“New economies, Jurabin? Is that all that can be done?”
“That is all, Sire, until the Meeting of the Principalities.”
“Ah, yes, the meeting. The meeting to which we have just received yet another cancellation. Jurabin, if the meeting is to take place, the Princes and Deputies ought to begin arriving within the week.”
“Perhaps, Sire,” said Jurabin; who, while he seemed mildly startled at His Majesty’s sudden interest in matters of policy, did not appear unduly concerned about the presence or absence of the Princes and Deputies.
His Majesty shifted impatiently. “Will you deny, in any case, that this rash of cancellations has the smell of conspiracy?”
Jurabin cocked his head. “There is a certain fragrance, Sire, but sometimes we think someone is cooking fish, when, in fact, we are only near the ocean.”
“I usually know when I’m at the shore, Jurabin,” said His Majesty.
“How is that, Sire?”
“Because my feet are wet.”
Jurabin bowed at this witticism His Majesty did him the honor to share, and said, “Well, then, Sire, are your feet wet?”
“If there is a conspiracy around me, Jurabin,” said the Emperor, “I am unable to see it.”
“It is not, perhaps, a conspiracy, Sire,” said the Prime Minister, “either around us here, or among the Princes.”
“It is not?”
“Perhaps not.”
“Then, you are saying that perhaps it is?”
“That is not precisely my meaning either, Sire.”
“Well then,” said the Emperor, “What is your meaning?”
“To speak plainly—”
“The Gods!” His Majesty burst out. “It is nearly time for you to do so!”
“I believe that many of the Deputies are, quite simply, afraid to appear.”
“Afraid?” cried the Emperor. “How, Sennya, a Dzurlord, afraid?”
Jurabin shrugged. “The Dzur are brave enough when faced with battle, Sire; many of them have no special courage to face less tangible dangers—especially dangers they do not comprehend.”
“Less tangible dangers? Come, tell me what you mean. Are they afraid of me, do you think?”
“Not you, Sire; rather, of each other.”
“Jurabin, I confess that I am as confused as ever.”
“Shall I explain?”
“Shards and splinters, it is an hour since I asked for anything else!”
“Well, then, this is how I see it.”
“Go on. You perceive that you have my full attention.”
“Sire, the Princes have been called, as is the custom, to determine the Imperial Allowance for the next phase, which begins in less than fifty years.”
“I prefer,” said the Emperor, “to refer to it as the Imperial Tax.”
“As you wish,” said Jurabin. “Though it can hardly be considered a tax, when, unlike the other Imperial Taxes, the Houses set their own portions, from a total amount which is, by law, determined by the Empire.”
“Nevertheless, the term ‘allowance’ offends me.”
“Very well, Sire. To continue, under Imperial Law, dating from the Sixth Cycle, the Princes will meet and come to some agreement about the portion each House must pay.”
“Yes, yes, I understand that. Go on.”
Jurabin cleared his throat and continued. “Yes, Sire. The issue, just at the moment, is difficult for the Princes.”
“That’s just it, Jurabin; what makes it so? Or, rather, what makes it more difficult than usual?”
“Well, in the first place, there is the House of the Dragon, which demands that its entire portion be waived, to offset the expenses of raising armies.”
“Raising armies? For what reason do they raise armies?”
“There are encroachments of Easterners in the South, Sire. In addition, there are Teckla rebellions threatening in several western duchies. We have received petitions for Imperial aid from the Duke of Atwater, the Duke of Lonerock, the Duchess of Greatworks, the—”
“Well, but I had thought we had made peace with the Easterners.”
“Sire, there are many Easterners, and they do not all speak with each other, nor do they adhere to each others’ treaties. The agreement Your Majesty had of the kingdom east of the Pepperfields at the beginning of Your Majesty’s reign still holds, but there are others—”
“Hmmph. A sloppy way to do things, it seems to me. They should be brought under a single banner.”
“That, Sire, is what the House of the Dragon, through its Heir, Eastmanswatch, is proposing.”
“How, Eastmanswatch is behind this?”
“According to my sources, Sire—”
“You mean your spies?”
Jurabin shrugged. “It seems that the Duke opposes such an action, but nevertheless brings it forward on behalf of his House, which favors it.”
His Majesty shook his head, as if refusing to consider the internal politics of the House of the Dragon. “Well,” he said, “and the Teckla? Has their House been asked about these uprisings, and warned that the Heir of the House may, under law, be held accountable?”
“They pretend, Sire, to be unable to meet the demands placed upon them, due to crop shortages, caused by general climate changes in the West over the last two hundred years, which has led to thirty or forty seasons of drought, which trend is expected to last well into the next phase. This same drought has caused their demand for a lessening in the payments they make to their landlords, and has also led to numerous uprisings, which seem to be continuing, perhaps even increasing.”
“Drought? Haven’t we sorcerers for that sort of thing?”
“The cost, Sire—”
“Ah, yes, the cost. Well, what of the cost?”
“The House of the Athyra has claimed that, should they call up the required sorcery, they would be unable to pay their portion.”
“They have said this?”
“Yes, Sire, through their Heir, Tropyr.”
“Well, that hardly seems unreasonable.”
“Yes, Sire.”
“And as for the lessening of the payments, can’t this be done in an equitable manner?”
“Sire, most of those affected are of the Houses of the Jhegaala and the Lyorn, and the matter has been taken up by the lorich, to study the legalities. But, as an Imperial matter, naturally the lorich charge heavily for their services, and—”
“The Gods!”
“Yes, Sire. Especially as the Vallista are adamant on maintaining the full payments—”
“The Vallista?”
“Yes, Sire, most of the mines in the North are owned by Vallista, and they depend on trade with the West to feed the laborers, who have been growing restive, due to short rations. This has resulted in lower production, which, in turn, reduces the amount of shipping, so the House of the Orca is claiming
extreme poverty among many of its nobles, and will have a great deal of trouble in contributing to the Imperial Allow—Tax.”
“I see.”
“Moreover—”
“How, there is more?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Go on.”
“Various of the poorer Houses have banded together, to prevent the more powerful Houses from taking advantage of them.”
“It is always thus.”
“Yes, Sire. In this case, the Tiassa and the Jhegaala have formed an alliance along with the Dzur and the Iorich, while the Hawk, Tsalmoth, Jhereg and Issola are supporting the Orca and the Lyorn. The Teckla might have come to some sort of agreement with the Yendi; we are unable to be certain—one never knows what the Yendi are doing.”
“Well?”
“It is very confusing, Sire, but it seems the alliances are shifting a great deal, and everyone is trying to guess who will be forced to pay heavily, who will be able to escape paying heavily, and whether the Imperial Treasury will, in fact, be able to operate at all.”
“I see.”
His Majesty fell silent for a moment, then said, “These alliances—”
“Yes, Sire?”
“Can we break them up?”
“We have been trying to do so, Sire.”
“With what results?”
Jurabin made a slight shift in his chair—almost his first movement of any kind since they had begun speaking. The Emperor was aware that this indicated that the Prime Minister was somewhat unsure of himself. “Sire—”
“Yes?”
“The alliances have been increasingly unstable, in part due to our efforts.”
“Well?”
“The result is none of the parties are strong enough to stand against your will.”
“That is good, I think.”
“Yes, Sire. But it also means that many of the Princes and Deputies will be unable to avoid offending the Empire, or their own party, and in some cases, however things go, they will be certain to offend both.”
“I see.”
“And that is why many of them, either from fear or confusion, have been backing out of the meeting.”
“I see.”
His Majesty thought over all that he had heard. At last he said, “You ought to have brought these things to my attention years ago, Jurabin.”
“I’m sorry, Sire, if I have erred. But—”
“But nothing! I would have settled it at once.”
“How,” said Jurabin, frowning. “Settled it?”
“Exactly.”
“And, if I may be permitted the honor of asking a question—”
“You may.”
“How would Your Majesty have settled it?”
“In the simplest manner, Jurabin. I would have commanded the Athyra to bring out their best sorcerers, and to solve this drought before it reached this stage.”
“But, Sire, the cost—”
“Is nothing compared to the cost of ignoring the problem, Jurabin. With the drought removed—”
“So is the largest source of revenue for the Empire, Sire.”
“The largest?”
“Yes, Sire. If Your Majesty had commanded them to bring the weather to heel, they would have been within their rights to refuse Your Majesty any contribution whatsoever, and, moreover, they would have done so. We then would have no funds for the Imperial Army, and would have to demand mercenaries to defend the eastern borders.”
“But the House of the Dragon could pay heavily.”
“Indeed they could, Sire, but they would not do so.”
“They would not? Why would they not?”
“Because, Sire, if the House of the Athyra was not forced to pay, because they had provided services to the Empire, the House of the Dragon would demand the same right, and justly, too. If they didn’t, the Athyra would gain economic power over them, and those two Houses are ever struggling with one another for much of the same land in the Northeast.”
“And yet, there ought to be some money left in the Imperial Treasury.”
“Very little, Sire. We will, by budgeting carefully, be able to survive to the end of the phase, until the new taxes are prepared, but—”
“But where has the money gone, Jurabin? I know that by the time wheat has been harvested and turned into flour, and the flour reaches the market, it has already been taxed four times, and—”
“Five times, Sire.”
“—There has been no large war—”
“No large war, Sire? The war with Elde Island was not large?”
“Jurabin, it lasted a mere five years, and if our casualties were more than ten thousand, someone has deceived me. And, moreover, we won.”
“Sire, there is no more expensive war than one fought on the sea, for each time we lose even a skirmish, at least one ship has been taken or sunk, and the smallest frigate in the fleet cannot be replaced for less than ten thousands of imperials. And in the Battle of Redsky Harbor alone we lost eleven frigates and two ships of the line, and we won that battle.”
His Majesty paused to consider these statistics, then said, “But the War Tax should have seen to those expenses.”
“Sire, that tax was necessary to raise money to prosecute the war, and there was little time to raise it, so we sold Bills of Taxation to speculators, mostly Phoenix and Dragons, who still own those Bills.”
“Still? Well, we shall take them back, and use them to raise taxes for the Empire.”
“Take, Sire? Your Majesty would invite civil war?”
“Well, then, we shall buy them back.”
“With what, Sire? The least of them is worth twenty thousands of imperials.”
“The Gods! Perhaps that war was a mistake, Jurabin.”
“A mistake, Sire? But without it, the pirates of Elde Island would have utterly prevented our trade with Greenaere, Holcomb, and Landsight, which would have bankrupted the House of the Orca.”
“Oh, the Orca!” said his Majesty scornfully.