Indomitus Est (The Fovean Chronicles) (57 page)

    
“By him, by his very Earl self!” Glennen added.

    
Klem looked for support and found none.  “Well, they sent me back a finger – “

    
“A finger – and I can tell you which one!” Glennen said.

    
“A finger, and a note, that said we would receive the pieces of our messenger until we acknowledged that they were a free nation.”

    
“As if
that
would sway me!” Glennen drained his bowl and held it out for more.

    
Mental note – refuse any messenger jobs for the Eldadorian nation.

    
“So we received back the messenger, a piece at a time, for a year.”

    
Glennen looked me in the eyes.  “And now you know, so don’t say you don’t,” he told me.

    
So now I knew.  There had to be more to the story, but I wouldn’t get it today.  I felt sure right then that the gaffe that Klem hoped I’d make had been made right then.

    
As quickly as it had arisen, we dropped the topic of the Aschire and Alekanna redirected the conversation.

    
“Oh, do tell me that you plan to stay in Thera,” she said.

    
Shela patted the queen’s hand.  “Indefinitely,” she assured her.  Shela had even started to
talk
like the queen, I thought.  Would I miss my rough-and-tumble plains girl if she became too educated?

    
“That was a lot of stone I saw men hauling here?” Glennen commented.

    
I nodded.  “I’m making a lot of estate,” I told him, grinning. He chuckled and he slapped me on the shoulder.

    
“Too bad you couldn’t have a couple Dwarves shipped down from the Great Northern Mountain Range to help you piece all of those stones together,” he commented.

    
So he had seen them, too.  Glennen was no fool.  A shrewd politician in charge of his nation replaced the drunken brawler of a moment before.

    
These were lessons I needed to learn.

    
“I have five,” I told him.  “And one of their engineers.”

    
Glennen slapped the table with an open hand again, making us all jump.  

    
“Damn your bones, Rancor,” he said, “they refused
me
when I asked them to help build the palace in Eldador.”

    
“You are not considered a Dwarf, though, your Majesty,” I said, smiling.  Shela hid her lips behind her handkerchief and Alekanna batted her eyes.  That came as close as anyone dared to making fun at the King’s expense.

    
“Six Dwarves,” Glennen answered me.  Obviously, he hadn’t been offended or hadn’t caught it at all.  Mead is like that. 

    
“Six Dwarves,” he repeated.  “Two squirrels, an Andaran warlord by the look of him, Dorkan soldiers, Dorkan Wizards – I have been watching you, Mordetur.  You want to live in Eldador – what is Eldadorian about you?”

    
I smiled and took a sip of mead before I answered him.  He wanted something, but I didn’t know what.  I guessed it had to be big.

    
Earl Klem of Thera just watched me from across the table with big, bunny eyes in his balding head.  He had told his story and now I got to be grilled.  I felt sure that he was just glad it wasn’t him.

    
“My land?” I answered the King.  “And my children, should your Majesties allow them to be born here.”

    
“Land and children,” Glennen threw the terms right back at me.  “Land and children. Land and children are things that a man fights for, Mordetur, but I have seen what you can do and I want you fighting for me.”

“The Free Legion is at your disposal, your Majesty,” I began, but he waved me off and took another long drink of his mead.

     “The Free Legion is mercenaries,” he said, dismissing my friends entirely.  “Bought men are for sale to the highest bidder.  What I want, Lupus, Rancor Mordetur, Black Hook-Mark and White Wolf, is
you
.  How do I bring
you
into the Eldadorian realm?”

    
Just like Glennen to go right to the source like that.  He had made himself a King from a commoner on the point of his sword, and I could feel its sharp edge at my breastbone now.

    
“I apologize, King Glennen,” I informed him formally.  “But without knowing your resources I honestly do not know.”

    
“My
resources
are the vastness of Eldador.  Eldador needs strong men to reunite her.  Men seem to unite around you Lupus.

    
“I think you need to be an Earl.”

    
Hit me in the face with a brick.  An offer like that, and all I could think was, “Move already?”  The look on Shela’s face showed utter despair. 

    
Right from the King’s mouth, though, how could I refuse him?  Not to mention the power that came with the title.

    
“An Earl, your Majesty?” I asked him, stalling for time while my brain tried to catch up.  “The Earl of what?”

    
Alekanna chimed in, “Husband, you wouldn’t deprive me of Shela once again?” she asked him.

    
“What do you mean,” he asked her, raising an eyebrow.  I wondered now if what we’d seen had all been an act leading up to this moment.  The transition seemed too smooth – Glennen usually just ignored his wife.

    
“It is such an easy boat ride into Thera from Eldador,” Alekanna said, “and I do
love the water.  Not so dusty, like the land.”

    
“You would deny her her nobility for the sake of a carriage, Alekki?” Glennen asked her.  I saw some hope on Shela’s face now.  I don’t think that the nobility part had sunken in yet.

    
“No...” she said, looking down demurely.

    
Glennen sat silent for a moment, then he slammed the table again.  I felt reasonably sure that the hotel staff didn’t have an unchewed fingernail tonight.  The King was in a rowdy mood and that drunk didn’t get pitched into the alley.

    
“It’s settled, then,” he said finally, and extended his hand to me, to take my wrist and call me Earl.

    
I couldn’t pass up an offer that good.  Shela would just have to understand.

    
“Rancor Mordetur, you will come to Eldador with me, and be dubbed Earl of Thera.”

    
Klem fell right out of his chair.  Actually spilled wine in his lap – whether he’d done it to cover a more serious accident was anyone’s guess.

    
“Klem is the Earl of Thera,” I said mildly.

    
“Klem is a fool,” the King told me, and loudly.  The former Earl just stayed on the floor.  “You have done more with this city in a month than he has in 10 years, and I would do well to have you on my side, with your armed cities and your gate-slapping tactics and your followers from all over Fovea.  I will make you Earl of Thera and give Klem an ambassadorship to the Aschire.”

    
Klem whimpered from beneath the table.  That constituted a death sentence and he knew it.  I doubted that there would be any sign of him and his family in the morning.

    
“In all fairness,” I said, Shela squeezing my hand excitedly, “I only dumped a lot of gold in the economy.  The growth you see is from that, and it isn’t actually real, just a shot in the arm to the base…”

    
Glennen’s eyes were glazed over, his wife fidgeting politely.  Let’s face it – I talk too much. 

    
That the government had a role to play in economics was a new idea on Earth.  So was the study of economics, for that matter.  Actually controlling the economy still involved a lot of guesswork on my sophisticated planet.  Foveans weren’t stupid; they were merely not as economically or politically evolved as people from Earth.  I spent a lot of time telling them about something that they were hundreds of years from understanding.

    
Sometimes, it is better to just do things.

    
“I’ll take it, and thank you, your Majesty,” I said.  Glennen smiled and Alekanna hugged Shela.  “I don’t have to wear a silly hat or anything, do I?”

    
Glennen thumped my shoulder.  “Not unless you want to.  Just swear fealty to the throne and don’t tax the lifeblood out of my subjects.”

    
I didn’t see a problem with that.

Chapter Twenty-Five:
 

The Rise and Fall of the Free Legion

    
My position with the Free Legion didn’t change, even if my socio-economic status had.

    
Klem had never run things in Thera and had never intended to.  He had created a somewhat efficient bureaucracy of tax collectors, managers and lawgivers, who split running things between them.  A true Republican, the first thing I did was cut taxes. 
No one
had a problem with that – as a feudal system, Eldador took roughly half of what any farmer made, close to that for merchants and journeymen.  I cut that down to a straight fifteen percent, and let word spread far and wide that I had done it.  Next I took a little more Free Legion gold and bought every decent bit of wharf space I could lay my hands on, mostly from merchants and lesser nobility who were only too happy to unload it.  Imagine their surprise when six major shipping interests came clamoring for that space.  Why not?  Keeping an extra thirty-five percent of their own companies’ profits far outweighed the expense of moving.  Thera’s economy boomed in no time.

    
Shela had no head for politics and didn’t want to develop one.  She saw what I did with Thera as confusing and wanted no part of it.  She liked being in court at my side, but I just didn’t have the time for it.  Thera came third to my interests right then and if I wanted to make headway on anything, the city and the region had to run themselves.

    
Next I needed something similar to Glennen’s Oligarchs who could run things in my name.  I advertised and spoke with local elders and with the help of my two Dorkan Wizards I found two reliable men and a woman who could be trusted to do the job, and I offered it to them.  Their salaries were a commission based on the overall profitability of the city and they were told what would happen if they disappointed me.  It took a month but Thera got herself on autopilot.

    
After this I addressed my continued position as a recruiter for the Free Legion army.  With my newfound nobility came the ability to travel more freely between nations, especially Trenbon and Sental.  The latter proved to be a boon to us; we saw a never-ending supply of farmers who were looking for something better.  The Romans had recruited almost exclusively from their own agrarian class – in fact, they considered city folk too puny to make it in the legions.  I did the same, once I had secured the right to enter Sental for the purpose of recruiting.  Some gold placed in the hands of the Sentalan Bureau of Trade made that entirely possible.

    
In Andoran, I found horsemen outcast from their tribes and starving.  Two Spears had these men developing into a cavalry in no time.  In Conflu (from the decks of the Free Legion’s merchant fleet) I found disgraced dockworkers looking for a fresh start.  I never left Volkhydro with less than fifty people.

    
And all of this time, I skimmed the cream of the crop for my Wolf Soldiers.  I wanted more desperate men than Ancenon would have settled for, intelligent and ruthless.  More importantly, I wanted people who firmly believed that they had been wronged in some way.  I forced myself to wait and grow slowly. 

    
We had established what we were calling, ‘The road to home,’ a direct path from Thera to the Plains of Angador.  I just didn’t have the time to escort all of the men personally and, if they deserted on the trip, then we didn’t want them.  I used my influence as an Earl to contract with the hostels and a few of the small villages between Thera and our growing base on the plains, whereby these men could show up with a script from me, and be bedded and fed for a night.  By my estimates we lost ten percent of our recruits one way or another on the trip, but the rest really wanted to be there.

    
While I recruited our growing army worked for Sental to pay back the Dorkans for the shellacking they had been handed on the plains of Dorkan, and then for the Dorkans to pay the Sentalans back for paying them back.  In both campaigns, we raided villages and burned farms – nothing too drastic and certainly nothing to distinguish us.      People in high places were still talking about the Sack of Katarran, which the Dorkans didn’t seem to want to rebuild.  Eldadorian shipping flourished, which kept Glennen happy.

    
Not so, the Fovean High Council.  Someone wanted them to set higher standards against mercenaries, and we had to speak in our defense.  My attendance had become mandatory after my involvement at Katarran.  Because it would be a cold day in Hell before anyone else spoke for the Free Legion, Ancenon and D’gattis came as well.

    
They arrived with a personal guard of forty of our Free Legion soldiers, the outlines of questions marks turned upside down on their shoulders.  These were troops under Genna and, of course, Genna came to lead them.

    
We met outside of the coliseum where the Fovean High Council met.  The same greasy Uman attended us.  Our forty assembled in two columns, one on either side of the entrance, both as a traditional honor guard and as a reminder that we weren’t here to be arrested.

    
“Our gelding,” Genna greeted me.  As usual, I dressed in my armor.  Blizzard had remained in Thera so I walked the distance to the coliseum.  Shela had come with me, of course, and clung to my armored bicep.

    
“You tread a fine line, Genna,” Shela warned her.

    
“I walk where I please,” said Genna, obviously looking for a confrontation and, as usual, not caring who heard it.

   
“A show of unity now is extremely important,” Ancenon warned us.  “If you have some issue with Lupus, then I recommend you contain it.”

    
“Oh, the white horse and I get along just fine,” Genna assured him.  “Little enough I can do to remind him.”

    
“Shall it be Lupus who speaks for us?” D’gattis asked, placing a shoulder between Genna and myself.  I never felt more grateful for his doubting my abilities.

    
“That
is
the request of the High Council,” Ancenon said.  “Not that we cannot also speak in turn, merely that he must do so.”

    
D’gattis nodded, Shela leaned against me, making a show of kissing my ear. 

    
“Cancel your plans for the afternoon and evening,” she whispered.  I bit my lip to keep from grinning.

    
“I just can’t see enough of that,” Genna commented happily.

    
The greasy Uman major domo appeared in a breeze of rotting teeth.  “You are called,” he announced, as solemnly as he could.

    
In we went, as I had before, in front of Volkhydrans, Sentalans, Toorians, Confluni, Trenboni, Andarans and Eldadorians.  This time there were three Dwarves, none of whom I recognized.  I stepped up to the podium as I had before, not alone but with Ancenon beside me.  D’gattis, with Genna and Shela on either side of him, sat in the viewing bleachers.

    
Had I expected banter before the attack, I would have been disappointed.  A Dorkan Wizard stood immediately, his head shaved, his white robes open to a generous belly.  His seemed almost satanic with drooping moustaches.

    
He asked me, “Earl of Thera, did you not stand right where you stand now, less than a year ago, and accuse the Dorkan nation of an attack on the Great Dwarven Nation.”

    
“Sir,” I said, having been informed by Ancenon how to properly address the Council, “I did so.”

    
“And Earl of Thera, was there not an attack on my Dorkan nation by the combined Fovean nation, in retribution?”

    
“And for their actions against the royal houses of Trenbon, Sir, yes there were.”

    
“Please just answer the questions put to you, Earl of Thera.  Were you present at the Siege of Katarran?”

    
“Sir, I was.”

    
“In what capacity?”

    
Ancenon stepped up to speak for me.  No one wondered where this would end up.  I didn’t like it, although I had anticipated it.

    
“As a member of the Free Legion, Lupus, not then Earl of Thera, fought as a mercenary at Katarran.”

    
The royal presence of Prince Ancenon didn’t faze the Dorkan.  “If he has lost his capacity for speech, perhaps we need continue at a later date?” he asked.

    
Chagrined but bound by the rules of the High Council, Ancenon stepped back. He could advise me, but I had been called and, at this stage of the questioning, I had to speak.

    
“Sir, I did fight in that battle,” I said.

    
“For pay?” he asked me.

    
“Sir, I most certainly did.”

    
“And was the city sacked?” he asked me.

    
“Sir, it was.”

    
“And did you participate in the sack?”

    
“The Free Legion did, and I was a party to it.”

    
“And what was done with the booty from that sack?”

    
I had been waiting for this question.  There had to be a truth seer out there somewhere.  If I lied they had me.  But I could tell as much truth as I wanted to, and I could ask questions.

    
“Sir, do you refer to the Free Legion returning a portion of the Katarran treasury to the Dorkan commander Harem?”

    
The Dorkan blinked.

    
“Your question again, Earl of Thera?” he asked.

    
I didn’t smile, I didn’t frown, but I exercised my right and repeated my question, referring to an incident that had legitimately happened.

    
“Sir, please clarify, do you refer to the Free Legion returning a portion of Katarran’s treasury to the city watch commander Harem?”

    
Now a Volkhydran stood. “Point of order!  Earl of Thera, is it your testimony that you sacked Thera and then
gave your plunder back
?”

    
“The plunder belonged to the Dorkan people,” I said.  “We made this point to Harem of Katarran. We were not hired to sack Katarran.”

    
A Trenboni Councilman stood and announced, almost gleefully, “Confirmed.”

    
There was nothing wrong with having a Prince in the Free Legion.

    
Another Dorkan also stood, and grudgingly gave his confirmation of my not lying. 

    
I didn’t smile, and I didn’t frown.  Behind me Ancenon stood with his ambiguous eyes.  Drekk has saved us on a whim so long as they didn’t smell a rat and dig deeper.

    
Doing that would be a risk for the Dorkans.  They didn’t want to drive the point that these so-called mercenaries didn’t sack the city and actually gave the treasury back any deeper.  They were here to prove we were a menace, most likely also to demand retribution, which would be damn hard to do if they had already gotten it.

    
They asked of our future plans.  We answered that we knew nothing definite.  They asked about whether we killed for money.  I exercised my right to question and asked if the esteemed Councilman knew what a mercenary did.