A Kingdom Falls (The Mancer Trilogy Book 1) (10 page)

***

Tania Stone strode down the palace corridor as if she owned it.  A bright smile danced on her lips as she walked.  The plan was going well.  Soon, the Twin Kingdoms would fall and the land plunged into anarchy.  Then, with the Church destroyed (the Church was Alicia Saunt’s problem), she, Tania Stone would own this palace and all the minions that called it home.

Tania laughed out loud.  People in the corridor turned to look at her as they continued to walk past her.  Tania placed a hand over her mouth, as her eyes grew wide in fake shock at what she had done.  “Sorry,” she murmured, “sorry.”

It took her another ten minutes to make her way to the palace guest rooms.  Opening the door to her room, she called out, “Hi, honey!  I’m home.”

A man dressed only in trousers walked in from the bedroom.  He was tall, powerfully built, bronzed, with piercing green eyes and raven-dark hair.

“Ah, Plaything, there you are.”

“I am, Mistress.”

“As am I, Tania,” a female voice added, as a woman appeared from the bedroom, adjusting her red robe.

“Ah, Maria,” said Tania, “I see you have been making yourself… at home in my absence.”

Maria Clough glanced at the man before her with a wicked smile and a raised eyebrow.  “I have partaken of your… hospitality.”

Tania walked over and ran a finger along Plaything’s rock hard abs. “Yes, well, my hospitality is quite impressive; however, we must take care of business first.  Wine?”

“Please,” replied Maria.

“Plaything, wine!  We will be on the balcony.”  Tania turned to Maria.  “Shall we?”

“Let’s.”

Both women made their way to the balcony and the small table with two chairs that it contained.  Sitting, both looked out across the spectacular views.  “I will enjoy living here,” stated Tania.  “It is a very tranquil place.”

“I never took you for someone who enjoys tranquillity.”

“Sometimes you need to just sit back and relax.”

Plaything arrived and placed two full glasses of wine on the table.  Turning without a word, he went back into the room.  Banker Maria Clough picked up her glass of wine and took a sip.  “There will be very little time to relax in the future.”

“I agree, but imagine the pleasure palace that this place could become.”

Maria tasted her wine as she silently thought about Tania’s idea.  Finally, she said, “There are huge possibilities.”

“There are,” agreed Tania, “but, alas, we need to discuss more current and practical matters.”  She drank from her glass before continuing, “How goes it in the east?”

Maria answered, “Our forces are continuing to target food reserves and livestock.  The idea of dressing up in wolf pelts and bearskins has worked a treat.  When attacking at dusk or dark, the simple farming folk believe it is the Dev’ver that are attacking them and, if they do manage to kill one of our men, they say that the monsters have returned to their human shape in death.”

Tania gave a light dismissive laugh.  “The fools.”

“Do you want to hear something even more amusing?” asked Maria.

“Go on.”

“The idiot Craktoneons are slaughtering the real Dev’ver!”

“You jest, Maria!”

“No, I don’t,” laughed Clough.

“Oh, that is priceless.”

“I know,” grinned Maria.  “The only people that might have a chance of thwarting our plans and the radical Church are slaughtering them.”

“So, tell me, how are you managing that?”

“Oh, it’s fairly easy.  Our Lord Gideon Sandhu, who can detect the presence of a werewolf with ease, establishes that a werewolf is present in an area.  We then attack the village or farms in disguise, before vanishing and letting the peasants do the work for us by calling in the Craktoneons.”

“That does amuse me,” giggled Tania.  “However, what if there are no werewolves?”

“Oh, that is easy.  We attack anyway, and the Church has to investigate, hence, spreading its resources thinner and thinner.  How about your plans?” asked Maria, playing with the stem of her glass.

“It is on track.  I will continue placing pressure on the Queen, via Rab Cregg, to pay their monthly instalments, which, of course, will go up, as they are bad debtors.  In order to pay the instalments, they will have to raise taxes, which is never a good idea in the winter or spring –”

“True,” added Maria.

“- as it impacts badly on the people of the kingdom; hence some will rebel against the tyrant Queen and, if we are lucky, Reif Rothgal will increase his campaign for the return of Mortonland.  In short, by the end of spring, the entire Twin Kingdoms will be ready to explode into anarchy and chaos, just in time for the return of the Midnight Man.”

“Do you truly believe that His time will be soon?” asked Maria, placing her glass down on the table.  “Could we possibly be only months away from His return?”

Tania carefully echoed Maria’s action before staring fanatically into Maria’s eyes.  “The signs are all there.  Lady Joanna Harris is ready.  We have found the dead father.  The Brethren of the Night are stronger than they have ever been.”  Insanity burned bright in Tania’s eyes as she said, “
The Midnight Man will cometh
.”

Caught up in the madness of Tania, Maria almost screamed, “-
and this world will
tremble
!”

“
Blessed be the day
!” intoned Tania.

“-
for He shall bring His light to all
.”

“-
and the unbelievers will burn
.”

“-
and the land shall be awash with pleasure and pain
!”  Maria gripped the edge of the table.

“
The Midnight Man cometh
,” Tania said, her eyes ablaze with devotion

“
The Midnight Man cometh
,” Maria responded with a wickedly dangerous smile.

“-
and nothing will stop Him
!”

“-for He lives in us ALL
!”

Both women looked at each other for a couple of seconds before bursting out in manic laughter.  Both leaned forward and picked up their glasses.  Tania raised hers in salute.  “To the two most enjoyable things on this earth.”

“Pleasure and pain,” finished Maria.

“Pleasure and pain,” agreed Tania.

***

Rab pinched the bridge his nose and fought back against the tears that threatened to fill his eyes.  Shaking his head, he scolded himself, “Don’t be such an idiot.  Be a man.”

A sad smile flitted across his lips.  The kingdom was heavily in debt, due to war and the rebuilding effort; however, it was keeping on top of the repayments to the Red Bank until the bandit attacks, the poor harvests, the thefts from the royal treasury and, of course, the increasing costs of hiring guards and men-at-arms to guard… to guard... well, everything.

Rubbing his face with both hands, Rab stood slowly and took three deep breaths.  If he did not know better, he could have sworn that Banker Tania Stone and the Red Bank was trying to bankrupt the Twin Kingdoms, but what good would that do?  They would lose huge amounts of money and the anarchy that would follow would not be good for business.  Only a mad man would want that.

Leaving the room and walking like a condemned man, Rab Cregg made his way towards the Queen’s private quarters.

***

Tania stretched on her chair as the dying light cast strange shadows over the lake and the mountains.  Maria Clough had left an hour ago to return to her own quarters, before setting off at dawn to return to the Twin Kingdoms.

It was getting very cold now, which annoyed her, as it meant she had to return inside.  Standing, Tania took one last look at the view.  “Mine.”  She smiled before turning and walking indoors.

Upon entering the room, she saw that Plaything was still only half-dressed.  Unable to stop, she gazed on his perfect torso and arms.  Maybe she needed to do something to warm herself up against the cold of the night?

Walking over to Plaything, she whispered, “
Stay
,” before disappearing into the bedroom.  When she returned, she was gently tapping her leg with a riding crop held in her hand.  Sauntering over to stand before Plaything, Tania absentmindedly ran the tip of the crop over his chest.  “Mmm,” she purred.  She drew back the crop and looked deep into Plaything’s eyes before hitting him hard with the riding crop.  Plaything did not wince nor blink.  His green eyes continued to stare into her hazel ones.  “Do you like pain, Toy?  Do you like to be hurt?”

Plaything remained quiet.

“Oh, I do love the strong silent type,” Tania said as she suddenly made to slash across Plaything’s face with the crop.  His hand shot out, faster than humanly possible, and grasped the crop, stopping it from hitting him.

“Let’s not forget dominant,” laughed Tania as she stepped backwards, tugging the crop from Plaything’s hand.  “What is a girl to do with a tall, silent, and dominant male?  Mmm, well, I have a few ideas…”

***

Rab nodded at Captain Philips as he approached the entrance to the Queen’s private apartments.

“Are you ok?” asked Philips.

“No,” replied Rab, before asking, “Is she in?”

“Yes.”

“I need to see her, urgently.”

Captain Philips narrowed his eyes and looked hard at Rab, as if trying to see what was going on in his head.  Finally, he said, “Enter.”

Rab nodded, took a deep breath, and opened the door.  Inside, Queen Rebecca Rothgal was sitting at her writing desk, going through her daily correspondence with her Chamberlain, Marc Aslo, whilst William was lounging in a chair, staring into space.

As Rab stepped through the door, William slowly turned his gaze upon him and said, “It did not go well, then?”

“No.”

Rebecca turned in her chair and looked at the despondent Rab.  “That bad?”

“Worse.”  Rab entered the room, shaking his head.  “It does not make any sense.  Why would the Red Bank want to push so hard against us?”

“Sit and tell us all,” said Chamberlain Aslo.

Rab Cregg slumped into a chair next to William.  “She did not accept our offer.  She hardly even listened.  It’s as if she wants to destroy us.”

“Surely…” began Rebecca.

“There is no ‘surely’, Rebecca.”  Anger started to creep into Rab’s voice.  “We either pay up or the Red Bank will demand assets equivalent to what we owe them plus interest.”  Rab rubbed his brow.  “I apologise, your Majesty; my tone was uncalled for.”

“It’s ok, Rab.”

“NO!  No, it’s not.”  Rab fought against the tears in his eyes.

“Rab?” queried Rebecca.

“Nothing.”  Rab cleared his throat.  “Just angry, that’s all.  Just angry.”

“Ok.”  Rebecca gave Rab a hard look before turning to the room.  “Right, any ideas?”

“We refuse to pay,” said William.

“That’s a no-go, unfortunately,” said Chamberlain Aslo.

“Why?” asked William.

“Short version of a complicated answer?”

“Would be preferred,” responded William.

“If we do, other countries will refuse to trade with us.  Certain organisations will ban our merchants.  In the worst case scenario, there might even be hostilities – hostilities the Red Bank would fund.”

“We will fight.”

“This land and its people cannot take another war,” interrupted Rebecca.  “After ten years, we still have not fully recovered from the last one.  No, we do not fight.”

“Then what do we do?” asked William.

“We only really have one choice.”

“But it is a bad one,” Chamberlain Aslo said, sadly.

“What choice do we have left?” asked Rebecca.

“Raising taxes will be damaging,” said Rab.

“I know, but it’s the only option we have.”  Rebecca closed her eyes and took a deep sad breath.

“There must be options!” declared Rab.  “There must be something we have not thought of.”

“Is there a secret horde of Dev’ver gold that William knows about?” asked Chamberlain Aslo, hopefully.

“No,” growled William as he stood up.  “Your Majesty, with your permission, I feel the need to stand on the balcony.  I will be of no use in the upcoming debate.”

“Is there nothing you can add?” asked Rebecca.

“No.”