The Jongurian Mission (22 page)

The serving women were busy moving about the room, clearing the tables of empty plates and glasses when someone walked up to their table.

“Good evening gentleman,” a high-pitched voice said from behind them.

They all looked up.
It was the delegate from Regidia, Jossen Fray. He stood before their table with the help of a cane in his left hand. His beady dark eyes seemed to bore into them as his small mouth twisted up into a sneering smile. Bryn looked from the man to his uncle, and he saw Halam’s jaw clench tight. Finally, he thought. Ever since the moment on the road from Plowdon he’d wondered what the relationship between these two men was like, and now he was about to find out firsthand.

“Jossen,” Halam replied simply to the greeting, turning his body back toward the table after doing so.
Bryn thought that Jossen’s smile twisted upward ever more at Halam’s response.

“I’ve heard that you
’ve begun gathering delegates in support of a policy which aims to give more power to the government in Baden,” Jossen said to the men, although he was really directing the question to Halam.

“You’ve heard right,” Rodden responded.
“Would you care to lend your support?”

Jossen’s smile widened even further.
“Oh no, not at all. You see, my purpose in coming over was just to confirm what I’ve already heard, and to tell you that I don’t think it’s such a good idea to give more power to a government which has in the past proved incapable of holding onto it.”

“You mean incapable of keeping power-hungry provinces from storming in and taking that power by force
!” Halam nearly shouted as he turned on the bench to face Jossen once again.

“Come now Halam, that i
sn’t what I meant at all,” Jossen replied, showing no signs that Halam’s sudden anger had flustered him.

“Then what
did
you mean?” Millen asked.

“I simply think that the authority to trade with whom and on what terms is a right the provinces need to keep for themselves.
There’s no telling what may happen if that’s taken away and given over to some bureaucrats here in Baden.”

“We’ve already got the support of half the delegates to the conference,” Orin explained.
“I think that shows that many agree it
is
time to try a new approach.”

“And I disagree,” Jossen replied.

“That’s fine,” Halam said in a controlled tone. “If you think that you can come up with a better policy, then present it to the conference.”

“I plan to do just that.
Now, gentleman, it’s growing late. I bid you good evening.”

Jossen turned
around to walk away, leaning heavily on his cane in the process.

He left them wondering what he meant.
What plan could Jossen have for Adjuria that a majority of the provinces would go along with? Many still didn’t trust the Regidians; the memory of the Civil War that they started was still too fresh in the minds of the people. To go along with a trade policy put forth by them, however good it may sound, would seem to most as joining with the enemy.

Halam was obviously upset by the encounter, Bryn realized as he looked across the table at his uncle.
He frowned into his cup of wine before throwing the last of it back in one massive gulp, then rose from the table.

“Gentleman,” he said, his voice a mixture of tiredness and exasperation, “it
’s been a long day, and tomorrow will prove to be even longer, I’ve a feeling. I think I’ll turn in early.” He turned to walk away, the others hastily saying their goodnights to his back.

“Jossen’s appearance seems to have upset him,” Millen said to the others after Halam had left the hall.

“Yes, that it would seem,” Orin replied before taking a sip from his wine.

“I wonder what plan he could possibly have
,” Rodden said as much to himself as to the other three. “I just don’t see the whole of Adjuria supporting a plan the Regidians have such a large stake in.”

“Nor do I,” Orin replied.
“It could be that he’s bluffing, trying to unnerve us before tomorrow. He no doubt knows by now that we’ve got a near majority supporting our proposal to increase the government’s power over trade, and we know that Jossen’s never liked the government in Baden. He may just be trying to scare us.”

“Or maybe he’s speaking the truth, and has a policy worthy of the conference, perhaps one that could gain more support than ours,” Millen said.
“After all, it wasn’t too difficult to convince Portinia to go along with our plan; I think that Edgyn would go along with any plan that had a chance of success.”

“That would nearly ruin our chances,” Orin said.
“For Jossen to come over and state his intentions tonight tells me that he already has support for his plan, perhaps as much as we do.”

“He
most likely has the support of the three provinces that backed him in his bid for the crown five years ago,” Rodden said.

“If Oschem, Hotham, and Allidia are indeed with him,” Orin replied, “then they
’ll put the pressure on Equinia to join as well. They’ve always stuck together before, I see no reason for them to stop doing so now.”

“But I thought that you convinced Dolth Hane to support us,” Bryn said to Orin.

“Aye, Bryn, he said he would support us, but that was earlier this evening. In the time since then he could have been approached by any number of Jossen’s supporters and felt the pressure to switch. Perhaps they made him some kind of deal or simply reminded him of whom his friends have historically been. No,” Orin said, leaning back on the bench with his arms folded in front of him on the table,” I suspect that we’ve already lost the support of Equinia.”

“Well that’s just great,” Rodden said loudly.
“That means that they have five votes before the conference while our seven have been reduced to six.”

“What’s more,” Millen said, “we cannot be so sure that Mercentia will stick with us either.
Iago was very tough to convince earlier by the way that Halam told it. Perhaps Jossen will pull him away from us as well.”

“That’s a possibility we must consider,” Orin agreed.
“It would be best if we already thought of Jossen as having six votes, since whichever way Mercentia goes, you can be sure that Shefflin will go the other.”

“So all we really can be sure of is that we have four votes then.” Rodden sighed.
“Tillatia, Fallownia, Culdovia, and Duldovia,” he counted off on his fingers, “that puts us in the minority.

The table fell silent as they brooded on the prospect of having come so close to working out a deal only to have it wither while within their grasp.
Millen finished his wine and rose from the table.

“Well, I don’t see what else can be done this night.
We did well gathering votes earlier. It’d do as all good to remember that nothing has changed so far that we know of. Let’ not jump to conclusions and wait to see what tomorrow brings.” He gave them a reassuring smile before heading toward the doors.

“I suppose he’s right,” Rodden begrudgingly said, “but it doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Nor I Rodden, nor I,” Orin replied.

“Well, sleep does sound like a good escape from the doubts now crowding my mind,” Rodden said, smiling as he rose.
“Bryn, are you ready to call it a night?”

Bryn looked from Rodden to Orin, thinking.
So much had happened in just the past several minutes that his mind was racing with thoughts. Even if he went back to the room with Rodden, he didn’t think that his mind would slow enough for him to sleep; and lying awake with questions he couldn’t answer wasn’t an appealing prospect.

“No, I think I’ll stay just a little longer, if that’s alright with you sir,” Bryn replied, looking to Orin for an answer.

“Aye, that’s just fine with me Bryn,” Orin replied.

“Well then, I’ll see you in the morning.
Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” they both said as they watched Rodden head off toward the hallway.
The hall was now filled with only those who were intent on drinking more wine and carousing, their usefulness to the conference diminished now that the delegates were separated from most of their retinues during the day.

“Orin,” Bryn said a few minutes after Rodden had left and a serving girl had refilled their cups, “what can you tell me about Jossen Fray?”

“What would you like to know?”

“Well,” Bryn began, “it seems to me that he and my
uncle don’ really like each other.”

Orin laughed.
“That’s quite the understatement, my boy.”

“After we left Plowdon on the way here,” Bryn continued, “Halam learned that Jossen Fray would represent Regidia at the conference.
For the next couple of days his mood was so bad that he’d barely speak. I figured there must have been something in their pasts that caused this kind of reaction.” He paused for a moment. “Rodden mentioned that they served together in Bindao during the war with Jonguria, and then met one another on the battlefield here at Baden.”

Orin looked from Bryn to his wine.
He sat still for a few moments before speaking.

“Jossen and Halam were friends during the time that they spent together in the hell that was the besieged city of Bindao.
Halam had been sent to the city shortly after he joined the Adjurian army. The city had fallen early in the war to our forces and by the time Halam arrived it had already been retaken by the Jongurians to fall yet one more time to the Adjurians. It was a bloody mess is what it was,” Orin said with a sigh, drinking from his cup and looking at Bryn.

“Jossen had been a commander from early on, and had played a key part in seeing the city fall the first time.
It was through no fault of his that the city was retaken; two armies had marched south from the Jongurian heartland to retake the city and they both met up for a joint attack which had no chance of being repulsed. Jossen knew this and made the decision to pull out many of his troops and have them board ships on the coast. Boy, did the wrath of his superiors come down swiftly on him when they learned of this after the city had been retaken. But to Jossen their reprimands fell on deaf ears, for no more than a fortnight after the city was retaken did he summon his forces from the ships to launch another siege. This one proved much bloodier than the first, as there were now twice as many defenders than before. But Jossen dug in, and with the help of reinforcements, he was once again able to capture the city.”

“After that the stalemate set in and nothing would happen for the rest of the war.
The soldiers didn’t know that, however, so they dug in, expecting the Jongurians to try and retake the city again. The Jongurians led assaults of course, but none had the force or determination that their first successful push achieved. Years of boredom set in for both sides, worse for the Adjurians, as they were in a foreign land far from their friends and families and anything they knew. It was into this situation that Halam was sent.”

Orin paused then to drink his wine and flag down a serving girl for another cup.

“Somehow an unlikely friendship developed between the commander of the city’s forces and a young farmer from Tillatia
,” he continued. “I’m not sure how it happened, but Halam was subsequently promoted through the ranks because of it, and was soon leading corps’ against the sporadic Jongurian assaults. He was promoted yet again when Jossen suddenly announced he was resigning from command of the Adjurian army and heading back to Regidia. He gave no reason and hastily left.”

“Halam served out his time in Bindao and after hearing of the disastrous Breakout Campaign on the
Isthmus and the subsequent peace treaty, was sent back home to Tillatia. Because of the high rank he’d attained and the influential friends in the army he’d made, your uncle was given an important government post in Plowdon. It wasn’t long, however, before the Regidian’s seized the crown and the Civil War started. When Halam learned that Jossen was a leading player in this treasonous turn of events he was shocked. This was not the brave and courageous Jossen he’d met and befriended at Bindao, but some other person in the guise of his friend. Events, however, moved swiftly, and Halam found himself leading the Tillatian-wing of the allied armies at Baden.”

Orin paused for a few minutes to stare into his wine, and Bryn dared not interrupt his thoughts.
He’d never heard the details of the story that Orin was telling him now. He knew that his uncle had served at Bindao and fought at Baden, but that was the extent of it. These elements he was hearing now were new and exciting, but also unsettling. He waited for Orin to continue.

“The first day of the Battle of Baden went poorly for the allies,” Orin explained.
“They were nearly driven from the field and it looked to many observers that perhaps the Regidian’s claims to the throne were justified. After all, the royal family had done little to assure success in the war with Jonguria. Now they couldn’t even keep the army from defeat against a threat to their very existence. While the usurpers toasted their success on the battlefield and looked forward to finishing off whatever opposition remained the next day, the allies planned late into the night.”