Side Story 72.1 - Consequences
Ruckanos stumbled out of the Tower, wincing as pain shot through every inch of his body. His lord father had been ruling for several lifetimes before Ruckanos had ever been born. In that time, he had learned precisely how much damage a human body could take and survive. Knowledge that had been applied to him most thoroughly.
A Tower Guard behind him shoved his back, sending a fresh wave of pain surging through him.
“Come on, move it!”
Ruckanos knew better than to glower or retort to the man’s barking. Once upon a time, even the mightiest of the Tower Guard would grovel at his feet. Now, they would not intervene if even the lowliest peasant insulted him.
And Ruckanos knew why. Oh, he had been very thoroughly and repeatedly instructed as to exactly what he had done. Firstly, his frivolous, unnecessary, and preemptive celebrations had cost him his Tower. The knowledge that he had lost his chance at the power, authority, wealth, long life, and blessing of the gods that were all within his grasp was terrible enough. He had then been very much made aware that he had cost his lord father an extra seat at the Conclave, on top of all the humiliation and loss of clout that came with this egregious failure. He was even informed that the High Council itself was getting involved. He learned that was true when a Censor arrived at his father’s Tower and interrogated him.
And he had been informed, in no uncertain terms, that all his current pain was a mercy compared to what he deserved.
The power a Tower of the Gods could offer had to be utilized responsibly. If it were not, there was no guarantee that the wrath of the gods would not once again fall upon the world. And if humanity failed once again even after receiving the blessing of the Towers, would the gods then deign to show mercy? A Tower that had not been bound and placed by the augurs was therefore out of the Censors’ reach. It could not be brought into the Conclave. It could not be monitored. It could not be dealt with should the worst come to past. Nobody now knew where it had gone…or who was now in charge of it.
Ruckanos had done nothing less but created an existential threat to all of humanity that the Tower Lords could do nothing about at present.
And to top it all off…his lord father was surprisingly upset about his handling of the rabble. Apparently, putting the rabble to the sword was not what his lord father meant when he was instructed to handle it personally. Relocation was far less wasteful and drew less attention. And…it turned out that the small little village Ruckanos saw no value in was the source of that new mead that had become his lord father’s favorite recently. His lord father was just about to search out whoever was responsible and induct them into his Tower Servants, to run his personal apiary.