“And how safe is our boat, Orthan?” Miranda inquired. “Does the young Lord have access to funds to pay us? Or even funds to pay for food? And what if our Lady decides to fire us? Do you have a plan for everything, Orthan?”
“We will take one step at a time, Miranda,” Orthan said fatherly. “I will work with Lord Fredrik Wason to solve all of our problems. The young man is a thief if ever I laid eyes on one. I will arrange for him to allow me to manage the finances of the estate. Once that is accomplished, I will sell off enough out-holdings to sustain all of us in comfort. The hard part will be in getting him the legal authority to then turn it over to me.”
“Well, you had better start your bargaining then, Orthan,” quipped Miranda, “before I strangle our Lady and they haul me away for murder.”
Orthan patted Miranda’s arm comfortingly and headed upstairs. He caught Fredrik just coming out of Niki’s suite. “Will My Lord spare me a few moments of his time?” Orthan asked Fredrik.
“Certainly, Orthan,” replied the young Lord. “Let us go into the study and we’ll see about what troubles you.”
The young Lord and his butler entered the study and Fredrik took the Lord’s chair without hesitation. “What seems to be the matter, Orthan?” Fredrik asked.
“The problem, my young Lord,” Orthan smiled, “is that Lord Alrecht had no brothers or sisters.”
Fredrik listened lazily and suddenly stiffened as the butler’s meaning sunk in. He reached for his dagger that he was not wearing in his new outfit. Orthan indicated that he should relax and sit back down. “I say that so we both know where we each stand,” Orthan said calmly. “I think with your cooperation, my Lord, we shall all get what we want out of this charade.”
Fredrik smiled cautiously as he realized all was not lost already. “And what is it that my butler wants out of this?” he asked.
Orthan pulled up a chair and sat down. “Our Lord, that is to say, Lord Alrecht, had no living kin. I can prove that and you two would be hung for the impersonation. Unfortunately, that would gain me nothing and I rather like you.”
Fredrik snorted at the last statement, but still managed to sound sincere when he asked, “And you have a plan, no doubt. What is your plan, Orthan?”
“The maids and myself have no desire to find permanence on the streets as beggars,” Orthan stated. “What I propose is a partnership. I will help you establish your right to remain as our Lord. You will execute documents giving me complete authority in financial matters. I know enough about Lord Alrecht’s holdings that I will make us all wealthy. We will continue to serve you as servants and you will promise that we will not be mistreated. We will wish for you to remain here as our Lord and protector and you will wish for us to remain safe as your humble servants. Everybody wins.”
Fredrik sat studying the elderly swindler. He had to admit the plan had great merit and he had nothing to lose. The servants needed him or some other person with a claim to inheritance if they ever hoped to stay employed. Obviously, the servants were not about to just hand over everything without some safeguards for themselves. That is why Orthan insisted on holding the purse strings. That was purely a minor matter anyway. Whatever document he signed would be void if Orthan should suddenly die. Orthan could not do the same towards him or the estate would be empty again and the servants would be back in the position of being tossed out into the street. All in all, the agreement was fair and slightly in Fredrik’s favor.
“Well, partner,” Fredrik smiled, “it looks like we will have a mutually beneficial relationship for some time to come. If you will fetch some brandy, perhaps we can toast our new relationship.”
“Certainly, My Lord,” Orthan smiled. “It will be my pleasure.”
Orthan retrieved the brandy decanter and two glasses. Expertly pouring the liquid into the two glasses, he picked one up and offered a toast. “To the new Lord of Alrecht Manor, Lord Wason, may he live in splendor ‘til a ripe old age.” Orthan sat back in the chair as they sipped their brandy. “Will the new Lord be available for company around the noon hour today?”
Fredrik squinted at the old man. “That can be arranged, Orthan. What do you have up your sleeve?”
“A painter friend of mine will be calling to ask for a sitting,” Orthan chuckled. “He will be painting a portrait of Lord Alrecht with his favorite and only nephew. He will be most discrete for as long as I wish.”
Fredrik laughed. “You certainly have thought this out well, Orthan. Why have you figured to leave the Lady out of the portrait?”
“No one will believe you brother and sister, Sir,” Orthan stated. “People will accept her as the Lady of the Manor believing that she is your kept woman, but not as your sister. I hope that is acceptable.”
“It will have to be, Orthan,” Fredrik replied. Niki could get to be a problem in this whole affair if he didn’t handle her well. It was obvious that she had set off on the wrong foot with the servants, but she was so bull-headed that she would never back down if confronted with their knowledge. Best if he tried to head off her objections with some positive news. “Orthan, have my things moved to the Master’s Suite. I need to have a talk with my Lady.”
Orthan nodded as Fredrik rose and left the room. He walked to Niki’s room and knocked. Niki answered dressed in a beautiful, red satin gown and a red bow in her hair. “What do you think?” she asked.
Fredrik closed the door and sat in one of the chairs. “It is perfect,” he replied. “You look absolutely gorgeous, turn around.”
Niki twirled with a broad, beaming smile on her face. She strode over and gave Fredrik a kiss. “I am so happy,” she declared. “This is going to work out perfectly.”
“There is a problem that I wanted to talk to you about,” admitted Fredrik. “It seems that the servants know that Lord Alrecht did not have a niece. They are willing to accept me as his nephew and you as my . . . woman. If we go along with this, we will be accepted by the whole community and have great wealth. Orthan knows a great deal about Lord Alrecht’s finances and I have asked him to handle them for us.”
Niki looked stunned. “Why don’t we just get rid of the servants?” she asked.
“No,” Fredrik quickly said. “No, we can not do that. Without their acceptance, we will have no claim to the inheritance. It is only because of the servants that we have any chance at all of holding on to this mansion. Niki, we must take care not to upset them.”
“Upset them?” Niki shouted. “You expect me to care about upsetting the servants? They were born to serve us and we to rule them. You can’t be serious?”
Fredrik needed a way to keep Niki quiet and docile long enough to get the inheritance taken care of. “Niki,” he lectured, “if you want to rule somebody, we will be ruling from Beggars’ Corner. If you want to live in splendor and wealth, you will treat the servants civilly. I don’t know how to be more clear about this, Niki, but if you get the servants mad, we will be running for our lives. If you keep them happy, we will be very happy. Do you understand?”
“I will try,” Niki pouted. “At least for a while, but I expect you to find a way around this problem. I cannot be a proper Lady when I have to go around worrying about whether or not the servants are thrilled to be servants. When are we going out to see the town?”
“Tomorrow at the earliest,” Fredrik answered. “I need time to make sure that we are on solid footing before we chance answering the inevitable questions about our late uncle. I need to learn all about him and the servants know a great deal. I will uncover some more about him in his study and library. I also ordered Orthan to move my belongings into the Master’s Suite to get them used to the idea of a new Lord. You may join me there or keep your present suite whatever pleases you. Either way, you are to give the appearance of being my lover. We have a great chance here, Niki, but it will require constant attention to details if we are to pull it off.”
“I will put on a great appearance,” nodded Niki. “Don’t you worry about me, but remember your pro
mise to discover a way to replace the servants eventually.”
Fredrik shook his head as he left Niki’s suite. The best way to clear his head would be to concentrate on learning more about Lord Alrecht. Orthan came into the study with a paper for Lord Wason to sign and to announce that the artist had arrived. Fredrik looked at the paper, which gave Orthan the powers that he was looking for and he signed it. The artist proved to be quite capable and quick, as well. Within three hours he had completed a portrait of Lord Alrecht and his young nephew, Fredrik Wason. He had painted Fredrik a year or two younger than he was now, but everyone would believe now that Fredrik was the nephew of Lord Alrecht. Orthan showed the artist out and returned with Fredrik to hang the painting in the Lord’s study.
“Your artist appears quite competent,” Fredrik remarked.
“He is that, My Lord,” smiled Orthan. “I think it is best to bring you up to date on the life of Lord Alrecht this evening. I have arranged for a barrister to come tomorrow at noon to secure your rights to the inheritance. The man knew Lord Alrecht well, so he will not be easy to fool, but I happen to know that he was gone from the town for three months two years ago. That is why I had the painting made with you being slightly younger. The story will be that you visited during that time frame and that is the only time you and your uncle ever met. The barrister will, of course, state that your uncle never mentioned you. You will laugh and explain that he was probably very embarrassed about your existence because of the way his sister shut him out of her life.”
Orthan poured another round of brandy and sat down. “You will point out how Uncle Amos had made advances to his own sister when they were young and how she hated him for it. Explain that your mother never wanted you to even know about Uncle Amos’s existence and that Uncle Amos probably felt the same way. Then about two years ago, your mother died and you learned of Uncle Amos by going through her things and decided to visit. You had a very nice visit after a very rocky start and you returned home after a few months, promising to tie up affairs there and return to live with him.”
Orthan downed the rest of his brandy and continued. “As things turned out, you met a young woman while closing your affairs at home and that delayed your trip back here until now, only to find that you had returned too late. A little emotion of losing your only relative at this point would certainly be helpful.”
Orthan continued laying out a plan that covered every little detail until the wee hours of the morning. He would not let Fredrik take notes and demanded that the young Lord repeat everything back to him until he was satisfied that the story was solid. During the session, Fredrik began to think of Orthan fondly and the butler appeared to return the emotion.
Fredrik would have enjoyed sleeping late the next morning, but Orthan got him up with the coming of lightness and started grilling him about his uncle. By the time the barrister arrived, Fredrik almost believed that Amos had been his real uncle and the interview went quite well. The barrister was extremely skeptical at the start of the interview, but as he fired questions at the young man, he slowly became convinced that Amos had kept a grand secret from him. The testimony from the servants about the time that Fredrik was to have been there two years ago, sealed the case in the barrister’s mind.
Papers were drawn up certifying Fredrik as Lord Wason of the Manor and legally transferring all of Lord Alrecht’s property into his name. The barrister hoped that the new Lord would continue to use his services as Lord Alrecht had in the past and Fredrik assured him that Uncle Amos’s faith in his barrister’s services was enough to ensure it.
After the barrister left, Orthan broke out a bottle of champagne and all of the servants joined the new young Lord in celebrating their good fortune. That was when Niki walked into the room.
“Just what has gotten into you, Fredrik?” she demanded. “The whole town would die laughing if they could see you now. How do you expect the servants to respect your authority if you spend your days cavorting with them.”
Fredrik just laughed. “Come and join the celebration, Niki. I have just been confirmed as the new Lord Wason of the Manor. Orthan, see to the Lady’s glass, please.”
Orthan poured Niki a glass of champagne, but the rest of the servants quietly slipped out of the room. Orthan handed Niki the glass with a slight bow. “It is very gracious of our Lord to allow us to share in his good fortune, My Lady. I assure you that the servants will not take this as an excuse to become overly friendly or to forget their station.”
“If they do,” Niki clearly stated, “I will be sure to remind them. Fredrik, I think it is high time we got out and saw our town. Orthan, ready a carriage, the Lord and Lady are going out.”
Orthan shot Fredrik a glance before bowing and making his exit to get the carriage ready. Miranda came in and cleared away the glasses and the bottle of champagne as Fredrik and Niki were leaving. Miranda took the glasses into the kitchen and Alicia turned on her.
“How can you stand that woman?” Alicia cried. “She treats us like dirt and she is as phony as a marriage proposal from a seaman. Do you have any idea of what she has put me through today?”
“Now, now,” grinned Miranda, “you’ll just have to learn to grin and bear it.”
“Perhaps I deserve that from you,” Alicia sobbed, “but I do not deserve anything of the sort from her. She had me bring her tea six times this morning. Not six different times, but six times because each cup of tea I brought her was not to her liking. It was too sweet, too tart, too hot, too cold, and finally the wrong blend of teas. The last cup I managed to leave in her room and slip out before she noticed me. Before that it was a whole series of problems with her rooms. She found dirt here and dust there. The curtains were crooked, crooked mind you. All this from a girl who has probably never seen a room with curtains before. And all of the time she treats me like dirt, like I should kiss her arse because she is allowing me to serve her. I don’t think I can take it much more, Miranda.”
“I’m sorry, Alicia,” Miranda apologized. “I was bitter when you made that comment to me, but I am willing to let that go. Still, we need to do something about her. I will speak with Orthan when he returns. Perhaps he will have some ideas.”
“I hope he does,” Alicia said as she dried her tears. “That Fredrik is not so bad a boy. He’s the one that’s been given the goods and yet he treats us right properly. Maybe Orthan could talk him into dumping her.”
Orthan climbed up into the carriage and drove out through the gateway. He took the couple on a grand tour of the town, waving to many of the residents as they passed. Fredrik was impressed at how many people smiled and waved at the carriage as it passed. The old sea captain must have been fairly popular in Cidal. Everyone treated the carriage and its occupants with respect including the mercenaries. Fredrik mentally set himself to ask Orthan about them later. The tour lasted about an hour and, thankfully, Niki did not demand to stop anywhere and get out. Fredrik was not sure that Cidal was ready for her yet.
Orthan helped Niki down out of the carriage and she didn’t even nod to him as she swept in through the front door of the mansion. Fredrik hurried after Niki while Orthan took care of the carriage. Niki was excited as she walked to her suite. “Did you see how the people loved us, Fredrik? Just about everybody waved at me. It’s probably been a very long time since a Lady resided here. One of the maids told me that the old sea captain lived a quiet life alone. They are likely as excited about us as we are.”
“I am sure they are, Niki,” Fredrik sighed, “but we must remember to go slow here. If we proceed too quickly, we will lose it all.”
Fredrik left Niki to get ready for dinner and went downstairs to ask Orthan about the mercenaries and what type of relationship they had with the town. Orthan was just coming in through the kitchen and when he saw Fredrik he headed towards him.
“Lord Wason,” he started, “I think we may have a problem. I’m afraid your Lady Niki is causing some grief with the maids. I just passed Alicia, and Miranda has told me
that the poor woman has been in tears ever since we left for the tour. She thinks your Lady has it in for her and is trying to drive her to quit. Now, we both know that Alicia is not going to quit and there lies the problem.”
Fredrik looked wearily at Orthan and nodded. “I don’t know what to do with her, Orthan. I’ve never seen her like this. She has always been headstrong and stubborn, but she has never been so foolish. I will try to talk some sense into her, but we should all try to make this thing work.”
“I agree, Lord Wason,” Orthan stated, “but part of our agreement was that the servants would be respected and treated fairly. I do expect you to hold your end of the bargain. We all agree that you are a right fine young man to serve and we have no grievance with you, but you must do something to nip your young Lady before things get out of hand.”
Fredrik grimaced and headed back for the stairs. Somehow the task of dealing with Niki right now did not make Fredrik smile.
Chapter 9
Gypsy
Arik and Tedi halted when the wagon came into sight, not knowing who or what lay ahead. Garth caught up to them and motioned them forward. “It’s okay,” he said, “the wagon is Kalina’s. She’ll be happy to see you again.”
Arik was about to say that he had never seen Kalina when the woman stepped into view and waved to them. “That’s the woman who wandered into our campsite,” Arik whispered to Tedi.
Tedi nodded and whispered back, “I told you I didn’t believe in coincidences.” The boys kicked their horses forward and entered the clearing, followed by Garth leading the extra horse.
“Is everything okay?” Kalina asked. “I can tell by the horses that you ran into some Dark Riders.”
“I suppose they are busy counting their dead,” Garth stated. “They had these boys surrounded and they seemed pretty determined to get their hands on them. Can’t say as I ever recall hearing of Dark Riders wading in the surf to capture anyone.”
Sapphire of the Fairies, Book 1 of Sword of Heavens Page 10
