Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 319: Agreement

I healed Alexander not long after Niobe admitted her guilt. She had verified the information I had shared, going so far as to identify the people who had supplied the poison and the plan.

A delegation from Rome had been sent to Alexander to congratulate him on his success. They had come bearing gifts and pretty words, but those gifts and words were only feints for their actual purpose. Caesar had recognized the danger Alexander and his armies could bring to bear if Alexander ever felt the need to turn his eyes towards Rome.

Niobe was a dutiful daughter of Rome, installed in Alexander's court to spy on events. Tasked with Alexander's death, she readily agreed once Ares had given his blessing. She had used her knowledge of Iolla's familial fealty to gather his support and participation in the poisoning.

I'd gone farther than I'd initially planned when healing Alexander. I'd only really intended to remove the poison and get him back to the health he had enjoyed before he succumbed to the ravages of that vile potion. But as the spell of healing progressed, I decided to include enough energy to restore his body and mind to the peak of performance.

It didn't reverse the aging process, although, for those watching, it seemed like he had gotten younger. What it did do was revitalize the telomeres that affected aging. He would still die; he was still mortal after all, but his life expectancy had been extended. Although there were ways to give him true immortality, that gift would require the intervention of a God or his ascension.

A gift of Ambrosia from the Greek Pantheon. The mead of Asgard that was only found in Valhalla. The good deeds that deify an ancestor for those following the precepts of Taoism and Confucianism. The Sidhe could extend his life indefinitely, but he would have to leave the world behind and travel Underhill. It is only in that place betwixt and between that the passage of time could be ignored.

But once you entered Underhill as a mortal, you were trapped in that realm forever. If you ever dared venture out, [Time] would demand a heavy toll. The price would include the passage of years to be restored. Those years they had accumulated while they were safe living Underhill would return with a vengeance.

Time was fleeting, but the years they lived and had ignored returned. The passage of time was so quick that the body would age and die in seconds. There was no way to defend themselves as [Time] claimed it's due, and they were left to become nothing but dust in the wind.

"What would you have me do?" Alexander asked.

We had been walking the illusionary meadow I had created. Alexander, newly healed, was taking the time to enjoy the sun on his skin and rejoice at the second chance at life I had given him. He was shorter than I'd expected, nowhere near the towering giant that myth had made out of the boy-king. But standing next to Seelie and Unseelie, most mortals would seem short. Even the shortest of us usually stood well over seven feet.

"I would have you use your armies and the Generals you placed in control over Egypt's armies to show Caesar that actions have consequences, even for those that are the children or grandchildren of Gods," I replied without mincing words.

"My armies will march; Caesar's actions demand that. But how can I trust Egypt?" He asked. "I have invaded and conquered the country. They serve, but reluctantly.

"I'm sure they have little love for me or my Generals and certainly no reason to provide real help for the person that conquered them."

"They will help because this is not the first time Caesar has acted. Caesar has a habit of using poison to remove his perceived enemies. He had Marc Antony, an agent of his, scheme with Cleopatra, Co-Pharaoh of Egypt, to poison and murder her brother so that she could rule alone.

"Ptolemy survived the attempt on his life, avoiding the attack. The asps she had hidden in his bed were discovered when they attacked and killed one of his concubines," I informed him.

"He returned those snakes to Cleopatra, watching with stoic fatalism as he forced her to decide whether to embrace death from a snake bite or watch as Antony was flayed alive.

"She died in agony, and Ptolemy kept his word refusing to have Marc Antony flayed. Instead, he had him beheaded and sent his head and Cleopatra's to Caesar, packed in baskets of scarabs and scorpions as proof that his scheme had failed."

"We have that in common," Alexander mused, "but that isn't much to base a lasting partnership on, probably enough for me to trust him until Rome has been conquered or the battle is lost.

"The enemy of my enemy if my friend can make for solid incentives. It only falls to fate to determine if Ptolemy's fury at Caesar trumps his anger at my invasion of his country. But certainly, he will turn on me when Caesar is defeated, and Rome has fallen."

"I wouldn't be so sure. You freed Egypt from the oppressive rule of the Persians when you conquered it. You restored some measure of self-rule to them, allowing Ptolemy to ascend and take his place as the anointed Pharaoh. You left the religion intact and embraced the culture of the people you conquered," I reminded him.

"Once the Persians were destroyed, you left the country and people to rebuild and reclaim their rich heritage. You may have installed the generals that lead Egypt's armies, but the people that make up those armies are sons of Egypt. And they are thankful for what you have done.

"While true that Ptolemy may decide to betray you at some point, but that is only a possibility. Caesar has acted. He will only become emboldened if you ignore his action or refuse to respond.

"This time, it was a slow-acting poison because he wanted people to believe you died of illness. Next time it will be a poison that kills quickly. I saved you once from his machinations. The next time I might be too late."

"Why do you need my armies? How can Caesar hope to win any war with your people?" Alexander wondered. "You've demonstrated just how powerful your magic is. Why don't the Sidhe assassinate him and end the threat?"

"Because that would be a stop-gap measure at best," I replied. "Caesar has fostered a culture of bigotry and exploitation within his lands and among his people. Their hatred and fear of any of the magical races are endemic to them as a people by now.

"Even if we killed Caesar, even if we destroyed his armies, whoever replaced him would continue his pogrom. Institutional changes need to come from within, and that requires a top-down shift in philosophy.

"Especially when the Oracle of Delphi delivers assurances that Olympus has [Blessed] his actions," I decried furiously.

"And he has gained a powerful ally in the Vikings. They have used their Skald effectively to demonize the Sidhe. It doesn't help that most of the bardic tales they spread are based on fact.

"We are a ruthless people, willing to exploit any weakness.

"We can be greedy and lost to our own lust.

"We are jealous of others' beauty.

"And we do covet the talent of mortals, so much so that we kidnap them and force them to travel Underhill to enjoy those talents for centuries by extending their lives.

"We can be monsters, but nothing like the men and armies of Caesar. He allows and encourages his men to torch entire towns, to slaughter the young and old alike, and to murder babies still suckling at their mother's breast.

"He names us monsters, but he and his armies are genuinely monstrous. There is beauty in the Sidhe even when embracing our most horrific nature. We, like nature, can be cruel. But we revere the young, cherish them and protect them, and we would butcher any of our own people that acted with such callousness as the armies of Caesar.

"We would consider any Sidhe so lost to reason as to slaughter children and babes insane and would put them down like the rabid animal Caesar is," I declared fiercely.

"All armies loot and pillage," Alexander said after listening to my tirade.

"Do they?" I sneered. "Perhaps, you're right. But Caesar encourages that behavior. His people make sport of that evil. They bet on how long a person might survive crucifixion and drink toasts as they turn their looting and pillaging into a spectator event.

"Iollas feared crucifixion for a reason," I pointed out. "The Romans have made a national pastime out of their cruelty. Public executions, floggings, and Colosseums drenched in blood by games that extol cruelty and death.

"Caesar and Ragnar Lodbrok have made an enemy of the Sidhe. We are an enemy known for our cruelty and deviousness. Now that [Fairy] has returned to the world, and with that return the Sidhes' magic, we have gained the means to retaliate.

"He should have never provoked us. Now that we can retaliate, we will. But we have no intention of ruling Rome. That is your task," I explained. "And I warn you, if the attacks on Sidhe continue, we will unleash our most potent magic now that it has been restored.

"We control nature in all its fury. Storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis are ours to command. Either hold the dogs of war Caesar unleashed or face the might and fury of a fully empowered Sidhe.

"And I warn you now, Gwyn ap Nudd, the Sidhe Huntsman, is an implacable force of nature. He leads legions of dead Sidhe so vast that their numbers have no meaning. An army of the dead that will ride to exact vengeance against any that would be so stupid as to betray their [Oaths]."

My words were the first time I allowed emotion to enter the conversation. Just enough threat and ruthlessness were expressed that Alexander stumbled as a small amount of my killing intent was released.

I would see the armies that razed my people destroyed. And then I would brave Asgard and Olympus. I would repay the greed and treachery of those Gods by stealing Odin's eye and Zeus' lightning.

"My armies will join the Egyptians and war against Caesar," Alexander promised, "but what will you do about the Viking threat? I and my armies cannot invade both polities. It would spell our doom if we tried."

"I intend to force the Vikings to contend with a different threat. Genghis Khan should make a suitable foil," I replied, my words shocking Alexander.

Even Alexander, perhaps the greatest living strategist at this moment, would pause before risking gaining the attention of the Mongol horde..