Chapter 34: Undesired Arrivals

The nobles started to arrive in Tyrell weeks before the official start of Court. For some, it was the first time they had been to the capital in many years; for others (the ones Joseph had named to replace landholders that had fled or been killed), it was the first time in their lives.

A tent city popped up outside of the castle walls and soon rivaled the capital itself in population. There wasn’t room at the castle for all of the nobles and the retainers they had brought with them. Joseph put up the older men and the wives of some of the younger ones. The others were left to fend for themselves because, as the king told them, he hadn’t asked them to arrive for several more weeks and he wasn’t going to pay their keep because they showed up earlier.

Empress Yana simply chuckled at the outraged expressions worn by some of the men that had survived Wilhelm’s reign. The men Joseph had elevated had all come from within the ranks of his army and were used to sleeping on hard ground. Those were also the ones that came without dozens of others in their party.

Of course, the start of a tent city outside the walls brought even more people to Tyrell. Prostitutes, vagabonds and brigands made their way from far and near because their particular skills were always in demand at Court – and whenever large groups of men were congregated anywhere.

A month before Court was set to begin the number of people camped outside of the city outnumbered those that resided within the walls. The fires roared well into the night as brewers found new customers for their wares. The problems began when it became evident that those in tents had not brought enough food to feed their groups.

A steady procession of farmers battled their way through the horde of drunken revelers to file their complaint with the king. Joseph seethed as yet another person whose livelihood benefitted the country as a whole – or at least its capital – told him that his crops or his animals had been filched by hands belonging to someone that shouldn’t be anywhere near Tyrell for another three weeks. Men had directed catcalls and obscene language toward the women from the outer regions that passed them on their way to their jobs in Tyrell.

He waited until the man had made his way out of the castle – with recompense offered by the Crown in his pocket – before he slammed his palms against the table.

“Genrico, I want 200 men at arms ready immediately,” he said angrily. “I will deal with the rabble out there.”

“Your Highness,” Jonathan said when Genrico only nodded his agreement.

Joseph’s gaze shifted from his erstwhile defense minister to the face of the man he’d tasked with attending to interior matters.

“You can’t just cut them down,” Jonathan continued. Joseph had told Jonathan from the outset that he expected him to offer his input regardless of what Joseph wanted to hear.

“So you believe I should allow them to run roughshod over the people here?” Joseph asked in an irritated voice.

“I didn’t say that,” Jonathan stated. “But I think we need an alternative that doesn’t include murdering your subjects.”

“I counted on the men I appointed as landholders to keep them in line,” Joseph told him.

“Joseph, you’re talking about seven or eight men against a thousand or more,” Elena pointed out.

“That’s why I want to add more soldiers to the mix,” Joseph stated. It was obvious to everyone that his mind was made up.

“May I handle this for you, King Joseph?” Rucar asked. “I feel responsible that my network did not alert us of this eventuality.”

“Your network is in its infancy,” Alexander pointed out.

“If it does not improve greatly, it will not reach maturity,” Rucar stated. “But that is something we can discuss after we deal with this situation. It’s evident that we cannot allow the people outside to steal from the farms. We’ll starve this winter, first of all. Just as importantly, we’re a nation of laws. Stealing is a crime and it must be dealt with. Does anyone think the farmers we’ve seen have been untruthful?”

“No,” Elena answered for the table.

“I have thought of this since news started to trickle in about the way the group outside the walls are treating those that come into the city for work,” Rucar admitted. “Inside the walls, they tend to behave themselves – perhaps because the army is so evident here. I believe we need a show of force – without unnecessary bloodshed. Will it come to a point where we must take military action? I am of the opinion that we will – and I believe Joseph agrees with me. That said, we need to take steps to ensure that we are not trampling on the rights of law-abiding citizens out there. I think we all agree that the actual number of scofflaws is relatively few. We must protect their right to assemble just as stoutly as we protect the farmers’ right to feel secure in their homes.”

Joseph sat back and listened as the discussion unfolded. Genrico was ready to take the entire army outside the gates to clear out everyone if that is what Joseph desired. Choran brought up the point that the Crown could not afford to compensate the farmers for their losses any more than it could afford to feed everyone that had arrived early. Alexander pointed out that too firm a hand would be reminiscent of the man Joseph had displaced from the throne. Jonathan continued to press that the people outside the gate were just as much citizens of Azkoval as the people of Tyrell. They just couldn’t be killed without provocation – nor should they be forced to disperse. The right to assemble was one of the first rights Joseph had passed along to the people.

Elena saw her oldest friend taking in the situation and gave him a small smile. She had worried that giving a voice to those around the table would cause the king difficulty. He was used to being the sole arbiter of most matters when he led his mercenaries and during his first two years on the throne. Now she saw that he was pleased at how the group debated – not only with each other but with him. He knew the final decision belonged to him but he was willing to listen to other’s points of view.

It was as if she was watching him grow and mature before her eyes. She had reveled in the thought that all items of importance ran through her hands as steward. Elena chuckled when she understood that Joseph was far more prepared to rule the country than she was (or that she’d given him credit for).

“Enough,” the king said softly. The table fell silent. “Genrico, have the troops ready at sunrise. Two-hundred men-at-arms should suffice. Rucar, please ensure that you’re ready by then. I would prefer if the rest of you remain inside the walls but I won’t demand it. I learned the folly of that long ago with Elena and I’ve gradually come to see that Jonathan and Alexander aren’t much different.”

He held up a hand to forestall the laughter.

“However, because of the nature of those we will confront, I do insist that either Jonathan or Elena remain behind,” he said. “One of you must assume the throne if something happens to me.”

“Then we should go and you should stay behind,” Elena cut in after a glance at Jonathan. He immediately nodded.

“This is my problem to deal with,” Joseph said. “It is the King’s Law and I must be the one to enforce it on some of the men out there. I allowed two or three of Wilhelm’s landholders to remain and I will deal them if I must. You two may discuss this among yourselves to decide who will remain at the castle. If that is all for today, I would like to spend the remainder of my day in peaceful contemplation.”

Elena barely managed to stop from rolling her eyes at the king but Genrico snorted. Joseph’s words meant he would spend until sunset at the pool – most likely with Octavia and Julia.

Liala held up a hand at the front of the column. All of her soldiers understood the motion except for Morane. He only stopped because the others had stopped.

“I see the temple in the distance,” Liala said. It had taken less than a week for the group to catch up to the rogue Serratians that had fled from Tyrell. Joseph had been clear: None of the men and women had been accused of a crime so they were not to be harmed. In the end, Joseph’s words hadn’t mattered.

Four of the 20 had already died before Liala and Morane had reached them – from over-exertion or accident. The sight of a group of armed men and women on horseback had caused the group to break into a run – and two more had died.

The group was hungry and ragged but they still managed to take refuge in a copse of trees. Morane had yelled that the group wasn’t under arrest and they were free to go wherever they wanted – but that they could no longer claim the title of Priests of the Most Holy Serrat. As High Bishop, he had excommunicated all the priests appointed under Drell. Those that wished to continue Serrat’s work must apply for reinstatement – and prove to Morane that they understood the true tenets of their religion.

Rather than face a life of destitution, the group set fire to the woods. Liala’s soldiers had the trees surrounded but none of the Serratians attempted to flee. Instead, they chose to die in the fire they had created.

Morane had asked that the dead be returned to the soil as was customary in his religion but it wasn’t possible. The trees burned too hot and hadn’t cooled enough to search for two days. Morane knew the bones would have been scattered by scavengers by the time he returned but he agreed that time was more important that remains of a group of suicides.

They had headed southward with the knowledge that, if time permitted, they would stop on the return trip to attend to the funerals. Now, less than two weeks later (and less than three weeks after leaving the capital), they were within sight of the last bastion of Drell’s hierarchy – the Southern Enclave. The building was immense and sat on a high hill. Even on horseback, Morane knew it would be another day to reach it. He had been told that a small city once existed at the base but the new lord Joseph had appointed had razed it to force the church into isolation.

Liala hoped that was still the case. She didn’t want to face armed battle in an urban area. Her troopers were used to fighting in open spaces and the horses would be a detriment in the narrow city streets.

She pulled out the spotting scope that Joseph had given to her. She had never seen anything like it before he’d used it in the spire weeks before. She knew her people could never make something so advanced so, to her, it was priceless. Indeed, Joseph had said she should be careful with it because he doubted it could ever be replaced without a year’s journey into the lands of ice and snow.

She wore it in a quilted pouch around her neck because she knew the jarring of a long horseback ride might damage such a delicate instrument. She found it slightly perverse to have something long and hard that belonged to the king nestled between her breasts as she rode. Each time the thought would cross her mind, Liala would consider that she might have been spending too much time around the Marindar princess.

“No movement at the temple,” she reported. Morane had been impressed by the scope, as well. He reached across from his horse to hers so he could look, too. He frowned when he saw absolutely nobody at or near the temple. At the very least, the novitiates should be out tending to the fields but he saw the land around the large structure lay fallow and unused.

“Perhaps they have departed already,” he opined.

“Perhaps,” Liala agreed. “I think we should ride westward for the remainder of the day. If we continue in the direction we’re headed they will see us before very long – if they’re up there. An easterly approach in the morning would give us the ability to shield ourselves with the other hills. It will take us the better part of a day to reach the bottom and, unless there is a well-worn path, we’ll need to walk the up to the temple. I don’t relish fighting on foot but the horses are too valuable to risk having one of them break a leg on uneven ground.”

“You know best,” Morane agreed although he frowned at the thought of putting off the task for longer.

“I truly don’t,” Liala admitted. “The terrain here is unlike anything we’re used to seeing. That’s why I don’t know if the horses can handle such a steep incline. If you have anything to offer, I hope you will.”

“You’re doing extremely well,” Morane said as he handed over the spotting scope.

“At least the temperatures are more to my liking now,” Liala admitted as she tucked the item back into its pouch around her neck.

The weather had warmed considerably as the group had headed south. It hadn’t been unpleasant when they’d left Tyrell but now it was positively warm. Most of the men in the group were bare-chested and the four women wore only a piece of cloth around their breasts.

It wasn’t out of modesty but more because the jostling on a horseback ride was uncomfortable with their chests unfettered.

The group headed toward the west and rode until the temple was hidden behind another hill. It wasn’t as high as the one the enclave occupied but it was still taller than anything the riders had seen on their trek.

“I think we skirt the base of the mountain to the south,” Liala said as they set up camp for the night. “When we near the temple, half the warriors will work their way to the rear and half will come up the front. I do not like to attack from behind but until we have a grasp on the situation there, I believe we must be vigilant. Still, I can see that you’re enough like the king that you will want to claim your property from the front.”

“I do,” Morane said with a nod. “It’s not because I wish to emulate King Joseph. It goes deeper than that, I think. I still do not believe I am the one to lead the church in this country but the king wills it so that is how it will be. As the head of the church, it is my duty to be at the front when we arrive. If there is to be bloodshed, it is only right that I am the one to spill it. I do not relish taking another’s life but I believe Serrat will guide my way if that is how things must be.”