Of Rebels and Would-be Rulers

“So how is it played?” asked Artemis as she stared at the wooden board you created.

“It’s actually rather simple” you reply. “You grab the dice” you say, collecting the four pyramid shaped dice, “and roll them” you say before rolling said dice. “How many coloured pips is how many spaces you can move a token” you say, putting a token on the board. The board consisted of painted squares, twelve squares at the top in four rows of three, six squares at the bottom in two rows of three and the two sections separated by two single squares. “You move your tokens up your side of the board and then down the middle” you say, tracing the path the token is meant to follow. “The idea is to get your token off the board at the bottom here” you say, pointing to the gap.

“If I have to use that middle part there as well as you, can you ‘take’ pieces?” Artemis asked as she grabbed the dice and rolled them, placing a token on her side of the board and moving it a few places.

“Take them? No, but you do reset them” you say, rolling the dice yourself “Your piece lands on one of mine, you reset my dice right back to the start forcing me to have to put it back on the board in a later turn” you explain, moving a piece. “These little houses I’ve painted onto the board represent messenger lodges” you explain “if your piece lands on one, you get an extra dice throw and this one in the middle” you say, pointing at a square in the middle of the middle of the board “that’s a safe spot, I can’t take you on that spot nor you I” you finish as Artemis rolls the dice herself.

“Where did this game come from?” the goddess asked.

“Sumeria presumably, no idea how they played the game, but I liked the board and saw something like this so I thought I’d give it a go” You explain “I believe they called it the ‘Royal Game of Ur’ or something” you add. Before you could continue your game, a knock came at the door. You and Artemis had gone back to your home in Tarentum and had set up a meeting with Julian.

“Enter” Artemis called out, watching as the door opened and Julian walked in.

“You sent for me?” the man asked, leaning against the counter.

“Yes we did” you say nonchalantly as you throw the dice and make a move. “We are getting ready to remove the Governor from power” you tell the man, looking over your shoulder to gauge his reaction.

“And what do you need me for?” the man asked, the look in his eye suggesting something you didn’t like.

“It would be inordinately difficult to bring our army inside of the city’s walls” you explain “So we are going to build on inside of the city and augment it with small units of our own troops” you continue.

“Hmmm, and where are these city-soldiers coming from?” Julian asked. Both you and Artemis gave the man a deadpan expression.

“Oh I don’t know, thought I’d recruit them from Constantinople, maybe grab a few from Alexandria and Londinium” you say with a deadpan expression.

“Right, stupid question” Julian mutters.

“That’s what you get trying to play coy, have you got the men or not?” you ask him, a hard edge to your voice. Julian grimaced and looked away.

“You ought to know being a watchman is a horribly demeaning job” the man muttered “Wasn’t going to sit for it and there’s plenty of people who don’t like the Governor” he continued. You continued to stare at him. “Yes I’ve got men, I don’t have weapons though” he told you “Most of my boys are using clubs we’ve fashioned from old furniture” he added.

“We’ll take care of that” you tell him “Get us a spot where we can train people in the use of archery” you say “We have a . . . toy your people might like” you add with a grin.

“They’re called crossbows, they’re louder than a regular bow, they rattle a bit, so we’re going to need a space where the enemy won’t hear” Artemis explained. Julian snorted before shaking his head.

“Not a problem, it’s my people that patrol the streets at night” he told you “we’re the watchmen remember” he added with a grin. “You supply the weapons and some trained soldiers, we supply the extra bodies” he said, chewing on his words a little. “Seems like I’ll be getting my position back a little sooner than I expected, with some upgrades” he muttered. “I’ll let the boys know, send for me again when you’ve got these . . . crossbows, I’ll have the space ready” he told you before turning to leave. “If that will be all?” he asked and you nodded, allowing Julian to go.

“I really don’t trust that guy” Artemis commented, rolling the dice and making a move.

“Makes two of us” you reply, scooping up the dice yourself. “He’ll do for now . . . it would amuse me to replace him with a woman” you mutter, getting a chuckle from Artemis.

“That’s all you’re good at isn’t it? Fucking things up, preferably people” she chuckled again.

“I don’t see you complaining” you fire back with a grin.

“Never said I was” she said, smirking, her eyes flicking down and then back up again.