Young Lord of Khadora (30 page)

“The agreement was fairly made,” suggested Lord Zawbry. “Do you seek to change it after its signing? Is this the way the Situ do business?”

“A fair agreement?” mused Lord Marak. “Do you really believe this is a fair agreement?”

“Of course, it is fair,” blustered Lord Zawbry. “Why would a friendly neighbor object to you using his land if it is only for transit?”

“Well, you certainly have a point there,” agreed Lord Marak, “and the Ragatha are certainly friendly neighbors. Wonderful, then you will have no objections to penning a like instrument allowing our transit through your lands to the West. I will have it drawn up immediately and, in the meantime, we can discuss other issues which affect both of our estates.”

Lord Zawbry’s mouth hung open. This was one twist he had not envisioned. Giving the Situ a land grant across Woodville would never be accepted by Lord Sevrin, but he had just indicated that it was a normal and friendly thing to do. “I would have to pass the new agreement by Lord Sevrin before I could sign it,” dodged Lord Zawbry.

“Lord Lashendo did not have to get the current agreement authorized by Lord Ridak, did he?” Lord Marak innocently inquired. “I have authorization to enter into such an agreement myself if I so desire.”

“The Ragatha Clan has different requirements than the Situ,” bluffed Lord Zawbry. “Any new agreements should have little bearing on the current agreement, anyway. The question is whether or not you are going to honor the current agreement.”

“Do you have an objection to changing the agreement to allow for the payment of a single copper coin per year in compensation?” asked Lord Marak. “That is the merest of payments I could think of.”

Lord Zawbry was biting his lip again and Marak knew then that this meeting was intended to fail. Lord Zawbry had no intention of changing the agreement. In fact, he was waiting for Marak to demand a change to it so he could storm out of the room, but that was hard to do when Marak was only asking for a single copper coin per year. No one in Khadora would take that excuse for provocation. Yet, if Lord Zawbry refused to change the agreement, Fardale would be giving its land away in the form of a land grant.

“It is not the money that is at the heart of this discussion,” Lord Zawbry finally stated. “It is whether or not the new Lord of Fardale will live up to the agreements of his predecessor. You will either live up to the agreement or you will not. Which will it be, Lord Marak?”

Marak signaled to Kasa, who had slipped in right after Lectain Zorkil, and she came over to him. “Bursar Kasa,” Lord Marak smiled, “have you had a chance to examine the agreement?”

Lord Zawbry looked at the young woman with contempt. It was against all tradition to allow a woman into a position of power and it strengthened his resolve to remove the Situ from this area of the country. He finally had this Lord Marak where he wanted him. There was nothing left for the young Lord to say except that he would not honor the agreement. He had been worried for a while with some of the devious suggestions the young Lord had made. He could not allow Marak to come up with any solution to the problem because the troops from the other estates were already on the march. Within a couple of weeks, Fardale would exist only as a Ragatha estate.

“I would prefer that this agreement be renegotiated for the good of all parties,” commented Bursar Kasa. “It is not a well written agreement to begin with.”

Lord Zawbry smiled as Lord Marak asked, “What is wrong with the agreement, Bursar?”

“Well, the most obvious problem that I have with it,” smiled Kasa, “is that it doesn’t allow for any compensation to us. The money is not an issue, but the law is clear. If we continue to let the Ragatha use the land under this contract, they would gain legal title to the land after three years.”

“Yes,” sighed Lord Marak, “I thought that was what you said. I have so much trouble understanding these complex documents. Are there any other problems?”

“Actually, there is,” Kasa replied, trying hard to suppress her grin. “According to the way this contract is written, we must allow Ragatha wagons to cross Fardale, but there has been no provision made for anything else. Wagons are specifically mentioned and because of that no one could interpret this document to mean that anything else must be allowed to cross Fardale. There is no mention of guards for the caravans. Boy, is that foolish. Imagine, a caravan without guards?”

Lord Zawbry’s lower lip was in his mouth now and Lectain Zorkil was obviously having trouble keeping a straight face.

“In fact,” Bursar Kasa continued, “this contract does not even mention horses or people. I can’t imagine how the wagons are going to be able to move.”

“Lord Zawbry,” smiled Lord Marak, “I will honor this agreement if you really want me to, just so you know that Fardale does honor its prior agreements, but I think we really should execute another agreement for both our sakes.”

Lord Zawbry stood and banged his fist on the table. His face red with fury, he pushed the chair against the table. “I will not stand for being made out a fool,” he blustered. “The agreement shall stand as it is. Should you try to stop my people from crossing your land, there will be a penalty to pay.”

With that, Lord Zawbry stormed out of the room with an embarrassed Marshal Tingo in his wake.

Lord Marak ran along the trail as quickly as he could. He sped into the field where the mages practiced and slid to a halt when he saw Klora, the head mage.

“Is somebody hurt?” breathed Lord Marak.

Klora quickly turned to face the Lord of Fardale. “No, My Lord,” she grinned. “I’m sorry if my message caused you to think that there was an accident, but I was so very excited when I sent for you. We have finally found a solution for your pet project.”

“Do you mean you are able to communicate over long distances?” queried Lord Marak. “Is it done with fast projectiles like we thought?”

“Better!” exclaimed Klora. “The projectile idea worked, but it was too hard to control where it landed. We have found something better, although it also has limitations. We call it an Air Tube. Iscala will demonstrate it for you.”

“Step in closer to me, Lord Marak,” instructed Iscala. “In an open area like this you will need to be close to the Air Mage to hear what is going on.”

Lord Marak stepped next to Iscala and watched her. While he did not see her do anything, sounds started emanating from the air around her. Marak listened carefully to the noises of metal striking metal and scraping sounds. The sounds were certainly familiar, but he was unable to place them. For several moments he listened to the noises and then heard footsteps approaching. As clearly as if he was actually in the room, he heard Seneschal Pito’s voice requesting a bit of food for his midday meal. Lord Marak realized that he was hearing the sounds from the kitchen in the mansion.

“We used the kitchen because I was familiar with it,” Iscala explained. “Another Air Mage is at the other end to receive the Air Tube.”

“Can they hear us?” puzzled Lord Marak.

“If we want them to,” nodded Iscala. “Right now we are operating it in only one direction. I thought we might scare the kitchen help if they heard us, but we have tested it out here and it can work both ways.”

“There are actually three different states that the Air Tube can take,” interrupted Klora. “It can be operated in either direction alone, or in both directions at the same time. It is a matter of pressure in the tube. If the pressure is equalized at both ends, it is a two way Air Tube. If you want it to be only one way, you have only to increase the pressure on the talking end or decrease it on the hearing end. Both actions have the same effect.”

“Who created this Air Tube?” inquired Lord Marak. “Was it Iscala or the Air Mage in the kitchen?”

“I created it,” answered Iscala. “The creating Air Mage must know the location where the Air Tube is to be sent. That is why I chose the kitchen.”

“I did not see you do anything,” stated Lord Marak, “and I was watching you. Was the Air Tube already set up when I arrived?”

“No, Lord Marak,” Iscala explained. “You can not see anything because there is nothing to see. It is actually a very low level spell and does not require much energy to create. It requires practically nothing to maintain once it is set up, but there must be an Air Mage at each end for the duration of the spell.”

“How great a distance can this be used over?” Marak asked excitedly. “Could we use it from Glendale to here?”

“We don’t know,” admitted Klora. “This is the greatest distance we have tried so far. Theoretically, any distance could be achieved, but there are many things to be considered. If the Air Tube is broken momentarily, there can be a slight loss in what you hear. This could happen if a person or animal breaks the Air Tube by walking through it. It will instantly mend itself, but you will have that slight loss. Over a great distance the Air Tube could be broken many times and the quality of what you are hearing may not be worth the effort.”

“What if something is put in the path of the Air Tube, like a fallen tree?” questioned Lord Marak.

“That is not a problem,” replied Iscala. “The Air Tube seeks to reestablish itself just as it does when someone walks through it. It may result in a slightly longer delay before the sound continues, but not that much of a delay.”

“Can all of our Air Mages perform this task?” asked Lord Marak.

“No,” Klora answered. “Only an Air Mage with some water magic can handle the differences in pressure needed to direct the flow of the sounds. It does not require a very advanced Air Mage, though.”

“Excellent,” grinned Lord Marak. “I am going to need three of these special Air Mages right away. All of them need to be familiar with the Meeting Chamber and the room which used to house the Bursar’s assistant. Do not choose Air Mages who are required for research, but the ones chosen must be able to perform diplomatic duties. I am going to station one at Glendale and one at Watula Valley. They are going to be my representatives to their respective Council of Advisors at each estate and I do not want the residing Lords to know of their capabilities. We will call them Correspondents.”

“They are to be spies?” queried Klora.

“Exactly,” smiled Lord Marak. “The third Air Mage will move into the room which used to house the Bursar’s assistant. She will become my Correspondent and monitor the other two. Each remote Correspondent will have a schedule for reporting in. I want to monitor everything that goes on at both estates if we can.”

“I’ll have your three mages ready for you this afternoon,” promised Klora.

“Good,” Lord Marak declared. “I also want you to continue researching this magic, Iscala. It would be good if we could send it to places with no Air Mage on the other end.”

“I doubt that is possible, Lord Marak,” frowned Iscala, “but we will try to find a way.”

Lord Marak spent the next hour with Klora discussing how the other research projects were coming before he headed along the path back to the mansion. A black shape appeared off to Lord Marak’s left and he immediately veered off the path to meet with Fisher.

“You are slipping, Fisher,” chuckled Lord Marak. “I saw you before you tried to startle me.”

“Waiting for better than an hour to talk with you left me caring little for the effect of surprising you,” sighed Fisher. “I have bad news to feed you.”

“The Ragatha?” asked Lord Marak.

“As you suspected,” affirmed Fisher. “Only the numbers are worse than you imagined. Lord Sevrin has pulled troops out of each of the other four Ragatha estates. He is leaving his estates defenseless. He plans to leave little chance for any Fardale victory.”

“But there has been no provocation,” pondered Lord Marak.

“I think the troops were already moving when Lord Zawbry spoke with you,” guessed Fisher. “Lord Sevrin is probably unaware that there has been no provocation, or he plans on there being one before he arrives with his troops.”

“I wonder if Lord Ridak will come to our aid?” quizzed Lord Marak. “If Lord Sevrin’s men attack from the West, he could be caught between Lord Ridak’s forces and ours.”

“I did stop by there on my way back,” reported Fisher. “I don’t know if he will help, but Lord Marshal Grefon was not there. He has not been seen since he left to meet with the emissary, although nobody was concerned about his absence.”

“The fact that he has not returned would greaten the possibility of Lord Ridak helping,” stated Lord Marak.

“Lord Ridak might offer to help and then let you die,” reminded Fisher. “You did not exactly send Grefon off happy.”

“True,” admitted Lord Marak, “but if Lord Ridak refuses, Fardale will no longer be a Situ estate. He will either lose it to the Ragatha or he will lose it to me.”

“You can not just keep Fardale for yourself,” protested Fisher. “He may have given you control of it to run as you see fit, but he is still entitled to a share of the profits. If you try to take that away from him, he’ll crush you quicker than the Ragatha and he’ll have the support of the Lords Council in doing it.”

“I will plan my battle without his help,” insisted Lord Marak, “but he will still be asked to help defend Fardale. If he refuses, I will take Fardale for my own.”

“Even with the Sorgan and Litari Clans, you can not hope to defeat the Ragatha,” ventured Fisher. “If, for some reason, you did win, the same army could not turn around and defend against the Situ Clan. You have too much promise for Khadora to throw your life away, not to mention the lives of all your followers.”

“I will throw nothing away, Fisher,” declared Lord Marak. “The Ragatha are coming no matter what I do. I must plan on defeating them. Lord Ridak will have to wait his turn unless he helps defeat the enemies of Fardale. How much time do we have before Lord Sevrin gets here?”

“He has to go around both Glendale and Watula Valley,” explained Fisher. “He has been on the march for a week already, so he will be here within the week. That is not much time to prepare your defenses. You must finish harvesting your crop in case they try to destroy it.”

“Yes,” sighed Lord Marak. “There is much to do and little time to do it. I want you to keep me posted on the Ragatha Army. I must know when they are going to attack.”