BootOnFace: Very perceptive. It's no accident that this dream comes back to her.
Beowulf: Heh, yeah. I only meant in this case that it was that green tea they drink a lot of in Asia. I don't think it'd be possible to poison Talena even if they wanted.
Razgriz: Something bad will happen soon....
Range: Thanks!
AdamClason: Expand until implosion will be quite apt in this case. What really happened...we'll see. It all becomes important in time, as it were.
blsteen: Yes, but not all the marines survive the battle or are in the one place when it happens. So the number will be less, but who knows who else might have come through? *Looks innocent*
For this one I just went on a suicide mission, wanting to blood China as much as possible. I reckon I did pretty damn well, as you'll see.
--------
MAWDAW I PART 3
XXX
24/7/1504
Talena awoke in the pale glow of dawn, and got up and headed onto the walls of the monastery. There she found Quan sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat, and staring out over the jungle.
“Awake early?” he asked, giving her a side-long glance.
“Yeah. I was just...remembering.” She sat near him and looked out over the same vista. “What would you do if could live forever?”
Quan was silent for a long moment. “Why do you ask? Do you feel as though you will?”
“It certainly feels like it.”
He did not question on that subject further, just nodded. “A man, be he peasant or king, has only a small time to make his mark, to be remembered and to achieve. Someone who never dies...would it be a curse or a gift, I wonder? A person who need not fear death has longer to make their mark, but even if it takes a hundred years what will they do next? And it would be dangerous if such a thing was used for tyranny.”
Talena closed her eyes and nodded. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything. I come from a land so far away that you cannot imagine, I have been everything. A prisoner, a warrior, an advisor, a wife, a criminal. But what now?”
Quan again was silent for a moment. “What is it that you would like to achieve?”
“World peace, cosmic harmony and a god-damned time machine home,” Talena said and laughed.
“Somewhat unobtainable items,” Quan commented. “If those are your goals then I can see why it is you would be unfulfilled in your life.”
“You don’t seem particularly surprised about what I am saying. Do you not believe me?”
“I may be a monk, and my personal world of travel has never extended more than fifty miles, but I am not a fool. I have known Lucille for many years now – and that is the curious thing. Sometimes she comes here weeks after she last arrived, and acts like it was only a day, and other times appears and does not remember the last time she was here. I know that something strange is with her...and you.”
Talena nodded. “I see. I suppose she is the only blonde woman on this continent for five thousand miles.”
“There is that also,” Quan conceded graciously. “But to return to our previous discussion; what does anyone do in life? You still have to choose a path for yourself, whatever it might be.”
“Yes, but that choice is not easy,” Talena said with a sigh.
“It is not meant to be easy. You can use such a power in three ways; to help only yourself, to help others, or to control them. Only you can choose which is the right path for you.”
It was as they were talking that a rider approached up the steep path to the monastery. He was dressed in full military outfit and approached the doors with a certain swagger. He even approached the doors and banged upon them with his scabbarded sword.
“Open in the name of the King!”
Talena followed Quan and some of the other monks down to the large entrance. A wicket gate was opened, and the man stepped through.
“I am here to proclaim that the King has most righteously declared war to reclaim lands that belong to us. He demands from you a tax of two hundred taels of silver as payment for the use of his land.” He flourished an official looking document.
There was silence. Talena wasn’t sure how much it was, but she could guess it was a lot. She also wondered just who it was that the King would declare war on, and how long it’d be before the warmongering attracted dangerous attention from others.
“We are mere monks, we do not have this type of money lying around! The King has always been most generous in insisting we are exempt from all taxation!” the Lama said.
“The times have changed. The Kingdom is in a battle for its very existence, and there is no time for you to skulk here. If you will not give me the money, then I will take it by force.”
As he spoke a column of soldiers appeared at the bottom of the slope and begun to approach. They were well armed and seemed in no mood to give in to niceties.
“Such sacrilege is-“ the Lama begun.
He was interrupted by the cavalryman’s sword, which swept out of its scabbard and was held pointed at the monk.
“The King has commanded it, and any who oppose are traitors whose only punishment is death.”
Talena eyed the soldiers, at least fifty of them, and then looked at the monks. She knew instantly that they would not try to fight. If she attempted to intervene then it’d do no good. They might well come back with an army and raze the place. This powerlessness made her feel angry, and as she was about to push her way forward no matter the consequences she felt a hand gently holding her arm. It was Quan, and she subsided.
“You must understand that we do not have that much cash,” the Lama was saying.
“How much can you provide?” the cavalryman asked.
“Perhaps one hundred, but you may look over this place for yourself. We have nothing more without melting down the bells, and that is an act of impiety and a stain on the soul.”
“Very well. Collect your money. You are wise to follow the King’s orders.”
An hour later the soldiers were gone, and the temple was much poorer.
Talena herself was standing looking out at the jungle below, not entirely sure what to do. She’d heard nothing from this mysterious Lucille, a war had begun, and she had a feeling that it’d be a very good idea not to become involved. And yet...she wasn’t sure what to do. Was it her job to try and help people or merely to observe?
Quan joined her at the rampart. “You are troubled, yes?”
“Yes. I’m not sure what to do. I could have fought them.”
“At what cost? Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
“True, I guess.”
Talena sighed. She’d been having such a good time here too!
XXX
There are many possible reasons for Mawdaw’s declaration of war on Khmer over the disputed region of Udong. His mental health, his desire for glory, his belief that Khmer’s allies wouldn’t aid them. Whatever the reasons, but also out of complete stupidity the King started the war. The problem was not Khmer, a smaller nation than Pegu, but rather the massive, looming threat of Ming China.
The Chinese had expanded their power mightily in the last decades, and now controlled as far south as the Malay peninsula, as far west as Tibet and as far north as Siberia. They had guaranteed Khmer’s independence a decade before, and when word reached them of the war the Emperor ordered his armies to join in.
Thus over 130,000 Chinese soldiers would shortly be involved against an enemy a tenth of the size of them. However, if they expected a quick war they would be quickly disabused of the notion.
What followed was a bloody, horrific war in which the minnow of Pegu fought against the giant predator of China. The King, driven by his mad desire to confirm the loyalty of his subjects, and a need to fight against all reason, was in the forefront of every battle. He ordered the systematic torching and slighting of all villages in the path of the advancing enemy, he ordered his people to deny the Chinese anything.
And into the often impassable jungles of Burma the Chinese found a ravaged countryside and suffered from terrible losses. These soldiers, often peasants and nobles from the plains of central China had no experience with the horrific conditions. The war dragged on with thousands of soldiers dying every week to suppress an enemy that appeared from the jungles to raid and destroy before retreating once more.
It was a war that promised to be long and bloody.