His letter continued, “Enough of me. I am terrifically interested in meeting with you and representatives of your Free Province. Why? I am certain that you might have some really good ideas that can help us all out, and I obviously need some help. I have no idea what is needed in your province, which I am sworn to protect with my life. I have made trading arrangements with other planets in the Federation, but I just don’t know what your province needs. Please, contact me as soon as possible. I need your help and ideas. If possible, please come to Brn on the 5th of March so that I can show you the new Circle of Ascension and my dragon friends. Take whatever security precautions you deem appropriate.”
Zoran reread his letter and made a few corrections. Then, he cast a magical spell and watched as ten copies of the letter were made by ten ink quills. All that remained was for him to put each Warlord’s name on it and find a way to send the letters. Late afternoon, General Janos returned with some names. He was unable to ascertain many last names; most were just called Warlord. His list included: Lesy Province: Warlord Adolf, Radim Province: Warlord Antonín, Veklov Province: Warlord Boris, Orlovia Province: Warlord Gustav, Kin Province: Warlord Eduard, Tehov Province: Warlord Ivan, Valy Province: Warlord Jolana, Tratky Province: Warlord Osvald, Ves Province: Warlord Sabina, and Zovou Province: Warlord Petr.
He was surprised to find two female Warlords, Jolana and Sabina. They ruled two of the three adjoining provinces to Brn. Archmage Karel volunteered to visit each province and post the letters for him. Why? Unknown to his new friends, Karel had traveled widely during his late teens and was familiar with the surrounding provinces. That he could now easily teleport from place to place made the job quite easy for him, and he returned in time for supper.
“Now we wait,” Zoran announced to everyone, after thanking Archmage Karel for delivering his messages. Everyone had opinions on what their responses might be, but Zoran mostly ignored them. He’d asked for their ideas and help, something any free person would respond favorably to, he wagered. He certainly would, if he was in their shoes.
Two days later, messages began arriving via warlord Mages. One by one, Zoran received word that the warlord would come on the 5th. Naturally, Archmage Zdenka began making preparations to feed a rather large crowd of people, though it would strain the dining facilities of the tower to its limit. Zoran suggested that any overflow could be sent to the Stodgy Inn right nearby and made arrangements with the innkeeper. It was a wise move on his part, it turned out to be definitely needed!
On the day of reckoning, parties of warlords began arriving, beginning around nine in the morning. All came with their Mage, who teleported their leader and security forces. Most warlords came with five or six security fighters, all armed to the teeth, ready for treachery and combat. Zoran cordially greeted each of the warlords, introduced the other Archmages and Mages to them, and gave them a personal tour of the new Circle of Ascension. Around noon, after the last group arrived and the introductions finished, Zoran had everyone bundle up and step outside into the snow covered street. Before their eyes, Archmages Renata and Emil transformed into their dragon shapes, and Aldrick and his large group appeared, right on cue. The twins took off and joined the others — thirteen golden dragons circling the tower. Just for effect, Aldrick and several others let lose a blast of fire, melting a bit of snow on the granite mountainside behind the tower. Yes, the warlords were visibly impressed. Zoran’s first move was to make sure that each warlord really did believe what he had said about the Circle and the dragons.
Because of limited seating in the tower, each warlord was allowed only one companion to dine with them. The others were sent to the Stodgy Inn, where Zoran arranged a feast for them as well. After taking off their heavy parkas and taking seats, not without a lot of grumbling and angry shouts about not sitting by so-and-so, Zoran at last got a good look at his peers. What a dramatic difference from dining with Baron Milan! Uniformly, their clothing was relatively poor quality, but functional. Many of the men were heavily bearded, and some even had a noxious odor about themselves. Zdenka thought that many were long overdue for a bath! She, however, made no mention of this.
After a hearty meal, though by his Uncle’s standards, a frugal meal, Zoran at last rose to speak first. “Thank you all for coming today. You’ve seen that we now have a Circle of Ascension, that I am a Duska, that soon I will be recognized as a Baron of Adapazan, at least the Free People’s portion of Adapazan, that I do indeed have golden dragons as my friends, and that they do breathe fire. If you wish to see the mutual defense treaties that I have signed with five allied planets of the Federation, I will make those documents available after our meeting. My aim is to prevent any further loss of your provinces to Baron Kazimir.”
“However, I do have problems that I need your help in solving. I most desperately need to know what you need assistance with and what ideas you might have. Truly, a new day has dawned for we free people of Adapazan. First, my problems. It will be over a year before we have a strong fortification built here in Brn to protect the Circle more fully. I have no army as you can see. Brn never has had an army, as most of you know. Yet, I must help you defend your provinces from the ravages of Baron Kazimir and his allies. Most critical are Lesy and Kin Provinces, since any overland assault on Brn must come through those provinces first. I have no contacts in any other province and have no way of knowing if and when any enemy army might assault your provinces. Yet, once I know, I guarantee you that I will bring five armies from our allied planets and the dragons to drive Kazimir’s army back, if not destroy them utterly!”
“Further, as your Duska, I can bring trade goods to your province from other planets in the Federation. Yet, I do not know what it might be that you need. So I throw the table open to you ten warlords. Look the situation over and see what ideas you have that can help us all. Let me know what your people need and what can be traded. Ideas, please.” Zoran sat down. Jarka, Karel, Bernard, and Zdenka readied their pens, writing down what was suggested.
Warlord Adolf of Lesy Province rose. He was in dire need of a bath and a shave. He growled angrily, “What about taking back the five provinces the bastard father of yours stole from us? What about driving him out of Dorum?”
Zoran replied, “That is going to happen — but not like you think. As you may have heard, his heir, Radek, has died. He then announced my sister Lida as his heir and then tried to force her to marry Baron Bogdan’s pig of a son. She refused him and is now married to Duke Leo, Baron Milan Matous of Gladno, one of our allies. Already Baron Kazimir has regretted that move and has tried to assassinate her twice now. When Kazimir finally dies, Lida will inherit Dorum, and she is with us, promising to undo everything Kazimir has done, freeing everyone that is under his dominion today. If we just be patient, warlords, we can win total freedom for all of Adapazan without any loss of life, without even going to war against him. Yes, it may well be the coup of the century.”
As far as Zoran could tell, the ten leader’s spirits rose considerably. That the death of the hated Kazimir would instantly reverse the years of his ruthless rule came as a complete surprise to these warlords. Warlord Eduard of Kin Province then rose, “Mages are rare in the Wild Lands, but I can have my Mage here send you messages of any possible threats against Kin. We can give you as much advance notice as we get of any impending attack against us.” At once, Warlord Adolf also agreed that his Mage could do likewise, and rapidly the others quickly agreed to send messages via their Mages as well.
Good, thought Zoran, this is a start. Warlord Ivan of Tehov Province added, “Since we seem to be in this together, if Kin is attacked, I can send much of my forces to his assistance. It is in my best interests to stop any advancing army in Kin before it gets to Tehov. Many others begrudgingly agreed with his idea. With their combined forces, the dragons, and the proposed other five armies, that any attacking army could be stopped before it got to their province appealed to their self-preservation.
Warlord Jolana of Valy Pr
ovince, a blonde woman who looked every bit a robust fighter, rose. “What about getting us some of our own dragons? I for one would like to have a dozen protecting Valy. Can you get us some or are the dragons only for you and not for the rest of us?” Her antagonistic tone told volumes of unsaid words and ideas.
“Dragons are highly intelligent and magic users, as witnessed by the two Archmages sitting here with us. They are at the top of the food chain; we are definitely below them. Do not fear; they do not like to eat humans. Antelope are their delicacy. If you agree to treat dragons with great respect and honor, I can certainly get a dozen gold dragons for each of your provinces. However, they demand a price for their services. They are master gem cutters and prize gems above all but magic. As long as you can pay them their required gems, I am sure I can get each of you a dozen of your own. Are you really interested in having dragons about your province?”
This was discussed for a half hour, pros and cons. Every warlord was taken off guard by Zoran’s readily agreeing to provide them some dragons. Not one of the warlords expected this. Surely, they thought, Baron Zoran would be keeping the dragons all to himself. They certainly would have if they were in his shoes. Now they faced the reality of the actuality. Archmage Emil presented the terms that the dragons would demand, and they discussed this for some time. In the end, all ten requested a dozen dragons of their own. Zoran promised to deliver them in about two months’ time, giving them a chance to either back out or come up with the gems to pay the dragons.
Warlord Ivan bellowed, “Say, what about weapons and armor? We need lots of good quality swords. My warriors have nothing but makeshift leather padding and cannot stand against the steel armor of Kazimir’s shock troops. What about that?” Cat calls echoed around the table. Indeed, Zoran expected this request.
Warlord Osvald of Tratky Province, a burly man wearing furry animal skins, perhaps the crudest looking of the group, broke in, “Nay, we need grains. Tratky is the northernmost province, and we’re barely surviving. Not enough food, especially grains. My people need food in their bellies if they’re gonna fight. And then there’s dem damnable Yellers. U’all drove ‘em up our way.”
“Hey, and our way too,” interrupted Warlord Petr of Zovou Province. “Got nothing but problems with Yellers running rampant. Ain’t got no time to go a’fighten Kazimir. U’all ‘ave given us a huge problem. How’s ‘bout you taken ‘em back into your provinces, eh? See how you like ‘em ‘ttacking u all duh time.”
The room erupted into a yelling match between the warlords. Everyone blamed everyone else for the Yeller mess. Zoran allowed them to vent their hostilities. As soon as there was a lull in the bickering, he spoke up. “Does anyone have any ideas how we might solve the Yeller problem, short of genocide?”
Genocide was their first idea, naturally, but his challenge met mostly silence. “What else can we do about them? They’re just a bunch of blood thirsty wild beasts running around on two legs,” one warlord broke the silence.”
“Well, that’s why we are here. To put our heads together and see if we can come up with some bright ideas,” Zoran replied. “I must admit that I have not have contact with Yellers. I’m sorry about that. I freely admit that I am mostly ignorant of them. All that I know about them comes from book learning, and we all know how off that can be. Surely those of you who have faced them have some ideas?”
He noticed that both Warlords Sabina and Jolana gave him a most curious look. Here was a Duska, a royalty, a nobleman, who was not dominating or insisting that he knew everything or that he knew best what was needed for them. Both reappraised him.
“Well, we’ve mostly been driving them out of our provinces,” Warlord Adolf replied. “Yeh, I know that we’re driving them into your provinces, but where else can we drive them?” More arguing ensued.
“Let me see if I follow what you have been doing,” Zoran spoke up during the next lull. “For centuries now, starting at Dorum Province, the Yellers, who were natively here, have been constantly being pushed westward or northward. Today, their largest concentrations are now in Tratky and Zovou Provinces. The warlords in those two provinces now have no place else to drive them. Is this a fair summary?” It was.
“If’n we ‘ad a lot of boats, maybe we kin drive ‘em over to Dolni Island,” suggested Warlord Petr. Give’m their own land away from us.” Heads nodded agreement, voices seconded his idea.
Then the alto voice of Warlord Sabina spoke up, “Well, we don’t have boats, but we now have the next best thing, we got us a Duska. How about our Duska moving the Yellers out of here, eh? What say you to that, Baron Zoran? You don’t have a hankering to genocide, so how about you doing it?”
“Well, this is why we are all here today. If I am to be your Duska, I certainly have to know what your problems are and have lots of ideas of what we can do to work together to solve them. I will certainly see if I cannot find a way to do as you ask, move the Yellers to their own place.”
“Ya, but what about getting us more food and better cloth and stuff,” asked Warlord Jolana. “You know that we are going to need vastly improved roads between our provinces if all this supposed commerce is going to come from other planets.”
“She’s right, warlords. If I am to get large trades going with other worlds, we have got to have a vastly improved transportation system between our provinces. How are you going to get your wagon loads of iron ore, coal, and the like here to Brn so I can transport them to the other worlds and bring back your wagons full of grains, cloth, weapons, and armor? I can’t have hundreds of your wagons sitting here loaded with your grain waiting for your Mages to come teleport them sack by sack. If you want quantity, you’ve got to have a good transportation system, to say nothing of a good communication system between you and us here in Brn.”
“Yeh, but what are they going to want from us for all this stuff?” asked a warlord.
“As I understand it, the agrarian worlds need ores of all kinds. Iron, copper, lead — just the stuff we have in abundance here. The more wagon loads of ore you can deliver, the more goods I can get in trade. Others will want gold, silver, and gems, especially for horses, swords, and armor. The better the quality of these that you can produce, the more the other worlds will give you in exchange. As time goes on, I will be in a better position to know what else these others may wish in exchange and we can act accordingly,” Zoran replied and decided now was the time to get them participating.
“Okay, so there are eleven of us. You’ve all heard the problems that I am working on and additionally, I will see what can be done about the Yeller problem. If I can find a way to move them to Dolni Island, then I will need each of you to round up the Yellers that remain in your provinces. Well, excepting Zovou and Tratky, where their densest populations are located. I’ll work out something special with you two. So what of the other problems that we face are you willing to work on solving?”
“Well, we all need to work on improving our roads,” Warlord Jolana volunteered. “We ought to coordinate our plans or else my new road will not connect with Boris’ new road.” Everyone roared with laughter. She was right in her observation. They all agreed to make a better road system as soon as the spring snow melt began and to coordinate with their neighboring provinces.
“We’d better ramp up our mining production,” another suggested. All ten agreed to give this their full attention as well. Several volunteered to get a dozen ore wagons ready within four weeks so Zoran could acquire some much needed grain for Tratky. All agreed to really get going on gem stone production to satisfy their newly acquired dragons. Further, they agreed to have their Mages communicate vital information to Zoran’s Mages every week or more frequently as needed. The Warlords of Lesy and Kin Provinces promised to send out spies into the neighboring provinces of Kazimir’s to gain advance notice of any army buildup along their borders.
Around four, they finished up and the warlords took their leave, departing as they came. Over dinner, Archmage Karel exclaimed, “We
ll, Zoran, I just don’t believe it. The warlords are an incredibly wild, rebel bunch, and you not only got them in one place but working together along with you as well. I say you just performed a miracle. You realize that no one in centuries has gotten this bunch together as you have done today? Incredible, just incredible. Maybe there is some hope for the Wild Lands after all and not just Brn as I thought.”
“Thanks Karel. No way could we get their cooperation by force of arms. People usually respond well if given a chance to help. I gave them that. If they follow through on all that they have promised, just the improved roads will be a strong uniting factor,” he replied.
“Yes, but dear, you promised them to deal with the Yellers,” Zdenka decided to speak her thoughts. “Just how are you going to handle them? I mean they are more like wild animals.”
“I don’t know; it will have to wait until the spring thaw. We’ve got more pressing problems at hand. I am worried that Kazimir is going to try something awful.”
“I would expect something at the High Council first, Baron Zoran,” General Lavos spoke his mind. “Based on my experiences with that vile man, he is not a total fool. He knows well the devastation caused by dragons. No, I think that you should look for all manner of trouble at the High Council meeting. It is imperative that your Circle be recognized officially and that you are given your proper baron’s seat on the High Council. I would look for him to first attempt a political solution from the High Council. If that fails, then you can be sure that, dragons or no dragons, he’s going to take more drastic actions. After all, you have him cornered like some wild animal. He’s about to lose everything that he and his ancestors fought for and defended: the ruling of Adapazan.”
“Damn, I know nothing about the High Council or how it works or its rules,” Zoran cursed.
Zoran Chronicles Volume 1 A Dragon in Our Town Page 25