Wagons lined the inner court of the treasury. „Just empty those sacks on the floor in there," Ragnarson told the men unloading. It was the morning after the upset victory. Vorgreberg remained in shock.
„Sire?" Derel asked.
„Just do it. You'll see."
„Humph." Prataxis resumed counting.
Michael Trebilcock arrived. „Riots and fights all night," he reported. „Couple of cases of arson. Gjerdrum had to escort the Charygin Hall boys out of town. There was talk of a lynching. Liakopuios closed down the taverns at midnight.
Starting to settle down now. Oh! I've never seen the Nordmen so shocked. They can't believe they got taken. They're like zombies this morning."
Ragnarson's grin faded. „Now we get to the hard part, don't we?"
„Baron Khelra is going to make it."
„Make it? What happened?"
Prataxis spat, „I forgot to tell you. What's wrong with me?"
„He was the biggest loser," Michael said. „You took him for two hundred thousand. Aral got him for another hun dred fifty. A hundred fifty on the pay-you-when-you-catch-me. He wouldn't come across. Somebody got into his place this morning and left him with a lot of broken bones."
„Aral did that to a Lord of the Realm?"
„Maybe Aral. Maybe somebody else who saw a chance to get in a free hit."
„Your friend from the woods," Prataxis suggested.
„Who?"
„Colonel Abaca. You see what's happening? The break down of standards has begun."
„Wasn't Khelra the one who started that business at the Victory Day wingding?"
„The same. He holds a lot of our notes. One of the richest men in Kavelin. Sire, if you want to keep the armistice with the Estates, you'd better get to the bottom of that assault fast. Bring his attackers to justice. No matter who they are."
„The hell I will. He earned every lump."
„Sire, the law belongs to all men. The baron isn't outside its protection. Neither Abaca nor Dantice are immune. And you're not above it. Your mission is to enforce it."
Ragnarson smiled nastily. „Michael, get Khelra's people. And Aral. I want to pay them what we owe them, then watch Aral take it away."
„That's not wise," Prataxis said, exasperated. „Don't rub salt in the wound."
„Why the hell not? They do it to me all the time. Give Michael your record of what and who we owe. We've got enough here to pay almost everybody. I never dreamed we'd clean up like this."
„That's because you underestimate the depth of the hatred the Estates feel for you, Sire."
„It's mutual. Ha! Now they can't afford to stir any shit."
„Some even bet their estates," Michael said. „Aral's stuck with the property."
„Hope he makes tenant farmers out of them."
„Vindictive today, aren't we?" Prataxis said, with far more meaning than his employer caught.
„Merciless." A guard brought a whispered message. „Let him in. Mundwiller's here, men."
„Now it starts," Derel said. „You'll never sell what you did. It wasn't an acceptable risk."
„We won, didn't we?"
„That's all that'll save you. In the end, you'll find the loss of trust more important than the monetary gain... ."
„Enough. Just damned well enough, Derel."
„Derel is right," Mundwiller said. „That's what I came over to tell you. Your friends in the Thing are about to skedaddle like a flushed covey. They're asking if you've lost touch with your sense of responsibility."
„They'll get over it. Nothing succeeds like success."
„Last bag, sir," one of the porters told Prataxis.
„Come on," Bragi said. Inside, „Humph. The pile is smaller than I thought. Hell. Watch this. Something I've always wanted to do." He dived in head first.
Inger met Sergeant Gales well away from her apartment. Shadows masked their identities. „What's their temper, Josiah?"
„Pure rage, My Lady. They think they've been robbed."
„Have they?"
„Not really. They walked in with their eyes open."
„They just resent not being the robbers, eh?"
„You might say."
„It doesn't matter if the anger is righteous. It's useful. I think it's time you summoned our friends from back home."
Gales nodded. „I think so. He's not likely to get much weaker."
Ragnarson kept sitting in the money pile while Kavelin's readily available creditors received what the Crown owed them. He made a mockery of the process. He once laughed outright when Aral Dantice and his thugs collected immedi ately after a payment.
Dahl Haas found him there. The adjutant was a tired man. He had not slept all night. „They're safely off, Sire. I rode with them as far as Tewsbury. Should I have someone go bring them back now?"
Ragnarson eyed the grim-faced Nordmen baron accept ing repayment of a loan. He was not as blind as he pretended. „Give it a few weeks. Let's see what crawls out if the rocks roll over."
„Sir Gjerdrum told me where to find you. He said to tell you that that Habibullah who used to be El Murid's ambassador is here. He won't talk to anybody but you."
Ragnarson's malicious humor evaporated completely. „I'll be there in half an hour." He rose from the dwindling pile. „Get somebody to wrap it up here, Derel. Make the right kind of apologies for me. Tell them I was off my oats, or something. Then collect Michael and wait in the War Room till you hear from me."
What does Yasmid have in mind? he wondered. Will there be a respite? Will there be time for me to put my own house in order before we start on hers?
This being King wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
18
Year 1016 AFE; Tightening Screws
Habibullah awaited ragnarson in the chamber where so many conferences had taken place recently. Bragi stepped in, quickly noted, „You may think you're dressed local, but you won't fool anyone."
Habibullah shrugged. „Speed was of more essence than secrecy. I received the material from Trebilcock. I speak for the Lady Yasmid as well as myself when I express my gratitude."
„Glad to help."
„A cunning maneuver, that Captures match. I expect it will be more appreciated outside Kavelin, though."
Bragi was having his own second and third thoughts. Somehow, in winning, he had lost something, and he just didn't understand what or why. If some Nordmen baron had pulled the same stunt, nobody would have thought anything about it. There would have been no whining in the streets if the Panthers had won.
Was he supposed to be too good for that kind of stuff? Was it because he'd dipped his hands into too many strongboxes? Or did he just have a thin skin?
He shrugged. „I guess congratulations are due, Habibullah. That whipping you gave the Throyens. That was beautiful. I split a side laughing."
„A grand victory, but more symbolic than practical. It wakened our enemies. They won't underestimate us again."
Soberly, Bragi observed, „You're probably right."
„Megelin is pressing us from the desert side. He's using a lot of sorcery. We can't stand up to the savan dalage. And the Faithful in Throyes say Lord Hsung is preparing a major push into the littoral. He'll use the legions from Throyes and Gog-Ahlan to give his Throyen puppets backbone. That means thirty to thirty-five thousand invaders, twelve thousand of them soldiers of the Dread Empire. Too much for us to handle."
Bragi sat quietly for half a minute. „Mind if I bring Prataxis and Trebilcock in here?"
„Do you really need to?"
„I think so. They're familiar with more aspects of the situation." He rose, stepped into the corridor, looked around. He saw no one but the guard. „Get Prataxis and Captain Trebilcock. They're waiting down in the War Room."
„Yes, Sire. But who'll stand watch?"