand was on his weapon, ready to jump in at any time.

"You heard me quite well, King Taoco! The Isles do not need outsiders to meddle in their affairs, and they do not need a Green King who cannot stand up for his people. Someone like that is not fit to lead the colored fleet! Even your own children have been sent east as hostages, how could anyone confuse such an arrangement for an alliance!? As a result of your selfish actions, the colored kings have decided on an ultimatum. Either cease your contact with this new-fangled southern kingdom, or resign as Green king and make way for someone more competent."

"Whatever your nefarious goals are, snake, you won’t have any luck here, not in my court. Since you insist drowning in your own pride, more talk is pointless. All representatives can leave now, until they have calmed down and seen the world for what it really is. Although you’ve been rude, you are all still welcome as guests in my home, but you should reconsider your stances. Otherwise, we could all be doomed."

As the conversation inside was coming to a close, Wacoca used the chance to talk with one of the guards. Since the inner guardians of the Green King were always composed of famous captains from within the king’s fleet, Wacoca even knew the man’s name.

"Tayali, what is going on?" he asked.

"The colored kings have come for a visit," Tayali answered, concern in his voice.

"Which one?"

"All of them."

As dread replaced Wacoca’s previous glee, the huffing and puffing representatives of the various Isles left the court room. They all wore sashes in differently colored cloth around their waists, one color for each of the five colored kings of the Verdant Isles, minus his father. In fact, the man at the front of their formation, the one who had insulted his father all this time, was no representative at all.

No, Wacoca still remembered the tall, thin man with the blue sash and the scar around the left corner of his mouth. This was none other than Raoman Inkasu, Lord of Palanta; the current blue king himself.

*How could a king have come personally, just to insult and threaten father? Does he want an all-out war?*

In shock, Wacoca watched on as the blue king sneered and snorted in his general direction, before he left the king’s court without another word. Only moments ago, Wacoca had still been hopeful that he could strengthen their alliance with Corco. Now he was unsure if the alliance would survive the day.

__________________________

After a few more awkward moments outside the court room, Wacoca was finally called inside by his father’s aides. Despite what he had expected, his father seemed happy to see him, though his eyes looked exhausted.

"My boy, welcome home," the father said as he embraced his son, in a breach of protocol. "Sit down anywhere, make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you father." Wacoca kneeled on one of the mats in front of his father’s seat and put the box with Corco’s presents to the side for now.

"Nothing makes me happier than to smell our home’s earth and salt again." As soon as he was reminded of his return, Wacoca’s face soured. "But then on the way here, I came across several bugs who ruined my mood. What happened here?"

"Prince Wacoca!" his father scolded, "No matter what they did or didn’t do, they’re still the representatives of the colored kings, and they still deserve our respect!"

"They did not respect us either, how would they deserve our respect in turn?"

The king sighed, which made him whistle through his missing teeth.

"Not all of them disrespected us. I actually knew a while ago that the kings would send delegations to hold talks. But the visit was meant to be a friendly one at first. They just wanted to catch up and talk about the distribution of our newest spoils."

"I know what they mean by clarify. Don’t they just want a bigger share?" Wacoca huffed. "The raids on the Arcavian ships have been planned with our intelligence, and executed with our ships. We had no obligation to share the spoils of our work with anyone. We have done so only to quell any discontent from our deal with the south. Yet even though we barely gain more from the arrangement than any of them, they are still not satisfied?"

"For now they’re only probing our bottom line, which should be expected. That’s what I would do. A few of them might also think that we’re taking a larger share than we say and hiding the rest. We can’t really fault them for the prove. Since they came here, the delegates have all been reasonable too. Except one didn’t send a delegation, the blue king sent himself instead."

"That bastard," Wacoca cursed.

This time, Taoco didn’t scold his son.

"Even though he is the weakest out of all the colored kings, he was eager to take over the talks for the other delegates. He came unannounced, and since his status is higher, the others had to stand behind him as he cursed me and demanded all this nonsense. They couldn’t say anything, so his words had a lot more impact than they would on any other day. I don’t understand what gave him the courage to go against Rasacopa, just to pretend some short-lived political strength. For now though, there is no need to assume that the other colored kings have decided to work under him."

"Yet their people still stood behind him and said nothing."

"Yes, they did." The king’s face sank to match his son’s. "Which means that at least on some level, they agreed with his reasoning. With the way things are right now, things might escalate things further if we simply carry on as before. We might even get into a war between the isles. That hasn’t happened in a hundred years, and now would be the worst time for it. For now, I think we should cool down our alliance with the southern kingdom until I’ve calmed down the other colored kings."

"Father, that would damage our relationship with the south severely, maybe forever. Their king values loyalty more than anyone!"

Wacoca was shocked. Already half on his feet, he managed to control his emotions and sank back down.

"I understand, but you’ll have to appease your teacher for now, until everyone here understand the worth of our alliance. We’ve gained too much from the information on eastern trade ships. As have we from the trade goods out of their own home and the Chutwa lands. But it looks like the other kings assume they deserve all of this without putting in any work. Once they go without those boons for a while, they’ll understand what they have lost, and will treasure this alliance more. Then, we can work with the southern kingdom again. I know this must he hard for you, but this is the only way. At least for now, the alliance doesn’t provide enough benefits for us to offend all the colored kings at once."

"Father, you would not say so had you seen their capital city," Wacoca said. "Before you break off the alliance, at least you should see what treasures the King of the Southern Kingdom has sent you this time."

Reminded of his initial purpose, Wacoca pulled the wooden box from his side back onto his knees.

"A present, huh? More dye and silk?" the father indulged his son.

"Nothing so simple. Instead, this may very well be the answer to our prayers."

When Wacoca opened the box, the rare treasures inside were revealed. Encased in satin sat three strange objects built from glass, wood and brass.

"What a strange collection. What are they?" a curious king asked. In response, Wacoca took out the telescope he was already so familiar with.

"This first one is called a spyglass. It lets a man see far beyond the abilities of his eyes. A cultivator will be able to see the world along the horizon as if it was only a wave away."

"Impossible!" Taoco said, and reached for his present. He turned the object in his hands, eager to uncover its secrets. However, before he could truly try it out, his son continued with the next shock.

"The second is called an ethanol compass," he said, with the round glass object in his hand. Its four sides designated the four directions of the wind, and in the middle, a metal needle was floating on a liquid.

"Not a simple compass I assume?" the king asked with interest.

"No, it is not. This compass swims freely atop this fluid, which stabilizes it in any condition. Thus, it can be used even on a ship, even during rough seas."

"...and the third," the king asked, his voice now low and deep. At this point, the experienced captain would be keenly aware of the value these objects held for a seafaring nation like the Verdant Isles.

"The third is called a sextant," Wacoca introduced. "With the help of this tool, a skilled captain will be able to estimate his position by looking at the stars and the sun, within a few dragons of distance, even when stranded at sea."

For a while, the king just sat there and stared at the three objects before him, while Wacoca waited.

"They all work as you describe them?" Taoco asked in the end.

"Since I left to support King Corco in his war, I have used both the compass and the telescope. Their descriptions are based on my own experiences. I have not experienced the sextant, but have no reason to doubt the king’s truthfulness. King Corcopaca does not have a habit of lying."

"You understand what this present means," King Taoco asked in the same deep tone as before.

"Of course. These are secret technologies of the southern kingdom. No one but their closest allies should even know about their existence, but they have handed them to us just like this. Even more, this is an invitation that allows us to purchase these objects from Saniya in the future. This is the southern king’s present, his offer of sincerity: A way to strengthen our fleets, and prosper together with them."

"What about their cannons? You said they were much better than the Chutwa ones. They won’t sell those to us?"

"That may be a bridge too far." Wacoca smiled wryly. The other colored kings may have been greedy, but his father was no better. After all, they were pirates by nature. "However, the King of the South has also asked me to bring you an offer, one that would bring our people progress and power beyond anything we have ever had. Together with the southern kingdom, it may just be enough to withstand Chutwa’s anger, and gain true control of the Verduic Sea."

"Interesting," the king said, as his eyes narrowed into slits. "Maybe the days of diplomacy are at an end. Maybe it’s finally time for Rasacopa to be a bit selfish."