Princess Rescue Inc (102 page)

“That's
the problem, the maker of machines Max has locked away those needed and already
switched over to making other things. We no longer have ammunition.”

“We
don't?” Rojer asked, eyebrows high in surprise. He couldn't quite keep real
dismay out of his voice. The constant inventories had prevented his steward
from bribing someone to steal sample weapons and ammunition for the Duke to
have copied. He'd tried once but had failed miserably. The Duke had been forced
to deal with the unfortunate Miles and make it look like an accident.

“We
only have what weapons and ammunition we have on hand! They have decreed it is
enough for the year and stopped production! I've had to stop training the other
men with the weapons!” the general snarled as the other lords looked at him. The
old warrior was a bright red, fists curled until his aged knuckles were quite
white.

“My
that is troubling,” the Duke murmured. “Have you discussed it with them yet?”
he asked.

“I
plan to do it forthwith,” the general snarled.

“I'll
join you,” Baron Pemerson said. He left with the general.

“I
dare say the gaijin have overstepped themselves,” Dominus Jericho snarled
softly. “And the Queen,” he said.

Pettigrew
shot a look at the Duke and then grunted. “Do have a care,” he said.

“No,
let him speak his mind. After all, the gaijin are encouraging such things these
days,” his grace said, smiling to the Dominus. Jericho was a fat fool, more
interested in his vineyards and his wine competition than in power or in his
duties. But if this woke him up, perhaps he could be persuaded to take a side.
Or at least not take the wrong side, the Duke thought, listening to Jericho's
list of complaints and slights.

  <==={}------------>

The
general gave Ryans a dirty look as he entered the room. “What?" Ryans
asked. The general was red in the face. Ryans wrinkled his nose; he could smell
the rot gut. Deidra gave him a warning look. Ryans glanced around the room.
There were several lords here, some he didn't recognize. A few he did but
didn't have names to faces. Most were in the warmonger category.

“I
have been informed your men have been securing their weapons,” the general
said.

“Of
course. That’s protocol,” Ryans said nodding.

“And
your man Max has stopped making rifles and ammunition,” General Pendragon said.

Ryans
nodded. “Yup. Gotta pay for the last war don't you know.” Ryans said lounging
back, crossing his arms as he leaned against a pillar behind him. Deidra gave
him a look.

“We
need more weapons,” the lord next to the general spat out.

“Nope,
I think you've got plenty,” Ryans said pointing to the sword belted to the
man's waist, and to weapons hanging from hooks on the wall. “Looks like an
armory to me.”

The
lord sputtered. “I mean...”

Deidra
sighed. “I believe this year's funding for additional weapons has dried up my
lord.”

The
lord shifted his gaze to the princess. She shrugged. “We cannot do more this
year or the next. Our budget is already committed to rebuilding duchy Emroy and
building the gaijin machines. Perhaps next year if things change for the
better. You can of course introduce a bill for additional funding in the House
of Lords... Of course you'd have to find a way to
pay
for it as well. I
dare say raising additional taxes would be met with heavy resistance from the
county lords though,” she said almost sweetly. Ryans knew her heart just wasn't
in it. He also knew why and regretted locking her out and not keeping her
informed. He was in for a row, he saw it coming and braced himself mentally
even as this one played out before him.

The
lord shifted back and forth. “Can I buy them for my own demense?” he asked
after a moment of thought.

Ryans
gave him a long look. “No. We agreed that they would be used for the Imperium's
army alone. Though I may talk with the house about that. I suppose we could
amend the treaty to add hunting weapons to the list. That would help keep the
basilisks and other predators down.”

The
lord's eyes gleamed. Ryans shrugged. “I'll talk it over with Perry. He has
different orders where weapons are concerned than I do. He's already bent his
orders up a bit and he was not happy about what his superiors were going to say
later. It's his bailiwick,” he said firmly. The lord frowned.

“Besides,
I think we've got some exploring on the agenda as well. I think the Queen has
decided to see if we can occupy some of the unexplored areas and more of the
mountains... and set up crown reserves...”

The
lord looked surprised. “Open up more land?” That had been a topic of interest
of all the border lords.

“Of
course. There is more than one way to gain land here. This is an entirely new
world after all,” Ryans waved. “We could expand in different areas right up to
the borders of neighboring Kingdoms. Or even set up lords on distant islands.”

The
general stared, looking from one to another as if in a tennis match. Ryans felt
a little sorry for the old man. He did ask for it though.

The
lord looked surprised and then he smiled, suddenly interested in the idea.
“True. And we don't have to fight anyone to gain this new land, an interesting
proposal. One I will have to deliberate on carefully.”

“It
has its upsides and downsides. There are little or no people to take over...
and no infrastructure, but then again we don't have to kill anyone and it is
there for the taking. We can also set up our own new infrastructure there from
the ground up exactly the way we want it,” Ryans said suggestively. 

Deidra
nodded glancing at him then turning her attention to the lord. “It's a very
interesting proposal my lord. Since your barony is on the eastern border we
could see you expanding outward... possibly beyond the Crymerian mountains?”

The
lord puffed a little then nodded.  “Yes indeed., much to think about. Good
day,” He bowed and turned. “Coming general?”

The
general looked a little lost and then nodded politely to Princess Deidra and
walked off stiffly. He didn't even acknowledge Ryans.

“Well
that put something in the old geezer's craw,” Deidra murmured. She turned a
gimlet eye on Ryans. “I do wonder why the sudden change in priorities though,”
she said with a slightly dangerous lilt in her voice as her tone cooled and her
eyes glared.

He
smiled. “It's better to be safe than sorry. And getting this out is a
priority.”

She
nodded.  “Indeed it is. But still. The timing...”

He
nodded. “Yup. And yes dear, before you ask it was definitely due to that little
dinner last night. Deidra I will not aid in going to war. Not like that, not
now, not ever.”

She
sighed. “Sometimes direct action isn't the only way you know my love. You don't
trust us?”

“You,
yes. Your mother...” He shrugged and waved his hand showing maybe. “Your lords?
To be honest? No. Nope. Not as far as I can throw them. And a few are...”

“Fat
over bred sows?” Deidra asked with a slight smile.

“Fat
wrinkled boars you mean,” he chuckled. Her smile widened slightly. “But for
some, it is all they know. This isn't exactly direct action to stop them...
more of a, let’s say, side thing. But it does cut them off at the knees.
Hopefully it'll nip things in the bud.”

She
nodded. “It does indeed. I hope it doesn't come back on us later however.”

He
sighed. He knew politics; he knew thwarting the lords wouldn't sit well with
them. “Oh it will I bet. But if we can play it right, the problem will go
away... but some of the resentment will linger.”

“Yes,”
Deidra sighed. “Yes indeed,” she said softly.

  <==={}------------>

Rojer
frowned at his steward. Yorick was normally a good sort, good at attending to
his needs and even anticipating them. However Yorick had so far failed
miserably in this small task. “So, none?”

“No
your grace,” Yorick sighed, indicating the spent casing on the Duke's desk
bloater. “None but this. They have strange markings on them and they use that
to keep track of them.”

“Serial
numbers,” Rojer murmured darkly.

Yorick
nodded. “Yes my lord. I don't know how you knew. I found out before but after
the banquet the gaijin have cracked down on use of the ammunition. Now the
general and Maximus have put strict limits on their use and do inventories
themselves. I can't get a full one.”

“Full
one,” the Duke said. He remembered the serial numbers, the machine maker Max
had spoken of it to the Queen in his hearing once. He'd thought it a good idea
at the time, to track a lot of something in case something went wrong with it.
Now he realized it had another purpose.

“So
you're saying there's no way to bribe one out of the hands of a soldier?” the
Duke asked, using his finger to flick the brass cylinder over.

Yorick
shook his head. “No my lord. Each must account for their rounds at the end of
the day. And each armory is checked weekly.”

“So
that leaves the people who make the formula,” Rojer said. He looked from the
brass shell to his steward. The steward gulped.

“I
have tried Dominus, but they don't know. Some know a few of the ingredients but
not the amounts. They can only remember the black powder ingredients.”

“But
none know how to make it? Surely they know that!” the Duke demanded, getting to
his feet to lean over his desk.

Yorick
was instantly cowed by his commanding presence. His eyes looked away. “None are
in the making from beginning to end my lord. Each only knows a part of the
whole.”

“Then
bribe...”

“The
more we bribe my lord the more know we are asking. Thus increasing the danger,”
Yorick said in a rare interruption of his Duke.

Rojer
stopped mid sentence and paused, staring at the man. Finally his fingers
drummed on the desk. He scowled blackly. “True. What of the maker? The woman?”

“She
is the only one who knows.”

“Then
perhaps we should do something about that. Find her formula. She must have
written it down! Find it and copy it,” the Duke ordered.

“Their
machines are guarded. She... we can check her quarters and her place of work my
lord,” Yorick said.

“Do
that. If that doesn't work we'll have to find a way to
encourage
her to
tell others,” the Duke said, eyes glittering.

  <==={}------------>

Wanda
came back from lunch humming a tune. She nodded to a man passing her wearing a
brown cloak. He growled as he passed. She turned and then felt a sense of
unease as the man paused and gave her a look.  They heard a clatter and he
darted a look up. She looked as well to see the shadows of approaching guards.
When she turned back he was gone.

“Is
something wrong here mistress?” one of the guards asked.

“I'm
not sure,” she said slowly. “I just had a suspicious encounter with someone.”
She shook her head as they looked concerned at her.

She
moved down the hall to her lab and then paused. Something felt wrong. She
looked down to see a flicker of light and shadow under the crack. She touched
the door and instantly felt heat.

“Damn!”
she swore as she turned. “Ring the fire alarm and find that bastard!” she
yelled, reaching for the new fire extinguisher strapped under a wall lamp. She
blessed Ryans and his foresight.

One
of the guards goggled but the other immediately took a whistle out and blew it
hard three times. He slapped at his partner. The partner looked and then nodded
at the direction the guard was pointing. He took off a trot and then broke into
a run as he heard the sounds of crackling fire behind him.

“Crap,
crap, crap!” Wanda snarled. She kicked open the door and then began to spray.
“Get me another!” she yelled over her shoulder. The guard nodded as more people
came running.

The
fire flared at the sudden exposure to oxygen, but the fire extinguisher quickly
ended that. She quickly ran out of material though. She backed away as the fire
spread once more. She coughed as the thick oily smoke billowed again.

Workmen
elbowed her aside and began spraying the fire with their own extinguishers. One
had an ax; he used it to smash the window out. Thick black smoke changed
direction.

A
bucket brigade was in the hall but she waved them back. “Don't!” she said then
coughed, grabbing at the arm of the man in the lead. “It's an oil fire, hold
off!” she coughed. “It'll spread it!”

The
man looked, swore something and then put the bucket down. He waved to the
others. One of the firemen came out waving a hand in front of his face and
supporting another. Word was passed to exchange the water for sand.

“It's
out but it's a mess in there,” he coughed. His extinguisher slipped through his
fingers to clatter on the stone floor. “Glad you've got stone floors mistress,”
he said shaking his head.