King and Company


 * King and Company
 * by President Chester A. Arthur
 * 6 December 2001


 * Kingdom of the Maldives
 * SE 200 [972 CE]

Thiruvanantapuram, the new king of the Laccadives, watched as his brother burned and nodded in satisfaction. "He would have done worse to me, friend Darius, if your Company had not spirited me away to Isfahan when he seized the capital. You have given me my kingdom and my life, and freed my people from a bloody despot. How ever may I repay you?"

Darius of Qom (his father had been mad for Greek studies at the Training Academy in Tehran; the backward hamlet that had grown up overnight with the foundation of the Royal Academy for the sons of the wealthy) smiled and embraced the younger man.

"Do you ask me as a man or as a representative of the Trading Company of the East? If the first, your embrace of Christ's Holy Fire is thanks enough; if the second, the concessions we discussed on the journey here, the ports and warehouse and troops, are thanks enough in turn." The two men stood in the courtyard for a long time, watching the former king burn clean, before turning back into the royal palace.


 * Bactrian Trading Company, Herat offices
 * SE 200

"This is an outrage!", shrieked Prince Osman of Qandahar, spittle flying from his mouth and all over the oaken desk of Murad of Nukus. "How dare you tell my father how to run his kingdom, you great fat merchant dog!"

Murad of Nukus felt himself turn bright red at the insult but restrained any further reaction. After all, if he was a good deal more weighty than most Turks of his generation, he was also much more wealthy and important, even more so than that the vaunted Prince Osman of a mountain pass and a sheep-buggering village. Instead, he laced beefy fingers and looked peevishly at Osman until the young man ranted himself into silence.

"The King of Qandahar", said Murad coldly, investing the title with as much scorn as he could muster, "may run his kingdom how he pleases. But when Company business is at stake, we must act in the Company's best interests, and if Qandahar cannot protect our caravans, we will take our trade elsewhere. Unless Qandahar will accept Company troops to guard the trade routes?"

Osman turned a fascinating shade of purple, just as Murad knew he would. Bactrian Company troops were recruited primarily from the Pashtuns, whose contempt for the dozen or so petty Turkish states occupying most of Bactria knew no bounds, and the two groups massacred each other whenever it seemed possible...