Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)

by Robert Jackson Bennett

“No…No, that is regrettable,” he said. “I promised you that I would return your son to you, Ofelia, in exchange for all your labors. And I do not break promises. But it is a regrettable thing that in order to fix a monstrous world, one must become a little monstrous in one’s own right.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” the man in black said gently. “That wouldn’t do at all. It’s so much better when you learn yourself, isn’t it?” “Learn what?” said Moretti, choking back tears. “Learn what your city has forgotten,” he said. “What men of power have forgotten time and time again, throughout history—that there is always, always something mightier.”

What change could possibly be accomplished in the face of such thoughtless, ignorant conviction?

The captain pointed at Orso. “Shut up, you!” Then he pointed at Crasedes. “Get away from him! Men—prepare to fire, now!” The soldiers all pointed their espringals at Crasedes. Crasedes paused, glanced over his shoulder, and slowly stood. “Boys,” he said, “I don’t know how you think this is going to go. But let me just say—it’s not going to go how you think it’s going to go.”

When he spoke next, his voice was so deep it seemed to make the very ceiling rattle. “The problem with might, you see,” he said, “is that there’s always someone mightier.”

Humankind is most innovative at turning innovation to the cruelest ends. Power alters the soul far more than any innovation I could imagine, even at the height of my privileges.”

“I understand perfectly. You wished to take an innovation and use it to foment revolution to fashion a more peaceful, equitable nation-state. True?” Orso looked around at the other Foundrysiders. “Well. Yeah?” “True. I have seen this many times. And I have seen it fail far more often than I have ever seen it succeed. An emperor’s hunger for control will always outlast a moralist’s desire for equality and idealism. And even if you succeed, you will have done so using some advantage that will then be used to shape new hierarchies, new elites, new empires.”