by Liam Carrack
I seated myself directly across from Lord Fistall, next to Horice, who was already seated. Aahurn sat himself beside Fistall and Tobbyrn took the only remaining seat beside me. I felt a slight tingle of satisfaction at being bolstered on either side by men that held no significance in the eyes of a Dynaly Lord, and yet it would not make things easier either. The Gifts were not exactly valued in Dynal, and any man who did look physically powerful was seen as lesser than those who were. It was at this time that it occurred to me that I had not looked at what Horice had dressed himself in.
When I stole a glance and was inwardly surprised to see Horice looking so well kept. I wondered at Scinna’s ability to cloth him so well on so short a notice with all the other things going on. If we weren’t fleeing the city tomorrow I was going to have to order him a new wardrobe. He was going to be in a position of authority, and would have to at least look the part.
“Lord Fistall, I have some troubling news to impart.” I began slowly as Dalla and Yesmena began serving the first course. Fistall’s eyes were more for the food than for me. His only response was to quirk his left eyebrow, and clench his jaw slightly. He looked as though he might respond verbally, but Aahurn must have kicked him under the table as he had done earlier in the yard because his face hardened.
“Gemsman Tobbyrn,” I motioned to him as I spoke, “is a high ranking official in the Gems Traders’ Guild. This afternoon he was informed, along with high ranking officials of all the Guilds, that a contingent of Dynaly rebels attempted to storm the Guild Council Hall today.” He nearly choked on the bite of food he had brought to his lips and was visibly reddening with anger. “The city has also been asked to be on the look out for, what was the phrase you used?” I turned to Tobbyrn sitting in a remarkably composed manner beside me. I was honestly caught off-guard by it. He spoke with assurance without raising his voice. He was more than I could have asked for in a “counselor” for this little “parlay”, and I was rather ashamed to admit to myself that I had doubted him. I thought I would be holding all this, and him, together myself. Here he was bolstering me.
“We were told to be, and I quote, `on the look out for gangs of rowdy Dynaly roaming our fair streets’. I do not subscribe to the belief that the Dynaly people are doing anything other than trying to eke out a living here in Phiriel, but I am not in the majority I fear. My fellow Phiriaen have begun to see only the worst in what they deem the `riff-raff’ filling our streets.”
“If you people had only come to our aid in the beginning you wouldn’t have our people choking your damn streets. But no, you didn’t want to get involved. You and your Council.” He fairly spat the word. “Can’t make a decision, just soft old men discussing …” he turned on Aahurn, and glared sputtering with his rage. Aahurn must have kicked him more soundly this time, but the only people ruffled in the room were Dalla and Yesmena who wisely stepped outside. Neither Tobbyrn nor myself moved a muscle, and from the corner of my eye I could see that Horice looked unperturbed. Instead he was purposefully chewing one of the appetizers from his nearly empty plate.
“Respectfully Sir you should know that I did go off to war for you, and this lady here lost a brother to that war. As a High ranking official yourself, you must have heard of her family. I was under the impression that the House of Daddyn sent much in the way of aid before his death.
Lord Fistall suddenly paled, then visibly calmed. He looked at Aahurn in near disbelief, and back at me. He looked me in the eye for a long moment, and then began eating calmly. It was the first time he had truly caught me off-guard, and it appeared I wasn’t the only one, though Aahurn looked more relieved than off-balance.
I cleared my throat and turned as calmly as I could toward Tobbyrn. Why was it that I was the one feeling out of the loop at the moment? Before I could ask the thousands of questions racing through my brain, Fistall, now calmly eating the delicacies before him in what appeared to be good nature, spoke again.
“You are the daughter of the late Daddyn Gemsman?” He stared intently at his food and not me as he said it though.
How would he know my father? Our family had always done trade with the Dynaly, yes, but my father was no more noteworthy than any other as far as I knew. Shows what you know girl, stop gaping like a codfish, and answer the man before someone else does. “Yes, he passed quite a while ago, but he was mine while he lived. You knew him?”
“Personally as it turns out.” He still wasn’t looking at anything but his food, and his tone was strangely flippant. “One of your father’s uncles was great friends with my father. When we were young, if he accompanied his uncle, I would take him… sightseeing as it were. It was long and long until we met again at… the wedding.” His grimace spoke volumes. The marriage between The Dynaly King and Horsewoman Retidda had been generally regarded as ill-advised on both sides of the border. “Soon after that ill-fated match your father was one of the very few who sent aid in the form of foodstuffs by the wagonload. Later he sent scrap metal for weapons making. He could not legally send finished weaponry, but he did all he could. When his shipments stopped suddenly I worried, then was furious, and then ashamed when I learned of his death.” He caught my eye purposefully for the first time since I had met him before he continued. “I mourned him in my way and I will remember your family’s graciousness in our dealings. As for your brother, I was unaware Daddyn’s son had come to fight. I would have taken care to have met him if I had known, but you must know I have lost far more than a brother to those hoards.” His eyes iced over, and his fists clenched on the tabletop.
“He was in my regiment. I kept most of the Phiraien contingent as far from you as possible. There were so few, and you would have scared them from the training grounds with your temper.” Aahurn’s jovial comment hit us both a little sideways, and served to lighten the mood. I hadn’t touched my food but called for the next course none-the-less. If we were to make it through them all, it was best to move ahead when we were in good spirits.
“I was unaware that we were sending aide to the Dynaly. I would have continued to do so if I had known, though I suppose my Aunt Trefalla would have forbidden that as well. There is nothing to be done about the past. We must all look to the future. Tomorrow I plan to arrange a hearing. Make no mistake I will be arranging a hearing for myself. I will be allowing you to speak in part of the time I will request. I am aware that this cannot sit well with you, and I agree that you deserve your own hearing, but this is not possible considering the current political climate, nor will it be in the near future. I wish you to keep in mind something very important for tomorrow. I mean no disrespect, but you MUST keep your temper.”
How do I put this into terms that will have meaning for him, and might actually have some possibility of making a change in his demeanor? I pressed on quickly before he lost his cool, and did not allow me to continue. “If you allow yourself to be baited into a fight, they will see a barbaric fool from a dead kingdom. You have already jeopardized the lives, and livelihoods, of many of your people all across this realm. Do not scoff. I am quite serious. You have been told how blown out of proportion this has already become. The people, your people, who have found themselves destitute in our streets are not all thieves and beggars. There are strong men and women out there in our streets with no way of turning the tide of their lost battles, and you have just given the already fed up citizens of this country a reason to fear, and most likely oppress your people.”
“No doubt you will find much of the tediousness of tomorrow unbearable, but I implore you to appear aloof and unperturbed no matter who provokes you regardless of their sex. The women of Phiriel have all the power, and rights of the men, and hold many positions of authority. I know this rankles your sensibilities, but it is a fact, and if you can forget their sex for a day it may help you considerably. You must make the council believe that it was their own bully-squad that caused the ruckus. If they can be persuaded to think so, then the rumors may be turned back on themselves, otherwise my succor
of your Heir may not be possible, and I doubt that you will find another who will take him in so willingly, nor one who will do all in their power to raise the child with a thought toward his someday regaining his father’s thrown. I will give the Horsemen a chance to claim him as their own, but I am sure that he will be raised as a Horseman, and not as the heir to a captured throne.”
“What do you plan to propose to the council tomorrow? And, will I speak before or after?” He was soaking all this in too calmly. It was almost disconcerting.
“As to the second question I will have you speak first as my proposal will make more sense following what I think you plan to say, though I wish to hear what you will be broaching to the council before you do so, if you don’t mind. It is not that I think you incapable as a speaker, but if there is something I can polish for the ears of the council before they have a chance to take offense, I wish to do so. Not only that, but I am putting my reputation,” and the lives of my staff, “in your hands. As to the first question, I am proposing an alternative to clearing our streets through the use of press gangs and jail. I will divulge my plans more thoroughly, but I wish to have a discussion with Aahurn over its viability before I do so.” Aahurn’s head popped up from his soup at this, but a quick nod told me I would get my planning session.
“That sounds… reasonable. I wished to find a suitable home for the child, which you have already offered, though your Horse traders must have an opportunity to collect him. I can see that. I will always have need to do business with them after all. I must also make it plain that there is an Heir, and make public his heritage and pedigree. I will ask once again for aide in our fight, though I hold no hope of actually obtaining any. Lastly I wish to make it plain that these whore-sons will not stop complacently at your boarders. They will begin with sneak attacks. These attacks will be such that no one will attribute losses to anything but ill fortune. Then, they will attack your supply lines. That will be easier to do against your people as you import so much. They crush the spirit of your people before they ever show their blister pocked faces. You are not a fighting people. They will eat you alive, and more quickly than they took us. When I receive no offer of aide I will announce my fees as a mercenary. I have a contingent of soldiers who will follow my lead waiting for me. Your people will understand the dollars and cents, but not the motivation behind it. I will have to be content to wait on the sidelines until they discover they need what I offer.”
I was impressed. He hadn’t lost his temper. He wasn’t asking or expecting the impossible, and he had even acquiesced to many of the realities of this realm. He was accepting that his chances were slim, and even had a backup plan for feeding and clothing his troops, though where he planned to keep them was still in the air.
“Where do you plan to settle with your troops and their inevitable followers?”
“We will have to find usable training ground. I was toying with the idea of purchasing land much farther inland. I would prefer to be outside of Phiriel, but these mad dog invaders seem to be everywhere at once, and that may not be possible.”
“Are you suggesting that they gather on our borders to invade?”
He scoffed as if I were a brainless twit asking the obvious. “Not all your borders, not yet, and I have not seen them using water going tactics yet, but I foresee a time when your naval ships will fire upon your own cities in any attempt to crush them.”
Aahurn appeared intrigued, but somehow I felt he was about to bring Fistall’s plans to a crushing halt with some hereto-unheard piece of bad news. “With what funds do you plan to purchase land may I ask?” The nonchalance with which this question was asked belied the true gravity of the problem. This was a worrisome point. Where would these exiles go?
“I have my troops guarding the last of the King’s treasury. They will let nothing befall it as they know it is our last hope.” His relative calm was heating up again and he was nearly growling his next words as he stared directly at Aahurn. “If you say it is the babe’s money and must be saved for him…” his face began reddening again, but Aahurn waved a hand to blow away this apparently unfounded conclusion.
“No. No. I would say nothing such as that. What I wish to impart is far more troublesome. I doubt anyone will sell you the land, at least not at anything close to an affordable price. They will say that they don’t want fighting in their backyard, as many of these fools believe our enemy has some grudge against Dynal in particular, and not just greed for land. In reality it will be their prejudice against our ‘dirty, thieving, lazy’ people that will keep you from a land deed. They think we are slow of mind, and choose to steal instead of work an ‘honest day’ and so will not employ us. The situation here for our people is a bitter one.”
Fistall had grown angrier and angrier with each new piece of information. I was ashamed of my people, and their actions, but there was little I could do to mend it at the moment. “Let us first deal with what we can do tomorrow before worrying beyond that point. Perhaps the Horsetraders will make a portion of their plains available for your use. They have always been more alert to outside threats than any of the other guilds.”
My words seemed to calm him as Dalla tentatively served him the main course. He plowed into it with fervor the moment her hand was away. Perhaps he was chewing away his obstacles.
“Who is this Heir you spoke of?”
Tobbyrn’s words suddenly reminded me of his presence, and my lack of information concerning the infant hopefully sleeping upstairs. “The babe Maevall, son of Horsewoman Lanydda and King Jeivall, sleeps in my old nursery.”
Horice spoke up for the first time this meal to add his own information. “His mother Lanydda died in childbirth while in seclusion near our mutual border, but her ladies all swear he is her child. There is something of the Horse in him, so I will not say them nay. As for his father you must ask that of Lord Fistall.”
“He died gloriously in battle, taking several with him.” Fistall spoke those words with pride but continued to eat. They did not answer the question to hand, but as he continued to eat I believed they were all that we would hear on the subject from Fistall.
The questions in my mind were beginning to weave themselves into a plan, risky yes, but no more so than the gamble I have already taken up. Hmm…
Aahurn
As I sat in this sumptuous dining hall eating foods I had not savored in years I listened to the good sense that fell like jewels from the Lady Llanalla’s lips. She was playing to his pride and sense of duty to keep his cool tomorrow. She was not sugar coating anything nor was she holding anything back, save perhaps that she was risking more than she let on in helping him; us. I wonder if he had any clue how much she was risking here. I hoped he was hearing her reason, and not dismissing it all as the prattle of a presumptive woman.
I nearly choked as she told him she would take in the Heir, and raise it as such. No one else, not even the Horsetraders would raise it as the heir, and somehow as I listened to her I knew she meant it, though how she planned to do that, I was as yet unaware. My shock was not lessened when I heard the calm and reasonable questions he followed her statements up with. He wasn’t throwing away this ray of hope she held out. I thought surely that he would, he had tried to earlier, but he was actually listening to a woman. It was probably the first time had done so since he was a babe himself.
I was attempting to hide my surprise with mouthfuls of soup when the Lady stunned me once again. She was asking my help, and guidance in something she planned to propose tomorrow. What made her think that I would be of any use in this endeavor was beyond me. As far as she knew I was a delivery boy for a seamstress who was out of public favor. I could be useful and would be helpful, but what made her think I was anything other than one of the lucky refugees who managed to get a job? I suppose there was that comment I made a few moments ago about the regiment I ran, but that could just be boastful talk, and she made it sound as though she had thought this through already. It could be that my actions u
p until this have belied my leadership abilities, perhaps I wasn’t as good at hiding them as I thought. Most Phiraean don’t think you can follow more than one simple instruction at a time, so why would they see your leadership abilities? Regardless, it didn’t look like I would be getting much time in that luxurious feather bed tonight after all. I nodded quickly. Anything that did not involve press gangs and jail time for my people was a good idea by my mind. What did she plan to do with them? There were hundreds of us and the last thing she needed was an even weaker position in the politics of Phiriel.
Fistall was still sounding levelheaded, though he was completely unconcerned with what she would propose, probably passing it off as women’s worries. I doubted he had any idea the number of our craftsmen, farmers, and even trained fighters who sat helpless in the streets around him. I would have to convince him not to use any foul language tomorrow, and to be careful not to sound like he was threatening the Council, or the Phiraien people in general. The Council did not look kindly on those who threatened them, though passing along pertinent information on the tactics of a people he believed would be their mutual enemy could be useful. It would be a fine line for Fistall to straddle, but straddle it he must.
His final statements however were the most earth shattering of all. Mercenary? He planned to go mercenary? The soup I was so dutifully ladling into my mouth nearly sprayed across the table. I nearly choked keeping it in when he said it. He had once denounced any who would join or use a mercenary troop in battle, and now he planned to lead one. I wondered how well that had gone over with his troops or whether he had truly discussed it with them yet. There was so much I needed to discuss with both of the main players in this dance, and almost no time to do it in.
