“How is it to be a noble?”, Adophis asked me over the flames of the fire pit.
“I don’t know how to answer such a question. I think it is better than being a commoner, but it also means more responsibilities. We also have higher living standards I suppose”, I said. The last nights had been spent sleeping on the ground with blankets. A rather uncomfortable experience.
“How about marriage? I heard nobles get assigned partners”, Hana asked and both looked at me with curiosity burning in their eyes.
“That is actually true in most cases. Marriage is the best way to bind houses together and get influence in other countries”, I answered them.
“And do you have a fiancé?”, Hana inquired.
“No, not yet at least. My family takes a different viewpoint on marriage”, I said.
“What does that mean?”, they asked jointly.
“It means my parents would only support a marriage if I and my bride like each other. Power gained from a marriage is nice and all, but when the bridal couple can’t stand each other, the marriage might cause more trouble than good later on”, I explained my families policy on the matter. My parents would probably introduce me to the interested parties as soon as I return.
“Why do nobles treat us so bad?”, Adophis asked.
“Because they can, probably. Those nobles who have time to harass their subjects are not real nobles anyway. Most nobles only interfere in the affairs of commoners, if their interests are at stake”, I answered. My parents had never concerned themselves much with our commoners, except some policies they implemented.
“Why have they more rights than we do?”, Hana asked and I caught both siblings as they looked at their sleeping parents for a short moment.
“The right of the strong. There is a hierarchy to those things. The king tramples on the nobles, the nobles on the commoners and the commoners on the non-citizens “, I said.
“That is just unfair. I just want to leave the province”, Hana said.
“What did your parents do, to be forced to flee the province?”, I asked them. Both siblings looked shocked. I intervened before they could evade the question as usual. Let’s see, if they manage to keep quiet without their parents interfering.
“I know you are fleeing. You are leaving the province with no real destination afterwards. You avoid using a ship, which means the person chasing you can control the ships on the Nile. Oh, and you are avoiding all majors cities and paths, instead following abandoned routes”, I summarized and their expression told me I should be partly right.
“The son of the governor of Memphis. He went to our city. Mother used to work under the local mayor back home. The son took a fancy to mother and wanted her to be his concubine. She declined, but then he tried to force her. We fled the city with everything we had that night”, Hana explained.
“We are fleeing for circa three months now. There have been several close calls, but Jalvund managed to smuggle us away under the nose of the governor's son”, Adophis said and both siblings looked into the flames. They looked exhausted with the current situation.
“Well, that explains a few things. I might be able to help, if the person in question really does manage to catch up to us”, I nearly whispered that sentence. One voice was telling me to shut up and keep my secrets to myself. The other wanted to share them with those people. Repay their trust and help with my own resources.
“What do you mean with that? We are wanted for several crimes and are still under the jurisdiction of Aegyptus”, Hana asked, understandably confused with my statement.
“Vespasianus, I am the heir of house Vespasianus”, I said. The short silence was broken by Adophis.
“Who the fuck is house Vespasianus?”, Adophis exclaimed loudly. Hanna looked equally puzzled.
“You mean I kept my family name and status hidden for a week, just for you to don’t even know my house. Are you kidding me?”, I said and joined the other two with my own puzzled expression. Quintus felt my emotional turmoil and appeared from my shadow. Now there were four, who were puzzled.
“I mean what did you expect? Maybe mother knows a bit about your house, but that would be it. We lived at the southern edge of Aegyptus. The last thing we care about is a country or house on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea”, Adophis said.
“Fair point. It seems I have overthought the situation a bit. Nonetheless, I can still help you with the governor”, I reminded them again.
“How?”, both siblings asked at the same time.
“It is simple. You five become my official servants and with that, you are under the jurisdiction and protection of my house”, I explained my plan to them. “The governor of Memphis can’t do anything if he wants to avoid a diplomatic crisis.”
“What stops him from just arresting you as well. No offence, but without your own guards or witnesses it wouldn’t be hard to dispose of you”, said Hana.
“First, none taken. Secondly, I am more than capable to put up a fight with my crossbow equipped. Thirdly he is more than suitable to intimidate anybody with stupid ideas”, I pointed at Quintus who had started to doze off next to the fire pit.
“I have never seen him fight. Are you sure Quintus can even put up a fight?”, Adophis inquired. His question reminded me of the day at the arena.
“If he is anything like the wyvern I have seen, then we must not fear any small groups of pursuers”, I said. There were still occasional nightmares about the wyvern’s ‘fight’, but I got more used to the scene the more often it repeated. Alaric was right, it does get better with time.
“What would we have to do in exchange”, Hana asked carefully. I had to smile when she asked and their expression told me, they misunderstood my countenance.
“No, you have to do nothing in exchange. I owe my life to your family and Jalvund. I would have frozen to death in the desert. You wouldn’t have to do anything as my servants either. It is just a ruse anyway”, I said. Those people have my gratitude for saving me and helping me find the way back.
“I still can’t believe you told us about the bolt in your shoulder only the next morning. How can you sleep with one in your shoulder?”, Adophis reminded me of my earlier blunder.
“Jalvund even said the damage could have been irreversible if we had removed it later”, added Hana.
“I was just exhausted, sleepy and totally overwhelmed with the situation. Only the pain on the next morning reminded me to speak about the wound”, I defended my error again. It seemed they would never let that incident go.
Quintus interrupted his nap and nuzzled his big head against my stomach. I rewarded him with scratching the scales under his head. He loved to be scratched there. The wyvern gave a deep growl in satisfaction and closed his eyes. He fell asleep in my lap shortly after.
“It is hard to imagine Quintus as a dangerous predator. He looks and behaves more like an oversized dog. With black scales and wings in the mix. Oh, and the stinger as well”, Hana said and both looked amused at the sleeping wyvern in my lap. It would be hard to move his head without waking him up.
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“Appearances can be deceiving. Take that advice from somebody who made the mistake to trust them”, I said and was reminded of the beautiful elven girl, which had shot me in my shoulder without second thought.
“You little runts can’t keep the noise done, can you?”, Jalvund rose from his blankets. I looked in awe as he turned to us, while his tail started to fold the blankets behind him. I wonder how that works.
“Sorry”, we said simultaneously.
“Never mind I will do the next watch go to sleep”, he commanded.
The siblings went to sleep in their own piles of blankets and I tried to move Quintus head onto the ground without waking him up. He woke up and moved to my blankets to settle down there again. Jalvund and Quintus exchanged glances for a moment before the wyvern went to sleep again.
“You shouldn’t underestimate the intelligence of your partner. He is far smarter than you give him credit. I can see it in his eyes”, Jalvund said.
“Thanks, but I already know that. It is just hard to compare him to other wyverns because Quintus is the first one I had real contact with”, I explained him my predicament. The only thing I could do was to do more research on my own to find out Quintus’ particularities. “When do we reach the next city?”
“It is good when you know it. We should reach Sais in two days. From there we will stock up and cross the desert to reach Alexandria”, he explained. “Now go to sleep we have a long march before us. We will talk about you being a Vespasianus later.”
I was surprised about the last sentence, but then again he probably had listened to our conservation for quite a while. The siblings would have told their parents about my status and offer anyway. I went to sleep next to Quintus and enjoyed the feeling of his warm scales.
----------------------------------------
“Valens is dead, but I might be able to provide his head if that helps”, Jagu said and enjoyed the look he got from the eastern emissaries.
“That is outrageous. Valens was a noble and should have been treated with more respect. He had a right to be taken prisoner!”, one of them exclaimed.
“The only right he had was to die for trespassing into my realm. For daring to confront me. His own troops killed him anyway so there is nothing we could have done”, Jagu explained and even if they didn’t believe him, it would not change anything.
“Gentleman, we are here to end this conflict for good. Both sides incurred losses, but we will have to put aside our differences and work a peace deal out”, Rastus said and got stares from all the people in the room, even from his own liege.
“I was told somebody tried to kidnap my son. Didn’t a governor assured me of the neutrality of his city in this conflict?”, Jagu turned to the envoy from Aegyptus who was sweating profoundly.
“Your majesty, house Caesar regrets the incident, but the responsible parties are being punished for defying the orders of our governor. It was the elves who tricked us. They used our goodwill to attack your son”, he said and glanced nervously between Jagu and the elves at the table.
“The elves did no such thing. The elven queen would never fall so low and attack a child”, one of them said and the others nodded reassuringly with him.
“8’942 elves”, Jagu said calmly.
“Excuse me?”, the elven messenger asked in confusion.
“I will have them all impaled on a stake while they are still alive if you don’t admit your crimes and repay us for your insolence”, he said and several elves turned red.
“You can’t do this. This breaks your own holy laws and many of those elves have connections with noble houses!”, they shouted back.
“Rastus do elven nobles scream the same way elven soldiers do?”, Jagu asked his diplomatic adviser.
“No I don’t think my lord, but maybe a bit more ...”, he tried to calm the situation down.
“So they don’t. We have no way to distinguish between them, so we will have to impale them all I fear”, Jagu said and looked at the raging elf before him.
“You will not speak of us so lowly. I demand an apology deserter, or we cover your land with ash and blood!”, he shouted and a human delegate from the east facepalmed himself in frustration.
“That may be problematic with your navy being sunk or hiding in your harbours”, Jagu said and the elf prepared to shout again.
“Enough. I don’t care about you and the elf's problem. We want to make peace with Neapoli and get our prisoners of war back”, a human envoy, the one who had facepalmed himself, stood up and locked eyes with Jagu after glaring at the elves.
“A finally, somebody with common sense”, Jagu smiled happily at the human ambassador. “You will denounce all claims on my land. You will pay half a million ducats as war reparations. You will supply us with materials and immigrants to build back our towns, cities and villages for 5 years. There will be no interference from you into affairs of Italia for 8 years.”
The human looked more than just uncomfortable with the offer, but gulped down his complaints and inquired carefully.
“Is it possible to reduce the number of ducats and supplies?”, he asked hopefully.
“Sure, if you want me to raid your coastlines and cities so that I get those things anyway”, Jagu countered and the human visible paled at the threat.
“Now that won’t be necessary if that is what it takes to end this war. I am ready to accept those terms of peace in the name of Lord Cicero”, he said and bowed shortly to Jagu.
“Rastus could you please take the human delegation to the next room and work out the details of the peace treaty with them”, Jagu said and his adviser and left the room with most eastern humans. The two left were apparently part of the elven delegation.
“We would also accept those terms”, the elven envoy said and Jagu suppressed a laugh.
“I won’t let you off the hook that easily. You will pay double in ducats and materials”, Jagu said and the elven ambassador turned red again. Such a short-tempered person.
“That is ridiculous. You can’t treat us so differently from the humans. Both sides are equally responsible for the war!”, he exclaimed again.
“I can and I will. Mark my words, if this negotiation fails all prisoners of wars will be executed and you as well”, Jagu threatened the envoys.
“That breaks the rule of hospitality. It would damage your diplomatic reputation forever and could lead to the elves doing the same”, he tried to threaten back.
“It will and I wouldn’t care. You attacked my son, my family and my house. For that you will pay the price in gold or blood, your choice”, Jagu said and looked at the stressed diplomats with amusement. Like a chicken without its head.
“That is blackmail!” he shouted, but with less confidence than before.
“Good you figured it out”, Jagu said and clapped with his hands.
The conservation was interrupted and both sides discussed further actions under themselves. Jagu went to find Rastus and learn about the progress with the eastern humans.
“And? Found an agreement with the elves by threatening and insulting them?”, Rastus asked Jagu.
“I think we are on a good way for an agreement”, Jagu answered.
“The elves won’t back down easily. It may be time to reveal our ace”, Rastus advised his lord.
“I fear so as well, but if 'it' is what it takes for them to accept the deal, then it is worth 'it'”. Jagu smiled at his head diplomat. “So did ‘it’ work out then?”
“Yes the Tribes of Pannonia have agreed to help us in punishing the elves if they don’t accept a peace deal”, Rastus said.
“What did you promise them in exchange?”, Jagu asked.
“They wanted to have your son’s hand in marriage with their princess, but I managed to reduce that demand to a few meetings between them. In return, they are allowed to get five percent of the goods and ducats we get from the peace deals and are allowed to send their princess and ten other nobles from their tribes to study in Alexandria as well”, he explained and saw his liege nod at him.
“Good work Rastus. I just hope my son can survive with so many women after his hand and head”, Jagu sighed. His son needed to learn to deal with them sooner or later. They would only give up when he marries, or try to become a concubine instead.
“I think he will learn with time as did you my lord”, Rastus reassured his liege.
“I hope he does. I have a few scars which remind me how scary women can be if they want something badly”, Jagu said and traced his left arm with a finger. “I just hope he learns faster from his mistakes than I did.”
Both men planned how to proceed further with the elves. After an hour both parties sat again at the table, but this time without the eastern humans.
“We are willing to pay 50 percent more than the humans did”, the elves said and Jagu gestured to Rastus. His councillor gave him an envelope.
“You might want to read this first and then you can consider accepting our offer or not”, he said and threw the envelope to the elven side of the table.
The next minutes were quiet except for the discussion between the elves themselves. They seemed to be divided on how to proceed further. After 15 minutes they had reached an agreement and turned back to Jagu.
“We can’t accept just this as proof. Let some of us go back and verify those documents”, the elf said and really thought he could leave alive without signing a peace treaty.
“You won’t. If you decline a legion will march through Illyricum to the Tribes of Pannonia and raid Dacia. The Illyrians were more than willing to help us out after they ‘failed’ to stop a legion from the east passing through”, Jagu said and the diplomats paled again at the direct threat.
The diplomats again discussed under each other. This time fare shorter than before.
“We have reached the conclusion, that the peace offer is acceptable under the current circumstances. We would like to avoid further conflict”, he said and Jagu didn’t like his tone. There was a ‘but’ coming.
“But we would like in return for Neapoli to not interfere in the policies of the Tribes of Pannonia and to send a daughter of the queen to Alexandria to court your son”, he said.
“I have been informed by Niloticus who tried to kidnap my son. The daughter in question won’t be the one to go to Alexandria. Furthermore, 100 hundred of my guards will be garrisoned in Alexandria to protect my son”, Jagu accepted under those conditions.
“That is okay for the governor of Alexandria. As long as it is just one hundred men”, said the Egyptian envoy.
“We also accept the offer. It is nice to achieve peace with you Lord Jagu”, said the elf.
They worked out another peace treaty and signed it. The handshake afterwards was awkward for all involved parties. A contract with the governor was also made for the 100 guards. With those documents signed the war for Italia was over and peace between the east and Neapoli official.