by Gerard Bond
Raz nodded, quite happy to let this windbag continue on.
“We have supplied a shipload of Kingdom uniforms for all of your men. I understand you have had to convert Isogorrean uniforms to local use. Obviously that simply would not do.”
Raz shook his head, this man was hand picked by Prince Alard? In actuality Raz wouldn’t have been so surprised if he knew the man was the best compromise that Alard could accept after the court of the King got involved in picking a southern Admiral. In fact the man was promoted to the position when he was appointed, this was his first fleet command.
“Please bear in mind my Lord, the King places great faith in you by giving you all these resources. He seriously hopes you are up to the task. I find it a little surprising that they have given so much faith based on reputation alone. I hope you don’t take offense.”
Raz was seethed inside at that but kept a calm demeanor.
“None taken at all my good man. I understand the situation perfectly.”
Trumped up ass. He had better be a more superior naval commander than he was statesman.
“Also I would like to request that Captain Koberg be returned to my command to see out duties as a part of my southern fleet.”
Raz looked him hard in the eye.
“No Admiral that will not do.”
“But my Lord I have command of the southern fleet. He is a Kingdom officer and as such falls under my jurisdiction. He is here at the behest of the King. May I be so forward as to say my Lord. I am the one here that knows naval craft and as such would be the one most knowledgeable as to how to use naval resources.”
Raz was seeing red and with a rising voice addressed this overdressed arrogant upstart.
“I will have you know, I was sailing ships before you were a wet dream of your fathers. And let it also be known that I was Captain of many ships and even commanded a flotilla of my own in past years to great effect! I will not have you stand here and continue to pass derisive comments against me and think that I will sit here quietly!”
Raz was angry and getting angrier but he was doing his best to keep himself in check. He stood and looked at Marcos with hard eyes set in a stony face.
“Captain Koberg remains under my command at the direct orders of Prince Alard and until the Prince orders otherwise that shall remain as it is. I will not have him running about wasting his talents on patrol duty here in the harbor. In fact, I intend to give him greater resources now that you are here to allow him even greater freedom to carry the fight to the Isogorreans. And also let it be known that as Supreme commander of the southern forces of the Kingdom that means you fall directly under my command and direction. Do you understand Admiral Marcos?”
The man swallowed slowly and quietly replied, his eyes wide,
“Yes my Lord.”
“Good!” Raz responded, beaming now, “You are dismissed Admiral, please have your assistant talk to my adjutant about arranging quarters, I have work to do. Good afternoon.”
The Admiral stood.
“Good afternoon sir.”
The Admiral turned and left the room. Raz watched on, ‘What an ass.’ He sat back down and opened the Lacquered box. In it he found the items as described, but down at the bottom was a folded parchment with the Prince’s seal in wax on it. Removing it he broke the seal and unfolded it.
‘Lord Raz:
I hope that this letter finds you in good stead. I have managed to organize a sizable contingent to assist you in your endeavors there in the south. I am also campaigning for more too. I know you will be able to put it all to good use.
I must apologize for the man who would have presented this box to you. He was not exactly what I wanted but the King made the final decision. You will probably have worked out very quickly by now he is a pompous git, but let me assure you he does have good tactical abilities. Also this is a promotion for him and he will try to throw his weight around. Don’t hesitate in giving him some stick, he will need to learn his place.’
Raz thought for a moment, ‘I should have kicked him up his royal behind on the way out.’ He returned to reading the letter:
‘Right now I envisage the naval activities being crucial to our ability to defeat their armies on the land and as such I reaffirm my orders to you to continue with your campaign of harassment of their supply lines.
Yours sincerely,
Prince Alard
Grand Admiral of the Kingdom fleet.
Raz sat back, well. His port was saved and for that he was glad, but now it started hitting home just how much he was in debt for what had been done for him. He was tied in even tighter with the Kingdom now than he could ever have imagined and he had originally wanted to be able to keep them at arm’s length when he started this project three years ago.
Well one just had to make the best of a situation eh? It wasn’t perfect but as sure as the sun shone on the waters it was a lot better than the place laying in rack and ruin.
It was two days later when Captain Koberg returned. Announced to the hall, he stood just inside the doorway waiting for Raz to signal him in. Raz waved and he approached the Commander.
“What is it Captain?”
The Captain produced a scroll from within a long narrow box he had under his arm.
“I found this in the captains quarters of one of the captured cargo vessels. I felt you needed to see this immediately.”
Raz took the offered document with a questioning look, he broke the seal and opened it on the table. It was in a foreign language but he recognized it, he also recognized to whom it was addressed. Koberg was trying to look at it discreetly himself. Raz looked up and saw him.
“It’s in Svalbardian and it’s addressed to their King, a King Olav. Beyond that I do not know the contents of it. What ever it is it suggests there is some sort of communication going on between Isogorr and Svalbard. Or maybe this is an attempt at first contact, I cannot say.”
Koberg added his bit.
“It may be that I have an answer to that my Lord, if you would follow me outside I will show you.”
Raz got up and followed the captain; was he getting a flair for drama? Out in the street were four wagons lined up, each wagon carried a single but very large chest measuring five foot long, two and a half foot wide and just as high.
“It took eight men to maneuver each chest on the back of each wagon my Lord, with that amount of weight, I believe it can only suggest one thing but I haven’t opened them or made any suggestions to anybody for obvious reasons.”
Raz knew what he meant, there would be a lot of people here who would like a crack at what was probably residing in those chests. There was nothing for it, they would have to confirm their suspicions.
“Have one chest removed and taken into the hall.”
The Captain turned and pointed to some men who moved forward and manhandled the chest onto the ground, there were four steel rings mounted on each side for just this activity. The men took a breath, then lifted and moved the chest up the stairs and into the hall with Raz and Koberg following behind. Once inside it was placed in the middle of the floor and Raz dismissed the men. Raz nodded towards the chest.
“Well Captain, if you would like to do the honors.”
Koberg stepped forward and slid his dagger into the eyelet of where the Padlock was fixed and began working and twisting at it until after a bit of effort the padlock fell free to the ground with a clunk. He then turned to Raz.
“Go on Captain stop drawing it out.”
At Raz's encouragement he swung the lid wide open with a single movement and stood back. Raz had been holding his breath and now he pursed his lips and let out a low whistle,
“Wow.”
The chest gleamed in the semi dark room, filled to the top with gold pieces. Raz stood there staring, it was more gold than he had ever seen in his entire life, even Koberg’s eyes widened a little at the sight.
“That sure is a lot of gold isn’t it?”
The captain only nodded, t
here was enough gold in that chest to make the both of them rich beyond their wildest dreams for the rest of their lives and there was three more chests like this one outside.
“Close the lid.”
The captain stepped forward and slammed it shut again, It was as if a spell was broken for them and they could return back to normal.
“You are not to speak of what you have seen here to anyone, not a soul do you understand?”
The Captain looked at him square in the eye.
“I do solemnly swear.”
Raz paused in deep thought. There are only two reasons for this amount of gold. Either King Olav is being paid to keep out of this fight or it is to bring him in. Either way we have tipped the balance back in the opposite direction, only we don’t know which. Raz came to a decision.
“Captain, I want you to take the three wagons and go to the wharfs and have them loaded on your fastest ocean going boat. Then you must hand pick a Captain and crew who you can trust completely and can remain totally discreet in what they do. Do you understand what I am asking for?”
The Captain nodded immediately.
“Perfectly sir.”
“Good man. Now once you have assembled the crew and stowed away this cargo I want you to return to here where I will have sealed orders waiting. Go immediately, there is no time to waste.”
He saluted and left calling out to his crew once out the door. Raz turned back to the chest sitting in the middle of the room. He called his adjutant in and asked for certain, select men to come immediately. Then he sat down at the table and pulled out some parchment. After giving some thought for a moment he began writing.
Captain Koberg made straight for the wharves. Now he knew for certain what was in these chests the less time they stayed in sight the better. If rumor got out there would be parties in town he knew would be making every effort to snatch it. If the criminal element ever got hold of such riches it would finance even further criminal activity for years to come.
He already knew which boat the chests would go on and as soon as they arrived back at the wharf he commandeered the boat sending its crew off on leave. Then turning to his trusted lieutenant he ordered that the men he named report immediately to him. It was only half an hour before everything was organized and the crates were stowed away.
Turning to the newly arrived Captain, he gave him strict instructions not to say anything to his crew or to anyone else for that matter of what he was doing and what he had on board. Koberg would return within half an hour and he would have his orders. Then Koberg jumped on a horse and rode back to the hall to fetch the orders Raz would have ready.
On entering the hall Koberg saw Raz had two scrolls ready and was placing one in a small wooden box. He looked up and immediately gave his instructions.
“Captain you will take this scroll to the commander of the boat and tell him that he is not to open it until he has left the bay proper. Only then shall he read the orders within. The box he will not open at all. It is to be kept under lock and key from the moment he receives it on the boat, do you understand?”
The Captain nodded,
“Yes sir as always.”
Raz smiled.
“It's always a pleasure working with you Koberg. You are a very good officer, now take these and be off.”
The Captain reached out and took both the scroll and box, gave a stiff salute and left quickly. 'Yup he is a good man even if he is a bit of a stickler.' Raz thought.
Later as the boat left the bay Captain Reagor lifted the scroll in his hand and looked at it. What could be so important that could lead to such hurried activity and such furtive movements? He cracked the seal on the edge of the scroll and unrolled it, then began reading.
To the commander of this boat:
You are entrusted with the safe passage to the city of Oceania of the three crates in the hold of your ship. You are not to discuss its contents or its destination with anyone. Should you be in danger of being captured at any time by enemy forces, be they Isogorrean or any other agent for that matter, then you are to sink your boat immediately. This is of paramount importance that what you have not fall into the hands of anyone else.
Furthermore, you are not to communicate or stop at any place on your journey to Oceania and upon arrival you will not speak to anyone other than directly to the Grand Admiral Prince Alard of your mission.
Upon obtaining your audience with the Prince you shall present him with the box you have locked away, this box is to remain sealed and shall not be opened by anyone other than the Prince himself. Once he has opened that box he will be giving you further orders.
You are handed this task as it is of the utmost importance that their contents remain a secret even to you. The crates must not be opened under any circumstances and it shall be for the Prince to decide what to do with them.
I, Lord Raz, trust you with this mission and cannot stress highly enough its importance, not only to your superiors but to the Kingdom itself.
May the gods be with you.”
Reagor looked up and out over the ocean. He stood there digesting its contents and allowing the importance of what he was doing to sink in. It was the biggest mission he had ever been entrusted with and he would meet the Grand Admiral to boot. He had every intention of carrying out his mission to the letter. So what was in the chests?
In Port Cholandra Warlord Aristeides was pacing the floor, it had been three weeks since a fleet had been sent to the unseen deep-water port in the south and no word had come back, not even a scout. That made a total of 38 warships unaccounted for and with this amount of time having past it was looking very likely they were all lost.
It compounded a serious situation that was developing here too. A supply convoy had not arrived at all those weeks ago and the troop convoy that followed it had arrived with quite a few ships missing. They had been attacked in the dark by enemy ships of unknown numbers and they had lost 3,000 troops and a number of supply ships.
Of real importance was the loss of the gold on board one that was for paying King Olav off. That meant no raids from Olav on the northern Kingdom Ports for the next year. Now he had the remaining 12,000 troops out of the 15,000 and only enough supplies to equip half of them. He couldn’t move on Kassandrea before the winter which was only two months away. It meant he couldn’t keep his promise. Luckily Madeira was on her way back to Isogorr so he shouldn't be too concerned about facing any immediate consequences.
The ship losses had no real affect, he had an abundance of them. In fact soon he would start sending some back simply to make room. He had over three hundred and fifty ships stationed in and around the harbor and it was getting quite crowded.
This brought him back to the question of the deep-water port down south. It could prove handy to his operations but he needed to find out whom and what was there, how big was it? How many ships could the harbor hold? What sort of logistical needs did it have? How easily could it be defended? Could troops be marched directly from the port north?
He would have to find out and quick. Turning to his adjutant, he ordered that Sealord Gacek make himself available immediately. So far that man had been able to achieve nothing. Within minutes Gacek arrived from down the hall and he was ushered in.
“So Gacek, any news on the southern deep water port?”
“I have heard nothing at all I’m afraid.”
Aristeides looked him up and down. He was an older man whose best days were behind him. This last assignment would be his last hurrah, not that there was much to cheer about so far.
“Tell me Gacek, have you made any attempts at all to get information from down there? Sent scouts out by any chance?”
Gacek slowly shook his head, he could see it coming, Aristeides didn’t waste a second and began shouting.
“Has old age addled your brain? Have you lost control of your senses? Do you think for a second that an area where we have lost almost forty ships to date might be worth investigating?!”
“T
here is no evidence we have lost those ships.”
Aristeides couldn’t believe what he was hearing and shot back,
“How can there possibly be any evidence if you don’t go look? Your ships are a week overdue! How long were you going to wait? Until you saw a fleet of Kingdom ships coming over the horizon?”
Aristeides took a deep breath. ‘You need to calm down.’ Composing himself he continued on.
“I am instructing you to send out some scouts to reconnoiter the southern coast and get detailed information on either the whereabouts of our ships or the deep water port itself. Do you understand me?”
Gacek simply nodded without a word. As far as he was concerned a man of his standing shouldn’t have to put up with this sort of nonsense.
“Then you are dismissed Gacek.”
Gacek walked out. He wasn’t really worried. He would order the scouts out, but he didn’t think that Aristeides would be around much longer. Gacek knew the sorcs would hold him to the promise of being in Kassandrea by winter.
Aristeides turned back to his war maps. Any day now the Kingdom’s land army moving south would hit his firebase. His scouts had confirmed that. Then things would start happening and he could lose himself in the immediate needs of battle. Maybe he could even go pay the base a visit. He rubbed his temples. Aristeides seemed to be suffering from more and more headaches of late, incompetence of others does that to you he thought.
Down in the streets of Port Cholandra, Eldoron was riding slowly along, studying all aspects of the city. Watching the troops and making mental notes. If anyone looked at him they would have seen nothing more that an Isogorrean Captain making his way to some destination. Eldoron had managed to take the uniform from a very generous officer a day’s ride out of the city, a considerate man who had expired on the end of Eldoron’s dagger for the good of the Kingdom.
