SARDIS, CAPITOL OF LYDIA
610 BCE
Ardys sat on a gleaming throne, leaning on his right fist and looking down sadly on the subjects gathered before him. He was a compassionate ruler, a thoughtful man, but he faced threats to his kingdom that his father, Gyges, had not had. These weren’t threats from outside their realm; these threats were from inside.
Ardys had put down minor uprisings before, just as any ruler would. But now, as he contemplated the fate of his people, he had to wonder why the gods had thrown down the series of troubles that afflicted his kingdom. There had been droughts, followed naturally by failed harvests. Famine followed the failed harvests, as did the slowing flow of water in the Pactolus and other rivers that served his people. There had even been an earthquake, a
