The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)

by James Islington

CHAIN YOUR ANGER IN THE dark, my mother used to tell me, and it will only thrive.

More knowledge meant more ways to hide. More avenues to survival.

People tend to be more pliable, more forthcoming, when they feel like you’re fascinated by them.

“Hate is its own violence, my prince. Your only choice is whether to let it hurt them, or you.”

Some few, maybe one or two in every thousand, will even impress enough to achieve the latter. But like everything else, the Hierarchy dangles it. Always a way up, even for the condemned. Always a way out from under the misery they’ve heaped on you, if you work hard enough. Fight hard enough. Take your chances.

he turns, taking in the crowd. “AND LET THERE BE NO MISTAKE: IT IS YOU—ALL OF YOU—WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING IT. NOT THOSE IN POWER. NOT THE ONES WHO WIELD WHAT YOU GIVE THEM, BECAUSE YOU GIVE IT TO THEM. YOU LET THEM STAND ON YOUR SHOULDERS, ALL FOR THE DREAM OF ONE DAY BEING ABLE TO STAND ATOP OTHERS’. EVEN WHEN YOU KNOW, DEEP DOWN, THAT IT IS AN ILLUSION. AS UNATTAINABLE FOR MOST OF YOU AS IT IS SELFISH.”

“A PYRAMID’S STRENGTH IS IN ITS FOUNDATION, NOT ITS PEAK. SO I HAVE COME HERE TODAY TO JUDGE. I HAVE COME TO BRING A RECKONING FOR YOUR DECISIONS. YOUR WEAKNESS. YOUR BLINDNESS AND COWARDICE AND COMPLICITY.”

The power to protect is the highest of responsibilities, Diago. When a man is given it, his duty is not only to the people he thinks are worthy.

“That’s the power of the Hierarchy—we do, because there is no standing apart. You fight the tyranny of the many, or you are one of them.”

“But a broken blade can still cut, Diago.”

There’s some part of me that was forged into steel after Suus, I think—some part of me that knows exactly how to wall off memories that would otherwise tear me apart.

“Nervousness means there’s a fear to be faced ahead, Diago. The man who is never nervous, never does anything hard. The man who is never nervous, never grows.”

“Just because you are good at something does not make others bad at it.”

A fair system only works if there’s an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved.” He gives a soft snort, shaking his head. “Which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved.”

The Republic rewards people who take, not who deserve.”

“A system built on promise, and therefore on greed,”

The trick, I’ve decided, is to make myself believe what I’m saying is true. Not just tell a lie, but envisage the circumstances in my head. Imagine how I’d feel, what I would have done. Erase the truth of my past and replace it with a false one, not simply layer it over the top.

But he hated falsehood itself, as a concept. Always told me that a hard truth was better than a comforting fiction. That there was no such thing as a harmless lie, and that the liar lost a part of himself in the act.

“I’m saying that sometimes we tell people what we have to believe. No matter how wrong it might be, or how much it might hurt them.”

There are those who see what should be, and complain that they do not get their due. And then there are those who see what is, and figure out how to use it to their advantage. Or at the least, overcome it.”

There’s a brief, aching sadness that a face I can picture is gone from the world forever.

“I’ve never been there, but… I can see what Feriun might have been thinking. Trapped. No way out. A disappointment.” He shuffles. “But he didn’t have any friends, really, either. It’s just… it’s the sort of thing that makes a difference.”

“They ask something small of you. A thing you would prefer not to do, but is not so terrible. You think you are working your way up, but in fact they are changing you. Moulding you into what they think you should be, one compromise at a time.”

I am just saying that in this place… each man has to find his line. Has to find it ahead of time, and be resolved never to cross it.”

They know the system is wrong, but they choose not to think or speak up or act because they ultimately hope that in their silence, they will gain. Or at the very least not have to give more than they have already given. They are driven by myopic self-interest and greed just as much as the senators and knights, and it’s as Melior said—you of all people should hate them for that. The decision may have been made by the few, Diago, but it’s the Will of the many that killed your family.”