"It was to everyone's advantage, so I converted the ships to merchantmen."
"We shall put them to work straight away. On another subject would you be interested in another business opportunity?"
"I'm always willing to listen, what do you have in mind?"
"Money changing and moneylending."
"Go on."
"There are merchants from other lands who will need to change their money to ours, unless they have the proper weighted good coin. We would change their money for a small percentage. On the lending side we would loan money to people and businesses for a usury fee. If they can't repay the loan, we take over the business, property, or merchandise."
"You would run this business from your warehouse?"
"To start with yes. Depending on the profitability we may move the loan side to another building further into the town proper."
"How much of an investment would this business require?"
"A like amount that you left in my vault should be plenty."
"I like the idea, it would help the local people do better in business, well if they are wise, I'll deposit the money into your vault. You may start when you are ready."
"Yes, Sir Mage, we'll start right away."
✽✽✽
The two ships were back from Black Stag by mid-morning the following day. We departed taking the next load to Black Stag shortly after their return. I went with them to watch this Captain find the cove following the updated charts I had given him. He found it with no problems.
Once we docked the ship, they started unloading supplies. The troops moved them up to the troop's warehouse. The Quartermaster took charge of our new farmers to get them to their farms, with their livestock and supplies. Once I was satisfied, I went under and flew back to my pavilion.
I got one of the large chests of gold and put it in Arthur's vault for our money changer's business.
I found Mr. Hicks and assigned him a warehouse to work out of. I built him an office in the front with a vault, and a living area in the back. I gave him a small purse for living expenses. He and Arthur were already working together filling our ships.
I gave each of the ship's Captains a small chest of gold for operating expenses before we sent them out on a trade run.
Five of our ships had already departed when the Bonnie M came into port. I let Mr. Hicks deal with Captain Wester. He unloaded his cargo here and reloaded for another voyage to foreign ports.
It was time to go back and check in with Sergeant Major Miller. They should be moving by now. I saddled Harbinger and took her down to the castle stables. I closed the pavilion and put the book in my pouch. Harbinger was ready to go. We went under and we fast-travelled to the area where we had left the company. I put on the guise of Captain Elijah Drake, and we came up. I let Harbinger stretch her legs a little.
The Hinterland army had moved, and therefore, so had the company. The company was staying a few hours behind them, but our scouts were up with them.
"Good afternoon Sergeant Major, all is well?"
"Good afternoon Captain, all is well, sir. Although the Mess Sergeant said if we found any stray cattle he would put them to good use." He said smiling.
I laughed, "I hear they hang cattle thieves around here."
"So, they do, sir. If they catch them."
"I'll keep an eye out. Any changes with the Hinterlanders?"
"Not really, though they are moving faster going home."
"Don't we all."
"Aye, that we do."
I found a couple of cattle every few nights for the mess. I would just leave them standing by the mess wagons. No one ever mentioned them. I don't think my Captain Drake guise was fooling anyone in the company. But it was company business, and no one discussed company business outside the company.
We finally reached the border, and they kept marching, the company turned south, heading home. I made sure our mess supplies were full before we turned south. They were still the enemy, just not active at the moment.
I stayed at the border until both parties were out of sight. I concentrated on the crags and raised them up and closed off the pass between our countries. I may reopen them someday, but today they were closed. We rode south to catch up with the company.
I rode up beside the Sergeant Major, "you should be clear all the way to Black Stag. All the overnight forts are still there. I'm going to check on Prince Kade. We'll meet you at the Keep."
"Yes sir, we'll make good time going back."
Harbinger and I peeled off heading east. Once out of sight we went under, and fast-travelled to the capital.
Chapter twenty-eight
I went under the castle and opened a large vault. I took out the pavilion book and opened the pavilion. I put Harbinger in her stable and unsaddled her and brushed her down. I took a bath and put on clean clothes.
Then went to find Prince Kade. I found him in the stable brushing Beast. I put on the guise of a groomsman and surfaced around the corner. As I approached, Beast's hound met me wagging his tail.
"You here with all of your friends?"
The Prince glanced at me and smiled. "I am now, what took you so long?"
"I had to see your in-laws off and close the door so they couldn't come back... through that door at least."
He nodded, "good, hopefully that is the end of that problem."
"I'm sure they'll be others."
"Always."
"What news, do we still have a home, or do I need to build another?"
"I am no longer Duke of the Western District. I am out of favor with the Crown. My father and I have not spoken since leaning Vigil Castle. Not even at Luke's crypt. Mother is quite wroth, with both of us."
"He made me Duke of the Southern District. I turned it down. I am being sent away with no support from the Crown. Either I make it on my own or not at all."
"I see an earthquake in the future. If it would not hurt the people of West Gate, I'd drop it in the sea."
"And if it did not hurt the people, I'd let you. What news from the west?"
"The Company is on its way back to Black Stag. There are ten more farms being worked. There are four hundred men waiting there to be trained. And we now own ten armed merchantmen who are running cargo as we speak."
He nodded, "so nothing out of the ordinary."
"Not really." we laughed.
"When do we leave?"
"I'm allowed to leave in the morning when the gates open, with my armor and my horse. I'm sure the King will be on the wall to insure I go."
"Do you want to go now?"
"Tempting, but no. Let him have his temper tantrum. Then we'll go."
"Have you eaten?"
"No, I've been taking my meals in my room. We are not speaking I do not wish to be ignored, with disdain while eating."
"Let's go eat," I took his arm, "close your eyes."
"Why?"
"So you don't get dizzy and throw-up." He closed his eyes, and we eased down to the pavilion.
"Ok, you can open them now."
"Where are we?"
"In my pavilion under the castle. Sit down, the food and wine are excellent." We sat and ate.
"This is good. Wait, how long have you had this?" I shrugged my shoulders. "You mean we could have been travelling using this all the time?"
"What? No. Well, not all the time. But hey, I was sharing your misery all the way... mostly..."
"I always heard you could not trust a Mage."
"Now that part's true."
We laughed; it was a good sound. I thought of Maddie for a second, then she was gone.
✽✽✽
At sunrise the Prince mounted on Beast, both in full armor, waited. He had asked me to take the sigil off of his shield, which I did. He on Beast, moved out of the stables into the courtyard. He waited for the gates to open.
The King came out on to the gate wall and stared down at him. He tossed a small purse down to the ground. Prince Kade left it where it landed, put on his
helm and closed the visor. He pulled his shield from his backside to his front and waited. Beast was stomping feeling his master's agitation. The King left the wall, and the gate opened.
Beast trotted through the gate, and out of the Castle and down the road. Harbinger and I in full battle armor, joined him outside the Capital. We rode west for a while not speaking.
After an hour he slowed us to a walk. Raising his visor, "can you take us to the Castle in West Gate?"
"I can, we can be there in a few moments, no one will see us enter, and I’ll seal the Castle proper."
He nodded and reigned up, "take us please."
I moved Harbinger close to Beast, so we were knee to knee. We linked arms. "Do not let go." He nodded.
I lowered us into the ground and we fast-travelled to the Castle and emerged in the stables. He sat for a moment, then nodded. We dismounted and unsaddled Beast and Harbinger.
When we finished, we walked up to the Royal Gardens. I opened my pavilion. "Let's have breakfast while we discuss what we shall do next." We went inside to hot tea and hot food. We didn't talk much while we ate. After we finished, we moved outside and sat looking out to sea.
"I suppose it was grief that pushed him to lash out like he did." I said nothing, I just listened. "Luke and I were never close. He was always a bully to me. He was the firstborn, I guess that made him and father closer. Mother told him he would lose two sons he didn't seem to hear her. Through his foolishness he's lost two sons and a daughter." He said no more.
I left him looking out over the ocean. I stepped over to the other wall to look over the harbor; I had three ships sitting at the docks. I went under and flew down in my Orcus guise to see the Captains and Mr. Hicks.
I met with the Captains and told them to wait here in the harbor. I would have a new task for them shortly. I told Mr. Hicks to hold off on doing anything with the three ships until I made some arrangements.
When I arrived back at the Royal Gardens Kade was in the pool. "You should have made this with hot water."
"I didn't make that one with hot water because that one is for fish. The hot water bathing pools are inside."
He looked down at the water, then at me. "Not a word." He got up, and we went inside to the hot baths. We bathed and sat relaxing in the hot water.
"What do you think we should do?" He asked.
Honestly, I think we should go south. I'll separate the southern District from the rest of the Kingdom, that will solve most of our problems. I'll leave the crags in place on this side and shift the southern lands off the coast a mile or two or five. We have ships. We have people. I can build anything we need. From what I've been told the whole of the southern District is surrounded by crags. I can completely enclose it until we are ready the open it in certain places.
I'll make a deep-water harbor with a castle, lots of farms and a town to start us. We'll grow from there. We'll get more people from the slave pens. And trade with other nations. You will no longer be Prince Kade, but King Kade. If people and nations leave us in peace, we'll leave them in peace. If they don't... I shrugged my shoulders.
He was thinking, "I does sound easy, but new things always do. Let's sleep on it, think about it, and talk again." I nodded. "When does the company get back to Black Stag?"
"At least a month."
He nodded, "that's what I thought." He said no more.
✽✽✽
"Let's do it," he said over breakfast.
"Which part?"
"All of it. Shift the southern district off the coast, making it, its own nation. The Nation of Southland. Wall it in solid. Make a deep-water harbor, make a castle, town, farms, everything. We'll bring people in. I don't see Father changing his ways. He just wants to use people to his advantage and claim it's for the good of the Kingdom."
"I've noticed that about him."
"When we leave sink this castle back into the earth, leave the walls for the cannon emplacements but sink everything else."
"That will cost, as much to take down as it did to put up. You heard that crazy old Mage."
"You can have the gold in the mantle."
"That’s already mine."
"I'll owe it to you."
"Uh-huh. Ok I'll go look at what we have to work with before we make a final decision."
"Good idea, we may end up stealing the Western District instead."
"It could happen, I have been known to steal a few things, but never by the acre."
✽✽✽
I flew along the crag wall that divided the Southern Lands from the rest of the Kingdom. Overall, it was fairly thick, only in a few places was it close to breaking through. I raised crags to fill in those areas. There were two major underground rivers that fed the southern rivers south of the crags. I would have to make sure those passages stayed open when I moved everything.
I flew under the marsh areas. It was all just low-lying lands. But over half the country was marsh lands. I would have to raise those areas. This was a land with a good mix of thick forest and flat open fields. There was plenty of water and the soil was rich and fertile. I flew around the coast and found one break in the crag wall. There had once been a small fishing village there, but no more. They had completely abandoned it. I raised crags to close that opening.
I found coal, gold, silver, gemstones, and ground oil. The crags were from fifty to eighty feet tall and were only thirty feet thick in some areas. I flew back and forth under the whole region. I took me all day to quickly cover everything. I'm not sure anyone realized how big the southern district was. It was easily a third of the size or the rest of the Kingdom, maybe more.
I flew under, back to my pavilion. The Prince was sitting in the garden. "Have you eaten?" I asked.
"Not yet. "We went inside and sat. Hot food and cool wine made my day complete. I told him what I had found and the few changes I had made.
"And you found no people?"
"I only saw the one abandoned village. I guess it was so remote getting resupplied was too difficult for them to hold out." We took our wine out onto the garden terrace. I raised a table from the floor and showed a relief map of the southern district.
He looked the model over, "and these areas are marsh?"
"Yes, but I can raise all of that up to the same level as the surrounding areas. In these low areas here, I think we should lower even more making it a lake so all the water and fish will have somewhere to go."
He nodded. "Where are you thinking of putting the harbor?"
"Well, I thought it should be away from the lake. That still leaves us a lot of options. If we put it on the north side, no ships will ever go south. Also, that would quickly lead to a confrontation with the Northern Kingdom. Which is also why we just can't leave it where it is and put a gate in the wall. They would be beating on the gate in no time. I'm leaning toward the southern parts of the island. And island, is what it will be. Although it will be a big one."
"Ocean currents to cause trouble at the harbor?"
"I have not looked at that yet. Even if the exists, I can change the ocean floor as easily as dry land."
"There is that. Ok let's back up a step. What do we want our harbor to look like? The warehouses, the dock, the quays, the fort to protect the harbor mouth; and where would you put the castle?"
"Whoa, slow down. How about this?" I started moving the model around with different shapes, and placement. It ended up looking a lot like Port West Gate only bigger. The castle was up against the crag cliffs, so it exposed nothing to the seaside to be exploited.
"Ok, I like that layout, where do we put it?"
"The south tip of the Island." I raise the rest of the map and showed him where we could place it. "We'd keep the wall closed until we had everything built, soldiers to guard it, and people living there." He nodded.
"Before we make a final decision, we'll let this stay up a day or two. We'll sleep on it and see if we want any changes."
✽✽✽
After two days we had made
no changes. "Are you ready to start?" I asked.
"No time like the present."
"Ok, the first thing we'll do is move down there. This will take a lot out of me. I'll need to rest and eat close to where I'm working. Let's get Beast and Harbinger ready, then we'll move the pavilion over." I closed the pavilion, and we went down to the stables to get Beast and Harbinger. We did not put on their armor we would be underground the whole way.
We mounted and linked arms. "Remember, do not let go." He nodded. I lowered us into the ground and we fast-travelled to a hillock on an open plain surrounded by forests. "Welcome to Southland." I said.
We dismounted, and I took out the pavilion book and lay it on the ground. I touched the book with the staff, "Add another bed chamber and bathroom." The pavilion opened. I went inside there was now two bedchambers, with bathrooms attached to them.
We unsaddled the horses and let them run free and enjoy themselves.
"Let me show you something." I took him inside and showed him his bedchamber.
"Thank you, I appreciate the gesture."
"Well, it was that or listen to you complain about sleeping on the ground."
"I would not have complained, I'd have slept in the bedchamber over there." He laughed.
"I may not be back on time every day, don't get worried if I'm gone for a few days. As I said, this will take a lot out of me."
"Ok, but don't push yourself, we have plenty of time."
"True, I will start by lowering the lake first so the water will not flood everything." I sank into the earth and fast-travelled to the low place that would become our lake. I lowered the land quite a bit, I'd could always raise it if it was too low.
I moved to the closest marsh lands to the lakebed, lowering a riverbed toward the new lakebed. Then I started raising the marsh lands. Water started moving right away, heading toward our lakebed.
Once I completed raising a marsh area, I made a riverbed from the next marsh area and raised it. I spent all day repeating this process. At sundown I went back to the pavilion, ate and went down into the earth to recover. It took me two weeks to raise all the marshlands, and they were still draining filling our lake.
Hand Made Mage Page 24
