The Porfian Princess: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 4

by L J Dalton Jr.

  My Prince, is this Baron Edelhord capable enough of sniffing out such malcontents and making an example of them? Seldin was excellent at that and Nester before him. We’ll need that type of control to keep our people in line.

  “Cadmael, I wouldn’t concern yourself about Baron Edelhord. I picked him myself because I thought he had the intelligence and ruthlessness necessary to do those things. I will admit that he doesn’t have the focus outside our kingdom that both Seldin and Nester did, but I think we must be looking inward at this point in time. What’s your opinion?”

  Both Dukes agreed. They then started to discuss what things they could to safeguard the realm, including increasing the number of men in the Guard. They would develop detailed plans over the next couple of days. While the safety of the realm was the ostensible reason for all this, all the participants knew that what they were actually talking about was removing Leonades and installing Bartrum as the ruler.

  It wasn’t until they were on the way home that Duke Cadmael spoke frankly to his son, Eucleides, and his advisor Kasos. “Now we are free to talk. Son, never assume that when you are in a place such as Duke Mako’s palace that nobody is listening to you. Also, the young women the Duke provided us with are under strict orders to report everything that we say. Oh, and we do the same thing.”

  That brought a laugh from Kasos. Duke Cadmael continued. “I worry about this. Bartrum seems to think that he has his father fooled. I worry about the harem. Some of the women in the harem live for intrigue. Bartrum’s mother, Solar, is one, as is the King’s mother, Melita.

  Melita might have some idea of what is going on. She’d have to be very careful to get Leonades to listen to her; he’s far too sure of himself and not the brightest. Oh, he’s intelligent enough, but not as intelligent as he thinks. He is strengthening his Guard contingent. Based on what Bartrum said, it will be strong enough to deter our combined forces.

  The key is for Bartrum to eliminate his father before we get to the capital. We need to protect ourselves. Leonades has a very young son, Pindar, who lives with his mother at his father’s old estate, Peta. The young boy is Leonades insurance policy in case something happens to Bartrum. If nothing does, Leonades will either marry the boy off, or Bartrum will end him.

  If worse comes to worst, we’ll get our hands on the boy. I want an insurance policy against Bartrum, and Pindar is it.”

  Eucleides wanted to know. “Besides strengthening his Guard, what else can the King do to thwart us?”

  “Good question, son. He could realize what Bartrum is doing and eliminate him. That would make his youngest even more valuable. He could also use the assassins’ guild against us. We’ll have to take extra care. If assassins do come for us, then Bartrum’s time on this world is short.”

  Kasos agreed and added. “I’m sorry, Cadmael, but if an assassin kills you and Eucleides is still alive, we are not devastated. If an assassin kills Mako, things are bad. He has no male heir. The King would be able to appoint his successor. It doesn’t matter if it is Leonades or Bartrum who sits on the throne. The new Duke would be the King’s creature.

  That would drastically change the balance of power in the kingdom. The Duke who would rule in Helike would be the King’s puppet, and between them, we wouldn’t have the power to resist them. They couldn’t attack us, but we would be weaker.”

  That got all three men to thinking. Cadmael silently decided that neither Leonades nor Bartrum could sit on the throne. He’d let Bartrum kill his father, and then when they entered the city, Bartrum would die. He’d put the young Pindar on the throne and pick the regent. He should consider having Duke Mako eliminated. He was sure Mako was aware of his vulnerability and was doing his best to father a son. So far, he’d only had daughters.

  For his part, Duke Mako was aware that of all the Dukes, he was the most vulnerable and the one that the King would strike at if he became aware of their plot. The only thing he could do was to increase his security and be vigilant. Even if he had a son in a few months, that would be no guarantee. The child’s life would be forfeited in any move against him. He had to consider how he could get control of Leonades’ youngest son.

  Before Duke Cadmael had made it back to Larissa, a tea caravan had left the south headed north towards the Sud. While the caravan contained tea, the people in it weren’t merchants. Twenty of the Guards from Peta and their families escorting young Pindar and his mother to his grandfather’s estate. Antiope had treated the Guard stationed at the estate fairly, and the young Prince impressed them with his intelligence and hard work. He didn’t put on airs. He thought that he was the son of some noble, that he was second in line to the throne was something that was kept from him for his own safety.

  Pindar was excited to be going to his grandfather’s, whom he’d never met. He was also pleased that the young children he played with were going with him. That meant that he would have people he knew to play with when he got to his grandfather’s.

  Leonades knew that this was happening. Bartrum and the Dukes were unaware of it. One other person was aware of what was going on, Timor. They had purchased the tea from one of his plantations. They did their best to disguise what was going on, but his people in the south saw through the attempted deception. Timor intended to pass the information on to his brother Andreas in Centralia. From there, he was sure it would be relayed to Duke Marvon. He did need to encrypt it before sending it. Luckily encrypted communications between merchants were common and would draw no suspicion.

  Same Old Thing

  Randall and his wives were relaxing. Lauden had gone to bed and was now starting to sleep through the night. Mathias’ and Annette’s wedding was approaching, and everyone would soon be heading to Great Falls for the big event. Randall was musing about leaving Catrina and Michael in charge. “This will be a dry run for Catrina and Michael. I don’t expect any big trouble, but people will try and take advantage of Catrina because she’s young and Michael because he’s not as familiar with our laws and customs as somebody who grew up here. I expect that they will survive.”

  Juliana asked Randall. “Are you going to be the one who’s going to tell your daughter that people will try and take advantage of her because she’s young?”

  “My Daughter? You two only used that when she or her sister had done something that I needed to correct. No, I expect that she’ll figure that out on her own. Michael is going to have to be a bit more forceful. Having talked to Dr. Jorgenson, I understand that the country he came from didn’t have nobility and liked nobility from afar but didn’t want them in their country. However, I expect that having been an officer in the military, he can assume the proper air.

  And no, I’m not going to mention this to him. I’ll let Marvon do that. He’ll be mentoring them for the next couple of years. Hopefully, they’ll be fast studies. Father wants Marvon to take over Gortyn once we free that city from the Porfians. That would give everybody a stable and very experienced ruler to help bring the country around.”

  Serverna and Juliana looked at each other. And then Serverna said. “How long do you think that they’ll have under Marvon? We were expecting a couple of decades with them slowly taking over. This is rather sudden. However, I can see the logic of it. Marvon has successors who can take over, and Tantulus can use a steadying hand.”

  “I don’t know, but it won’t be long two, three, four years. I would say four at the most. I trust our little girl can get up to speed by then. Don’t you dare tell her, I said, little girl.” Randall said with a smile.

  “I’m so glad that Catrina and Michael have volunteered to watch after Lauden. He wouldn’t have liked the trip to Great Falls at all. He’s excited to stay with his aunt and uncle. I’m sure he thinks that he’ll be getting more treats and be able to talk them into letting him stay up later than his bedtime.” Said Serverna.

  Randall looked at his wives. “Catrina volunteered, and Michael was volunteered. I think he has nieces and nephews back home, and he has some idea of wha
t he’s getting into. He’s told me that his parents did the volunteering thing a lot and that his sisters were very careful how much they allowed them to do. Because in the end, they had exhausted children and exhausted grandparents.

  I expect that Catrina and Michael will have more stamina, but they’ll soon learn. It will be good for them. You are leaving a nurse with them, aren’t you?”

  “Of course, dear. We wouldn’t be so cruel, although it would be payback for all the times she and her sister gave us fits when they were younger. No, Slaine, who Lauden adores, and minds, is going to be staying with them. Her husband Eagan will be a help as well.” Was Serverna’s reply.

  In their apartment, Mike was holding a sleeping Jack and talking with his wife, who was concerned about being in charge of the city while her parents and grandparents were at the wedding. “Cat, you’ll do fine. You’ve been trained for this, and you’ll do fine. Remember, you’re the girl who kicked Bart in the balls as he was trying to molest you and shot that assassin who was trying to stab me. Facing a bunch of citizens whining about something or other isn’t going to be nearly as much trouble.”

  “Michael, thanks for your support, but I’m still going to be nervous. Although we will have Jack and Lauden to take care of, and that’s going to be fun.”

  Mike wasn’t so sure that Lauden was going to be that easy. As far as he could tell, the little tyke was pretty sure that grandparents and aunts and uncles were easy marks. His nieces and nephews always thought so. Oh, well, this will be good practice for when Jack hits the terrible twos.

  As the wedding neared, more and more notables showed up at Nordport. They would go with the King to the wedding. Among them were Duke Marvon and his wife, Helena. They temporarily moved into the apartment with Mike and Catrina. Mike found out that Amelia, Marvon’s other wife, had stayed at Centralia with Thimotie, as Helena explained. “Little Thimotie wouldn’t have enjoyed all the traveling, and he’d much rather be at home in his own room and bed. He has ollie and darken to play with along with some of the younger children. He’s quite happy. Amelia and I drew straws to see who would stay, and she won.”

  She and Marvon fussed over little Jack, who soaked up the attention. Another somebody to hold him. Mike told Marvon. “He’s working hard. I never realized how hard little kids work. He can roll over now and is getting better at grabbing things. He’s constantly working on things. Of course, this tires him out, and he falls asleep.”

  Marvon was pleased. “It will be good to have another little person in the palace. Unfortunately, your time to get settled is going to be cut short. I’m going to be going to Gortyn to take over there once it’s freed from Porfian control.

  You and Catrina will have to carry on without us. We’ll do the best that we can. I expect that you’ll have to learn on the job. These couple of months running Nordport should be good training.

  You’ll get the usual people who’ll want to see if they can take advantage of your inexperience. You’ll have to be careful. No doubt that you’ll get burned once and a while. We all do.

  Now things are going back to normal. It will be the usual intrigue among the nobility and the merchants. Nothing deadly, I suspect. But still plotting. Plotting is something that the nobility is good at. It’s much less here than in other places, but we don’t escape it.

  Speaking of plotting. It looks like Porfia may be heading towards civil war. The Dukes are unhappy about the prospect of losing Tantulus. I expect that the current heir, Bartrum, is sharpening his knife to put in his father’s back.

  The thing is that Leonades might have stumbled on to what’s going on. You may not know this. He has a much younger son, whose name I think is Pindar or something like it. He stashed him in the south with his mother. He was both insurance and a possible marriage partner to be used to cement ties with whomever.

  It appears that Leonades has moved both the boy and his mother out of the south and stashed them somewhere in the country's north. Leonades might be sharpening his own knife for the heir. We’ll have to wait and see. If Porfia descends into internal strife, I won’t feel any remorse. It will keep the rest of us safer until it calms down.

  The assassins’ guild may get involved as well. They are used extensively by the southern kingdoms.”

  Mike and Catrina listened closely. Helena had Jack in her lap, and he’d fallen asleep. “Marvon, dear, you should probably talk to Michael about how the Porfian’s can best be moved out of Gortyn. Also, give him the lay of the political land in Centralia.”

  “Thank you, my dear. As to the Gortyn issue, Michael, you can think about it; we’ve got plenty of time to talk about it. Centralia is the same old thing; I have relatives who think that they should be taking over for me. They’ve somehow learned that I might leave for Gortyn and are trying to portray the two of you as too inexperienced to rule Centralia.

  I expect that you’ll be able to handle them.”

  Mike was a bit concerned. “What do we need to do to forestall this getting serious?”

  “Well, Catrina has been raised as a royal, so she knows. You are new to Cornu and royalty. My friend Dr. Jorgenson explained to me how your people aren’t all that taken with royalty and have this concept of democracy. Which a few hundred years from now may make sense, but both he and I agreed it won’t work now.”

  Mike nodded his agreement, and Marvon went on. “You’ve already established yourself as a scientist and a warrior. You need to deal with the royalty issue. The best thing I can suggest is to act like you are a very senior officer in the military and that common people are privates in your army. Merchants and minor nobility are junior officers, and higher nobility is the equivalent of higher-ranking officers. Does that make sense?”

  Mike smiled. “Yes, it does. I can do that. It might take some changes. I’ll have to put up with the Baron stuff, but that’s a small sacrifice to make sure that we are successful.”

  Catrina smiled. “You don’t have to worry about the Baron stuff, dear. When I take over the duchy, you’ll become a Count. So, you’ll have to worry about the Count stuff then.”

  Mike shot her a dirty look and then laughed himself.

  On the Road

  The nobles from the eastern part of the country had gathered in Nordport. Finally, they set off for Great Falls. It should take them a little over two weeks to get to great falls. There were many carriages, escorted by one hundred Royal Guardsmen. Steedman, who was now a major in charge of the Rangers, was going along with twelve sharpshooters to provide coverage for the wedding.

  Since his father was going, Rolf went along to observe and learn from his father. Brandt, Rolf, and the other young men with them all rode their horses. The big topic of conversation for them was what was going on in Tantulus. Rolf and Brandt had followed it fairly closely, but Rolf, who was deeply interested in those things, had spent a lot of time talking with Michael about it.

  As they started out, Rolf asked Brandt, “Lauden is staying with your sister and Michael?”

  Brandt laughed a little. “Yeah, my sister volunteered; Michael had no say in it. Lauden is cute, but he’s a handful. He expects to get away with a lot while he’s staying with them. Good luck is what I say.”

  The two friends shared a laugh and then talked about Tantulus and security at the wedding. Brandt said that he’d heard that things were happening in Porfia itself. Brandt promised to talk to Duke Marvon about it and share whatever he was allowed with everybody.

  Back in Nordport, Lauden was having fun with his ‘Aunt’ and ‘Uncle’; he was a bit too young to understand that Catrina was his sister and Michael, his brother-in-law. But aunt and uncle he could sort of deal with. Brandt was his brother, and he lived with him, so that was sort of understood. But putting Catrina and Mike in the same bucket was difficult since they didn’t live with him. He found that Michael would help him build things with the blocks, and then a ‘monster’ would knock them down. It was tons of fun. They read him stories, and he found little Jack to be
interesting. Tantrums went over about as well with them as with his parents – not well. It was exhausting, but both Mike and Catrina were doing well.

  When nobles going to the wedding got to Midport, they stayed for a couple of days to rest up and then continue the journey. Normon joined the group of boys riding. His sister Marta had grown and started to fill out. She did spend some time flirting with the boys Brandt’s age. Rolf was impressed. When she didn’t pay that much attention to Brandt except to ask how James was, Rolf asked. “Brandt, what did you do to her?”

  Brandt sighed. “It’s a long story. Basically, I wasn’t interested in kissing her. Don’t ask why; it’s complicated. Michael explained it to me. Said I’d regret it later.”

  Rolf smiled and didn’t press his friend. “Well, I would go off to kiss her, but I’ve got to practice protecting people, and you’re the person I’m practicing on.”

  He did listen eagerly as Brandt relayed the information about the potential trouble in Porfia. “Michael was able to stir all that up by just training some peasants, arming them, and sending them to take back Koronus. It’s very interesting, and I’ve got to talk to him more about this.” Was Rolf’s reaction. Brandt agreed with his friend that it was pretty spectacular how that happened.

  Roddrick knew about the attack near the Resting Lion, so he prepared himself mentally to help his wife deal with any bad memories. He had been gravely wounded in the attack that took place in Midport. He had a complete recovery, and while both he and Christiana remembered it, they were both able to deal with it. Roddrick had already experienced one episode of his wife reliving the nightmare of the attack by Bart and his band. He’d just held her and listened, and that was apparently the right thing to do.