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times."
iii) Speaking for the Queen
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Getting Mocker out proved easier said than done. Bragi marched swiftly
westward, but the Baroness had sealed her gates the moment news of her
husband's defeat had arrived. Ragnarson had no stomach for a siege, what with
Volstokin just a few days north of the Ebeler. He tried negotiation.
The Baroness knew about Volstokin too. She tried to hold him till Vodicka
arrived.
"Looks like Lard Bottom's going to languish a while," Ragnarson told
Kildragon. "I'll pull out tonight. All the loot over the border?"
"Last train left this morning. You know, if we quit now we'd be rich."
"We've got a contract."
"You want to try something tonight?"
"No. She'll expect it. Might've worked when we first showed."
"What about Vodicka?"
"He's headed for Armstead?"
"So I'm told. I'm never sure I can trust the Marena Dimura."
"Take two hundred bowmen. Make him pay to cross. But pull out once they get a
bridgehead. I'll head south, wipe out a few barons. Catch up when you can."
"Right. You want I should play cat and mouse?"
"No. You might get caught. I can't afford to lose two hundred bows."
Bragi slipped away in the night, leaving Kildragon to keep the campfires
burning. He returned to Lieneke, then turned south and plundered the provinces
of Froesel and Delhagen, destroying nearly forty Nordmen castles and
fortresses, till he came to Sedlmayr, one of Kavelin's major cities and, like
Damhorst, a focal point of Nordmen rebellion. This was mountainous country
where goat herding, sheep herding, dairying, cheese making, and wool
production were important. The snow-topped mountains reminded him of
Trolledyngja.
He besieged Sedlmayr a week, but had no heart for it, so was about to move on
again when a deputation of Wesson merchants, deep in the night, spirited
themselves into his camp. Their spokesman, one Cham Mundwiller, was a
forthright, lean, elderly gentleman whose style reminded Bragi of the
Minister.
"We've come to offer you Sedlmayr," Mundwiller said. "On conditions."
"Of course. What?"
"That you minimize the fighting and looting."
"Reasonable, but hard to guarantee. Wine? It's Baron Breitbarth's best." The
Baron had taken hard the fact that the Baroness refused to go his ransom.
"Master Mundwiller, I'm interested. But I don't understand your motives."
"Having you camped here is bad for business. And production. It's almost
shearing time, and we can't get the cheese in to the presses, or out to the
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caves for aging.
Second, we've no love for Baron Kartye or his brother vultures in Delhagen.
Their taxes devour our profits. We're Wessons, sir. That makes us the beasts
of burden whose backs support the Nordmen. We hear you're correcting that with
a sword."
"Ah. I thought so. And your plans for Sedlmayr's future?"
They were evasive. Slippery as merchants, Ragnarson thought, smiling wryly.
"Might they involve Colonel Phiambolis? Or Tuchol Kiriakos? You'd have a hard
time convincing me they're tourists accidentally caught by my siege. Too big a
coincidence, them being siege specialists. And Baron Kartye, being Nordmen,
would be too proud to hire mercenaries." The presence of Kiriakos and
Phiambolis, two of the masterminds behind Hellin Daimiel's years-long stand
against El Murid, had been one of his reasons for wishing to move on.
"How did you know?..." one merchant gasped.
"My ears are covered with hair, but they're sharp." The presence of the
mercenaries had been reported by a Sir Andvbur Kimberlin of Karadja, a Nordmen
loyalist he had recently freed.
Enough former prisoners, and recruits picked up here and there, had stuck for
Ragnarson to replace all losses as well as to form a native battalion under
Sergeant Altenkirk, who spoke Marena Dimura well. He was now considering
splitting that battalion and giving Sir Andvbur command of the Wessons.
"You might even be thinking of declaring Sedlmayr a free city-after I've
killed your Nordmen for you."
Expressions said he had struck close. He chuckled.
Mundwiller put a bold face on it. "You're right." To the others, who
protested, "He might as well know. He'd act on his suspicions." To Ragnarson,
"One gold solidi for each soldier, five for sergeants, twenty for officers,
and a hundred for yourself."
"Interesting," said Ragnarson. "A fortune for a night's work. But not that
much compared to the loot we've already taken. And there's my contract with
the Queen. The more I learn about the woman, the more I want tokeep it. Were
she not saddled with a nation of opportunists, she might be one of the better
rulers Kavelin's had." Quote from Sir Andvbur, an idealistic youth who placed
the good of the kingdom first, who believed nobles should be curators and
conservators, not divinely appointed exploiters.
But even the Queen's enemies had little evil to say of her. There was nothing
personal in the Nordmen rebellion. It was generated by power-lust alone.
Ragnarson's admiration for the woman, in large part, stemmed from the fact
that she did not interfere. In other times and places he had suffered
snowstorms of directives from employers.
Tarlson was another matter. He sent out blizzards of messages.
"What can we offer?" Mundwiller finally asked.
"Your allegiance to Her Majesty."
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They did a lot of foot-shuffling and floor-staring.
"Suppose a direct charter could be arranged, with Sedlmayr and Delhagen as
Royal fiefs in keeping of a Council of Aldermen? Direct responsibility to the
Crown."
That wasn't what the majority wanted, but Mundwiller saw they would get
nothing better. "Can you speak for the Queen?"
"No. Only to her. But if Sedlmayr swears allegiance, supports the throne, and
faithfully resists the rebels, I'll press your cause powerfully. She should be
amenable, coming from the Auszura Littoral. She'll be familiar with the
Bedelian League and what those cities have done to hasten recovery from the
wars."
"We'll have to consider what might happen if we announce fealty. An army of
two, Phiambolis and Kiriakos, isn't much defense against outraged Nordmen."
"I don't think they'll bother you till they rid themselves of the Queen."
"It's your chances we'll be studying."
"You'll get no better offer. Or opportunity," said Ragnarson.
Once the deputation left, Bragi told Blackfang, "Start packing in the morning.
Make it look like we're planningto slip away in the night. I don't want to
wait while they play games."
Next night Cham Mundwiller was back, upset, wanting to know why Ragnarson was
leaving.
"What's your decision?" Bragi asked.
"For. Reluctantly on some parts. Our more timid souls don't think your luck
will hold. Personally, I'm satisfied. It's what I've been arguing for all
along."
"Tonight?"
"Everything's ready."
"Then so are we."
"One little matter. Some articles for you to sign. That was the hard part,
getting them to accept a position from which they couldn't back down."
Ragnarson chuckled as he examined the parchment. "An exchange, then. My own
guarantees." He handed the man a document he had had prepared. "And my word,
which's worth more. Unless your fealty becomes suspect."
"As an act of good faith, some information which, I believe, only I outside
the Nordmen councils possess."
Ragnarson's eyebrows rose questioningly.
"The Captal of Savernake has been making the rounds of the barons. He slipped
out of Sedlmayr just before you arrived."
"So?"
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"He claims the true child of the old King is in his custody. You've heard the
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