Utterly Ghastly

Story 3: Body Snatchers

Being a warlord is hard. Being an emperor is even harder. But being an emperor without an heir means that there is no point, is there? It's not that I didn't try. But, being a woman made that harder. See, with male warlords, they could have hundreds of wives. Maybe even thousands if they were being really out there. But a woman can't do that. No matter if we have hundreds of husbands, we can still only produce one 9-month pregnancy at a time, and we can only produce so many babies before our body starts to fail. A failing body is weakness as a warlord. It's the perfect opportunity for a coup, for someone to slaughter me in my sleep and take my province. My dreams of creating an empire would disappear like fog with the morning sun.

I did try a couple of times, literally twice. I had a son, and I had a daughter. But one was born dead, and the son died at t he age of four from polluted water causing him a sickness. Our medicine wasn't what it is now. They chanted and blew smoke over him, but it did nothing to stop him from getting worse or from having a fever. I watched him die, and with him my hopes of creating a lasting empire. My husband then suggested that he take over as the warlord and I become his queen consort, that way he could ensure that "our" empire thrived, even if he had to take lesser wives to produce enough offspring to ensure a dynasty.

"Our empire". Ha. As if! He wasn't there when I started to build a legacy founded on my father who had me out of wedlock. My father was a great conqueror, and a terrible person. That seemed to be his lucky combination for success. No one dared to challenge him as he spread from the dark heart of Asia through to Europe. I was a little nobody born to a mother who was a

victim and never even met the man. But his name provided me a sort of protection and authority that was hard to pass up. I started with a small band of thieves, picking off the shipments of our enemies and enriching ourselves like a sort of land pirate. Then we grew into a gang, then a mob, before becoming an organized army of hundreds which wrenched control of the territory from my father's successor with ease. No matter how he tried to take back my province, he failed. Eventually he made a public statement that we were all on the same side here, and claimed me as his sister. We carried forth the legacy of our great dynasty. People bought it, but that doesn't mean that it didn't make him appear to be weaker than our father had looked. I anticipated that it wouldn't be more than a few more months before he was poisoned by one of his advisors on the behalf of one of his younger brothers. Probably the tall one who led in the army as a general for our father. He has the backing. Then, with a new king, there would be no telling how long it would be before they turned their eyes South and eyed my province. Men do that, you see. When a woman is in power and she has talent or brains that threaten them, they feel emasculated. And then, they seek to destroy her by any means necessary. Cleopatra Philopator was that to Rome, Boudicca of the Iceni, Zenobia of Palmyra. Do I need to go on? Strong women scare weak men, even if the men have a bigger country with a more advanced army.

And my husband, would he be scary enough to appease my brothers and keep my province for any descendants I might have? I had lost all hope of having a living child when my son was too weak to survive even water. The chances of it being my offspring that would sit upon that throne were slim, and a fool's hope. I am not a fool, and I do not hope; I plan. Everything that has grown my power has been by design. I haven't been a weak person praying to long-forgotten gods for help. I haven't donated to the temples or given gifts to spirits at the shrines. I have taken what I needed from this world as is my birthright, as my father took from