Assassin's Price

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  “Thank you, Your Grace.” Argentyl bowed. “Thank you for seeing a humble crafter.”

  Once the silversmith had left the study, Charyn looked to Howal. “Do you know anything that might shed some light on this?”

  “No, sir. I know the Collegium doesn’t allow anyone to image anything crafters make, except for use on Imagisle. That’s unless it’s something that no one else crafts.”

  “That’s what they do at their factorage?”

  Howal nodded.

  “Sturdyn.” Charyn raised his voice. “I’d like to see Norstan.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  In less than half a quint, Norstan was in the study, trying not to look worried. That was a guess on Charyn’s part, but Norstan was showing the signs of being ill at ease.

  “Norstan … I met with Argentyl a little while ago. Just how did he manage to come to your attention? He never got past Aevidyr’s clerks.”

  “Ah … he’s married to my wife’s cousin, sir. I told her that I could only ask you if he’d meet with you.”

  “You didn’t think I’d agree, did you?”

  “No, sir.”

  “You were right to ask me, but I might not be so quick to agree to your next suggestion.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “If the cousin asks anything, you can say that what he suggested involves a great number of people and a great deal of work. For that reason, I’m not likely to make a quick decision.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s all. I just needed to know.”

  Charyn thought Norstan was relieved, but he wasn’t certain … as he often wasn’t.

  After the seneschal had departed, Charyn looked back to Howal. “I’m not used to being rex. I should have asked Norstan how Argentyl came to his attention when he first mentioned the craftmaster.”

  “I think it must take some time to learn that. I’ve heard that Maitre Alastar asks those kinds of questions, but he’s been Collegium Maitre for almost twenty years.”

  You’re going to have to learn faster than that.

  Promptly at ninth glass, Sturdyn announced, “Factor Hisario.”

  Charyn debated whether he should stand, then did so as the gray-haired and angular shipping factor entered the study. He still worried about seeing a member of the Solidaran Factors’ Council privately, but the more he knew before the meeting of the combined councils the better. The factor glanced at Howal and then back to Charyn, who gestured toward the chairs in front of the desk.

  Hisario stopped short of the chairs and inclined his head. “Rex Charyn, I offer my sympathy and condolences for the death of your father. We did not agree on much, but I would not have wished such a death on anyone … or upon his family.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate your words.” Charyn motioned toward the chairs and seated himself. Smiling pleasantly, he waited for Hisario to speak.

  Finally, the factor began. “I do not know what you know about the situation facing the factors of Solidar, especially those of us engaged in shipping spices, copper, and tin.” He looked to Charyn.

  “I know that the prices of pepper have been rising, and the future prices are even higher. I understand that copper prices remain low because ships bringing tin to Solidar have been … hampered.”

  “Sent to the bottom of the Northern Ocean is more like it. The zinc, too, but the tin is what we need most. The Ferrans and the Jariolan privateers sink our ships, and then they use their own merchanters to ship the tin we would have bought to the Abierto Isles. We have to pay twice as much when the Abiertans ship it to Eshtora … if we can even get it. To boot, we have to ship it from there to Solis, and then take it upriver to Ferravyl.”

  “I take it you’ve lost ships?”

  “Two so far. Can’t sail to Jariola or Ferrum now, and it’s not much better going south and west to Otelyrn. The privateers are everywhere.”

  “I understand the navy has dispatched warships to deal with the privateers.”

  “I’ve got no problem with the navy. They do right well … but there aren’t enough warships. The privateers just wait until the warships aren’t around.”

  “I understand some factors are arming their ships,” said Charyn.

  “That’s costly, Rex Charyn. Cannon, shells, and powder are expensive. You have to build magazines. That costs golds and takes space from cargo. You need more crew, and that’s more in provisions. All that slows a vessel, and then you can’t outsail the bastards.”

  “If your ships are faster, then…” Charyn offered a puzzled expression.

  “We have to port, sooner or later. They just wait near a port out of sight or at one end of the straits, or somewhere that we can’t maneuver. That pretty much keeps us from trading with either Jariola or Ferrum.”

  “And most of the privateers have sailed south around Otelyrn?”

  “That’s right.”

  Charyn frowned. “How do our warships compare to the Jariolan ships?”

  “When your warships are around, there’s never a problem. They’re not always around. That’s the problem. Trying not to argue, sir, but you don’t have enough ships to protect your shippers.”

  “It might be difficult to build enough ships to protect everyone all the time.”

  “More ships would help, sir.”

  “Before his death, my father decided to build more ships than he had planned. That effort will continue. How many will depend on what it costs. I have the Finance Minister looking into that.”

  “You’re not thinking of raising tariffs, are you?” Hisario’s eyes narrowed.

  “I’m not about to commit to anything more than my father announced until I know what it will cost. The same is true of tariffs. It would be foolish for me to announce that I am building ships Solidar cannot build or cannot afford. It would also be foolish for me to announce changes in tariffs until I know what the needs might be and what meeting those needs might require in tariffs. It would be especially foolish to do either before meeting with the two councils. But, at the same time, you are telling me that it would be foolish for me to do nothing. Isn’t that what you’re saying, Factor Hisario?”

  “That’s what it comes down to.”

  “Do you know who might be behind the assassination of my father?” Charyn hoped the direct question, hopefully out of nowhere, might reveal something.

  “No, Your Grace. I don’t.”

  “The only message we received indicated that my father and the family would be in danger until more was done to protect the merchant ships of Solidar. That would tend to suggest a factor or someone in shipping.”

  “Factors are not the only ones in shipping.”

  “That’s true, but most of those in trade are factors.” Charyn shook his head. “No one seems to know anything about it. My father found that hard to believe, and I’m beginning to feel the same way. In days, if not sooner, prices on the exchange reflect what has happened in the Northern Ocean. Factors know who is selling what and why. Golds change hands on whispers of what one factor or another has done … and yet not a one of you has the slightest idea who might be hiring men to burn regial granaries and assassinate the rex.”

  “Burn regial granaries? I had not heard that.”

  “Fire and explosions destroyed twenty regial silos filled with grain in the fourth week of Finitas.”

  “Where was that?” asked Hisario.

  “At the regial estate in Tuuryl. The loss of grain and the damage to the silos amounted to more than twelve thousand golds. That’s roughly the cost of two warships of the line.”

  “How do you know it was done on purpose?”

  “There was a very explicit message pinned to the landwarden’s door with a knife.” Charyn wasn’t certain about the knife, but it had to have been affixed to the door with something, and he thought it had been a knife. “It said that until the rex did more to stop the factors’ losses caused by the rex’s inability to deal with the piracy and sinkings of Solidaran ships, the rex’s losses
would continue.”

  “That doesn’t mean…” Hisario’s words died away as he looked at Charyn.

  “If it waddles like a goose, swims like a goose, and hisses like a goose, the odds are that it just might be a goose, Factor Hisario.” Charyn paused, then went on. “Even so, my father made arrangements to immediately build two more warships and announced those plans. And then he was still assassinated.” Charyn offered a cool smile. “What, exactly, would you suggest that I do? That is physically possible.”

  “Build more warships. Seek an agreement with the oligarchs. Whatever it takes.”

  “I cannot build ships any faster than we are. There isn’t more space in the shipyards, and I doubt there are that many shipwrights who are not already quite busy.”

  “Your Grace, I cannot afford to lose more ships. Neither can most in the shipping trade.”

  “Factor Hisario, I understand that. Why can you not understand that I cannot build more ships without more golds, more shipwrights, and more shipyards?”

  “I beg of you … please do something.”

  “I have been rex for five days.” And Father couldn’t find a way out in years. “I will think on it. I would request that you do so as well. We will discuss the matter and any thoughts we each may have at the meeting on the eighteenth of Ianus.” Charyn stood. There was little point in continuing any discussion. He didn’t have any other ideas, and it was clear that Hisario didn’t either.

  “I thank Your Grace for hearing me out.” Hisario’s words were even, not flat, but not showing any warmth either.

  “And I appreciate your directness and honesty.” If not your single-minded pigheadedness.

  After Hisario left the study, Charyn looked to Howal. “You heard everything. What are your thoughts?”

  “They have a problem, sir.”

  “That means I have one, because what they want costs more than I can raise without increasing tariffs, which everyone opposes.”

  Howal gave a polite nod.

  Charyn realized, at that moment, and belatedly, that he should have asked Hisario what he thought about the destruction of the exchange in Solis. Another thing you should have done.

  At half a quint before the first glass of the afternoon, Sturdyn announced, “Marshal Vaelln.”

  “Come on in!” called Charyn, standing.

  The slender and sandy-haired marshal entered by himself. That surprised Charyn, because it had appeared to him that Vaelln had seldom visited his father without other officers present.

  “Good afternoon, sir,” said Vaelln, inclining his head politely. He barely even looked at Howal as Charyn gestured for him to sit down.

  “I hope the ride here wasn’t too cold.”

  “I’ve ridden in worse.” Vaelln smiled ironically. “In better, too.” He seated himself in the middle chair. “Where would you like me to begin?”

  “With the memorial service, if you would.”

  “We had thought to follow the plan for past memorial services. An army honor guard would escort the regial family coach from the Chateau D’Rex to the anomen, and then back to the chateau after the service.”

  Charyn nodded. “There will be two coaches. The first will be the official coach. It will contain two army officers. The second coach will be plain and will follow the first. The regial party will be in the second.”

  “You fear another attack?”

  “There have been two so far. I’d rather not see a third succeed.”

  “I cannot find fault with that.”

  “You are not to tell anyone of the coach plan. No one. Not the vice-marshal. Not your wife. No one.”

  “I understand. I will not. Even so, you do understand that we can only do so much in protecting you and your family. Attacks by cannon or by Antiagon Fire of the sort that was directed at your father at the memorial service for your grandsire is not something the army can do much about.”

  Charyn decided not to mention that the Antiagon Fire had been used by disloyal army officers. Besides, Vaelln’s basic point was accurate. “I am very aware of that.” Especially after the attack on Father. “That is why I will be the only member of the regial family at the service, and I will be accompanied personally by both Maitre Alastar and Maitre Alyna. That is also between the two of us. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I will have Alucar ready a cask of coppers and silvers—and two golds—but I would appreciate it if you would pick out a strong and worthy ranker to scatter the coins at the end of the service.” Left unsaid was the fact that the ranker got to pocket a few of those coins. That was also a tradition.

  “I have someone in mind, a senior squad leader who has served well and faithfully for twenty years.”

  “Good.” Charyn paused. “There is one other matter, that of the Jariolan and Ferran privateers. Earlier today, I had a visit from Factor Hisario. He expressed great concerns about the problems created by the Jariolans and Ferrans. He has already lost two ships to the privateers. How effective have the navy warships been in dealing with the privateers … and the Jariolan and Ferran warships?”

  “At least as effective as anyone could reasonably expect, and at times, more than that. I have reason to believe that our warships built in the last five years are superior to both the best of the Jariolan and Ferran ships. Of the same class, that is. As an indication, in the first two weeks of Finitas, I received reports detailing the sinking of six privateers in Feuillyt. Four were destroyed in Erntyn.”

  “Ten privateer ships in two months. You have forty ships of the line, as I recall. Is that correct?”

  “That’s right. Forty ships of the line, soon to be forty-one, and fifty-four other warships, including twenty-two war sloops.”

  “Are the fifty-four other warships capable of dealing with the privateers?”

  “With most of them,” admitted Vaelln.

  “So you have ninety-five ships able to deal with the privateers, and you can only sink ten in two months?”

  “It’s not as simple as it sounds, Your Grace. There’s a problem of discovering who is a privateer. They look like any other merchanter from a distance. That’s until they attack a ship. They often fly the ensigns of another land, such as the Abierto Isles, and they often change the name and the outward appearance of the ship. We’d have to stop and board such a ship to discover if it even had guns … and having guns doesn’t make a ship a privateer. Then there is the fact that the Northern Ocean is vast, and we must patrol our own coasts, the waters around the Abierto Isles, and, as we can, the waters off Ferrum and Jariola. Under these conditions, we are spread thin. There’s no way we can send enough ships to patrol all the waters off Otelyrn.”

  “Isn’t there anything else that can be done?”

  “We’ve suggested that we escort trading ships from our ports to Ferran or Jariolan ports, convoy them, if you will. The factors claim that costs them too much and that such a plan would slow them down because warships are slower than the fast traders and clippers, and because they would have to wait for such convoys to be gathered together. It would also allow other traders to profit by knowing what ships are headed where and when they are going.”

  “What about positioning ships off Ferran and Jariolan ports? Factor Hisario claimed that the problem was in waters near the ports where they had less room to maneuver.”

  “I doubt that the Jariolan Oligarch would take kindly to even a small Solidaran fleet off their coasts, and they do have more warships than we do.”

  Charyn nodded … and realized he was nodding a great deal. Was that a mannerism for avoiding actually answering?

  “If the Ferrans agreed with the Jariolans,” continued Vaelln, “and they well might, that would put us at a greater disadvantage. Together, they have more than twice the number of ships of the line as we do.”

  “What would you suggest, then?”

  “Continue doing what we are doing. The Ferrans and the Jariolans cannot object that much if we destroy ships ca
ught attacking or raiding our ships. It may still come to war, but if you keep building ships, and we keep destroying those that attack our ships, the longer before it does, the better.”

  “If I survive long enough to continue doing that,” replied Charyn sardonically.

  “Maitre Alastar cannot help you?”

  “I wouldn’t be alive now without his assistance. One of his imagers kept the rest of the regial family from being killed along with Father.” While the details of what happened would spread, had already begun to spread with the story in Veritum, Charyn saw no reason to hasten that. “The problem is that the surviving assassin killed himself almost immediately. There is nothing to point to whoever is behind it—only the previous messages saying that the attacks will continue until the factors’ losses are addressed by the actions of the rex.”

  “I can see that presents a certain difficulty, sir. It is not one where the army can be of much assistance, and where the navy’s assistance will take time to accomplish what is necessary.”

  That’s not telling me anything I don’t know. After a brief moment, Charyn said, “It might be helpful for me to know a great deal more about where your ships are deployed, the rationale for that deployment, and the results in each area of deployment.” He wasn’t sure knowing all that would help, but it might, and not knowing it could well hurt him when he had to deal with the two councils in less than two weeks. Especially since he had no idea what his father had told his uncle.

  When Vaelln left the study, more than a glass later, after providing the information Charyn had asked for—in great and depressing detail—Charyn realized that he had not given any real thought to what he was going to say at the memorial service.

  Without saying a word, he walked to the window and pulled back the hanging so that he could look out on the cold afternoon, cold enough that dirty snow still lined the ring road and was piled up beside the stone way that led from the rear courtyard down to the ring road. Chill radiated off the glass.

  What can you say that would be accurate and favorable without being sentimental? Father hated sentimentality.