by N. C. Reed
Was that the reason for Norland’s diplomatic maneuvers with the south? Would the King risk the new trade and travel agreements made with the Nor to help the Coastal Provinces against a Nor invasion? Parno didn’t know the answer to that. He doubted that Tammon did either. He doubted if his father had considered that.
But, Parno allowed, he might have. Despite the fact that he and his father did not get along very well, Parno knew that his father wasn’t a fool by any stretch of the imagination. And Memmnon was, if anything, even more canny, more savvy, than their father was. So it was at least possible that one or both of them had considered the possibility. If they had, Parno wondered what decision they had come to in the event of such a scenario.
Still, Parno couldn’t help but feel that the Nor were aiming more at Soulan. First, anyway. If they could defeat Soulan, then the UCP would have little chance, alone, of opposing the Nor when they attacked. They would fight, Parno was certain. But ultimately they would lose.
No, if Norland was contemplating war it would be against Soulan. Nothing else made sense. If he, Parno, were leading the Nor and wanted to bring the rest of the continent under his control, he would certainly start with his strongest enemy. With the largest, most powerful opponent defeated, or at least subdued, the smaller ones would be much easier to overcome.
All of which made the information that Edema and the Tinker could gather that much more vital. Yet, whatever those two happened to see would only be a part of the overall picture. He needed more information. Confirmation of Norland’s buildup from other sources if nothing else. Underlying all of his efforts Parno had to be mindful of the fact that he would have to be able to convince his father, and his brother, that the Nor were intending to attack. Two sources of information would not be enough.
He needed someone who could circulate among others who were traveling to the north. Trading, sightseeing, whatever their purpose, they would have seen things. Things that might mean nothing to them and might mean nothing at all if taken alone, but what about once they were added to what Parno already knew?
He knew someone who would be able to do what he needed.
*****
Doak Parsons stepped into Parno’s office quietly, clearing his throat to get the Prince’s attention. Parno looked up at him, smiling.
“You wanted to see me, Prince?” Parsons asked.
“I did,” Parno nodded, rising. “Come in, please. Close the door if you would, and take a seat. Beer?”
“Beer would go mighty fine, sir,” Parsons smiled, closing the door as ordered. He took the bottle Parno retrieved from the barrel and sat down across from the Prince. Parno looked at him for a moment.
“Your health, Mister Parsons,” Parno raised his bottle.
“And yours, milord,” Parsons returned the salute, careful not to drink until the Prince did.
“How are you and your men doing, Doak?” Parno asked.
“We’re fine, milord,” Parsons didn’t try to hide his surprise. “Doin’ right well, in fact. My boys are mostly teaching horse skills to others, nowadays.”
“Yes, I was glad to have you men for that,” Parno smiled easily. “You’ve done well, too,” he added.
“Thank you, milord,” Parsons nodded.
“I need you to do something for me,” Parno said finally. Parsons leaned forward, waiting.
“I want you and a few of your men to take a trip,” Parno continued. “Visit odd and end places in Kenty, here in Tinsee. I want. . .” Parno paused, thinking of how he wanted to word things.
“I want you to speak to people that have recently traveled in the Nor lands. See what they noticed while they were there. Where their troops were, what they were doing, how they acted. That sort of thing. Also,” he added, “if they observed any of the Wild Tribes while they were there and what they might have been doing. I’d like you to leave as soon as possible.” Parno reached into his desk, and withdrew a leather pouch, which he tossed across the desk to the former thief.
“This should cover your expenses,” he smiled. “You’ll need to buy a few drinks, I’d imagine. And you can stay inside rather than make camp. I want you back here in six weeks, give or take. Think you can handle that?”
Parsons looked at Parno for a moment, weighing the bag in his hand.
“Good bit o’ money here, milord,” he commented quietly. “Might just take it and run, ya know.” Parno smiled.
“You might,” he nodded, “but I don’t think you will. You gave your word to be loyal. You might have been a thief, but I think you’re a man of your word. And you did say I’d have need of men like you. Remember?” Parsons looked at him for a moment, then chuckled.
“That I did, milord,” he nodded. “That I did. Mind if I ask why you’re interested in all this?”
“I can’t tell you,” Parno shrugged. “I can’t tell you because I don’t know myself,” he admitted. “I just have a feeling…a hunch, if you will. I need information. Until I know something, all I have is a hunch.”
“All right,” Parsons nodded. “I’ll take a few boys and see what I can find. We’ll leave first thing in the mornin’, that’s all right.”
“Sooner the better,” Parno agreed. “Don’t press too hard,” Parno cautioned, “and under no circumstances are you to cross the border. Just see what you can see. Don’t discount anything you’re told or that you see,” Parno warned, “no matter how trivial it seems, I want to know.”
Parsons finished his beer, rising.
“We’ll see what we can see.” With that the former horse thief was gone and Parno was once more alone in his office. He looked out his window for a time, thinking on what he’d done.
If his father ever found out what he was doing there would be hell to pay to say the least. His father would not be so understanding of his son’s suspicions. In fact, even if Parno managed to acquire evidence that the Nor were planning something untoward the King would likely be inclined to ignore it, simply because of where it came from. Parno sighed.
It wasn’t fair. He seldom allowed himself to engage in pity games. There was no point and it had never helped him before. He would have to find some way to convince his father to listen to him if his fears proved real.
If they didn’t, then it wouldn’t matter. Parno could relax and go back to living the life of comfort and leisure he had imagined when he’d taken this post. He didn’t owe his father, nor any of his family, anything.
But he did owe Soulan and it was for that reason that he was willing to risk the anger of his father in order to safeguard the people of his kingdom. Because he owed his people.
And Parno McLeod paid his debts.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Doctor Stephanie Freeman-Corsin gazed out the window of the carriage, watching as the small fort grew steadily closer. For perhaps the tenth time she almost regretted her decision to answer Roda Finn’s summons.
Freeman-Corsin was a physician of some renown in the world of medicine, despite the fact that she was a woman in what had become a man’s world. She, however, was the latest in a very long line of physicians. Her family’s medical legacy predated the Kingdom. In fact, the Freeman-Corsin’s were able to trace their lineage back to before the Dying. As a result of that, the family’s medical practice was generally regarded as the best in the Kingdom. Her own uncle, Clifford Flaherety Smithe was the Royal Physician.
She admitted that the offer presented by Finn had been. . .interesting. It also presented a challenge of no small size. A military hospital. Funding to pursue the study of medicine, including delving into the history of medicine from before the Dying, and, above all, the opportunity to serve her Realm. To support the work of the men who kept the Kingdom safe from threats. Her family’s founding Patriarch and Matriarch had done so, as had any number of ancestors since then. Loyalty and patriotism ran deep in her family and none of them could have turned down this particular offer. House McLeod was descended from the House of Tyree, after all.
Still, t
he wonder of such a chance had worn thin after four bump-filled days on the road from Nasil to Cove and seeing the dirty collection of buildings ahead did nothing to brighten her mood.
The stockade was the dominant feature, of course, housing the fort itself. There were numerous houses outside the fortress, all in neat rows, with graveled streets laid out in neat squares and lines. She was slightly surprised to see lampposts along those streets, something she’d never have expected in such a far out-of-the-way place.
Of course, a member of the ruling family did make his home here, she reminded herself, even if it was Parno McLeod. She smiled thinly at that. The infamous Black Sheep of the McLeod Dynasty. Boy Prince playing soldier.
Everyone in Nasil society knew of Parno, of course. Hard drinking, hard fighting, womanizing, the list of ‘crimes’ went on and on. Her own mother, however, clucked at such gossip.
“Just a high spirited boy, caught in a world that has no place for him,” she’d said more than once. Stephanie could sympathize with that. Even with her family name and background, let alone her skill, she constantly met with opposition from the ‘learned’ men of her profession. She’d been told more than once that she was too ‘delicate’ for such work. Too beautiful and lady-like to lay hands on the sick and injured. She snorted at the idea.
While her pale complexion and dark hair did give her fresh-faced good looks a certain zest, she disdained the term ‘beauty’. She was smart, and skilled. A highly intelligent woman, better at her chosen profession than at least ninety-eight percent of those ‘learned men’. Her mother had often cackled with unrestrained glee at her daughter’s often searing reply to such comments. No woman in her family would ever be denied a station as a physician, despite what anyone thought or said.
Even that irked the young woman. She shouldn’t have to depend upon her name. No woman should. If she was capable of performing her job that should be all that mattered. That was one of the main reasons she’s decided to come here to Cove Canton, to pursue an even more unorthodox career than simple physician. Here, she would be a military doctor. More than that, she would be the head of a military hospital that served a member of the ruling family.
That should put a crick in their stiff old necks, she thought with amusement. Which made coming here all the more worthwhile.
“We’re arriving ma’am.”
Startled from her reverie by the voice, she turned to the young lieutenant in charge of her escort detail.
“I see that, Lieutenant Caufield, thank you,” she smiled. The young man nodded and rode on ahead. Stephanie sighed as the red faced young officer rode stiffly away.
You have got to get a hold of that tongue, woman, she chided herself. She hadn’t meant to sound disdainful, but, after all, she could see the bloody fort. Shaking her head, she gathered her things as the carriage pulled into the cantonment. Stopping in front of a building that a wooden sign proclaimed as ‘Headquarters’, the driver stepped down from the seat and opened her door. Lieutenant Caufield offered her his hand in assistance, and she took it gracefully, trying to make up for her earlier retort.
“Thank you, Lieutenant.”
“Service, ma’am,” Caufield nodded curtly. He turned as an older man stepped out onto the portico of the Headquarters Office and saluted sharply.
“Freeman-Corsin detail returning, sir,” he reported. “Party of one.”
“Very good Lieutenant,” the older man nodded, returning the salute. “See to your men and your horses. Your detail is excused for the rest of the day.”
“Thank you, sir. Ma’am,” He nodded again to Freeman-Corsin, then departed. The older man stepped down from the portico and offered his hand in greeting.
“Welcome to Cove Canton, Doctor. I’m Colonel Nidiad, commanding officer.”
“You are?” Stephanie frowned, accepting the hand. “I thought that Prince Parno was in command.”
“Aye, he commands the post,” Nidiad smiled. “I command the Regiment in his name.
“I see,” the confused doctor rallied. “At any rate, thank you, Colonel. It’s been a long trip.”
“I trust everything went well?” Nidiad inquired.
“Very well, thank you, just long. And bumpy,” she added ruefully.
“That it is, miss, that it is,” the colonel surprised her by chuckling. “If you wish, I’ll escort you to your residence so that you can get settled in. After that, I’ll summon the Prince, and Master Finn. I suspect they’ll want to see you.”
“That would be fine, Colonel,” Stephanie smiled.
“Come this way, then,” Nidiad ordered. “Greene, see to the lady’s baggage.”
“Yes, sir,” the sergeant at the doorway acknowledge. “Right away.”
*****
One of Stephanie’s worst apprehensions had been concerning her living quarters. Cove Canton was, to be blunt, in the middle of nowhere. She had worried, more than once, that she would be living in a tent.
Thus she was pleasantly surprised to find herself standing before a very neat looking house, complete with a small fence and flowers. She could see curtains in the windows and there were chairs on the small but comfortable front porch. Even a swing.
“Not quite what you were expecting?” Nidiad asked, amusement clear in his voice. She turned to face him, aware that her face had betrayed her surprise.
“I admit, I had wondered what living conditions would be like,” she admitted, not quite shame faced. “I suppose. . .well, I don’t know what I expected, Colonel.”
“I understand,” Nidiad nodded. “The Prince is extremely grateful to you for accepting his invitation. To you and to the others. His orders were that all of you were to be made a comfortable as was possible. He would be here himself to welcome you, save that he is currently meeting with some of the others who arrived before yourself.”
“Others?”
“Aye, others,” Nidiad smiled. “Several of Master Finn’s contemporaries have likewise accepted the Prince’s invitation. None are physicians such as yourself, mind you. Engineers, and the like. The Prince was intrigued by the notion that people were trying to reclaim technical information from the past. So much so that he has devoted a good deal of his own money to fund that work.”
“We don’t really study things that are useful to the military, by-and-large, Colonel,” Freeman-Corsin said, a bit more primly than she had intended.
“He isn’t interested in purely military applications, Miss,” Nidiad’s tone turned slightly frosty. “You’ll find that Parno McLeod cares about nothing so much as his homeland and it’s people. If your work makes life easier for his people, then you will have his support. Your work will be militarily significant in that it will save the lives of his men, should they be injured, or wounded in combat. He takes his position as commander here very seriously.”
“I’m sure he does,” the young woman managed to stammer, red faced from the dressing down. “If you don’t mind I’d like to freshen up a bit before meeting him.”
“As you will. Here comes your luggage now. Your assistant should be inside.”
“Assistant?”
“The wife of one of the soldiers,” Nidiad explained. “Cook and maid, laundress and the like. The Prince wanted to make sure you were comfortable, and could apply yourself fully to your work, especially during the construction of the hospital.”
“He’s building a hospital?” the doctor blurted. “I assumed he would just use an existing structure.”
“Not at all,” the colonel assured her. “He has already selected the site for the building and acquired the materials. He waits only for your input before setting to work.”
“I see,” she replied, trying to recover from one surprise too many. “Well, then, I best see to my needs. I don’t want to be the reason for any hold up.”
“Good day, then, Miss.” She watched the older man walk back toward the Headquarters offices, then turned again to look at ‘her’ house. Just as she started for the door, it opened
. Standing inside it was a middle aged, pleasantly plump woman, smiling broadly.
“You’d be the lady doctor, I’d suspect,” she said, her voice warm, and friendly. “I’m Maureen Downs, your cook and maid. I’ve the house ready for you, miss.”
“I am the lady doctor,” Stephanie smiled back, instantly liking the woman. “Please, call me Stephanie. I’m pleased to meet you.”
*****
“We of the Guild are not lackeys, milord, here to do your bidding on a royal whim!”
Professor Jason Pearl’s normally jovial face was somewhat red at the moment. Having made the trip to Cove Canton all the way from Lana, he was both disappointed, and angry, to find that his skill and knowledge of engineering was being sought as a military weapon of sorts.
