Endgames

by L. E. Modesitt Jr

  Chelia nodded. “There was some controversy about whether the great-grandsire even had the minimum in land to be a High Holder. Ghaermyn’s father added more lands, but not enough to split off a High Holding for a second son. The only hope for one of Ghaermyn’s younger sons or for Laamyst would be a grant of regial lands. That’s rather far-fetched as matters now stand.”

  Charyn managed not to wince. “Thank you for the reminder for me to be more careful.”

  “Isn’t that supposed to be part of being a mother?”

  “It is, and for that, I’m grateful.” Unlike some. “I just got a report on the harvest from Chaeryll. It’s slightly better than I’d hoped. The Tuuryl lands … they don’t look as good…”

  The rest of the breakfast conversation was about crops and weather.

  When Charyn arrived at his study, Moencriff immediately said, “Both the newssheets put out special editions this morning, Your Grace. Wyllum brought them up before he went back to work with Minister Alucar.”

  “Thank you.” Special editions? When he thought about it, the Rex imposing martial law likely merited a special edition.

  The Veritum story was factual and simple.

  Yesterday evening, with the declaration of martial law by Rex Charyn, army troopers moved into the factoring areas of L’Excelsis in an effort to put an end to the weeks of sporadic violence and destruction aimed at factoring properties. The Rex also imposed a late-night curfew, from ninth glass in the evening to fourth glass in the morning …

  The rest of the lengthy piece was largely a history of the issues and problems, with examples of the properties that had been destroyed or burned and the numbers of men caught and executed or sentenced to indenture or the workhouses.

  Charyn wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Tableta story.

  While our beloved Rex Charyn is confined to his Chateau recovering from the wounds suffered in the attack by the religious zealots known as the True Believers, that has not stopped him from bringing in the army in an effort to stop the widespread violence against the greedy and heartless copper-pinching factors more interested in piling up golds than in the survival of their workers … The only problem is that he has done nothing to deal with the cause of the violence, and his acts are likely to be too little too late …

  Haven’t they learned about the daily-wage law? That was possible. Or were they holding off announcing it for other reasons.

  The rest of the stories were a more incendiary version of what Veritum had reported.

  Charyn shrugged. It could have been worse. And if Tableta can make it worse for you, it will.

  Just after eighth glass, a letter arrived from Ostraaw with a listing of individuals who had bought rifles over the past eight months. There were almost seventy individuals who had bought one or two weapons, but only a handful who had bought more. Those Ostraaw had thoughtfully listed together on an additional sheet:

  High Holder Laevoryn

  10 rifles

  Fevier

  High Holder Paellyt

  6 rifles

  Maris

  High Holder Caarnyl

  5 rifles

  Maris

  High Holder Calkoran

  5 rifles

  Avryl

  High Holder Varranyl

  15 rifles

  Agostos

  High Holder Kurm

  15 rifles

  Agostos

  High Holder Ghaermyn

  30 rifles

  Agostos

  Laamyst D’Laastyn

  5 rifles

  Agostos

  Factor Cuipryn

  5 rifles

  Ianus

  Factor Lythoryn

  10 rifles

  Fevier

  Factor Saratyn

  5 rifles

  Agostos

  Factor Noerbyn

  5 rifles

  Agostos

  The first thing that struck him was the purchases of the two High Holders from Caluse. Why would both of them have purchased rifles in Agostos, when there weren’t any manufactorages there? Then … he remembered. The True Believers had stormed the anomen there and chased out the chorister.

  Would that be enough to prompt buying rifles? Perhaps, especially if they’d been surprised by the violence of the demonstration.

  Charyn understood why Ghaermyn had bought thirty rifles in Agostos, since the High Holder had mentioned buying them and arming his men. He frowned. There was something about that number, though …

  Try as he might, he couldn’t recall what bothered him about that, and the fact that Laamyst had bought five rifles was also rather interesting. Why would he have bought them, when his father had already bought rifles, and why not the seneschal of the holding?

  As for Calkoran … the only reason Charyn could guess for his buying rifles was that he’d taken the opportunity to do so when he’d come to L’Excelsis.

  The short list of factors made a different sort of sense. Cuipryn forged cartridges for the rifleworks, and had likely bought the newer rifles to make certain that his cartridges fit. Lythoryn operated a mint and likely armed his guards. Besides that, his mint was near Rivages and nowhere close to L’Excelsis. Both Saratyn and Noerbyn had suffered from having warehouses or manufactorages being burned.

  He didn’t see the names of other factors on the lists, especially that of Eshmael, but then, given that two hundred rifles had been purchased in Agostos by the Factors’ Council of Solidar, he hadn’t expected Eshmael to purchase weapons if he could obtain them otherwise.

  Even by noon, there was no word from Alastar about craftmasters, nor had Bhayrn returned to the Chateau. Charyn half-wondered if Bhayrn ever would, then shook his head.

  Sooner or later … he’ll have to.

  55

  Charyn was up again early on Vendrei, partly because his leg had bothered him, on and off, although the wound had seemed to be healing when Chelia had changed the dressing the night before, and partly because he wasn’t looking forward to the reactions of both High Holders and factors, once they discovered the ongoing census of manufactorages and the daily-wage law. He was relieved, slightly, that he had not smelled or seen any smoke when he’d gone to the window and looked out toward the river and to the south, although he had seen a squad of army troopers posted by the gates of the rear drive.

  Chelia was actually in the breakfast room when he entered. “How did you sleep?”

  “Tolerably, mostly. How about you?”

  “Let’s say I’ve slept better.”

  “Bhayrn?”

  She nodded. “At times, he seems pleasant and reasonable, and at other times…”

  He seems like Father, except worse. Despite that thought, Charyn just nodded understandingly and took a slow and long sip of tea.

  “It doesn’t seem as though anything was burned last night,” offered Chelia.

  “That’s one good thing. I’d hoped to be able to talk to some craftmasters, but I’ve heard nothing from Maitre Alastar.”

  “They may not want to talk even to him, or they may be in hiding.”

  “Or both.”

  When Charyn finished his breakfast, he made his way up to the study. The fact that Wyllum wasn’t there confirmed that he was still working on copying tariff lists for the clerks who were checking factorages against those lists, but copies of both newssheets were waiting on his desk.

  Charyn read them quickly, but the stories in both centered on the declaration of martial law and the fact that, for the moment, the burning and destruction had stopped. Veritum offered the hope that everyone would see reason and that the army would not be long on the streets.

  Tableta was less optimistic:

  … while the Rex has stopped the immediate destruction, he has done nothing to deal with the underlying problems, to wit, the boundless greed of factors and the miserably low wages paid by those factors …

  Charyn frowned. “Moencriff! Would you tell Minister Sanafryt to join me?”

&nbs
p; “Yes, sir.”

  As soon as Sanafryt entered the study, Charyn said, “I noted in the newssheets this morning that there was no mention of the wage law.”

  “I sent copies to everyone you requested, sir.”

  “Then, that means the factors and High Holders are keeping that news to themselves. Have two more copies made of the wage law and dispatch them to the newssheets.”

  “To those scandal rags, Your Grace?”

  “To those very scandal rags. Immediately. We need the workers to know what the new law says. Otherwise, before long, we’ll have a resumption of violence.”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  “Oh … you can tell Guard Captain Maertyl that your messenger or clerk should have two guards as escorts when he delivers those late this morning.”

  “Late this morning, sir?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Excellent.”

  Shortly after Sanafryt had hurried off, Alucar appeared. “If I might have a moment, Your Grace?”

  “Of course.” Charyn gestured to the chairs. “Is there a problem with the clerks checking the tariff rolls?”

  “Not so far. There is something else, though. I did have one of the clerks look over High Holder Laastyn’s recorded holdings. The tariff records are … interesting.”

  “How interesting?”

  “His High Holding at Charpen is registered, as are a hundred hectares and a large dwelling north of here. No lands are registered to him in Asseroiles. Nor are any in Tilbor, but we wouldn’t have a record of that yet, not if the acquisition was recent.”

  “What about the lodge or place in Talyon? Or the town dwelling in L’Excelsis?”

  “There’s no record of any large structure or land listed for Laastyn anywhere near Talyon.”

  Charyn frowned. “Bhayrn stayed there, and Laastyn told Ferrand that he himself had been hunting boar there just over a month or so ago.”

  “I recalled you mentioned something about a lodge in Talyon. So I made inquiries.”

  “And?”

  “Laastyn apparently owns it, but there are no records of it and the five hundred hectares around it ever being tariffed. Not in recent years, at least.”

  “How could that be?”

  “The tariff rolls for Laastyn were updated some eight years ago. The older records are missing.”

  “Eight years ago. That was before you became Finance Minister.”

  “The changes appear to have been made when there was no Finance Minister. I wasn’t appointed for more than a year after the death of Salucar.”

  “You weren’t related…?”

  “Only distantly, if that. I never even met Salucar. I came from Extela, and he was, I believe, from Ferravyl.”

  “Then who was handling the Finance Ministry?”

  “When it was being handled at all … Aevidyr was. I mentioned that, I believe, after Slaasyrn’s death.”

  That alone told Charyn something he didn’t want to hear … but didn’t surprise him in the slightest. “What about the town dwelling?”

  “That’s actually listed as belonging to Laastyrn. It was deeded to him a year ago Juyn. Laastyn also deeded some two thousand hectares of land near Tacqueville to Laastyrn on the seventeenth of Agostos.”

  “Why would he do that?” asked Charyn. “Laastyrn’s the heir, anyway, and he’s not married so it’s not a matter of providing for a wife or child if Laastyrn died before his father. I could see if the house and lands went to Laamyst … or even one of the daughters. Are there any other tariff records that were … updated … during that time period?”

  “The clerks have been rather busy with the tariff rolls, but I did a quick look through the records. You asked about Ghaermyn. He’s only listed as having a single manufactorage, in addition to various lands within sixty milles of L’Excelsis.”

  “Just one?”

  “One, Your Grace. Those records were … updated about the same time, and the previous records are missing.”

  “Are all the entries made in the same fashion … something like standard merchant hand?”

  An expression of modest and momentary surprise crossed Alucar’s face. “Why … yes.”

  “Why did you look so surprised?”

  “That’s not a question I ever expected, Your Grace. I doubt your father even knew what standard merchant hand was.”

  Charyn stopped to think, then realized that, despite the role that standard hand had played in his late uncle’s plotting, Charyn himself had never mentioned it to any of his ministers. Howal wouldn’t have, and mostly likely Wyllum wouldn’t have, either. “So we have tariff records altered, in a hand that can’t be traced, and Laastyn, Ghaermyn, and who knows who else haven’t been paying all the tariffs they owe for something like eight years?”

  “It appears that way, Your Grace.”

  “I see.” After a moment, Charyn said, “You are not to mention this to anyone. Not yet. Write up a report on what you’ve found and how much in unpaid tariffs there may be.”

  “I can only estimate some of those numbers. We have no figures on the number of hectares or structures on some of those missing properties.”

  “Are there any other High Holders whose tariffs are that underpaid?”

  “There may be, but I haven’t discovered others. These two I found late yesterday.”

  “What are the penalties for failure to pay tariffs?”

  “For small sums, factors or High Holders are required to make up the difference with a one-in-ten penalty. For sums of tariffs due and unpaid above a hundred golds, the property may be forfeited to the Rex as well.”

  “Has either ever happened?”

  “There are a number of instances of factors repaying small sums. No High Holder has ever been prosecuted before a justicer or High Justicer for failure to pay tariffs. Most just paid tariffs due for the previous and present year, with penalties, and once, according to the records, for three years.”

  Charyn was so stunned he didn’t even shake his head. “We need to revise and restructure the entire tariff system.”

  At that, Alucar placed a folder on the desk. “I suggested that to your father three years ago. He forbade me to talk about it. His written order to me is in the folder. I was going to bring it up, but then you requested that we begin to go over the High Holders’ records, and I thought that we might learn more about how to revise the system after we’d studied some of the records.”

  “Why else were you reluctant to bring the matter up?”

  “After all the difficulty you had in increasing tariffs … I thought an accurate restructuring of tariffs would create even more problems. First, it would require hiring more clerks all over Solidar, and second, I feared what you have just discovered—that there are great inequities in the tariff rolls. Those inequities often benefited High Holders who are either well-connected, exceptionally devious, or very powerful. It struck me that the immediate priority was what you had already ordered, to obtain proper assessment of tariffs. Without that, any restructuring would be largely useless.”

  “You’re likely right, but it would have been better if you let me come to that conclusion.” Charyn smiled wryly. “You’ve been rather successful in using numbers and logic to educate me. I prefer that to being kept in the dark.”

  “I apologize, Your Grace, but old habits are hard to break, especially when one’s position has been less than completely secure.”

  “So what power did Aevidyr have that made you reluctant to act against him?”

  “Sir?”

  “There has to be some reason why you didn’t press.”

  “Aevidyr has been here for some considerable time. Your father was very supportive of Aevidyr. He never told me why. Also, there was no real proof of who did what. What isn’t there doesn’t tell who removed it or why. As for you, Your Grace, I was reluctant to immediately call your attention to certain discrepancies involving Aevidyr because that would have seemed
as though I had been waiting to act against him as soon as your father wasn’t there … and, again, with absolutely no proof. Aevidyr is extremely careful about that, as you may have discovered.”

  All too many times already. Charyn managed to nod.

  “For some reason, he also removed most of the references to the time he was acting Finance Minister. Slaasyrn saved several when he saw what Aevidyr was doing and gave them to me. I’ve kept them locked away.”

  “Why would he remove records with his name on them … unless he’d done something wrong?”

  “Slaasyrn didn’t know because all of them were from Rex Lorien, telling Aevidyr what to do as acting Finance Minister. None of them dealt with tariffs or assessments. That bothered me, too, and I went through all the old records. Outside of the letters and documents Slaasyrn gave me, there’s nothing in the files that mentions that Aevidyr was acting as Finance Minister.”

  “That’s very strange. Could I look at some of those letters?”

  “I can bring them by shortly, Your Grace.”

  “In the meantime, for the reasons you just mentioned, we’ll keep this between us for now, but I would appreciate knowing about any more circumstantial evidence of the same nature.”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  “And as soon as you have the factors’ tariff rolls and all the clerks finish working on that, you need to give me that report and then start working on how you think we should restructure the tariff records and collections.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “So that not even you could get around it,” Charyn added.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Once Alucar left, Charyn just sat there. Why in Terahnar had his father let Aevidyr do all that? And why had Aevidyr, if indeed it had been Aevidyr, only deleted properties belonging to Ghaermyn and Laastyn? Or were there more? And why hadn’t Alucar been more assertive in dealing with either Charyn or his father?