The Fireseed Wars

"Hold on, I was just thinking how taking Rathon will help pay for the rebuilding of Thagnor City."

THIRTEEN

Kalvan was poring over the revised muster roll for the Army of the Saltless Seas that Captain Mykos, his latest adjutant, had prepared when he heard a loud knock at the door. What now? he asked himself. He had clearly ordered Cleon not to bother him for anything less than the Greffan Fleet entering the harbor. The General Staff was busy filling the gaps in the Royal Regiments, which had been decimated by their losses at Ardros Field and during the retreat. A lot of experienced petty-captains were missing, and it was important to not only promote within the ranks but to fill those spots with the best qualified men. Mykos had made a number of recommendations based on interviews with the unit commanders.

The army had gotten so large that he was no longer familiar with more than a hundred or so of the names on the muster list; one of these days he was going to be one-hundred percent dependent on his General Staff. This was not a bad thing, as ruling half a million subjects was a full time job. Still, he missed the days when the army was small enough he knew the names of all the Hostigi officers and most of the noncoms.

The knocks were growing louder. "Who is it?"

"Me, Your Majesty!"

It was Chartiphon's voice so he'd have to endure this interruption. The former Captain-General, now promoted to Chancellor to keep him out of the military chain of command, was downright old-womanish if not taken seriously.

The weathered face and sunken eyes were hard to recognize as belonging to the Chartiphon whom he'd met shortly after his arrival at Tarr-Hostigos. That man had been a warrior at the peak of his strength and abilities. The strain of the last four years of victory and success, then total defeat, had carved deep lines in his face.

"What is it, Chancellor?"

"Sorry to bother you, Your Majesty. I have a subject with me who brings a message and a prisoner that I'm certain Your Majesty will want to question."

"Bring them both in."

Chartiphon was trailed by a tall, handsome man with unusually well-preserved teeth, a heavy brow-ridge and a small van-Dyke beard, who carried himself like a nobleman although he was dressed far below that station. He was holding a chain and the prisoner at the other end was the biggest surprise of all! "What the Styphon are you doing with Prince Kestophes?"

"Your Majesty, allow me to introduce the Honorable Vinaldos, who has come to me with vital information both for Your Majesty and the Throne." Chartiphon then turned to the taller man and nodded.

The man bowed. "Your Majesty, I discovered the Prince leaving his quarters in a most compromising manner. But, first, let me introduce myself, I am Vinaldos, formerly Count of Luxfurth, at your service!"

"I don't have a lot of time since we're leaving soon, so give me the high points of what crime the Prince was about to undertake."

"Yes, Your Majesty. I've known Prince Kestophes since we were children, trading blows with wooden swords. He was always stingy and blackhearted. We were great enemies! Sadly, he was destined to become Prince of all Ulthor, while I was master of a small fief at the edge of the Sea of Aesklos. When two of my merchant ships went down after a bad storm, times turned hard and I lost my estate. I traveled to Thagnor and even Greffa in an attempt to recoup my losses. After four years in the Middle Kingdoms, I returned to Ulthor Port and attempted to court the Prince's youngest sister-"

"It wasn't like that at all!" interrupted Kestophes, who seemed to have suddenly dragged himself out of his stupor. "This man's a petty criminal. He's always been a cheat at bones or dagger toss-and any other games. He was ordered to leave Greffa City for falsifying a shipping invoice. When he returned to Ulthor and I realized that he was about to marry my sister for her dowry, I interceded and, when he would not listen to reason, had him stripped of his title and thrown into the dungeon for a moon. I thought that might encourage him to leave, but I was wrong."

"Hold your tongue, Prince, until I finish interrogating Vinaldos here."

"But-"

"That's an order. Disobey me again, and I'll order Halgoth to come in and put his fist in your mouth!" As expected, that shut him up. Kestophes had been undermining Kalvan's rule in Ulthor Port and whining about the loss of his palace, to the point where Kalvan wouldn't have complained if this rogue had cut out his tongue, as well as put him in irons.

"Vinaldos, why did you put Our Prince in chains?"

"I have had men waiting outside his manor, hidden from the street, waiting for him to desert, Your Majesty. He was always a coward as a boy and I knew the man was still close to the child. My men and I found him leaving from a secret passageway with a saddlebag full of gold and jewels- and these dispatches!" He held up a leather folder stuffed with parchment letters like a trophy.