Two Heirs (The Marmoros Trilogy Book 1) (48 page)

“There is one other problem, your highness. The panelling still contains the crest of the traitor
Darstan who betrayed the Lyenar to Krantos.”

Jeren’s face darkened as his eyes flicked along the walls to find the offending crest with a wide, empty space on the bench beneath.

“That I will not tolerate. Lord Meriden, you are charged to have that panel removed before we re-enter this room tomorrow. And while you’re about it, have the panel of the traitor Gaelan removed as well.”

“I will see to it, your highness.”

Jeren switched his attention back to the line of elderly warriors standing before him.

“So you are the administrators of the city. Who is the senior amongst you?”

Several of them exchanged glances before one of them spoke. “My name is Mandal, your highness. I am responsible for the maintenance and running of the palace.”

“All right, Mandal, I would have expected more people to be involved in running the city. Where are they?”

“Many of them rode out with Lord Kraxis, your highness. I doubt that they will be returning.”

“And you men, do you wish to leave the city?”

Looks were again exchanged up and down the line with much shaking of heads.

“At our age, your highness, we have nowhere else to go. We throw ourselves on your mercy.”

“Good,” Jeren nodded. “In the interests of ensuring a smooth transition of power within the city, I will require all of you to remain in your posts, at least in the short term. Over the next few days and weeks, people will be appointed to assist you in those roles. At that time, you may, if you wish, retire with honour. Is that agreed?”

“We accept, your highness.”

“Excellent. There is, however, going to be a major point of contention over the next few weeks. Nobody, least of all yourselves, is going to be forced to leave the city if they do not wish to
go but many of the houses within the walls are the ancestral homes of families who will be returning to reclaim them. There will be a lot of internal displacement and many people will have to find alternative accommodation.”

“We understand, your highness and we will help in whatever way we can. There is, at the moment, a considerable amount of unoccupied property in some of the less popular areas of the city.”

“Thank you. That will be all for now. Please return here tomorrow morning.”

The officials bowed once more and backed away before turning to leave the room.

“Right, my lords. Come forward please. You all heard what I said to the officials. Appointments to the various posts will be made by myself but if you wish to put yourselves forward or recommend somebody for a particular post, then you are welcome to do so.

“Now the gates are sealed for tonight.” Jeren looked at David who nodded. “No families will be allowed in before tomorrow morning.”

There was some muttering at that but Jeren held his hand up for silence.

“When we let the families in tomorrow there will be a mad scramble for the best properties and we have to be prepared for that. There will be a panel of four councillors appointed to resolve property disputes. The panel will meet twice a day with the members being changed between each session on a rota basis. I expect each and every one of you to take your turn on this panel. Disputes between councillors or their immediate families will be resolved by myself or Lady Falaise. Everything else will be dealt with by the panel. Is that clear?”

“It seems a bit heavy handed, your highness,” Grekan said. “I’m not sure a panel is necessary for this.”

“Lord Grekan, I have just witnessed a group of noble, respected lords, bickering over seats on the benches of this chamber. Tomorrow it will be houses within the walls of the city. Within a few days it will be fields, orchards and pastures up and down the valley. Do you really believe there will be no disputes?”

Several of the councillors looked a little shamefaced at that and there was some shuffling of feet before Grekan replied. “It will be as you direct, your highness. I will draw up the rota myself.”

“Thank you, my lords. And now, if there is nothing further, Perhaps our guests will show Lady Falaise and myself a little more of the palace.”

“There is one thing, your highness,” Meriden said. The council have discussed this in your absence and have asked me to propose it now.”

Jeren settled back onto the throne. “Go on.”

“The people are very happy tonight out in the valley. You have lead them back to Marmoros. Tomorrow, when they enter the city, there will be jubilation which will last for several days. But it won’t last forever. We have brought some supplies of food with us but I do not have high hopes of the storerooms in the city and I fear it will be a hard winter for our people.

“We propose, in say a month’s time, to hold a celebration, to distract them from some of the harsher realities.”

“An excellent suggestion, my lords.
To celebrate our return to Marmoros.”

“Well yes, that as well, your highness. But we were thinking more of your coronation.”

“My… my coronation,” Jeren spluttered as Falaise clapped her hands together and lit up the room with a smile. “But I thought there was a minor difficulty over my age.”

“It’s true there is no precedent for crowning a king so young but there is no precedent for what you have achieved either. Look where you are sitting right now.”

Jeren turned to Falaise. “Mother… I mean my lady…”

“I believe the council speak for the people on this, Jeren. Your father would be proud of you and so am I. You have given your people back their honour and now they wish to honour you.”

“Then, my lords, I will accept the honour one month from today.”

***

By dawn the next day, the queue of wagons outside the gates stretched halfway down the valley and more were joining by the minute. The councillors had been busy the previous evening, reclaiming their hereditary mansions and endeavouring to secure properties for their families and supporters. There had been a few grumbles from the incumbents of some of the houses but no serious incidents.

The councillors now were assembled inside the gates, ready to direct the traffic when Jeren and David arrived. A cheer went up from the waiting wagons as the gates were opened and the leading wagon rolled forward across the bridge. Jeren had given instructions that wagons were only allowed in to unload unless the house had a courtyard where the wagon could be stored off the street. Otherwise the empty wagons had to be taken back outside the walls to a large meadow which had been set aside for storage. Even so, some of the back streets quickly became congested with wagons unable to pass an earlier wagon that was still being unloaded.

Jeren watched the first few dozen wagons through, accepting with a smile the waves and shouts of the drivers as they passed. Then he ordered Mandal to take the senior councillors and himself on a tour of the storerooms. The rooms themselves were huge, an aspect made more evident by the fact that they were almost completely empty.

“It appears Lord Meriden’s fears about the state of the storerooms were justified,” Jeren remarked. “We have a problem.”

“I recommend that you buy in whatever food the families have brought with them and then issue it centrally,” Grekan suggested. It was a strategy that lasted only until they reached the treasury which was equally bare.

Jeren looked around in horror. “This cannot be right.”

“It probably isn’t,” David agreed. “I’m not surprised at the storerooms given the state of the fields and orchards that we passed but Kraxis has been raiding caravans all summer long. The contents of the treasury have been taken somewhere and hidden.”

“Who was in charge of the treasury?” Jeren demanded of Mandal.

“It was Lady Deribe, your highness.”

“And where exactly is Lady Deribe?”

“We don’t know, your highness,” David replied. “Jorgen searched the palace, the grounds and the surrounding buildings last night, without finding a trace. We know she didn’t go through the gate and if she went over the wall, she couldn’t cross the river to go down the valley. So she’s either hiding somewhere in the city or she’s gone into the hills behind us. I’ve sent Ash on a patrol into the hills and I’ve given Jorgen every man I can spare to do a house to house search in the city.”

“She surely can’t have taken the treasury with her.”

“No. There’s no way you can take a wagon up into the hills behind the city.”

“Well… that’s not exactly true,” Mandal said as everyone turned to stare at him. “There is a trail that leads up to the mines but it’s not very well used and not easy to find. But the contents of the treasury would have needed much more than one wagon.”

“Jaks,” David shouted.

“Here, milord.”

“Feynor’s at the city gates. Tell him to put a patrol together and meet me in the palace courtyard.”

“Take Mandal with you and find this trail,” Jeren commanded. “We have enough money to buy in some supplies but we need to find the contents of the treasury.”

Feynor was waiting for them with half a dozen men when they reached the courtyard.

“What’s the situation like at the main gates?” David asked.

“I’ve had to close them, my lord. I spoke to the councillors and they agreed we cannot let any more wagons into the city until some of the empty ones start going out. Every back street is totally blocked with wagons either unloading or waiting to get past.”

“What’s happening to the wagons still outside?”

“The councillors are out there now, directing them all onto that big meadow on the left.”

“Okay, we’ll have to leave them to it. Mandal says there’s an old mining trail leading up into the hills behind the city. We’re going to find it and see if it’s been used recently.”

They started off down one of the wide avenues, crossed the bridge at the bottom into the market square and then turned left to follow the dried-up canal. The road started again at the edge of the square and followed alongside the canal. The merchant’s houses were clustered close to the market and gradually gave way to smaller properties and finally to an area that was little more than shacks and hovels with narrow winding lanes leading off the main road.

“Slave quarters,” Mandal explained.

“How many slaves are there?” David demanded.

“I’m not sure. Over five hundred I think but some of them worked and lived in the palace and some in the big houses so it was never easy to keep a tally.”

They emerged from the slave quarter into a wide open area with patches that showed some signs of rudimentary cultivation.

“Some of the slaves like to grow their own food,” Mandal shrugged. “We let them get on with it. Otherwise we’d only have to feed them ourselves.”

“There’s no wall on this side of the city?”

Again the old man gave a shrug. “No need. There’s nothing out there but wilderness. Any attacking army would have to go a long way round, through some very unfriendly country to get behind us. And outside of the valley, the winter is murderous.”

“What about the slaves?”

“Oh every year there’s some’ll try it. They either die in the hills or come back starving. Occasionally some will make it as far as the mines and stop there, grateful to still be alive.”

Road and canal rounded a bend and the space opened up into an enormous marble quarry that had obviously been eating its way back into the surrounding hills for centuries. The canal stopped at a point where a small stream tumbled down the hillside, steam rising gently from the surface of the water. There was some seepage in the bottom of the canal here coming from what looked to be a sluice gate.

The road crossed the stream on a stone bridge and curved left into the centre of the quarry. Thirty paces beyond the bridge, the rocks came close to the right hand edge of the road and Mandal stopped and pointed to a narrow defile, just wide enough to allow a wagon to pass.

“That’s the trail up to the mines. Doesn’t get a lot of use as you can see.”

Feynor got down to examine the trail.

“There’s wagon tracks but the ground’s so hard it’s difficult to say if they’re fresh or not.”

“Right, take your men up the trail. See if you can spot anything further up…”

David broke off as his mouth dried up with fear and every hair on the back of his neck stood up. Feynor and his men looked round in alarm and even the horses seemed nervous. The feeling of fear only lasted a few seconds and men and animals gradually began to relax.

“What just happened?” Feynor demanded.

“I don’t know,” David replied, “but I don’t think it was anything to do with us. I have to get back to the city. You keep Mandal with you and carry on here but report back before dusk. I want your men in the city overnight. Oh and if you run into Ash, bring him back with you. He has a patrol out here somewhere.”

He wheeled his horse and headed back to the city at speed as a voice spoke in his head.

“Lord David.”

“Suzanne, you obviously felt that too. Did you manage to locate the source?”

“It was either in or very close to the city, my lord but that’s the best I could do. We’re heading down to the planet now and I will ask Mikael to put us into a geostationary orbit directly above you.”

“It has to be the Ystrad heir and terribly afraid of something. Did you get anything else that might help us?”

“Well fear was the dominant emotion but there was something else mixed in there. It felt like… like love.”

“Love!
For whom?”

“I don’t know, my lord. There were no details, only emotions.”

“What about the ambassadors up there?”

“The Ystradian ship is hailing us on all frequencies, demanding to know what’s going on. They want to land.”

“No. If the Ystrad picked that up, it’s odds on the Belsi did too. You can let them come overhead alongside you but keep them in orbit. If the heir is in the city, they may be able to pick
up
something from directly overhead. I’ll check in as soon as I find
anything.”