Leonardo's Invention
It was a rare sunny day in the Forest of Isis, just a few miles south-west from the outskirts of Thebes. The summer of Kingdom Year 2322 was in full swing, and the large clearing where the strange contraptions stood was filled with bird and human voices. Princes Azuria couldn't tell what purpose could these machines serve, or tell what the mock-up wooden army on the other side of the clearing was for, but she could definitely smell brimstone in the air. That was at least a bit curious.
"I have answered your summons, sister," she said, approaching Cleopatra and her staff, including her sister's all too pampered advisor, Leonardo. "But what about that ridiculous suggestion to wear armor?"
The Queen shrugged, her perfect-fit plate mail making almost no sound at all. "Glad you were able to make it here," she adressed Azuria coldly.
"Like I had any choice, after you took my command of the fleet away," the princess squinted her eyes.
"Oh, the fleet." Queen's voice was dismissive. "Morningstars are history. You aren't exactly fit for coast guard duty."
These words stung, even if Azuria understood the truth behind them. Her beloved fire ships, reduced to coast guard. Back then, onboard her flagship, stationed in Busiris, she was planning to defy the orders and attack Japan again, but, in the end, she relinquished the command, hiding her disappointment behind a mask of contempt and indifference. The constant improvements in foreign shipbuilding and navigation turned Morningstars from fast and deadly predators into lumbering husks of wood.
"Princess Azuria!" Leonardo da Vinci bowed, dressed in plate armor as well, only much less ornate than Cleopatra's. "I am so delighted you were able to join us for this little presentation! However, I have asked everyone involved to employ protective measures, as I can't guarantee..."
Azuria scowled. She hated this man. "Fool! Nobody is going to tell me what I should be wearing! I'd prefer walking around naked than to dress in one of those stupid iron shells!"
Cleopatra raised her hand and squinted her eyes at Azuria. There was no hatred in this gaze, just immense coldness, that reminded the Princess of the frozen seas of Japan.
"Leonardo da Vinci. So far, all the investments I've made in you have paid of handsomely," began the Queen, more for ears of Azuria and gathered dukes and generals than Leonardo's. "From intricate plate armor to ingenious siege engines, countless improvements flowing from your Workshop turned the Egyptian army into a peerless war machine. Yet, only what we're about to witness today is supposed to be the pinnacle of your work, right?"
Azuria rolled her eyes, while Leonardo nodded eagerly.
"Oh yes, Your Majesty. The inspiration was sparked by Napoleon's secret research of explosive powder. He hasn't deployed this new technology yet, to keep it as an ace in his sleeve. I was not only able to reproduce French results, but improve upon them, and while I'm sure they're developing similar devices now, we have overtaken them considerably. Not only that, but while they are simply trying to develop bigger versions of their hand-held weapons, I've already taken it several steps further... as you're going to witness in just few moments."
Cleopatra gestured to proceed, then asked, over the sound of a dozen helmet visors being shut: "What are they called again?"
"Cannons."
"LIGHT THE FUSES!"
To the deafening sound, the hellish contraptions spat fire, and almost instantaneously, a series of explosions shook the ground, tearing half of the mock-up army to pieces in a blink of an eye, splintered wood flying in all directions. Never before in the history of mankind so much destruction was unleashed with so little effort.
Leonardo chuckled with relief; none of the cannons misfired or exploded, the demonstration was proceeding flawlessly. Azuria, still blinking, stupified, felt a slight sting on her forehead. She felt around there with her hand, only to see blood on her fingers.
"YOU..." she said in Leonardo's direction, rage overwhelming her stupor. "You're going to pay with your head for this...!" She moved to skever the hateful man with her saber, only to be stricken by Cleopatra's armored gauntlet. The princess dropped flat on her ass, feeling more blood in her mouth, but the humiliation burned much worse than physical pain.
Cleopatra turned to the rest of the gathered crowd.
"If anyone else than my royal sister dared to raise their hand against this man, they would face slow death by burning. Is that clear?"
Everyone knew she wasn't joking. Azuria knew her older sister tried to protect shreds of her younger sister's dignity, but she was blind with rage none the less. Still, she managed to keep a straight face and stand up with as much dignity as she could muster. Not here, not now, but someone was going to pay dearly for this, she promised herself.
The demonstration continued, the incident almost forgotten in the wake of all the remaining wonders Leonardo presented this day. Multi-barreled cannons that mowed down whole formations of wooden soldiers; short barreled bombards loaded with incendiary grenades; grapnel shot, causing widespread destruction at short ranges.
"If I only had some of those on my Morningstars, maybe they could..." said Azuria.
"It's pointless," answered Leonardo, clearly being in Queen's favour now. "The design itself is outdated, the ship too slow and too cumbersome to make good use of this new weapon."
"Then how about those... Caravels?" She spat out the word like it was a curse. Surely, not only the Japanese were building Caravels now, the Egyptians learned how to build those ships a while ago now, but for Azuria, they were the hateful symbol of the demise of her fleet's importance.
"Sure, we can mount some light weapons of this type on Caravels, and we will be doing so, but such ships are simply too small, and their construction couldn't bear the stress of a heavy cannon, so we can't unleash full potential of these new weapons with Caravels either."
"I'm sure," said Cleopatra in a strangely grave tone, "that you have already came up with something to overcome this limitation?"
"Of course!" smiled Leonardo. "I've already started work on a new generation of ships, far larger and sturdier than anything built before. Carrying a hundred cannons each, their destructive power will be unmatched!"
"You must realize where this deadly race you started will eventually lead us..."
"Hey, don't blame the scientist! I merely developed what you wanted, Your Majesty! If it wasn't me, somebody else would!"
"Yes... I have anticipaded such an answer," said Cleopatra.
"Truly!" said General Imhothep, cutting into the conversation. "Let those southern barbarians have their useless inventions! Knowledge to the people, hah! They're already paying for this with peasant unrest! It's we, of the North, who are the masters of death!"
"Indeed we are," said the Queen, her dark gaze looking at the distant horizon. "Indeed we are."
Azuria felt immense relief when she finally disembarked her personal Caravel. She made it back to her new palace in tropical Busiris, leaving the dark and incomprehensible excitement of the royal court far behind, along with the Theban rains and mists. That, and Lia awaited her here, perhaps the only friend she ever had. Immortals were few and far between, and all the others she knew were too appaled or scared of Azuria to even approach her.
"They all went insane, Lia. I feel out of place there. No, not with Big Sis being my superior, and certainly not with that hateful man around. I should probably order his death once he finishes this new ship design. He'd been around for too long already..."
"Hey, Azu, stop it now, would you? Stop tormenting yourself over and over again. You have a vacation now, make the most of it!"
"Uh, what...?"
"Fun! Do you know what it is?"
"Lia, I have no t-... what...?"
"Oh, I like this face so much better."
It was a rare sunny day in the Forest of Isis, just a few miles south-west from the outskirts of Thebes. The summer of Kingdom Year 2322 was in full swing, and the large clearing where the strange contraptions stood was filled with bird and human voices. Princes Azuria couldn't tell what purpose could these machines serve, or tell what the mock-up wooden army on the other side of the clearing was for, but she could definitely smell brimstone in the air. That was at least a bit curious.
"I have answered your summons, sister," she said, approaching Cleopatra and her staff, including her sister's all too pampered advisor, Leonardo. "But what about that ridiculous suggestion to wear armor?"
The Queen shrugged, her perfect-fit plate mail making almost no sound at all. "Glad you were able to make it here," she adressed Azuria coldly.
"Like I had any choice, after you took my command of the fleet away," the princess squinted her eyes.
"Oh, the fleet." Queen's voice was dismissive. "Morningstars are history. You aren't exactly fit for coast guard duty."
These words stung, even if Azuria understood the truth behind them. Her beloved fire ships, reduced to coast guard. Back then, onboard her flagship, stationed in Busiris, she was planning to defy the orders and attack Japan again, but, in the end, she relinquished the command, hiding her disappointment behind a mask of contempt and indifference. The constant improvements in foreign shipbuilding and navigation turned Morningstars from fast and deadly predators into lumbering husks of wood.
"Princess Azuria!" Leonardo da Vinci bowed, dressed in plate armor as well, only much less ornate than Cleopatra's. "I am so delighted you were able to join us for this little presentation! However, I have asked everyone involved to employ protective measures, as I can't guarantee..."
Azuria scowled. She hated this man. "Fool! Nobody is going to tell me what I should be wearing! I'd prefer walking around naked than to dress in one of those stupid iron shells!"
Cleopatra raised her hand and squinted her eyes at Azuria. There was no hatred in this gaze, just immense coldness, that reminded the Princess of the frozen seas of Japan.
"Leonardo da Vinci. So far, all the investments I've made in you have paid of handsomely," began the Queen, more for ears of Azuria and gathered dukes and generals than Leonardo's. "From intricate plate armor to ingenious siege engines, countless improvements flowing from your Workshop turned the Egyptian army into a peerless war machine. Yet, only what we're about to witness today is supposed to be the pinnacle of your work, right?"
Azuria rolled her eyes, while Leonardo nodded eagerly.
"Oh yes, Your Majesty. The inspiration was sparked by Napoleon's secret research of explosive powder. He hasn't deployed this new technology yet, to keep it as an ace in his sleeve. I was not only able to reproduce French results, but improve upon them, and while I'm sure they're developing similar devices now, we have overtaken them considerably. Not only that, but while they are simply trying to develop bigger versions of their hand-held weapons, I've already taken it several steps further... as you're going to witness in just few moments."
Cleopatra gestured to proceed, then asked, over the sound of a dozen helmet visors being shut: "What are they called again?"
"Cannons."
"LIGHT THE FUSES!"
To the deafening sound, the hellish contraptions spat fire, and almost instantaneously, a series of explosions shook the ground, tearing half of the mock-up army to pieces in a blink of an eye, splintered wood flying in all directions. Never before in the history of mankind so much destruction was unleashed with so little effort.
Leonardo chuckled with relief; none of the cannons misfired or exploded, the demonstration was proceeding flawlessly. Azuria, still blinking, stupified, felt a slight sting on her forehead. She felt around there with her hand, only to see blood on her fingers.
"YOU..." she said in Leonardo's direction, rage overwhelming her stupor. "You're going to pay with your head for this...!" She moved to skever the hateful man with her saber, only to be stricken by Cleopatra's armored gauntlet. The princess dropped flat on her ass, feeling more blood in her mouth, but the humiliation burned much worse than physical pain.
Cleopatra turned to the rest of the gathered crowd.
"If anyone else than my royal sister dared to raise their hand against this man, they would face slow death by burning. Is that clear?"
Everyone knew she wasn't joking. Azuria knew her older sister tried to protect shreds of her younger sister's dignity, but she was blind with rage none the less. Still, she managed to keep a straight face and stand up with as much dignity as she could muster. Not here, not now, but someone was going to pay dearly for this, she promised herself.
The demonstration continued, the incident almost forgotten in the wake of all the remaining wonders Leonardo presented this day. Multi-barreled cannons that mowed down whole formations of wooden soldiers; short barreled bombards loaded with incendiary grenades; grapnel shot, causing widespread destruction at short ranges.
"If I only had some of those on my Morningstars, maybe they could..." said Azuria.
"It's pointless," answered Leonardo, clearly being in Queen's favour now. "The design itself is outdated, the ship too slow and too cumbersome to make good use of this new weapon."
"Then how about those... Caravels?" She spat out the word like it was a curse. Surely, not only the Japanese were building Caravels now, the Egyptians learned how to build those ships a while ago now, but for Azuria, they were the hateful symbol of the demise of her fleet's importance.
"Sure, we can mount some light weapons of this type on Caravels, and we will be doing so, but such ships are simply too small, and their construction couldn't bear the stress of a heavy cannon, so we can't unleash full potential of these new weapons with Caravels either."
"I'm sure," said Cleopatra in a strangely grave tone, "that you have already came up with something to overcome this limitation?"
"Of course!" smiled Leonardo. "I've already started work on a new generation of ships, far larger and sturdier than anything built before. Carrying a hundred cannons each, their destructive power will be unmatched!"
"You must realize where this deadly race you started will eventually lead us..."
"Hey, don't blame the scientist! I merely developed what you wanted, Your Majesty! If it wasn't me, somebody else would!"
"Yes... I have anticipaded such an answer," said Cleopatra.
"Truly!" said General Imhothep, cutting into the conversation. "Let those southern barbarians have their useless inventions! Knowledge to the people, hah! They're already paying for this with peasant unrest! It's we, of the North, who are the masters of death!"
"Indeed we are," said the Queen, her dark gaze looking at the distant horizon. "Indeed we are."
Azuria felt immense relief when she finally disembarked her personal Caravel. She made it back to her new palace in tropical Busiris, leaving the dark and incomprehensible excitement of the royal court far behind, along with the Theban rains and mists. That, and Lia awaited her here, perhaps the only friend she ever had. Immortals were few and far between, and all the others she knew were too appaled or scared of Azuria to even approach her.
"They all went insane, Lia. I feel out of place there. No, not with Big Sis being my superior, and certainly not with that hateful man around. I should probably order his death once he finishes this new ship design. He'd been around for too long already..."
"Hey, Azu, stop it now, would you? Stop tormenting yourself over and over again. You have a vacation now, make the most of it!"
"Uh, what...?"
"Fun! Do you know what it is?"
"Lia, I have no t-... what...?"
"Oh, I like this face so much better."
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