A Man of Lesser Import
Copyright© 2025 by Thinker
Chapter 8
Silas was startled and snapped out of his depression when the countess became ill. He couldn’t even countenance the disease taking her too, with her young son of three years. Her case was not so severe and with his efforts and her better than average living conditions, she weathered it fairly easily.
Silas went back and apologized to Thyra for having deserted her in her time of need, he was truly sorry. She laughed at him “You lose your wife, save your countess, most of your village and me too and you apologize? You are a most amazing man who has persevered through great personal loss. You have shown me the error of my ways, and I wish to be like you and damn the magical harm we have done in the name of the king and his lords. Will you teach me the skills my parents sought to teach me before the mages discovered I had magical ability? I wish to be like you and to make up for all the harm I have caused.” Silas was at a loss for words; he just nodded yes.
Thyra did in fact become his wife and memories from her early training came back, which coupled with Silas’s training made her become a very accomplished wise woman in her own right. Thyra laughed as Silas explained how he kept messing up the wise person’s spells as he kept trying to draw power from the earth. “Silas, you try to draw power from the ground, and you do! You also have Mage abilities! You used my power source, which would not have worked for a wise person who did not have magic. Your problem is using the right spell for the source of power you have chosen to cast with. The spell of light, cast with the powers within you is draining and lasts but a short time, while if cast with magic using the power of the grounds around you, lasts much longer and drains you little. We just need to get each separated in your mind. I too have both abilities and so know the problem well.
The years passed and Thyra and Silas had four children, Iachawyr (pronounced ‘Yakawr’) a son of 20, named for Silas’ maternal grandfather; a daughter, Lilyia, 17 and married to Eivor Skade, the wiseman of Lindenford; Tristar, 14 a promising wiseman and named for Thyra’s father, and Freyr, 11 and named for Thyra’s mother. Silas was now 46 and feeling his years more and more, while Thyra was 48 and also slowing down.
The wars and battles had raged all around the county of Amberly, but the countess stayed loyal to the king, defended her lands vigorously with somewhat uncommon tactics and refused to deploy any force outside Amberly. This worked as her efforts had improved farming significantly, with iron plows, planned fertilizing with night soil in the late autumn and well-planned harvesting which gave the kingdom double or more of the crops any other county could provide. Amberly had become the breadbasket of the kingdom, as well as raising cattle, horses, pigs and chickens. The three attempts to invade Amberly had been fought off brutally with foresters sniping at the leaders before combat could begin and then Amberly’s soldiers falling upon the leaderless forces deployed. Each time the invading nobility lost significant numbers of their families. The countess of Amberly was soundly cursed in many holdings, but the king supported her ever more strongly.
Then there was young Richard James Grabland, count of Amberly who had come of age. He eschews the guidance of his advisors who had suggested he join this or that group of nobles for or against the king. He refused them all and sent many away. He listened closely to his mother and her favorite advisor, Silas the wise man, who advised that war had only losers, he that lost least claiming victory. But he who chooses to stay out of wars grows stronger and wealthier, for war was a costly affair on all levels. It took much careful diplomacy and balancing, but Amberly stayed out of the wars as best it could, never invading anyone. Lady Aslaugh, now 44 had stepped back and let her son do his duties.
And then the king was killed in a bloody carnage called the Battle of Lesser Manmouth which the royal armies won, settling the revolt for the time being.
The search for the nearest living relative of the king found Richard James Grabland to be the successor and he was asked to come to the capital and accept the throne. Not all the family were in favor; his mother had serious reservations, but Silas, her advisor hoped that young Richard’s wisdom might put an end to the decades of bloodletting.
So in 1422, Richard James Grabland arrived in the capital with his guard of the king’s own cavalry, the Horse of Amberly, his mother and her advisor, the wise man Silas of Lindenford. All clamored for his immediate attention to do this or attack that, and he shut them all down. “First, we have much healing to do, which is not done with a sword. Second, we must do all we can to prosper the serfs and freemen, as we have lost many in fruitless battles that left few to manage our fields, and starvation is not far away if this stupidity continues. Lastly, we must create a way for various lords of all levels to have their problems heard and solved as best we can, so there is no cause to turn upon our fellow nobles, thus we will make a house of Lords to advise the king and present issues on the lord’s behalf.”
This stopped much of the talk as this new information was digested. The new king left them and gathered his advisors, holding his hand upon for silence. “I do not wish to hear any suggestions that involve attacking anyone. I wish to hear ways of healing our country and bringing our farms back to fruitfulness, for as I just told the lords, starvation is much too close to ignore. We will need all the noble houses efforts to avoid calamity and those noble houses that do not aid in recovery will not be noble houses for long.”
He then left to look at his apartments and their arrangements. When satisfied, he went to his sunroom and had his mother and Silas join him. They talked and discussed how to start this reunification. In time, he summoned the archbishop and asked his views, which agreed in many ways with his own. Being unmarried, the archbishop thought that it might offer a large first step to bringing some noble families back into the king’s support. The Quersy family had been a major opponent of the last king’s policies, so might be a good family to have married into the throne. The archbishop agreed to have a message delivered by the church inviting the possible wife and her mother to attend the royal coronation as guests of the king and under his protection.
It took several days to get a response as the lady of the house and mother of the prospective bride was very concerned. Thus the countess of Amberly, the archbishop of the countries church and a large escort of the king’s own horse under a white flag did go to the manor and ask for the lady and her mother to come in peace. The countess of Amberly stated that her son was appalled by the war and wished peace and reunification and that she came as a guarantee of their safety. The archbishop also assured them his willingness to ensure their safety. Thus, the young lady, her mother and several ladies in waiting were escorted to the royal palace. Meanwhile, the king had declared a peace during his coronation and that no man was to wear any blade longer than a palm’s width and no other sort of weapon at all within the palace grounds. All the country’s nobles were invited and all were expected to be civil to all others.