It took a long time for him to put it together. When he did, he couldn't help but grin. He rubbed the coin between his fingers for luck and then passed it on to the others.
Brynhild took the coin and looked at it, still puzzled.
Augustus nodded his chin to the coin. “She knows,” he said simply.
She frowned and turned the coin over to see the image of the imperatrix, then the capital. She flipped it over and over as she caught on, smiling and then grinning.
Augustus put a finger to his lips to keep her from crying out the glad news. The others who were awake looked from him to her. They weren't sure what was going on, but it was clear the news was good.
~~~^~~~
Cadius Sennia had come to Duluth to find out if his older brother and sister had survived the coup. He had been a miles before he'd been pulled aside for training as a spy.
Their parents and most of their relatives had died during the war. His siblings were his only surviving family and finding out they'd died during the coup wasn't surprising. He'd held out hope that one or more of them had survived and been imprisoned, but a check had proven that untrue.
That meant he had a score to settle.
He took a flask and stuffed a rag into it. He pulled the alcohol-soaked rag out and then lit it and tossed it into the hay loft. A second flask, this one with the stopper off went next. It sprayed its contents as it spun in the air, but he was certain some of it would land on the wood in the barn.
He was out of the barn and a block away when he heard the screams of fire. He couldn't help but smile as he kept walking.
That was just a small down payment on what he wanted to do.
~~~^~~~
Every time they dealt with one thing, something else came up to grab their attention. To Dominus Fenton's dismay, they were already running out of pecunia again, despite the small infusion of coins from the princess's hidden stash. It had helped to contain the resentment in the castle, at least for a few days until some people had complained about one person or another having more coin than them. A lot of that had been due to gambling though.
They needed more pecunia to keep things running. Raising taxes was a problem. They'd already done so once before, and their supporters had not been happy with that.
In desperation he appointed bailiffs and others to find more coin.
Domina Rasmussen was particularly troubled by the lack of funds. She went so far as to look into selling off some of the belongings in the castle, but that just showed that they were hurting financially.
Freya suggested that they squeeze the resources from the few merchants left. Domina Rasmussen looked into it but found out through her spies that many of the merchants had left the capital with their families or had already been killed. Even those known to be safe were leaving.
"When?"
"During the rebellionis . We don't know where they went."
“And the others?”
The legatus shrugged.
"Find out!"
"Why? It matters not now; they've got too much of a head start. They have left. If we send troops to find them, it means fewer troops here," the legatus stated.
“He's right,” Olaf rumbled.
" Why did they leave?" the dominus demanded.
"Because, they either didn't support us or didn't want to be caught in the crossfire," the drott stated.
"Ah."
“Actually, there is a third and fourth possibility …,” the legatus paused when the leaders turned to glower at him for volunteering something.
“Yes? You have something to add?” the drott demanded.
“Ahem,” the legatus said, coughing into his fist. “Third, the … lawlessness and taxes in the capital may have driven them off.”
The leaders looked at each other. The dominus worked his jaw.
“And last,” the legatus said hurriedly. “Some may have gone to their winter homes. It has made business slow. Materials are in short supply."
"We know. We will work on that in vers ," Dominus Fenton said flatly.
"Yes but we have so many other needs! You wish to raise taxes to pay the soldiers you need, but the people are starving now!" the domina said. “And if they hunger and see their children hunger, they will grow restless!”
"How is that?"
"Buildings were burned; we don't have enough rusticus out to do the jobs. There are shortages touching everything."
"That … is a problem. You can't squeeze blood out of a rapum ."
"Not when the rapum is rotten and there are no others,” the domina said dryly.
Olaf grunted.
“So, what do you propose we do about it?" Fenton demanded.
"I … am focused on the war to come," the drott stated with a shake of his head. "We are outnumbered and they have better weapons. They will eventually send forces across the border."
"How? When?" the Duchess asked.
"They will find another path across the river and go around the border guards and defenses or bribe them. There are mountain trails that the herders use. Their spies could have used them. They add to our problems," the drott stated. He looked at the domina and others. "Some of the sabotage no doubt."
A few heads nodded grimly.
“We still don't know if they were spies from the Imperium or if they were some of the men that got away,” Percival insisted. He left unsaid that the fires could have easily been set by someone careless or one of their own people.
The drott looked at him. He knew the knight clung to the idea that the Imperium was still unaware of what they'd done in the north. He couldn't afford such an illusion. He had to act as if they did know or that they'd know soon enough.
"So, what do we do?" Fenton asked.
"Round up those who do not look like our people. That will start to weed them out or at least force them to be more careful," Percival suggested.
The domina nodded. So did the drott.
“I'll set my spies to look for them in the taberna and other places,” the domina murmured.
"Do you think they'd send a Terran? I mean, when they send a spy?" Percival asked.
There was a thoughtful silence as the others considered that idea. The drott shook his head though, breaking the tableau. "I highly doubt it. They have their own spies to begin with."
"Not good ones since we managed to invade their lands without their knowing," Fenton scoffed.
"And look how well that turned out in the end," the drott said, leveling a look on the dominus.
"True," Fenton admitted, jaw working as he sounded nettled at the put-down.
"The thrice-be-damned Terrans. Had they not shown up when they did, we would have been ruling the south as well!" Percival cursed.
"Perhaps and perhaps not. Their capital had yet to martial its forces as ours were bogged down at the Emory Duchy. But it matters not now," the drott said with a wave of a gnarled hand. "It is in the past. We must focus on the present and future."
Heads nodded around the table.
~~~^~~~
Near the middle of hiems , food and wood began to grow short again. They weren't out of food, but those with less were not happy about their stockpiles when they took stock and measured that against the length of time they had remaining.
Some tightened their belts and cut their rations. Others looked for more work to earn coin or to barter for additional supplies. There was plenty of work to go around. The militia and army were recruiting, but no one was getting paid. Some were barely getting fed.
More and more some remembered the princess and their neighbors. They looked to some of the buildings, some ransacked, some burned and remembered them as good people trying to do right and improve their lot in life.
Resentment was boiling in the taberna over drinks almost every evening. Brawls between the militia and other patrons were becoming common. The smart drunks got away before the militia soldiers called the watch and their friends to beat them or haul them off to be jailed or killed.
The discontent began to boil over as the militia enforced another round of tax collecting to raise money for themselves.
The militia took more than just coin or things of value. Some took their payment in the form of sex; others took food or wood. There was corruption throughout their ranks. It embittered many to their cause.
~~~^~~~
Cadius was in the background as Duluthian protesters began to organize. They rabble roused, giving speeches that reminded the others who came out to listen of the princess and how she had cared for them.
He called out about the medicus and how they treated everyone.
“That's right! And we had a say; she called it elections! Things were better before these short-sighted fools took over! They just wanted to remain in power!” the leader said, turning in place and gauging the crowd. “Now look at us! Right back to where we were! And they call it freedom!” He threw his hands apart mockingly. “Yet, we are all in thrall of these fools!”
That started a mutter and then a chant for the conspirators to be hung. Cadius pumped his fist and chanted along with the others. The group grew into a near mob until Stephan's militia came out with spears and rifles to roust them out.
The group split up like a flock of birds as people fled into back alleys and homes to escape.
Cadius managed to get ahead of the group having seen the militia coming. He was careful to walk down the stairs rather than jump them and then slid into a chute to load wood into a home without having to open a door and let the cold in.
He dusted himself off, picking splinters and dirt off of his cloak and smiled as the militia ran past the front door.
There was no one in the house; it was one of many that had been abandoned. He had scouted it as a fallback place as his training dictated. There was a change of clothes hidden inside, plus a little food. He swapped his clothes out, donned a simple disguise and waited. Eventually, he braved the evening to go out and return to his temporary home on the other side of the capital.
~~~^~~~
Dominus Fenton saw the mob near the square from the battlements. He tried to listen, but they were too distant to make the words out. The tone was clear though. He was about to call Percival and Olaf over but then the militia reacted and chased the mob off. He felt good about Stephan's prompt reaction, but seeing their people chanting and protesting his actions was an ominous change.
~~~^~~~
“We need to think about this long term,” Fenton said over breakfast.
“And what do you mean by that?” the domina asked, picking at her runny eggs. They were small, quite possibly quail or other eggs. One had been fertilized. She considered sending them back but decided against it. She ate what she wanted off the plate and then put it on the floor to let a Garmr come over and clean the plate.
“In hindsight we may have acted rashly. We have shown our hand,” Fenton said.
The domina snorted. “Rather late to acknowledge that now,” she drawled.
“I know. What is done is done. But we have to salvage something of this.”
“Ah?”
“At one point we were discussing suitable suitors for the princess. Someone of our choosing to marry her. Perhaps we should go back to that?”
Siegfried looked up from his place at the table in surprise.
The domina looked over to the young man and then back to Dominus Fenton. Obviously, Siegfried thought he was the obvious choice.
“It solves some problems but opens up others,” she murmured.
“How so?”
“It legitimizes our claim. It will allow us to continue our control,” the domina stated diplomatically, eyes cutting significantly to the lad.
The dominus looked at Siegfried and then grimaced at his slipup.
“There is one problem,” Percival stated. “The imperatrix can annul the marriage,” Fenton pointed out.
“Only if she got to her sister. We would of course keep her here,” the domina said with a smirk. “Too unfit for travel. Pregnancy can do that. We could control all letters to the imperatrix.”
“And if there is a child?”
“Then she wouldn't be able to travel,” Percival said with a nod.
“Wouldn't that play into their hands? They wanted to blend the bloods, right?” Stephan demanded. He'd wanted to bring up the protest, but the current topic of conversation had taken precedence for the moment.
“We don't know that for sure,” Olaf rumbled.
“The child would be useful. Especially if he or she was carefully molded later in life,” the domina said thoughtfully.
“That I am not sure of. I don't know their history. I suppose the imperatrix could disown it.”
“You aren't being very helpful,” the domina said with a sour look to Fenton.
He spread his hands. “I'm just being a realist. We need to find the holes in any plan and plug them. Now more than ever.”
The domina nodded. “Well, that's certainly true enough.”
“I'll do it,” Siegfried said.
The others turned to look at him and then laughed scornfully.
He hunched down at the humiliation.
Fenton, Stephan, Percival, Dayma (Percival's wife), and Freya suggested others, ignoring him. He burned with humiliation as they seemed to mock him.
He'd thought he'd proven his value. He looked over to the domina, looking for anyone to side with him but she just shook her head minutely. Olaf grunted and ignored the subject all together.
~~~^~~~
Cadius finally found the right angle to see into the tower reported to be the princess’s. He waited, pretending to clean a room until he saw a shadow and then a figure. He couldn't be sure, but the figure had honey hair.
Later that evening he used his radio to report it. He also reported what he knew of the other hostages. The radio was short-ranged; it could only reach a few leagues distant. Once he was finished, he dutifully cranked the generator until the needle gauge on the battery said the battery was full once more. Then he coiled up the antenna and put the device away below a floorboard.
His partner was on the other side of the capital. They communicated by sign from a distance or a drop. They were careful not to talk to each other face-to-face. He didn't want to know about her or her plans in case he was caught. He was careful not to tell her anything of himself in return. They were supposed to recruit people; he refused. He had no idea who he could trust.
He did note that the Duluthian militia continued to search and question people at the taberna. He smirked. He had realized those were a trap, so he'd kept to the empty homes and buildings, never staying in the same place more than once.
There were after all, plenty of empty places to go around.
Chapter 44
Kattegat
Tendra noted that Cadius had thrown himself a bit too fully into the sabotage part of the plan. She had seen the fires in the barn and several buildings. He needed to be careful; the Duluthians were now aware that someone was striking them.
She warned him off in note drops twice, but he didn't seem to be deterred. She knew he was feeling anger and wanting revenge, but he needed to watch it. They needed to stay alive too.
Or, at least she had every intention of doing so.
With him playing lone avenger, she focused on gathering information. She observed the militia, taking careful mental notes of their kit and training. She wasn't at all impressed.
Unfortunately, she couldn't gain access to the soldiers in the castle. According to the reports, they had taken over an empty warehouse to use as a barracks to go with the one being rebuilt. Apparently, rebuilding the old one was going “slow.” The fire had destroyed a lot of the mortar and brick. They were going to have to take it down brick by brick and rebuild it from scratch.
Pity abo
ut that.
More's the pity for the men and women who had been cooked within she thought grimly.
She checked her third safe house for outfits. She had found abandoned clothing in some of the homes. Food had been taken, clothes overlooked for the most part, at least until she had come along. She'd only taken what she'd wanted for her disguises.
She found work cleaning where she could. She avoided the taberna; she noted they were questioning everyone around them.
Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2) Page 57