Chapter 11: The Builders Of An Empire
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
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Themistocles POV:
Staring into the shipyard, I saw young boys, barely grown, running around. They carried planks on their shoulders as they ran from one end to the other. The Romans needed more ships to be built and I'll be damned if I let them down. My ships were the best of the best, and I'd prove it to the Romans right in front of their eyes.
We had completed two ships in five days, I had five thousand men under me. A small force, I needed more if the Romans were to expect forty ships by the end of the coming months. They wanted to travel when spring came. It was a time of great sickness, to which we had slowly grown accustomed. But we would be terribly ill if caught, and being out in the wilderness would be a simple death sentence.
We had lost a number of men in this way when they had gone to collect wood. We had also run out of steel, as the Spartans were our main suppliers. Their city was not far from the high mountains, where veins of iron were incredibly abundant.
Damn those wyverns, they just had to make things harder for us. I slammed my desk down and stood up. I decided it would be best to clear my head, drink some wine and help control my shipping yard.
" Father! More men have arrived to help build the ships! "I heard my boy speak, he had recently turned twelve and was helping to build the ships. My workers explained everything he needed to know, so that when he grew up and became a real shipwright, he would know the importance of each job.
" How many, boy? "I looked at him, holding a book that contained most of the information about my shipyard and the income we earned. This job the Romans had given us had paid less than usual, 5000 denarius aurelius. Far less than our usual wages, but they would ensure that we and the city would not be taxed for a year. A fair deal.
"2000 men, all experienced. " he replied, following me as I continued to write in the book. "They don't even ask to be paid, your Roman soldiers who just want to get on with it."
Hearing him, I couldn't help but scoff, "Very well, get them to work then. " I waved him off as I stared around the place. It was a nice duty, though compared to my previous one. It was incredibly small and virtually worthless.
I had held off the Persians at Salamis, built one of Athens' largest fleets, and here I was building ships for an empire that had now fallen to Athens. What a strange change of pace, something I had not really disliked.
It had allowed me to go at my own pace and enjoy my passion for building fleets, as long as it helped my people. Which the Romans could count as our own, after all their history had involved at least one Greek.
My shipyard had been in operation for two years now, and it had risen to become the dominant force as we consumed the others around us. Our rise to power was due to my control over a major sector of the shipyard. Those who dared to rise were crushed and brought into my fold.
What had shocked me were the great beasts that lay deep in the rivers that flowed through Sothoryos. It had made shipbuilding more difficult and the price exponentially higher due to the need to add reinforced bottoms.
However, it had made me quite a rich man. My home being in the upper echelons of Athens, I had also been given a job as a politician. It almost seemed as if I was going to follow a similar path to my former life.
However, I had turned down such an offer as it did not offer much in the way of benefits other than some lower taxes. It had really made me think about why the original politicians had even thought of becoming such. The thinkers had made more money than them at that point, it was just stupid of them if I really had to speak my mind.
Staring at the people that worked, the hammers clanging repeatedly I had smiled. These men had not worked for the money, but simply due to their love for the vast seas. Something I myself had came to learn at a young age. My feet grounded on a boat as the fresh sea air washed upon my face, it was an experience I would never forget and had always appreciated the older I had became.
I had been one of just the many builders that had helped build up the great Athens, I merely made its fleet a super power. Something I would increase further once we regain control over Sothoryos once again.
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Ictinus :
My name was Ictinus, I had been assigned by order of Pericles to help with further construction of Athens. Alongside two others, another architect by the name of Callicrates and Phidias, a sculptor that would bring our designs to life.
We were a rowdy group of people, making loud jokes when we had not been busy and giving each other tips on design as Phidias had chiseled away at a statue that had meant to represent Ares. His spear pointed in the direction of Essos and would be placed in the Harbour of Athens.
It had been a interesting job and gave us quite a few opportunities to meet the elite that had wanted statues of themselves placed in their homes, Our list of individuals growing larger and larger as the statues we had designed were spread throughout the city over the two years.
Pericles had came to us, a statue that he wanted made and had needed it soon. A statue of the Emperor of Rome or practically Sothoryos if it had not been for the collapse of the previous cities. He was a powerful warrior according to many people, the reports stating his strength to be like that of Achilles. Making me scoff, no man would reach the strength and technique of Achilles.
It would be a impossible feat, a feat that could only happen to those that had been blessed by the gods. To which I highly doubt he was a half god, or even blessed. He was young and inexperienced, a trait that did not go well for an emperor.
The romans had flooded once they had arrived, boosting the population of the city by ten thousand. Led by a rather plain warrior, the soldiers that flanked him looked more impressive with their Roman Purple. However if the Praetorian Guards were guarding him, it meant he was the Emperor.
The boy that had ruled this empire since he was a child, I must acknowledge his skills of someone making it so cities had not rebelled. Something many emperors that had came before him couldn't succeed according to the books. Written by a historian know as Arrian, writing on the previous rulers of Rome. During the founding's of this empire, it had been a interesting read on how we had previously dealt with the old inhabitants.
' The Valyrians ', I spat on the ground. They had been false Latin's and Greek's that had wished to be better than us. They however suffered a catastrophe that even Arrian and Plutarch had been unsure of what had happened.
We had been hoping to march our forces on the Slaver cities that had laid north of us. However with the collapse of Sparta and the two other cities, we had lost a significant amount of our forces to allow for a proper siege.
Sighing my head, I leaned into the desk. The chiseling still continued behind me, this work could be exhausting. Especially with how much we had grew in such a short time, I was unable to adjust. My body had experienced significantly less sleep and more stress and now Pericles wanted us to make a statue worthy of Caesar. A impossible task, we would have to fit far too much into the work. It would have to be pure perfection, A canvas with no mistakes or flaw. Unnoticed by the human eye.
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Really short chapter due to tests and work
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