Hidden Ability (Book 1) (13 page)

Darla brings up even more items Jalan will need including a field chest to carry his personal effects on campaign, provisions that he will be required to purchase for himself and any extra he might wish to share with his men. If he wants something more than the common issue tent, as most captains do, he’ll have to buy it. Jalan’s head begins to swim with all the details, but Darla simply makes a list containing each item they discuss and does not appear alarmed in the least by its ever increasing length. When she caps it off with 50 golds for a fine war horse, Jalan begins to have trouble breathing.

“But, my pay is only 2 silvers a day,” protests Jalan. “It would take...”

“500 days,” says Darla

“What?”

“It would take 500 days for you to earn 50 gold,” says Darla. She looks up from the list she is writing. Her eyes widen and in a voice of concern she says, “Jalan? What’s wrong?”

“500 days,” says Jalan. “That’s, that’s, well, almost two years!”

“Close to one and one half. But, why does that trouble you so?”

“How will I ever have enough money for all this?”

Darla sits back in her chair and blinks a couple of times. “I see. Mother never discussed money with you did she?”

“No,” says Jalan.

“So you don’t know anything about the house finances?”

“Ah, no. I though you and mother took care of it.”

Lady Darla closes her eyes and begins to massage her forehead with the fingertips of her left hand. It is a familiar gesture that Jalan remembers from several childhood lectures on behavior. The feeling that he is in trouble again settles over him, only he cannot think of anything he has done wrong this time.

Darla sets her hands in her lap, takes a deep breath and slowly exhales, and then opens her eyes. “I don’t have time to explain it now, but you have the money. Anything you earn as a captain you can spend or set aside as you wish. I’ll arrange to have your captain’s pay held back in the family accounts. You need to take this list and speak to the quartermaster. Anything he cannot supply you will have to find. I suggest you trade with one of the crafters or any of the merchants that now frequent the estate. Have them apply to Jacey for payment. You may meet with her to verify the purchases. If you want to buy anything more expensive than the war horse, see me first.”

That is definitely Darla’s behavior lecture voice, but Jalan feels relief rather than chastisement. He is curious as to how he could possibly have money. However, the meeting has taken so long he has no time to ask questions and Darla has no time to answer them. He thanks her, takes the list, and leaves wondering how he will ever find time to acquire everything on it.

As he crosses the parlor on his way toward the hallway door he hears a man say, “Finally!” from somewhere behind him. “I can’t believe I was kept waiting because of some boy.”

Jalan begins to turn around. He is not certain if he is upset or feeling guilty. At the very least he wants to see the man speaking.

“That is Captain Jalan Yen, sir,” says Jacey in a matter of fact tone that gives up nothing to Darla’s lecture voice. She stands and walks around the desk to place herself directly between the man and the door to the Business Room. “He is a lancer officer and a member of the Yen family. You will take this opportunity to apologize to him or we can reschedule your appointment with his sister for a time when you are more contrite.”

Somebody’s in trouble.
Jalan is greatly relieved that it is not him. He watches the man step back from Jacey. The man turns toward Jalan, straightens his short gray dress jacket and runs his hand through his equally gray hair.

“I sincerely apologize for my outburst. I have allowed my impatience to get the better of me. I hope that a young gentleman of your obvious quality will grace a foolish merchant, for such I am, with, if not your forgiveness, then your forbearance. I am truly deeply sorry for any insult I have given you.”

“You’re a merchant?” says Jalan.

“Yes,” says the gray man.

“What do you sell?”

“All number of things. I am here to offer my services as a supplier to the lancers, captain.”

Holding out his list, Jalan asks, “Can you supply these things?”

The gray man takes the paper and scans the list. “Why, yes. Our caravan has all this and more.”

“I need to buy those things.”

“I am sure we can settle on a fair price, captain.”

“Then I forgive you,” says Jalan.

Δ

All five lancers have reported to Sergeant Sedic by the time Jalan returns. Jalan passed through the manor’s kitchens on his return trip. He is just finishing an apple he was eating during his walk back. He also ate a thick slice of bread and a small cheese wedge. He drank water from the well when he passed it on his way. Feeling refreshed, Jalan is now ready to inspect his men.

Jalan tells Sedic to have the men form a line. The first in line is Serks. The lancers do not take anyone in until they are 15. Serks is 16 and a former stable boy that knows how to care for his horse and tack. He is a good shot, but even without Darla’s special assignment Sedic thought Jalan would get Serks because the other captains would pick older, more experienced lancers. Even though Serks was no taller than Jalan he was clearly more heavily built and more muscular.

The next man in line is Miltrip who stands head and shoulders taller than Serks and is four years his senior. Sedic claims Miltrip is an all-around good lancer, equally skilled with the bow, sword and lance. Jalan hopes that Miltrip is a good leader and able to handle his own fist. He holds that same hope for all five of his lancers. If he can assign four recruits to each of them it will give him more tactical and training options.

Harna stands next to Miltrip and is nearly as tall. He is 19, a year younger than Miltrip. Lancer training has made them both strong. They could easily be mistaken for brothers except that Harna’s hooked nose and prominent brow ruin the imagined resemblance. Before joining the lancers, Harna did whatever work he could get in Falloak. Sedic praised Harna’s ability with a knife. Jalan knows that makes Harna a dangerous opponent in close quarters. Sedic and Harna should be able to assist anyone in Jalan’s company that needs to improve their knife work.

Forth in line is Reest. Not as tall as Miltrip and Harna, he is still at least a head taller than Serks. Sedic told Jalan that Reest is the son of a lancer captain with House Olin. Reest does not talk about his father or family and has never explained why he is not a lancer with House Olin. It does not matter to Jalan. Whatever secrets Reest has, he is welcome to keep. Jalan has enough of his own. Like Miltrip, Reest is a balanced fighter with good skills. Sedic called him disciplined and said he gets along well with the other men.

Dost is the last man in line. He is nearly as old as Sedic and has the look of a veteran lancer. He stands straight and relaxed as though there is nothing else in the world that needs doing except following the next order. Confidence seems to surround him like a cloak. Jalan is glad to have him because he knows Dost and Sedic have the experience he lacks. He hopes to rely on their judgment to keep him out of trouble.

“Lancers!” says Jalan, “I learned today that there are many items a soldier requires. Rather than drill during the daylight remaining, you will all spend the next hour sorting your belongings for inspection at Barracks Three. I do not know when we will be sent into the field, but it could be at any time. We are going to be ready. Any equipment that needs attention gets it. Anything we have to acquire will be found. You five lancers are the experienced core of the company. When the recruits want to know how things are done, I expect you five to be their best example. Let’s get squared away. Dismissed.”

Sergeant Sedic and Captain Jalan go to the Officers’ Workroom in Barracks Three. Jacey made a copy of Jalan’s equipment list before he left the parlor. She kept the original in order to negotiate prices with Trader Grom, the gray haired merchant. Jalan and Sedic study the copy and create a second list of standard items each lancer in Jalan’s copy must have. Some things never included in Jalan’s original list, such as weapons, are added to the standard lancer equipment list and others are left off or modified as appropriate. They number each item on the list. At the end of the hour, they start the inspection.

Jalan starts with the condition of uniforms, boots and small clothes. Weapons are next. Each man has a good curved saber for fighting from horseback. Dost also has a short sword, a longsword, two daggers and two stout recurved short bows. All the others are similar but each tends to have an item less or more. Each man’s armor is checked to verify the condition of the metal, leather and bindings. After the larger items are inspected, Sedic and Jalan look at mess kits, water skins, tinder boxes, bedding. Anything lacking is noted by writing the item’s number from the list next to the lancer’s name on a new sheet of paper.

The inspection continues until Sedic declares, “We’re done. That’s everything from boots to bowstrings.” The captain and sergeant return to the Officer’s Workroom and compile a written list of items Jalan will take to Quartermaster Chander tomorrow morning. Sedic will have the men prepare their horses and all related items for inspection. Once the equine inspection is over, the lancers will take their various items that require repair to the appropriate craftsmen. In the afternoon, Jalan plans to have the men drill at the practice fields where he anticipates new recruits will begin to report for duty. With the schedule for tomorrow complete, Sedic heads for his pallet in the barracks and Jalan returns to his room in Yen Manor.

Once he lies down, Jalan starts to worry about all the things that need to be done the next day. He tries to stop thinking about it, but that only makes him think about a list of things that he does not want to think about. His mind seems to gallop from one thing to the next despite Jalan’s desire for it to stop. His mental wild ride even takes him to thoughts of things he has forgotten, such as the need to return to Mistress Treana’s and pick up his new clothes. Jalan’s frustration rises. He wants to sleep but cannot stop his worries.

How, he asks himself, is it possible to be thinking when he does not want to do it? If he walks, or jumps or runs, he has to decide to do those actions. But, thinking seems to happen without regard to Jalan’s choices.
Maybe it is more like falling?
When he falls, Jalan knows that he wants to tense his muscles because he is probably going to fall into something. But, he has learned that tensing up is part of panicking. The better action is to relax and stay aware of what is happening. Falling is something he watches happen as he considers what he will do when the fall ends. He might still collide with something, but he might be able to prepare and reduce his chance of injury. But falling is still something that happens whether Jalan wants it or not. There is still something happening to him that he cannot control.

Maybe I can just watch the thinking happen, like watching a horse run.
A horse can run without a rider. Jalan imagines stepping back and watching his thoughts run past. He relaxes and lets them run. He doesn’t have to tense up and he does not have to ride the horse and worry about where it is taking him. Thought after thought, like lifelike paintings, move through Jalan’s inner vision. As soon as one leaves another arrives. Jalan falls asleep while watching them flow past.

Δ

The next two days are a mix of sorting out issues with new recruits, chasing down supplies, working with Sedic, meeting with Lieutenant Goss and approving the prices of everything on Jalan’s personal supply list. Jacey negotiates with Trader Grom. Jalan’s approval is limited to Jacey telling him the prices. He is fine with whatever she agrees to pay. Jacey has taken care of one of his biggest concerns. And, it is pleasant to see her too.

On the morning of the third day he meets with Darla who explains that Jalan has a personal account with House Yen. Although Jalan rarely gives it a thought, he is the heir apparent to the throne of Ojmara. His birth parents, whom he has never met, send him an annual royal stipend.

“I still find it difficult to believe mother never told you. When I asked her why she said the time was never right.” Darla shrugs and says, “Apparently, the time is now right, though I would say it is long past. I was 9 when mother and father starting teaching me about the accounts. It seems so ordinary a thing. I never considered that any of the other children would not know.”

Jalan had not known. He wonders what else his mother has not told him. She wants to protect him, but how does withholding things from him protect him? Unsure what to say, Jalan asks the most obvious question. “How much is the annual stipend?”

“Over three times your pay as a lancer captain. 100 golds. A princely sum, in the most literal sense,” says Darla with a little crooked smile.

“I’m 13. Does that mean I have 1300 golds?”

“More actually. There is your family stipend too, 10 golds. A much smaller amount, but more than the average man could hope to earn in a year,” says Darla.

“I have 1430 golds?” says Jalan. He never expected to hear himself say such a thing. Is it possible he is dreaming or not understanding what Darla has told him?

Darla reaches toward him and says, “I am sorry you did not know about this. At least it is a pleasant surprise, I trust.”

Is it?
Jalan is not sure and then it strikes him that having the money certainly helps in his present situation. He never needed to worry about his uniforms and supplies. He even has extra that he can spend on his men. A new idea occurs to him. “May I have some of the coins?”

“You certainly may. However, you did ask for my help with your finances and I would like to discuss any expenditure you wish to make?”

“Expenditer?” asks Jalan as he tries to repeat the unfamiliar word.

“Any use of the money,” says Darla. “Expenditure.”

“I need a few coins to offer as prizes for my men. I want to have a competition. I think they will try harder if they can win a prize.”

Darla looks puzzled. “What type of competition?”