by Sean Oswald
If the previous statement had created some applause, this announcement created a positive roar or murmuring. The nobles and other people of power who had some idea of the geography of the north knew that in making this decree the king had just created the fourth largest land holding in the kingdom. This baron, whoever it might end up being, might only rule a wilderness for now, but it was a large and resource rich wilderness, and instead of making the baron a vassal under one of the dukes, the king was taking him as a direct vassal. The only other royal baronies were small and covered the land within a hundred miles of Konig, the capital. Speculation went through the room as many of the knights and even lesser barons were hoping to be named to this post.
Both Duke Holstein and Oppenheim raised their voices to object to the loss of land, albeit land which they had not really been doing anything with, but Gunidar brought his staff down hard and a spell of silence went through the room stifling all sound. Kings, not just in Albia but in many courts, had long since learned that this was the best way to cut off protests. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the king was demanding that they listen rather than speak.
An amulet around the king’s neck glowed faintly as he continued speaking through the silence spell, “We have not called you here for a discussion or debate. We have made a decision about what is best for the kingdom. Not what is best for any individual. The border baronies to the west have served us well, have been the sole responsibility of Duke Tarstaadt with limited support from the crown and his fellow dukes. We will not repeat that mistake again with the northern border. It is clear from the attack on the logging villages there that the goblins have found a new way to harm Albia. Even if they can’t stand against our armies, by disrupting the flow of lumber from the north, they cause great harm to our nation, especially as winter approaches. This is why the northern barony which shall serve as a buffer for the rest of the nation is going to be a royal barony, and it is for this reason that we are raising an outsider to the position of Baron of Murkwood.”
The silence spell had accomplished its purpose and everyone seemed to have stopped trying to speak and were instead intently listening to the King. “David Nelson, sheriff of Eris’ Rise please approach the throne.”
David did as they had discussed the night before and stood, walking to the very edge of the raised dais before Harold continued, “Do you agree to take upon yourself the burdens and responsibility of ruling the Murkwood? Will you pledge your life and your line to guarding Albia’s northern border? Will you swear to hold true allegiance to the people of Albia and the throne?”
After each question, David answered, “I do” or “I will, Your Majesty” as was appropriate.
“Then having examined your character and capabilities, you are appointed a knight of the realm, General of the soon to be formed Northern Army, Baron of Murkwood, and Ambassador of Albia to the Moon Elves, with all privileges and responsibilities which such posts hold.” The King spoke with a solemn voice but his eyes moved from person to person covering those most likely to object and ensuring that they knew he was aware of them.
Harold then stood from his throne and walked forward, “Kneel and give your oath of fealty.” Then once again, David and Harold repeated the oaths given the night before but without the benefit or the oath board as this time it was more for public show. Once the oaths were given, the king said, “Rise, turn and face your peers, subordinates, and the citizens whom you now safeguard.” David did as instructed. He saw jealousy and bitterness in many of the nobles but was actually pleasantly surprised to find expressions of encouragement amongst some of the others. With that, Harold sat back down on his throne and Eleazor took over dismissing all but the two dukes, the church leaders, and a half dozen knights.
The balance of the day was spent in haggling between the king and the dukes, the king and the churches, and the dukes and the churches. The individual knights had very little to say other than to offer a bit of military advice from time to time. Mostly they were all just trying to take the measure of the man who had been appointed as their baron. The king assigned six knights of the realm to serve the Barony of Murkwood, and after oaths of fealty were exchanged, those six were dismissed to go and make arrangements for their families, staff, and men at arms to travel north as soon as possible. Some of them seemed excited about the possibilities presented by a new posting and others were clearly dismayed to be uprooted and sent to the north, especially with autumn almost upon them.
In the end, the churches agreed to do what King Harold asked, mostly in exchange for plots of land in Murkwood, for churches to be established, and for future concessions. Bishop Tengur from the Church of Shanelle was the most vocal supporter, promising craftsmen, building materials, monetary support, and even troops at least for a time. Not wanting to be excluded, Bishop Glariel of the Church of Mishpat offered all types of support also making sure to repeatedly point out that the Murkwood must be open to all of the churches. The fact that the new Baron’s wife was a chosen of Shanelle had not escaped anyone’s notice. The church of Karbanot did not have nearly the following in Albia that either of the other officially recognized churches did and thus didn’t have a bishop appointed to Konig or Albia in general. Instead, their representative was a simple priest, but King Harold made a special agreement with him. In exchange for a plot of land in Murkwood for a church and some royal donations, the priest and his followers would find one thousand families from amongst the serfs or free men in the various duchies and royal lands to migrate to Murkwood. Harold trusted a follower of Karbanot, the God of sacrifice, to find people both willing to move and in need of a change in life. Each of those who migrated would be afforded opportunities and funds from the crown to start businesses for the freemen or land to farm for the serfs. This way Harold hoped to obtain more willing people than if he simply ordered the nobles to send families. One hundred of the families were to be found and sent as quickly as possible, primarily from the royal lands around Konig while the remainder would wait until after winter. It would do no good to send more mouths than the new barony could support even with the resources being sent by the throne.
As the day waned, the new baron Murkwood begged from the King that he be allowed to do some shopping since he was to leave for the north in the morning. This had already been agreed upon and Dave knew exactly what he needed. He counted on the supplies being sent to provide what was needed for building up the town, but he wanted to at least buy some higher quality magical potions. It was a shame that time wouldn’t allow him to look for other types of gear, but this would have to suffice. At the end of the day, Dave felt trapped in a spider’s web of political intrigues and people equally competing to see him fail or find his favor.
Dave was pulled back from his remembering once again by the racket being caused as the giant beast smashed the wooden hut before them. Gorgor, as he named himself, kept seeking the witch whoever that was and finally seemed to have succeeded when he went to a small building fifty feet from the main hut. Dave had taken it for an outhouse, but apparently the witch, whoever she might be, was hiding in the outhouse. It sorta made sense in a way, as the smell might throw off any creature whose sense of smell was stronger than its eye sight.
Karl had whispered the little bit of lore he knew about this beast which he called an ettin. Apparently, it had keen hearing and a sharp sense of smell but poor eyesight and was none too bright. That seemed to confirm Dave’s assumptions, but what shook his world was when the beast placed its massive hands upon the top of the small building and started to rattle it calling for the witch to come out. No witch of any sort appeared but two things did happen. First, the squealing cry was heard again. This time since he knew where it was coming from, it came through much more clearly as the cry of a little girl in terror. An instant later, a door burst open in the outhouse and a goblin leapt out, knife in hand as it struck at the foot of the ettin.
Chapter Ten
“Mark my words, we will not be the only
ones to be expelled. At least we have each other, but who will find the poor souls who are exiled in the future.” — Eiichiro Takahasi, leader of the Moon Elf contingent in the Great Exile
The magic of the Moon Elves became evident as Emily’s group left Orgiana. There were still over three hundred miles to travel before reaching the Moon Elf capital of Tsukishiti. Before she had thought that the elves moved quickly through the forest, but now they were practically flying. The wind in her hair was a rush as she moved down the winding trails of the forest. Each local circle of druids joined together to cast a spell which accelerated their movement. Emily was amazed at the number of Elven villages, although she hadn’t known what to expect. Each village was fairly spread out, but they all seemed to run one into another.
The magic seemed to work on two levels. Every few hours a druid would cast a spell called Spirit of the Wolf on the members of the group. It made it possible for their party to travel up to one hundred miles in a day. Even that though wouldn’t have been enough due to the undergrowth and winding nature of the trails, but each step the ground seemed to move with them. It was much like those flat escalator like things at the airport. The plants moved out of their way and smoothed out their path. It was a perfect synergy of their own hard work and a set of spells.
The first night after Orgiana, they stopped at another Moon Elf village and took baths, enjoyed a meal, and even found a small amount of time to talk. Emily mostly wanted to talk to Eisuke and went to some trouble to hunt him down.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you. Can I ask you a couple of questions?”
The forest warden had been lost in thought while whittling a small figure from a block of wood. “Oh … well ... If you must.”
Emily wasn’t dissuaded. She knew full well that he wanted to be left alone, but he was the only elf in the party who treated her with even basic courtesy. “I was wondering about the magic that affected us today. I understand the Spirit of the Wolf spell but not the way the ground and plants seemed to help us move along.”
He stared at her for a moment before slowly answering, “I look at you, and it is almost possible for me to forget that you are Mitsukatta, but then you open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Blushing as much as her dusky skin allowed, Emily said, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bother you, but I want to learn as much as I can about our people.”
“It was not my intention to shame you. I suppose you really can’t help it. As my mentor used to say, ‘The frog in a well does not know the great sea.’ You are Mitsukatta. You cannot help this. But understand that while you are a moon elf you are not of our people yet. That will be for the Throne to decide. Only then can you become a part of the Circle.”
Emily wasn’t completely sure what he was saying, but she chose to stay focused. “Does that mean that you won’t answer my questions?”
“That is not what I said. You are Mitsukatta but you have displayed honor, courage, and compassion. I will not go into details with an outsider but suffice it to say that the druids of the Circle are joined from Orgiana to Tsukishiti in casting a grand magic which makes the forest more receptive to our traveling through it.”
Emily waited, expecting more from him, but when he didn’t continue she realized that was all that he was going to say to her on the subject. “Well then one other question. If the tree sappers are such a great threat then why is it that we have not seen any on our travels through the forest?”
Upon hearing that question all casualness disappeared from his posture, and he set down the wood and knife he held in his hands. “That subject is entirely a different matter. As the one who found the swarm, I will tell you what I know of them. First off, I have never experienced a swarm myself, they are very rare things. This is good for otherwise the forest might not exist. Second, Chenhou is a very large forest and most likely the sappers have gone to an uninhabited portion of the forest first. The lore teaches that they act in such a manner until the swarm is of such proportions as to be unstoppable.”
More questions came to mind, but they were interrupted as Jaselm found her. She liked the man, he seemed good hearted but was overly serious about his assignment to protect her. She wasn’t accustomed to having a bodyguard, let alone an entire squad of them. “Daughter of Redemption, I have been looking all over for you. Are you well?”
She sighed and then quickly smiled, he was only doing his job after all. “You know you don’t have to call me that all the time. You can simply call me Emily.”
A big grinned parted his face as he said, “Oh I could never do that, but if you prefer I can address you by your secular title. Do you wish to be called Baroness Murkwood?”
He hadn’t meant to, and she knew it, but that question was all it took to remind her of the awful events which had led to her being in this place.
The days of waiting in Eris’ Rise for Dave to return from the Albian capital were so tense. She kept herself busy though. All the wounds from the battle had already been healed, but there was an endless amount of work necessary to both bring in the little harvest that there was and build enough housing to be able to keep everyone warm for the winter. Talvenicus remained the mayor but even he seemed to constantly be looking to her. The good news was that Jaselm’s warriors were willing to help with the tasks. Willing if not exactly cheerful.
Midafternoon of the first day that Dave was gone Jaselm had asked Emily to give a pep talk of sorts to the troops and explain how this was work done in the name of their deity. She didn’t consider herself much of a public speaker, but she had done plenty of fund raising for various charities, so she had an idea of what to say. The problem was that she didn’t know exactly what she believed about Shanelle or God or whatever. For now, she opted to just take it as face value and treat Shanelle as an aspect of what she had always understood to be God, specifically the aspect intent on redemption and second chances. So her speech centered on how Shanelle had sent these troops here not so much to aid her as to give the good people of Eris’ Rise a second chance.
After that, she found that many of the various sergeants were trying to outdo one another with their contingents of soldiers. One jumped in full steam saying that he had been raised on a farm and so he and his men would help with the harvest. Another said he had been a carpenter’s son before he heard the call of the Mother of Redemption, so he and his men would help with building homes. A third sergeant volunteered his men to protect the lumberjacks as they went to harvest the wood needed for the buildings.
That is where things got sticky. Even after her speech fully half of the church soldiers still insisted that they could best serve by keeping an eye on Duke Holstein’s men or those “tricky elves.” Emily couldn’t help but laugh to herself when one earnest knight told her he wouldn’t feel right taking off his armor and doing manual labor while the elves were still in town. He assured her that Moon Elves could not be trusted, all the while the irony apparently being lost upon him.
What made things worse though was the reactions of the elves, especially Lord Itsu when they discovered the humans bringing back wagon loads of fresh cut timbers for the saw mill to process. Environmental activism had never been one of Emily’s causes but she saw in Itsu the same sort of rabid belief about the sanctity of the forest that she had seen in the radical tree huggers back home. Lord Itsu and even Eisuke protested the cutting down of trees, albeit for somewhat different reasons. Itsu insisted that the forest belonged to the Moon Elves and that cutting down a single tree was tantamount to an act of war. Eisuke on the other hand argued that their rate of consumption was greater than the regrowth rate and that what they were doing was unsustainable. He even went so far as to propose teaching the humans how to survive in the forest for the winter rather than building traditional human constructions. That suggestion earned him a scathing look from Itsu, but it didn’t matter anyway, the humans wanted to live in human buildings not ‘in the wild like savages’ as many of them said.
In
the end, a compromise was worked out where only either dead trees or trees that were naturally too crowded together were used. Eisuke went so far as to go out with the lumberjacks and show them the appropriate trees to cut down. Lord Itsu still fumed but at least he kept it to himself. Anything that kept the pompous elf out of Emily’s hair was good with her. Well other than the time that she saw him leaving from Duke Holstein’s command tent which had been set up and occupied by a couple of the duke’s knights while awaiting their lord’s return. That just made her suspicious, but there really was too much work to be done to worry about it.
The real shocker came the next morning when the first sun was reaching its zenith and she got a completely unexpected notification.
Congratulations! You have received the rank of Baroness of Murkwood!
Faction gained: +10 with all nobility of Albia, +10 with allies of King Borstein, -10 with enemies of King Borstein, -5 with current serfs of Albia.
A zone wide announcement will be given. Be aware that in Eloria when it comes to rule, there can be only one. But David Nelson, Baron of Murkwood has designated you as his second in command. Your word is law in Murkwood only superseded by that of the Baron or his liege lord, King Borstein. You have been granted nearly unprecedented access to the Barony and Town interfaces.