"Father, I made this for you." the boy took a wooden carved lion from his pocket and extended it towards a man who sat on a throne. The faceless man took the lion and a fire appeared between him and the boy. He then threw the thing in the fire and got up from the throne.

"I thought I was raising a ruler, not a carpenter.Now get out of here, I have other matters to attend to." The boy did not move.

"Did you not hear me?I said move,boy."The fire died,and now the man stood in front of the child.Tears rand down on the boy's face.That angered the man.He grabbed the boy by his arm and dragged him out of the room.

"GET OUT, HELONES!" the man roared.

...........

"NO!" Helones roared back, as he got up from his bed, sweating.After he relaxed, he laughed in silence.After all this time he still feared the man.In his dreams he could even cast magic, like the sorcerers who wandered the courts of Arberia.

"My lord!" the door opened and Devoron entered the room, with a pale face and barely breathing. Helones gazed at him and chuckled.

"Just a fream Devoron. Even men fear nightmares.Go to sleep now." the thirteen year old boy bowed and closed the door.

It was early still, but Helones had no sleep. He got up and wore his clothes and left the manor house in silence. He found his horse awake too. He rode around the manor until the sun rose, and surveyed the land.The village itself was sorrounded by farmlands, but not even not a quarter of the land that was fertile was covered with wheat,vegetables or fruits.Many of the village houses were empty, because dozens of familes had left Ungrey because of the war. South of the village was a lake that stretched from miles. Helones could spot three fishing boats tied up to the shore.North of the manor stood the Giant's bite, a mountain range resembling sharp teeth. No mine was mentioned in the manor's ledger, but Helones hoped that ores could be found if miners were sent to dig there. A small river east of the village ran down from the mountain and filled the lake with fresh water.

He returned to the manor house after two hours of riding, and found the servants doing their usual jobs, such as cleaning and preparing food for breakfast. The previous day they had cleaned every inch of the house and had started to repait parts of it. The changes made the house look more pleasant and warm.

After having a bath, Helones sat along with Devoron and Lorren on the long table. Andrey, the cook, had prepared fresh bread, bacon, cheese and eggs, and the servants had brought ale to wash it down. After that came fruits and honey. 

"Tell me, Arin. Are all of these produced in Ungrey?" Helones asked the young man who served the food.

"Yes, my lord. Ungrey never had to import food from other regions. The fruits come from my parents farms, actually." said Arin.

"Well thank them on my behalf, Arin" said Helones as he drained his mug. The servants cleaned the table and left the hall.

"Now, Lorran, when are we excpecting the traders?"

"They should be here anytime, my lord. I sent the servants before breakfast was served."

"Good." said Helones. "After we finish our business with them, I will go see sheriff Ulfarn. We must not wait for the weapons and the armours to be ready before the levies start  training. We must also meet with the tanners of the village and pay them so they can start making leather armour."

Lorren was wrote the last matter to a parchment. He always kept a parchment and ink wherever he was.

"Alright, sire. I will go meet the tanners myself. I believe there are three tanners in the village, and they are good at what they do. The leather will be sent to Toran and his sons, so they can start as soon as he can.We should also hire some women to start making arrows and boywers to make bows" he wrote everything he said.

"Try not to overexert yourself, my friend. You are not young anymore"

Lorren frowned at what Helones said.

" I can assure you that I am capable of strangling a boar with my hands, sire. I don't believe that a little stroll would over exert me. As for the age , I am only two hundred and fourty. I may not be young but I am not old either." Helones laughed at the man's lack of modesty.

Before he could answer back, the door was opened and a servant came in. After him came four men. Two were young men while two looked middle aged. They came before Helones and bowed. The older merchant took another step.

"My liege"  he said with a deep voice "My name is Horan and I am the master of the Merchant Guild in Ungrey. I am sorry to say that only us remain in the village, for many other merchants left the manor two years ago."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He then presented the other merchants to Helones. The two young merchants were brothers.Helgen and Hirglas they were called. Their father was Horan. The other merchant was named Degram, Horan's cousin.

"The past two years have been harsh for us merchants to maintain our entreprise my lord. We do our best, but it's not enough. Half of the caravans that we send to other regions are raided by the very brigands that make the manor's forest their home. This means that we make only a small profit, or no profit at all. Your lordship was wise beyond measure to summon us today, for we wanted to come ourselves too, so we could congratulate you but also to address our problems" after this Horan fell in silence and waited for Helones to speak.

"I am aware of the bandit problem in our lands, Horan. Since I came yesterday , I've been making preparations so we can end the threat. In the meantime I want you and your sons to continue doing what you do best : to make this place prosper. I assume that you need funds to create new ties with other manors to boost the trade here. I will secure you those funds to build a guild's house for you and other merchants who want to make this village their base of operation."

Horan's face changed from worried to exalted within the second. He was a merchant after all, and the sound of coins being rubbed together was his anthem.

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you so much. I will not dissapoint you." he continued, bowing again. His sons looked relieved, and a small grin appeared on Degram's face.

"Now you must excuse me, good men. I have other matters to attend to. For everything you need, my advisor Lorren is here to help you." he left the house while the merchants followed Lorren in his study like hungry harpies.

Devoron prepared the horses and they rode toward the sheriff's quarters. Before they entered the courtyard, which was sorrounded by a small stone hall covered with moss, Helones heard men shouting and cursing. So Ulfarn has started to train them, he thought, as he entered the courtyard. There were at least 40 men training with wooden swords, sticks and small bows.

He spotted Ulfarn in the middle of the rabble, shouting at the villagers who could barely swing a wooden stick, or at others who could not fire an arrow properly. Helones approached him.

" Good morning, Ulfarn. I see you are very busy." he said, as he got off the horse and gave the reins to a villager. Devoron did the same.

"Good morning, sire. Or better say good day, since the sun is almost at its zenith. Yes, I have been training these piles of shits all morning...YOU BASTARD, GET UP AND PUT UP A FIGHT...and they seem promising so far my lord."

"Is this all we can muster, Ulfarn?" Helones asked, worried that this lot was everything they had against the bandits.

"This lot? No,no sire. These are the men who have never wielded a sword, or have barely wielded it. There are 25 men who have served for ser Venmont in the war, and I must say they are more than capable against the bandits. They will start training tomorrow and will help me train these idiots too. "

Helones gazed at the villagers again.

"Don't judge them, master Ulfarn. Most of them have not seen war before and it's only the first day for them. How many have you assembled today?"

Ulfarn took a look at the rabble and counted as fast as he could.

"About 50 my lord. Some of them don't live in the village,but in the outskirts or the farms around it. Some are sons of fishermen who live in the shores of the lake. I'm afraid I cannot assemble more, since many men have other jobs and sustain the manor and its people. Two years ago, I would have been able to gather at least a hundred levies, not including the men at arms and the knights." he finished.

"They will suffice, Ulfarn. I excpected less, but I underestimated the manor. What about knights?" Helones asked.

"There are two knights left here my lord, and each one has a squire. They are both attending a tourney in the town of Kolm. I sent a letter yesterday so they should be here in some days after the tourney ends."

"How many bowmen do we have Ulfarn?"

"In the courtyard there are 20 aspiring bowmen, and 10 others are professional ones. So all in all we need at least 30 new bows and two stacks of arrows for each one of the bowmen.The other men require swords, aces and spears, along with helmets, chainmail and leather."

"All will be given to them, Ulfarn. At this moment, Lorren is talking to all the artisans who produce weapons and armours. Tomorrow we will let them know the amount we need. For now your recruits must train hard. I intend to train with Devoron, if you wouldn't mind" It had been some days since the squire had not trained, because of the long journey.

Devoron and Helones drew their swords and started sparring. Of course, the knight was easy on the lad, but the latter had improved since he entered his service. Now he could fend off against his liege's attacks. The sparring went on for two hours. The sparring made the villagers train harder, for they wanted to impress their liege, and could not tolerate a thirteen year old boy fighting many times better than them. The training ended just before the sun set in the east. Helones and Devoron, who had sparred again after their first fight, went home tired.

"How do you feel about fighting the bandits, Dev? It will be your first time clashing swords with someone you will want dead"

Helones excpected to see Devoron get pale, or look worried at the least. But the boy did not even blink.

"I'm not sure, my lord. It will take some time before we attack, and I can learn some new things during that time. Therefore I think I can manage it" he did not say anything else.

...........................

"You look tired, my lord. You may be young, but you look older right now" Helones was too tired to deflect the irony, and only managed a smile.

"I did everything you asked me for my lord. I gave Horan and his men 20 gold coins to build a new Merchant's Guild house. Also I met some of the fishermen. They believe they are able to catch more fish if they had more boats. I gave them another 50 silver coins to buy new rods and boats in Kolm. They even told me they convinced some relatives to move here. I hope you are pleased, sire.I also sent some of my agents to pay some bards in other regions. They will spread the word about what we are trying to build here"

"Thank you for your service, Lorren. We surely need more folk here. I believe the money we have invested will pay off shortly. Tomorrow we must think about investing in some of the farms that are empty. We will pay the farmers a visit tomorrow. Good night, my friend" he yawned and headed for his room.

"Good night sire. Be careful at the stairs sire. You're not that young and can break..."

"Shut up, Lorren" His advisor's laugh continued until he entered his room.