“Then it can’t be anyone within the clan,” argued Cadoc Gwillamer. “Otherwise, there would be confusion in lines of authority. That means someone from another clan, and I assume many of us would rather not start a new clan from the family of an existing hetman.”
“I tend to agree,” said Savar Skouks, a hetman only since his father was killed in a Narthani assassination, “unless the new hetman is from a clan on the other side of Caedellium and it’s someone we can agree on.”
When the following discussion seemed to settle on appointing a new hetman from outside the old Clan Eywell, Culich Keelan called for attention from Tomis Orosz.
“I believe I have a candidate and some conditions that we might all agree with,” said Culich. “There is a clansman whom all of you know personally or are familiar with his role in defeating the Narthani. I have worked with him extensively this last year and can attest that he is intelligent, honorable, and loyal to Caedellium. I will also say that he can be a no-nonsense, humorless prick at times, but sneaky and ruthless when needed. Those latter characteristics served him well when he oversaw the War Council’s intelligence gathering. Some of those same traits will serve us all in reorganizing the former Eywell Clan. I can guarantee that any Eywell leadership leftovers will tread lightly with Owill Brell watching them.”
“Brell!” exclaimed Bultecki.
“Brell?” questioned Pawell before an adviser whispered in his ear. “Oh, yes. Owill Brell. Hmmm . . . an Adrisian. An interesting suggestion.”
The other attendees didn’t hear Hetman Pawell’s son, Urgon, remind his father that he had spent a month working with the MIU and Brell.
“I wouldn’t object to Brell,” asserted Stent. “As did Hetman Keelan, I’ve interacted with him, and he’s everything Culich says. He’s a perfect man to keep a tight rein on any troublemakers.”
“We’d need to provide him with security until he has the people under control,” said Culich. “I suggest we be sure the new clanspeople understand Brell has the complete backing of the conclave, which could be reinforced by temporarily stationing a dragoon regiment within the province, until such time Brell assures us they are unnecessary.”
“I agree with Hetman Keelan about the dragoons,” said Stent. “Even if they aren’t necessary, it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. I will also recommend to Brell that one of the first things he does is meet with Verlan Kollar, the boyerman of the Hanslow district. I met him briefly when the Northern Force passed the city on the way to isolate Preddi Province. I believed him when he said he had argued against allying with the Narthani. He also stayed behind to help his people when other prominent Eywellese fled as the Narthani withdrew.”
Orosz pushed the remaining discussion along quickly and called for a vote. Owill Brell was unanimously supported to become hetman of Clan Brell. Culich had arranged for Owill to be occupied elsewhere until his selection was confirmed. Denes Vegga was dispatched, and a puffing Brell arrived at the conclave room. He seemed shocked when Hetman Orosz told him of the conclave’s decision.
“But I’m an Adrisian,” protested Brell.
“No longer,” said Klyngo Adris. “I’ve been proud of you as a member of Clan Adris, and I’m confident I’ll be even more proud when it’s widely recognized that an ex-Adrisian has become a competent hetman reforming a new clan.”
Brell made several more attempts to dissuade the conclave, but Yozef could see his successive protests weaken as Brell began thinking of what needed to be done and how he would do it. Yes, he’ll do fine, thought Yozef. Based on seeing him with the MIU, Yozef had first suggested Brell to Culich. I don’t think Owill will care about becoming a hetman as much as taking on a challenge.
Finally, Brell formally accepted the conclave’s offer and sat where chairs had been reserved for the Eywell, now the Brell Clan. His was the only chair now occupied of the original six chairs. Yozef bet to himself Brell was already planning.
As soon as Brell sat, Orosz moved to the last issue before the conclave.
“Sers, we now come to the question of what to do with the Preddi Clan territory. Little remains of the original Preddi Clan or its leadership. Of the ten thousand Preddi who lived through the Narthani occupation, from the original population of fifty-four thousand, half were from rural areas in the south, well away from the capital, and the other half had been made slaves. In addition, another six thousand Preddi have fled to other provinces. It is known that some of those have established lives elsewhere and have no desire to return to Preddi Province. We have estimates that perhaps three-quarters do want to return, along with their spouses and family members from other clans. This gives only about seventeen thousand citizens to repopulate the province and the main Caedellium port. The Preddi were victims of their own leadership and the Narthani. They deserve the opportunity to reestablish their clan. However, the surviving number of clan members is an issue.”
Orosz ignored possibly absorbing the remaining Preddi clanspeople and land into adjacent clans. The Brell Clan had enough to handle as it transformed into a new clan, and all the War Council members agreed it would not be favorably received if Selfcell were perceived as benefiting from the Preddi Clan’s dissolution.
“We also have another problem,” said Orosz. “What to do with the twenty thousand freed Narthani slaves in Preddi Province? We forbade the Narthani from taking any off Caedellium against their will. These former slaves are from many different peoples on Anyar, either conquered by the Narthani or traded to them from others, such as the Buldorians. They have no unifying connection to one another, except as ex-Narthani slaves. None hope to return to an original home and family, which either no longer exist or are within the Narthon Empire. We have already integrated some hundreds of them into other clans, but Yozef Kolsko has suggested a way to solve the two problems of too few surviving Preddi and the future of the former slaves by putting them together. They would have the Narthani as a common factor, albeit a negative one. We can encourage, not compel, them all to stay in Preddi to help repopulate the province. There are now empty shops, farms, mines, and whole villages. The freed slaves could start off with opportunities they never would have let themselves dream of.”
“What about those Narthani who stayed behind?” asked Hetman Mittack. “Are we to trust them, and where will they go?”
“I’m convinced these are people who hate the Narthani as much as we do,” said Orosz. “Most are from peoples recently crushed, and their families’ memories of what happened are still fresh. As for what we do with them, the easiest solution is to have them remain in Preddi Province.”
The following discussion was brief. No clan had an inherent interest in absorbing either Narthani or ex-slaves, and no animosity existed toward the surviving Preddi. By another unanimous vote, the Preddi Clan was reconstituted with an estimated thirty-nine thousand members. The problem of establishing a new leadership remained. Only one viable candidate existed. When Balwis Preddi was summoned to the conclave, his curiosity at what they wanted with him transformed into stunned disbelief. He initially protested that he knew nothing about running a clan and didn’t want the job in the first place.
His passive-aggressive adoption of the Preddi last name when he fled the Narthani came back at him. He was also the most prominent living Preddi on Caedellium, based on his promotion to command a combined mainly Preddi/ex-slave dragoon regiment when Harmon Swavebroke’s force cut the Narthani supply line. In addition, he had gained standing as the leader of the islander force that had swept through half of Preddi Province as the Narthani retreated to enclosures. Later, Yozef ran a sub rosa campaign to keep Balwis in the eyes of Preddi Province denizens. As a result, thousands of Preddi and ex-slaves saw Balwis as the personification of their liberation, whether he wanted their regard or not.
“Look, Balwis,” Yozef said, after listening to him declare he had no interest in being hetman and taking the man aside from the conclave meeting, “most clans think the Preddi were a bunch of sanctimonious pri
cks, always thinking themselves better. You’ve used the Preddi last name, so don’t tell me you don’t feel an affinity for your clan—at least, what’s left of it. You’re the one Preddi who has a reputation and has led men in battle against the Narthani. If you’re hetman, you can be sure the men of your regiment will have places to fit in. Then, there’s always the ‘fuck you’ factor for people who don’t believe in you.”
The last argument referenced but left unspoken Culich Keelan, who had gone ballistic when Ceinwyn Keelan informed her father she was marrying the disreputable Balwis and carrying his child. Culich’s verbal opinion of Balwis’s suitability as a husband to a hetman’s daughter led father and daughter not to speak for months. Then, Breda, Maera, and Yozef all worked on Culich until he accepted the inevitable. Ceinwyn and Culich had reconciled, but Balwis could carry a grudge. In the end, he sourly accepted and took a seat in the conclave as the new Hetman Preddi.
In the sixdays to come, Balwis’s first act as Hetman Preddi would be to bring in Wyfor Kales as his chief magistrate. The two men had developed closer ties since their mission to kill Memas Erdelin. Kales had lost an arm at Orosz City, and he hadn’t fully recovered. The medicants said he was doing well for a man fifty-five years old and with as many major injuries as his scars attested to. Nevertheless, Wyfor recognized he would never be the same, and his wife, Teena, encouraged him to find an occupation that would challenge him without requiring too much physical exertion. Whether or not he was the same man, no disgruntled ex-slave, Preddi clansperson, or ex-Narthani would risk having Kales pay him too much attention.
Balwis’s second act would be to convince Savronel Storlini to advise the new hetman on dealing with the three thousand ex-Narthani who chose to stay on Caedellium, rather than return to Narthon. Storlini was a Narthani himself but from a people conquered two generations earlier. He had no loyalty to Narthon and had defected to the clans, looking for a better life, and he had advised the MIU on Narthani customs and history.
The final action of the Neath conclave was the most contentious and the only part of the conclave where Yozef took a lead role and played the Septarsh card. Due to his insistence, his reputation, the rumors he was a Septarsh, and several casual references to, “It comes to me,” the hetman succession of the Brell and Preddi clans would take place using a version of the Keelan system: the hetman proposes a son or another male relative, and the district boyermen approve by a three-quarters vote.
Yozef argued that because the new hetmen had no family histories of leading the clans, input from boyermen would be justified and would mollify internal resentments, particularly within Eywell. Several hetmen erupted in vociferous arguments, including Nyvaks, Vandinke, and, to Yozef’s surprise, Orosz, who worried about interference with internal clan affairs. Other clans didn’t care, because they didn’t perceive it affected their clans. Yozef felt twinges of guilt, but only twinges. He was satisfied that the practice would inevitably spread. It was a small thing, but with four clans now eliminating primogeniture—Keelan, Moreland, Preddi, and Brell—he foresaw a gradual shift to more qualified leadership throughout Caedellium. Every little bit helped.
Capital
When the All-Clan Conclave adjourned, Maera waited until Yozef was momentarily alone before coming to his side and speaking softly so only he could hear.
“No one mentioned what’s happening in Orosz City, Yozef. Are they taking it for granted, or does even Father not realize the long-term significance?”
He casually glanced around to see if anyone was within hearing, then whispered back. “I think they’ve become so accustomed to Orosz City being the focal point of the united clans’ efforts against the Narthani, first for planning and then the climactic battle, that they take what’s happening for granted, instead of projecting to the future.”
“But certainly Tomis Orosz must have an inkling,” said Maera.
“Even for him it may not be obvious, although that condition can’t last much longer,” said Yozef. “Even before the conclave decided that the clans need to consider some form of central authority, Orosz City was on the way to developing into the capitol city of Caedellium. No one is talking yet as such, but past events and current plans are laying the foundation.”
Maera knew he was referring to plans for Orosz City to be the location of a military academy (aided in establishment by Reimo Kivalian), the headquarters of both the multi-campus University Caedellium and the Bank of Abersford, and the central office of Yozef’s many enterprises.
The beginning of a government complex was already under construction just west of the old city. It would house a larger, more formal conclave building, along with a building for the War Council he envisioned morphing into a department of defense. With Yozef’s encouragement, the building for the conclave was to be named the Senate Building and the name conclave replaced by calling the gathering the Senate. Because hetmen could not be in attendance at all times, and since there might be decisions needing regular input from all the clans, Yozef convinced the hetmen that there be two permanent representatives from each clan to spend half a year at Orosz City. These representatives would be known as senators. Each senator would represent the will of the hetman when he was not there himself. As the names suggested, Yozef saw this as a step toward a central legislative body, even if several generations into the future.
“Do you still think it best to introduce the other buildings one at a time, instead of all at once?” asked Maera.
“I dislike subterfuge, but I think it best. I think Tomis got tired of trying to understand why I kept pushing for so much land around the new Senate building. I’m hoping he and the other hetmen come to the realization themselves that we need departments of defense, external trade, internal commerce, and law. If not, I’ll have to try not to make it seem like I was deceiving them all along.”
“You aren’t deceiving them,” argued Maera. “You’re just providing contingencies, as you put it. When it becomes time for each department and building, you will have ensured a natural site for their location.”
“Nice try, Maera, but I wouldn’t be convinced if I were one of the hetmen.”
“Since you’re not letting all the hetmen know your thoughts, I agree it’s best not to tell a select few. However, I expect Father, Welman Stent, and Tomis Orosz will agree with everything we’ve talked about. Most of the other hetmen won’t likely make the connections.”
One other building was already planned to stand near the Senate. Yozef argued it was best to plan for unanticipated needs. The hetmen didn’t understand why such a building was needed, and Yozef didn’t explain that he envisioned the inevitable increase in the island’s central administrative activities. His proposed design seemed small and innocuous enough that they offered little resistance. He didn’t explain that the planned building was modular to allow nearly indefinite expansion to serve whatever form of central authority the hetmen settled on, assuming such a change was finally approved. Whenever questions arose about the need for extensive space between the buildings, Yozef tried reasoning, aesthetics, or, if nothing else worked, he reverted to his “It comes to me” statement, by now widely taken to mean directly from God. The realization he was giving birth to an inevitable expanding government bureaucracy nagged at his conscience.
Chapter 53: Changes
Going and Staying
Changes, expected and unexpected, marked many lives during the months after the final Narthani shipload left Caedellium.
The Kolsko household’s temporary move to Orosz City had extended indefinitely. Too much of what was happening centered around the city, but Yozef refused to say the stay was permanent. Despite his reticence, groundbreaking for a new manor house would happen in the next month. The property lay on a level bench, two miles inside the mountains overlooking Orosz City and the surrounding forested and rocky slopes. A year-round brook came from upslope, and Yozef had ordered built a rock-bottomed, walled course that wound through the property before reentering its
natural flow down to larger streams. Almost ten acres of interspersed gardens and groves would provide many quiet spots for just being. The site was favored by Yozef and Anarynd, though Maera considered it too far from the city. It was also the biggest luxury Yozef allowed himself, though he could have afforded far more. His various enterprises continued to expand on the island and soon would be extended as off-island trade resumed, this time on a far grander scale than before the Narthani came. Yozef didn’t spend much time on innovations himself, as much as passing ideas on to others for development. Not all ideas panned out, but enough did to reinforce his reputation and keep increasing the rate of incoming coin.
“I know things never stay the same,” said Yozef as they sat at the table finishing mid-day meal, “but I’m going to miss the people moving back to Abersford and Caernford.”
“I still haven’t accepted how my family has changed in the last year,” said Maera. “Oh, I always knew my sisters and I would leave home to marry and move elsewhere, possibly on the other side of Caedellium, but knowing in my mind and having it happen as it has is difficult. Except for the time we lived in Abersford and then Orosz City, I’ve lived my whole life in Keelan Manor or nearby. Now, Mother, Father, and Mared are the only ones left there. Anid’s dead, Ceinwyn is in Preddi, and here I am in Orosz City.”
“You still have them, Maera,” Yozef said gently. “You just won’t see them as often, and you’ll always have memories.”
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