“Your Highness, the coffers can not stand such loans,” Peter countered.
Eadric frowned. The current Earl of Colby was, by far, the most capable man to serve as the Chancellor of Ansgar, but he was terribly grating on the nerves. Eadric would have liked the man to be more ambitious in the ways that he handled the finances of the nation. Instead, the man needed constant guidance on matters of taxation and spending.
“We will post a tax on all imports. Any goods brought in from abroad will be subject to a tax of one silver shield per one hundred.”
“Your Majesty, I think that the foreign merchants will not be happy to bear the weight of our military activities with their own purses,” Lord Hanley said.
“We are the largest nation on this side of the world; they will suffer our taxes or they are welcome to try to find a larger market for their goods.” Eadric’s voice was firm. His left hand slipped into his pocket and he wrapped his fingers around the small smooth stone.
Ansgar’s seventy-five million people were not to be taken lightly, even by the fickle merchants that sold their goods in the ports along the southern coast of the continent. It wouldn’t be the first time that those merchants were asked to pay a tax to finance the will of a king.
Under the reign of King Austen, the twenty-fifth King of Ansgar, the merchants had been made to pay a tax of a full gold crown for every one hundred that they earned. Some of the merchants had taken their goods to Steimor instead. But the eastern nation was not as populated as Ansgar, and it had taken less than a year before the merchants returned.
“Lord Chancellor, the tax will be applied immediately, and to all merchants not from Ansgar.”
Peter nodded reluctantly. “Yes, Your Highness.” He scribbled the instructions in one of his books.
“Which territories have replied to my orders to call their levies?”
“All of the lands sworn to House Garrard and the Elsdon Duchy,” Lord William said with a glance at a sheet of paper.
Eadric smiled. “I would certainly hope so.”
When all was told, his own lands would muster eleven thousand infantry, three thousand cavalry and two hundred knight-captains and lieutenants. His sworn nobles would muster another thirty-five thousand infantry and cavalry.
Eadric also had direct command of a twenty thousand-strong national army. They were mostly spread across the armories and larger forts of Ansgar, but he could recall them at need and replace them with local forces.
“The nobles of the Kerborosi Duchy have all sent telegraphs stating that they have started to call their levies, but they do not have an estimate on when they may have their troops available.” William paused as he continued to read the sheet. “Their levies should account for thirty-five thousand infantry and four thousand knights. I heard mention that His Grace Duke Jarmann would like to send several of his barons and one of his earls along with to take direct command of his troops.
“I think that is something that we can accommodate.”
They’re sending themselves off to war now. How convenient, Eadric thought.
“Duke West Valley has given us his pledge that he will have his troops assembled within the season. His soldiers should number twenty-five thousand or more.”
“And what of our western lords?” Eadric asked, his voice tinged with annoyance. The three western duchies would contribute seventy thousand infantry to the force that would sail across the sea. And at least the Duke of Arndell would be able to afford the cost of this endeavor without asking loans from the Crown.
“Dukes White Ridge, Seawatch and Arndell have all replied that they have received their instructions. They did not, however, say that they are raising their levies, nor did they give an estimate of when they might have their levies ready to travel.”
“Your Majesty.” Altavius’ eyes were cloudy. “I have heard whispers that some of the more distant nobles might be…slowing their tasks.”
Even one hundred years later the eastern nobles and lords were resentful of how they had come into the nation of Ansgar, but the lords of Western Ansgar were his people. Their ancestors had sailed across the Vast Sea with his own and set their claim on these lands. Some of the western lords had expressed discontent with his rule, but he had not expected them to delay their response in a military matter.
“Why would any true noble be slow to complete the instruction of their king?” Lord Hanley was incredulous.
“Many reasons exist for a noble to be slow to do his duty,” Altavius postured. “Perhaps they think that the King doesn’t truly need the full levies that have been sworn to him and if they are slow in bringing their levies to the capital, they will not have to send their troops abroad.”
“We need to draft another letter,” Eadric said, flushed with anger. “Send it via telegraph. Tell these ungrateful pricks that I will fine any lord or noble if it is determined that they are intentionally delaying the deployment of their levies. I will not have these petty lords playing games.”
“Your Highness, it would be hard to determine who has delayed intentionally and who is delayed by weather or other factors. It is winter after all, Your Highness, and in Duke Arndell’s northern territories even the rail lines can be quite impassable,” William pointed out. “I would suggest that we wait until a more reasonable amount of time has passed before we start threatening the lords and nobles.”
“No, the letter will be sent immediately,” Eadric instructed. He should let his anger settle before he made commands, but he could not abide the insolence of lesser nobles.
“As you instruct.” Altavius nodded and scribbled a reminder on a sheet of paper.
“Admiral Talbot, what is the status of our preparations for transport across the Straits of Steimor?”
The admiral shuffled his papers and said, “We have thirty full rigged merchant ships ready to sail today. We are expecting another twenty to return to Aetheston within the month.” He shifted. “We can fit five hundred men on to each of those ships if we use one of every five as a supply ship only. Even for the short journey through the Kerberosi Islands, it will not be comfortable.”
“Soldiers are not paid to be comfortable,” William said. “But that’s only going to account for twenty thousand of our troops.”
“Yes, my lord. I am trying to come to agreements with some of our larger merchant houses, but their financial requests are still too high.”
“Your Highness, I have set aside a rather large sum in order to pay the merchant houses for the use of their ships.” Peter looked through one of his many ledgers. “I have twenty thousand crowns ready to be paid immediately.”
“All told, the four largest houses are requesting a total of nearly double that,” Admiral Talbot announced. “It would provide us with another one hundred and thirty ships, but would completely cripple their trade. They estimate that their losses from the three months we have requested their service will cost them more than one hundred thousand crowns.”
William was sceptical. “Merchants are known for over-estimating their costs, especially when they are trying to milk money from the Royal coffers.”
“Peter, what would you estimate their true costs would be if we were to take these ships?”
The constant complaints that flowed from his nation’s merchants grated on Eadric’s nerves.
Peter shuffled his ledgers and flipped through the pages for a moment. When he found the page he was looking for he nodded.
“They made claims of one hundred and twenty-five gold crowns profit per ship per month, Your Highness. That would put their total costs, for the ships they have offered, at approximately forty-five thousand crowns for the three months that we have requested their use.”
“Excellent. Peter, make the twenty thousand gold crowns available to Admiral Talbot. Oliver, go to the merchant houses and tell them that they can take the twenty thousand crowns, or they can have their vessels seized by the crown and receive no compensation.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Th
at will bring our total movement up to approximately seventy-two thousand soldiers.” The admiral frowned. The difference between the available ships and the total levies was still nearly ninety thousand soldiers. “If we were to ferry half of our troops across the sea at a time, we would be able to use the available ships at little less than twice the time we had anticipated.”
“Not enough,” Eadric proclaimed. “We cannot afford to have half of our forces left here on our shores while the rest march to war.”
“We cannot hope to find the ships to sail another sixty thousand soldiers across the Straits. Transport for only fifteen or twenty thousand would be much less difficult to arrange.”
“Why would we only need to find transport for only fifteen or twenty thousand troops?”
“If we were to leave your forces here in Ansgar, as a defensive force…” Alden’s voice trailed off in suggestion.
Eadric rubbed his chin in thought and leaned back in his chair.
He had promised the ambassadors of Welos and Istivan his full levies. But he could make the argument that sending his full levies would leave no trained soldiers in Ansgar. With a conflict with Franta still recent in the minds of his western lords, he could not be expected to send all of his trained troops across the Vast Sea.
“I will think on that,” Eadric said with a nod. “In the meantime, start looking for a way to transport the full levies across the Straits. If I decide to leave my personal levies and our standing forces here, then all the better.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Oliver Talbot said.
“Then there is only one matter which we will need your assistance with, Your Majjesty,” Lord Hanley announced cautiously.
“Very well.”
“Lord Ambassador Alwin Steinhauer came before the small council with an offer,” Alden said, and Eadric’s eyes narrowed. “His Majesty King Penn has proposed a match of his second son, Prince Kelvin, for Her Highness the Princess.”
“Which Princess? I have an unmarried younger sister and three unmarried nieces.” Eadric’s patience was completely eroded now, and he wanted this meeting to be done.
He had turned down previous marriage contracts from lesser lords and nobles for both his sister and elder nieces. Political power could be gained by marriage, but there was little that could be gained from one of the lesser princes of Nordahr. The heir was already married to one of the high ladies of Nordahr and Eadric’s own sister Allison was married to the King Penn’s brother.
“Your Majesty, the proposal is—”
“For Kara,” Altavius finished the sentence.
For a moment, Eadric was speechless. On one level, he knew that as his daughter approached the age at which she would be married, betrothal offers would begin. But she was still his little girl.
“It is too soon to betroth her,” he announced briskly.
“Your Highness, it is too soon to marry her,” Altavius corrected. The other lords nodded their assent, but the elf would be the only one who could make this argument. “She will be a woman in a few short years. You must begin to consider offers for her hand.”
“Not Nordahr,” Eadric countered. The elf had the truth of it, he realized with regret. But Nordahr was already a strong ally and trade partner with Ansgar. “My sister is already married to Duke Penn; there is nothing to be gained by another match with their royal family.”
Alden Hanley braved the potential wrath of his sovereign and re-entered the conversation. “Your Majesty, there is much to be gained. His Highness Prince Kelvin is in training to become the commander of all of their military. If your daughter were to be married to him, it would assure—”
“It would assure that the next King of Nordahr would have another voice in his ear telling him to do something that he is likely to do already,” Eadric answered harshly.
“Your Highness—”
“I will hear no more of this.” Eadric stood. The councilors rose quickly but Eadric ignored them as he pushed through the doors and out of the room.
Eadric wasn’t sure where he was going, only that he wanted to be away from the members of his council. They were wise but they had no concern for his feelings as a father. His daughter was far too young to be married off to some stranger in another nation, thousands of miles away from home. When she was fourteen he would start the search for a suitable match, not a day before.
Eadric went over the council meeting in his mind as he walked. Before he realized it, he found himself in the throne room.
Four Shields guarded the door. Inside, another dozen guards were pressed against the outer walls.
The room was closed off from petitioners, leaving it empty and quiet. Tall windows at the far end of the room let in golden shafts of afternoon light and the recently washed and waxed white marble floor made the room shine. Two rows of six black marble pillars cut the room into thirds.
When Eadric held court, the two outer thirds would hold the nobles, lords and petitioners in attendance. The center aisle would be reserved for those who were allowed to approach the throne at the back of the room.
The Seat of the First King had been carved from red marble. The arms were the two massive legs of a giant; the back was the man’s midsection and chest. The giant’s head was directly above where the King’s would be, uplifted to the window in the roof and bathed in sunlight. His arms were outstretched above him, a spear clenched in one hand.
The Seat rested on a stone dais three feet above the white marble floor. The platform was a cone beneath the chair, stairs cut into the front.
Just beyond the seat was the King’s Door, which led to his study and parlor here in the Grand Keep. That door was flanked by another pair of guards.
“A penny for your thoughts.”
Eadric turned toward the sweet as honey voice.
Haley Garrard was a slender woman of average height. Her chestnut hair fell in thick ringlets onto her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkled with a mixture of mischief and intelligence. Eadric held her as one of his most cunning councilors.
“I would have hoped you had something more than a penny.” Eadric smiled as her guards fell back to the door and he embraced his wife. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and took her hand. “My nobles and lords are too cheap to finance their own forces and are begging at my door for loans and promises of money.”
“Arming and feeding thousands of men is not inexpensive,” Haley said. “But the autumn harvests were good and they should have been more than able to set monies aside.”
“Indeed. And there was something else.” Eadric’s voice grew grim and Haley frowned. “Nordahr made a proposal for Kara’s hand.”
Haley’s brow furrowed in thought. Eadric could almost see the wheels turning in her mind as she worked through the options and impact of the potential pairing.
Much to her father’s dismay, Haley had taken an interest in the politics of court and international relations from a young age. He would have preferred that she study needlework and the proper way to serve as a lady of court. But she used the knowledge and experiences that she had collected to advise her husband, and it was one of the aspects of her personality that Eadric was most attracted to.
“I would say that while the young prince would not be a poor choice for our daughter, there are other potential families that we might court for a betrothal. Herzog Renwyk’s heir is coming to an age where he might be betrothed. And there is still King Harold’s grandson.”
“I had not considered Beldane or Steimor,” Eadric confessed. “I had considered one of our more prominent houses first.”
“We have no need of family ties to our own noble houses,” Haley said. “They are already sworn to our service and bound by more than a thousand years of tradition and oaths. But a marriage to the heir of either Beldane or Steimor could have implications far beyond our own borders.”
“I will discuss the matter with the ambassadors,” Eadric promised. “Until then, would you care to join me for a walk about the grounds?”
“Of course, my love.”
Chapter 7 - Magnus
Roland lit the fat cigar clenched between his teeth and took a long pull to make sure it was drawing properly. The acrid stench of bitter leaf filled the room and Magnus shook his head. He had never approved of cigars, especially in the confined space that was his study, but that hadn’t stopped his son from enjoying them..
The younger Jarmann had brought his ship into Hellhound Harbor, attended all of Magnus’ council meetings, and resumed his role as one of his father’s closest advisors. His youth made him more aggressive than Magnus’ more experienced advisors and his experience in the Ansgari navy gave him insights into their military planning that few others had.
It had been Roland who had come up with the idea to make their first strike swift, with heavy cavalry unheralded by the slow march of infantry and artillery. They would catch the garrisons of the first forts and armories unprepared and gain a quick foothold in Ansgari territory.
“I want to bring in a few of my captains before I send them out to the Straits,” Roland said. Magnus’ right eyebrow raised and he frowned.
Roland had plotted the Kerberosi naval defense structure and placement of their best squadrons in the southern half of the Straits of Steimor. They would be alone, away from the coastal fortresses that lined the shores of the Earldom of Forest Glen and the Felda Barony.
“The more people who know of our plans, the more that can spill them,” Magnus said. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and took a sip. The liquid burned as it slid down his throat but he smiled. “The wrong captain tells the wrong first mate, who tells the first whore in the first port they stop at, and we’ve got the whole of the Ansgari fleet sitting in Hellhound Harbor raining cannonballs on our docks and wharfs.”
“The captains I had in mind are smarter than that,” Roland countered. “They come from old blood and are no friends of the Ansgari. And besides, they command the flagships of the three frigate squadrons we are shipping out to the Straits. It would be best for them to know ahead of time so they can decide which of their captains they can trust and which of their captains will need special minders on board before the day comes.”
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