Enlightened Empire

Two solitary pairs of footsteps echoed through the dark hallways deep within the Moonlight Ziggurat. No other sound could be heard. In the empty corridor, an elder and a prisoner, men of opposite status, were carefully walking atop the wet bricks.

"Not to be too forward, but won't Elder get in trouble for helping with the escape? Wouldn't it have been better to take care of those guards permanently?"

Although Naoka had many questions, this one was the most pressing. After all, as a simple warrior, he could never afford to be responsible for troubling an elder. However, Elder Saqartu simply smiled again, in his usual, kindly manner.

"Oh no, never," the old man said. "The elders have immunity from most criminal charges. And the young men down there were only following their orders. This elder would not wish to see permanent harm come to them, simply for doing what they have been trained to do. Further, they will only cause trouble for themselves if they speak of today's events. Losing to an old man is a great loss of honor, and fighting an elder will only put them in the center of a fierce, political conflict, one a simple warrior is unlikely to survive. Most likely, they will keep this elder's involvement secret, if only for their own good."

"But what if they do talk, and then the grand elder overrules Elder's immunity and punishes Elder anyways?"

"The council protects its own," Saqartu simply said, before he looked at a confused Naoka and realized that he had to explain a bit further. "If one of the elders loses his immunity based on the grand elder's arbitrary tyranny, the immunity for all other elders would be void as well. Viribus would only dare punish this elder if he were willing to force an open war against the entire Ancestral Hall. During the next Noble Assembly, the houses may even collectively impeach the grand elder as a result."

Although the Noble Assembly only came together occasionally, the collection of all lords of Medala still had a lot of power once they unified behind a common cause. If they could gather a large enough majority, they could even remove the grand elder from his position. Of course, all noble houses would receive instructions from their elders in the Council should the grand elder decide to threaten their immunity. Thus, even the grand elder's power wasn't unlimited in this matter.

Finally, Naoka was relieved. However, he hadn't thought through all the implications of an impeachment, when the elder already continued. "Not to mention, Grand Elder Viribus may be in no condition to punish this elder, thanks to you, young warrior."

Again, the elder showed a casual attitude, this time followed by a joyous laugh. And yet again, Naoka was shocked.

"How much does Elder know?" he asked on reflex, before he realized his rudeness and lowered his head. "Please excuse this servant's forward manner."

"Not to worry, please raise your head and look where you are walking instead. This old man is only a southern pirate after all. Pirates care little for manners." The elder paused, maybe waiting for a response to his joke. Of course, Naoka would never dare laugh at an elder, so the old man waited in vain until he had to continue on his own, this time in a more serious tone.

"This elder knows enough of your plans," he says. "This whole operation has been planned by Lady Inti. In the end, this old man got involved temporarily, as part of a broader agreement between House Saqartu and House Pluritac. Many strange events have taken place in the south in recent months, most which you may not be aware of."

Of course, Naoka was curious what he had missed. However, he certainly wouldn't be bold enough to use an elder as his source of information, no matter how approachable he seemed. Thus, they walked in silence for a while longer, until Naoka once again simply couldn't restrain his curiosity about the strange manner of their escape.

"Where are all the guards?" he asked. If the Ziggurat were always this empty, he could have escaped weeks ago.

"Oh, they should be busy." The elder chuckled. "A number of them, we managed to bribe. They will be on break right now, or following imagined clues to stay out of the way. The more upright guards, ones who would not be bribedd, will be outside, to deal with the mess caused by your master."

"Wait, there really is a riot?"

Despite the repetition, Naoka never ceased to be shocked at the elder's revelations. A riot at the seat of Medala's power was far too bold, even for his master.

"There should be," the elder said with a casual shrug, apparently not caring whether their plan could succeed or not. "if everything has gone to plan, then your lady should have received some additional help from the southern king's minister. Your two watchdogs back there are fiercely loyal to the grand elder and resisted any attempts to move their posts in advance. Thus, they could only be taken out directly. However, if your lady has done her work, there should be no one left between you and your freedom, young warrior."

With Naoka's curiosity sated, they continued to walk through the empty corridors of wet stone. Sometimes they walked up, and sometimes they walked down. Either way, the ghost warrior realized that he would have never escaped this maze by himself, even if he had a map. Thus, they came closer and closer to freedom, with no interference. However, just as Naoka began to relax, his worst fears were realized. On another long climb up the slopes of the Ziggurat's inside, five guards appeared all of a sudden and came towards them. Naoka's first instinct was to run, but he couldn't afford to leave the elder behind, so he had to face his newest opponents.

"Halt!" the guard at the front of the group shouted. Based on his feathered helmet, he was one of the city's elite warriors. Not only that, both him and the remaining warriors were armed to the teeth, at least compared to the guards in his cell, who only carried a short axe and wore simple cloth armor.

Five against one, seems like we can't fight our way out of this one, Naoka analyzed in a split-second.

Of course, he instinctively dismissed the elder as a fighting force. In a frontal confrontation, the old man would be of questionable help, no matter how he bragged about his past. Not only that, Naoka also didn't want to risk causing injury or worse to a member of the Ancestral Hall through his actions.

If he did, no one would show any sympathy towards his circumstances and let him off easy, neither his enemies, nor his allies, not even his own ancestors in the starry sky. Such actions would not only damn himself and his family, but even his immortal soul. Whatever happened today, Naoka would make sure to protect Elder Saqartu's safety, even if it cost him his life.

While the ghost warrior was steeling his determination, the elder he had just sworn to protect stepped forward and stood between Naoka and the warriors opposite.

"What is it?" Saqartu huffed. "Which guard would dare stand in the path of an elder?"

The four guards behind took a step back, out of learned fear and respect of the elders. However, the head guard stood his ground, which further tightened Naoka's nerves. Rather than reply to the accusations, the guard stared at the elder first, before his eyes drifter towards the former prisoner behind Saqartu, still dressed in the rags of a convict and openly carrying an axe in his hands. As he did so, the guard's eyes narrowed slightly, and his hand inched closer to the weapon hung on his waist.

This won't be easy, Naoka concluded.

"We have order to let no one pass, and to defend the exit behind us at all cost," the guard finally said, and stood his ground. Whoever this guy was, he knew where they were going, and had every intention to stop them.

"Young man, do you know who you are talking to?" the elder tried again, but the guard showed none of the respect an elder would deserve.

"These are the direct orders of the Pachayawna," the guard insisted. "Not even an elder can overrule the words of the Divines, not until they have reached the stars themselves."

Oh great, a religious nut. This won't have a peaceful end.

Over the past years, as new religious ideas had spread throughout Medala, the Pachayawna had become more and more protective of Arguna, the core of his power. This was doubly true for the Moonlight Ziggurat, where the scholars, the Arcavus-adherents or the southern reformers couldn't even be mentioned without punishment. During his years inside this place, Naoka had witnessed how more and more guards had begun to directly obey the head priest's words, even though the priests were supposed to have no secular power.

Now that the radical head priest had interfered directly by sending his loyal guards, they were in deep trouble. Backed by direct orders from the Pachayawna, this head guard could be bold to stand his ground. He would never be deterred based only on an elder's authority alone.

Apparently, Elder Saqartu had come to the same conclusion. Thus he stood there, brows furrowed, trying to find a solution for their newest dilemma. Meanwhile, the head guard blocking their way looked more and more impatient.

This can't go on, or I'll still end up implicating the elder.

Unlike the grand elder or the Ancestral Hall, the Pachayawna wouldn't have to respect Elder Saqartu's status and could punish him with impunity. At least he could do so if he had proper evidence of treason or heresy to justify his actions. Once the deed was done, the other elders could protest at most. After all, not even the Noble Assembly had any authority over the head priest's position.

Such an outcome had to be avoided, no matter what. If Naoka didn't want to implicate his savior further, and with the elder also implicate himself and his entire family, he needed to act before anyone else could.

Within a split-second, Naoka found the only solution which could save Elder Saqartu in this moment, while still leaving himself with a sliver of hope. Before anyone else could move and break the delicate balance between the two groups, the ghost warrior stepped forward and to the side, half a step behind the elder, and held his axe blade against the old man's neck.

"No one move!" he shouted. "Let me out of here, or the old man dies!"

Although Naoka almost shuddered at the disrespect, he had to sound serious if he wanted to intimidate the guards. Unfortunately, his gamble seemed to have the opposite effect. In response to his sudden threat, the warriors all put their hands on their weapons, and stepped forward.

"Protect the elder," one of them shouted. Apparently, not all of them were loyal only to the Pachayawna, or maybe the guard was simply provoking the elder's death on purpose. Either way, both Naoka and Elder Saqartu would be in trouble if the warriors just charged them with a hot head, or called their bluff. Luckily, the elder also had a fleet mind.

"Do as he says, he is a madman!" Saqartu screamed in acted panic, to stop both those with hot heads and those with bad intentions. With this display of fear, and an added warning, those loyal to the elders wouldn't dare risk injury to the old man. At the same time, anyone with calculations for the elder's death would have to stop in the face of a direct order as well.

Thus, in response to the elder's shout, the guards who had been ready to move stepped back in panic. Even those belonging to the Pachayawna wouldn't dare cause the death of an elder due to negligence. In that case, even the head priest would have a hard time protecting them.

Thus, the situation had become even more tense between the two sides, Though at least now, the initiative was back with Naoka and the elder. Step by step, the ghost warrior walked forward, towards the guards, using the elder as a shield. And step by step, the guards were forced to retreat back up the slope they had come from.

Eventually, they would come across a fork in the road, and then there would be enough room to drive the guards inside, while he would be able to escape through the freed corridor beyond them. As far as Naoka was concerned, this was the best outcome he could hope for.

While he would safely escape, Elder Saqartu would be able to claim that he had been coerced by force, and would no longer suffer any accusations from the Ancestral Hall or the head priest.

At most, they would be able to label the elder as cowardly, though even then, they would have a weak case. In the end, the elder was preserving his valuable life in exchange for an unimportant prisoner's escape. No one within the Ziggurat would be silly enough to suggest that a member of the highest class should die just to help some ordinary warriors fulfill their orders.

Thus, Naoka would escape, and the elder would face no consequences for his involvement. Everything was going well. However, as they finally approached a forked corridor in the distance and Naoka was ready to shout new orders, the head guard once more showed his determination to frustrate their well-laid plans.