Endgames

by L. E. Modesitt Jr

  “Good morning,” he offered, trying to sound pleasant, but not ebullient, while feeling worried about how she felt.

  “You don’t have to sound like you’re tiptoeing in,” replied Chelia sardonically.

  “Even if I was? I’ve worried about you.”

  “I appreciate it. I understand you took Alyncya to services and to meet with Alastar and Alyna. How did that go?”

  “Very, very well. Alyna did tell me, in no uncertain terms, to listen to Alyncya and you.”

  While Alyna hadn’t actually mentioned Chelia, Charyn suspected she would have agreed with what Charyn said.

  “Are you humoring me, Charyn?”

  “Only a little.” He smiled as he sat down across from her.

  “A little is helpful. I understand you had a talk with Iryella the other morning.”

  “I did. She had some questions. I did my best to answer her without going into excessive detail.”

  “You made an impression. She asked me why Karyel couldn’t be more like you.”

  Charyn winced.

  “I told her that you and I were trying, but that some of that was up to Karyel. She seemed to accept that.”

  “You can’t disinherit him for Iryella,” Charyn said.

  “But you can. It’s not often done, but it has been.”

  “We’ll see if it comes to that.”

  “We will.”

  And that was his mother, Charyn realized once more, feeling, but, in the end, very practical.

  After a pleasant breakfast, Charyn made his usual trek up to the study, and, moments after he arrived, so did Alucar.

  “I don’t have every last calculation of the back tariffs due, but that’s because it will take weeks to discover what unrecorded properties Laastyn has in Tilbor, Telaryn, and Antiago.”

  “Khel’s not a problem?”

  Alucar shook his head. “The Khellans are very proper. They maintain dual registries, and send a complete annual updated copy of each to the Chateau. With your permission, I’d like to use their system in the other regions … that is, once we get the more obvious discrepancies resolved.”

  “And once we replace a few more regional governors,” added Charyn.

  “Ghaermyn’s lands and manufactorages, so far as I can determine, have always been in and around L’Excelsis. He owes eight thousand golds in back tariffs, but that’s without penalties. Just the one-in-ten penalty each year over eight years would increase that to sixteen thousand golds.”

  “Is there a single manufactorage that is separate or that could be separated?”

  “There are two.”

  “Pick the best, and transfer it to Lady Ghaermyn. As I recall, her given name is Elyssana.”

  “So it would go to Elyssana D’Ghaermyn? And the rest revert to you?”

  “To the treasury. You’ll have to arrange for their sale … and not cheaply. What do you have so far on what Laastyn owes?”

  “At present, it’s close to twenty-eight thousand golds. I’m guessing there’s another five to ten thousand in unpaid tariffs. All of that to the treasury for future sale as well?”

  “Not everything. Let Lady Laastyn—Salani D’Laastyn—keep the river estate north of here and a thousand hectares of cropland … and whatever golds they have. They might last her the rest of her life.”

  “And Aevidyr’s wife keeps his properties? All of them?”

  “All of them,” Charyn affirmed. Aevidyr at least had had a legitimate grievance against Charyn’s grandsire Ryen, who had fobbed off his own son, his own child even if born on the wrong side of the blanket, with a few hundred hectares and no recognition and, eventually, a position as a regional minister. That seemed unfair and cold, especially considering what had happened to Charyn’s uncle Ryentar, who had schemed to kill Charyn’s father and had been forgiven—and then given a lavish and prosperous High Holding. Yet Ryentar had still thrown in with the rebel High Holders and tried to unseat and kill Charyn’s father.

  Surprisingly, Alucar nodded and said, “While it is your decision, those who know all the facts would likely agree that is fair.”

  “Is there anything else?” asked Charyn.

  “Not at the moment, sir.”

  After Alucar left, Charyn just looked at the open window … and shook his head.

  Then he dictated a letter of thanks to Alastar and Alyna for their graciousness and hospitality on Solayi evening, signed and sealed it, and had Wyllum arrange for its dispatch.

  By the time Wyllum returned, Charyn had received and was reading the weekly report from Marshal Vaelln.

  The Marshal reported that, likely because of stormy weather, there were no reports of naval encounters near Jariola. In the waters off the Abierto Isles, Jariolan warships had withdrawn rather than engage Solidaran ships, but another Solidaran merchanter had been lost to a privateer off Otelyrn. The troopers patrolling L’Excelsis had only dealt with minor curfew infractions. In closing, Vaelln suggested withdrawing the troopers if the situation remained calm for another few days.

  Charyn nodded at that.

  The next message was from Paersyt. Charyn read it immediately.

  Your Grace—

  I am very pleased to announce that the latest changes to the driveshaft have proved eminently successful as has the new water screw. The Steamwraith is now faster and moves through even choppy water quite easily.

  I believe that a larger engine can now be built and that two of them should be sufficient to power a small frigate with twin water screws. I am now engaged in working on the plans for building such an engine, after which I will be revising my earlier rough plans for such a frigate …

  Charyn was smiling when he finished reading what Paersyt had sent, and since the engineer wouldn’t need more golds for a time, that was also good.

  Slightly before noon, Sturdyn announced, “Chief High Councilor Fhaedyrk is here and wishes to speak to you, Your Grace.”

  “I’ll see him.” Charyn turned to Wyllum. “Now would be a good time for you to see if Lady Chelia has need of your skills.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Wyllum left the study, and Fhaedyrk entered, taking the middle seat of the three chairs across from Charyn.

  “What’s on your mind, Fhaedyrk?”

  “A number of High Holders have contacted me, Your Grace.”

  “About the sentences imposed on Aevidyr, Laastyn, and Ghaermyn … perhaps?”

  “Ah … not so much about those three. The law and precedent are quite clear on that, particularly for a minister who is involved in high crimes.”

  “But…?” Charyn had a good idea what the next concern would be.

  “Young Laamyst was not even the heir. To seize all the lands of the High Holder … for the crimes of a younger son.”

  “Fhaedyrk,” said Charyn calmly, “that is a technicality that ignores reality. Laastyn arranged to avoid paying tariffs and colluded with Aevidyr to assassinate me. Laamyst and Laastyrn spent a great deal of time with my brother, most of it after I began to investigate the irregularities in tariff payments and records. Are you and these High Holders contending that Laastyrn was totally unaware of what his father and brother were plotting when Laastyn and his younger son were both deeply involved? I’ll grant that there’s no direct evidence implicating Laastyrn, but the evidence against the High Holder and Laamyst is incontestable. Laastyn owes most likely more than forty thousand golds in unpaid back tariffs. That’s without penalties. He also transferred a substantial town house and several thousand hectares to Laastyrn in late Agostos, just a few days before the first attack by the false True Believers took place. That strongly suggests that the High Holder was worried. Now … those properties were properly deeded and transferred, and I see no point in trying to prove the unprovable, even if I know, and you should know, that Laastyrn knew very well what was happening.”

  Fhaedyrk frowned. “You knew that and did nothing?”

  “I only found out about the transfers less than two weeks ago
. They looked strange to me then, and I said so to Minister Alucar, but until the entire scope of the plot unfolded, the transfers didn’t make sense.”

  “The fact remains—”

  “The fact remains that there are likely several other High Holders who have failed to pay full tariffs over the past years because Aevidyr removed them from the tariff rolls. I’m willing to let those High Holders settle with the treasury—with full payment of unpaid tariffs and standard penalties—if…” Charyn didn’t finish the sentence, but then said, “Under the Codex Legis, willful nonpayment of tariffs in excess of one hundred golds is a high crime. Now, I don’t have all the figures I’d like, but over summer and harvest more than a hundred men were executed for causing fires and destruction to factorages. Likely half of them caused less than a hundred golds of damage. I do wonder what the newssheets would make of High Holders committing crimes of far greater financial consequence and not even serving in a workhouse, let alone not being executed.”

  “Your Grace … financial indiscretions and violence aren’t the same thing.”

  “So it’s all right for a factor or High Holder to pay a man so little that his family slowly starves … and if he gets violent about it, he can be executed, while a High Holder can defraud the treasury of tens of thousands of golds, plot and attempt the assassination of a Rex, and pass on most of his lands to a son who knew it all, but didn’t get caught?”

  Fhaedyrk took a deep breath. “I feared you might feel this way.”

  “Let’s look at it another way. You and the factors didn’t want tariffs to increase, but there weren’t enough golds to repair river walls and harbor walls and to build the ships necessary to protect Solidaran merchanters. How many ships were lost because we didn’t have the golds to build more ships? How many sailors died just because Laastyn and Ghaermyn—and possibly others—didn’t pay their full tariffs?”

  “I cannot answer that, Your Grace.”

  “It will take weeks if not months even before I know, but I do know already that what Laastyn and Ghaermyn owe in back tariffs would have paid to rebuild all the river walls in L’Excelsis and to have built and fitted at least a half-score first-rate ships of the line. And the tariffs from those factors who aren’t on the tariff rolls likely could have accounted for a few more ships.”

  “You’re presenting your efforts as fair to both factors and High Holders, but some High Holders feel that you’re slowly trying to destroy all the High Holders. Are you?”

  “Fhaedyrk, that’s the last thing on my mind. I have every reason to want to keep the High Holders around—the honest ones, that is. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to want to remove those that have shown that two successive generations have wanted to cheat Solidar and assassinate the Rex. I’m not sentencing Laastyrn to death or even taking any property that was in his name. Nor am I casting any of his sisters or his mother out into the street. Those who remain of that lineage will certainly still be comfortable, but they won’t be High Holders. As far as Ghaermyn is concerned, there’s no doubt there.”

  “No … that is … unfortunately … clear.”

  Charyn smiled coldly. “As for High Holders who discover they inadvertently didn’t pay full tariffs, I might just consider waiving penalties, most of them, anyway, if all the back tariffs are immediately and voluntarily paid. And, over the next year or so, there will be a total revision of the tariff rolls, with complete property registration cross-indexed against the tariff rolls themselves so that such inadvertent omissions will be unlikely in the future. That should make matters much fairer, don’t you think?”

  Fhaedyrk swallowed. After a long pause, he said, “You’ve been very much a man of your word, Your Grace. Difficult as some may find it, there is a certain refreshing honesty in that, and most High Holders will appreciate it when they have thought over the matter. Those who cannot appreciate that stern fairness will accept it.”

  “Given that the alternative is worse?”

  Fhaedyrk smiled wryly.

  “Some High Holders don’t seem to see that the times are changing,” added Charyn, “and that if they don’t change, they will lose their holdings. I did nothing to cause the times, and they have no one to blame but themselves for not changing with the times. For some, it’s more convenient to blame others, whether it’s the factors, the workers, or the Rex.”

  “It’s clear you’re committed to changing with the times, Your Grace. Will it be enough?”

  “Not unless the Council changes as well. That’s why I’ve tried to consult with and work with all of you.”

  “By imposing martial law?”

  “I imposed it at the request of many members of the Council, and I did other things at the same time so that, as best I could, I offered something to each part of Solidar. If the Council has better ideas as how to govern for the best interests of all, I’m more than willing to listen. I’m not terribly interested in doing things that benefit one group at the expense of everyone else.”

  Fhaedyrk nodded slowly. “I will convey those thoughts to the others on the High Council.”

  “Oh … and one other thing. From here on out, there won’t be a High Council. Or a Factors’ Council. There will just be a Council. We’re all in this together.”

  “There’s always been a High Council.”

  Charyn shook his head. “There wasn’t one at the time of the first Rex Regis and, frankly, the record of the High Council in the last few decades has been anything but exemplary. Or would you contest that?”

  “Unlike your predecessors, Your Grace, you are most well-read in history and other matters. I will also convey to the other High Holders on the Council that you are willing to work with us. I’d prefer not to directly agree to the abolition of the High Council.”

  “So long as you don’t meet officially or try to press a direct agenda for just High Holders, I won’t officially abolish the High Council.”

  “Then we agree on that.”

  “On the terms I laid out. High Holders can still select five members of the Council, one from each region, by whatever method you all agree upon.”

  “We can work with that.” Fhaedyrk’s smile was pleasant, with perhaps a hint of warmth. “Did I tell you that you are most unlike any of your more recent predecessors?”

  “I hope so. Matters didn’t work out so well for them … or Solidar.” Charyn stood. “I appreciate your forthrightness. We will work things out, although we may not always agree exactly.”

  “Thank you, again, for seeing me.” Fhaedyrk inclined his head, then rose and left the study.

  Not until the study door closed did Charyn take a long deep breath. He wasn’t looking forward to Meredi’s Council meeting, at least not to the part that would follow Alyncya’s announcement.

  “High Holder Delcoeur has been waiting to see you, Your Grace.”

  Ferrand? Charyn hadn’t known he was coming. “Have him come in.”

  Ferrand entered the study with a wide smile. “Good afternoon. I think it’s afternoon, now.”

  “I didn’t know you were waiting.”

  “I don’t mind. I came totally unannounced. I knew I might have to wait. You’re the Rex, and a great deal’s happened to you and around you. Was that High Holder Fhaedyrk who just left? He looked somewhat concerned.”

  “He likely did. I let him know that I’m treating High Holders the same way as factors and workers under the law. I wasn’t quite that blunt, but I’m certain he got the message. Ostensibly, it was an appeal for me not to take away Ghaermyn’s and Laastyn’s High Holdings from their heirs. Laastyn’s, really. Fhaedyrk could have cared less about Ghaermyn, I suspect.”

  “After all they did?”

  “You don’t know the half of it. Aevidyr schemed to get some of their properties off the tariff rolls something like ten years ago. So they also owed enormous back tariffs … and willful and protracted failure to pay tariffs, especially by a High Holder, is a high crime. But you didn’t come to hear me talk abo
ut that. You look very happy. Kayrolya?”

  “I asked last night, and she and her family accepted.”

  “Congratulations!” Charyn didn’t have to feign enthusiasm. “I’m happy for the two of you. I thought it might be coming when I saw you two at the Autumn-Turn Ball. I hope your mother’s pleased.”

  “She is. She likes Kayrolya.” Ferrand grinned. “Now she can worry about Lacyara and Vaernya.”

  “Lacyara’s only fifteen.”

  “That gives her plenty of time to worry. What about you and the Lady-heir Alyncya?”

  “She asked me. I accepted. If you’d keep that to yourself until Meredi. That’s when she’ll announce it to the Council.”

  “She asked you?”

  “Actually, I asked her. She refused me. Then she asked me, and I accepted.”

  For a moment, Ferrand looked puzzled. Then he nodded. “So she can keep the holding herself?”

  “In case we have a daughter, especially.”

  “But you’re the Rex. Do you need—”

  “You never know, Ferrand. You never know how long Solidar will need a Rex. Now … I think we should go and have some refreshments and celebrate our good fortune.” Or what good fortune there is.

  68

  Well before dawn on Mardi morning, Charyn donned formal greens and then made his way down to the official regial coach and the four mounted guards that would accompany him on his way to Army High Command headquarters. In moments, the coach was headed down the lane on the drive to army headquarters some three milles northwest of the Chateau D’Rex.

  Some four quints later, the coach approached the guardhouse at the gates in the low wall surrounding what had been a High Holding in the time of the first Rex Regis. Two guards presented arms as the coach slowed to make its way through the gates before heading toward the main building with its sections of lighter-colored stones and masonry in the walls, replacements for damages caused by explosions during the High Holders’ revolt.

  The coach halted outside the headquarters building, where the Marshal and Subcommander Luerryn stood waiting in the gray before sunrise.