“You have to snap out of this, Karl,” frowned Sammy. “You’ve seen death and dismemberment on the battlefield. It is a part of life that we all must deal with. You can’t let this situation destroy you. You have to snap out of it.”
“Bet he would rather snap the neck of an elf,” someone commented softly.
Karl shook his head as if to clear the fog and turned to gaze in the direction of the voice. He could not tell who had spoken, but it didn’t really matter to Karl. Instantly his mind became clear. Gone was the confusion and the fog of emotions, only two remained, hate and death. He stood up.
“Snapping their necks is far too easy a death for those stinking elves,” he snarled. “We fought in the Great War to make this country safe for our families. How can we sit back now when elves are massacring our wives and loved ones?”
“Easy, Karl,” Sammy cautioned softly.
“Easy?” snapped Karl. “Why shouldn’t I speak my mind about this? Look at us! A whole Cordonian village has been wiped out. Every man, woman, and child has been murdered by those vicious savages, and we are sitting here in Kantor drinking ale and telling stories. What kind of men are we?”
The men who had been staring at Karl lowered their eyes with embarrassment.
“Are we cowards?” Karl asked, his voice getting louder and his eyes beginning to fill with hatred. “Is that what the men of Cordonia have become? Cowards?”
“The soldiers will find the elves,” suggested one of the men.
“The soldiers?” balked Karl. “We are the soldiers. Those men in uniforms who strut around the city don’t have a clue what we are up against. They aren’t out in Hega looking for elves. They are here protecting the cities. The elves won’t attack Kantor. They won’t attack Kalamaar. No, they will pillage the remote villages, where they can run and hide until their thirst for blood needs quenching again. It is not the army that will make Cordonia safe again. It is the real men of Cordonia that will take the fight to the elves.”
“You are going to hunt elves?” retorted one of the men.
Karl glared at the man. “I am going to hunt elves,” he declared. “My village might be burnt. My wife might be lost to me. My parents might be dead, but those stinking elves are not going to destroy another Cordonian village as long as I live and breathe. What are you going to do about it? Are going to sip another mug of ale and talk about how you saved the country during the Great War, or are you going to join with me and do something to save Cordonian women and children now?”
A number of men shouted boisterous agreement with Karl, and the barkeep slipped into the kitchen. He whispered to one of the serving girls and sent her out the back door of the tavern. Karl continued to inflame the men in the tavern until all of them were shouting for the death of all elves. Unexpectedly, both doors of the tavern burst open, and soldiers charged into the room. They grabbed Karl and hurriedly dragged him outside. The men in the tavern started to pour out the front door, protesting the arrest, but more soldiers arrived and forced the men back inside. Karl was carried off and thrown into a cell normally used to hold drunks until they sobered up.
* * *
The moon had already set by the time the large group of men arrived at the prison. The guards outside the entrance watched with concern as the men arrived. They knocked on the door and informed the inside guards that there might be trouble brewing, but the group of men were not boisterous. Instead of shouting and making demands, the men started singing war songs and proceeded to form a line and march around the entire building. Their singing was loud, but not threatening.
“Maybe one of us should get reinforcements,” one of the guards said to the other.
The other guard looked warily at the singing men. “One of us would have to get through that line, and the other would be left here alone. I don’t fancy being in either of those situations. I think we should slip inside and barricade the door.”
That is exactly what the guards did, but the sound of the singing only increased until they could hear it inside the prison just as loudly as they had heard it outside. With the outside guards no longer able to watch the walls of the prison, four men snuck up to the wall. They threw a grappling hook up until it caught on the roof, and the four men quickly climbed up. One of the four men led the others around the roof until he found what he was looking for.
“Right here,” he grinned.
“Are you sure about this?” asked Sammy.
“Positive,” nodded the man. “I helped roof this building. There is an access hatch right under my feet. They had us tar over it because it is only supposed to be used for emergencies, and even then from the inside only, but this will put us right down in the guardroom.”
“Won’t the guards be in there when we break through?” frowned another of the men.
“No,” Sammy shook his head. “When we give the word, the men below will start banging on the front door as if they are going to break it down. All of the guards will gather there to defend the prison.”
“That will still leave us outside the cells,” the man frowned. “How does that free Karl?”
“He is not in a real cell,” Sammy answered. “They took him in as a drunk. They don’t even bother to lock that cell. They let the men sleep it off and release them in the morning.”
“Then why are we doing this? Let’s just wait until morning.”
“Karl is not going to be let out,” stated Sammy. “I heard that the governor has decided that Karl is a risk. They will transfer him in the morning to the provincial prison. We would never get him out of there. It’s tonight or not at all.”
The roofer had found the hatch and cut through the tar. He looked up at Sammy and grinned. “Have the men start banging on the door. We are ready to go in.”
Sammy moved to the edge of the roof and signaled the men below. The singing line of men converged on the door with angry shouts and banging fists. Shouts rang out from within the building as guards rushed towards the front door. The roofer pried up the hatch and stuck his head in the hole. He held his hand out with his thumb up, and Sammy fed a rope into the hatch. The other two men wrapped the rope around their waists and braced themselves as Sammy grabbed the rope and lowered himself into the prison. He eased the door of the guardroom open and peeked into the hallway. The noise of the banging on the door echoed through the hallway, and Sammy slipped out of the guardroom. He eased himself away from the front of the prison to Karl’s cell and swung the door open.
Karl was awake and ready to go. When he saw Sammy, he leaped off his mat with a grin on his face. Sammy led him into the guardroom and Karl eased the door shut. They climbed the rope to the roof and the roofer lowered the hatch and smoothed over the lines as best he could. The five men moved swiftly to the edge of the roof and descended the rope to the ground. They immediately moved away from the prison to the five horses waiting for them.
“What about the others?” Karl asked as he mounted the horse.
“They are coming,” grinned Sammy. “They will give us a head start before they break off the assault at the prison. Once the guards are free to report, someone will decide to close the city gates. We must be out of the city when that happens. The worst the others can be arrested for is being drunk. They will meet us in the morning at a spot well outside the city. If they can’t meet us there, I set up another spot for the following morning.”
“You do good work, Sammy,” smiled Karl. “How many of us are there?”
“Fifty so far,” answered the dockworker, “but there will be more. I think you have woken us up and made us realize what needs to be done. Cordonia has a new army, Karl, and you are leading it.”
Chapter 4
A Taxing Time
The meeting room in the Royal Palace in Tagaret was large and held a huge round table in the center of it. King Arik and Queen Tanya had assembled their advisors to discuss the state of the kingdom and Governor Fernandez of Cordonia was speaking.
"I interrogated the woman myse
lf," Governor Fernandez continued. "I truly believe that she thinks the attackers were indeed elves."
"Has she ever seen an elf before?" asked Lord Markel.
"Only once," conceded Governor Fernandez. "Shortly after the darkness was lifted over Cordonia, a band of elves traveled down the White River to find out what had happened. Hega sits on the White River."
"Could she have been mistaken?" asked General Gregor.
"Hega is a small town," Governor Fernandez shook his head. "I am sure the elves passing through was talked about greatly."
"I can believe that," interjected Lord Clava. "Such a happening in a small town would be talked about for days. I think we have to accept that the elves committed a brutal massacre in Hega."
"But why?" asked Queen Tanya. "What would the elves have to gain from such an attack? According to this woman's story, they did not even ransack the town's buildings. They torched them during the raid. It makes no sense."
"And why was this woman spared?" asked Lord Markel. "According to her story, she was not even hiding. She stood in the middle of the street."
"That is correct," sighed Governor Fernandez. "None of this makes any sense, but I believe her story, as does her husband."
"I thought she was the only survivor?" questioned Prince Oscar. "Where does the husband come into this?"
"Karl Gree had left the town well before sunrise," explained Governor Fernandez. "He is a hunter by trade and had gone to hunt bears. Now he is off hunting elves."
"Hunting elves?" interrupted King Arik. "He must be stopped immediately."
"My men tried to stop him," the governor replied. "They even went as far as to jail him, but he escaped. I sent out several patrols to arrest him, but the man is at home in the forest. He cannot be tracked."
"Everyone can be tracked," the king responded. "The elves are very much a part of Alcea. We cannot allow individuals to foment a war between the races."
"Haven't the elves already done that by attacking Hega?" asked Duke Zalski. "One can hardly blame the man for wanting revenge."
"He lost his parents in the attack as well," added Governor Fernandez. "The destruction of Hega has robbed this man of everyone he has ever known."
"Except his wife," Queen Tanya pointed out.
"I fear she is lost to him as well," frowned the governor. "Lyda can focus on nothing but the attack. She relives the horror of that day over and over. I questioned her several times, and each time her memory of the attack was vivid and unchanging. She takes no comfort in her husband being around her. It is as if she doesn't even know he is there. In her mind, she is always alone."
"I have a hard time believing that elves would attack a human settlement for no reason," stated King Arik. "I am not disputing this woman's memory of the event, but something about this event does not sit right with me. I want Karl Gree stopped until we have a chance to get to the bottom of this mystery."
"My men are searching for him," the governor responded. "If we find him, we will make sure he does not escape again."
"Let's move on," sighed King Arik. "General Gregor, what have you got for us?"
"Nothing that will bring a smile to your face," the general responded. "The protests are growing throughout the kingdom. Rebel factions are becoming bolder in Lanoir, and protests are occurring all over what used to be Targa. In Sordoa there are riots as people scavenge for food. The situation is getting out of hand everywhere."
The king looked hopefully at Prince Oscar. "Is there anything further that you can do?"
"My fortune is gone," Prince Oscar shook his head. "You will have to raise taxes."
"And raising taxes will create even greater unrest," warned General Gregor. "Frankly, I am at a loss to explain the behavior of the citizens. It has only been three years since we defeated Sarac and his minions. Do the people really have such short memories? Can they truly expect you to make everything better overnight?"
"Evidently they do," interjected Duke Zalski. "The very nature of man is selfishness. By rescinding taxes after assuming the throne, you have created an environment of entitlement for the people. They now expect the government to take care of their every need. Why should they suffer or work when the government is supposed to take care of them?"
"I cannot believe that the average man is so selfish," stated King Arik. "While there will always be some who think only of themselves, the vast majority of people will be wiling to work for the common good."
"Perhaps," interjected Lord Markel, "but it sounds like the number of selfish people is growing at a rather fast pace. Something needs to be done about it and soon."
King Arik glanced at the young, white-haired Royal Sorcerer. "Fredrik, is it possible the people are being affected by magic? Could something like that make them angry as the darkness did?"
"It might be possible," Fredrik answered, "but it would have to be on a local scale. If there was something affecting the whole of Alcea, I would have felt it by now, and I have not. Personally, I think Duke Zalski is closer to the truth. The people are merely dissatisfied with their lot in life."
"Whatever the cause," declared Prince Oscar, "we need to take steps to correct the situation. Taxes have become a necessity. You must institute them immediately or we will have to start trimming the army."
"That is not wise with the current situation of growing unrest," retorted General Gregor. "We have already disbanded the Army of the West, and the Army of Lanoir is the smallest it has been in a century. We may soon need to send our soldiers to various parts of the kingdom to quell the unrest."
"Institute a tax scheme, Prince Oscar," instructed the king. "I want it handled at the provincial level with a tithe to the Royal Palace. Make it as compassionate as possible for the common man. Let the governors set the tax rate for their province, but you must give your blessing to it before it is implemented. I do not want any of the governors trying to extract too much from the people."
"I will see to it," promised Prince Oscar.
A knock on the door interrupted the meeting. A guard opened the door and stepped outside the room. He returned a moment later with a message for Governor Fernandez. The Governor of Cordonia frowned as he read the message and the king waited for him to share the news.
"It appears that Karl Gree has managed to engage some other Cordonians to his cause," the governor declared. "Over a hundred men surrounded one of my patrols and disarmed them."
"Was there any bloodshed?" asked the king.
"Not so far," answered the governor, "but there will be. Karl sent the patrol away with a message to leave him and his men alone or face a fight. We may soon have a civil war in Cordonia."
Silence reigned in the room while everyone stared at the King of Alcea as if expecting some words of wisdom to flow from his mouth. Instead, the king rose to his feet and announced that the meeting was over. The advisors filed out of the room until only the queen and Prince Oscar remained with the king.
"You are up to something unusual," Prince Oscar said softly. "What is it?"
"I want you to cover for me and Tanya for a while, Father," answered the king. "We will be gone for a while, and before you ask, I don't know how long. We are going to find Karl Gree and convince him to abandon his quest."
"The two of you are going to face a mob of a hundred angry men?" questioned the prince. "Is that wise?"
"Why focus on that one problem?" interrupted Queen Tanya. "There are similar problems all over the kingdom."
"This is the only one that we have a name attached to," answered King Arik, "and I need to start doing something about the mess that is beginning to cloud the kingdom. If you think one of us should stay here to deal with the day-to-day problems, you may stay behind."
"Not a chance," Tanya quickly replied. "I have the utmost faith in Prince Oscar."
The king chuckled at Tanya's quick response, but the prince was not in the mood for humor. "I understand your need to do something physical to stop the mayhem, but do not be foolish about it. If th
ose men can disarm an army patrol, they can kill both of you."
"We will not be going alone," the king replied. The prince sighed and started to feel more at ease until the king continued. "We will be taking Prince Garong with us."
"Have you gone mad?" shouted Prince Oscar. "You are going to take along an elf to find Karl Gree?"
Even the queen looked curiously at the king.
"The only way to stop Karl is to convince him that all elves are not his enemy," explained the king. "I will need Prince Garong to accomplish that."
"You have gone mad," Prince Oscar shook his head. "Talk some sense into him, Tanya."
"Actually," Tanya replied, "he makes a great deal of sense. If any elf is to accompany us, Prince Garong is a wise choice. He is more than a prince of the Elderal. He is a Knight of Alcea."
"I want you to talk to Fernandez before he leaves in the morning to return to Kantor," the king instructed the prince. "He is to halt all of his patrols and leave Karl Gree alone. That last thing we need is a revolt in Cordonia, and the government searching for Karl will most assuredly cause one."
"You want me to talk to the governor?" frowned Prince Oscar. "Does that mean you are leaving right away?"
Knights of Alcea Page 5
