Please tell me, father, why we keep going to war? It never works, and all that happens is we lose the ones we love most. -- Anon Guest
"That's the trick of it, my lad," said King Gerhardt. "They also lose the ones they love the most. Make them pay for killing ours, eh? Balance the scales a bit. We must remember the pain they caused us so that we can claim our vengeance."
Prince Ethelbert frowned at the concept as he looked over the battle plan between them. "Remember the atrocity they did to us that justifies the atrocity we are about to do to them? And so on, huzzah[1]?"
King Gerhardt clapped his son on the shoulder. "Exactly right! We may be fighting and endless and pointless war, but our descendants can only justify all of it if we win!" The precision of this statement seemed to slip right past the King, even though he was the one who said it.
Prince Ethelbert tried to see if anyone else had heard. "That's... not the usual line. You all heard the words, right? Every one of them?"
Advisor Kreen pointed to a mountain that was fast turning into an array of craters. "This mountain was once treasured by our ancient ancestors as both a sacred site and a valued source of iron and gold. Naturally, we must destroy it because the enemy also values it as both a sacred site and a valued source of iron and gold."
Only Prince Ethelbert said, "It's been mined out centuries ago! If any gods are still there, then they have to be ones immune to explosions. Besides, it's hardly a mountain, any more. It's more like a pile of rubble that both sides are blasting into oblivion."
"Precisely. We need more gunpowder. That's our sacred mountain and we have the right to blow it up first."
"Is anybody listening to what's being said?" wondered Prince Ethelbert.
Someone sighed. Someone who should not have been there. They were a very faint presence, but Ethelbert could see them anyway. A wispy figure, slightly feminine and somehow very very tired.
"They only hear what they want to hear," she said. "I thought throwing a gigantic zone of truth over both realms would work but..." another weary sigh. "Truth only works on those willing to hear it."
Ethelbert didn't raise any fuss over the presence of a woman in the war room. Those effected most were never allowed in the room where the decisions were being made. He simply said, "Who are you?"
"I'm the goddess of sense and honesty," she said. "That used to be my sacred peak." Despite her faint presence, she had glowing eyes. "I need a believer. I need a champion. Can you... will you... fight for sense and honesty?"
"It is a need I can see plain," said Ethelbert. "My wits, my words, my arms and armaments are yours."
"Excellent," the figure grew just that little bit more visible and less ghostly. "Now. With all due care and caution, I charge you to go to my mountain and cut the damn fuses."
It made perfect sense. The sappers couldn't blow up the remains of the sacred mount if the fuses were missing or otherwise destroyed. Ethelbert didn't need shining armour or, in fact, most of his battle garb. Just enough to keep body and soul together. Oh, and a pair of scissors.
Scrabbling around on the blasted stones, he met with another rogue in the bare basics. Also carrying a pair of scissors and an ever-growing coil of fuse cord. There was a tense moment as each of them realised the other was wearing basic armour emblazoned with the sigil of the enemy.
Ethelbert decided on the cause he was fighting for. "I was sent here by the goddess of this mountain to end the war."
The lady with the scissors said, "Same. You won't tell anyone you saw me here, right?"
"Only if you don't tell anyone about me."
"Deal."
The Prince Ethelbert shook hands with the Princess Bibijana. Enemies on the field of battle. Allies for the cause of sense and honesty.
There's more than one way to end a war.
Give them time.
[1] GNU Sir Terry Pratchett.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Lukrecja]
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