Ambition and Alavidha (12 page)

Paul Hallam
nodded, “Elliot Twelve introduced the tax laws when he gave this
duchy to my ancestor, the first Duke of Hallam, they were crown
lands before and he had to find a way to replace the revenue.”

“Yep, problem
is that these three believe that it is most unfair. I can see their
point, to an extent. Taxes as you know are levied on population
size, the free population that is. Much of the south is inhabited
by serfs and the Dukes of Cocteau, van Buren, South Baker and Smith
pay much less into the royal coffers than those to their north and
the south gets much more out of it.”

“North and
south have always been different,” agreed Paul, “and I’m not
talking about the continents, with North Baker and Hallam somewhere
in between. I pay large amounts of coin to the crown and don’t
complain.”

“Or not too
much,” whispered Liam in an aside to his brother.

Robain bit back
the involuntary spurt of laughter and choked. He took a large sip
of wine to clear it.

“So what do
they intend?” Paul asked, not paying his second son much
attention.

“Separation
from the kingdom. They want they say to ‘go it alone’.”

“How do you
know?”

“That would be
me,” said Robert Crawford. “I’ve been working on it with Philip
Ross.”

Paul Hallam
turned his gaze yet again to Robert.

“It was a
little thing that alerted us,” Robert began to answer the unspoken
question.

“It usually
is.”

“Philip noticed
that very few recruits for the regiments were volunteering from
Duchesne and Graham. That fact piqued his interest and he began to
make enquiries. He found too that less than usual who were born
there were signing up for a second term of service.”

“These three
duchies are closer to the islands and to the northern continent,
new ideas and all that,” opined Paul and Robert nodded in
agreement.

“They’re
definitely looking northwards these days and the island chain link
isn’t helping,” said Charles Karovitz, Paul’s son-in-law.

“There’s
nothing new about their annoyance at what they view as favouritism
of the Crown for van Buren and the rest. They’ve been complaining
about it for as long as I can remember,” agreed Robert Crawford,
“but this time I believe they have support from out-kingdom.”

“Have they
indicated who?” Paul Hallam’s question was a sharp one. This new
problem might well turn into a very difficult and potentially
dangerous situation.

Robert shook
his head, “not even a ghost of a hint.”

“It can’t be
the northern mainland,” postulated a frowning Charles Karovitz.
“we’d have heard if that was so.”

Paul Hallam
took that as a read.

Both Charles
and Robert worked closely with the Department of External Affairs,
with one Prince Xavier. Prince Xavier’s daughter had married
out-kingdom; to a young man called Julian Durand who came from one
of the wealthiest, oldest and most powerful families in Argyll.
Paul knew that the Prince kept close ties with that portion of his
blood family residing to the north of the Middle Sea and that the
Durand family provided Xavier with most of the intelligence about
what was happening on the northern continent.

Paul himself
had alternative sources of information. The most obvious was from
within Argyll and Vadath. The ducal family of Hallam had distant
blood-family in both, distant after two centuries but blood-ties
ran true on the planet.

In the first
half of the seventh century, the first Duke of Hallam’s eldest son,
Robain had renounced his ducal inheritance and had (after marrying
a Vadathian woman) left for Vada. Paul Hallam was very proud of the
fact that some of his relatives could be numbered among the ranks
of the Vada. There were influential Hallams in Argyll too.

“That’s all?”
he asked now in his deceptively mild voice. Those who knew him
however noticed that his mouth was twitching at the corners, a sure
sign of inner perturbation and disquiet.

“And quite
enough to be going on with too wouldn’t you say?” asked Robert.

“Have we any
proof of the Duchesne, Charleson, Graham plans?” asked Paul in
return.

“Not yet,”
admitted Robert.

“That must be
out first step then,” a decided Paul Hallam informed them, who like
his forefathers, had a quick and astute mind combined with an
ability to see through to the roots of a problem. This type of mind
had led his ancestor, the first Duke of Hallam to become a close
personal friend and knowledgeable advisor to his king, the
aforementioned Elliot the Twelfth.

“That’s the one
that’ll destabilise the kingdom,” he explained.

“But the
southerly duchies?” protested Robert.

“Wait, I’ll
explain in a moment my old friend.”

Paul took a
breath, marshalling his thoughts.

“On its own the
so-called Reform Movement, even with overt rebellion, does not
present a real threat to the inherent stability of the kingdom as a
whole, even more so now that Prince Pierre has destroyed their
infrastructure. If the serfs rebel, the regiments will march in
with the ducal levies and crush them. In fact they already
have
as we know but
they don’t
. Problem is, if the
Dukes of Duchesne, Charleson and Graham are aware of an incipient
rebellion, therein lies the danger. They will declare separation
when the southerly revolt begins and the Queen will have to choose,
send the regiments north to force them to remain within her kingdom
or crush the serf revolt. Mmmm, I think I begin to see signs of a
guiding hand in all this.”

“The expedition
to Dagan?”

“Part of the
same guidance, but if it ever happens, which I doubt, it is merely
a distraction. The Markwoods are famous for thinking up grand
schemes but not so good at carrying them out. They don’t have the
brainpower. The Lai will stop it. Someone wants to see Murdoch
fragment, grow weak and I have a very good idea about the who. A
foreign someone with imperialistic dreams.”

“The King of
Leithe,” breathed Robert Crawford, “why didn’t we make the
connection? Leithe has been expanding Leithe’s power base in the
islands for a number of years now, through trade agreements,
‘protectorates’ and outright conquest. I should have guessed.”

“But his son is
married to our Crown-Princess!” cried a shocked Liam.

“His third
son,” Paul reminded him, “and his fourth he has married into the
ruling family of the Western Isles, his second to that of the
Eastern Isles. I begin to see a pattern.”

“He has
daughters married into Randall and Eilidon too,” Robert Crawford
reminded them, “and we have been expecting that that is where his
next move will be.”

“I wouldn’t be
too sure of that,” cautioned Paul Hallam who of all the dukes in
the kingdom was the most aware of people and places outside his own
borders. In his youth he had travelled widely and had even gone
(for a short time) into the Rtathlians of the Lind. Rumour had it
that he had met and spoken to their leader, the Elda of all the
Lind.

“Why so
Father?” asked Liam.

“Neither
Randall nor Eilidon are large nor are they powerful, they are
influential enough in their own way but they are no threat to the
ambition of the Kings of Leithe. Murdoch is. We have a navy that
can rival his and have close alliance with the Isles of the West
and the East, even with the Galland Confederation.”

“All these
navies could rival Leithe”

“Precisely. I
believe that he wants to expand, he has a driving need to expand,
extend his influence, eventually his over-lordship over all the
islands and island groups in the Great Eastern Sea. He is building
an Empire. To claim over-lordship of the Great Eastern Sea he must
neutralise these four fleets. With Duchesne and the other two
duchies seceded who knows what would happen? Our navy is manned
mostly by sailors and officers who originate in the northerly
duchies. Our main naval base is in Duchesne! I fear naval conflict,
with those ships loyal to Queen Antoinette on one side and those
not on the other. This is the cause of our internal troubles and
unrest gentlemen. He is to blame, he is sowing the seeds of
disruption.”

“What of the
Argyllian Navy Father? It is the most powerful in the world.”

“They patrol
their coastlines and fight pirates who attack their shipping. They
are not concerned with the activities of Leithe. I can hear their
Councillors now - let him get on with it – keep the pirates away –
the navy costs us a lot – let Leithe fight the pirates.”

“So you think
he’s trying to get us so concerned with trouble and problems inside
our borders that we don’t notice what’s happening outside?”

“That’s my
idea, the Isles and Galland won’t, can’t challenge him without our
support and so he’ll start nibbling away at more and more of the
islands, one or two at a time.”

“What’s Prince
Crispin’s position in all this?” asked Robain, “is he behind the
trouble here?”

“Perhaps,
perhaps not, I’m not sure. What’s the Intelligence Department
saying Robert?”

Robert Crawford
shrugged, “very little, whosoever is behind it is very clever but
he can’t possibly be unaware of his father’s ambitions. My guess is
that he’s here to keep an eye on things, is reporting back to his
father. I wish Crown-Princess Antoinette hadn’t insisted on this
marriage. The Queen had doubts at the time.”

“A very
charming young man.”

“And
persuasive, a smooth talker. I also don’t think he was that adverse
to the marriage, even if he is a part of his father’s plot to
destabilise us. She is a pretty young lady, if a bit small and
quiet.”

“Introspective,” agreed Robert Crawford, “so what do we do?”

“We ask the
experts,” answered Paul Hallam with a slow smile.

“I’ve already
got my best men working on it.”

“I’m not
thinking of your agents my friend. When I said experts, I meant
experts! We’ll ask the Avuzdel.”

“Avuzdel?
What’s that?” asked Charles Karovitz.

“The best way
to explain it is that they are the northern equivalent of a certain
section of our Bureau of Internal Affairs. They are concerned with
information.”

“Spies?”
queried Liam.

“I prefer the
term information gatherers myself,” said Robert Crawford in a mild
voice, “the term spy implies a certain degree of nastiness and is
not a nice word.”

“Spies is as
good a word as any,” said Paul Hallam. “The Avuzdel has a long
history. Before mankind arrived they were operating with a great
deal of success here on the southern continent. Remember, the Lind
and the Larg had been fighting each other for a long time before we
humans arrived.”

“The Larg were
the aggressors,” said Liam, “ninety-nine times out of a hundred
anyway. They used to attack the northern continent most
summers.”

“You are quite
correct Liam. I am pleased to see that some of the facts your
expensive tutors drummed into you have been retained. The Avuzdel
used to journey into our continent to spy out what the Larg were
doing and so give the Lind warning about when and in what numbers
the Larg were going to attack. Very efficient they were too. When
we arrived, rather when the WCCS
Argyll
arrived in the north
and some of their colonists became mind-linked and life-bonded to
certain Lind, some few of those duos entered into and served with,
the Avuzdel. At the time they were trying to make sure that our
ancestors from the WCPS
Electra
were not going to attack the
north, a distinct possibility at the time as the original Dukes and
Kings were allied with the Larg. Later, men and women, not so
life-bonded, also became a part of the Avuzdel, the better to blend
into southern society. A Lind is a distinctive creature, difficult
to keep out of sight when one is poking, prying and spying.”

“Information
gathering,” corrected Robert, uttering the words almost as an
automatic reflex, “what makes you think the Avuzdel will be able to
help?”

“They are
better than your agents,” Paul Hallam answered with an apologetic
smile and a gleam in his eyes, “experienced, well-trained,
un-bought and un-buyable. Their loyalty is absolute and it is a
loyalty to peace, to the enduring existence of a planet un-beset by
strife and war. Your agents are also congregated here, in Murdoch
with a few dotted here and there in the islands and the northern
mainlands.”

“Not in
Dagan.”

“The Avuzdel is
everywhere.”

“Do you know of
any here in Murdoch that we can contact?”

“Not
personally, no.”

“My men will
find them.” This assertion was emitted from Robert Crawford’s lips.
He was proud of his information gathering network.

Paul Hallam
shook his head. “I told you they were good Robert. Found any yet?
Did any of your predecessors? They didn’t. Also if your agents
start making enquiries those who are stirring up the trouble might
realise that we’re on to them. Can you trust every one of your
men?”

“No. Probably
not,” admitted Robert, “so?”

“So we send out
some people we can trust, of our own, to Vadath, where the Avuzdel
headquarters are.”

“They just walk
in and introduce themselves?”

“They go to
Vada and introduce themselves to the Susa who commands there. He or
she will know what to do.”

“It’s a Susa
Malkum,” Robert Crawford supplied the information. “He’s been in
command for a number of years now. Good man by all accounts, well
respected.”

“You can be
sure that he is aware about what is going on, at least in part. He
will be worried, he’s ultimately responsible for the defence of the
entire northern continent. Also, if there’s civil war and unrest in
Murdoch it is bad for trade. The merchants of Argyll are greedy,
they’ll want it stopped, preferably before it starts. They’ll put
pressure on the Council of Argyll and
they
will ask the
Vada. I’d heard that there
has
been some strain on the
relationship between Vadath and Argyll in recent years but they
will join together to meet a common threat.”