Dawn came with me having slept very little. We had not seen hide nor hair of our errant travel companions. After a cold breakfast of some dried fruit, nuts, and jerky we set out towards Wolf Ridge Hold, my new home. We rode the horses a little faster than the day before since we really wanted to get there, so we would not be travelling for as long a time with the dead bodies.
We passed a few more villages and Lily provided a comment on her own accord, “These villages are almost as prosperous and productive as our hold, Milord.”
I frowned at that. Those villages looked poor and only housed fifty to a hundred people, if I had to take a guess. That they were as well off as my new home, made me irritated, sad, and a little worried for the future. I needed Hrothgar to buy a lot of serfs to come up with the levy or I would end up a serf myself. However, how was I going to support that many people, if my lands were that poor?
The ride continued mostly in silence. The mood became a bit depressed every time someone looked at the two horses carrying the bodies of Marv and Virgyl. It did not help that Kiril was obviously in pain. Alianna had done what she could, and she kept administering pain relief to him. However, she was not powerful enough to repair the fractured bone, which meant that every jostle of the horse ride sent pain through his body.
He would become my senior squad leader, but then again so would all of the soldiers. I had spent the night thinking about it. I would not be able to put any serf in a senior squad leader position, but I thought it was stupid that the smallest size group was thirteen men, and no junior squad leader to take over if the squad leader should fall.
Besides the squadron, I was to provide for the expeditionary forces, I would also need someone to protect my lands. Might not be enough to raise a full squadron for home protection. However, I would be able to provide some platoons for home protection.
Cresting the top of a hill, I saw that in the distance, there was a large lake and yet another village. I also noticed a river coming from the northwest, from the mountains we had been able to see for a long time, and one leading the water from the lake eastwards.
“That’s Minnecroft Lake, half of it is part of our domain, Milord,” Lily said. Continuously stressing the word our. “And the village down there’s Minnecroft. A few of our serfs have been mysteriously lost on the lake, despite it being a sunny day, with little wind.”
“I can hear the sarcasm in your voice. Clearly you think that the villagers in Minnecroft have something to do with it?” I said as we started down the road again.
“Milord, all of the lake and much of the land in our estate used to be managed by the village of Minnecroft. When the Reorganisation happened, they lost access to a lot of resources. It used to be a much wealthier village,” Lily explained.
“What—” I started asking.
However, Linus provided me with the explanation, “Milord, after the last war with the elves, a lot of land had been lost. Many of the border holdings were without any lands. To be fair and just, the priest of Gyzbohr ordered all holdings with lands to give up parts of their land to the landless holders.”
“And they’re pissed about that, even a hundred years later,” I concluded.
“Yes,” Lily muttered.
“I see,” I said. I pointed to the east heading river. “And the river denotes the border of our hold?”
“Yes, Milord. That’s the southern border, while the river feeding the lake is our western border,” Lily said. “The eastern border is a large creek in a forest, while the northern border is defined by how far we can go without being attacked by orcs.”
“Orcs?” I asked, more from surprise.
“Orc, Milord,” Linus provided. “Are barbarians nomads roaming the northern prairies and the mountains.”
“I know what an orc is,” I said quickly before Linus got a chance to launch into a long explanation.
“We’ve also been raided several times by the harpies,” Lily provided.
“Women with wings for arms?” I asked
Linus was the one who answered, “No, Milord. Harpies are one of the four species of elves. There are the dryads, harpies, sirens, and lampads.”
“Okay, I think I know what that means, but it’s better to ask for further explanation,” I said.
“Milord, the three elves you bought are classified as dryads. They make their home in the forests, are the most civilized and numerous of the elves as far as we know,” Linus explained. “The harpies usually nest in the taller mountains. They’re elves with large wings growing from their backs. They can be quite a problem to protect against.”
“I see, and we got a nest nearby?” I asked Lily.
“Not that we know off,” was her answer.
“Milord, it might not be the case. The elves use the harpies to raid our villages away from the front,” Linus added. Seeing that I had no further questions, he continued with his explanation. “The sirens are elves that live at sea. They got massive fleets and sail the unknown oceans. We don’t fight a lot with them since only a couple of the Kingdoms are connected to the oceans. At least since the Reorganization. The lampads are the worst though. They are nomads that travel inhospitable places that would kill any other mortal. Yet they survive. They’re the most dangerous of the elves in a fight, but there are few of them thankfully.”
“Thanks, I guess every little bit of information helps. Just hope I can remember it when it becomes relevant,” I said with a smile before we lapsed into silence again. As we followed the road, little more than a wagon trail, we passed close by Minnecroft and I noticed that there were only a few fields, but a lot of boats on the lake.
A few people stared curiously, guardedly so, in our direction as we passed by the village. The road led us within ten metres of the edge of the village. I decided not to bother with them just yet. I needed to get to my new home and find out the situation there. The river heading east was not small. It had to be at least ten metres across and looked pretty deep. On the other side of the river, it looked to be mostly forest.
Its width was spanned by an old, but solid, looking stone bridge, guarded by what looked to be a platoon of soldiers. Half the platoon was relaxing around what looked to be a temporary camp, while the other half was staring across the river. Some of them were mounted, but mostly they were on foot. The soldiers were dressed in faded red uniforms that looked a lot like the ones the Unifiers had worn, not the more snug ones I had my linteomancers produce. They all sported stripes down their sleeves in the burnished orange of King Alfred.
As they spotted us, five men rode out a dozen metres as if to meet us. They were led by a man, not in uniform, but wearing a polished dark hard boiled leather armour that gleamed in the sun. He was wearing a crimson cloak and looked to be the poster child for what the humans in this world would consider perfection. He was also tall, almost as tall as me and when I looked at him, my instincts just screamed “dangerous”.
“Ho there, have a moment to talk, neighbour?” the man called out as we were approaching, still twenty metres away. I beckoned the others to stop.
“That’s Lord Erthal’s son, third in line,” Lily whispered. I whispered a “thank you” and rode over to meet the guy. Seeing I rode forward alone, he did the same, and we seemed both to be the cautious sort, since we stopped just out of sabre reach.
“Hello, that was quite the guess on who I am,” I said.
“Excuse me?”
“You called me neighbour, I’m the new Lord of Wolf Ridge Estate and my lovely wife informed me that you’re the son of Erthal, though she didn’t mention your name,” I said in a relaxed manner, though my eyes darted over the soldiers. The ones that had been relaxing had all stood up, and while they were not posturing, they seemed cautious. I also noticed that only the lord’s son had a musket, the others were armed with bows, spears and shields.
The crimson cloaked man looked around me to take in the rest of my party, and I saw recognition in his eyes. He returned his attention to me, his eyes narrowed. “The name is Theo, and I’m indeed the son of Erthal. I recognize your wife, which makes you one of the summoned. Please tell me that the creep steward is not coming back.”
“Unfortunately, I’ve been ordered to retain him, though the steward might find himself shovelling dung,” I said with a frown.
Theo gave a slight smile. “I’d pay good coin to see that.”
His eyes narrowed again though. “What about the Golden Northmen?”
“They’ll be leaving as soon as their commander arrives, I’ve not retained their services,” I said with a bit of anger in my voice.
“Good.”
“Trouble?”
“Yes, only three days ago armed men on horseback raided Minnecroft and a couple of other villages. Not for coins or foodstuff, but for women,” Theo said, frowning even harder. “They rode over the bridge and we cannot follow. One of them was killed though, and in his saddlebags, we found one of the cloaks belonging to the mercenary company.”
“I’m sorry to hear about that,” I said cautiously. “Just became the lord, and I’ve not had a chance to take over the holding.”
“If that’s all the men you got, you might have trouble getting them off your land,” Theo observed.
“You’re not wrong, but how about I invite you to join me, and we’ll see if we can find your missing people,” I said.
“I would like that, but let me send a man to get my other platoon who guards the ford a few kilometres further down.” He gestured to one of the men who was nearby, close enough to hear what we said. The man saluted and rode off in an eastward direction.
“Sounds good, then the good commander might catch up with us,” I said. “Unless lady luck is with us, and he perished in a bandit ambush.”
“Bandits?” Theo looked confused. “And Retar is the God, not the Goddess, of Luck.”
“Oh, sorry. Don’t know every deity yet, where I am from, we associate luck with a Goddess, I guess. No name, just Lady Luck,” I said. “And yes bandits. There were some lying in ambush back in the forest, which is why two of my men are dead.”
“Not good, we’ll have to tamp out those outlaws when my father comes back.”
“You should be careful, they had four brand new muskets from what I saw. We recovered three of them though,” I said.
“Troubling,” he muttered. He then swept a gesture towards the camp. “Do come join us, while we wait for the other platoon to get there.”
“We accept,” I said and followed him as he turned his horse around. “One thing though, you never answered how you knew I was your neighbour.”
“Oh, I can’t exactly call someone I just met for a friend, without knowing their intention. Neighbour implies that I don’t have any hostile intentions towards you, not necessarily that I’m a friend though. It’s neutral,” he said with a shrug of his shoulder.
“I guess that makes sense,” I replied and followed him to the camp. There was not a lot of talking going on, just some small talk between me and Theo. Nothing of consequence. I did learn he was the youngest of eleven kids, at just nineteen cycles, meaning he was around twenty-three years old. His father had a wife and a couple of recognized concubines. None in the main branch of his family had manifested magic, or powers as they preferred to call it. Another interesting tidbit I learned was that he would be joining the expeditionary force in roughly two moons, the same one I was going on.
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Theo also turned out to be a product of what passed for humanity. While not openly hostile to Hope who was hovering around Lily, or to Saori who magicked cold fresh water for us, he was still disapproving of them.
After thirty minutes the two men returned with another platoon of soldiers.
“So I see two ways of doing this,” I said to Theo as we watched the approaching soldiers. “We either wait for the miscreant’s boss and take him into custody. Disarming him and his men, and then go and remove the pest from my land.”
“I’m not much of a fan of waiting, we had sent a rider to my father hoping he could do something, but now that I’ve your permission to enter your land and retrieve the freemen and serfs, I would prefer to do that before they can be hurt more,” he replied with a frown.
“Which would be my next suggestion. I’m just worried about being outnumbered. Twelve platoons against two and less than a half,” I said. “But I like taking risks.”
“It makes life worth living, right?” he asked with a half-grin, which I returned.
“Mount up, we’re heading out,” I ordered loudly, and a second later Theo echoed that order. After crossing the river, we followed the road along the river.
“Why haven’t the forest there been cut down, to make room for more fields?” I asked with a frown.
It was Theo who answered, instead of Lily, “Those woods belong to the High Lord, for his hunting excursions.”
“How long since he last hunted there?” I asked and turned to look at Lily. She shrugged her shoulders, indicating she did not know. We rode on in silence, and after an hour we came to the ruins of a village on the shore of the lake. Even from afar I could see only the docks were the only thing maintained. A few boats were tied up at the docks, and I saw a single boat out fishing. The boats were large rowboats at best, no mast or sails.
The terrain had also started becoming hilly, and I saw little sign of cultivation. An hour after we rode past the ruined village, I saw the first fields starting to appear. However, since it was too early for sowing, the cusps of winter just leaving, there was little splendour to watch.
In the distance, I saw a large house, surrounded by smaller huts. It was sitting halfway up a very large hill. On top of the hill, there was an old windmill. What made me frown, was the large permanent tent camp nearby. It looked like a prime spot for having fields, and it had been turned into a large tent camp. The idiocy knew no bounds.
“Wolf Ridge Hall,” Theo said pointing at the large wooden house. It reminded me mostly of a viking longhouse or something like that. “Still can’t believe what has been allowed to happen to my family’s old lands.”
“Oh?” I asked. Sharing his sentiment that this was a shithole. It was evident in his voice and tone.
“The lowlands which have been reclaimed by the forest used to be the primary fields of Minnecroft, the Hall was home of another village that took care of our herd of sheep and goats, and the road was well-travelled, with traders streaming to Thagh Darom, or to Wolf Ridge.”
“I thought that was Wolf Ridge,” I said pointing to the hall.
“No, that’s just the old name. Wolf Ridge was originally on the other side of the mountains, but all that land was conquered by the elves,” Theo explained. “Let’s head for the encampment and take care of these scumbags.”
“Kiril, stay with the bodies,” I ordered. He looked like he was about to complain, so I added, “You’re wounded. You won’t do us much good if it comes to a fight. What you can do is keep a watch. We don’t know whether every mercenary is in the camp, nor if their commander and my steward are approaching.”
“Yes, Milord,” he reluctantly said. I ordered the other serfs to stay with Kiril but reluctantly agreed with Theo and Linus’ suggestion to take Lily with me. She was the symbol of my claim to power, and where Lily went, Hope went. Though Theo tried to protest.
“I know it’s unorthodox, but she’s a nine rating ignimancer. A bit of flamed soldier is a good deterrent,” I said. “Prepare muskets.”
It was something that the Unifiers did well, and which I had tried but failed to replicate so far. Their left stirrup was slightly modified to allow it to support the butt of the musket, which enabled them to reload while in the saddle. One of them, Caspar had loaded mine before he loaded his own.
“I suggest my men take the perimeter, the musket is more effective at range,” I said to Theo who was also sporting a loaded musket, as we started approaching.
“Agreed, though take two of them with you. Muskets are quite the deterrent up close as well,” he said. I indicated that Caspar and another soldier should join me. Theo then ordered one of his platoons to ready their bows, and ride the perimeter together with the rest of my men.
As we came closer, we saw that a few men had spotted us, but there did not seem to be any form of an alarm being raised. On a sign from Theo, the perimeter guards broke off at a fast pace, starting to circling the camp, while his other platoon drew sabres and picked up pace as well.
The camp was dirty and smelly was the first thing I noticed as we rode in. It also seemed smaller than I would expect of a place that needed to house 350 plus soldiers. Their horses were on the northside of the camp, small trenches defined the camp’s perimeter.
Only a couple dozen soldiers were out and about, and none of them had drawn their weapon as we galloped into camp. Theo shouted, “The new lord of Wolf Ridge demands that you stand down and assemble!”
When we reached the centre of the camp, Theo stopped his horse, signalling for his men to spread out, while my two soldiers stayed next to us. Their musket at the ready. We had already discussed a bit about what was likely going to happen, so I rode a few steps forward and called out in a loud voice, “The Golden Northmen are on my lands, and thus subject to my rule. These men are looking for women, kidnapped from nearby villages. Bring them out now, and your sentence might be lenient. Resist, and you might not live to see your sentence. Go for a weapon, and you die.”
“Who the fuck are you? Where’s Lord Vernon? I only see his whore,” one of the visible soldiers shouted. More of them were starting to appear, but none of them were carrying weapons. Theo’s troops used their sabres to deter the mercenaries from picking any up.
I moved my horse closer to the offensive soldier. “That’s my wife you’re talking about.”
He looked like he was about to say something else, but the butt of my musket caught him straight in the face. A soldier nearby tried to draw his sword but was unable thanks to my magic.
“I’m Lord Karth, the new lord of Wolf Ridge, you’ll lay down on your stomach and wait while these men look for the kidnapped women.”
One of the other soldiers growled, “Fuck—”
That’s as far as he got before my musket ball hit him in the heart. There was total silence as I slipped the musket back in its holder. Calmly, but loudly, I said, “Do as I say, or die.”
They did as they were ordered, but not without a lot of grumbling. “Bastard killed Kenny.”
“Didn’t even aim the musket,” another one whispered.
Theo’s men worked on disarming and collecting every weapon. As they searched the tents, more men were brought out to lie in the filth. I was pretty sure it was not only mud filling the camp, at least if the stench was anything to go by,
There was a short scuffle from the second biggest tent, accompanied by women screaming. Before we could get there, Theo’s men dragged the body of two soldiers out. They were followed by a group of women, whose dresses were in various states of disrepair.
Linus said to me, “Milord, you should get the Recorder and the Justicar.”
“Huh?” was my intelligent reply.
“Every hold has a priest of Gyzbohr and one of Ghidana,” he said as if that made everything clear to me. I reckoned the Justicar was part of their legal process. Whether a judge or a cool sounding cop, I could not say.
“Go get them then.”
“Milord, a request should be delivered by a lord.”
I sighed. “It’s is, through my intermediary. Take Lily and Hope with you. If they complain, then tell them I’ll just start executing people.”
“Milord,” he said defeated. He looked like he wanted to chastise me, but then took a look around the camp and seemed to get why I did not want to leave. Though there did not look to be over three hundred soldiers there were close to two hundred mercenaries lying on their stomach.
After he rode off with Lily and Hope, I moved over to one of the soldiers, the horse carefully moving around trying not to stomp on anyone’s skull. “You, where’s the rest of your soldiers.”
“Fuck you.”
“You saw what happened to the last one that said that to me,” I said calmly. “Only thing is I did not reload my musket. So I would have to cut pieces off you slowly with this sabre. Where would you like me to start? Fingers or toe?”
“You wouldn’t dare!” he stammered.
“I’m new to this world. I don’t care about your rules or decorum,” I said with a shrug and dismounted.
“They’re riding with the commander!” he screamed as soon as my boots landed next to him.
“I already know that, but it’s only a platoon. I don’t see twelve platoons here,” I observed.
“I swear it’s everyone, we’re understrength, a little less than ten platoons if we form up like that,” the man explained.
I frowned at hearing that. “Taken a lot of casualties?”
“No, we started out with only seven platoons,” the very talkative soldier explained.
“Yet you were paid as if you were a full squadron?” I speculated.
“Don’t know nothing about that, I swear. Please don’t cut me to pieces,” the soldier trembled.
“As a reward for being so cooperative, you can sit up,” I said magnanimously. I went to the other side of the camp and questioned a few more people. Got answers to the same effect without having to hurt someone too much.
Linus, Lily, and Hope came riding back, slowly, because there were a lot of people following them. Out front, there was a young haughty looking man in what I came to recognize as priestly garbs, while an older bald man, in black robes, walked sedately a step behind him. Following them, there were at least a dozen women, all carrying a load of something. Their cargo looked mostly like garments, but a couple of them were carrying baskets of something.
The haughty priest demanded, “What’s the meaning of this? Who gave permission for this?”
“Who’s the windbag?” I asked Linus.
“Don’t you talk—” the priest started.
I crossed the distance between us in two steps, and growled at him, “Shut it, or I’ll have you banished. I’m the Lord of this land, you don’t make demands of me.”
“I—”
“Don’t have permission to talk,” I finished for him, pulling a dagger to emphasize my point.
“Milord, this is Latimer, the priest of Gyzbohr and the local Justicar,” Linus said, trying to defuse the situation.
“And what use is he to me?” I asked, staring directly at the priest, who was looking nervously at the knife. He looked like he was about to say something but wisely kept his mouth shut. I saw Lily leading her flock of women over to those that had been held captive.
“He can pass judgement on these people.”
“What’s the punishment for defrauding the holding? Say charging for a full squadron, while only supplying nine to ten platoons?” I asked.
“Erhm, what evidence do you have?” the priest said slowly.
I pointed to the men I had questioned, “They admitted to it.”
“No actual evidence. I dismiss the case with prejudice,” the priest quickly said.
I narrowed my eyes. “So if I killed you in front of witnesses, there would be no case, since witnesses don’t count?”
“You can’t!” he squeaked, looking at the dagger that was slowly getting closer to him.
“Milord!” Linus hissed.
Even Theo chimed in, “Not a good idea, Karth.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “Get out of my sight, next time I see you, you better have a good reason to allow you to stay on my land.”
“You can’t—” he started, but was interrupted when Linus forced his horse in between the priest and me.
Linus glowered down at the priest. “The Lord of this hold dismissed you.”
The priest huffed a few more times, before walking away. I turned to the older man in black robes, who had a pleasant smile on his face. He had it the entire time, no fluctuation whatsoever.
“And who might you be?” I asked as I sheathed the dagger. I noticed for the first time he was carrying a large wooden box on his back. I wondered what was in there.
“Milord, the name is Hugo, I’m the Recorder of your new hold,” the man said with a small bow.
“Sorry, but that means nothing to me,” I admitted.
“I’m a cleric of Ghidana, the Goddess of Truth,” Hugo explained. “We’re unable to lie and our Goddess allows us to ascertain the truth. So we’re used to interviewing witnesses and suspects. I’m also the Recorder of your hold. That means I keep the books and ensure that all taxes to the King and High Lord are paid.”
“Not to the Church?” I asked.
“I’m employed by the King, Milord,” he said. There was something more going on there, he might not be able to lie, but he sounded like he omitted something. However, it would have to wait for another time.
“So you’ve seen how much has been paid to these mercenaries?”
“Yes, Milord. Three hundred gold is the receipt I was shown, for hiring a squadron of men for one moon,” he said.
“They’re clearly not one squadron,” I said.
“A point I raised with the Steward, but the King doesn’t care about mismanaging funds as long his taxes are paid.”
“I see. We’ll sit down going over the books as soon as I’m settled,” I said. “Can you record the interviews of the women who were kidnapped and some of the soldiers before we allow Theo to take them home?”
“Certainly, Milord,” he said and proceeded to set down the wooden box. It turned out to be a low foldable chair and transportable writing desk. I assigned Caspar to take care of bringing the witnesses to him.
I approached Lily, who had remained seated on her horse the entire time. I had noticed a few of the kidnapped women thanking her. With a smile, I said, “It was a good thing you did.”
“Someone had to think about the women,” she said. Then in a low voice, she added, “Why do you antagonize the priest? You’ll just make things worse.”
“How?” I asked, little taken aback by her accusation. It was more brazen than I had heard from her.
“The hold, and thus you, owe the Church tithe for almost fifty thousand marks. He might confiscate things, and we have very little,” she explained. I had forgotten about the debt. Fuckers had gotten me really good this way.
“Fuck them, let them try,” I spat.
“Karth, you’re being stupid,” she said while turning her horse around. Without another word, she rode towards the Hall. I stood there staring after her. I knew she was right, but they just rubbed me the wrong way and I was so used to only looking out for numero uno. However, the situation I was in, would require me to look after a lot of other people, to be able to look out for myself.
Maybe it was time to stop railing against everyone, and start playing by their rules. Or maybe just some of them. I would really need to see the books before I could make any decision.
Suddenly I heard Kiril shouting, “Riders approaching.”
Looking over I could see it was a platoon sized group that had come into view, and the way the sun reflected in the golden cloaks, I was pretty sure that they were the rest of the mercenaries, their commander and my steward.
“Looks like they’re finally here,” I called out to Theo.
“Finally, I want the bastard who’s responsible for this,” he growled and then ordered his men to form up.