Chapter 605 - Interlude - Skye - Bend the Knee (Patreon)

AN: First chapter of book 15! The penultimate book!

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[Princess] - no matter how much the Eventide Eclipse joked about making her a [Queen] - Skye had a raging headache.

Three heavily annotated proposals lay in front of her, and no matter how much she’d delayed, waited, and stalled, there was no fourth proposal forthcoming. No matter how much she talked to the walls or sent out messages, there were no fanged smiles surprising her in the night, no better offer made.

If there was a secret society of vampires surviving the Immortal War, they hadn’t seen fit to contact Orthus. The decision was Skye’s and Skye’s alone, but she was not without support. Varuna was here in her hour of need, and she stroked his jaw as she debated with herself.

The first proposal was from the New Remus Empire. It would make Orthus Town an official tributary, required to pay modest taxes. However, they didn’t get anything for those taxes. There was barely a promise of protection against the demons and other powers, but that was it. There would be no [Engineers] moving through to build a network of roads, connecting them to other tributaries. There would be no new libraries erected, no civil servants arriving to smooth the livelihoods of all the members. Just taxes demanded, to be poured into the elves’ hungry maw.

The term was relatively short. Only 64 years before it could be ‘renegotiated’, and Skye knew that meant an increase in taxes - assuming the New Remus Empire won the war against the demons.

What had her sweating - a near impossibility for a yuki-onna - was the penalty for failure to pay. They’d personally execute her, which would be a shame, and let Skye feel the sharp edge of the knife against her throat. More grimly, they’d octanate the population. One in eight members of Orthus Town - and, they were clear, the surrounding villages - would be chosen for execution. The remaining members of the family would be forced to beat them to death with their own hands. 

Bad enough, but Skye hadn’t been trained just to look at offers as they were. There was a deeper level to it. Who determined how much was owed? How did they collect? It was easy to construct a system where failure wasn’t just possible, it was the only outcome. Easy to point to failure to pay taxes as an excuse, execute her, and install their own puppet leader.

It was only the elven curse which gave her a small modicum of relief. Who would want to rule this place, far away from all the other elves? Their plans were clear - repeat the process in every place in the world, for effective world domination - and it seemed unlikely that they’d want to off a good percentage of their population and leaders just to rule a questionable location.

By the same token and logic, Orthus couldn’t become too prosperous and stable. Then it would be something of an icicle on an elf’s necklace to ‘own’ Orthus. Skye would need to thread the needle carefully. Good enough to avoid the tax penalty and keep the quality of life high for her citizens, poor enough to stay unnoticed by the powers that be. The most average city, maybe with some poor smells.

Skye had a new map pinned to the proposal. The tanners would be upwind of everyone.

The demons didn’t exactly have a better offer. Higher taxes, but more presence and protection. Demons would settle in the area to live, and the rest of the treaty didn’t make that a good thing. They would be, by law, stratified into a higher tier of citizen. Justice wouldn’t apply to them in the same way, and the number of rights and privileges they’d enjoy was staggering. It was like someone had looked at the worst behavior and rights of nobles in books, and decided ‘you know what, that’s a great idea.’

They’d tried to sweeten the deal by offering Skye and other high level Classers the same tier of privileges, a blatant bribe to let them take over. They’d also assume the leadership of Orthus, but along their yoke came the promise of providing [Engineers], libraries, and other civil servants.

The last proposal came from the Classers of Orthus. Defiance, a way to play both sides against each other, a way to fight and resist, and remain independent. For they were not the subjects of demons, nor were they willing to pay endless tribute to elves with the threat of a grumpy [Tax Collector] misjudging the amount that needed to be paid.

Then there was the supporting documentation. Analysis, from crop yields to population growth, all the way to a rough sketch of the strength of both forces. Elaine had done the scouting, while Iona tried to war game out how the conflict between the elves and demons would go. Signing up to the losing team would have city-destroying consequences after all.

Boiling it down:

Signing up with the elves meant lower taxes, but minimal presence. They could be vaguely relied upon to defend the area - accepting tribute then letting the place get burnt down destroyed their own economic base, and weakened their argument to force others to join them.

Signing up with the demons meant higher taxes, but also a presence. The presence was a mixed bag - it both came with benefits, but a number of demons prowling around, societally unfettered, and with a whole lot of people around they were ‘better than’ and could legally take advantage of.

It didn’t take an [Oracle] to see that would end with the Valkyries taking significant issue with the demons, and it ending in bloodshed and violence. At least the elves were ‘only’ extorting them, and had no desire to actually live in Orthus. 

None of the decisions were good, but one would have to be made. Heavy was the head that wore the crown.

Skye chose, and bent the knee.