“Schakern Latebros,” Buhne presented himself to the steward, giving his real first name but a false surname he’d come up with that morning for this new persona. “Most people call me Kern, at least, that’s what my mother called me. It’s a Bear Tribe name. I’m a mix.” He stopped talking, allowing the guileless ramblings to settle while he shrewdly watched for a reaction. The steward was… amused by them, but pushing too far would cause annoyance.
“You said you have experience as a servant. What skills do you have?”
“I have a talent for brokering deals with merchants, and I can clean things as well as the next person. Everything from manual labor to maintaining armor to entertaining guests, I do a little bit of everything, and if I don’t know how to do something, I’m a quick learner.”
The steward hummed and scanned through his personnel list a second time. “You might do well assigned to crew seven. They’ve been needing another pair of hands. Do you work well in groups?”
“I prefer it!” Buhne declared readily. “I like holding a conversation while I work. Make no mistake, the work will get done, but it’s preferable to keep company while doing it.”
The steward chuckled. “The starting pay is seven Velli a week plus room and board. Uniforms will be provided. Being assigned to a crew means that, in addition to a set of standard, daily tasks, the palace stewards will call you in as needed for various other jobs — perhaps to help set up for a party in the palace, make up work for people who are out sick, serve food at a banquet, or unload carts of supplies being delivered. Some days you will be asked to work long hours. Other days, you will get off early. Can you handle that?”
“Stability and variety all rolled into one job!” Buhne observed cheerfully. “Yes, I believe that will do nicely.”
“Very good. Your crew leader’s name is Mannus. He will provide the needed orientation. Come, I’ll introduce you to him.” Buhne followed the steward from the small office through the ground-level, narrow hallways to a set of stairs leading up to one of the palace wings.
“Which wing is this?” he asked as a long, much more spacious hallway came into view at the top of the stairs.
“This is the hospital wing,” the steward said and led Buhne down the hallway to a set of private, empty patient rooms being cleaned by a crew of servants. “Is Mannus here?” the steward asked of one of the servants.
“I’m here,” a voice sounded behind them from the next room over.
“Mannus, excellent. I’d like you to meet Kern Latebros. I’m assigning him to your crew. Can you have him outfitted and get him started for me?” Mannus nodded while looking Buhne over thoughtfully. “I’ll leave him to you,” the steward said by way of excusing himself.
“I’ll show you around Mr. Latebros,” Mannus said.
“You can just call me Kern,” Buhne said pleasantly, and Mannus sniffed, unimpressed. “So you’re my crew leader?” Buhne tried a less chipper approach. “Where do I start?”
His crew leader raised an eyebrow at him and then launched into a rapid-fire orientation. “You will arrive for work at sunrise and meet the rest of the crew at the bottom of the stairs to the hospital wing. We clean the rooms and hallways top to bottom every day, except the rooms with patients in them — those are left to the medical personnel. Understaffed, our crew typically finishes our daily assignment in the early afternoon. With you on the team, we should be able to finish more quickly — ideally before lunch. Fully staffed, our afternoons should be spent taking on miscellaneous tasks. I’m sure Steward Curo explained the job description to you.”
“He did.” Buhne nodded.
“Good. Then you can help us finish up in these last few rooms. Afterwards, I will take you to the tailors to get you outfitted.”
Abrupt, concise, efficient, strict. Mannus was going to be challenging to work under. No. Mannus was going to be challenging to investigate under, but what luck landing in a crew that works the hospital wing regularly! In theory, this would increase his likelihood of interacting with the medical staff who treated the young queen and possibly create an opportunity to glimpse her medical records. Maybe. Or not. Buhne sighed as he was handed a rag and bucket of sudsy water, getting to work quickly so Mannus wouldn’t boot him from the team before he’d had an opportunity to accomplish something.
He had time — that was the good news — time to develop profitable relationships and take advantage of them. For now, however, he had a floor to scrub.
***
The palace and military base stables were easy to miss if you weren’t looking for them. Located within the thicket that separated the base from the palace grounds, it made sense that they would consolidate their equestrian resources. Erkunden was looking for the “Steward of Hunting and Grounds”; apparently he kept his office near the stables along with the marshal and head gardener’s offices. That made sense.
Stepping off the main road to follow a well maintained lane into the trees, Erkunden wondered about the different types of flora and fauna he would find here in the Lion Tribe. It would be more scarce on average; striking the appropriate balance between harvesting and conservation would be more critical here. And yet the trees around the palace were much more dense and well-established than he’d expected to find in the desert. There had to be tenacious creeks or a river system running through this area to sustain so much growth for so long. He wasn’t complaining though. The shade from the trees dampened the dry summer heat significantly, and that was a relief as mid-afternoon approached. Erkunden wasn’t used to the aggressive sun-scorching. The low humidity made the high temperatures relatively tolerable, but heat was still heat, and the Lion Tribe sun was oppressive, beating against you like an oven had just been opened to breathe on the back of your neck. It was going to be important to stay hydrated here.
“Whoa. Who are you? Civilians aren’t allowed in this area,” someone in the black and gold uniform of the Lion Tribe military informed him while holding a halting hand up in the way of his trajectory.
“My name is Stetig Incedo. I’m looking for Steward Pax,” Erkunden stated comfortably, giving his real first name and false surname as discussed with the rest of Squad 14 that morning. The young soldier looked him over thoughtfully.
“Why are you looking for him?”
“‘Inquiring about a job.”
“A job, huh?” The soldier thumbed his chin, contemplating something for a moment while studying Erkunden’s appearance: his obviously tall, broad, Bear Tribe build, blue eyes, and dark brown hair, the bow and quiver on his back, the cross-body belt of well-loved hunting knives, the standard sword belt and sword. “You’re really tall,” he observed, his eyes curious more than anything else, and Erkunden waited steadily. “You’re a hunter?”
“Mn.” He nodded.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Well, I hate to disappoint you, mister… I forgot your name already. Sorry.”
“Stetig Incedo.”
“Riiight. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but Steward Pax isn’t hiring right now.” Erkunden’s lips pursed in thought. Improvisation wasn’t his greatest strength; that was usually left to Buhne or Ablenkung — or even Spahen in a pinch. “Well….”
“Well?” Erkunden probed when the soldier didn’t continue.
“I was just thinking…. The marshal is almost always hiring.”
“The marshal?”
“Yeah, yeah. He was complaining just yesterday that he never has enough people on staff…. How are you with horses?”
“Oh. Uh, I do alright,” he floundered.
“And you’re a hunter too….” Erkunden waited, and his patience was rewarded with “why don’t you come with me.” The soldier turned and began to lead him through the trees to a wide field of wild grasses that was fenced off with a massive, beautiful stable built from some sort of desert mud or concrete to the right. They turned, heading for the stable when another, freestanding structure came into view behind it. “Hey, Coda, have you seen the marshal?” the soldier called to someone who looked like a stable hand.
“He’s working with Bane, last I heard.”
“Thanks.”
Erkunden smiled to himself, appreciating the open informality he was picking up on; he could work with that. He followed the soldier around the back of the stables to where a smaller area of the field was cordoned off; a stocky man with graying blonde hair was holding a lead and coaxing a young gelding with a pitch black coat into a trot around him.
“That’s it, Bane,” the man murmured, clicking his tongue encouragingly.
“Marshal, when you have a minute–”
“‘With you in a sec,” he cut the soldier off in favor of continuing the training. The gelding bobbed his head, his mane both fluffy and silky as it caught the air. “Ta!” The horse changed pace, entering a canter while the marshal rotated at the center of the corral, tracking the horse with his rope. “Ho!” Bane slowed immediately. “Whoa, whoa.” The gelding stopped, and the marshal rewarded him by sending him into the stable with instructions for the nearest hands to find him an apple.
“Alright, Mr. Incedo, this is Marshal Freno. Marshal, Mr. Incedo,” the soldier provided a bare introduction and then bowed out, leaving Erkunden to gaze awkwardly at a man climbing over a fence.
“Incedo, huh?” the marshal said with a small hop back to the ground.
“Yes, sir.”
“Why’re you here?”
“‘Looking for a job,” Erkunden supplied.
“What kind of job?”
“I’m a hunter, but I have a little experience with animals too.”
“A hunter….” The marshal frowned in thought. “That’s more the type of thing Steward Pax hires for.”
“I was told that Steward Pax isn’t hiring at the moment.”
“He wouldn’t be, no,” the marshal mused and started walking away; Erkunden thought it best to follow him. The marshal led him into the stable, through rows of gorgeous horses, to the end where a much shabbier, dapple gray mare was shifting her weight irritably. “Her name’s May. Show me what you can do.”
A little taken aback, Erkunden started removing his weapons and set them to lean against May’s stall. He knew a little about horses, but not that much, and the marshal’s instructions were… nonexistent. “‘Anything in particular you want me to do with her?”
“Nah.”
Even more confused, Erkunden opened the stall door, and May started thrashing against the rope tying her to a post. He recalculated, stepping back to close the gate and wait for May to calm down again. He watched, patiently observing May’s movements for a long while, waiting for her anxiety to dissipate, and he started humming quietly to himself. There wasn’t a tune or specific purpose to the humming — actually, he was next to tone-deaf — but May settled just a little to listen to it. His humming grew softer, deeper, more intentional. May’s fears seemed to cool by degree.
“Here,” the marshal whispered, handing Erkunden a bucket full of oats.
Continuing the indistinct, low humming, Erkunden shifted the bucket of oats in his hands to add the gentle percussion of swishing grains to his tuneless song. May’s already perked ears twitched, her fight against her ropes forgotten for the moment. Not wanting to risk opening the stall again, Erkunden made use of his long arms and extended a handful of oats for May to sniff. She was hesitant. And then she was cautiously interested. Nibbly lips explored his offering, and Erkunden opened his palm to allow her to partake. “You like that, huh?” he murmured, and May snorted. He collected the bucket, extending the whole thing to her over the wall of her stall, shaking it gently and returning to his quiet droning when she became once again agitated.
Instead, another handful was extended; May accepted it skeptically. Another handful…. And another…. Eventually, May stepped forward to accept what was left of her oats from the pail — which was for the best as Erkunden’s arm was growing tired from all the reaching. When she’d finished, May returned to being mistrustful, stepping back to scrutinize Erkunden. He simply stared back as he was not really sure what the goal was nor was he really interested in pressing his luck.
“You’re hired,” Marshal Freno muttered next to him, walking away and leaving Erkunden and May to study each other in peace.
***
Despite Beta’s instructions, it was challenging finding the tailors’ workshop. All he knew was that it was tucked away at the back of the palace on the ground level where all the servants lived and worked. Carrying a half-filled sack of potatoes, Ablenkung was counting on getting lost in the shuffle of human movement as the daytime servants were replaced by a much smaller nighttime crew, but that was a tall order considering his Bear Tribe size and coloring. He blended in about as well as a red wine on a white tablecloth, so it was that much more important to look and act like he was where he was supposed to be. Aplomb and disinterest prevented unwanted disruptions, and soon he found what he was looking for.
There was no one in the workshop, and for that it felt eerie. But it did make thieving easier. The uniforms were hanging on racks along one wall, partitioned by gender, then type, then size. He could pretty safely assume that he was best suited for the largest size in everything. Dumping the potatoes on the ground, he targeted one uniform of every type, collecting the garments in the empty burlap sack as quickly as he could find them.
While the rest of Squad 14 had taken on long-term infiltration roles, he’d been assigned the flexible support role, and thus, the uniforms were crucial. He was used to the support roles during operations — that was sort of his thing — but usually he was better equipped to simply blend in. Lions averaged about three inches shorter than bears, and Ablenkung was a little above average for a bear. Where, in the Bear Tribe, a couple extra inches wasn’t noteworthy, that translated to five or more extra inches in the Lion Tribe.
Oh… this mission was going to be hard. That was beside that fact that he was going to have to let the seams out in all the pants and hope the shoulders in the shirts and jackets didn’t tear. The pressing question was: where to start? Ablenkung was budgeting the first few weeks for simply getting the lay of the land. Who were all the players? Where had his squadmates landed and were therefore covering? What remaining holes would he need to fill?
Beta’s guess that the king’s council were somehow responsible for sabotaging the queen’s pregnancies was just that: a guess. There were a lot of moving parts in a palace, and the Lion King had a lot of enemies and potential enemies. The Lion Tribe had just ended a war with the Griffin Tribe, and the Great War (that had ended about the time the miscarriages started) had been discovered to be a conspiracy of the former Lion King, Imperium Rex, Verum’s father. Yes, the young king surely had enemies, and there were likely more than a few members of the disbanded Resistance holding a grudge strong enough to do something like this. There were people throughout all of Ulakam harboring hatred for the Lion King because his father was no longer alive to be the subject of their ire.
But then, what was the end game of this conspiracy? To inflict pain? Was this a “you stole my loved ones, so I’m stealing yours” sort of revenge? Or maybe it was an attempt to humiliate the royal family? Was this simply a hate fueled effort to end the Rex family line? Or perhaps it was more sinister. If the Rex family line ended, what would the consequences be? What laws were in place for such a contingency? Was this an attempt to steal the crown? Reform the government? Start a civil war?
That was a nasty thought, and on a scale from petty revenge to watching the Lion Tribe destroy itself from the inside out, the perpetrators behind this plot could be emotionally fueled or calculating, multi-step thinkers. That did very little to narrow down the suspects list, and there was a real risk of outsmarting oneself by over- or under-complicating the situation.
While such thoughts burdened his mind, Ablenkung completed his thievery and added the potatoes back to the top of the sack to hide the clothes beneath. Careful to make sure the immediately surrounding halls were empty, he slipped out of the workshop and into the shuffling of human activity around the corner.