Majestatis, Vespasian and his forces were stunned to find that there were in fact no “mines” at all. Instead, the gold lay all about for the taking, the earth humbly offering up her treasures without demanding a great struggle of any kind.
Gold nuggets-the smallest among them easily the size of man’s hand-could be seen lying atop the Alarik River bed, their bright yellow color waving temptingly up through the rushing water. More gold could be found in countless veins that reached up the mountainsides, their vast wealth easily dislodged with the craft to tumble down the hillsides and land literally at the legionnaires’ feet. The pickings were easy, and seemed too good to be true. No matter from what source the gold came, more was found beneath it.
As best the Rustannicans could tell, these amazing deposits abounded for the entire length of the valley. Vespasian could easily understand why guarding this place was so difficult for the Shashidans. Because the valley was so huge, protecting it would require the presence of so many katsugai mosota that few would be left to fight the war. And because the gold fields lay so deep in Shashidan territory, an attack on them was highly unexpected. Even so, there had been many katsugai mosota here. Killing them had come at a cost, but not so great as to stop Vespasian’s legions from ruling the day.
After dispatching the enemy, Vespasian’s legions set to work harvesting the golden bounty that so temptingly presented itself. As an incentive to speed the task, he issued a decree that every legionnaire who survived and returned home at the end of the campaign would share in the plunder.
Hundreds of thousands of men toiled at picking up the gold, their sweating, bent backs stretching away toward each end of the valley as far as the eye could see. War tents by the thousands stood along the riverbank, forming an impromptu city made of canvas. The southerly flowing Alarik ran particularly fast through the valley, making Vespasian’s planned use of his barges to ferry the gold upstream largely unworkable. Even so, many tons of gold had already been sent home to Ellistium by way of the azure portals, and more was leaving Shashida by the minute.
Despite this place’s obvious temptations, a great danger lay here, and Vespasian knew it. The very idea of his army being enclosed in a valley was a military nightmare. If the Shashidans closed off both ends of the Vallesis Majestatis, his forces’ only avenue of escape would be the azure portals, which in turn would mean abandoning the gold fields. Unless his trapped legions escaped by portal, the barbaric katsugai mosota would come charging down the valley from both ends, trapping Vespasian’s legions in the middle. In hopes of preventing an attack inside the valley, he had sent three legions to guard each valley entrance. As his worries taunted him, Vespasian was soon reminded of a famous military tenet. No man fights so hard as he who defends his homeland, he remembered. If and when the katsugai arrived in force, they would fight very hard indeed.
Vespasian turned to see Lucius and Persephone approaching. The First Tribune held a wax diptych in one hand. Smiling broadly, he removed his helmet and placed it under one arm. Persephone came to her husband’s side and looped one arm though his.
“It goes amazingly well, my liege,” Lucius said, handing the diptych to Vespasian.
“Is this the latest count?” the emperor asked.
Lucius nodded. “Even so, it grows by the moment! The gold deposits are staggering in their abundance! It seems that no matter how much we take, more always lies beneath, ripe for the picking!”
Vespasian opened the diptych and he ran his eyes down the single page. As expected, the report was in Gracchus’ handwriting. Even the emperor was stunned by what it said.
The amount of gold already sent home to Ellistium was greater than the largest amount that had ever existed in her treasury. At this rate, in mere days the empire’s coffers would hold a nearly incomprehensible amount. Vespasian smiled as he realized that the Rustannican imperial mint would be stamping new coins for decades or longer, and that each coin would bear his likeness.
Despite the encouraging tally, as Vespasian looked around the valley again his expression saddened. Unable to understand why, Persephone gave her husband a questioning look.
“What troubles you, my love?” she asked. “In only a few more days we will have sent more gold home than we could ever have imagined! Who knew that it would be so easily harvested? Your campaign is a towering success!”
“Perhaps,” he answered. “Even so, our problems have not ended.” Vespasian shook his head.
“It’s thisplace, Persephone,” he said quietly. “We must tarry here because the gold lies here. But as a military stronghold, this valley is a nightmare. We must soon decide how long to stay and loot the fields, because every moment that passes brings us that much closer to engaging the Shashidans. If they somehow close off both ends of the valley-”
“A necessary gamble, my liege,” Lucius said. “We have legions posted at both the northern and southern valley entrances. At the first sign of the Shashidans, our forces will engage them, and they will personally inform us by way of one of the azure portals. You may put your entire trust in them. They have never failed us.”
“I know, I know,” Vespasian answered, rubbing his brow. His heart was filled with a strange blend of euphoria and impending doom, and the conflicting emotions showed on his face. “It’s not a matter of whether the Shashidans come, but when. They’ll divide their forces, then try to seal off both ends of the valley, I’m sure of it.”
“How can you be so certain?” Persephone asked.
“Because that’s what I would do,” Vespasian answered grimly. “A schoolchild could grasp its effectiveness! But there’s more to my worries. Being imprisoned between these imposing peaks makes me wonder whether our campaign plan should be changed.”
“To what end?” Lucius asked.
“Persephone said it best,” Vespasian answered. “Because we can simply pluck the gold from nature as one might harvest fruit from a tree, our work proceeds exceedingly fast. Soon we will have sent more gold home to Ellistium than we ever dreamed possible. Perhaps we should then abandon this valley and move on, for it is too far away from home for us to hold as conquered territory. I long for the maneuvering room that only being away from these imposing peaks can afford. Here in this valley we toil like rats in a trap.”
“There is little else that we can do for now,” Lucius said. “I suggest that we review the process for sending the gold home. More than anything else, it will remind us why we ventured into this barbaric land.”
Letting go a short smile, Vespasian nodded. “Very well,” he said to Lucius. “Lead on.”
The trio sauntered along the Alarik toward one of the many staging areas where the gold was being weighed and the sums tallied before being shipped home. Many such stations lay up and down the length of the valley. Despite the hundreds of thousands of eager legionnaires working away, Vespasian knew that even if his forces toiled here for months, they couldn’t harvest a fraction of the massive Shashidan deposits. Although their take would be vast, in a strange way that knowledge also disheartened him.
In the end, what will we have accomplished? he wondered as he walked. No matter how much gold his legions took from this place, the amount would be finite. He could imagine the imperial coffers back in Ellistium full to overflowing as never before. But for how long would the plunder last?
Unless he struck Shashida a fatal blow here and now, not even thePon Q’tar could predict how long the War of Attrition might continue. Given the great wealth of this valley, Shashida might be able to finance her war needs endlessly. Soldiers and weapons of war were replaceable, up to a point. But because Rustannica’s indigenous gold deposits were nearing depletion, Rustannica could again become a victim of her own successes, and even the stolen gold reserves would one day be used up.
Taking Ryoto was the key, he knew. If he could kill the members of theChikara Inkai and the Kokkai Kokumen, the total defeat of Shashida would soon follow. But how much gold should be harvested before he ordered this valley abandoned? And when he did, in what direction should he send his legions-homeward to safety, or onward toward Ryoto and an uncertain future?
At first his goal had been only to send as much gold as possible to Ellistium, then retreat homeward to fight this war another day and with vastly renewed strength. But no Rustannican force in history had advanced this close to Ryoto. Taking the Shashidan capital was so tempting that he knew he must strategize only with his head, not his heart. Then Vespasian smiled wryly as he remembered that being on campaign was always a far different and far uglier thing than was proposing it to the Suffragat in the luxurious surroundings of the Aedifficium.
Were his legions’ recent successes due to luck, he wondered, or were the Shashidans cleverly drawing him in? Now that his new gifts had been realized and Ryoto lay before him, should he continue this fight to its finish? That was what Gracchus wanted. And what of theJin’Sai? he wondered. If Tristan reached Shashida, he was
