Chapter 36

Jorgarn was among the few people remaining on the dock. Pernice, Fieth, Renoit, Leyota and Merg stood with him, watching as the others boarded without a backward glance.

He looked toward his friends – the people he considered his family.

"You know that I will return here in a few weeks?" he asked.

The group nodded. Jorgarn had made a commitment to Emertland and there was no way he would go back on that.

"I still wish to be a resident of Freeland," he said. "Should it become possible, I will live out the rest of my days there. But I have too much respect for Torbert to turn away from him and to force him to bear this alone."

"We understand," Leyota said. She knew the group wanted Jorgarn with them but they also appreciated the part of his nature that forced him to stay behind.

Still, they were relieved when he boarded the ship to set sail.

Leyota allowed Jorgarn to pace the ship for the first few hours of their journey to their new home. But finally she grabbed his arm and spun him around. Jorgarn smiled when he thought that she was deceptively strong for someone her size.

"Do not allow that hateful witch to cause strife on our new start," she said. Jorgarn noticed Leyota's eyes were dangerously narrow and her face set in a look of agitation. "I will not have you moping and pouting like you're seven years old. The people will look to you. They will emulate you. I expect you to do your part or, by Creation, you will answer to me personally."

It had been years since Jorgarn had heard Leyota raise her voice and she had never spoken to him that way. He took a step back and wondered if Eslada had been giving lessons.

"I understand and I will do my best," Jorgarn promised. "I am afraid I was confronted before I left the castle. It was a mistake for me to continue staying there."

"It was not a mistake," Leyota insisted, although her face had softened. "It was necessary. That awful woman loves you but is too selfish to understand what it means. I wish it were possible for you to be happy continuing as her Knight. It would be poetic justice to watch you marry someone you love while she is stuck with that fop Frayon. I wouldn't be surprised if he liked to join Denae on his knees in the cloakroom from time to time."

Leyota blushed at her words but Jorgarn's face hardened.

"I never want to hear you make a disparaging remark like that again," he said in a hiss. "Stenweed is with us as are several others of his persuasion. You are a Councilor now. Act like it."

"You're right," Leyota said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I like Stenweed and I care little who he beds. I made that remark solely as a means of showing my lack of respect for the future Prince, not to disparage anyone else. I will watch my speech from now on."

Jorgarn relaxed some.

"Only when we're in public, Leyota," he said softly. "In private, you can share your thoughts with me without censure. But you are the youngest Councilor and you won your seat by the narrowest of margins. You must remember that."

"I must remember that I won only because you and Pernice voiced your support for me, you mean," Leyota replied with a trace of anger.

"Well, if you remember that then remember this," Jorgarn pointed out. "We voiced our support for you because we believe you can do the job and we believe you were the best person for the post. If you weren't, I wouldn't have supported you publicly. I hold you dear, Leyota. Do not for a moment think that I do not. But what we are about to do has never been tried before. I supported your candidacy because of the skill you possess and the person that you are. It was not because I expect you to seek my opinion on all matters and vote as I want you to. In fact, I would be happy if we never spoke of Council matters again."

"Well, I won't be compiling your schedule or shepherding your staff any longer," Leyota answered. "So I'm not sure what exactly we would speak about."

Jorgarn was somewhat taken aback.

"Leyota, we spoke of other things," he said.

"Did we?" she asked. "I recall us discussing your job or how I did my job. I do not recall us speaking of anything else except for your dissatisfaction with whom you chose to marry."

"Did you want to speak of other things?" Jorgarn asked.

"Well, no," Leyota admitted. "Not really. Maybe sometimes but I was usually too embarrassed to speak to you about it. Instead I would talk to Lorida. It was a shame when she got so angry with Denae that she left for her homeland. I know Landor missed her company. So did I, especially with you gone."

"Well, I am here now, at least for a while," Jorgarn said as he put his arm around his friend. "And I have lived among females for three years now. I doubt anything you speak of will embarrass me. Although, the man you plan to marry will have to outwrestle me. I cannot allow you to marry any man who cannot whip me."

Leyota snorted.

"So Bralan and I will be spinsters together," she said with a laugh.

"No," Jorgarn said. "You know that if you love someone I will accept them."

"I didn't," Leyota pointed out. "I never forgave Denae for what she did to Bralan. I certainly will never forgive her for what she did to you. I have decided I hope Landor lives for many more decades. Perhaps in time, Denae will understand."

"Let us speak no more of her," Jorgarn said. "I finally got you to smile. Have I ever mentioned how happy it makes me to see you smile? I don't think I have ever met someone with so pretty a smile as you own. So, tell me, do you have your sights on any young men?"

"Do you have your sights on any young women?" Leyota responded.

"I believe that I will become a spinster, too," Jorgarn said. "Perhaps we should plan for you and Bralan and me and Pernice to make socks together in our old age."

Leyota laughed aloud.

"Make socks in our old age?" she asked. "Why don't we simply wed one another when the time comes? Would that not make more sense?"

"So, you fancy Pernice?" Jorgarn asked with a wink.

"Perhaps once we get Freeland settled you and I can discuss finding a mate for me and you," Leyota said, grinning and shaking her head. "Although I am sure my mother will be disappointed she won't get the chance. She began discussing eligible young men with me at Court two years ago. I barely had any lower hair at the time and she was offering instruction on how to get a man to notice me."

"All you would have had to do is to smile once in his direction to get him to notice you," Jorgarn said warmly. "Then have one conversation with him to get him to respect you. You will make some lucky man a formidable partner one day."

Leyota put her hand on Jorgarn's arm and smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said with a blush. "I hope your words prove prophetic."

"You know," Jorgarn said, changing the subject, "I am amazed that your parents treat me so well. After all, I have taken their finest children for my own and left them only the dregs. How is Riset?"

Leyota rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Oh, she will be in fine spirits once word reaches of her of the goings on in the capital," she answered. "That will last for a month or so but then she will be back to her usual miserable, obstinate self. There is a rumor that Saneth Fieth will join us for a couple of years. Have you heard that?"

Jorgarn shrugged.

"It is possible," Jorgarn said. "But I hope it is made clear that nobility ends at the border. I hope we never get involved in classes and stations. I truly came to enjoy equality in the army."

"It was your army," Leyota said with a wry smile. "I doubt there were any equal to you. Will it be hard for you to adjust to a situation where your word is not law?"

Jorgarn considered the question.

"I hope not," he said. "But if it turns out to be, I will always have you to make me submit."

Leyota crossed her arms and for the first time, Jorgarn noticed how bountiful her breasts had become. Thankfully, Leyota was looking out to sea and didn't notice his lingering glance.

"Yes, I will make you submit," she said. "You forget something. Of all the people in Freeland I will be the only one who knows that you are ticklish."

She stuck her tongue out at him and walked away to visit with others she saw on board.

As the caravan made its way across the border that formerly would have led from Salaria to Umbria, the Emperor raised a hand for it to stop. He drew from his carriage a large wooden sign and two long poles with tapered ends.

"Republic of Freeland," the sign read. Two of the Emperor's men pounded the signposts into the ground and then the sign was erected. It took almost five days for the group to wend its way across the area that would be known as Freeland but it took Jorgarn only a few moments to realize why the Emperor and King Landor had agreed on this particular location.

The homes and villages were almost entirely intact. There were a few, here and there, that had been destroyed. But most of the people had fled before Renoit and his third of the army had arrived almost two years earlier. There were even some fields and some fruit trees that bore their bounty. Because food proposed to be one of the larger issues the group faced, the Council left several people behind to tend to the farms.

The manor house of a former Umbrian noble sat in the middle of the territory and the Council elected to use it as their headquarters and the capital city of Freeland. Lippit provided several people to map the areas they crossed and by the time the grand tour ended, the Freelanders had a fairly accurate rendering of their new homeland.

It was only a half-day's ride across it in either direction and only a day's ride from the capital to the Emertland port on the northern tip of the Tilico Sea. Landor had graciously allowed free passage across Emertland for all citizens of Freeland, but Jorgarn doubted that would be the case once Denae took the throne.

A lottery of sorts determined who lived where. Each person or family drew a numbered lot and Lippit produced a rendering with approximate locations of intact dwellings and other lands he appropriated from the manor house, now the Capital Building. Members of the Council would live in the Capital if they chose, along with others whose primary vocation was domestic work. It was determined – at the outset, at least – that anyone who lived in Freeland was expected to work and expected to provide a portion of his or her efforts toward the common good.

A blacksmith would be expected to manufacture small brads for building; a man who was good with an ax would be expected to assist in providing lumber for those who were not. In return, those in charge of farming would make sure food was provided to the other's families. Jorgarn knew in the long run a different economy would be needed. But it would work for the first year or so, at least until everyone had a dwelling.

Jorgarn sat quietly and waited until almost everyone had selected his or her lot before standing to select his number. By the time he reached the young man who was holding the bag, there was only one number remaining: 113. He wasn't concerned about where he lived or even his occupation really. Like most, he would try to grow and hunt his own food and provide what he could to those with little skill in hunting. And he would be in Emertland for the foreseeable future, a thought that made him angry.

When the group assembled to choose their housing, the young woman who had drawn the first lot stood.

"I pass until Jorgarn Elmwood has chosen his dwelling," she said and sat back down. The next man stood and, after a moment's thought, said the same thing. Jorgarn started to rise to tell them to pick where they wanted to live but Leyota and Pernice each put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let them do this for you," Pernice said.

"You have accepted nothing and this is your doing," Leyota continued. "You have given more than anyone and accepted the least. They want to do this for you."

When it reached 113, there still were no dwellings chosen. Jorgarn stood to approach the map and turned to smile at everyone in the field.

"I should be contrary and pass," he said. "But I thank you for your generosity. It matters little where I live because I know I will be around strong friends wherever it may be. I select this house here."

He pointed to a small isolated cottage near the woods just a few minutes' walk from the Capital.

"You should get something larger than that!" a voice said. "What about that manor close to the border?"

Jorgarn laughed.

"I need no manor," he said. "This cottage is perfect for me. It has a stand of trees where I can gather wood to make bows. It has a flat piece of ground where I can grow food. It is perfect. Thank you all again. I truly appreciate your generosity."

Leyota put her arm around his waist when he sat back down.

"That still would have been there when you selected anyway," she said with a laugh. But she wasn't surprised when people took a few moments to analyze their selections before announcing them. The smaller houses with farmland went quicker than the larger estates. When the estates did go, they were selected by a group of people who wanted to live together rather than one family who wanted to own a great deal of land.

When it reached Pernice, he pondered for a moment.

"I would like to select a piece of unclaimed land that has no dwelling," he said thoughtfully. "Will that create a problem?"

No one seemed to have an issue with it so he pointed to a piece of wooded land across the road from Jorgarn's.

"I have slept in a tent for almost four years," he said. "I can sleep on the ground for a few months until I get a house built."

Leyota selected a property right next to Jorgarn's, also with no dwelling.

"I will live in the Capital for two years," she told him. "I'm sure I can convince you to put together something for me. Incidentally, I would like to discuss Merg with you."

"What about him?" Jorgarn asked.

"Well, I want him to live with Pernice," Leyota said. "He is at an age where he needs a strong male around. I don't want you to feel slighted. I want him to learn how to farm. I want him to learn to be as much like you and Pernice as he can. I wasn't going to ask if he planned to live a day's ride away from the Capital. But with him so close, I think it would be best."

Jorgarn offered a small smile.