05-28-2021, 07:47 PM
The Empress sat unmoving on the Obsidian Throne, her anger making her appear as rigid as the throne itself.
ASI's initial report on the breach of the Cauhloc had made it clear that the enemies who had attacked ASI had been harbored in Zipacpepe. Throughout her career in ASI, Calhualyana had despised Zipacpepe. The criminals that ruled the slum had defied Imperial authority for centuries. They had made the citizens of the capital fear them and their petty crimes. No Emperor had ever dared undertake the massive and violent effort it would take to uproot them once and for all, for fear of shocking both Xiomerans and the world with the sheer brutality such an operation would require.
Every Emperor and Empress before her, like the citizens of Tlālacuetztla, had feared Zipacpepe and its criminal gangs. But the people of Zipacpepe were about to learn that Calhualyana did not feel fear - she made others feel fear.
Minister of Security Quihichua, Minister of Justice Cuicanan, Minister of Defense Chuanacoyo, Prime Minister Toquihu, and Xiyāōtl watched, rooted in place, as the Empress slowly raised her head from the report. "I want Zipacpepe cleansed. I want the gangs ended, and their members either in cells or in their graves. Use the police, the military, ASI, the Warriors of Tezcatlipōca and the Warriors of Huītzilōpōchtli....as many of them as you need for as long as you need. I do not care how you do it. But I want Zipacpepe placed in obedience to Imperial authority, immediately. And I want those who harbored the attackers of the Cauhloc either arrested, if they comply, or ended, if they do not."
The Prime Minister coughed slightly. "Your Majesty, clearing Zipacpepe....no one has ever been able to do so before. Ever. It would take a tremendous operation of overwhelming force...."
"Then tremendous and overwhelming force it shall be," Calhualyana said, in the coldest voice anyone in the room had ever heard her use. "The rabble of Zipacpepe have made a mockery of this throne for centuries. They have thumbed their nose at the authority of the Empire, and have been a plague on the honest people of our capital - the Imperial capital! - for all that time. And now, they harbor enemies of the Empire, who attack the very instutitions of the state that keep it secure. They dare to defy our authority, and to attack the very home of our security ministry itself." At those words, the face of Security Minister Quihichua turned stony, her anger at the violation of the Cauhloc mirroring that of the Empress.
Calhualyana's face took on a dangerous expression. "These people are traitors. And there is only one response to treason in this Empire. Zipacpepe will burn for its insolence, and then it will bend its knee to the Obsidian Throne, once and for all. Or I will hold all of you responsible for the failure."
As the others in the room turned bone white, the Empress rose angrily from the throne. She threw her tablet against a wall; the shattering of the glass echoed throughout the room. "No person, no neighborhood, no city in this Empire can stand in defiance to the throne if we are to uphold the Empire. We allowed people to think they could do that, and it led to everything we've lost and all the defeats we suffered in the war. I will not tolerate this disobedience one second longer. Either we rule Xiomera, and the Empire prevails, or we do not, and chaos ensues. It will not happen as long as I sit on this throne. Not. For. One. Second. Longer."
No one said anything in response. No one dared.
The Empress swept down from the throne, to where Xiyāōtl was standing. "You will lead the operation."
Xiyāōtl's face paled even more. "I'm a naval officer, not a ground forces soldier, or a policeman or security officer. I am not the best choice for this - "
"Everyone except you, out," Calhualyana shouted, pinning Xiyāōtl in place with the force of her gaze alone. The others left the Throne Room, leaving the Empress alone with her suitor. "Are you a man?" she shouted at Xiyāōtl, once they were alone. "Are you a Xiomeran?"
"Yes, of course I am," Xiyāōtl replied, growing angry himself with her tone but knowing better than to shout back at her.
"Then prove it," Calhualyana replied harshly. She took her mācuahuitl from its place at the throne with a single furious swipe. Grasping it by the protective case covering its razor-sharp obsidian blades, she thrust the handle at him. "You want to be my husband. You want to rule this Empire by my side. Well, ruling Xiomera is not a task for the weak or the soft. It never has been. It never will be. You want to be more than a figurehead. You want a seat up there," the Empress growled, pointing to the elevated platform where her throne sat. "You want the power. In this country, you have to earn the power. Do you have what it takes to rule this Empire with me, or not? This is what it takes, Xiyāōtl. Choose now."
Xiyāōtl stared into Calhualyana's eyes. After a moment, he took the mācuahuitl. His eyes never leaving hers, he removed the case, exposing the blades. He lowered the mācuahuitl to his side, letting its case clatter to the ground. Without a word, he turned on his heel and marched to his destiny, the weapon of the Empress at his side.
Watching her husband leave to earn his own throne, Calhualyana returned to sit on hers and wait. Now, we shall see who is worthy, and who shall be found wanting. Both in this Palace, and in Zipacpepe.
---
The next day, the skies over Zipacpepe, filled with smoke from burning buildings, were the color of mourning. Imperial soldiers and police, led by the elite warriors of the Empress, marched openly through the streets of the slum as they had never dared before. The sound of their marching boots on asphalt and shattered glass was hidden only by the roar of armored vehicles as they took the streets of the neighborhood, and the sound of doors being broken down as the forces of the Empire reasserted their authority over Zipacpepe as their Empress demanded.
The people of Zipacpepe, led by those the Empire had deemed criminals and traitors, tried to defend their neighborhood. They had always managed to fend off the efforts of the government to take control of Zipacpepe back from them. But the luck of Zipacpepe had finally run out.
Those that tried to resist violently were met with the full force of the Empire, unrestrained as never before. The operation had started at dawn. By sunset, Calhualyana had managed to accomplish something that centuries of rulers before had not - Zipacpepe and its gangs were broken, the population utterly cowed, and the authorities fully in control.
In the safe house that the Auroras and Huenyans had sheltered prior to their assault on the Cauhloc, Amequic found himself pinned to a wall by two Imperial Army soldiers. The sheer power that he and his fellow gang members had been met with had overwhelmed him, and he felt with certainty that he would never leave this house alive. But he would not give his captors the pleasure of seeing his fear. Like Calhualyana, he had pride of his own.
"This is the man," Amequic heard one of his captors say. The blindfold that had covered his eyes was ripped off, and he saw a man standing in front of him, mācuahuitl in hand. "You are the gang leader Amequic, the one who helped those who raided the Cauhloc," the man demanded.
Amequic laughed in his face, summoning his last strength to die well. "And you're Xiyāōtl, the boytoy of the Empress. I'm surprised you got your hands dirty down here. I thought you Navy boys liked to keep your nice uniforms clean."
Xiyāōtl looked at Amequic. "Mocking me is not a wise decision. If you admit your crimes, and throw yourself on the mercy of the Empire, you may yet live. If you do not, you will face Imperial justice, here and now."
"Justice?" Amequic said bitterly. "You don't know the meaning of the word. Neither does the woman you want to marry. Even a bunch of criminals like us know more about what is justice than any of you in your Imperial uniforms. I knew my life was forfeit the second I harbored those who broke into your precious Cauhloc. And you know what, Xiyāōtl? It was worth it. Even if I die here, in your custody, I will die a freer man than any of you, knowing I did what most are too scared to do and stood up to all of you. It was worth it, just to imagine the look on Calhualyana's evil face when they told her the Cauhloc was broken. You can't take that away from me. Do what you will, servant of the throne."
Xiyāōtl stared blankly at Amequic, hearing his laughter as if from a distance. At that moment, he could have dropped the mācuahuitl and walked away. But Calhualyana was right. She had him, as surely as poison. He wanted her. And he wanted the power.
With a single swing of the weapon of the Empress, the fate of both Amequic and Xiyāōtl was sealed - as was the fate of Zipacpepe.
---
In the days and weeks after the retaking of Zipacpepe, other restive parts of the Empire learned the lesson well from the example that Calhualyana had made of the slum. What heart remained in Xiomera to resist the rise of Calhualyana's Empire was broken at Zipacpepe. Every place in Xiomera that had a mind to resist saw what had happened to Zipacpepe for angering the Empress; everyone who had the idea of defiance imagined the events of Zipacpepe taking place on their streets, in their homes, in their neighborhoods and cities. And in a way unlike that of any Xiomeran leader before her, Calhualyana had ensured that almost no one in the Empire would dare to raise their hand against her.
---
As the Empress monitored the actions of her security forces in Zipacpepe, her steward came to the throne room. "Your Majesty, Mariya Adema has requested to speak with you. She says she has something to deliver to you, from the Cauhloc raid."
The Empress smiled slowly. "Perhaps someone finally has some good news to bring me. Very well. Have her brought to the Palace immediately."
ASI's initial report on the breach of the Cauhloc had made it clear that the enemies who had attacked ASI had been harbored in Zipacpepe. Throughout her career in ASI, Calhualyana had despised Zipacpepe. The criminals that ruled the slum had defied Imperial authority for centuries. They had made the citizens of the capital fear them and their petty crimes. No Emperor had ever dared undertake the massive and violent effort it would take to uproot them once and for all, for fear of shocking both Xiomerans and the world with the sheer brutality such an operation would require.
Every Emperor and Empress before her, like the citizens of Tlālacuetztla, had feared Zipacpepe and its criminal gangs. But the people of Zipacpepe were about to learn that Calhualyana did not feel fear - she made others feel fear.
Minister of Security Quihichua, Minister of Justice Cuicanan, Minister of Defense Chuanacoyo, Prime Minister Toquihu, and Xiyāōtl watched, rooted in place, as the Empress slowly raised her head from the report. "I want Zipacpepe cleansed. I want the gangs ended, and their members either in cells or in their graves. Use the police, the military, ASI, the Warriors of Tezcatlipōca and the Warriors of Huītzilōpōchtli....as many of them as you need for as long as you need. I do not care how you do it. But I want Zipacpepe placed in obedience to Imperial authority, immediately. And I want those who harbored the attackers of the Cauhloc either arrested, if they comply, or ended, if they do not."
The Prime Minister coughed slightly. "Your Majesty, clearing Zipacpepe....no one has ever been able to do so before. Ever. It would take a tremendous operation of overwhelming force...."
"Then tremendous and overwhelming force it shall be," Calhualyana said, in the coldest voice anyone in the room had ever heard her use. "The rabble of Zipacpepe have made a mockery of this throne for centuries. They have thumbed their nose at the authority of the Empire, and have been a plague on the honest people of our capital - the Imperial capital! - for all that time. And now, they harbor enemies of the Empire, who attack the very instutitions of the state that keep it secure. They dare to defy our authority, and to attack the very home of our security ministry itself." At those words, the face of Security Minister Quihichua turned stony, her anger at the violation of the Cauhloc mirroring that of the Empress.
Calhualyana's face took on a dangerous expression. "These people are traitors. And there is only one response to treason in this Empire. Zipacpepe will burn for its insolence, and then it will bend its knee to the Obsidian Throne, once and for all. Or I will hold all of you responsible for the failure."
As the others in the room turned bone white, the Empress rose angrily from the throne. She threw her tablet against a wall; the shattering of the glass echoed throughout the room. "No person, no neighborhood, no city in this Empire can stand in defiance to the throne if we are to uphold the Empire. We allowed people to think they could do that, and it led to everything we've lost and all the defeats we suffered in the war. I will not tolerate this disobedience one second longer. Either we rule Xiomera, and the Empire prevails, or we do not, and chaos ensues. It will not happen as long as I sit on this throne. Not. For. One. Second. Longer."
No one said anything in response. No one dared.
The Empress swept down from the throne, to where Xiyāōtl was standing. "You will lead the operation."
Xiyāōtl's face paled even more. "I'm a naval officer, not a ground forces soldier, or a policeman or security officer. I am not the best choice for this - "
"Everyone except you, out," Calhualyana shouted, pinning Xiyāōtl in place with the force of her gaze alone. The others left the Throne Room, leaving the Empress alone with her suitor. "Are you a man?" she shouted at Xiyāōtl, once they were alone. "Are you a Xiomeran?"
"Yes, of course I am," Xiyāōtl replied, growing angry himself with her tone but knowing better than to shout back at her.
"Then prove it," Calhualyana replied harshly. She took her mācuahuitl from its place at the throne with a single furious swipe. Grasping it by the protective case covering its razor-sharp obsidian blades, she thrust the handle at him. "You want to be my husband. You want to rule this Empire by my side. Well, ruling Xiomera is not a task for the weak or the soft. It never has been. It never will be. You want to be more than a figurehead. You want a seat up there," the Empress growled, pointing to the elevated platform where her throne sat. "You want the power. In this country, you have to earn the power. Do you have what it takes to rule this Empire with me, or not? This is what it takes, Xiyāōtl. Choose now."
Xiyāōtl stared into Calhualyana's eyes. After a moment, he took the mācuahuitl. His eyes never leaving hers, he removed the case, exposing the blades. He lowered the mācuahuitl to his side, letting its case clatter to the ground. Without a word, he turned on his heel and marched to his destiny, the weapon of the Empress at his side.
Watching her husband leave to earn his own throne, Calhualyana returned to sit on hers and wait. Now, we shall see who is worthy, and who shall be found wanting. Both in this Palace, and in Zipacpepe.
---
The next day, the skies over Zipacpepe, filled with smoke from burning buildings, were the color of mourning. Imperial soldiers and police, led by the elite warriors of the Empress, marched openly through the streets of the slum as they had never dared before. The sound of their marching boots on asphalt and shattered glass was hidden only by the roar of armored vehicles as they took the streets of the neighborhood, and the sound of doors being broken down as the forces of the Empire reasserted their authority over Zipacpepe as their Empress demanded.
The people of Zipacpepe, led by those the Empire had deemed criminals and traitors, tried to defend their neighborhood. They had always managed to fend off the efforts of the government to take control of Zipacpepe back from them. But the luck of Zipacpepe had finally run out.
Those that tried to resist violently were met with the full force of the Empire, unrestrained as never before. The operation had started at dawn. By sunset, Calhualyana had managed to accomplish something that centuries of rulers before had not - Zipacpepe and its gangs were broken, the population utterly cowed, and the authorities fully in control.
In the safe house that the Auroras and Huenyans had sheltered prior to their assault on the Cauhloc, Amequic found himself pinned to a wall by two Imperial Army soldiers. The sheer power that he and his fellow gang members had been met with had overwhelmed him, and he felt with certainty that he would never leave this house alive. But he would not give his captors the pleasure of seeing his fear. Like Calhualyana, he had pride of his own.
"This is the man," Amequic heard one of his captors say. The blindfold that had covered his eyes was ripped off, and he saw a man standing in front of him, mācuahuitl in hand. "You are the gang leader Amequic, the one who helped those who raided the Cauhloc," the man demanded.
Amequic laughed in his face, summoning his last strength to die well. "And you're Xiyāōtl, the boytoy of the Empress. I'm surprised you got your hands dirty down here. I thought you Navy boys liked to keep your nice uniforms clean."
Xiyāōtl looked at Amequic. "Mocking me is not a wise decision. If you admit your crimes, and throw yourself on the mercy of the Empire, you may yet live. If you do not, you will face Imperial justice, here and now."
"Justice?" Amequic said bitterly. "You don't know the meaning of the word. Neither does the woman you want to marry. Even a bunch of criminals like us know more about what is justice than any of you in your Imperial uniforms. I knew my life was forfeit the second I harbored those who broke into your precious Cauhloc. And you know what, Xiyāōtl? It was worth it. Even if I die here, in your custody, I will die a freer man than any of you, knowing I did what most are too scared to do and stood up to all of you. It was worth it, just to imagine the look on Calhualyana's evil face when they told her the Cauhloc was broken. You can't take that away from me. Do what you will, servant of the throne."
Xiyāōtl stared blankly at Amequic, hearing his laughter as if from a distance. At that moment, he could have dropped the mācuahuitl and walked away. But Calhualyana was right. She had him, as surely as poison. He wanted her. And he wanted the power.
With a single swing of the weapon of the Empress, the fate of both Amequic and Xiyāōtl was sealed - as was the fate of Zipacpepe.
---
In the days and weeks after the retaking of Zipacpepe, other restive parts of the Empire learned the lesson well from the example that Calhualyana had made of the slum. What heart remained in Xiomera to resist the rise of Calhualyana's Empire was broken at Zipacpepe. Every place in Xiomera that had a mind to resist saw what had happened to Zipacpepe for angering the Empress; everyone who had the idea of defiance imagined the events of Zipacpepe taking place on their streets, in their homes, in their neighborhoods and cities. And in a way unlike that of any Xiomeran leader before her, Calhualyana had ensured that almost no one in the Empire would dare to raise their hand against her.
---
As the Empress monitored the actions of her security forces in Zipacpepe, her steward came to the throne room. "Your Majesty, Mariya Adema has requested to speak with you. She says she has something to deliver to you, from the Cauhloc raid."
The Empress smiled slowly. "Perhaps someone finally has some good news to bring me. Very well. Have her brought to the Palace immediately."
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