The Cerberus Rebellion (A Griffins & Gunpowder Novel) (10 page)

“
Yes, Your Grace.”

“
I was serious about making an offer to Earl Garroway,” Dalton told the brothers after they failed to speak. “His Lordship commands one of the largest levies in Lord Ridley’s Duchy, but his heir is married to an eastern woman and his second son is betrothed to a Nordahrian noble.”

“
Your Grace, I will make an honest attempt at making the arrangements,” Raedan promised.

“
Very well. My stewards will see you to your quarters. I have much to think on before the feast.”

“
Yes, Your Grace.” Hadrian bowed and the others followed him out through the main door.

The trio followed a steward up a winding staircase in silence. They took their time, thanks to Cedric’s slower pace, but reached their quarters all the same. Cedric said his goodbyes and retired to his quarters; Raedan joined Hadrian in his expansive suite.

The room was large, for a guest suite. Colorful tapestries covered the walls between the long narrow windows, and dark carpets covered the floor. Large black leather furniture was arranged throughout the room and a massive bed occupied one corner.

“
He’s hiding something,” Raedan said when the door had closed. He brushed his fingers against the onyx at his throat. “I sensed it.”

“
I agree. I don’t suppose you were able to sense
what
he is hiding?”

“
I could do that,” Raedan admitted. “But it wouldn’t be right to do that to our liege lord.”

“
I suppose you’re right,” Hadrian agreed. “I think he is hiding something about his plans once we reach Tirrell.”

Hadrian sat in one of the luxurious chairs and pinched the bridge of his nose. If there was one thing he hated, it was being in dark when something major was afoot.

Chapter 6 - Eadric

The midday sun streamed through the glass ceiling and walls of the solarium, perched high atop the north tower of Grand Keep. Eadric came here when he needed time to himself, away from the constant harassment of his advisors and petitioners. Even with the cool breeze let in through the windows, the air was thick and hot.

He turned away from the window as the door groaned open. Kendall stepped through the room’s only stone wall and bowed. The jewel in the pommel of his sword glistened in the sunlight.

“
Your Majesty, the council has assembled and is awaiting your pleasure,” Eadric’s chief guardsman announced.

“
Very well.”

Eadric did not enjoy the meetings of his council. The tedium of everyday rule was something that he preferred to leave to them. But with war on the horizon, every meeting seemed to include some bit of information garnered from across the Vast Sea or some report about the readiness of his armies.

The Grand Keep, the largest of the three main structures inside the grounds of Founder’s Castle, was a bustle of activity. Aside from the king’s offices, each of his councillors kept offices nearby and several of the larger aspects of Ansgar’s government took up entire sections of the building. Squires, pages, and servants paused with bowed heads as the King made his way toward the council chamber.

Two more of the King’s Shields stood outside of the council chamber. They uncrossed their weapons, inclined their heads, and pushed the heavy door open ahead of him as Eadric approached.

Inside, his council waited.

The room was plainly furnished: a long pine table stained dark, surrounded by half a dozen plain chairs and a single ornate armchair at the table’s head. Lanterns hung in sconces and a single small map was prominently displayed on one wall. Long wide shafts carried light from above to illuminate the room.

Alden Hanley sat to the left of the ornate chair, a book open before him and some maps strewn about. He looked as if he hadn’t slept for days. William Richards sat to his left, a small empty plate before him.

Lord Robert Calvin, Commander of the King's Army, sat to William’s left. The aging commander was almost a part of the decorations in the Founder's Castle. He was sixty years old, almost too old for his post, but he had served as Commander for Eadric's father and the current king saw no reason for change. He still had a great strategic mind.

His hair, or the little remaining at the edges of his scalp, had long ago gone gray and one of his hazel eyes was gray with blindness. He wore a green tailcoat with a double row of golden buttons down the front and golden shoulder boards, his rank embroidered upon them. The badge of the Elsdon duchy was embroidered over his heart. His green trousers had a golden stripe from ankle to hip and his belt held an empty holster on his right and an empty longsword scabbard on his left. Eadric had ordered that no one would be allowed in his presence with a weapon, save his guards.

That declaration had been made shortly before Eadric’s sixteenth birthday. A pair of assassins had found their way into the throne room, disguised as wealthy merchants who sought trade treaties with Ansgar. The attackers had killed three of Eadric’s guards and nearly killed his regent, and older sister, Katherine.

The assassins had been killed in the attack, and no one had ever discovered where they had come from or who had hired them.

The event had been the catalyst for many of Eadric’s fears.

Admiral Oliver Talbot sat across from his land-based counterpart. The admiral was a short, stocky man whose skin was worn from the many years of sun and wind. His blue eyes were distant, as if he were somewhere else.

Lord Peter Wellstone sat across from Richards. Thick ledgers lay open around him, quills and ink wells nearby. Altavius Dohr sat to the right of Eadric’s own chair, resplendent in his thick green robes, tied at the waist with a gold sash. His staff leaned against the arm of his chair, and he hunched over in his seat.

Directly behind Altavius stood a man who could be no older than Eadric. He was short and thin, with flowing red hair and deep sapphire eyes. He too wore a green robe, though his sash was white. He carried an emerald tipped staff and another emerald hung from his neck in a gold setting. His ears gave him away as one of Altavius’ many bastards: they were noticeably longer than a man’s, but much shorter than his father’s.

Altavius had lived amongst men for more than twelve hundred years. In that time he had taken more lovers than anyone could count. He had once said that he had a bastard child for every decade that the nation of Ansgar had been in existence.

Most of the children were shipped off to serve in the houses of Ansgari nobles. Some left of their own will and sought fortune on their own. A very few remained with their father to learn his magics and prepare themselves to replace their father as Eadric’s advisor.

The last heir to Altavius had left Aetheston five years earlier, his own life near its end. The children lived five times longer than the men and women around them, but no half-elf could hope to match a true-elf’s lifespan.

“
A new heir?” Eadric asked as he took his seat.

“
This is Sinclair,” Altavius announced. “And he is not my heir, as Lifebinders do not have heirs. Rather he is my successor.”

“
Very well, your successor,” Eadric conceded. “How old are you, Sinclair?”

“
One hundred and twelve.” The half-elf’s voice was deeper than Eadric expected.

His age was not a surprise when Eadric considered how slowly elves aged. Altavius looked much as if he would be in his eighties or nineties if he were a man, but was instead at least fourteen hundred years old. Those who passed on from natural causes at younger than nine hundred were considered to have died too soon.

“
Very well,” Eadric said. He would not be able to push the man from the chamber. “Shall we begin?

“
Your Highness,” Lord Wellstone said. "We have been inundated with requests for loans from the Crown in order to fund the assembly of levies, arms, and supplies. Our current requests are up to twelve thousand crowns.”

“
Use your discretion,” Eadric instructed. “Take into account previous loans to these nobles and weigh that against the number of troops that they are able to muster.”

“
Your Highness, the coffers can not stand such loans,” Peter countered.

Eadric frowned. The current Earl of Colby was, by far, the most capable man to serve as the Chancellor of Ansgar, but he was terribly grating on the nerves. Eadric would have liked the man to be more ambitious in the ways that he handled the finances of the nation. Instead, the man needed constant guidance on matters of taxation and spending.

“
We will post a tax on all imports. Any goods brought in from abroad will be subject to a tax of one silver shield per one hundred.”

“
Your Majesty, I think that the foreign merchants will not be happy to bear the weight of our military activities with their own purses,” Lord Hanley said.

“
We are the largest nation on this side of the world; they will suffer our taxes or they are welcome to try to find a larger market for their goods.” Eadric’s voice was firm. His left hand slipped into his pocket and he wrapped his fingers around the small smooth stone.

Ansgar’s seventy-five million people were not to be taken lightly, even by the fickle merchants that sold their goods in the ports along the southern coast of the continent. It wouldn’t be the first time that those merchants were asked to pay a tax to finance the will of a king.

Under the reign of King Austen, the twenty-fifth King of Ansgar, the merchants had been made to pay a tax of a full gold crown for every one hundred that they earned. Some of the merchants had taken their goods to Steimor instead. But the eastern nation was not as populated as Ansgar, and it had taken less than a year before the merchants returned.

“
Lord Chancellor, the tax will be applied immediately, and to all merchants not from Ansgar.”

Peter nodded reluctantly. “Yes, Your Highness.” He scribbled the instructions in one of his books.

“
Which territories have replied to my orders to call their levies?”

“
All of the lands sworn to House Garrard and the Elsdon Duchy,” Lord William said with a glance at a sheet of paper.

Eadric smiled. “I would certainly hope so.”

When all was told, his own lands would muster eleven thousand infantry, three thousand cavalry and two hundred knight-captains and lieutenants. His sworn nobles would muster another thirty-five thousand infantry and cavalry.

Eadric also had direct command of a twenty thousand-strong national army. They were mostly spread across the armories and larger forts of Ansgar, but he could recall them at need and replace them with local forces.

“
The nobles of the Kerborosi Duchy have all sent telegraphs stating that they have started to call their levies, but they do not have an estimate on when they may have their troops available.” William paused as he continued to read the sheet. “Their levies should account for thirty-five thousand infantry and four thousand knights. I heard mention that His Grace Duke Jarmann would like to send several of his barons and one of his earls along with to take direct command of his troops.

“
I think that is something that we can accommodate.”

They’re sending themselves off to war now. How convenient,
Eadric thought.

“
Duke West Valley has given us his pledge that he will have his troops assembled within the season. His soldiers should number twenty-five thousand or more.”

“
And what of our western lords?” Eadric asked, his voice tinged with annoyance. The three western duchies would contribute seventy thousand infantry to the force that would sail across the sea. And at least the Duke of Arndell would be able to afford the cost of this endeavor without asking loans from the Crown.

“
Dukes White Ridge, Seawatch and Arndell have all replied that they have received their instructions. They did not, however, say that they are raising their levies, nor did they give an estimate of when they might have their levies ready to travel.”

“
Your Majesty.” Altavius’ eyes were cloudy. “I have heard whispers that some of the more distant nobles might be…slowing their tasks.”

Even one hundred years later the eastern nobles and lords were resentful of how they had come into the nation of Ansgar, but the lords of Western Ansgar were his people. Their ancestors had sailed across the Vast Sea with his own and set their claim on these lands. Some of the western lords had expressed discontent with his rule, but he had not expected them to delay their response in a military matter.

“
Why would any true noble be slow to complete the instruction of their king?” Lord Hanley was incredulous.

“
Many reasons exist for a noble to be slow to do his duty,” Altavius postured. “Perhaps they think that the King doesn’t truly need the full levies that have been sworn to him and if they are slow in bringing their levies to the capital, they will not have to send their troops abroad.”

“
We need to draft another letter,” Eadric said, flushed with anger. “Send it via telegraph. Tell these ungrateful pricks that I will fine any lord or noble if it is determined that they are intentionally delaying the deployment of their levies. I will not have these petty lords playing games.”

“
Your Highness, it would be hard to determine who has delayed intentionally and who is delayed by weather or other factors. It is winter after all, Your Highness, and in Duke Arndell’s northern territories even the rail lines can be quite impassable,” William pointed out. “I would suggest that we wait until a more reasonable amount of time has passed before we start threatening the lords and nobles.”