01-26-2023, 09:04 PM
Prelude I: Xochuaxte Palace, Chuaztlapoc, January 25th
8:00 am, Huenyan time
Tonauac rode his favorite horse, Ehecatl, enjoying the sun and warm weather around the Huenyan royal palace. The 12-year-old, like his father, had taken to riding at a young age. It was an archaic form of transportation in a modern world, but it was a tradition that had the added benefit of being entertaining.
The plains to the east of the palace were relatively undeveloped, as the palace was a good distance from the center of the city. Cresting a small rise, Tonauac could see the rapidly growing sprawl of western Chuaztlapoc, where the new government capital had been placed. As he enjoyed the scenery, he heard a slight rustle behind him. Two men were stepping out of a jeep marked with Huenyan Army insignia. The two soldiers stopped some distance from Tonauac, nodding respectfully. "Your Highness, there has been an emergency back at the palace with your mother. Your father has summoned you. Please come with me. Your horse will be taken back to the stables," one of the soldiers said, gesturing to the other.
Tonauac nodded, and was about to step down from his horse, when he had a thought. "You said my father summoned me. Is he not currently on the eastern front?"
The soldier paused, then quickly said "He returned to the palace due to the emergency. Please come quickly, there is not much time."
Tonauac began to get an uneasy feeling. Normally, the palace would only send Shorn Ones to retrieve him. He noticed a third soldier in the back of the jeep, staring expectantly at him. "I think I will ride back to the palace," he said, taking a firmer grip on the reins.
"There is not enough time! Your mother needs you, you must come with us now," the first soldier said, stepping forward as if to grab the reins. Tonauac's sense of alarm spiked. He shouted a command to Ehecatl, and the horse bolted westward. The soldier who had been speaking to him cursed, unholstering his pistol and firing at Ehecatl. With a sharp jerk of the reins, Tonauac managed to dodge the gunfire. Okay, yeah, those aren't soldiers, the Huenyan prince thought with a sinking feeling. He had to get back to the palace, somehow outrunning people in a vehicle. While his horse may have been slower, Tonauac did have one advantage: he didn't need to stick to roads.
As the men following him shouted angrily, Tonauac guided Ehecatl off the road into the rough plains. More gunfire followed, but again, he was able to dodge it. As he led his mount through the plains and small hills, the men in the jeep began to fall behind. Tonauac knew the land around the palace better than almost anyone, and all the short cuts it contained. Soon, the angry curses faded behind him. Within moments, the walls of Xochuaxte Palace rose into view. Ehecatl ran full speed through the gates, startling the guards.
In the front courtyard, his mother Tlalmaxxi had just emerged outside with several guards. "Son, are you okay? We heard gunshots," she asked, as the guards helped Tonauac off the horse. "I'm fine....but those people were shooting at me."
Tlalmaxxi's face twisted in a mixture of fear and anger as she rushed forward to envelop him in a hug. "Get out there and find whoever was after my son," she barked at the guards.
Prelude II: Northeastern Huenya, January 25th
8:00 am, Huenyan time
Texōccoatl was not, in fact, in Chuaztlapoc as Tonauac had suspected. The Great Speaker of Huenya would have run to his son as Tlalmaxxi had. But as the attempt to kidnap the future Huenyan monarch was happening, the present Huenyan monarch was dealing with a challenge of his own.
The broken cease-fire in eastern Huenya had sapped the morale of the Huenyan army. Even the famed Jaguar Warriors and Eagle Warriors were showing signs of being worn down, in the face of a relentless weeks-long assault by Xiomeran nationalists and their CSSC allies. If the Huenyan lines buckled, the separatists could seize the entire eastern coastline of Huenya, dealing a sharp blow to the Huenyan economy. The Canal Zone would be in jeopardy. And the efforts to rescue Xiomeran dissidents would grind to a complete halt.
The Huenyan lines could not break. They could not.
Texōccoatl was to give a speech to the troops on the eastern front, on the eve of the country's first Independence Day. The Great Speaker had thought long and hard about the speech. If Huenya was to hold the line, he needed to quite literally be a great speaker to raise the troops' morale and keep them in the fight.
As he stood on a dais, in front of thousands of his soldiers, others would be watching via the Huenyan military's television and internet channels. Texōccoatl wasted no time.
"As you all know, before events forced me into the role I now hold, I was once a soldier like you. In my heart, I still am. And indeed, all Huenyans must have the hearts of warriors. For we are fighting a battle for our very existence, our survival, against an implacable foe who will never stop trying to defeat us. Every Huenyan, whether they are in the armed forces or not, is fighting this battle to build our nation and secure our freedom, every day. From those who teach our children, to those who grow our crops and stock our stores, to the parents who work hard every day for their kids and those whose work keeps our nation going, we are all fighting for the dream of Huenya in our own way."
Texōccoatl paused. "But those of you on the front lines are fighting to make sure the rest of us can keep that fight of ours going. You are fighting to protect us, and to protect that dream of an independent, united and free Huenya. The fight the rest of us are waging depends completely on the fight you wage every day on these battlefields. And it isn't just our dream you are protecting. On these front lines, you are standing as the shield between freedom and tyranny. You stand as the tan and green line that is protecting not just Huenya, but the entire world, from the gaze of the tyrant. Calhualyana and the Empire she leads seek to subject as many free people as possible to their horrific oppression. If Huenya falls, they won't stop with us. Our friends, our allies, and other free peoples will become the new victims, their countries the new front lines. We have already seen the result of that in Auria. We can't let that happen again, not to anyone else. We must not."
Texōccoatl raised his hands. "Huenya has not been given a challenge, in Calhualyana and her machinations. We have been given an opportunity. An opportunity to show the world that Huenyans earn their freedom. That Huenyans fight for their freedom, and that of everyone else. That Huenya will be the wall that restrains the tyrant and the despot, and that upholds the dream of democracy and liberty for millions of people. This is nothing less than a war between freedom and despotism itself, and the world is watching. What will you show them? Will you show them that tyranny will prevail because we could not withstand its challenge? Or will you show them that freedom always wins, and that Huenyans are the very exemplars of that spirit? Will you show them our strength, which lies in our unity and our liberty? As our Independence Day dawns tomorrow, what will you do on these front lines? For everything that is at stake, and everyone who is at risk, will you fight - and will you win?"
The answering roar from the crowd of soldiers drowned out anything else Texōccoatl might have said. The Great Speaker simply nodded, raising his hands in salute to his soldiers once more.
---
For those observing the fighting in eastern Huenya, after the speech by Texōccoatl, there was a clear shift in the winds of war. Where Huenyan forces had been falling back, they began to hold fast. Where they had managed to hold their lines, they began to push the separatists and mercenaries back. By the end of the day, the Huenyans had held off everything that could be thrown at them. They had held the line, as January 25th became January 26th.
Huenya's Independence Day had arrived.
8:00 am, Huenyan time
Tonauac rode his favorite horse, Ehecatl, enjoying the sun and warm weather around the Huenyan royal palace. The 12-year-old, like his father, had taken to riding at a young age. It was an archaic form of transportation in a modern world, but it was a tradition that had the added benefit of being entertaining.
The plains to the east of the palace were relatively undeveloped, as the palace was a good distance from the center of the city. Cresting a small rise, Tonauac could see the rapidly growing sprawl of western Chuaztlapoc, where the new government capital had been placed. As he enjoyed the scenery, he heard a slight rustle behind him. Two men were stepping out of a jeep marked with Huenyan Army insignia. The two soldiers stopped some distance from Tonauac, nodding respectfully. "Your Highness, there has been an emergency back at the palace with your mother. Your father has summoned you. Please come with me. Your horse will be taken back to the stables," one of the soldiers said, gesturing to the other.
Tonauac nodded, and was about to step down from his horse, when he had a thought. "You said my father summoned me. Is he not currently on the eastern front?"
The soldier paused, then quickly said "He returned to the palace due to the emergency. Please come quickly, there is not much time."
Tonauac began to get an uneasy feeling. Normally, the palace would only send Shorn Ones to retrieve him. He noticed a third soldier in the back of the jeep, staring expectantly at him. "I think I will ride back to the palace," he said, taking a firmer grip on the reins.
"There is not enough time! Your mother needs you, you must come with us now," the first soldier said, stepping forward as if to grab the reins. Tonauac's sense of alarm spiked. He shouted a command to Ehecatl, and the horse bolted westward. The soldier who had been speaking to him cursed, unholstering his pistol and firing at Ehecatl. With a sharp jerk of the reins, Tonauac managed to dodge the gunfire. Okay, yeah, those aren't soldiers, the Huenyan prince thought with a sinking feeling. He had to get back to the palace, somehow outrunning people in a vehicle. While his horse may have been slower, Tonauac did have one advantage: he didn't need to stick to roads.
As the men following him shouted angrily, Tonauac guided Ehecatl off the road into the rough plains. More gunfire followed, but again, he was able to dodge it. As he led his mount through the plains and small hills, the men in the jeep began to fall behind. Tonauac knew the land around the palace better than almost anyone, and all the short cuts it contained. Soon, the angry curses faded behind him. Within moments, the walls of Xochuaxte Palace rose into view. Ehecatl ran full speed through the gates, startling the guards.
In the front courtyard, his mother Tlalmaxxi had just emerged outside with several guards. "Son, are you okay? We heard gunshots," she asked, as the guards helped Tonauac off the horse. "I'm fine....but those people were shooting at me."
Tlalmaxxi's face twisted in a mixture of fear and anger as she rushed forward to envelop him in a hug. "Get out there and find whoever was after my son," she barked at the guards.
Prelude II: Northeastern Huenya, January 25th
8:00 am, Huenyan time
Texōccoatl was not, in fact, in Chuaztlapoc as Tonauac had suspected. The Great Speaker of Huenya would have run to his son as Tlalmaxxi had. But as the attempt to kidnap the future Huenyan monarch was happening, the present Huenyan monarch was dealing with a challenge of his own.
The broken cease-fire in eastern Huenya had sapped the morale of the Huenyan army. Even the famed Jaguar Warriors and Eagle Warriors were showing signs of being worn down, in the face of a relentless weeks-long assault by Xiomeran nationalists and their CSSC allies. If the Huenyan lines buckled, the separatists could seize the entire eastern coastline of Huenya, dealing a sharp blow to the Huenyan economy. The Canal Zone would be in jeopardy. And the efforts to rescue Xiomeran dissidents would grind to a complete halt.
The Huenyan lines could not break. They could not.
Texōccoatl was to give a speech to the troops on the eastern front, on the eve of the country's first Independence Day. The Great Speaker had thought long and hard about the speech. If Huenya was to hold the line, he needed to quite literally be a great speaker to raise the troops' morale and keep them in the fight.
As he stood on a dais, in front of thousands of his soldiers, others would be watching via the Huenyan military's television and internet channels. Texōccoatl wasted no time.
"As you all know, before events forced me into the role I now hold, I was once a soldier like you. In my heart, I still am. And indeed, all Huenyans must have the hearts of warriors. For we are fighting a battle for our very existence, our survival, against an implacable foe who will never stop trying to defeat us. Every Huenyan, whether they are in the armed forces or not, is fighting this battle to build our nation and secure our freedom, every day. From those who teach our children, to those who grow our crops and stock our stores, to the parents who work hard every day for their kids and those whose work keeps our nation going, we are all fighting for the dream of Huenya in our own way."
Texōccoatl paused. "But those of you on the front lines are fighting to make sure the rest of us can keep that fight of ours going. You are fighting to protect us, and to protect that dream of an independent, united and free Huenya. The fight the rest of us are waging depends completely on the fight you wage every day on these battlefields. And it isn't just our dream you are protecting. On these front lines, you are standing as the shield between freedom and tyranny. You stand as the tan and green line that is protecting not just Huenya, but the entire world, from the gaze of the tyrant. Calhualyana and the Empire she leads seek to subject as many free people as possible to their horrific oppression. If Huenya falls, they won't stop with us. Our friends, our allies, and other free peoples will become the new victims, their countries the new front lines. We have already seen the result of that in Auria. We can't let that happen again, not to anyone else. We must not."
Texōccoatl raised his hands. "Huenya has not been given a challenge, in Calhualyana and her machinations. We have been given an opportunity. An opportunity to show the world that Huenyans earn their freedom. That Huenyans fight for their freedom, and that of everyone else. That Huenya will be the wall that restrains the tyrant and the despot, and that upholds the dream of democracy and liberty for millions of people. This is nothing less than a war between freedom and despotism itself, and the world is watching. What will you show them? Will you show them that tyranny will prevail because we could not withstand its challenge? Or will you show them that freedom always wins, and that Huenyans are the very exemplars of that spirit? Will you show them our strength, which lies in our unity and our liberty? As our Independence Day dawns tomorrow, what will you do on these front lines? For everything that is at stake, and everyone who is at risk, will you fight - and will you win?"
The answering roar from the crowd of soldiers drowned out anything else Texōccoatl might have said. The Great Speaker simply nodded, raising his hands in salute to his soldiers once more.
---
For those observing the fighting in eastern Huenya, after the speech by Texōccoatl, there was a clear shift in the winds of war. Where Huenyan forces had been falling back, they began to hold fast. Where they had managed to hold their lines, they began to push the separatists and mercenaries back. By the end of the day, the Huenyans had held off everything that could be thrown at them. They had held the line, as January 25th became January 26th.
Huenya's Independence Day had arrived.
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