Fostering Faust

by Randi Darren

  Sylvia nodded her head again. Her eyes looked wary, her mouth flat, her hands now clenched in her lap.

  She realizes those are all rather high-cost items.

  How do we go about this…

  “Certainly. The room first, since that’s the easiest. I can provide the room; it comes with a tub, a lovely bed, and all the normal things you’d probably find in my own room.

  “With that said, the price for such a thing would not be cheap,” Alex said, contemplating the situation. Reaching over, he tapped the mass of papers she’d brought him. “I want you to tell me everything in this, or that you know of, that has the potential to harm me or my county.

  “By harm I mean to cause financial loss of a measurable quality, death or dismemberment, or threat to my rule. Even if it exposes yourself or shows your guilt in part to the matter. In return, I offer the room and exoneration for anything you point out.”

  Sylvia rocked back in her seat at that, her mouth opening and then closing.

  “In other words… you’d have me become an informant.”

  “Not in so many words, but yes. Though I’ll add another piece to my side of the deal, if it helps. I’ll never betray you as the provider of the information, in any way, shape, or form. I’ll devise a way to come across the information naturally, without your involvement.”

  Sylvia looked to the rough wooden bench they were sitting on. She scratched at it with a nail. “What would a ‘measurable quality’ be? That’s rather vague.”

  “More than a thousand gold pieces I think is a fair line to draw.”

  Sighing, Sylvia stood up and clapped her hands together.

  “Then I agree and do so swear. Please… please take me to my new room. I don’t want to spend another minute in here.”

  “Of course, Sylvia,” Alex said with a smile, and stood up as well. “Of course. I accept your oath and swear in return. We’ll discuss your desire to go on walks another day.

  “For receiving guests, how about we simply keep to our previous agreement? You have to actively work to better me, my image, and my county, when you can, as you’re able.”

  Sylvia gave him a strange smile at that, then sighed and nodded her head.

  “I can agree to that and swear it to my oath.”

  “Grand, let’s go see your room.”

  ***

  Closing the door behind him, Alex looked down the hall.

  Douglas’s people had taken up guard duties in this wing of the keep after Sylvia had been moved up an hour ago.

  It was now as secure as the dungeon.

  Sylvia had settled in quickly; after Alex had shown her the room, she’d seemed quite pleased with it.

  “Not gonna try to bed her?” Carla asked, standing at his side.

  “Eh… not yet. Down the road, yes. I don’t think she’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. I get the impression she’s practically a crime lord in her circle. We’ll pump her for everything she’s worth first.”

  “Then you’ll pump her,” Carla said, grinning.

  “Suppose so. Why do you delight in that, by the way? You seem to take pleasure in me using other women the way I use you,” Alex said, then turned to walk down the hall to his own room.

  “Because they’re nobles. Watching them squirm then get put into your bed warms my heart. Scum, the lot of them.”

  Alex quirked a brow at that, glancing over at her.

  “I take it my peers aren’t your favorite?”

  “I’ve killed a number. They scream and offer all sorts of promises. We let one go once on a promise,” she said, then growled. “Worst thing we ever did. The gods don’t give us commoners the time of day. Oaths don’t exist for us unless a ‘noble’ gets it moving.”

  “Indeed. Curious about that. Regardless, don’t fret. It brought you here into my service,” Alex said, reaching over to lay a hand on Carla’s back. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Did you sleep well, by the way?”

  “Yes, Master. I did. The bed was very comfortable. I’m… sorry… about sleeping in,” she said, her face turning red. Either with anger or shame, he couldn’t tell.

  “Don’t worry about it. You did extremely well for me in the capital; some allowances can be made,” he said, patting her on the back but not removing his hand.

  Slowly, he drew her closer to his side as they walked. His hand running along her and guiding her nearer.

  “Stop it,” she grumbled, but didn’t pull away.

  “Stop what?”

  “That. Your hand.”

  “You stop it. You could move away. You’re not under oath to let me touch you right now.”

  “Ass.”

  “You want me to touch your ass?”

  “No! Gods, you’re awful,” Carla said, then swatted his hand away.

  Smiling to himself, Alex pulled the letter from the king out of his doublet. Tapping it against his palm, he walked into his personal room as the guard held the door open for him.

  Looking around as he entered, he found it empty.

  “Go check and see if my wives are in, Two.” Alex asked, moving over to his desk.

  “They’re not,” she said, not bothering to look. “I saw Rudolph and company in the center of the keep. I think Mistress Anna is sorting through her loot.”

  Alex rolled his eyes, not caring.

  After slitting the envelope open, he pulled out the letter and read it over quickly.

  Shit.

  “Apparently,” Alex said, setting the letter down, “the king has decided that as my family no longer holds a ducal title, as a count I should not report directly to him. My vassalage has been transferred to Duke Tanulf.”

  On a hunch, he pulled out the other letters he’d gotten. He’d already forgotten the name on one of them, but he’d now bet it was Duke Tanulf.

  He set Holly’s father’s letter to one side and looked to the other.

  Duke Tanulf.

  Pushing the letter opener through the top, he opened it and pulled out the paper inside.

  Sighing, he dropped that atop the letter from the king.

  “Duke Tanulf is coming to visit in the next day, give or take a few hours. Sooner if he’s coming from the capital.

  “To receive my vassalage in person, no less,” Alex lamented. Then he chuckled to himself. “Care to bet he has an unwed daughter about my age?”

  Carla wrinkled her nose and then shook her head.

  “The games you nobles play are stupid,” she said.

  “I couldn’t agree more. But it is what it is. I suppose it could be worse. The duke can’t rescind my count status, nor can he take it from me. I’ll owe him the same taxes that were due to the king. Not much will change, except who tells me what to do, I suppose.”

  Carla shrugged her shoulders at that.

  “Well, so be it. Walter will probably be here in thirty minutes or so; I can tell him all about it then.

  “In the meantime, I believe I offered to teach you your letters. Would you care to begin now?” Alex asked, looking at Carla.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. We have some time. We can at least start with the basics.”

  “Then yeah. Let’s do that.”

  Chapter 16

  They’d only had about twenty minutes of warning for the duke’s arrival.

  Alex had gotten nervous about the possibility of missing the man’s arrival and had posted a number of sentries to watch the road from the capital.

  And all it did was reinforce my distaste for the nobility and validate my paranoia.

  Sighing to himself, Alex did his best to smile as the duke’s party came rolling in along the king’s road from the capital.

  He wasn’t sure if the duke was a fool, but by coming in this way, he was more or less showing Alex that yes, he’d been involved in the king’s plot.

  Especially if he happened to have an unwed daughter or niece with him.

  Two was on Alex’s left, Anna and Holly on his right.

  Behi
nd him stood Walter, Rudolph, and Maxwell. Otherwise, the courtyard of the keep was empty.

  The ducal coach rode in, his guards peeling out in every direction just inside the gate but not crossing into the courtyard proper.

  A coachman hanging off the side dropped to the dirt and opened the door, bowing low.

  “Duke Tanulf, of the Tanulf family,” said the man.

  Here we go.

  Bowing low, Alex did his best to keep the same smile on his face.

  Regardless of anything else, he was greeting his new liege lord. The better the man liked him, the easier Alex’s life would be.

  “Ah, Count Brit,” said a voice heavy with age.

  Standing up, Alex laid eyes on the duke for the first time.

  He was indeed elderly. He looked rather decrepit and seemed to be made of skin and bones.

  “It’s good to see you. I take it the king’s letter reached you in good health?” asked the duke, bowing his head fractionally to the count.

  “Yes, Duke, it did indeed. His Majesty made it clear I was to become your vassal,” Alex said directly. “May I int—”

  “Good, good. I’ll receive your oath of fealty and then be on my way. Much to do, and very little time,” said the duke, interrupting Alex.

  Somehow, Alex managed to keep his smile.

  Going down to one knee, Alex placed his right hand on his collar pin.

  Wish I had studied the oath a bit more so I don’t—

  I promise on my oath that I will in the future be faithful to my liege lord, never cause him harm, and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit.

  Alex was quick enough that he managed to recite the whole thing as it sounded off in his head.

  The duke nodded his head.

  “I accept, and here are your orders.”

  The duke reached into his doublet, pulled out a thick envelope and handed it over to Alex.

  “Good day,” the duke said, turning to clamber back into his coach.

  Getting to his feet, Alex looked at the envelope and then back at the carriage.

  Peeking out from the inside of it was what he’d feared and expected—a young woman around his age.

  Before he could get an idea of what she truly looked like, the door to the carriage shut and the procession was off and rolling again.

  “What a twat,” Carla muttered, shaking her head.

  “I think he has a penis,” Anna said seriously.

  Alex guffawed at that and patted Anna’s hand where it rested on his forearm. “I think he’s both a twat and a penis.

  “I imagine his treatment of me was how he shows his displeasure. Pity for him, his rebuke only makes me angry and does nothing to my noble pride.”

  Opening the envelope, Alex pulled out the thick wad of papers.

  The one on top seemed the most ominous, its flowing script clearly written for effect.

  Not the dictated and copied words of a scribe.

  Reading it quickly, he held his breath. Then he read it again a second time.

  Unable to help it, he let out an explosive breath, then handed the whole thing over to Walter.

  “It would appear the duke is going to war with a neighbor. My liege levies have been called up. I imagine the rest of the paperwork is the liege lord contract the king handed to him.

  “Well, this is a mess. I only returned and now in two weeks I’m being called to go to war,” Alex muttered.

  “That’s ok, husband. I think two weeks is enough time to put children in Holly and I. Daddy always said it only takes once, and I should never dally with a man who wasn’t my husband,” Anna said with a smart nod of her head.

  Thank you, Master Ulles. Remind me to send you a special birthday present.

  ***

  Walter and Maxwell were hunched over a desk, going through the contract word for word.

  “I imagine it’s fairly solid, since it came from the king,” Alex said. “How about we give up on looking for a way out and simply deal with what we’re going to have do. We’re wasting time at this point.”

  “But, my lord—”

  “Leave it, Walter. What’s our responsibility, levy-wise?”

  “Two hundred men-at-arms, three hundred conscripts, and one hundred archers,” Walter said, as if reading off a shopping list.

  “That would strip almost all our defenses and leave us with precious little to hold our county,” Maxwell added.

  “Then we don’t do that. The men-at-arms and the archers would be the hardest part, I imagine. The conscripts are mostly peasants paid in coin, almost entirely day-laborers. No?” Alex asked.

  “That’s… accurate, my lord. But we simply don’t have the resources to recruit and train that many—”

  “No, no. I’m not thinking of trying to backfill those positions we’d vacate. I’m thinking of simply hiring a vendor,” Alex said, leaning his head back against his chair.

  “A… vendor?” Maxwell asked.

  “A vendor. A mercenary company who has that force number on hand, which we could simply hire. If we’re being honest with ourselves, the cost of training up and outfitting replacements for those who die in this war might very well be the same cost as hiring mercenaries.

  “Or so I’d love to think. Maxwell, does that sound about right?”

  “Well. It would depend on the company, but… yes. There are a number of outfits that would fit pricewise and numerically. Truth be told, you might be right about the cost to outfit and train replacements, too. Morale would also be heavily impacted,” Maxwell said, working the thought through his own process.

  “Let’s plan for that, then. Maxwell, send your fastest riders to the company we want to hire—I concede to your best estimation for the situation on whom—and let’s get this taken care of.

  “Walter, outlay the amount of coin it would take to run a year’s campaign in advance and let’s see where we line up financially,” Alex said, his thumbs tapping each other in his lap. “Beyond that, let’s see if we can offset the cost of the company by offering them permanent employment in the guard afterward. I imagine at the end of this, there might not be much left of them.”

  Maxwell and Walter didn’t say anything, causing Alex to drop his chin and look at the two of them.

  They were both staring at him.

  “Something the matter?” Alex asked.

  “No, sire. It’s just… that’s… rather well thought out,” Maxwell said.

  “Oh, thank you. If there’s nothing else, I’m going to go visit my guests,” Alex said and stood up.

  “Seems like I don’t get any time to work on my projects,” grumbled Alex as he headed down towards his dungeon.

  People passed by him as he went. Nodding to him or moving out of his way.

  He’d love to believe it was in deference, but he imagined it was due to the fully armed and armored Carla padding after him.

  “Probably should hire another guard,” Carla said as they moved.

  “You’re… right, of course. I had wanted to use that as a means to get you into my bed more often. That’s a pity,” Alex said, shaking his head.

  “I’m sure you’ll figure out something else to use against me,” Carla said. “Eventually.”

  “Eventually. My poor, cold bed,” Alex said dramatically. “Anyways, let’s see if we can’t get two recruits to come with us on this adventure. I can keep working on my projects that way.”

  Carla made a rude noise and prodded him in the back with what felt like the top of her mace.

  “Take one of your wives with us. That’d keep your bed warm.”

  “I don’t think that’d be a good idea. I get the impression they’re not cut out for such conditions. I’ll leave them here to manage things. Between the two of them and Walter, it should be fine.”

  Alex passed by the dungeon guard checkpoint and went right in. Passing through Sylvia’s now empty cell, he didn’t stop. He entered One’s cell and looked around.


  One practically launched off her bed and came up to the bars, smiling at him.

  “Master, I was worried. You didn’t return when you said you would,” Riley said, her hands curling around the bars.

  “Sorry about that. Things came up and I lost myself.”

  “I thought maybe… maybe your wife didn’t like you coming down here?” Riley said, watching him.

  “Huh? Oh, no. I’m afraid I’ll be going to war under the banner of the duke of Tanulf. I wanted to run a deal by you to see what you’d do,” Alex said, leaning up against the bars next to her.

  “I’m listening, Master,” Riley said, her face moving to rest between the bars, staring up at him.

  “I want to let you have the chance to leave this cell for a time. To serve as my personal maid-servant. You’ll have to attend to all my needs that a maid-servant would, and do so efficiently without command.

  “You’d have to swear to attempt no escape, and remain with me regardless of what happens,” Alex said, tapping one of the cold bars with a finger.

  “This is… odd… master. This seems more like you’re offering me the price, before I get the reward,” Riley said.

  “I suppose it is at that. What would you want in exchange for doing what I described?”

  “Would I have to sleep with you?”

  “Not initially, but I might make an offer later that you can always say no to,” Alex admitted. “But you’d have to sleep either in my bed or directly beside it. In a war camp, it wouldn’t be wise to wander around alone as a woman.”

  Riley looked down to the ground, apparently deep in thought.

  “Could you… pay me? And send the money to my mother and younger sister?” Riley asked finally, her eyes coming back up to his.

  “I certainly could. I’ll make sure you receive pay equal to what a maid-servant in that situation would earn.”

  Riley nodded her head. “Then I agree, and swear it on our oath.”

  “Grand. If you’ll remember, I had planned to give you maid training; that’ll be accelerated now. I imagine you’ll be living and breathing your duties for the next two weeks until we leave,” Alex said. Reaching into his pocket, he fished out the key for her cell and unlocked it. “Come on then, One. Time for you to get squared away.”