Chapter 17: Complications at the Capital

A scout emerged from the trees and motioned for the column to stop. Genrico raised his hand over his head and the men on the march came to a halt.

“There is a ship on the horizon,” the scout confided.

Joseph had walked up to join the conversation, causing the scout no end to consternation.

“Coming or going?” the king asked.

“I can’t tell,” the man answered. “The sun is reflecting off the water and the ship is well away from shore. If I had to offer a guess, I would say it sailed with the morning tide and has been on the water for about a quarter of the day.”

Joseph nodded and considered the information. The group had likely missed the pirates by a day. He couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. The ships could carry perhaps a crew of 40 or 50; the pirates would have knowledge of the terrain and would be well armed. Still, he would need to deal with the raiders at some point and he was here to direct the battle. The pirates would search the shoreline until they found a place to put in.

“See if you can slip into the area without being noticed,” Genrico commanded. “I want to know if we are facing opposition. Be as silent as possible but move as swiftly as you can. Lucretia says we are close.”

“Very close,” the scout said with a nod. The troops took another short break until the scout returned to let them know that the small village appeared to be empty. The group still entered in small groups from different directions and found nothing. There were a dozen small buildings and all of them appeared empty.

The attack caught everyone by surprise. Jonathan caught a flash of movement from his side and lifted his arm in defense. It probably saved his life. The dog’s teeth opened a large gash on Jonathan’s shoulder, almost in the identical spot as the one Julia sported on her. The beast rolled to its side and spun for a second attack, its teeth bared and saliva and blood dripping from its maw.

It reared onto its back legs to spring just as a second dog broke from the building and struck Jonathan from behind. The hard leather of his boots kept the dog’s teeth from breaking his skin but the pressure from its jaws kept him immobile.

The crossbow bolt caught the first dog in the throat as it poised to spring. It gurgled as a second bolt found its way into its broad chest. A froth of blood emerged from the dog’s mouth as it crumpled. The second dog was still trying to tear Jonathan’s leg from his hip when Rucar’s sword cut off its head. Jonathan managed to extricate his leg and sat down hard on the ground, his heart racing from fear and excitement.

“What in the blazes are those?” he asked. He had seen dogs before but never anything this large. The dog’s head was massive and the beast’s back had been as high as Jonathan’s hips.

“I have no idea,” Rucar said as he spun around looking for additional threats. Genrico and Joseph hustled into the clearing. The pair took in the scene and immediately rushed into the building from where the dogs had exited. Rucar tried to intercept the king but failed. He looked at Jonathan’s white face and followed them inside.

“Look at this!” Genrico said as he turned in circles in the middle of the floor. The walls were lined with cells, thankfully empty. The room smelled terrible – like urine and feces and sweat.

“Slave pens,” Rucar said, shaking his head.

“This one burns first,” Joseph declared as he headed out of the door to make sure Jonathan was doing well. Julia and Lucretia were attending to the wound as Jonathan rubbed his calf muscle. His boot was ruined but the muscle was unharmed, except for the fact it was already reddening.

“Will you be able to walk?” Joseph asked. Jonathan was still pale but he nodded.

“Then we burn this place and head back,” Joseph spat.

“You need to lift up the wood floors,” Lucretia said urgently. “They dug out the dirt and rocks. It’s where they kept the food and stored the things they stole.”

Indeed the hidden recesses contained numerous items of interest, not least of which was a small box bearing a crest of some sort. It was filled with numerous gemstones, some of which no one in the group could identify. The bigger areas had barrels with the remnants of wheat inside, leading Joseph to conclude that the marauders had stopped off to replenish their stores and lighten their load only a few days earlier.

He ordered the dock destroyed and he left behind a work crew of 30 with orders to line the beach with as heavy of rocks as they could carry or roll to deter the pirates from attempting to remake the spot into a habitable area.

He contemplated spending the night to aid the endeavor but changed his mind when he saw Jonathan. The man still hadn’t regained his color and sweat had begun to form on his forehead even though he was propped in the shade beneath a tree at the king’s orders.

The group had only rudimentary healing skills and Joseph had seen the signs of putrefaction before. He or Genrico stayed close to Jonathan during the trek back to the camp and ushered him to the medics as soon as they arrived. By that time, Jonathan’s shoulder had begun to ooze white pus and his fever had risen.

The medic wasn’t certain she could do anything to help but she promised to try.

“You have a group of emissaries from Marindar outside the castle,” Choran told Elena. Elena glanced down at the plain dress she wore. It wasn’t suitable for meeting dignitaries but she also had learned the hard way that some people get irritable when left to wait.

“I have let them know that you will arrive as quickly as you can,” Choran told her with a smile. He had grown to appreciate the young woman more and more as she wrestled with difficult decisions. “They could have scheduled a meeting and waited aboard their ship but they chose to wait for you instead.”

“Where is Marindar?” Elena asked as she put away her papers.

“Far north,” Choran explained. “It will be an awkward meeting. They speak a language that I am unfamiliar with. They have a man with them who speaks Trade Common passably but that does you no good.”

Elena had been trying to learn the language for months but something had always interrupted her studies. She spoke only Az and had required an interpreter for almost all of the meetings she’d had with foreign visitors. She knew it did not paint Azkoval in a good light but there had been too much for her to do and she hadn’t had time to learn more than a few simple phrases.

Still, she changed clothing as swiftly as she could and hurried down to the chamber where she conducted her formal meetings. She had barely sat down when Choran led a group of three into the room. The first thing that caught Elena’s attention was their clothing.

There was a chill in the air in Tyrell but the group wore clothing made almost entirely of furs. It would be several months before such heavy clothing was appropriate. The second thing she noticed was their look. There were two men and one woman in the group and all of them had light hair and pale skin. Elena was almost positive she could see the blood vessels beneath the skin on the woman’s face. She was a pretty woman and Elena guessed her age at about her own – 20 years. It wasn’t until the group came forward into the candlelight that their most striking feature was revealed: their eyes were a very light blue.

“I apologize that I wasn’t prepared when you arrived,” Elena said politely. Choran dutifully translated it into Trade Common and one of the men conveyed the message to the others.

“We expected to meet King Joseph,” the second man replied, speaking to Choran and not to Elena.

“I am Elena, Steward of Azkoval,” Elena replied. “King Joseph is on campaign but he should return with a few weeks.”

The man again directed his reply to Choran but this time Choran didn’t pass along a translation. Instead he stared hard at the man for a long moment before answering in terse, almost angry, tones.

“I apologize for my brother,” the young woman cut in, surprising everyone in the room by speaking in Az – and with the same accent that was prevalent in the capital. “He is extremely rude and overbearing. I am Princess Octavia from the House of Tussain. He is Prince Junius of the same house, first in line to our throne after our father, King Augustus.”

“We bid you welcome,” Elena said. “Did you have a pleasant voyage?”

Prince Junius looked irritated but Octavia smiled and answered.

“It was several months on a ship with him for company,” she said. “But I find the weather pleasant if a bit warm for my attire.”

“We have several in our army from the Northern Lands,” Elena explained with a smile toward the woman. “One refers to it as the land of ice and snow. I apologize that I have lacked the ability to learn a trade language. It has hindered me more than once during negotiations. If you would like, I can have a lighter dress set out for you to wear and we can continue our discussions after you have dined and rested. We have many rooms available at the castle if you have tired of sleeping aboard a ship.”

“Thank you,” Octavia replied, ignored the outrage on her brother’s face. “We noticed you have a large army inside the city but you say King Joseph is on campaign. Did he travel alone?”

“What you see is perhaps half of our standing army,” Choran answered after receiving a nod from Elena. “Azkoval has made great strides in the past two years but there were still several ills that needed to be attended to. Our king took an army to root out the last of the trouble spots. He is about three weeks away by ship and Lady Elena has sent reinforcements to speed his return homeward.”

The third man in the room dutifully continued the translation and Junius blinked hard at the news. He had counted at least 300 soldiers passing in formation in the city and perhaps 100 more inside the castle walls. The five men stationed about the room looked quite hardy. If this was the level of their military, Azkoval was certainly an ally worth having.

He turned to his sister and spoke a few sharp words that were not passed along. The woman’s face registered nothing but her eyes blazed briefly before she turned to Elena with a smile.

“I would enjoy cleaning myself and putting on fresh clothing,” she said. “Perhaps we could attend to those things before we sit down to talk?”

“Absolutely,” Elena said. “I will direct someone to your ship to bring your belongings to the castle. As I told you, we have several rooms unoccupied at the time and you and your entourage may have your choice.

“I or one of my staff will be available to you at all times in case you have questions but I hope you will feel free to enjoy our city and our hospitality. I will assign 10 members from our Defense Battalion to escort you and your brother anywhere you wish to go. Come, let me show the rooms and I will have someone bring a lighter dress.”

The two women made their exit and Choran made to do the same but was stopped by the interpreter.

“Now that the females have left, we can discuss serious matters unfit for a woman,” Junius said.

Choran spun, already angered by the slight the prince had offered to Elena by ignoring her.

“Lady Elena is the only person at the castle who can discuss business with you,” he said archly. “I am an adviser, nothing more. If you wish to have any official relationship with Azkoval, it will be through Lady Elena or you may wait until the king returns. But I assure you, Prince Junius, King Joseph will not take lightly the disrespect you have shown his chosen steward. And when King Joseph is displeased, it usually bodes ill for those who have caused his displeasure. I do not believe it will matter to him that you are a prince from a far-off land.”

Elena got a fuller explanation from Octavia as she showed her around the castle.

“Women are not permitted much in the way of authority in my land,” the young woman said.

“Until very recently, it was the same here,” Elena replied. “The king has changed much and he made a statement toward those who view females as inferior when he appointed me to run Azkoval in his stead.”

“My brother seemed to view you as a mere figurehead,” Octavia replied. “I could tell the others in the room deferred to you. It is why I violated his orders to remain silent. I do not wish to offend but we were led to believe that the king is young and somewhat unworldly. Yet he seems to have made significant strides in reworking this country.”

Elena laughed to show she wasn’t offended.

“He is young,” the steward answered. “But he is not ignorant. He has traveled to many places, perhaps including your own country. As I said, we have many in our army from the Northern Lands. They arrived with King Joseph. One of our commanders is from Grunveld. Is that near to you?”

“In relation to Azkoval, yes it is close,” Octavia replied. “In truth, it is very far. It will not take four months on a ship but it would be half that amount easily. They are west of us: Grunveld, Alicand and Lotatia are probably what you consider the Northern Lands. We have little contact with them. They are relatively poor in resources and have met our overtures with hostility. We are not quite enemies but certainly we are not friends.”

“May I inquire as to why you made the journey to Azkoval?” Elena asked as they settled into the room Octavia had selected. It was a room facing the east and the morning sun shone through the windows, something Octavia had desired.

“My brother seeks a trade agreement,” Octavia confided. “The southern portion of my country can be reached by ship from here in about a month – or so I am told. The northern portion is much like the descriptions you have heard of Grunveld. It is cold and inhospitable, yet we have our capital there. We have trouble feeding the northern people because we cannot grow much. If we could work an arrangement with Azkoval to supplement our southern section, it would permit us to transport what we grow there to the north.”

“I am sure we can work something out,” Elena said with a nod. With the farms back in full operation – and with King Joseph permitting the farmers to sell their excess crops – Az was overflowing with foodstuff. “You speak Az very well. Where did you learn?”

Octavia blushed, the redness evident on her pale cheeks.

“I am afraid I was taught the language as part of my mission,” she said. “Sadly, I can see it is a mission destined to fail.”

“Your mission?” Elena asked, tilting her head slightly.

“I am considered pretty for my people,” Octavia said, her blush deepening. “I was sent along as ... enticement ... for the king.”

“Enticement?” Elena inquired.

“I was to be offered as a bride to him,” Octavia admitted. “I was to ensure we reach an agreement in whatever manner necessary. Thus I was taught to speak your language. When your country faltered, some of your people made their way to Marindar. One of them works in our capital and my father has had me studying with her since word of King Joseph’s ascension reached our country. She lived in Tyrell before your trouble began and she has told me much of the troublesome young boy she remembers.”

“Yes,” Elena said with a laugh. “I can tell you that I was the troublesome young girl I’m sure the woman included in her stories.”

Octavia nodded.

“Which is why my mission is destined for failure,” she said. “I am surprised you rule as steward and not as queen. It is clear to me that you think highly of the king – just as it is clear to me that he thinks highly of you.”

It was Elena’s turn to blush. She had not yet decided which path she would choose but she didn’t think confiding it to a potential rival would do much good.

“The king has the right to choose who he wishes to wed,” she said simply. “I am not a candidate but one never knows the future. For now, we will work toward a trade agreement and let King Joseph make his own decision when he arrives.”

Jonathan’s worsening condition hastened Joseph’s departure from Blue Harbor. Drayvon had commitments from 75 men to stay and help clear the western rim of potential dangers. Another 100 would stay behind for the short term to assist in the destruction of the town and to transport the prisoners to their next destination.

That left the rest to try to find space aboard the ships for the three-week journey back to Azkoval’s capital city. It would be a skeleton crew, to be sure, with so few sailors left to man the ships. The men Joseph took home with him would have to do much of the non-essential work aboard but nobody grumbled at the prospect.

Genrico had wished to remain behind but Joseph had insisted the man accompany him back to Tyrell. He wanted Drayvon seen as the lone face of authority and he knew the new garrison commander would defer to Genrico.

All the females were taken aboard and the vast amount of treasure located from the pirate’s den was stored below decks. A rough accounting netted several hundred silver coins, a handful of gold coins and dozens of gems for the country’s treasury. It was a windfall, to be certain. It was equally certain that the men who had lost the fortune would be eager to regain it at any cost. Joseph decided he would ask for volunteers upon his arrival in Tyrell to join Drayvon at the outpost. He wasn’t above fighting a decisively outnumbered foe. In fact, the king preferred to head into battle with the numbers firmly on his side.