Indomitus Vivat (The Fovean Chronicles) (26 page)

    
I sat.  As a king I didn’t stand to address people, they stood to receive me.  The Oligarchs, I think, were happy just to see my butt hit the seat on the first try. 

    
“I welcome you to Eldador,” I said.  “I thank you for your support, and assure you in the confusion of the coronation.  Eldador the Port is secure.  One of the assassins from the Bounty Hunter’s guild is dead already, and if the other hasn’t joined him, then he soon will.”

    
I heard a murmur.  I had expected it.  You just didn’t talk about killing Bounty Hunters.  Maybe I deserved their heated vengeance.

    
“Eldador, on this day, begins anew,” I said.  “Under Glennen, we began a path to a newer Eldador, an Eldador that makes a better ally, a more valuable trade partner, and a better place for a man to live and raise his family.  Our taxes remain the lowest in known Fovea, our goods the least expensive, and hopefully our justice the most even.”

    
I looked straight down the throne room’s center aisle and saw Rennin, Groff and Ceberro standing with Jaheff of Uman City, the newest of their peers.  They all had their arms folded over their chests.  They were ready for me to do this in my characteristic, “Bet you never thought that I would say that” style. 

    
Krell stood apart from them and didn’t look at them.  His Aschire crowded around him.  His people were still on my walls, my eye in the sky. 

    
“We will continue on the path that Eldador has taken,” I continued.  “We will continue to support the Fovean High Council.  We maintain our tax rate; we will maintain our economic and our military policies, however our relations with other nations
must
change.

    
“Eldador has, in the current year, been the target of most of you, either directly or through mercenaries.  As well, as we saw today, the bounty hunters’ guild has been insistent in pursuing their ambitions here.

    
“We will seek no retributions for past actions.  But as we begin anew, we make clear, we shall tolerate no more attacks, and we shall not be satisfied with turning them.  Invasions as were attempted in Thera this year will be met one hundred times, both within and without the charter of the Fovean High Council.”

    
I smacked my hand down on the stone arm of the throne.  The Oligarch’s jumped.  Even Glennen, I knew, had been more politic.

    
“Eldador shall pursue peace, but Eldador is not afraid to pursue it with a sword, Wolf Soldiers and Theran lancers.  What happened in the city of Outpost IX we will export one hundred times to the next of our invaders.”

    
Rennin broke from the other dukes and marched himself down the center aisle to the throne room.  A moment later Ceberro followed him, then Groff, then Jaheff, then Hectar.  They marched to the circle before the throne, then turned, then folded their arms, and they said nothing.  Their actions spoke louder than their words as they threw in their lot with me.

    
After them came the Earls.  Some of them I knew from court and from Thera.  Some of them were strangers.  I should have spent the last year getting to know them, but I’d made so much of my reign hands-on that I couldn’t.  They filed in behind the Dukes.  After them were the court-barons and landed nobles, most of whom I knew better because they either lived here or they were here so frequently asking for favors. 

    
And after them, entirely to my surprise, came Krell.  He stood right next to Rennin, between him and Ceberro.  Both of them looked at him, then straight forward again. 

    
A united Eldador.  Glennen hadn’t delivered on it.  I really hadn’t, either.  Anyone could bring them together in a moment of nationalism; especially if they were pissed off at the idea that the Bounty Hunters’ Guild held them in such low regard that they would attempt an assassination in front of all of them. 

    
Anyone could unite them here.  Keeping them united, that would be the real accomplishment.

    
“Now that this is said,” I said, and I stood as I said it, “let me again welcome you.  There is food to eat and beer and wine and mead to be drunk.  Enjoy yourselves and be recognized by the new Eldador.  Let us spend the War months speaking of peace.”

    
They didn’t applaud because, again, they didn’t do that here.  The Uman-Chi stood together, they inclined their heads to me, and they left, led by Avek.  Then the Dorkans did the same – that really surprised me.  The Dorkans hated me more than anyone.  Next came the Confluni and the Andarans at the same time, following the lead of the others.  Kills threw me a wink and a smile as he left.  Next the Sentalans stood, looked at the group of us standing united, and nodded as one before leaving through the double doors.

    
Finally the Volkhydrans stood.  Henekh Dragorson led them.  He hadn’t changed since last I saw him.  He looked as rough and hairy as before, and the scowl told me how happy he wasn’t.

    
I looked for Karl but didn’t see him.  Someone had to mind the store.

    
“I know you, Lupus the Conqueror,” he said.  “You are King of Eldador now, but I know you, and I have seen what you do to those who oppose you.”

    
I nodded.  I could respond but I didn’t.  The nobles were immobile, waiting to see what he had to say.

    
“My King is Gharf Bendenson of Volkha,” he said.  “And my King needs to know your ambitions.”

    
“A stronger Eldador, more trade,” I said.  “Free trade within our borders.”

    
He shook his head.  “You aren’t a merchant, you’re a killer,” he said.  “Where are your ambitions?”

    
Now I got him.  I almost told him, ‘South,’ but the Toorians were still here.

    
“I think you and I both know that someone is going to have to test what I said here today, Henekh Dragorson,” I said.

    
“Yes,” he agreed.

    
I waited a moment, lowered my voice and said, “Don’t be that nation.”

    
I frowned, he nodded, and he inclined his head.  He led his delegation from the gallery.

    
“And Henekh,” I said.

    
He turned.

    
“When you see Karl, tell him ‘well done.’  They never guessed what he was up to, even after he did it.”

    
He grinned a yellow-toothed grin, inclined his head again, and left.

    
That left Toor.  I had never in my life even met a Toorian.  The only ones who had seen me had been delegates to the Fovean High Council.  I traded with them but had never met them myself.

    
They stood, then inclined their heads, and they walked off without saying anything.  That left me with the Eldadorians.  Wolf Soldiers closed the throne room doors, and Rennin immediately turned on his heel.

    
“I really wish I had known you were going to do that,” he said.

    
“I know,” I said.  Now I needed to be the peer, not the king.  “I wanted to have this meeting first, fill you in and then meet with the Foveans, but the attack came and this had to happen.”

    
“How much of that was true?” Groff asked me.

    
“All of it,” I said.  “The lowered taxes have brought a flood of people from all nations.  We can offer them land and jobs and we can tax their earnings.  I can increase the size of all of your holdings by more than one hundred percent if you let me, and I can make you wealthier than you are now.”

    
They nodded.  They had seen Thera – it had become an economic juggernaut.  Those who had lowered their taxes had seen their revenues climb and their lands swell with immigrants hungry for land and jobs.

    
“And about your ambitions?” Ceberro asked.  He looked me in the eye.  “Henekh Dragorson wasn’t wrong, your Majesty.  You aren’t a merchant.”

    
I smiled – I couldn’t help it.  I was the avatar of the god War, not Eveave.

    
“Be ready for one of them to decide that we are going to grow too powerful, too fast,” I said.  “And be ready for one of your cities to be determined to be the perfect place for an example.”

    
They looked at each other, then at me.  They didn’t want to be treated like pieces on a board.  I had just informed them that there is a good chance that I would get some of them killed, and they had no reason to doubt me.  Probably not what they expected on my first day.

    
“I am Genden,” one of the Counts said.  “I am of Tonkin, on the Andurin peninsula.  I am probably the city you are talking about.”

    
The port of Tonkin was similar to Thera, and yes, that made him a likely target.

    
“And when I am besieged, and when my fields are burning and my people are dying or coming to me and demanding I relieve them, what will I and my two hundred Eldadorian foot expect from Eldador the nation?”

    
“First, know that as soon as he is before me, I will be adding a Man, Arath, to the peerage and, as an earl, he shall be given land and title at the center of the Andurin peninsula.”

    
“Arath, the leader of the Legionnaires,” Rennin said.

    
I nodded.  Rennin turned to Groff.

    
“How do you see that, your Grace?” he asked.

    
Groff’s severe features drew in on themselves.  He lowered his face, then looked up at me, into my eyes.  The room had gone quiet.

    
“I think,” he said, “that if the Free Legion is going to base itself in Eldador, then it should be taxed, and it should be encouraged to believe it has a stake in us.  We have seen how beneficial Wolf Soldiers are to Eldador.  Legionnaires and Sarandi shall further reinforce us.”

    
“Except that they all leave in the War months,” another Earl said.  He didn’t identify himself.  Ceberro looked up at me.

    
“We will need to demand that they leave no less than one thousand reserves in the city,” he said.

    
I nodded.  “I will make it a condition of his elevation,” I said.  “I think you have schooled him in the folly of doing otherwise.”

    
They all laughed at that.

    
“And I think we need an Earl for your holdings in the Plains of Angador,” I said.

    
He considered.  He had already started a city, I knew.  He would want someone he could control.

   
“Tartan Stowe would be a good choice,” Rennin said.

    
All eyes turned to Tartan, who normally sat quiet during such meetings.  He was old enough, if he had a good advisor.  Well, I only knew one Oligarch’s name.

    
“Will you join the peerage, lad?” I asked him.

    
His eyes found mine.  His slight build came from his mother, with brown hair, brown eyes, white skin and a dancer’s frame.  He looked nothing like Glennen.  One too many slaps on the back, one too many accusations that he didn’t rise to his father’s high marks.

    
Too much time thinking that his dad was a drunken slob.

    
“I serve the kingdom,” he said, simply.  “If this is where I am needed, then this is where I will go.”

    
“Ceberro can school you,” I said.  Ceberro nodded.  “Devarre will go with you as your personal advisor.  He has been a great aid to me.”

    
The Oligarch nodded.

    
“And I will be elevating Two Spears of Thera to the rank of Duke, only because Thera is a duchy, and I will need to keep him there.  Thera shall remain the home of the Wolf Soldier elite guard, but those troops are now at Eldador’s disposal.”

    
“Oh, good, another Duke,” one of the court barons quipped.

    
“Plenty of fresh blood in the peerage,” said another.

    
“The Uman-Chi already make fun of us,” Genden added.

    
“Not so much since we sacked Outpost IX,” Rennin said.  Again, more laughter.

    
I knew Rennin would be the key to my realm.  His support legitimized me.  Now he wanted to recreate my victories as Eldadorian victories. 

    
He had a son I knew.  Like Hectar, he probably had his eyes set on Lee.

    
“And while I am expanding the peerage, I am going to make the Aschire a Duchy, and Krell of the Aschire its Duke,” I said.

    
Krell regarded me evenly.  Rennin threw him a disgusted look, but made sure that he had it out of his system before he looked back at me.

    
“Is that wise, your Majesty?” Oligarch one asked.