As he walked towards the boardway site, Nedric reflected on the breaking of fast that morning. The various travellers who had been staying at the same guesthouse as himself had all worn a certain subdued look. It was as though the aura of the landlady cast a pall on all her guests.
All the guests were male. Most of them were middle aged and looked like they were used to being harried in life. Nedric guessed that they probably had wives who treated them in much the same fashion and so they felt at home with the landlady’s ways. He was much less happy and decided that he would find somewhere else to stay as soon as he had sorted out his affairs.
He arrived back at the boardway and made his way around to the gate, which marked the entrance to the site. It was a typical solid iron affair that along with the high brick wall that surrounded the place kept out itinerant intruders. Nedric had always felt that the place was like a bees nest, uninviting and bleak on the outside but thriving with activity once you breached the walls.
To his surprise he found a guard at the gate. There had been little need for one in the past, at least not whilst there were workers inside. Everybody knew each other and so a new face was instantly spotted and interrogated. Of course the place had grown and that was probably not the case any more.
The guard asked him for his papers, which he quickly provided. Nedric silently thanked Alhern for being organised and having everything prepared. Everything was in order and he was let through. He had to ask directions to the accounts department, the place had changed a lot since he had last been there.
He walked slowly through the site. He felt that he should be moving faster, as everybody dashed past him. The place was full of the sounds of construction. Nedric could smell sawdust and iron and knew that it meant that the carpenters and smiths were hard at work.
He found the appropriate office and knocked on the door. He thought he heard a shout and entered. He closed the door behind him and found himself in a pool of calm amidst the clamouring noise of the rest of the place.
All the workers in the office were sat at desks on which there were huge piles of papers. They were reading, writing and transferring bits of paper from one place to another. Nobody was speaking and it wasn’t clear whom Nedric should approach. No one was looking at him and so for a minute he just stood there.
Eventually he got tired of waiting and nervously approached the nearest desk, at which sat a grey haired lady who looked much like his mother.
“I was wondering if I could collect my wages?” he asked in a hushed voice.
The woman looked up and said “Papers?”
He handed them over and stood awkwardly as she looked through them. She took her time and he began to wonder if there was a problem. Eventually she looked up again and smiled.
“Everything seems to be in order. Please take a chair and I shall be right back with a credit note.”
“Don’t I get the money here?” he asked.
“We don’t keep large amounts on the site. Take the note to any of the moneylenders in the city after you get it countersigned and they will pay you the full amount or look after it for you for a small fee.”
“Countersigned?”
“You will need to go over to the Over-engineer’s office for a second signature. It’s to prevent the possibility of fraud. I’ll be back in a minute.”
The woman walked into the back office and Nedric was left to think about what he would do with the money. As he hadn’t had to pay for food or accommodation he was expecting that he would have a reasonable amount saved up, maybe as much as a hundred and fifty gold. Ten gold would buy him a horse but he had no idea what he would do with one. All his money would keep him fed and housed for a year. He didn’t plan to sit idly in Elseth for that long, not whilst Elsebeth needed his help!
He wondered if he could hire mercenaries. He had heard that they were expensive. With his money he might be able to hire a couple that would go with him to Nothering but he wasn’t sure how to go about hiring. More importantly he didn’t know how to ensure he got trustworthy people, he wouldn’t want to pay a lot of money and have the person just walk away. He needed an expert and thought of Rialto. Merchants hired guards all the time.
As he was making a mental note to write a letter to his friend, the lady came back into the room holding a parchment that bore the seal of the guild of moneylenders. She signed on the appropriate line and handed it to him.
“You will need it sealed to validate it.”
Nedric could see that there was a space for the second seal and realised why only the Over-engineer would have that. He thanked the woman and turned to leave the office. Before he left he glanced more closely at the parchment and was surprised at the sum that was written there.
“There must be some mistake.” He said, turning back to the woman.
“I calculated it carefully, what’s the problem.” The woman sounded just a little put out.
“I was expecting around the hundred and fifty mark. You’ve written down nearly double that!”
“Oh.” The woman relaxed a little and even smiled. “I think you have forgotten about the bonuses.”
“What bonuses?”
“Well there was the pay rise when you were made section leader, and then there were the additional payments when you hit target every month, there was the bonus when your section hit target for the month. The first time that has ever happened. Finally there was the special bonus.”
Nedric vaguely recalled that there had been a promise of extra pay if they hit target but hadn’t believed it until now. He was still somewhat puzzled by her remarks though. “What special bonus?” he asked.
“The one Supervisor Alhern recommended because of the work you have done to enhance the community. Something about bringing in a needed shop and working with the village kids.”
Nedric walked away, reflecting that a letter and a bit of juggling must be worth quite a bit more than he thought.
He walked across the compound and knocked on the door of the Over-engineer’s office. He was invited to enter by a woman’s voice. As he opened the door he found himself face to face with Rhianna.
He hadn’t seen her for quite a while and in the meantime she had developed into an extremely attractive woman. He wasn’t interested in her looks however; he could still recall the hurtful words she had used towards him on previous occasions.
“What are you doing here?” Rhianna didn’t sound keen on seeing him either.
“I need the Over-engineer to countersign my wage note.”
“He’s not here at present but I can do it for you.”
Nedric was surprised in two ways. It was unlike Rhianna to be helpful and why did she have the authority? He wasn’t going to argue if it meant he could get away quicker. He had a lot to do that day.
“I was hoping to see Tarim about Elsebeth’s capture.”
“Yes, that was a real shame.” Rhianna did not sound convincing. “Unfortunately as she was on her own time, company policy clearly states that what happens to her is her own concern and we can do nothing. Here is your paperwork, goodbye.”
Nedric felt rushed out of the office. He was totally surprised. Rhianna clearly didn’t want anything to do with him, which was quite expected. Elsebeth however had been her friend; he had expected her to show some concern. Not to change the subject as quickly as possible and to stand on the letter of regulation. It wasn’t like the company to be that harsh anyway. Tarim had always come across as being concerned about the staff that worked for him and not just in making money.
As he thought more about the situation he became angry. He would sort out things by himself. The first step was to report her kidnap to the authorities and then he would seek Elsebeth’s parents. It was unlikely that her father would be at home at this time of the day anyway. As for Rhianna, there wasn’t anything he could do about her but he wished there was.
* * *
He had to ask the guard for directions to the administrative buildings, although he knew they were close to the palace. The route took him in a new direction and he passed through areas of fairly prosperous houses. Each was carefully kept, with little fences or hedges to show where one started and the next stopped. The woman and children around these houses all seemed similar, their voices holding a particular tone that suggested a comfortable existence.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
There was a lot of traffic along the roads. Wagons heading in all directions, competing with delivery people of all descriptions, each with a handcart or pair of large baskets carried on a yoke. Occasionally two large vehicles would block the way and one would have to force his horse or horses to back up. Nedric was glad that he didn’t have to do that, although he was quite happy to laugh at the efforts of those in that unfortunate position. He noticed that it was never anyone in a carriage that had to reverse, which just confirmed his view of the world.
After perhaps an hour or so of walking, he found himself outside an extremely large, white, marble-clad building with an imposing entrance and guards on either side. The place was probably larger than the black lion and that had been the largest building he had ever seen before. He couldn’t see why a building this big was needed to administer the country. His understanding was that the nobles, especially the dukes, did most of the administration in their duchies and they didn’t need buildings anywhere near this size. At least the two duchies in which he had lived held nothing as imposing.
He entered and immediately felt lost. The scale inside matched the exterior. There was a large central space, spanned by a ceiling more grandiose than any church to any of the gods. On either side were stairways leading to at least four floors of offices. People were in constant motion throughout the building and it reminded Nedric of an ant’s nest he had once kicked open. The sunlight streamed from huge windows in the wall at the far end. It gave the place a lighter, airier feel than he would have expected.
On the floor area in front of him were row upon row of desks at which sat countless numbers of scribes. People were bringing and retrieving constant streams of paperwork from the desks, taking them up the stairs and disappearing into one of the office areas above.
For a while Nedric just stood there. He had no idea where, in this vast building, he could find the appropriate office. The sheer size of the place overwhelmed him. Eventually he was forced away from the door by the weight of traffic moving through it. As his eyes were forced away from the panorama, he noticed a large wooden desk to one side of the door at which stood a number of people. They were clearly there to give information and Nedric joined the queue.
After a short wait, he reached the front of the queue and asked for the office he required. This started a small debate between a number of the helpers and in the end he was given three possible locations. All three were in different parts of the building and two were on one side, whilst the third was on the other. He decided to go with the two first.
Half an hour later he was regretting his choice as neither of the offices he had tried were correct and he had the whole set of stairs to climb on the other side. Eventually he found his way to the office and was directed to a desk hidden between a number of storage shelves and covered with paperwork. It was only when he got close that he realised that there was someone sat at the desk. It wasn’t that he could see them but the gentle snoring gave them away.
Nedric coughed loudly and the snoring stopped. A few seconds later, a head appeared over the piles of papers and Nedric was greeted by a small, elderly but happily smiling man.
“Congratulations lad, you are my first visitor this month!”
Nedric wasn’t quite sure what to think, let alone what to say.
“I assume you are here to report a missing person.” The man continued.
Nedric nodded.
“If you give me the details I’ll see that the description is sent to every law enforcement company in the country.”
“That won’t be much help.” Nedric stated. “She was kidnapped and taken to Nothering.”
The man didn’t look surprised but started to rummage around on his desk. Eventually, with a cry of triumph, he retrieved a piece of paper and reading from it, started to ask questions.
“Is she in an important but not particularly influential job?”
“Yes.”
“Was she working in an out of the way location?”
“Yes.”
“Did the kidnappers leave a fairly easy to follow track that led as far as the Nothering border and then stopped?”
“Well actually there were some Esteril rangers doing the tracking and they followed her as far as a building in Nothering.”
This piece of information stopped the man in his tracks and he looked up.
“Do you have a map to show where this building is located?”
“I have one right here.” Nedric drew the map from his pocket.
“This is very significant!” The old man was practically dancing in his excitement. “We have assumed by the various trails from people kidnapped recently that they were all being taken to the roughly the same place but we didn’t know where. This map needs to be taken to Captain Kranc over at military HQ.”
Nedric felt like he was being rushed. He made a conscious effort not to just follow the old man in his rush of enthusiasm. “Hang on a second,” he said, “what’s all this about other kidnappings?”
“Oh, haven’t I told you? Yours is the seventeenth reported kidnapping in the last four months. All fit the profile of important workers in isolated locations. The kidnappers all appear to have been mercenaries and the tracks have led as far as the river boundary between Nothering and us. We’ve guessed that they were captured to incite us to invade. If you want to know what is being planned you might as well talk to Captain Kranc yourself and give him your map.”
Nedric thanked the man for his time and walked over to the military HQ. Fortunately this was only the other side of the palace and so took only a short while. The two buildings looked very similar on the outside but the guards here were functional and it took Nedric quite a while to get inside.
Eventually a guard, who looked like an extremely tall gorilla, escorted him to the appropriate room. Nedric, who had a good sense of direction, realised that the route they had taken was not the most direct. He supposed that they would have entered sensitive areas otherwise. He wasn’t going to question the guard; he hadn’t done much more than grunt during the walk.
Captain Kranc turned out to be a small and slightly harried look man of middle years. He was sat at a desk, much like his compatriot in the administrative building. Unlike that man however, it was clear that the captain kept his desk tidy. In fact there was hardly any paperwork on it and the few papers that existed were stacked neatly at one corner. Nedric couldn’t decide if this meant the man exhibited military discipline or an obsession with order.
The captain was friendly and invited Nedric to sit. A messenger from the front guard must have told him why Nedric was there, as he had a form ready to take all the details of the kidnapping. When Nedric gave Elsebeth’s name he gave a small start and called for an orderly.
“Find Captain Bethel and ask him to join us immediately. I am sure he will want to hear everything that is said.”
As they waited for the captain, they talked about Esteril and the boardway. Kranc was eager to learn how much progress was being made in joining the two capitals. He also wanted to know what it was like living in the country. Nedric found it hard to say, as the works was unlike anywhere else and he hadn’t seen enough of the rest of the country to give an opinion.
They were interrupted by the arrival of Bethel. Nedric knew instantly that this was Elsebeth’s father; the piercing eyes beneath dark brows were the most noticeable features. Having no idea why he had been invited to the office, he wore a slight frown. This only grew deeper when Kranc introduced Nedric.
“Are you the young man who has been seeing my daughter?” he asked.
Nedric nodded assent. “I was hoping to visit you tonight to pass on my bad news but I was directed here and the Captain thought you should be here.”
Nedric expected Bethel to start asking questions about Elsebeth but he didn’t. Instead he found a seat and waited for Nedric to speak in his own time. Nedric was sure that he couldn’t have stayed that calm in Bethel’s position and his respect for the man grew.
He told how Elsebeth had been captured along with himself. He described his escape and the subsequent attempts to get Elsebeth back. As he spoke, Bethel would occasionally nod, as if to show his approval of Nedric’s actions. It made him feel better, as he was sure that he should have handled things differently.
When he had finished speaking there was a moments pause and then Kranc spoke.
“Your description of the kidnap doesn’t match the details of the other kidnappings. Apart from the fact that there were two of you captured, this is the only kidnapping outside Setherland and the only one where the kidnappers waited around rather than moving directly to Nothering. It is also the only one where we can definitely know that Nothering soldiers were involved. Your description matched their crack infantry troop too precisely for there to be any doubt.”
“This is one of the things we have been waiting for.” He continued. “We couldn’t just invade Nothering, as that would put us on a war footing with no support from other countries. Now we have proof, we can make a small strike and Nothering won’t be able to start an all out war without the risk of all the other countries attacking them. As it is, we can expect them to ignore that threat by next year. Now you said you had a map?”
Nedric produced the paper from his pocket and both captains leant over it. After a couple of minutes, they looked up and there was a small smile on Kranc’s face. He looked at Bethel, who nodded. They both turned to Nedric and Bethel spoke.
“We have been waiting for this information. We will launch an attack on Nothering within the next few days. Hopefully we can rescue everyone in the building. Now I will have to ask you to stay here for a while and then maybe you will come back to my home to meet the rest of the family. I am sure they will want to meet you. My wife has wanted to do so ever since Elsebeth first started writing about you.” He said the last with a small smile.
Nedric could only agree and was then left to sit and watch as the room was transformed in front of his eyes.
Kranc and Bethel began issuing orders to the various orderlies and soon the place was filled with all sorts of officers. Maps of Nothering and the Setherland border were hung on the wall and were soon covered with coloured pins that indicated the presence of troops and supplies. There seemed to be much more of both than Nedric would have expected. He soon realised that an invasion from Nothering had been long expected and preparations had been made.
Most of the afternoon was spent in planning the raid, even though the general plan had been in place for a while. When everything was agreed as much as was possible, orders were issued and the office emptied. Bethel came over to Nedric to let him know the result.
“The appropriate orders will be transmitted to the troops by this evening and hopefully they will be able to mount an evening raid tonight. If they are successful we should hear what happened within two days.”
Nedric knew that there were towers across the country that allowed information to be transmitted by flags or lights. The system had been devised a few years earlier by some of the merchants and it seemed that the military had recognised the usefulness. It surprised him that they hadn’t thought of developing the boardway for themselves and then he recalled that there were additional lines being built from the station. Perhaps they had already started.
Bethel suggested that they walk back to his place and as they walked he gave Nedric a little more information about the military situation in Setherland with respect to Nothering.
“You may have noticed that I was giving orders to people ranked higher than myself. That is because the Nothering authorities decided that they would disrupt our organisation by assassinating our top commanders. We rearranged our chain of command to confuse matters and it must have worked as they stopped being so successful after a while. They still kill off a few junior officers every so often but as it doesn’t affect our system they seem to have stopped. We didn’t have much success in retaliating in kind as they let so few people into their country.”
“So how comes you had all those maps that appeared to be fairly new?” Nedric enquired.
“We do have people in Nothering, spies, informants and the like. Unfortunately they tend to have to take the role of slaves and that means that they can’t get hold of the more important information. The Nothering military realised long ago that you couldn’t trust a slave and so only officers deal with their paperwork. They even have the junior officers clean the rooms after they realised that we were getting information from the cleaners and their refuse.”
The whole world of spies and spying sounded quite exciting to Nedric but the risks seemed too great and the punishments were said to be truly horrible. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen to a slave caught selling information. He had heard that a slave’s life was not very pleasant at the best of times.
Bethel continued, “We get enough information that we know about their supply lines, main bases, new buildings, troop movements, that sort of thing. We should have enough warning that we can anticipate any major attacks and prepare our defences accordingly. Our biggest problem is the small scale attacks on isolated locations. We can’t get enough troops into an area quickly enough.”
“That sounds like you need the boardway. It would be ideal for carrying troops and supplies.”
“We already worked that out but there aren’t many impressors at the moment and they are limited to the amount of boards they can produce. We helped arrange the schooling at the keep because we realised the need but we were hoping for faster results and didn’t know how difficult it would be to train people. If we did we might have made the class sizes much larger.”
Nedric didn’t know whether that would have helped. There was an element of being an impressor that could be taught and there was an innate ability that not everyone possessed. The pupils at the keep comprised some of the brighter and better-educated youngsters in the country and less than half of them had the skill. He thought that there would always be a shortage of impressors. At least there would be until they had finished building the boardways.
There was a distinct impression in his mind that Bethel hadn’t finished their talk about the boardways but he drifted onto other topics as they walked and it was forgotten for the moment.