rabidveggie
King
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2007
- Messages
- 697
Probably left cause he got sick of our whining.
Princes of the Universe, Part I
- Thread starter Sisiutil
- Start date
- Status
aronnax
Let your spirit be free
Probably left cause he got sick of our whining.
But they are so juicy and good of imagination. Its like biting into a Zinger Burger! You can't blame us for contiunious inane never ending whine for his stories. Little Miracles on paper saved in his hard drive.
rabidveggie
King
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2007
- Messages
- 697
Ya I don't think he's coming back.
biggamer132
King
I guess he's busy with the ALCs. Maybe it's time to lay Princes down to rest.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Ya I don't think he's coming back.
Oh ye of little faith. I finally found the gumption sto work on the next chapter. Here's my dirty little secret: things were quiet at work earlier this year, so I did a lot of writing there. Well, things got a lot busier, so I have to find other times to write, and that's not always easy. But I think I'm getting back on track. I hope to get more story up in a day or two.
aronnax
Let your spirit be free
I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you ........
for almost updating
for almost updating
Izipo
Hardcore casual gamer
Yeah, awesome !
I was nearly about to post something in the ALC to remind you that we were getting rabid here...
Thank you my lord, we await our pleasure at your discretion.
I was nearly about to post something in the ALC to remind you that we were getting rabid here...
Thank you my lord, we await our pleasure at your discretion.
demokratickid
King
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Messages
- 753
Its A Miracle!!! Sisiutils Back!!! I Belive!!! Gimmie The Keg!!! An Update Soon!!! Oo-rah!!! 
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Chapter Twelve: The Merchant
Part 4: The Incident at Argos
Yet again, Hanno and his party found themselves delayed at a border. Unlike the prevailing boredom of the Greek guards they'd encountered at the border with Mongolia, however, the situation at the northern border was decidedly more tense. Greece and England, after all, were at war. In reality, the fighting had ground down to a rigid stalemate, with neither side willing to give an inch of ground--not literally nor metaphorically.
Thus, Hanno and Yukio, along with their companions, camels, and goods, found themselves stranded on the Greek side of the border at the small border town of Argos for several days that threatened to drag on into weeks. Or worse. The Greek border guards regarded them with considerable hostility. Hanno politely but persistently hectored the garrison commander, who kept shrugging his shoulders and asserting that he required official word from Athens. Had the commander sent an inquiry to Athens? No, that would be overstepping the bounds of his orders and current assignment. So had he sent an inquiry to Athens to find out if he had permission to send an inquiry to Athens? At that point the commander had laughed and pointed out that Hanno's logic was eating itself.
Aside from the daily explorations of military inefficiency and argumentation theory, time passed without incident. Hanno and his wife took advantage of the time to tour both the silk and the incense plantations near the town. The Greek owners of each plantation agreed that they’d be overjoyed to do business with Rome—if Athens would agree to it, of course. Aside from those pleasant interludes, however, time dragged on, and the suspicious glares of the soldiers were wearing on Hanno and his party.
"Come to Greece, see the sights, you told me," Yukio chided her husband one night after another dull day spent waiting for the garrison commander to decide what, if anything, to do about these unwelcome travellers that had so inconveniently arrived on his doorstep.
"We saw Athens," Hanno replied, an uncharacteristic note of churlishness stealing into his voice.
"And now all I'm seeing is the inside of a tent," she said, waving upwards at the sloping fabric roof of their meagre accommodations. "When are you going to let me out of here?"
"I don't like the way the soldiers looked at you. I don't think they've seen a woman in months," Hanno replied quietly.
"I know," Yukio said, "but that's not an answer. Besides, maybe I can help with this impasse we've reached."
"How so?"
"Bring me along tomorrow when you meet with the commander," she suggested. "You can appeal to his sense of gallantry. 'My poor little wife is a virtual prisoner, locked away in our tent, lest her feminine whiles inadvertently entice your otherwise-honourable soldiers into forgetting their discipline...' I promise to bat my eyelashes and look forlorn."
Hanno chuckled softly. "How exactly does one lock a tent?"
"I'm sure if there was a way, you'd figure it out," Yukio teased him. "Come on, it's worth a try. Nothing else has worked."
"I'll think about it," Hanno said, then turned over on his side and soon fell asleep.
***
The next morning, after breakfast, Hanno had shrugged and decided that Yukio's idea was worth a try. So he had her put on her most plain and demure dress, braved the stares of the garrison's soldiers, and paid a visit to the office of the garrison's commander. When he got there, however, the commander was not around.
"Where is Captain Stamos?" Hanno asked the tall, powerfully-built Greek soldier sitting at Stamos' desk.
"Is out..," the soldier replied, then his dark, heavy brows furrowed as he obviously struggled to come up with the correct Latin word. "Ins... Inspec..."
"Inspection?" Hanno suggested.
The soldier smiled and nodded. "Inspection! Yes. He go see... um... front. Back later."
"I see," Hanno said. "Well, we won't trouble you any longer." He glanced over his shoulder at the door. A few more soldiers, he noted, had gathered there and were watching them intently. Instinctively, Hanno placed one arm over his wife's slender shoulders, possessively and protectively. Bringing her to see the commander suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.
"Is no problem," the soldier said affably. "I am Ephialtes. Am... how you say... second in command. Maybe I help?"
"Thank you, but I'd prefer to deal with Captain Stamos," Hanno said. He turned to go, leading Yukio towards the door, but his way was blocked by the soldiers, who refused to stand aside.
"Captain Stamos no help you," Ephialtes said from behind him. "I help you. I help you for price, yes?"
With four strong-bodied soldiers blocking his way, Hanno had little choice. Besides, dealing with someone's 'price' was his bread and butter. It might not be legitimate, but perhaps this rough-looking soldier could help him after all. Hanno turned around to look at Ephialtes while doing his best to ignore the way he could feel his wife's slender body was trembling.
"A price, eh?" Hanno said, allowing a slight smile to play upon his lips. "And what, pray tell, might that be? Some of the wine, perhaps, that we carry? Some of the preserved meat?"
"Is nice," Ephialtes said with a nod. "Army food... puagh," he said, a look of disgust stealing across his dark, rough features.
Then his gaze stole over to Yukio and slowly wandered over her body. In spite of the long dress and robe she was wearing, Yukio suddenly felt naked. She felt her husband's arm squeezing her shoulders more tightly, protectively, and tried to forget about the four soldiers standing, threateningly, in the doorway behind them. This had been her idea, coming here today, and she now thoroughly regretted it.
"Your wife... very pretty," Ephialtes said, his voice low and coarse. He looked over Hanno's shoulders at his comrades and said something in Greek that Hanno did not understand, but from the snickering laughter that sounded behind him, he could well imagine what the dark-featured Greek had said.
"My wife," Hanno said emphatically, his fists clenching at his sides, "is not subject to negotiation." He placed one arm protectively around Yukio's shoulders. He could feel her trembling, though he also knew his brave girl was doing her best to hide it. "Leave her out of this. Do I make myself clear?"
Ephialtes shrugged and smiled, though his affable expression did nothing to mollify Hanno. For a tense moment, no one said a word. Then Ephialtes glanced past Hanno and Yukio at his men and gave them a quick, curt nod.
Afterwards, Hanno would reflect with amazement at how such large men could move so quickly. Before he even knew what was happening, two of the soldiers had grabbed Yukio while another pair took hold of him and wrenched the couple apart. As Hanno watched in growing horror, the men holding his wife dragged her over to the commander's desk. She yelled and struggled, but she was easily overpowered. Ephialtes strolled around the desk, casually unbuckling his belt.
"NO!" Hanno yelled. "Stop! Let her GO!" He struggled with all his strength to free his arms from the vice-like hold of the two soldiers who had accosted him, but they were too strong. "We are citizens..."
Hanno's declaration--his desperate plea--was suddenly cut off as one of the soldiers holding him, apparently grown tired of his struggles and shouts, unceremoniously and brutally punched him in the gut, leaving the well-dressed merchant bent over and struggling to breathe. Hanno could feel tears forming in his eyes, from the pain, from the humiliation, from the horror of hearing his beloved wife's screams, the soldiers' coarse laughter, the sound of tearing fabric...
Then there was another sound. Another voice. A familiar one, coming from the doorway. A man's voice, loud, shouting, no, bellowing in angry Greek. Hanno managed to lift his head and look up. There in the doorway stood the short, fat Greek merchant Zorba, his bearded face a livid red. Hanno nearly burst into bitter laughter at the sight, certain that the huge, burly soldiers would turn on his rotund new friend and tear him to shreds.
To his everlasting astonishment, nothing of the kind occurred. Still gasping down breaths, Hanno slowly managed to straighten and watched in amazement as the soldiers stood frozen as their diminutive countryman continued to yell at them. In a heartbeat, Zorba strode across the room and pushed the three men away from the weeping Yukio, pausing to reach up--the action required him to stand on tip-toes--and smack each of them on the side of the head. He then tenderly pushed Yukio's torn dress back over her bared breasts. He then gently took her arm and led her back to her husband.
If everyone in the room thought the storm had passed, they were mistaken. Once Yukio was back in the arms of her husband, Zorba turned and continued his diatribe, shaking his finger at each of the soldiers in turn, yelling at the top of his lungs. And, Hanno gradually realized, much to his shock and amazement, they were terrified of him. They were actually turning white and trembling. The soldier who'd punched Hanno actually appeared to be on the verge of tears!
Just then, Captain Stamos, a tall dark-featured man with greying temples, walked into his office and barked out a quick question, which Hanno surmised was something to the effect of, "What the hell is going on in here?". Then the Captain spotted Zorba, who was striding angrily towards him, and he, too, appeared suddenly shaken to the core by the little merchant's formidable anger. As Hanno and Yukio watched, the Greek army captain took on the appearance of an apologetic school boy, alternately nodding or shaking his head as Zorba's verbal diatribe continued, his angry words punctuated by angry glares and accusatory gestures at the five increasingly-anxious soldiers.
Finally, Zorba stopped speaking; he crossed his arms over his barrel-like chest and glared at Captain Stamos expectantly. The Captain blinked twice, then turned, leaned his head out his office, and bellowed. A few moments later, another dozen soldiers appeared and marched into the room; as Captain Stamos directed them, they took hold of the five men who had attacked Hanno and his wife and escorted them out of the room.
"Please, I apologize for this... trouble," Captain Stamos said to Hanno and Yukio in broken Latin once they were alone in the office. Alone save for Zorba, who was glaring at the Captain's broad back looking for all the world like an angry parent watching a recalcitrant child apologize to a neighbour. "Is Greek tradition... we treat guests well, yes? Those men... they shame their uniform. Shame their country. We punish them, I promise." When he finished, he turned to glance at Zorba, as if checking for approval. Zorba, still looking stern, nodded once.
Hanno could feel Yukio's arms tight around his torso and felt her body shaking against his own. He could feel his face flushing with his own anger and did his best to stifle it. "I think it would be best for all concerned," he said, one hand massaging his sore abdomen, "if my party and I were allowed on our way to England. Don't you agree, Zorba?"
"Yes," Zorba said. "You make them wait too long already. Zorba not happy. If Zorba not happy, Alexander not happy. If Alexander not happy, Captain Stamos very unhappy."
Hanno watched as Stamos swallowed hard and nodded. "We escort you to border right away. Be ready... 2 hour. Must notify English first," he hastened to add when the implication of a further delay made Zorba's dark brows rise.
"I go with my friends," Zorba said, and Captain Stamos continued to nod agreeably as Zorba gestured for Hanno and his wife to follow him out of the office.
"I as so grateful you showed up when you did," Hanno told his Greek counterpart as they walked out of the command building and back to their billets.
"Me too," Yukio added, and Zorba smiled at her sadly, reached out, and gave her hand a little squeeze.
"Zorba should never have left you. Soldiers. Scum!" he said, then spat disgustedly, glaring at the other armoured men wandering around the base.
"You put the fear of God into them," Hanno said with no small amount of admiration. "Or was that the fear of Alexander?"
"Alexander?" Zorba said. "No no no. There worse things than Alexander." Hanno and Yukio waited expectantly. "I tell them... no more wine!"
Hanno couldn't help himself. The emotions of what he and his wife had been through suddenly caught up with him, and he began to laugh loudly even as tears of horror and relief coursed down his cheeks. The whole time, as Zorba watched with puzzlement but not without compassion, Hanno never released Yukio from his embrace, a situation which his wife did not object to in the least.
***
Within two hours, as promised, Hanno, Yukio, their travelling companions and their caravan were once again on their way, travelling out of the Greek army base and across a wind-swept plain towards England's southernmost border. The company flew white flags of non-aggression next to each purple Roman standard. The camels bellowed their objections, but were soon underway. Zorba accompanied them.
"No think about stupid soldiers when you think of Hellas, please," he begged Hanno and especially Yukio as they walked.
"When I think of Greece... sorry, Hellas..., I will do my best to think of you," Yukio said, placing a hand affectionately upon the little Merchant's shoulder. "I will think of our friend, and my hero, Zorba." With that, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
Hanno watched as Zorba turned beet-red, then the little man's spine straightened and he seemed to grow in stature. He started to swing his arms and march down the road, as proud as any victorious shoulder.
Yukio watched him, smiling and laughing softly, as she fell back in pace with her husband.
"You're holding up well," he remarked to her quietly. "Considering..."
"We can't let such things hold us back," she replied. Her voice hardened. "If we do, the bastards win."
"It meant the world to him, to hear you call him a hero," Hanno said, watching Zorba strutting ahead of them.
"Well, he was."
"Because I couldn't be..." Hanno said, both his voice and his gaze lowering. He felt Yukio's dark eyes upon him, then felt her hand slide into his.
"If I'd wanted to be with a man of action, I would have married a soldier," she said. "I didn't. I married you. I love you for exactly who you are. I don't expect you to become something you're not."
"The fact that you have to comfort me... fills me with shame," Hanno said, his voice rough with emotion.
"We have nothing to be ashamed of," Yukio told him. "Leave that to the fellators who attacked us."
Hanno looked at his wife, his eyes wide. He'd never heard her use such rough language before. Obviously the incident had affected her, yet when her dark eyes looked back into his, he could see steel there. He had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. He'd seen that same inner strength, he realized, in many of the Japanese he'd dealt with over the years. And he wondered, surprisingly for the first time, if a conquered people could every really be considered conquered.
"Still, it might be wise if we start taking precautions," Yukio said, turning her eyes from her husband to gaze back down the road. "I have a couple of family heirlooms in one of my trunks. Two swords, a long katana and a shorter wakizashi. Only a handful were ever made, just before Kyoto fell to Rome. They're both sharp as razors--sharper, perhaps. Maybe I should carry the wakizashi, and you should carry the katana." She turned and smiled at him, her dark eyes glancing at his expensive silk robe. "I bet you'd look very dashing with an exotic sword on your hip."
"If ever drew the thing out of its scabbard, I'd probably cut my own damn fool head off!" Hanno remarked.
"I'll teach you how to use it," Yukio said, then smiled as her husband's expression changed to one of dubious surprise. "My grandfather was a very accomplished swordsman. Since he had no grandsons, he taught everything he knew to me."
Hanno smiled. What had she said to him on the trip over? That he always made her feel better? Well, she did the same in return for him. For the first time since that most unpleasant incident earlier that day, Hanno began to relax and to feel some of his customary confidence returning. Mongolia and Greece were behind him; ahead lay England, Rome's traditional friend and ally. He knew he could count upon a warm welcome in London; what he hoped for, however, was an even hotter price for his goods. For despite his affection for his friend Zorba, Hanno had no desire to return from whence he had come.
Part 4: The Incident at Argos
Yet again, Hanno and his party found themselves delayed at a border. Unlike the prevailing boredom of the Greek guards they'd encountered at the border with Mongolia, however, the situation at the northern border was decidedly more tense. Greece and England, after all, were at war. In reality, the fighting had ground down to a rigid stalemate, with neither side willing to give an inch of ground--not literally nor metaphorically.
Thus, Hanno and Yukio, along with their companions, camels, and goods, found themselves stranded on the Greek side of the border at the small border town of Argos for several days that threatened to drag on into weeks. Or worse. The Greek border guards regarded them with considerable hostility. Hanno politely but persistently hectored the garrison commander, who kept shrugging his shoulders and asserting that he required official word from Athens. Had the commander sent an inquiry to Athens? No, that would be overstepping the bounds of his orders and current assignment. So had he sent an inquiry to Athens to find out if he had permission to send an inquiry to Athens? At that point the commander had laughed and pointed out that Hanno's logic was eating itself.
Aside from the daily explorations of military inefficiency and argumentation theory, time passed without incident. Hanno and his wife took advantage of the time to tour both the silk and the incense plantations near the town. The Greek owners of each plantation agreed that they’d be overjoyed to do business with Rome—if Athens would agree to it, of course. Aside from those pleasant interludes, however, time dragged on, and the suspicious glares of the soldiers were wearing on Hanno and his party.
"Come to Greece, see the sights, you told me," Yukio chided her husband one night after another dull day spent waiting for the garrison commander to decide what, if anything, to do about these unwelcome travellers that had so inconveniently arrived on his doorstep.
"We saw Athens," Hanno replied, an uncharacteristic note of churlishness stealing into his voice.
"And now all I'm seeing is the inside of a tent," she said, waving upwards at the sloping fabric roof of their meagre accommodations. "When are you going to let me out of here?"
"I don't like the way the soldiers looked at you. I don't think they've seen a woman in months," Hanno replied quietly.
"I know," Yukio said, "but that's not an answer. Besides, maybe I can help with this impasse we've reached."
"How so?"
"Bring me along tomorrow when you meet with the commander," she suggested. "You can appeal to his sense of gallantry. 'My poor little wife is a virtual prisoner, locked away in our tent, lest her feminine whiles inadvertently entice your otherwise-honourable soldiers into forgetting their discipline...' I promise to bat my eyelashes and look forlorn."
Hanno chuckled softly. "How exactly does one lock a tent?"
"I'm sure if there was a way, you'd figure it out," Yukio teased him. "Come on, it's worth a try. Nothing else has worked."
"I'll think about it," Hanno said, then turned over on his side and soon fell asleep.
***
The next morning, after breakfast, Hanno had shrugged and decided that Yukio's idea was worth a try. So he had her put on her most plain and demure dress, braved the stares of the garrison's soldiers, and paid a visit to the office of the garrison's commander. When he got there, however, the commander was not around.
"Where is Captain Stamos?" Hanno asked the tall, powerfully-built Greek soldier sitting at Stamos' desk.
"Is out..," the soldier replied, then his dark, heavy brows furrowed as he obviously struggled to come up with the correct Latin word. "Ins... Inspec..."
"Inspection?" Hanno suggested.
The soldier smiled and nodded. "Inspection! Yes. He go see... um... front. Back later."
"I see," Hanno said. "Well, we won't trouble you any longer." He glanced over his shoulder at the door. A few more soldiers, he noted, had gathered there and were watching them intently. Instinctively, Hanno placed one arm over his wife's slender shoulders, possessively and protectively. Bringing her to see the commander suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.
"Is no problem," the soldier said affably. "I am Ephialtes. Am... how you say... second in command. Maybe I help?"
"Thank you, but I'd prefer to deal with Captain Stamos," Hanno said. He turned to go, leading Yukio towards the door, but his way was blocked by the soldiers, who refused to stand aside.
"Captain Stamos no help you," Ephialtes said from behind him. "I help you. I help you for price, yes?"
With four strong-bodied soldiers blocking his way, Hanno had little choice. Besides, dealing with someone's 'price' was his bread and butter. It might not be legitimate, but perhaps this rough-looking soldier could help him after all. Hanno turned around to look at Ephialtes while doing his best to ignore the way he could feel his wife's slender body was trembling.
"A price, eh?" Hanno said, allowing a slight smile to play upon his lips. "And what, pray tell, might that be? Some of the wine, perhaps, that we carry? Some of the preserved meat?"
"Is nice," Ephialtes said with a nod. "Army food... puagh," he said, a look of disgust stealing across his dark, rough features.
Then his gaze stole over to Yukio and slowly wandered over her body. In spite of the long dress and robe she was wearing, Yukio suddenly felt naked. She felt her husband's arm squeezing her shoulders more tightly, protectively, and tried to forget about the four soldiers standing, threateningly, in the doorway behind them. This had been her idea, coming here today, and she now thoroughly regretted it.
"Your wife... very pretty," Ephialtes said, his voice low and coarse. He looked over Hanno's shoulders at his comrades and said something in Greek that Hanno did not understand, but from the snickering laughter that sounded behind him, he could well imagine what the dark-featured Greek had said.
"My wife," Hanno said emphatically, his fists clenching at his sides, "is not subject to negotiation." He placed one arm protectively around Yukio's shoulders. He could feel her trembling, though he also knew his brave girl was doing her best to hide it. "Leave her out of this. Do I make myself clear?"
Ephialtes shrugged and smiled, though his affable expression did nothing to mollify Hanno. For a tense moment, no one said a word. Then Ephialtes glanced past Hanno and Yukio at his men and gave them a quick, curt nod.
Afterwards, Hanno would reflect with amazement at how such large men could move so quickly. Before he even knew what was happening, two of the soldiers had grabbed Yukio while another pair took hold of him and wrenched the couple apart. As Hanno watched in growing horror, the men holding his wife dragged her over to the commander's desk. She yelled and struggled, but she was easily overpowered. Ephialtes strolled around the desk, casually unbuckling his belt.
"NO!" Hanno yelled. "Stop! Let her GO!" He struggled with all his strength to free his arms from the vice-like hold of the two soldiers who had accosted him, but they were too strong. "We are citizens..."
Hanno's declaration--his desperate plea--was suddenly cut off as one of the soldiers holding him, apparently grown tired of his struggles and shouts, unceremoniously and brutally punched him in the gut, leaving the well-dressed merchant bent over and struggling to breathe. Hanno could feel tears forming in his eyes, from the pain, from the humiliation, from the horror of hearing his beloved wife's screams, the soldiers' coarse laughter, the sound of tearing fabric...
Then there was another sound. Another voice. A familiar one, coming from the doorway. A man's voice, loud, shouting, no, bellowing in angry Greek. Hanno managed to lift his head and look up. There in the doorway stood the short, fat Greek merchant Zorba, his bearded face a livid red. Hanno nearly burst into bitter laughter at the sight, certain that the huge, burly soldiers would turn on his rotund new friend and tear him to shreds.
To his everlasting astonishment, nothing of the kind occurred. Still gasping down breaths, Hanno slowly managed to straighten and watched in amazement as the soldiers stood frozen as their diminutive countryman continued to yell at them. In a heartbeat, Zorba strode across the room and pushed the three men away from the weeping Yukio, pausing to reach up--the action required him to stand on tip-toes--and smack each of them on the side of the head. He then tenderly pushed Yukio's torn dress back over her bared breasts. He then gently took her arm and led her back to her husband.
If everyone in the room thought the storm had passed, they were mistaken. Once Yukio was back in the arms of her husband, Zorba turned and continued his diatribe, shaking his finger at each of the soldiers in turn, yelling at the top of his lungs. And, Hanno gradually realized, much to his shock and amazement, they were terrified of him. They were actually turning white and trembling. The soldier who'd punched Hanno actually appeared to be on the verge of tears!
Just then, Captain Stamos, a tall dark-featured man with greying temples, walked into his office and barked out a quick question, which Hanno surmised was something to the effect of, "What the hell is going on in here?". Then the Captain spotted Zorba, who was striding angrily towards him, and he, too, appeared suddenly shaken to the core by the little merchant's formidable anger. As Hanno and Yukio watched, the Greek army captain took on the appearance of an apologetic school boy, alternately nodding or shaking his head as Zorba's verbal diatribe continued, his angry words punctuated by angry glares and accusatory gestures at the five increasingly-anxious soldiers.
Finally, Zorba stopped speaking; he crossed his arms over his barrel-like chest and glared at Captain Stamos expectantly. The Captain blinked twice, then turned, leaned his head out his office, and bellowed. A few moments later, another dozen soldiers appeared and marched into the room; as Captain Stamos directed them, they took hold of the five men who had attacked Hanno and his wife and escorted them out of the room.
"Please, I apologize for this... trouble," Captain Stamos said to Hanno and Yukio in broken Latin once they were alone in the office. Alone save for Zorba, who was glaring at the Captain's broad back looking for all the world like an angry parent watching a recalcitrant child apologize to a neighbour. "Is Greek tradition... we treat guests well, yes? Those men... they shame their uniform. Shame their country. We punish them, I promise." When he finished, he turned to glance at Zorba, as if checking for approval. Zorba, still looking stern, nodded once.
Hanno could feel Yukio's arms tight around his torso and felt her body shaking against his own. He could feel his face flushing with his own anger and did his best to stifle it. "I think it would be best for all concerned," he said, one hand massaging his sore abdomen, "if my party and I were allowed on our way to England. Don't you agree, Zorba?"
"Yes," Zorba said. "You make them wait too long already. Zorba not happy. If Zorba not happy, Alexander not happy. If Alexander not happy, Captain Stamos very unhappy."
Hanno watched as Stamos swallowed hard and nodded. "We escort you to border right away. Be ready... 2 hour. Must notify English first," he hastened to add when the implication of a further delay made Zorba's dark brows rise.
"I go with my friends," Zorba said, and Captain Stamos continued to nod agreeably as Zorba gestured for Hanno and his wife to follow him out of the office.
"I as so grateful you showed up when you did," Hanno told his Greek counterpart as they walked out of the command building and back to their billets.
"Me too," Yukio added, and Zorba smiled at her sadly, reached out, and gave her hand a little squeeze.
"Zorba should never have left you. Soldiers. Scum!" he said, then spat disgustedly, glaring at the other armoured men wandering around the base.
"You put the fear of God into them," Hanno said with no small amount of admiration. "Or was that the fear of Alexander?"
"Alexander?" Zorba said. "No no no. There worse things than Alexander." Hanno and Yukio waited expectantly. "I tell them... no more wine!"
Hanno couldn't help himself. The emotions of what he and his wife had been through suddenly caught up with him, and he began to laugh loudly even as tears of horror and relief coursed down his cheeks. The whole time, as Zorba watched with puzzlement but not without compassion, Hanno never released Yukio from his embrace, a situation which his wife did not object to in the least.
***
Within two hours, as promised, Hanno, Yukio, their travelling companions and their caravan were once again on their way, travelling out of the Greek army base and across a wind-swept plain towards England's southernmost border. The company flew white flags of non-aggression next to each purple Roman standard. The camels bellowed their objections, but were soon underway. Zorba accompanied them.
"No think about stupid soldiers when you think of Hellas, please," he begged Hanno and especially Yukio as they walked.
"When I think of Greece... sorry, Hellas..., I will do my best to think of you," Yukio said, placing a hand affectionately upon the little Merchant's shoulder. "I will think of our friend, and my hero, Zorba." With that, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
Hanno watched as Zorba turned beet-red, then the little man's spine straightened and he seemed to grow in stature. He started to swing his arms and march down the road, as proud as any victorious shoulder.
Yukio watched him, smiling and laughing softly, as she fell back in pace with her husband.
"You're holding up well," he remarked to her quietly. "Considering..."
"We can't let such things hold us back," she replied. Her voice hardened. "If we do, the bastards win."
"It meant the world to him, to hear you call him a hero," Hanno said, watching Zorba strutting ahead of them.
"Well, he was."
"Because I couldn't be..." Hanno said, both his voice and his gaze lowering. He felt Yukio's dark eyes upon him, then felt her hand slide into his.
"If I'd wanted to be with a man of action, I would have married a soldier," she said. "I didn't. I married you. I love you for exactly who you are. I don't expect you to become something you're not."
"The fact that you have to comfort me... fills me with shame," Hanno said, his voice rough with emotion.
"We have nothing to be ashamed of," Yukio told him. "Leave that to the fellators who attacked us."
Hanno looked at his wife, his eyes wide. He'd never heard her use such rough language before. Obviously the incident had affected her, yet when her dark eyes looked back into his, he could see steel there. He had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. He'd seen that same inner strength, he realized, in many of the Japanese he'd dealt with over the years. And he wondered, surprisingly for the first time, if a conquered people could every really be considered conquered.
"Still, it might be wise if we start taking precautions," Yukio said, turning her eyes from her husband to gaze back down the road. "I have a couple of family heirlooms in one of my trunks. Two swords, a long katana and a shorter wakizashi. Only a handful were ever made, just before Kyoto fell to Rome. They're both sharp as razors--sharper, perhaps. Maybe I should carry the wakizashi, and you should carry the katana." She turned and smiled at him, her dark eyes glancing at his expensive silk robe. "I bet you'd look very dashing with an exotic sword on your hip."
"If ever drew the thing out of its scabbard, I'd probably cut my own damn fool head off!" Hanno remarked.
"I'll teach you how to use it," Yukio said, then smiled as her husband's expression changed to one of dubious surprise. "My grandfather was a very accomplished swordsman. Since he had no grandsons, he taught everything he knew to me."
Hanno smiled. What had she said to him on the trip over? That he always made her feel better? Well, she did the same in return for him. For the first time since that most unpleasant incident earlier that day, Hanno began to relax and to feel some of his customary confidence returning. Mongolia and Greece were behind him; ahead lay England, Rome's traditional friend and ally. He knew he could count upon a warm welcome in London; what he hoped for, however, was an even hotter price for his goods. For despite his affection for his friend Zorba, Hanno had no desire to return from whence he had come.
biggamer132
King
Hooray for Zorba!
carl corey
Deity
And another hooray for Sisiutil!
demokratickid
King
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Messages
- 753
Brilliant!!!
rabidveggie
King
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2007
- Messages
- 697
Finally an update. It was worth the wait.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Whoops--sorry, gang, I was just trying to do a couple of simple typo fixes and the stupid board went and cut off the story. It'll have to wait until I get home tonight to fix it.
carl corey
Deity
That's just mean! 
I'm glad I got to read it all... Phew...
I'm glad I got to read it all... Phew...
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
OK, turns out I did have a copy with me here at work. Fixed!
Thanks for all the kind words! The next episode is much more light-hearted.
Thanks for all the kind words! The next episode is much more light-hearted.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
I thought I should also do a shameless plug here and point out another web site that has graciously archived the story, called Gamer Tales. (Here's a direct link to the story.) One of the nice things about that site is that if any of you want to read the story on its own without all the interspersed feedback, that's how it's presented.
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