The Reign of Trojden the Holy, Part 4: The Monster
A bit of me has died inside. The keystone which once held the arch of my spirit. It is crumbling now. All the illusions of me being a kind man. A good person.
Perhaps now, so close to the end of my life, I understand my father's decision to let the Catholic Priest into his life. He had lost a son, and was old and wavering: he needed a story that gave him hope for an easy, restful afterlife, a place where meek and mild men live for an eternity of comfort.
He was a good man. Perhaps he would be accepted into Christ's heaven. But I cannot. I could not before, and I could not now. I can be no more damned than I already am.
Now all I can do is give up everything to secure my son in his position.
My dog Veles is dead. That beast did not know my crimes, but now even he is gone. I am grief-stricken, and give him a proper funeral. It feels like it's even better than the one my son got. I am nauseated.
But the nausea passes. My purpose once again is clear.
I can be no more damned.
Siemowit of Plock. The man who has been the axis around which so much of the misfortune in my life has rotated. I have him arrested without cause, but he escapes. It was already widely thought that I was not a kind man. Now it is also common knowledge that I am not a just man either.
Then, one of my younger concubines gives birth to a son, Karol. I cannot go through what I did to Odon again. Not again.
Then Geralt the Drunkard again. I had revoked his titles and allowed him to go free some time ago, but his hatred for me has not wavered in the slightest.
A thousand men muster in Gniezno, where Geralt's forces already stand. They are slaughtered to the last man. I know that I should feel grief and fury... but I am at this point utterly inured to such emotions. Only the knowledge that my family lies besieged in the capital pushes me onwards into the battle.
Once again, we go through the motions. I defeat the armies of my brother, and am on the brink of victory once again.
There will be no victorious execution. The scythe of natural death spares me from killing yet another blood relative.
Siemowit of Plock, meanwhile, is captured at last. My own human White Stag.
Another illness fails to kill me.
It's well understood that all specimens of the House Neski have spectacularly strong constitutions. Right dear? Dear?
...
...
Why.
I am in a stupor. Why could we have not died together? Later? When my work is done? None can rouse me from grief and contemplation until word reaches me of yet another adventurer.
It is all old to me now. It's all a sick game. He'll die. Doesn't he know? Just turn away, for death befalls all those who approach me. Like this Orthodox rebel, for instance.
Dead. It has stopped having any meaning to me. Besides, why both trying to take the crown of a King?
For I am now an Emperor of Men. I am Trojden the Holy, son of Tomaz the Cruel, son of Geralt, King of Poland, Lithuania, Kiev and Pomerania.
I wish I were dead. Yet I still have work to do. The faith remains disunited. I expect my end to come each day... but still I linger. Perhaps this is some sort of cruel divine punishment for my crimes.
I have given almost all of my lands and titles to my son. The electors would be fools to not choose him to be my heir, for anyone else would find themselves instantly overwhelmed by his vast holdings. I remain at the frontiers, still campaigning, after all of these years. Novgorod in Garðariki, and Birlad in Bulgaria are both so close.
In one of my visits to Gniezno, I steel myself. After a long hesitation, I descend into the prison. The wrecks of people are here. Men and women who once had lives. I walk steadily to one cell. Within it is Siemowit. He is sitting placidly on his plank. He has noticed my presence, and speaks a prayer. Perhaps it is to spite me. Or perhaps it is in spite of me.
I nod to my executioner.
I can be no more damned. Siemowit dies a martyr.
But still, I have two tasks to complete! The electors, spiteful idiots as they are, continue to support my nephew's deformed, hunchbacked chatterbox of a son, Miloz.
I make several attempts to arrest him- a dead man cannot be king. They all fail, but the electors switch their votes to my firstborn instead. I am already hated by all but my son. Their loathing can grow no more intense. They are simply waiting for their monstrous, geriatric beast of a king to die.
So am I.
But still I linger.
My youngest daughter, Wojslawa presents me her bastard son. I am touched beyond words that she has not joined the rest of the Empire in shunning me. I promise that she will be cared for. A small act of good. I know it's not enough to balance out a lifetime of evil.
At long last, after four twenties and more years on the earth, I feel my time is come. My son shall be Emperor. He has a beautiful wife, and is secure in his rule. I have done little to build upon my father's hall in Gniezno. Maybe he will continue, and build our villages into the great cities.
But that's... immaterial. Trojden.
Trojden...
...my son...
...finish...
...my work...
...re...form...
...
our faith...