Chapter 19

Port Balkat had growing pains. It had grown quickly over the four years since the barony had opened up the wagon trail to the gold fields, and was no longer a sleepy little port. Docks lined the river for a quarter of a mile. Not only was it busy for trade, but captains liked it because they could go further up river past the tidal influence and kill off all of the marine life fouling the bottoms of their ships.

The river and tidal flow were pretty good about sweeping away the night soil from the port, but the streets within the city walls behind the waterfront had the usual sanitation problems, and so Rachel got her first whiff of Chaos when she walked out of the bank. As soon as Rolly retrieved his sword and dagger from his box, he had Rachel open an account, and Rolly transferred a large sum to take care of her in the event that she became stranded there.

The first thing he did was go to the barony trading house. It was the largest complex there, with a central business building and numerous warehouses. They had built their own docks, and had additional docks at the village of Marsh Ferry near the base of the Waterfall Trail.

At the trading house, he found out that all of the ships had been brought back safely from Battle Harbor, and all but the one was in dry dock. The three captains were there overseeing the refit.

He sent word to the captains that he would like to see them later that day so they should be near the boats where he could find them, then he and Rachel went sight seeing and shopping. The trading house sent a boy with them to do their bidding. Rachel found fabrics and furs that she liked and arrange to have them sent to the castle with the next wagons headed that way.

They walked up river to the dry docks and found the three captains and several knights and squires hard at work. The men were all happy to see their baron back and honored to be the first to meet the beautiful baroness. They were not sure how to act, but since she was wearing peasant traveling attire, and speaking to them as equals, they soon relaxed. Rolly found out that the captains had not yet sold the captured cargo, other than the steel and iron, which went to the barony. Rolly had purchased that himself to use for weapons and plow shares.

"Gentlemen, I did not know that knights did manual labor?"

"Milord, with all of the people going to the gold fields we decided that we had better become sailors if we ever wanted to make a living."

"You'll go far with that attitude. Did the horses make it back?"

"Not yet, Milord, some of us decided to go back and begin damming off the salt flat so that it will hold back the water from the spring tides. They are also sinking posts. They will make their way back with the horses and probably explore more of the mountains as they do. I think that they are hoping to find gold."

"You can't fault someone for taking the initiative like that."

"No Milord."

"Listen men, I have another project planned for next summer, but I will need some ships to go far south before then to salt the claim. Do you know what that means?"

Several different men answered his questions.

"Yes Milord, you are going to make things look better than they are for a better deal."

"Exactly."

"How far south, Milord?"

"Venina. I want to secure a trading house there."

"I have been there before. That is much farther than our usual trading."

"Yes, so they will not be familiar with our products, and if we play our cards right it will be very lucrative, but I need a ship or three to go there to give them a taste. I also need to send some men to stay there."

"Milord, is there adventure involved?"

"If there is, it would not be wise for me to say anything at this time, would it?"

"No Milord, but you can count on us."

"When will the ships and crews be ready to sail?"

"The three cogs and the longships are nearly ready now. But we are short on crew. We should have two full crews in a month."

"Do you have cargo?"

"In addition to the full load we captured we have a half load of linen and wool."

"Will that sell in Venina?"

Yes Milord, northern wool is different from what they get from around the Intermar, and linen is always in demand, it won't make us rich, but it should pay for the trip."

"What about a load of gold?"

"That would make us rich, but we don't have the capital, and most don't want to risk it going to the bottom?"

"Well, it's a good thing that I have a gold mine then. I'll see what I can do about filling up the second boat. I will be here through the winter. We are having a wedding ceremony in the spring and Lady Rachel expects her knights and sea captains there looking their finest."

"Yes Milord, we would be honored."

"I see one of the longships over there. Have you taken it up to Cattle Crossing yet?"

"No Milord, but we took the knarr up there for a load of cattle. Never again. It took longer to clean it out than it would to drive the beasts down here on foot."

"I was hoping to give Lady Rachel a boat ride up river."

"We could go up and get a load of grain, cheese, and hides. They have just begun to start transporting some things through Westgate. It takes a day to get up there. We could leave in the morning."

"We'll be here at sun up."

That night Rolly and Rachel stayed as honored guests of the trade ambassador, who had one of the nicer homes in Port Balkat. The ambassador and his wife were a bit intimidated at first, but they loosened up as soon as Rachel started playing with their baby and Rolly started talking business. The trade ambassador assured Rolly that the northmen wouldn't attack Port Balkat because they relied on it too much for trade.

Rolly knew of many examples where that argument had proven to be in error.

Rachel was thrilled with her ride in the longship the next day and loved standing in the bow by the tall carved figure head pointing out things to Rolly. Rolly had not been through the wetlands before and marveled at the number of birds. There were also sign of beaver, mink, and otter. The knights said that the delta filled up with ducks and geese during the spring and fall migrations. They caught a glimpse of an occasional deer, and before they were out of it they started seeing cattle.

Cattle Crossing now had a crude dock in place, but it was easier for the longboat to simply pull alongside the bank. There were several sawn board buildings and a large corral with some horses.

"Are those my unicorns?"

"How did you guess?"

"Those are nice looking horses."

"Yes, the stock we brought back with the cattle look a lot more elegant than our northern horses. They should be able to do some interesting breeding with the two and get something that looks and acts like a quarter horse."

The ranchers were glad to see Rolly. Most of them hadn't seen him since their expedition two years before. They told him of the excitement of that first drive to the gold fields; the excitement of steers running off into the brush at every opportunity, and the thrill of making a hell of a profit. Rolly told them that he was going to help organize the business a little better over the winter.

Rolly hadn't planned well, it was a three day ride through the pass, and in all of the excitement of the boat ride he hadn't bothered with supplies, so they had to wait a few days until another group was headed through.

Through the pass there were permanent shelters built at the camp sites along the way so they had a roof over their heads at night.

They spent a few days with Sir William at the castle of Westgate Pass. Wilven was off being squire to one of Sir Brinkton's sons, and according to Sir William, he was much improved. Two of the four daughters had been married off, but the other two were very well behaved and asked if the Lady Rachel was related to Marisol. Rolly asked Rachel if she would consider having the two young ladies as ladies-in-waiting. They could help her navigate the local waters. Stephanie had talked about some charities and these two girls had traveled with her at the time.

The two daughters helped get Rachel into some more courtly clothes, and Sir William gave them the use of a carriage and footmen for the rest of their journey.

The next stop was Sir Brinkton, who was delighted to see them. His two youngest sons were busy in the gold fields representing the cattle company, and looking for gold in their off time. Sir Bryant was helping with the estate business.

Rolly talked with both Sir Brinkton and Sir Bryant together about needing spies and getting men into position in Venina. Between the two of them they knew most of the knights and suggested several red heads that would give the merchant an impressive set of bodyguards. The also suggested a pair of giants that were brothers who also had some big cousins. It seemed that there was quite a bit of northern blood in the glen both from the original inhabitants of the valley, and from chieftains sending daughters to marry lords in the old days. There were quite a few blond haired, blue eyed men, including two sets of twins that Rolly could take in his entourage.

They would send the spies all down at the same time, separated with the giants on one boat and the redheads on another to cause a sensation. The boats would pick up trade goods and continue on wherever they thought best, and then return to get the information, notify the doge that Lord Roland, Baron of Sachs-Tyndell would visit in summer to seek an audience about a trading house, and then head back to get the information back by mid spring.

They left Sir Brinkton and wound their way through the countryside. The trees were still green and the crops were still in the fields. Rolly and Rachel stopped often to talk to the people.

Riders had been sent to inform the castle that the baron was back and had the baroness with him, so their rooms were ready when they arrived.

Rachel laughed when Rolly told her the story of the surly doorman.

Milly was happy to be elevated to lady's maid once again, and the seamstresses were sent for. Rachel was surprised at the inside of the castle. She had been expecting bare stone walls and straw on the floors, but instead, she found woolen rugs, polished wood floors, and whitewashed plaster walls and ceilings. The great hall was about the only place with stone floor and walls.

She had her own chamber, separate from Rolly's, but she understood that it was normal because arranged marriages were usually the case in aristocratic society. Rolly told her that in winter all of the female children and ladies-in-waiting slept in one big bed to keep warm, and the men slept together for the same reason, but that was after the wife decided that she had enough children and didn't want to visit her husband's bed any more.

The beds were huge and ornate with curtains all around. There seemed to be a feather mattress, and beneath that a mattress stuffed with some unknown fiber, followed by a straw mattress. The feather mattress and pillows smelled a bit funny, but she wouldn't complain. The linen sheets were nice. It was odd to her that there was no cotton that far north.

The windows were deep in the thick walls, and had wavy, blown glass panes to let in light. The glass panes could be opened to close the outer shutters and, obviously to fire arrows and bolts out of. The view was spectacular. They could see down the glen to the horizon. Sir Brinkton's castle, twenty miles away, was just visible, but Sir William's was too far. A checkerboard of green fields extended from the castle and the town of Tyndell for several miles before woodland began. Behind the woodland was more farmland, then woodland.

The first baron in the valley was very smart, in that he surveyed and mapped it before dividing it up.

Tyndell Castle was built onto a ledge in the hillside. Connected to its curtain wall were two parallel stone walls extended across the narrow dell that served as the entryway to Tyndell Pass. The drainage of the dell stream was dammed by part of the first wall to form a mill pond, and then channeled between the two walls so that the gateway through each wall was offset from the other. That way if the enemy battered down one wall it would create impassible rubble, and archers on the walls could shoot down on them while they tried to pick their way through. The wagon road was cut into the side of the hill around the pond and then passed over wooden bridges and boardwalks as it went through the two walls

Behind the castle, the glen extended for another rugged five miles as it climbed into the mountains. Much of the timber there had been cleared, and the land served as pasture for sheep. The MacTynnen River was not much more than a fast moving trout stream when it passed the castle.

In front of the castle, the glen extended for sixty miles before it reached the falls, and averaged two to three miles wide after it flattened out into farmland. There was woodland reserved on one hundred yards of the river on either side, and reserved woodland between each manor. A road paralleled the river about half way between the river and the slope on either side. Manors and villages were situated on the many small streams coming down out of the mountains that provided power for mills. All in all it was a nicely ordered area that could contain perhaps two or three times the number of manors that were already there. Rolly thought that he might have to start selling manor fees in the coming years to those with enough gold.

The military estates were more profitable than any other manor, but there was more responsibility. The sons usually had more training than any other man in the valley so they were chosen to replace their fathers, but there were times when the military lord had no sons, or the son was deemed unfit or didn't want the responsibility. Sir Brinkton was chosen for the position when the previous estate lord, whose son had died in battle, became too old. The barony laws stated that no man could have more than one manor. That was to prevent them from accumulating power. New manors were not granted unless there was an overpopulation of serfs. Knights swore loyalty to the baron first and their military lord second, to hopefully prevent a military lord from trying to seize power.