[KoJ] Chapter 88: The Weak-Strong Dilemma

Ceph and I left Sruthland not long after their communications broke down. Whether it was something she’d intuited from the prisoner, or the entire scenario changed her mind about something, I’m not sure. She said that our plans were changing, and we would be heading east. Towards the broken cities she’d originally wanted to hide from me. Her reasoning was something about wanting me to meet someone.

It sounded rather unconvincing, but I have no complaints about finally seeing how true sapient battles play out. I still don’t really understand why they bother the portian, áinfean, or anyone as weak as them, when they have people like that ice mage I fought. A million of these people wouldn’t stain the scales on one like her.

For the first few hours, we followed the soldiers’ trucks. Likely because Ceph wanted to make sure the commander didn’t turn around and attack the áinfean and portians the moment we turned away.

It was somewhat disappointing to leave little Pere amongst the unsettled crowd. While some celebrated the soldiers’ departure, many were left concerned by the uncertain future that awaited them. The áinfean young was left oblivious to her elders’ worries. She’d simply smiled and waved at my departure while the rest stood and glared at those we left with.

The whole discussion was a great learning experience. Though, none besides myself likely think of it that way. It is interesting that these groups of sapients can disagree so intently, and still walk away without killing the other. Sure, Ceph was a deterrent, but the idea of a mediator was not something that had parallels amongst animals lacking sapience.

At most, it was like a parent stopping their hatchlings from biting each other, but there was a difference in severity that divided them. The overzealous play of some chicks can not be compared to the vicious contest of territory. Anything strong enough to get between that fight, will either hunt both or the contestants would flee. Only in a sapient culture can the strong do more than just kill and destroy.

It is an interesting lesson, and one I will pursue further… after the Beyond brings Scia back to me.

Maybe I can find a place amongst these sapients as a mediator. One day. For now, I’d much rather concern myself with the lessons these people have to teach me without muddying the teachings with my interference.

Now knowing that the presence of a powerful observer has more effects on sapients than simply scaring them off, I decide its for the best that I stay small and avoid revealing my strength. The last thing I want is for a fight to cease because they noticed my presence.

And a sapient battle is something I’ll finally get to witness!

I’ve gotten so used to Ceph when she gets unsettled that I barely notice when it happens again. But this time is different. Her head is taller. Each tentacles move with purpose. And she doesn’t hesitate to make decisions. When we were to leave the lake town, Ceph showed a determination and resolution I’d not seen in her up until that point.

She looked like she was in the middle of a hunt. Still does.

It is a confidence I am thankful for, as her prisoner no longer needs to suffer. With the áinfean and portian long behind us, and the soldiers now rolling out of sight ahead, she gives the bound woman one last chance to spill her knowledge.

“If you give me what I want, we can make this work. If not, well I cannot afford to carry around an unwilling prisoner.”

The albanic didn’t react. The only indication she’d heard at all was the slight clenching of her jaw.

Ceph sighs, her eyes sliding around beneath the soft membrane of her head until they land on me. The orbs hold firm, but it is clear she’s contemplating something. “Orm, you can eat her if you want. Otherwise, I’ll have to leave her corpse in the forest.”

Well, if she’s to die either way, I’ll eat. Slithering forward, and growing just enough, my body forces Ceph’s enemy to finally look up. Fear gives way to despair. An expression of resignation crosses her face only after a jerk of her broken arms sends a spark of lightning down her spine. In one smooth motion, I bite into her spine and twist her neck. She succumbs quickly. A brief choking noise is the only thing to escape her throat before death takes her.

As I swallow her still-warm corpse, her flavour is washed away by the distasteful act. She was sapient. She had already been defeated long before I sunk my teeth into her. It was cruel, and extended the pain of the hunted far beyond reason. I can tell myself that I was putting an end to her agony; that if I didn’t, then the animals of the forest certainly would, but it should have never reached this point. Ceph didn’t end up getting the knowledge she wanted, so it was pointless.

My dohrni guide watches on with an unreadable expression. She doesn’t say anything, or react visibly, but her eyes never leave me as I swallow the body of what was a person whole.

The albanic isn’t even filling.

“Please don’t think you need to bring another creature from the Other Side as trade,” Ceph says once I’m done. “For such an enhanced body, we would usually find a mage to help us consume its energy, but I don’t have the time right now.”

Ceph turns east, ready to move off the road and ignore the death of the albanic as if it had never happened. As if the extended pain she’d put another sapient through was just part of any other day. It irks me. I don’t follow.

“You will never do this again,” I say, shrinking down to size. Despite my intent to stay out of the sapients’ way of doing things, this isn’t something I can allow. “If you hunt, then hunt. If you contest and clash for territory, then kill as needed. But this? I cannot allow prolonged suffering of those you have already defeated.”

She freezes. I haven’t inlaid my speech with presence, but this is the first time I’ve made demands. With the strength I hold over her, she cannot refuse. In a way, I am instilling that same rule of the world that I’ve always hated when at the bottom end of it. But for this? I don’t care for a bit of hypocrisy. Ceph understands immediately that this isn’t some idle request.

“No torture. Got it.” She nods, the large sphere of her head bobbing up and down far more than her usual slight tilt. After a moment where the panic slips from her expression slightly, she asks for clarification. “Do prisoners count in that? War tends to have a lot of prisoners who have to be restrained after being defeated in battle so that they don’t just run back to help the enemy.”

Immediately I find my comprehension lacking. Surely if you’ve beaten them before, it should be easy to do again… but thinking on it deeper, the strength of numbers — as these sapients tend to employ — differs majorly from my experience. At first, I would have said it was just straight up worse. If a single strong predator has to fight ten prey, then the ten prey know they will lose individually and will run. I’d assumed with sapients, it would be the same. Instead, the predator doesn’t need to fight just those ten, it needs to keep fighting the prey that limped away, then comes back after licking its wounds.

It might even be closer to fighting a battle against fifty.

The strength of numbers isn’t in overwhelming a single strong opponent, but extending the battle beyond what they can handle. The sapients’ struggle for territory has two sides that fight with this tactic. No wonder the war hasn’t concluded since I’ve risen from beneath the surface; their fights are designed to extend as long as possible. With all the people living in the hives Ceph has shown me already, I can only imagine the length the war will go on for.

So… why take prisoners in the first place?

Ceph’s recent struggles make it clear that managing the captives takes time away from those who would probably be better suited in the fight. While it would keep their enemies away from rejoining the fight, they were cutting into their own strength to do so.

“Why not kill them? Why take prisoners at all?”

Ceph’s tentacle rises to scratch at the side of her head as she ponders the question. “Well, information, primarily.” She avoids eye contact. “It is also a useful political tool. Mostly for trades. But a major factor — and unofficial — is that we accept surrenders so that the Henosis will. Wars are deadly enough as they are; we don’t need the unenhanced going on suicide charges when they have already lost.”

I nod in understanding at that. A cornered animal is always more dangerous.

“Those unofficial protections don’t extend upwards, though,” Ceph continued. “People like myself are much harder to pin down and keep contained. It is also strategically unwise to let the enemy elite survive in any circumstances. Not that politicians would ever be able to settle for a balanced trade between us. The only reason the enhanced are captured in the first place is information.”

Ceph’s eyes slide back to the earth a few metres behind us, then over my scales.

“It is an unfortunate reality we all understand. That Henosis soldier knew her chances of survival were slim. Just as the same would be true for me if I were to be captured. While the unenhanced have their role in war, they are not so threatening that their continued existence is unacceptable by the other nation.”

I think on it for a short while. Despite Ceph’s previous impatience, she calmly waits as I stare into the dirt.

Ideally, the strong shouldn’t trample the weak. For the longest time, that had been my own folly. I’d hated the Titan that destroyed my home, even though I knew it was stronger and could do what it wanted, yet I never applied that to the things beneath me. They were beneath me, after all.

Now, I see things differently. I am strong, and if I can, I’d like to make sure I’m not trampling on the homes of those below me. But should I encourage others to take on the same stance when they have legitimate reasons for their trampling.

All my life, I’ve only ever really known battles to be won or lost decisively. I either eat, or my prey escapes. Victory or defeat. Never have I witnessed a battle that takes more than an entire sleep cycle — a month — to conclude. Assuming it is even close to over. For sides to be this evenly matched, every little strength they can gain over their opponent helps.

If they consider this amassing of prisoners to be worthwhile to improve their situation, then sure. But the intentional extension of agony — regardless of reason — I won’t stand.

I nod. “Prisoners, but no torture.”

How I am supposed to enforce this, I don’t know. I would need to make myself clear for both Ceph’s people, and Henosis, but to do that, I will have to interfere with what I want to learn from. Will it affect what it can teach me. Once they all know of my presence, will they change how they act?

“But for now, I just don’t want to see you torture,” I say. “Don’t ask anything that might reveal me.”

With that said, I settle down on the soft cushion of her head to avoid any eyes that might happen to see me flying. Even if I can extend my sight when I need to, these light-seers have an unlimited range. If true-sight wasn’t still the best, I’d say it was unfair.

Ceph’s eyes squint slightly. The sign of a smile for her race. She doesn’t do it often, so I am surprised to see it despite the fact I essentially just used my strength to force her to act a certain way. The smile doesn’t last though. Her gaze hardens, and she turns away from me. An unfamiliar expression of pain crossed with determination crosses her face as she focuses on the far east.

“You don’t mind if I pick up the speed? I have some people I need to apologise to.” She pauses. “I regret some of the things I’ve done, and it feels like the guilt isn’t about to leave anytime soon.”

“Oh, good,” I say. “You’ve been slow until now. I thought that was your normal.” Who could she want to apologise to? “That team of yours?”

Ceph nodded, and immediately fell into a sprint. Her tentacles whipped over the surface so quickly she left small craters where each touched.

She was still slow.

Next Chapter