Chapter 20: Knowledge is Power

“If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” – Henry Ford.

York, Great Britain. March 1079

“FREDRICK LUCUS MACDOUGALL!!” Marion screamed when she slammed the door open to the family chambers. Fredrick and Carl were playing, and Carl looked at his brother.

“What did you do this time?”

“I don’t know.”

“Whatever it is, Mum is pissed. She used all your names.” Just then, Marion appeared in the doorway, and from the look on her face, she was furious. “Sucks to be you,” Carl said under his breath as he tried to look anywhere but at his enraged mother.

“FREDRICK! GET OUT HERE! NOW!” The color drained from Fredrick’s face as he stood and slowly walked toward his mother. He wasn’t sure what he did but felt as if he was walking to his execution. “What the bloody hell is this that I hear you are trying to use your position as my son to force people to do what you want?!?!”

“Ah Mum...”

“Don’t “Mum” me. You were raised better than a petty noble.”

“MUM!” Fredrick yelled back. “By ancient law, I should be next in line for the throne, not Mackenzie.”

“Where the hell did you get that stupid, idiotic idea?”

“It’s not stupid! I learned it from Waltheof.”

Gabby looked at Marion with an “I told you so” look. She had lobbied against him being hired. Something in the interview raised an alarm for Gabby. If she had figured out what had raised the alarm, it would have been easy to convince Marion not to hire the guy.

“Gabby, don’t say anything,” Marion growled. “Waltheof of Oxford will be fired by the end of business today.”

“MUM! I like him.”

“And I’m paying for your education. Since I’m paying for it, you will have a tutor with whom I agree. In the meantime, your lessons with me are suspended, and you will go to public school full-time.”

“But...” Marion continued before Fredrick could finish his thought.

“Additionally, you WILL write a 10-page essay on why you are no better than anyone else. In it, you will discuss in detail what you see as your strengths and weaknesses.” Fredrick’s face was pale, and he couldn’t believe what was happening. “The paper is due by Friday. In the meantime, when not in school, you are confined to the spare chamber, so you have no distractions with your writing.” Marion looked directly into Fredrick’s panicked eyes. “Go. You have three days to write the paper. If it’s not turned in by the end of business Friday, you won’t be sitting comfortably for a month.”

Fredrick knew he was screwed because his mother would tan his hide. With many other children he knew, their fathers took care of the discipline. Not Marion. She wasn’t afraid to put welts across her children’s rumps when they deserved it. Marion’s wives were the same, and they shared the job of molding the children into productive members of society.

Luke always loved that his wives didn’t hesitate to use appropriate force to teach the children proper behavior, unlike many parents of his time. “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” and Luke remembered some seriously spoiled children. When the children deserved it, they got their butts smacked hard enough to sting for a while. Usually, it didn’t take more than once for them to learn the lesson. Once in a while, it took a couple of butt spankings to get the message into their thick skulls but never more than that.

For the most part, all the children were well-behaved, and when discipline was needed, it was light. However, as they got older, especially the boys, they began to believe they knew better than their mothers and had to be reminded who was the parent and who was the child. It would only get worse, as the mothers knew it would only be a matter of time before the girls did the same thing.

Marion was sitting at her home office desk trying to rub away an oncoming headache when Kukka got home. She looked at Marion, then the grandfather clock in the corner.

“You’re home early. Rough day at the office?”

“No, rough day here.” Kukka gave her a questioning look. “Fredrick got a little too big for his britches and had to be reminded who the parent was.” Kukka rolled her eyes.

“What did he do this time?”

“He was trying to use the fact that I’m his Mum to order people to do things for him, and if they refused, he tried threatening them.”

“I thought Mackenzie was next in line.”

“She is. Fredrick tried claiming that since he is the oldest boy, he should be next in line.”

“Waltheof?”

“How did you know?”

“He’s a pompous fool, and I listen. If I knew you didn’t know about the bullshit he was spitting out, I would have said something.”

“Don’t worry about it. He’s been fired and escorted from the city. I advised him that it may be better for him to leave Britain than to try and continue teaching. As if I don’t have enough problems on my hands with the Middle East blowing up and Europe drowning in blood.”

Marion and her inner circle knew something had disrupted the Middle East. The Seljuk Empire was falling apart, and the Byzantines were retaking Anatolia. The worst of it, though, affected Marion directly. Egypt was at war with one of the Seljuk princes. The ruler of Damascus and Jerusalem, Atsiz ibn Uwaq, thought the time would be right to try and conquer Egypt. With Malik dead and his family fighting over the throne, Atsiz had time to focus westward toward the rapidly strengthening Egypt.

With Egypt at war, Marion was forced to dispatch troops to the region again. This time, she sent the 3^rd Division, along with the Marines. When added to the Egyptian forces, Marion figured they wouldn’t have too many problems with the invaders. What was puzzling was why Atsiz was attacking. He was relatively secure where he was; Egypt wasn’t threatening war, and the Seljuks were falling apart.

Marion couldn’t send the 1^st and 2^nd divisions since they were still in Germany and would be for the next few months. To transport the troops to Egypt, Admiral Hall assigned Admiral Ewing to command the task force. She would have one heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, and six destroyers in addition to the supply and transport ships needed. The force would be transported to Pelusium, which was the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal. Although the canal wasn’t yet in operation, the port was, and it would make a suitable forward base for the troops.

The goal was to destroy Atsiz ibn Uwaq and his allies. As with the other campaigns, Marion issued orders for looting, especially in lands Egypt wouldn’t control after peace broke out. All books were to be shipped back to Britain to be copied before the original was cataloged and placed into storage. Although the books didn’t do much for Britain, gathering ancient knowledge was one of Luke’s goals, and by continuing, Marion felt as if she was honoring him.

“Speaking of Mackenzie, what does she think about the Mid-East expedition?”

“After being dragged down in the Holy Roman Empire, she is far more wary of sending our troops to war in a foreign land.”

“Good. At least we know she won’t be like her father’s homeland, sending troops into every hellhole around the world trying to get the grown children to play nice in the sandbox.”

Marion smiled at Kukka’s description of many military missions the US undertook. Everyone with multiple children knows that some children simply do not get along, regardless of what the caretaker does. At that point, you either remove one from the equation or use physical force to keep them from killing each other. At the same time, if they were not your children, you ignored them as long as they left your children alone. This was another case of “not my monkeys, not my circus.”