The Barons' War
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 21
Rendalia City, Rendalia
The damaged ship was barely seaworthy when it finally entered Rendalia Harbor, flanked by two friendly merchant vessels that had found William and his crew struggling near the coast. Lines stretched from the escort ships to William’s vessel, the extra pull necessary to guide the wounded craft into port. The main mast was cracked and held together by hasty repairs, the hull still bore scars where the massive tentacled beast had tried to drag it under.
Word of their approach must have spread quickly, as the docks were packed with people to a degree William had never seen before, even on the busiest of shipping days.
Finally pulling into a safe harbor after so many months, it sank in that this wild journey was over. Sailors secured ropes to the pier’s iron cleats as the crowd pressed forward, fascinated by the ship’s battered state. William rushed down the gangplank the moment it touched the dock.
Isolde was waiting for him at the bottom. She wore a simple dress of blue and gray, her brown hair pulled back in a functional style she preferred when situations allowed.
“It’s good to see you,” she said.
She really believed that, and he could see the pleasure in her eyes. He was equally as pleased to see her. William had rushed off shortly after they were married and they’d only spent a few short weeks together when she was his prisoner, which meant they were still somewhat awkward.
And yet he felt a small flutter in his stomach when he saw her waiting for him.
“And you.”
“Where have you been? We thought you were lost. You’ve had people very concerned.”
“Just people?” William asked, causing her cheeks to redden a bit, which again caused the small flutter to reappear in his stomach. “Really though, it’s a long story and perhaps this isn’t the place for sharing it.”
“But you sailed during Maw season. That is a very dangerous choice.”
“We didn’t plan it that way. We crashed on the Silent Isles first, and it was ... a journey getting back.”
A collective gasp rose from those close enough to hear. An old dock hand made the sign meant to ward off bad luck.
Eskild limped down the gangplank behind him, along with the captain and the remaining crew, fewer than half the men who had departed from Sidor months ago.
“You’ll tell me everything,” Isolde said firmly. “But first, we should return to the keep. There are matters requiring your immediate attention,” she said.
Something in her tone made William pause. “What’s happened?”
“Not here,” she murmured.
William nodded, then turned back to thank the captains of the merchant vessels that had towed them into port. He promised payment and provisions for their assistance, earning grateful bows in return.
As they prepared to leave, William noticed the men following them, staying close to himself and Isolde. Guards, presumably, but he was surprised to see the face of Garr, a soldier he had met more than a year ago among them.
“Garr,” William called out, clasping the Sidorian guard’s arm. “Good to see you. Did you get assigned to protect my wife?”
“I did, my lord. Volunteered, I did.”
“Then you have my thanks.”
“Don’t thank me, my lord. Thank them,” he said, nodding to the men with him. “They’re the ones who got her head out of the noose.”
“What noose?”
Isolde touched his arm. “It’s a figure of speech. We can discuss this at the keep.”
“No, what did he mean?”
“She was sentenced to death in Valemonde,” the oldest of the three men said. “We helped her escape before they could carry it out.”
“Galer,” Isolde sighed. “I was going to explain this properly.”
“Forgive me, my lady,” Galer said, not sounding particularly sorry.
“Who sentenced you to death?”
“My brother, under Lord Agravaine’s influence. After my father died.”
“Your father is dead?” William looked shocked. “And your brother tried to execute you?”
“As I said, there’s much you don’t know. But this isn’t the place.”
William struggled to maintain his composure as he turned to Galer and the other two men. “You saved my wife’s life. You have my eternal gratitude.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
William gave him another nod before saying, “I guess we should return to the keep so I can find out what else has happened since I vanished.”
The procession moved through Rendalia City’s streets, drawing a crowd as it did. News of William’s return spread ahead of them like wildfire. By the time they reached Whitton Keep, the courtyard was filled with all number of people.
Inside the keep’s great hall, William ordered food and drink for his men and gave instructions for them to be given places to rest and recuperate from their journey, as well as the promised payment to the captain and his crew, then he followed Isolde to their private chambers, the place they had shared for mere weeks before duty had called him away.
The room seemed both familiar and foreign, like a memory from another life.
“Now, tell me what really happened. How did you end up on The Silent Isles?” she said as soon as the door closed.
William sank into a chair, suddenly aware of how exhausted he truly was. “We were attacked by Alchmaran raiders shortly after departing from Sidor. We defeated them but took heavy damage. That and a storm did what it could to send us to the bottom. We had little choice but to sail into the first place we could reach to beach the ship.”
“But how did you survive? The reputation of that place is that no one ever leaves.”
“With good reason,” William said grimly. “The island is home to monsters, like giant worms with circular mouths full of teeth. They killed many of my men before we managed to get the ship repaired enough to limp to Werna.”
“Werna? Why not come straight back here?”
“Because we had barely gotten the repairs done and no one wanted to stay on that island any longer to become a meal to the creatures, so we left as soon as we could. Werna was closer to reach than here, and we could do more repairs before trying to cross the rest of the way. It was a good thing we did because we discovered something troubling. My father had sent an agent, an acolyte, if you can believe it, to search for something there.”
“Search for what?”
“We weren’t able to find out, only that it was an artifact of some kind. We almost caught up to the acolyte as he boarded a ship to return to Sidor with the object, but a man my father employs, or rather employed, was there to ensure that this acolyte returned safely. After a hasty retreat from Werna, followed by their dock patrol, we tried to chase the ship down even though our repairs were not all the way complete but ... our luck with the oceans remained the same.”
“What does that mean?”
“A Maw spawn found us, one of the giant leviathans with massive tentacles that could crush wood like kindling. We barely survived, and the ship was so damaged we had to abandon the pursuit and make for Rendalia instead.”
“Ohh,” she said.
“Yeah. We were so close, I could have almost jumped to his ship. He got away, and now my father will have whatever he was looking for, and I fear what it’s going to do to the kingdom and the rebellion. I need to warn my uncle, although what he can do about it, I don’t know.”
“William, there’s more you need to know. Things have happened while you were gone.” She took a deep breath, building up her courage. “Your uncle Aldric is dead.”
The words struck William like a physical blow. “Dead? How?”
“Assassinated by Sir Alistair only a week after you sailed from Sidor.”
William felt the room tilt around him. He gripped the arms of his chair, trying to steady himself. “Alistair?”
“The best Pembroke could figure, he was your father’s agent all along. After killing Aldric, he fled to Starhaven.”
William slumped forward, covering his face with his hands. Aldric had been more than an uncle to him this last year and a half. He had become the father William wished he’d had. Where his adoptive father had been cold and calculating, Aldric had shown warmth and understanding. Aldric had believed in him; treated him like he really was a Whitton.
“I should have been there,” William whispered. “I could have protected him.”
Isolde knelt before him, taking his hands in hers. “You couldn’t have known. No one suspected Alistair.”
Grief washed over William in waves, threatening to drown him. He could see Aldric’s face, hear his voice, feel the weight of his hand on William’s shoulder. All of it gone now.
“I’ll kill Alistair myself. I will stare into his eyes as I squeeze the life out of him.”
“There will be time for vengeance. But William, as terrible as this news is, we face even greater challenges that need your attention now.”
William forced himself to focus through his grief. “Tell me.”
Isolde rose and began pacing. “After Aldric’s death, the rebellion started to fragment. Many eastern barons withdrew their support, fearing your father’s reprisals. Baron Pembroke left with what forces he could gather to shore up the defenses in River Mark. The whole kingdom is in chaos.”
“By the ancients. Wait, they said something about your father?”
“Yes. I went back to see him, be with him when he died. In his final moments, he named me his heir instead of my brother.”
“What?”
“It never happened. Lord Agravaine and my brother seized power the moment my father died. They declared me a traitor, claimed I had poisoned my father, and sentenced me to death. If not for Galer and the others, I would have hanged. My brother now rules as Emperor Baudric IX, with Agravaine whispering in his ear. They’ve declared our peace treaty null and void, and Lynesian forces are already attacking Rendalia. We managed to hold them at the Chansol River, but our position is precarious.”
“What forces do we have?” William asked, calculating what he took back with him in the summer and what Pembroke must have taken.
“Not enough,” Isolde said bluntly. “Pembroke took many of our best troops to Sidor. Haverhill has been commanding what remains here, along with the hill folk I convinced to join us.”
“From the Dead Man’s Hills, those hill folk?” William raised an eyebrow, remembering the difficulties they’d had with them before the war had even ended. “How did you manage that?”
“I offered them way more than anyone is happy with, but we had to have them. Even with that help, Haverhill says we cannot win against the Lynesian army, only make their victory costly.”
“How badly are we outnumbered?” he asked.
“Their army is twice our size, and better equipped. A third of our forces are hill people, brave but poorly armed and untrained in formal warfare. If we had more time, or more men...”
William leaned his arms on his elbows. In the back of his mind, he was still thinking about Aldric, but he knew his uncle would not want him to lose everything just because he was dead. Plus, as if placed there by the ancients, he had the seeds of a thought.
“I might have an idea,” he said.
Starhaven, Sidor
“When he says victory, how does the baron measure that?” Edmund asked, half looking at the unsealed message in his hands and half looking at the messenger standing in front of him.
“The rebel units broke and scattered once Baron Harald’s forces engaged them. They barely lasted an hour before pulling back again.”
“How many prisoners?”
“Few, Your Majesty. Most fled into the forests to the south, toward the Eastbridge. The baron asked me to specifically report that the rebels have split their forces and that he now faces enemies to both east and south.”
“Yes, he has messaged me more than once to remind me of the fact. What, exactly, does he want from me?”
“More men, Your Majesty. He claims he cannot pursue in two directions without reinforcements.”
“Of course he does.” Edmund started to rise from his seat. “Tell Baron Harald he can...”
A knock at the door interrupted what he was going to say. With a frown, Edmund said, “Enter.”
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