Red and Blue
The tablet fragment ended in a jagged edge and Yul Wira let out a soft curse. He was still ecstatic about the find; three years of searching had finally led to something worthwhile, but wished even a few more words were left for him to read. Their syntax was not all that different from the Common tongue spoken by both Red and Blue – even after five hundred years stagnation imposed by the Sundering persisted, leaving a legacy of nearly-completed works and virtually halting development of both races.
Yul made a face. He knew better than to think of his red-skinned brethren and those of the opposite blue as “races”. That was a general term used by those who did not know better, those who wanted to claim one side was superior to the other, and he had heard every imaginable justification for the oppression of Blues in his own lands and Reds in the cities across the sea. Some said that the “other race” was less evolved, that the color of their skin clearly indicated a deficiency of some kind. Others were firmly convinced that their opposites sought to lay ruin to society, and had to therefore be segregated. A new idea sweeping Redlands was that Blues were simply inferior – not by their own actions, but by nature – and required Red help to find their true potential. That potential typically came in the form of low-paying jobs or positions of servitude in high-ranking Red homes.
Historians on both sides were convinced that their color came first and that their opposites were an afterthought or genetic abnormality, but Yul found that explanation too convenient. A tattered trail had led him to the Caves of Yeesra, one of the holiest and hardest to reach shrines in the Blue Wilds, and he had finally found the proof he needed to start changing long-set minds. Both colors were equally righteous and equally foolish; it was a celestial event and the rise of a madman that had broken them apart.
Tucking the tablet into his satchel, Yul stood and began collecting his tools. Excavation had taken weeks – all the while risking the arrival of a dedicated Blue pilgrim or random military patrol – but he could not risk breaking what he sought. A life lived in pursuit of a lie would be devastating enough, one lived in pursuit of a ruined truth would be enough to destroy him.
“Well done, my fat Red friend,” a familiar voice came from one of the shadowed cave passages, and Yul straightened. “You've saved me the effort of all that hard work, though I had expected you to be done sooner. I've spent the last week lurking about in these gods-forsaken caves, hoping you'd finally find the tablet so I could take it from you.”
“Hello, Rel.” Yul said flatly. He'd encountered the tall, azure-skinned scholar several times over the last dozen years at the few and far between joint conferences hosted by Red and Blue to “discuss their mutual efforts at reconciliation”. Though the idea was sound in principal, such conferences typically devolved into screaming matches. Rel had seemed a kindred spirit when they first met, another who believed as Yul did that there was more to the story than either side knew. The other scholar's motivations were subtly different, however, and Yul had come to realize that he and Rel did not have the same purpose in mind for the tablet should it ever be unearthed. “I'm afraid you'll be leaving here empty-handed, unless you brought a regiment with you.” He raised an eyebrow, and his thin counterpart shrugged. “I thought not. Now,” he stepped forward. “Get out of my way.”
A blaster pistol was in Rel's hand before Yul had taken three steps and he came to an abrupt halt, hands quickly covering the satchel as if flesh and bone could protect what lay inside from charged energy.
“I see you misunderstand my purpose, Yul,” Rel said with a smirk. “How Red of you.”
Yul bit back a sarcastic reply; the tablet was all that mattered, not foolish wordplay or petty insults.
“Rel,” he spoke once his temper had cooled. “I have no desire to fight you. Let us take this tablet to your Council together. We can share credit for the discovery.”
The Blue scholar laughed, a sickly thing that spread out along the cave walls to echo back a mocking refrain. “You really don't understand, do you, Yul? I have no interest in credit, no desire to be lauded for such a discovery. Your tablet lies in the past, Yul, but we must live in the present. What you seek to unearth would only threaten the stability of the world. A Blue world.”
“What?” Yul felt panic rise in his chest. “You can't mean -”
“I do.” Rel stepped forward. “This tablet is too dangerous to exist; it will put foolish notions into the heads of the next generation, who would spend inordinate amounts of time trying to eke out some kind of peace rather than advancing areas of science and art, literature and technology.” The tall Blue's voice was tight, and imagined glory lit up his eyes. “I would prefer to take the tablet and let you live – the thought of you reporting a truth that could never be proven has a certain malicious appeal to me.” Rel jabbed the blaster forward, and Yul took a quick step back. “But killing you works just as well. Your choice, Yul.”
Dropping his shoulders, he slid the satchel forward and handed it to Rel, who dropped the gun and stepped aside. As he slipped through the caves, Yul heard the sound of thin stone breaking and a part of him broke as well, but not so much as Rel thought.
The Blue had not been watching closely enough; a tiny cylinder held picture upon picture of the tablet, along with whispered notations about its origin. Despite the Rel's arrogance, despite his closed mind, the truth would come out for Red and Blue alike.
- D
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