Not all worlds are planets …
Chapter 2 Lord of the Ring
The wish to acquire is in truth very natural and common, and men always do so when they can…
Niccolo Machiavelli
Crag of Justice, Ring of the People
The Crag of Justice jutted out from the sidewall of the Ring of the People, which circled the star the People called Lifegiver at a distance which humans would call an Astronomical Unit. The light of the Lifegiver fell unimpeded on to the inner surface of the Ring, due to the tilt the long-ago Builders of the Ring had set for it and their machines maintained. The Crag looked out from a height of three kilometres over the hunting territory of the First Flock of the Ard’uinath, the People of the Sky.
He who perched motionless on that crag was a raptor larger than a human, of middle age though the feathers of his crest showed little evidence of it. The decades had lightened his black feathers. A scar ran down from just below his right eye into the feathers of his neck.
Thirty millions of the People of the Sky dwelt on the Ring, and all the Flocks of the Ard’uinath answered, ultimately, to the Flock Chief of the First Flock, Lord of the Ring and ruler of all the Flocks of the Ring.
The broad green lands of the First Flock lay warm under the sun, the herds of grazing animals barely visible even to the keen sight of the People. From the Crag, one could see the shores of the First Spinward Ocean, though the blue haze of the air did not allow even the keenest sight to discern the fishing fleets which drew sustenance from the wide expanse of sea. The mighty pumps hidden in the sidewalls poured floods of water to and fro among the Ring’s four seas to maintain the Ring’s stability, so that the spin gravity of the Ring remained as steady and unchanging as the gravity of a planet.
The Arch bisected the sky of the Ring, where the circle of the Ring swept around to meet the horizon. The Crag looked down on a few low clouds in the blue sky.
Two flying raptors swung in circles beneath the Crag, gaining altitude and closing the distance between them and it. They were handsome as the Ard’uinath reckoned such things, their wings broad and strong. In their flight they stayed as far away from each other as possible. The People were raptors, and thereby territorial. Two Flock Chiefs had to take care to give no cause for conflict. By the Ringlord’s edict, they came alone.
At last they reached the Crag and swept in to take two of the perches below the top one of the crag, as far separated as they could. Their crests expressed how much they resented the summons which had brought them here, and their wings how little regard they had for each other.
Nonetheless, they restrained themselves. The consequences for breaking the Ringlord’s Peace ran far beyond their own personal existences. Those penalties applied even to the Flock Chiefs of Tardash and Slotaar, leaders of powerful Flocks and rulers of broad lands.
The People named themselves by their status and function in the Flock. The Nameless ceased to exist in the eyes of all. Levying that punishment lay within the Ringlord’s authority.
Requiring them to make long laborious flight up here to the crag from which the Lord of the Ard’uinath dealt justice to the Flock Chiefs both conveyed Ringlord’s displeasure and set them a test of their fitness to retain their places.
Ringlord regarded them with disfavour. They disputed a small enough sliver of territory, not a vital interest of either Flock. He had given them repeated chances to amend the dispute between themselves as equals, and they had not. Hunting territories on the plains were a perennial source of dispute between Flocks, and today the dispute between Tardash and Slotaar would be settled. Ringlord no longer required their agreement, only their obedience.
“Flock Chief Tardash. Speak.” Ringlord’s stern mien commanded him to make his statement short and factual. Flock Chief Tardash spoke in an emotionless monotone, which did not require control on his part.
Speech had come late to the Ard’uinath in their climb to sentience, and they reserved spoken language for matters of fact and logic. They expressed emotion by their crests, feathers and wings. Flock Chief Tardash did manage to control those as well.
Under Ringlord’s eye from above him, Flock Chief Tardash confined himself to a statement of the claim to the hunting territory and the landmarks which defined that claim. Ringlord cropped short his justifications of Tardash’s growing numbers with a single harsh command.
A like order to Flock Chief Slotaar elicited a similar statement, though he wisely left off the plaint of growing numbers on fixed hunting grounds.
Ringlord knew well the truth behind those complaints, but it would be far worse if the Ringlord’s Peace failed. There were better ways than endless border warfare to address that problem. By Ringlord’s command spaceships went forth to bring back the means to build those solutions.
“Hear me. The boundary of each Flock shall be as stated by the other Flock Chief. The ground between those boundaries shall be entered only upon the authority of the Lord of the Ring. Should either Flock encroach upon that ground unauthorised, take so much as a single grass-runner from it without Our leave, it shall be forfeit to the other Flock in perpetuity. If that ground remains inviolate for a turn of the Ring about the Lifegiver, then shall you have shown that you may be trusted to make and keep an agreement to settle this dispute.” His wings mantled in the Imperial Mandate. “Lord of the Ring has spoken.”
Under his fierce gaze, slowly and grudgingly the Flock Chiefs assumed the posture of Submission to Authority. At his command, they spread their wings for the long flight home, and the long and thankless task of keeping their people out of that territory, lest worse befall them.
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