Jend had been trying out “democracy” in the kingdom. It seemed to have potential, but he still needed to work out the kinks.
Democracy was Jend and Aida’s fifth-most popular reform among the creatures of their kingdom. The first was, of course, the rule that dragons and wyverns had to land before relieving themselves. That was universally popular, except with the dragons, but they'd been outvoted and Jend and Aida had both been very firm on the issue. The second was that self-aware creatures should not be considered food by other self-aware creature-citizens. The third was universal education for all self-aware creatures, although implementing that was difficult as each group had its own idea of what a sound education was. Reading and writing were generally accepted, but math was still considered controversial and a bit demonic. Fourth was the state lottery. Then came Democracy. Sixth were paid rat-catchers. A distant seventh was the free press.
The polling company that carried out this research also found that the existence of polling companies was number three on the counter-list of Most Disliked of the New Initiatives and Rules. It came in just after "Not allowed to kill people who annoy you," which was a strong number one, and "Taxes" at number two.
As the councils assembled in the castle’s main hall, Jend surveyed the room and considered what he was facing.
The Council of Lords would not be a problem. The kingdom was young, so most of the lords were those that had been Jend’s allies in the war against Lothar. Duke Cradel was a risk, but Myla and Scarlett had already bought his support. The great majority of the rest he had full confidence in.
Well, other than Rhoswen. He didn’t even know what she was, much less how she’d vote.
The Council of the Elected was more risky. The council had already devolved into factions. There were The Greens, who were basically members of The Circle and their more devoted followers, then The Deeper Greens, who were the more radical members and followers of The Circle who didn’t think The Greens were tree-hugger enough. And then there were The Deepest Greens, who were the actual trees.
Jend understood that they enjoyed all the hugs.
Other factions included The Fashion Party, based around the Temple of Elemental Fashion, The Engineers, consisting of miners and the types that hung around The Bleeding Edge, and The Merchants, who were merchants.
The university had three student representatives in The Council of the Elected, but they’d been told by their professors to vote as the university administration did, or face a bad participation grade. The university taught democracy but didn’t actually want any democracy among its students. Jend meant to have a discussion with the College Board about the issue, but it was useful at the moment, so he’d decided to put that conversation off until a later date.
Wyndy was finishing her speech in front of the two councils. “... thus you may clearly see, that despite our attempts to be reasonable with the humans, we have met with nothing but attacks, including this last vicious assault by eight assassins that put both me, my little sister, and the High Priestess of The Temple of Hista in great danger – and during an official temple event! Indeed, without the combined efforts of the pious followers of Hista, and the heroic efforts of the canine citizens of the kingdom, I might not be standing before you here today!”
Wyndy paused, catching a breath before her big ending. “And so, my fellow citizens of our great and successful Kingdom of Pelsa, I urge you to vote to authorize a general mobilization of the entire population of the kingdom. If we unite in this time of the greatest need of our young nation, we will certainly prevail. With our combined strength, and with the Great Mother and Sky Father supporting us from below and above, no force on this earth can defeat us. I dare say I will get to see more humans running in terror from our strong warriors!”
The crowd went wild: wolves howling, trees rustling, bats flying about screeching. Also, there were goblins and orcs chanting war cries, dragons spouting fire, and buggebears disappearing.
Jend had to admit that Wyndy had been right. The student had become the master. Wyndy could work a crowd just as well as Jend, perhaps even better. He didn't know when it had happened. She'd been almost shy as a girl, often preferring to stay in her room and blow up her blocks. Now she inspired an army.
“Princess Wyndyn has concluded her time. The floor is open to further debate,” said Queen Aida, presiding over the councils. “We recognize Ghershod of The Merchants.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” said the tall orc sailor as he stood. “We all thank the royal princess for her speech. We all have a better understanding of the duplicitous nature of the humans, and how tricky they can be to deal with. A trickiness that I assure you that we of the kingdom's loyal merchants well understand.”
Ghershod paused to allow the few murmurs of laughter and “here here” to pass.
“But we have also developed ways of dealing with the humans. Occasionally bribery of their port officials, for example, to allow our ships berthing rights. Special deals offered to certain of Vathary's noble families, letting them have a nice slice of the profits. These methods have gone a long way in helping our relations.”
“What's your point, Ghershod?” asked one of the miners from the back of the room. “We know all this.”
“Yes, yes, many of us have had to deal with humans. And I think the main thing we’ve all learned is that they like gold. They are really obsessed with it. They decorate their temples with it.”
There were shouts across the hall. “Tell us something we don’t know,” and “We get it. They are coming for our gold,” and “Die humans die!”
“So, might I ask, Your Highness,” Ghershod continued, “if we have sent an emissary to the human king, offering some sort of monetary settlement?”
This statement was soundly booed from around the room.
“Jend, would you take the floor to answer,” said Aida.
Jend stood. “But, of course, Captain Ghershod. And I now ask our emissary to rise and make a report to the lords and to the elected on her trip.”
Aida nodded towards Helnae, and the room quieted as she stood.
“I have just returned from the Vatharian capital of Carstones. I was accompanied by Shrihk Coalsnarl, a goblin who worked in Vathary and has many contacts there. We made the trip by sea, and traveled with a diplomatic writ. Upon arrival in Carstones, we were brought to the palace and received by the king’s first councilor, a man named Dravon.”
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The room remained quiet, all eyes upon Helnae.
“Dravon listened to our proposal for the return of their men and the cessation of all hostilities for, oh, maybe three minutes before he cut me off. We tried to talk of trade and of negotiations, but he barely let us say a word. He was in a rage just seeing us, and yelled back about us having an illegitimate government. He told us the only negotiations would be our surrender, and said that Vathary would go easier on us if we surrendered now.”
The room again erupted, both the members of the Council of Lords and the Council of the Elected standing and yelling, with the general theme being “death to the human invaders.” Even the trees looked angry.
Aida stood, and yelled out, “Order, order.” In another minute the room quieted down sufficiently for the elven queen to be heard. “Do we have any last questions or topics to raise in debate?” she asked. “If there are none, we will proceed with the voting.”
The vote in the Council of Lords was called first, and it was unanimous in support of Jend and Wyndyn’s general mobilization proposal. The Council of the Elected voted next, and it went 93 to 5 in favor of the proposal. Only a couple of the Deeper Greens and three of The Merchants voted against it.
Jend smiled. He now thought the matter done and settled. But the human visitor to the assembly, Count Rassler, stood up to speak.
“Your Majesty, if I might have your permission to say a few words?”
Aida looked the human over. “The vote has happened. The matter is decided.”
“There is one more matter I wanted to bring to the attention of the assembly, if it please Your Highness,” said Count Rassler with a low bow to the queen.
“You are not a member of either council, so you are not allowed to bring motions. Unless there is a member of the council who might sponsor your motion,” explained Queen Aida.
A young, well-dressed orc with a goatee raised his hand. Aida nodded in his direction, and he said “I sponsor his motion. I want to hear what this human has to say, and I’m sure some of my fellow merchants would too. Rassler uses a tooth brush now, so he can’t be all bad.” He gave Rassler the orcish thumbs up sign.
There was a round of polite chuckling. Aida motioned to the center of the floor, inviting Rassler to speak.
“My fellow… well, I mean, my new, … friends, yes, friends who have let me in your country, and kept me safe,” Rassler began.
“I thank you for that. I have one further thought for you to consider,” he said as he walked to the center of the floor. “As you know I ruled the county in Vathary that comes right up to your southern border, the March of Flai Drary. My family have been the counts there for a hundred years, and we have never had a conflict with Pelsa.”
Rassler paused, gathering himself, and then continued in a louder voice. “That is until I was unfairly removed by a misguided king. The king who now invades your fine land!”
There were some murmurs around the room. The members of the council were paying attention, but seemed concerned as to where this was going.
“So I suggest to you, my new friends,” Rassler continued. “Would you not be safer if Pelsa were not only to repel the Vatharian forces, but to also take the borderlands? You could install me as the count there again, and I would be sworn in fealty to our strong King Jend and wise Queen Aida! The March of Flai Drary would become part of Pelsa, and serve as a buffer to keep the Vatharians and their king further away from you.”
Discussions erupted between council members across the room. Jend could hear “That would be a lot of trouble,” and “...the war would go on forever…” and “Oh, let’s not do that.” Jend could only agree with the prevailing sentiment of his citizens.
King Jend stood up and spoke.“While I appreciate the compliment of our new human noble friend, I don’t advise this. We have a lot to do already, just defending Pelsa. If the creatures of the land unite, we may have a chance to repel the human invaders. But taking further territory is a lot to ask.”
He sat down as Queen Aida called the vote on the second matter of Pelsa seeking to conquer the March of Flai Drary.
The second vote concluded with no one from the Council of Lords voting for the proposal, and only two of the Council of the Elected supporting it. Pelsa would defend its own land, but would not seek to take any part of Vathary.
The members of the councils left to spread the word across the country, and put out the call for all the citizens of Pelsa to come to its aid.
- - - -
As the great hall of the Castle of Lagar's Haven cleared out, Rassler remained in his seat, his head resting in his hand. In a few minutes he was alone in the hall, but he remained sitting.
He didn't even hear Helnae's approach.
“Why so sad, human male?” she said as she sat down next to him. “That went exactly the way Jend wanted it to go, exactly the way Wyndy planned it. Are you really surprised that the good citizens of Pelsa do not want to go off conquering new lands?”
Rassler turned his head to look at her, but couldn't muster up any words.
“Nobody is blaming you for their invasion, you know. Or not many. We all know that humans can be difficult to deal with, and make unexplainable decisions. Have you read ‘The Guardian of the Ring’?” Helnae asked.
“You are not making me feel any better,” replied Rassler.
“I'm sorry. I shouldn't tease. I know exactly why you are sad.”
“You do, really? You know what it is to lose what I've lost?”
“I know exactly how it feels, young human,” she said. “I was once a queen.”
“You were a queen? Of where?”
“I was the queen of the nation of Bleiz Brok. You may not know it, as it is smaller than even Pelsa. I had come into the crown young, and only ruled for two years before my cousin led a coup against me”
“They didn't accept a woman as ruler? They wanted your cousin?”
“No, human male. It is a nation ruled by were-hyenas. It is different. You know werewolves, who were humans who were blessed with the touch of lycanthropy. But for us, our people were hyenas who were cursed with part-humanness, and forced to spend some of their lives in human form. But we retain hyena ways.”
This sounded a bit ominous to Rassler, who realized that he was alone in the hall with her. “Right, but what hyena ways do you mean?”
“Among the hyenas, the women rule. It was very strange for me when I arrived and found they had a king alongside their queen, and that they let males decide things. I still haven't gotten used to it. I'm not sure it's a good idea.”
“I know how you feel. In reverse. And I see that you understand what it is to lose power.”
“That I do. I want my queendom back. I will get it. I am building contacts and wealth here. If I can get a couple of their sorcerers and just one company of their army lent to me to go back to Bleiz Brok, I have a chance.”
“Yes, Pelsa is powerful. I'd had no idea before I came here, and could understand what was going on. But you saw how it went in this hall. There was no interest at all of helping me take back the March of Flai Drary. I may never see Keley again.”
“And you tried to get the princess interested in you, to get her to help you, didn’t you?” said Helnae. It wasn’t really a question.
“You already know the answer. Wyndy shows less interest in me that the councils showed in getting my lands back. I was charming to her and everything, tried to show her what a strong cavalry leader I could be,” said Rassler, his head in his hands.
Helnae patted Rassler on his back. “Charming isn’t enough with Wyndy, or with most women. And with a woman like Wyndy, who could incinerate you in a moment, being a strong soldier isn’t going to impress her. No, with Wyndy, to impress her you need to show kindness and understanding. She is looking for someone to help her nurture and build this kingdom.”
“Yes, you’re probably right. I messed that up too. So then what do I do now?” asked Rassler.
“Well, many things happen in wars. Both sides have everything well-planned until the first catapult launches, and then everything is chaos. You should join, help with the war,” explained Helnae.
“I hadn't thought, well, I don't know if they'd trust me.”
“Our army is about to grow four times over. Anyone with experience will end up commanding a unit. You can be a cavalry leader, you said?”
“Yes, of course. I am a noble, or was a noble,” said the despondent count. “I was trained to lead charging knights. I served with the Vatharian Royal Army in the cavalry. We are raised to be able to defend our fiefdom, and bring men if the king calls.”
“Perfect. Volunteer for the cavalry. They will need officers, and not so many here can ride,” said Helnae, offering her hand to Rassler to help him stand up.
“It is better to die trying than never try, they say.” Rassler took her hand and stood.
“You may not die. I think Pelsa will win, you know. Jend and Aida are very clever, and their daughters cleverer still. After the battle, if we have won, the Vatharian forces will be scattered and in retreat. Things can happen. Who knows what?”