against_thewall
Experienced
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
- Posts
- 88
(yet another history-based fantasy...)
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Every year, the emperor's emissaries were sent out to collect the required tribute of the many peoples scattered throughout the vast empire.
Each region or people paid according to its capacity: the weavers of the higher plains sent fine silks and robes, the fishers of the coast sent baskets of fresh and dried fish, and many places along the trading routes simply paid in gold and silver.
The farming region of Akthu had experienced its worst harvest ever, due to a series of droughts and subsequent fires which devastated the crops and the land.
"We have nothing," the elders told the collector. But the emperor's emmisary was not sent on his mission to accept no for an answer. He and his band of soldiers searched the whole village, looking for anything of value, of which there was little: a silver plated mirror, a few gold coins, some leather-bound books.
Frustrated with the results of his search. the collector Rhtu demanded the elders find something of real value for thei emperor, or their village would be burned.
Desperate for their lives, the elders called a special council, which decided they had only one thing they really could give: people.
They offered to send a few of the young men as servants for the emperor, but Rhtu refused to escort a band of unpredictable farm boys to the capital.
Truly hard-pressed, the elders gave in and told the collector to take whatever or whoever he saw fit, as long as they were left alone.
Rhtu demanded a line-up of the villagers, and inspected the line with incredible scrutiny. Unimpressed by the general population, he finally came to one of the last people: a young woman by the name of Ari.
She may not have been the handsomest, but she looked strong and fit, while still retaining the curves and graces of a woman.
After a few moments of deliberation, Rhtu snatched her hand and pulled her from the group, declaring their tribute paid.
-----------------
The large gilded doors swung open to the throne room as Ari was dragged in by the imperious Rhtu.
"I present the tribute of the Akthu Valley," he declared, passing the end of the thin rope which bound her wrists together into the open palm of the emperor who had stepped down to inspect his treasure.
The emperor was not an old man, nor was he particularly young: he had never married, instead preferring the company of a mistress every now and then. After losing his harem to the Fever several months earlier, he had been in terrible need of relief: relief this young vixen from the interior could most certainly provide.
He dismissed his guards and started to lead the nervous and most-reluctant Ari toward his bedchambers, a room she would most certainly get to know well over the next week...
(obviously in need of an emperor
)
-----------------
Every year, the emperor's emissaries were sent out to collect the required tribute of the many peoples scattered throughout the vast empire.
Each region or people paid according to its capacity: the weavers of the higher plains sent fine silks and robes, the fishers of the coast sent baskets of fresh and dried fish, and many places along the trading routes simply paid in gold and silver.
The farming region of Akthu had experienced its worst harvest ever, due to a series of droughts and subsequent fires which devastated the crops and the land.
"We have nothing," the elders told the collector. But the emperor's emmisary was not sent on his mission to accept no for an answer. He and his band of soldiers searched the whole village, looking for anything of value, of which there was little: a silver plated mirror, a few gold coins, some leather-bound books.
Frustrated with the results of his search. the collector Rhtu demanded the elders find something of real value for thei emperor, or their village would be burned.
Desperate for their lives, the elders called a special council, which decided they had only one thing they really could give: people.
They offered to send a few of the young men as servants for the emperor, but Rhtu refused to escort a band of unpredictable farm boys to the capital.
Truly hard-pressed, the elders gave in and told the collector to take whatever or whoever he saw fit, as long as they were left alone.
Rhtu demanded a line-up of the villagers, and inspected the line with incredible scrutiny. Unimpressed by the general population, he finally came to one of the last people: a young woman by the name of Ari.
She may not have been the handsomest, but she looked strong and fit, while still retaining the curves and graces of a woman.
After a few moments of deliberation, Rhtu snatched her hand and pulled her from the group, declaring their tribute paid.
-----------------
The large gilded doors swung open to the throne room as Ari was dragged in by the imperious Rhtu.
"I present the tribute of the Akthu Valley," he declared, passing the end of the thin rope which bound her wrists together into the open palm of the emperor who had stepped down to inspect his treasure.
The emperor was not an old man, nor was he particularly young: he had never married, instead preferring the company of a mistress every now and then. After losing his harem to the Fever several months earlier, he had been in terrible need of relief: relief this young vixen from the interior could most certainly provide.
He dismissed his guards and started to lead the nervous and most-reluctant Ari toward his bedchambers, a room she would most certainly get to know well over the next week...
(obviously in need of an emperor
)
