The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (115 page)

“My fine fellow citizens of The Kellaran-Triax Alliance, I proudly give you the champion of The Tournament of Governors, commander of the winning team, Kellaran’s greatest Leader; Prince Mark of Hilia!”

Mark found himself letting our a huge sigh of relief, and chuckled at himself a bit upon realizing that he’d been holding his breath from the suspense for many minutes without discomfort.

The huge room erupted in cheering and applause as every one of Mark’s family and friends who were present tried to hug him and congratulate him at once, and succeeded to one extent or another.

After about nine seconds of that Alilia laughed and loudly commanded the rest; “Enough!  Let the man claim his due before we smother him!”

They let him go, but he held onto Talia and Alilia.  “You two are coming with me.” he declared with a grin, and carried them to the center of the stage as the ovation continued all around them.

He placed a huge hand under each of his wives’ petite bottoms and held them to each side with outstretched arms as he gracefully bowed to the crowd and went to one knee in each of the four cardinal directions, and they posed proudly and prettily with perfect balance as they sat on his hands while he did so.  Finally he held them close again and gave Pakdag a respectful nod.

“Congratulations on your victory in The Tournament of Governors.” the war god told him with a grin.  “Would you care to speak about your performance?”

“I would.” Mark smiled, and turned to the audience.  He waited while Pakdag held his hands up to request silence from the crowd, and eventually they quieted to hear his speech.

“Since my marriage to Alilia, Hilia and The People of Life are formally allied.  And since Alilia generally behaves like I’m the leader in our marriage, some have said that I now rule The People of Life.  But legally that’s not the case.  I’m not the ruling Prince of The People of Life.  And though I think they trust me, and trust my vow of justice, I’m sure that they don’t want me to be their Prince.  They much prefer the present situation.

“Alilia is still their ruling Princess, they trust her long and excellent record of looking out for their interests, and they want her to continue her rule, even if she delegates all of the duties of her office.  They want her to continue looking out for their interests as her highest priority.

“They know that there’s almost no chance that our vows of justice on The Truthstone of Falgaroth will fail, and they know that there’s almost no chance that The Just Alliance will fall, but they feel secure in knowing that even if all that happens and everyone else turns against them, Alilia will still be looking out for them, still acting as a buffer between them and the rest of the world, if necessary.

“I think that’s true of everyone else too.  They all like The Just Alliance and The Kellaran-Triax Alliance, but most are glad that their nations are not ruled by either of those alliances.  They’re glad that the final word on what happens to them and to their nations still rests with their own well-known and well-trusted rulers, who are of their own race and their own nation.

“Even with our vows of justice, every one of our races and nations have been stabbed in the back too many times over our world’s long history to feel fully comfortable with giving any outsider deciding control over us.

“That’s one of three guiding principles behind my strategy in the tournament today.

“The second was that I wanted to prove the worth of the status quo.  In the scenario I was given absolute command of The Just Alliance, but I didn’t exercise it.  I continued as I’ve been doing; delegating almost all of the duties of ruling Hilia and Serminak to those with the appropriate skills for it, and offering suggestions to The Assembly of The Just Alliance in my role as Key as I saw fit.

“There were a few occasions where I took command of fighters of other nations in a relatively small section of the battle for a limited time, but almost all the time I left the present command structure and political state of Kellaran exactly as it is.  Prince Yazadril of The High People stayed on as Supreme Commander of The Militaries of The Just Alliance, and every ruler or ruling council of every nation continued to reign as they have.  I see no reason to upset the existing order on Kellaran, and I think my performance in the tournament helps prove that point.  I’m sure that our high morale and effectiveness was partially due to the fact that our nations were still independent and no political upheaval took place.

“My third guiding principle was inspired by the rules of the tournament itself.  They state that only declared team leaders could exercise overall command, and only supporting team members could provide creative advice to the leaders or have independent command of parts of the military delegated to them.  Everyone else would just follow orders as best they could.

“But the gods themselves have made it clear to me in the past that creativity is one of our most crucial resources, so I decided to make sure that my team had as much creativity as possible.

“Furthermore, I was sure that every person would be more effective and have better morale if they retained their independence.  Even the most dedicated soldier who’s completely committed to following orders wants to have the freedom to disregard orders and act independently if it becomes obvious that it’s the smartest thing to do at the time.  Sometimes the soldier on the scene knows things that aren’t obvious to his commanders, and he doesn’t have time to consult them.  He also wants to be able to make suggestions and know that his suggestions will be passed up the chain of command to the appropriate level, and given serious consideration.

“Some of you have speculated that my turn took so much longer than anyone else’s because the duration of my scenario was longer.  But it only lasted about four and a half years subjectively, which I’d guess was about average.

“Since the tournament ended, everyone here has remembered that you were on my team.  But what you here may not realize is that everyone else on Kellaran was also on my team.    I asked the gods to make absolutely everyone in the whole world a supporting member of my team, and they had to run my scenario with all twelve billion or so of us actively participating.  That’s why my turn took so long in real time.

“That’s why I won, more than anything else.

“And that’s how things will be run in real life from now on.  It’s actually how things are run already, but I want everyone to be aware of it.

“Every one of you, of every race and every nation, is an independent thinker with intelligence and creativity that you can contribute to our cause.  Every suggestion that you make will be passed up the chain of command to the people who are responsible for whatever you’re suggesting about, and given serious consideration.  None of you are slaves to your commanders or your orders, and none of you will be disciplined for disobeying any order if you can give a reasonable justification for doing so.

“You are
all
on my team.  More truthfully, you are all on
our
team.

“There are no losers here today, because absolutely all of you, including every one of the other contestants, can truthfully say that you were an active member of the team that won The Tournament of Governors!

“And most important of all, you are all part of the team that will defeat the
real
demons, and bring an age of paradise to Kellaran!”

The crowd had spontaneously started to cheer about thirty seconds before he was finished, and by the time he spoke the last word they were so loud that they only heard what he was saying because he willed it to be so, and insured it with his new god-power with almost no conscious consideration.

“Damn, that was the best speech
ever!
” Talia laughed as she hugged his neck.

The crowd went wild and roared with almost manic enthusiasm.

They were so exuberant that Pakdag didn’t bother with speaking over them.  He simply grinned and held his hand high, and an ornate oval plaque of gold on pure white ivory about thirty centimeters high appeared in it.  The great Revealing above magnified it so much that all could read the words that were engraved on it, declaring Mark the winner of The Tournament of Governors, and listing the specifics of his achievement.

The crowd roared even louder as they read it, then even louder yet as Pakdag handed it to Mark, who set Talia on his shoulder to free a hand and then waved the plaque overhead as he yelled out his victory with wordless joy.

The delirious ovation went on for a minute or so, until Mark laughed and spoke over them.  “Well, since I won the tournament without changing the leadership of Kellaran, I guess the Assembly doesn’t need to meet to discuss it.  We’re due for some lunch, so thank you, to all of you, and we’ll…”

“We disagree.” Grakonexikaldoron pleasantly stated as she, Somonik, Tithian, and Senchak appeared on the stage, all of them grinning.  “All the members of The Assembly of The Just Alliance are present, and we declare that this meeting of The Assembly is now in session.

“Let the record show that Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth; Ranger of Finitra, Knight of The High People, Prince of Hilia, Lord of Serminak, Key to The Just Alliance, and key to the imminent nexus of Kellaran, has won The Tournament of Governors!  His is the best leadership we have available.  We now propose that he be elevated to the position of Ruling Governor of The Just Alliance until such time as the demons have been defeated.”

“Now just a minute…!” Mark protested, but Somonik just over-rode him.

“Let the record show that one is against the proposal, being Mark, seven have abstained from declaring an opinion, and the rest are in favor.  The proposal has passed.” The white dragon god happily declared.

“Now just hold on here!” Mark growled as he set his wives down.  “I mean, what the hell are you doing?!  I just proved that we’re all better off with independent nations!”

“True, but that’s irrelevant.” Grakonexikaldoron dismissively stated, still grinning.  “In your scenario, all of the crucial elements were your doing.  Immediate remediation of destroyed wilderness and poisoned water was your suggestion, and you debated masterfully in order to convince The Assembly to allocate the resources.  The same is true of the overall battle-strategy; waiting until the demons were preparing to deploy, then attacking with every resource.  It was almost entirely your doing.  The speeches you made were crucial to maintaining morale and informing the populous of the state of things, and the people followed you, specifically you, Mark, regardless of whether or not you had any legal political authority over them.

“The same situation exists on Kellaran today.

“Your insistence that you don’t lead Kellaran and that your brilliant wisdom is simply common sense are very humble and noble and charming, and we don’t want you to change in any way.  But at the same time, you’re not fooling anyone.  You already lead Kellaran, and this is just a formality and a token of our appreciation.

“Now, you need a token of office.  I know you won’t want anything too ostentatious, so I’ve made up this ring, and I think it’s rather nice.  You’ll notice it has the symbol of The Just Alliance on it.  And since I think you might be reluctant to wear it, I’ll just put it on you myself.”

With a move a quick as thought, she reached out and slipped it onto his right middle finger.

“I won’t wear it, and I’m not accepting the position.” Mark bluntly stated as he tried to take the ring off.

“You can’t take it off, since myself and at least fifty other new gods want you to keep it on.” she chuckled.  “In order to remove it, you’d need to develop or recruit more will or more power than we have, and frankly, you won’t be able to find enough to help you.

“Furthermore, the proposal has already passed, so you can’t refuse it.  We refuse your refusal.”

“Then I’m abdicating!” he yelled, starting to lose his temper as he failed to remove the ring.  “And let me take this damn thing off!  It’s a crime to force me to wear it!”

 “Is the ring uncomfortable or inhibiting of your movement in any way?” she pleasantly asked. 

“Well, no, it’s perfectly comfortable, but…”

“Then it’s not unjust to force you to wear the insignia of the rank that you so obviously deserve.” she patiently insisted.  “As Falgaroth, who now guides all our morality, would agree.  Right Falgaroth?”

“Right.”
Falgaroth agreed with a whinnying laugh as he momentarily appeared on stage, then vanished again.

“There, you see?” Gran continued.  “And we refuse your abdication.”

“Let the record show that all except Mark are in favor of refusing his abdication!” Somonik laughed.  “No abstentions, one against!”

“Now hold on!” Mark said as he momentarily gave up on removing the ring.  “Before you said that seven had abstained, and now you’re saying that no one else voted against refusing my abdication!  Show me one person who abstained and then changed his mind!”

Gvetwa, first god of the Sylvan, appeared on stage wearing his cockiest grin and his most arrogant stance.  “I changed my mind, and so did Amirgath.”

“Well by all that’s sane,
why?!!”
Mark demanded, trying hard to not lose his temper completely.

“We abstained because we didn’t see any point to it, really.” Gvetwa informed him.  “And we changed our minds because it’s so much fun watching you squirm about it.”

Then he vanished.

“Damn it, this is ridiculous!” Mark yelled.

“Yes it is, deliciously and wonderfully so.”
Tithian agreed with laughter in her mind and a toss of her mane.

Mark took a deep breath and conquered his anger, but still spoke with great determination.  “Look.  This is absolutely futile, because it’s not going to make any difference at all.  I don’t care if you declare me emperor of all of reality, I’m still not going to do one single damn thing any different than I would have otherwise!”

“Exactly.” The gold dragon goddess giggled.  “We wouldn’t have it any other way.  You won’t do anything as Governor until you really have to, and then you will.  That’s why we love you, you know.  Part of it anyway.”