Chapter 15

Not long after his visit we took small barrels of varied sauces, and other goods to the capital. I split from the group and headed to the palace to see the baron in my best clothes. As I waited in what I felt was my meeting room I had tea and talked to Ethel. She was actually really happy to see me and once it was the two of us she came over and gave me a very welcoming kiss. “I didn’t get to give you a good bye kiss so I saved that one for when I got to see you again.” I stroked her cheek and her eyes fluttered at the touch. “Ethel, I am so sorry I missed saying good bye to you too. It was so great to have you stay with us again.” She rested her head on my chest and sighed. “You are such an easy man to fall in love with. I have to admit I would run to Kelton and be a concubine in a moment if Genny and Danny didn’t depend on me.” She looked up at me. “But they do, and I owe them everything. Just know you will always be the only man I have ever felt anything for, or ever will.”

After dropping that bomb in my lap she eased back and took a deep breath before pouring me some tea and taking her place to the side. She must have some sixth sense as the doors opened up and William came in with a small entourage and I quickly did the official kneel until William sat down. “Please stand Baronet, a double hero like you need not take such a pose with me any longer. I know your loyalties, and I prefer to meet you eye to eye from now on.” I nodded and took my seat. He waved over a page who had a small case. William took the case and looked to an official standing by who pulled out a scroll.

“By order of the king and council of nobles baronet Mikael Ur Kelton is hereby awarded the royal order of the shield.” William opened the case and turned it to me. There was a brooch of platinum with an elaborate device on a purple velvet cushion. “This is the highest award of merit that can be awarded by the council of nobility and must be approved by the king himself. This is only the second time this has been awarded in three generations, and that one was presented posthumously. This is normally only given to Dukes for great sacrifices to the crown as lower nobles are usually given a rise in noble rank. Since that is not possible to do for the baronet, the King and the council have given this in its place. While you have no such rise, this gives you the public authority of a count in all cases of nobility.” Once the man put away the scroll he looked at me with a slight sense of awe.

William closed the case and handed it to me. “So baronet this means that while you are still a nominal baronet who serves the barony, in the royal capital you hold the rank of Count Mikael Ur Kelton in the council of nobles. That means outside this barony I will be the one taking a knee to you, so please don’t do so here or I will do so if we travel ok?” I nodded and picked up the case. Two knights walked over and set a small chest on the table and opened it to show it was filled with neat stacks of platinum. “This is your personal stipend according to your new rank from the crown. While you can take it with you, it might be advisable to leave it in the baronial coffers for safety.” I nodded and agreed with William on this point so the knights came over, picked it up, and left the room.

“As this concludes our official meeting would everyone please leave so I might have some time to help baronet Mikael understand this rather odd situation?” The room quickly cleared and William slumped in his chair. “Well you might not like rising in rank, but leave it to the king to find a way around your objections. Truth be told he had to do something after what you did. Not only did you save the king from assassination, you were nearly killed after doing so. You also put down a revolt and exposed traitors within the council of nobles. The council voted to award you the rank of count, partially to replace one of the traitors.”

HE looked at me with a crooked smile. “The king then told them that doing so would force you to leave my service, and along with that my entire force of mages. So they put their heads together and decided to basically make you something equal to count of the cloth. Meaning you have the rank of a count, but not the landed office. This is basically a whole new idea and some wonder just how to work this out so they are going to let later generations try and figure it all out. It will probably end up with your eldest son inheriting the title and lands of a count from the crown, while your second son will then inherit the title of baronet under Daniel.”

“So did your lands fare well during the winter?” William asked. I filled him in on the new developments, the new methods and technology my people were coming up with. I also broached a new idea and asked if it was possible to inquire about expanding the charter of my school to include all female mages. His brows came together trying to figure out why.

“Oh, right. You have that young water mage in Kelton. Have you helped her develop as much as you do your stone mages?” I shrugged. “I have no idea what water mages are supposed to be able to do so I can’t say. All I know is that Ariel is telling me that she never knew a water mage could do what she does without even trying now.” He seemed to think for a bit. “As far as I know your charter doesn’t explicitly say only stone mages so I say head over to the mages guild and see what they say. I doubt they have the guts to take on a heavy weight noble with a royal charter.”

“Ok, now that that is out of the way ... Mike, why did you take off like that, and don’t tell me it was because of your duties. Genny told me that one day you were your normal self, and then it seemed like you were never around. Bethany even admitted that you had all but moved into the mine for a month before you left town. So what happened?” I gave a small shrug. “You aren’t going to like it.” Will took a more upright pose and nodded. “I did it so I wouldn’t go nutty again. I got back after the nightmare of the capital and I told everyone that there was no way I was going to sleep with anyone’s wives again. Not Ginny, not Delaine, and not Irene. I didn’t care that you and Glen agreed to that, I didn’t care about anything but the fact I didn’t want to commit myself like that again.”

I gave a big sigh. “But you know Bethany, she asked me to meet all of you half way so I did. I treated like them like I would any of my concubines where sex was off the table. Then little by little they got into my heart and you can imagine where that ended up. Then one day I felt a tremble in my head, something bad was trying to get out, and I left the hold.”

I closed my eyes and let out a long breath. “Mary and Catlin pulled me away from the edge and pulled me into helping the students. I quickly realized that I had been coerced by the women into the role I had taken on and decided I was tired of play games. I knew you usually came as soon as possible to be with Genny, so I timed the trip with your usual arrival time and that is how I kept from hurting their feelings. I figured it might sting, but that is better than accusing everyone of manipulating me into doing something I was deeply against.”

His eyebrows shot up as he knew I could take just about anything but emotional and personal manipulation. “You know that wasn’t my intentions right Mike?” I nodded. “Oh I guessed it was the women of the hold the whole time. I explained why I was staying at the mine to Bethany and she quickly understood that I needed to just drop it all and to break it to them as positively as could be. It’s not like I don’t love Genny, Delaine, or Irene, it’s just that using that love to get something I don’t want to give began to dig its barbs into me. I don’t hold it against them either. They were hoping to know me better because I do love them, but I am starting to understand that for women who live in this world love of the heart has to also mean love of the body. In my old life it was the other way around, that if a person had sex with you it meant they loved you. Sometimes the environment they live in creates a confusion that one has to mean the other.”

This all got him thinking and I could see he was piecing things together in his head. “Are you worried about falling into a deeper love with them if you combine both your feelings and their physical love?” I tapped the tip of my nose. “That’s exactly why I don’t want to ever get involved with them at that level again. When I make love to a woman, I only want to be with women that are my wives, or could be my wife.” William thought about this even more which I had hoped to avoid. “I don’t doubt that it was Genny’s little baby manipulation that created this. Making a life is far more than just a little thing to men like us. It’s a very deep expression of love and dedication. We will allow just about anything to make the mother of our children happy.” I shrugged and we both sighed.

Just then Genny came in with a happy smile on her face. I stood up and she ran over to me for a hug, I held her tight but when she pulled me down for a kiss I turned my head and she kissed my cheek. She looked very hurt that I did that and she looked over at the William who gave his head a tiny shake so she gently eased off. “I was so sorry we didn’t get to say goodbye Mikael, is everything ok?”

William reached out and tapped the case on the table. “The council of nobles made Mikael a Count of the cloth.” She looked at him in total confusion and she sat next to her husband. “What is that?” We went on to explain what it meant and how it was making for a very confusing situation. “Well if the both of you will excuse me, I really need to get back to my work. Everyone is waiting at the warehouse, I have to sort this out, and now I also have to go talk to the people at the mages guild.” I looked Genny in the eyes and smiled. “Take care little love, and take good care of your little men, both of them.” She gave me a sad little smile and I turned away before things got out of hand.

I headed straight to the warehouse and found a crowd waiting as I stepped out of the carriage. As I walked over to the door Catlin was looking at me and knew something was off. “Mikael, what is happening?” she said in a very aggressive tone, ready to take on any threat, as she looked at the case in my hand. I held it up and she stared at the award. A nearby merchant saw it and dropped to his knee with his head bowed. Others looked over and quickly whispers of “He’s a count!” passed like a wave as people dropped to their knee before me. Catlin looked at me wondering what the hell this was about. I took a deep breath and called out to them all. “In the palace and the capital I am a count, in my territory and among you my friends I am still just a baronet and merchant, so please stop this and let’s do some trading!” I gave out and people stood back up smiling and nodding.

I gave the case to Catlin who went to stash it away for me. I then began shaking hands with people I was friendly with and nearly all of them congratulated me on my appointment. Kendra and Bethany were both there and even talking as they went over to the section of clothing. The Glassware was filled with men good naturedly bidding on what they wanted. The sauces were being tasted by the bidders and I walked among them talking about the possibility of soon selling them in glass bottles for special individual sale. The possibility of getting both sauce and one of the Kelton glass decanters was a great temptation and sales point. They could always refill such treasures for their patrons. I then hopped up on a loaded wagon and waved my arms. “Everyone, could I have your attention.” I shouted out and they looked at me and I smiled. “Starting today I will be also selling another product of my territory.” I held up a flax bag and pulled out a few pieces of our smoked meat. “This is our smoked meat products. Now most of you would be shrugging that off, but these are all meat marinated in our special sauces before smoking and salting. Unlike the sauces we sell, all of them are made with our special spice mixes and sauces. Let me tell you that each bag is varied in flavors, but are never bad.” I took a few bags out and began handing out small samples and the crowds moaned out things like “amazing” and “Delicious”.

“Now here is where things get rough for all of you. I will be selling this wonderful little treat out of our workshops, and they are for everyone. That means I will not allow merchants buy it up, raise the prices, and resell it.” I could see some of the merchants thinking this over. “And if I find people finding some way to “beat my system” I will begin selling all my meat and spices in Kalador from now on. That means the capital will again be a flavorless hell for the nobility and commoner alike.” I said pointedly at the spice merchants. “However feel free to come by the workshop and pick some up for yourself or as a gift. We will be restricting sales as we do have a limited amount, but I felt it a good thing to share to the people of the capital.” A hand shot up. “Does that mean people in Kelton eat this all the time?” I laughed. “The people of my whole territory make this year round. As we get our meat production up more we will be brining here for sale.” At the time though people were asking to buy a bag now to nibble on or take home.

I left and headed to the workshop to talk to Nanet. The place was packed and when I walked through the door I was swarmed by the ladies there. Now they are not wives or concubines but they for some reason loved to get hugs from me whenever I walk in the door. I was then introduced to the many women who had barely made it to the capital before winter. Nanet stood next to me. “We had to slow down a lot because these poor ladies needed someplace to sleep. I was going everywhere I could to make sure we had enough food, and thank goodness we had the mana heaters to keep everyone warm.”

I thanked her for all her heard work and she batted her eyes at me. “You know, all it would take is a kiss to make it up to me.” I leaned down and she pulled me into a much more toe tingling kiss than I had expected. After she let me go I had to let my head clear before I told her my plans and she like both ideas. “So we would sell the bags of meat for one silver? That is about the same as the crap they call smoked meat here. Make it two and the commoners can still easily afford it and it would make it something special, a treat.” I told the assembled mages that as soon as we were done with our business in two days we would transport them all to the school. This made everyone happy and I felt a lot of gratitude from them all.

Next I headed to the mages guild, where all mages registered despite talents, to see if there were many or any female mages in the capital or registered in the barony. Well let me tell you I walked in and the people there acted like the king himself had walked through the door. An elderly man came hustling over to me and bowed deeply. “Count Kelton I am so very happy to have you here. What you did for the good of all the people of the nation, and the way you showed the nobility the true value of all mages is beyond description.” I gave a small bow back and he looked at me. “How can we help you your grace?” I pasted a smile on my face at the royal treatment. “Recently a water mage came to our school in hopes we could help her develop her talents. Over the winter, with a little experimentation and development, she has found rather unexplored areas in her abilities. I was wondering if there are any other female water mages registered in the barony.”

The old man snapped his fingers and pointed to a young woman who ran off. “We will get any names and locations right away.” He looked at me and seemed nervous. “Your grace, why is it you don’t take men under your wing?” I saw a lot of men trying not to listen in. “Well the methods are something I had beaten into me and have never had any luck teaching another man. Even my master couldn’t understand the difference. I personally think it has to do with a woman’s connection to the natural forces.” He looked at me and didn’t understand. “Have you a wife and children?” he nodded. “Have you noticed women have a connection to children you just don’t? They can feel them in their womb, sense if the unborn are happy or not, they are very mysterious in their connection to the world.” He thought for a moment and nodded.

“Men see the world differently, we are built differently and our connection is different. Think of how female stone mages are. Put them to construction and they are weak, unable to match a man’s ability. Well we men cannot, or more likely rarely are, able to do what they do. My master Alfreed has no idea why I am able to do what I do, though I think it is because of the fact I nearly died of the sickness. That maybe the gods themselves wanted me to help women reconnect to their real skills.”

A large man walked over and I knew he was a stone mage. “Are you saying men are less than women?” I looked at him and sighed. “Ok, show me what you do.” He took a pose and pulled up a section of stone and smiled. I nodded and with a slight wave of my hand dropped it back into place and he paled. “Now watch this.” A slim rod of stone rose out of the ground. I clipped a small piece off the end and held it in my hand. As they both looked the stone turned into a liquid drop and began to flow in circles in my palm, then it danced around my hand in loops. I took a bigger piece off the rod and added it to the drop flowing in my hand before it settled onto my hand like a glove. Then a spike formed extending from that spike, then a blade that I sliced through the rod. “That is what my women can do.” Then the glove turned into dust that settled to the floor.

The man deflated in front of me and nodded. “I can move the stones how I want, but that is true control over the stone itself. The gap is too great for me to cross but I dread the idea of a world where my sons will have less.” I patted him on the shoulder. “But if you have daughters think what kind of world they can create, if you have both what can they do together? A son that raises great buildings, and a daughter that then turns them into beautiful palaces.” He then nodded. “A world in balance.”

The lady came running over and handed the list over while bowing. “Thank you so much for your effort young lady, are you a mage?” She blinked a few times and shyly nodded. “I have some small talent in growing things. I can shape wood and plants a little.” The guild master looked at her and then at me. “Your grace, you are able to make the least talented into master crafters. Wood workers like Shelby are often seen as little more than carpenters, what could this young woman become under your guidance?” I shrugged and smiled at her. “Would you like to come to the mage’s school and see if you could lead the people who have your talent into something more?” She paled and tears began to show in her eyes. “Please.” Was all she could before starting to cry. I slid closer to her and held her up. “Then go to my workshop and tell Nanet that I want you to come with us to the school. Then go home and pack up for the trip. Just take some clothing and personal items as you will be given everything you will need from now on.” She nodded and held onto me till she got herself under control again.

She looked to the master and he nodded. That was all she needed to fly out the door with a smile as bright as the sun. “You’re right you are not like other men. The gentle way you treated her shows me you will be a good teacher for women as well.” The stone mage shook his head. “Are you married?” he asked and I sighed. “Yes, very married.” He nodded. “Well with your manner, and knowing your strength, I have no doubt you will have more than a few wives in your life.” If he only knew.

I was surprised there were four female water mages in the capital and two more in the barony. I asked if the guild master wouldn’t mind helping me with my duty as the school master to request the ladies outside the capital come to Kelton, at my expense, for me. I decided that I would try and find the ladies here and see if they were up to coming with me. He agreed and we parted with a handshake.

First on my list was Martha who worked at the same place I bought my cotton. When I showed up the manager came over with a big smile. He told me he had a large shipment of late season cotton, and the winter wool from nearby farms had just arrived. I bought a wagon load of each which shocked him. “That is quite the large purchase is there something going on you might let me in on?” I shrugged. “We have a weaver from Kelton who is teaching all my people how to use cotton, and over the winter they have greatly improved the quantity and quality of their textiles. They asked me to get as much as I could and that is about all I can get at this time.” After I paid for everything I asked if a woman named Martha worked today. He thought for a moment and then sent for her.

A mild looking woman came in and smiled at us both. “May I help you manager?” he nodded and pointed to me. “Lord Kelton came to talk to you.” She seemed very nervous at hearing I held a title. “I am under order by the king to find certain female mages and bring them to my mage’s school for teaching. The mages guild told me you were a registered water mage and so I came to talk to you about coming with us to the mage’s school. There is no cost, and all your needs will be taken care of while you are there.” Her shoulders slumped a little. “I have very little talent, and a young daughter, so I doubt you are looking for someone like me.” I chuckled. “That is where you are very wrong. If you want to learn I am sure you will find you just haven’t been taught how to really harness your craft. As for any children you have, well she will not be alone. Many in the school have little ones, and if you want she can also attend our school that educates all the town’s children.”

She looked at her boss and he smiled at her. “Martha, I personally vouch for lord Kelton. His reputation is amazing, you might better know of him as the Hero of Alaman pass.” Her eyes opened wide and she smiled for the first time. “If you say so I would gladly come to your school. What do I need to bring?” I shrugged. “You can bring clothes, personal items, that kind of thing. Everything else is provided by me and the school. If it will be a little more tempting, if for some reason you feel being a mage isn’t for you, I have an entire territory where you can pick the kind of job, the kind of life, you wish to follow.” She suddenly got a little steel in her spine and nodded. “Then we will be leaving in two days. You only have to pack and go to the glow stone workshop. They will take care of you until we leave.”

The manager stood up and offered his hand to her. “I congratulate you on the future you have before you.” He reached into his pouch and gave her a gold coin. “I will consider this your separation pay, and a little gift for someone embarking on a new path in life.” She teared up before leaving us. I looked at the man as he sighed. “I really do wish her the best. A single mother has a hard time in the capital and knowing she will be in your hands make me feel uncommonly generous.” I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder before taking my own leave.

Three of the four women were mothers and were actually happy to get their kids out of the city. The third woman was middle aged and looked at me suspiciously at first. I invited her to check my operation out so I had to actually take her to the workshops and get cleared by the women there. She then was happy to join and that made it five, five mind you, women ready to come to the school and learn from Ariel. Who knows, this might just be a new adventure for all of us. I did a good bit of shopping for Doc so he could replace what was used or sent to the other regions. He did complain a little that he was going to have to train some people with talent in order to keep up with the demand for scented hair removal crème.

That night I was relaxing with everyone at the inn when a messenger came in looking for me. It seemed Glen was hoping I would stop by in the morning. He didn’t want to interrupt my meeting with the baron, or the aftermath, but wanted to express his personal thanks for everything. The boy was still standing there and so I told him that I would be over to see him in the morning. I wasn’t sure how to deal with this, but I did know that it had to be dealt with all the same.

The next day I went to Howsers home and was soon shown into his parlor. Glen was happy as hell to see me and we talked for quite a while about what happened in the royal capital. “I had no idea what you were going to do but you sure did something amazing. The opposition to the king’s faction is all but dead, the guilty are either dead or dead broke and running for their lives. The different territories were broken up and many good people were promoted. William barely escaped such a promotion because he is your governing noble and people really don’t want to rock this boat too much.”

He looked around the room and leaned closer to me. “Mike, I have to thank you so much for taking care of me and my family. It took a great weight off my shoulders to know they were going to be safe no matter what happened. I will also admit that the ladies who came back to the capital with me taught me a great many things about women both in and out of the bedroom. I realize just how little I understood my wives, and how incredibly patient they have been with me all these years. Now I appreciate them for more than I ever have in our lives.” I nodded and smiled. “Well men in this world are encouraged to think they are gods in all things. Even the most humble man still has a greatly inflated ego when it comes to women. The problem is they never ask a woman if that self image is justified.”

He nodded. “When we missed you coming home I was worried something was wrong. My ladies seemed rather unhappy and when I talked to them about it they said it was nothing. Your ladies told me that when a woman denies the obvious truth there is something very wrong.” I shrugged. “Well your wives are incredible women and you are lucky to have them in your life. I consider our time together to be one that has left nothing but a pleasant and warm feeling in my heart. I had work to do in the school, which I had been ignoring in order to ... entertain everyone. Then as that drew to an end I needed to head out and deal with the rest of my territory. That turned from a minor trip into a much longer stay than I had predicted. By the time I made it back all of you had only been gone a few days.”

“Odd but that sounds like when my wives say there was nothing wrong.” I looked down and nodded. “To be completely truthful you are right. I had no problem with you and William leaving your families to be taken care of, you are my family. However I did not like the idea of filling in certain roles if you can understand what I mean.” I tried to let him know what I meant. “While I love the both of them, I am not in love with them. After everything that I dealt with before this I knew that this was one thing I just couldn’t do again. Then with Bethany, Jessa, and everyone nudging me in that direction I allowed it despite how I honestly felt. Then one day I couldn’t do it anymore. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, so I decided a little bit of bruising was better than emotional wounds.”

Glen shook his head and I could tell he was dealing with this is a different way. “I hope you know I didn’t want to force anything on you Mikael.” I chuckled. “I never did Glen. I think that the idea that your two wonderful ladies would be close to me and have to be celibate when you weren’t nudged you in that direction. I also have a feeling your lovely ladies were curious about a man who could keep so many women happy.” He nodded. “However the thing that makes all my women happy is something I really can’t share with other men’s wives. I can’t go there knowing that the woman I am loving is also my friends wife. There are just too many feelings of manipulation and betrayal to let it happen.” His face grew a little grim. “Yes, and too many people have done just that, betrayed you or manipulated you into situations you know are not good for you or others.”

“Well it never sent me to a dark place, it just made me uncomfortable. What I do understand is that I don’t think anyone involved meant for it to feel that way. While such relationships walk a fine line in this world, and I have walked it before, I don’t think it’s right for me to allow it in my life. My concubines are more than free to do what they want, but the idea of one of my wives with another man makes me livid with anger. I don’t ever want there to be a chance you would feel like that towards me.” He stood up, walked over to me and drew me into a hug. “No Mike, that would never happen. I love you like a brother and in this world that is enough. Our women don’t understand certain things about you, they couldn’t.” He stood back and smiled at me. “Thank you for trying and I will make sure that this problem doesn’t happen again. I will say though the ladies will not quite understand these feelings without understanding you are very different.”

Delain and Irene came in and I went to give them both loving hugs. “You two wonderful women are so precious to me. I know you both didn’t like missing me the way you did but it really was necessary. Our time was so special to me and I hope you will come visit again sometime this summer so the kids can play in the lake together.” They looked me in the eyes and they both sighed at the same time. “We will brother Mikael, we certainly will.” I kissed them both on the head and said my good byes. I felt like they understood things a little better now, and would know I really did love them, in my own way.