Marak yearned to get outside and get some exercise, but he continued poring over the pile of reports dealing with the condition of the Fardale estate. Crop yields had continued a steady decline since the first harvest and he found notations that indicated perhaps the soil was unsuitable for the crops being grown. If Lord Lashendo had succeeded in obtaining the Sitari Valley, it would only have forestalled the inevitable decline of Fardale. It was possible that Lord Lashendo and Bursar Tachora knew what would happen and were planning for their own financial future when the time came to abandon Fardale.
Marak sorted through the stack of papers and withdrew the sheets that dealt with the neighboring estates. Fardale had a border with three other Clans, as well as the Chula. The Sorgan Clan was much larger than Fardale but, unlike the Situ, Watula Valley was their only estate. The Sorgan had occupied the Watula Valley for as long as there had been records of estate holdings and their crops were the same type grown in Fardale. Marak assumed that Lord Ridak had chosen Fardale for a new estate because of the financial successes enjoyed by the Sorgan Clan. While Sorgan power and influence was small in Khadora, their financial strength was enviable. The Situ Clan used to be a large purchaser of the watula grown by the Sorgan Clan, but the establishment of Fardale ended that trade. Lord Quavry was incensed by the Situ invasion of his sphere of influence and had tried to undermine Situ attempts to market their watula. Marak made a notation to contact Lord Quavry to see about bettering relations and obtaining help in determining the best crop for Fardale. If the reports about the soil being unsuited for the growing of watula were correct, Marak knew that a different crop may well thrive there.
The Litari Clan and their Glendale estate not only borders Fardale, it also shares borders with Marak’s other two Khadoran neighbors, the Sorgan Clan and the Ragatha Clan. Glendale was the only estate of the Litari Clan and Lord Burdine was an old and established force in the lumber industry. Lord Burdine’s holdings were vast and it was through Litari territory that the road to Forest Deep would have to travel. There were no notations about relations between the Litari and the Sorgan and nothing to indicate that Lord Burdine had any problems with the Situ’s activities in Fardale.
There were notations about Lord Burdine’s feelings about the Ragatha Clan, though. The Ragatha Clan had widespread estates and Woodville was the one that dealt in wood products. The Ragatha Clan tried to use their might to expand Woodville into Glendale territory and Lord Burdine had surprised them with the ruggedness of his response. The Litari not only responded with their army, but the lumbermen also took up arms to help push the Ragatha back into Woodville. There were only three ways into Woodville and one of them crossed Litari land. The second path led through Chula country and Lord Zawbry was not fool enough to attempt that journey. After his failed attempt to grab Litari land, Lord Zawbry negotiated an agreement to allow Ragatha transit through Fardale.
Marak rustled papers until he found a copy of the agreement. He read it thoroughly and could not believe that Lord Ridak would accept such an agreement. There was no consideration specified for the use of Fardale lands by the Ragatha Clan. While the consideration could be small, he knew Lord Ridak would not execute such an agreement without some consideration. Marak made a note to see if Lord Lashendo had been remunerated separately for the use of the land.
“Lord Marak,” interrupted Bursar Tachora, “may I have a moment of your time?”
The sudden noise startled Marak and he realized he had been too engrossed in the reports. He shuffled the papers to one side and folded his hands on the desk before responding.
“Bursar Tachora,” greeted Lord Marak. “Of course, come in.”
“Lord Marak, I understand you have reassigned my assistant, Kasa, to your personal service,” opened the Bursar. “May I inquire why?”
Marak sensed the concern, almost fear, in the Bursar’s voice. “Certainly, Bursar Tachora,” smiled Marak. “She is a very beautiful woman, isn’t she? I am sure you are aware of how Lord Ridak feels about women dealing with financial matters and I have some pressing needs for her.”
Marak could almost feel the wave of relief that washed over the Bursar. Tachora’s face took on a lecherous grin and he nodded. Tachora’s eyes swept over the desk and sweat started to appear on his forehead. Marak’s eyes flicked to the pile of papers and saw the Ragatha agreement on the top of the pile.
“You should not be wasting your time indoors, My Lord,” wheezed Tachora. “Why don’t I take that pile of papers and prepare a summary for your perusal?”
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” smiled Marak. “At least the part about getting outdoors. As for the papers, leave them. I must become familiar with the Fardale estate and they will help me.”
“But, surely,” fretted the Bursar, “you will not be able to fathom such large mounds of facts. I have a great deal of experience in taking such large quantities of information and presenting them in a concise form. This would free up a great deal of your time to get better acquainted with your people.”
“You are most kind, Bursar Tachora,” stated Lord Marak, “but I find it interesting to plow through these mundane reports. You will require time to make up for the loss of your assistant and you will be too busy, as it is. No, I will go through the reports myself and that settles this discussion.”
Tachora patted his forehead with a handkerchief as he nodded and backed out of the study. Marak scribbled another note after his last. It reminded him to check out whether Tachora might have also have profited from the Ragatha agreement. Lord Marak rang a bell and a soldier appeared.
“No one is to enter my study when I am not here,” Marak instructed the guard. “Not for any reason.”
The guard saluted and Marak strode to the Meeting Chamber. The room was already full of slaves and Marak saw Kasa conversing with Seneschal Pito at the far end. The slaves were all standing around the room and all of the chairs were unoccupied, but the crowd opened wide to allow the Lord to pass through.
“The Seneschal and I were just pondering the pitfalls of eliminating slavery,” Kasa informed Lord Marak.
“I am not eliminating slavery,” corrected Lord Marak. “I am freeing these slaves. There is a difference. Slavery can be a useful tool as a deterrent to crime, but these people have done nothing to me to deserve slavery. I personally abhor the very idea of slavery and I will not stand for the foul treatment and living conditions that have been considered normal until now, but I will continue a policy of using slavery as a punishment until I can come up with a better idea.”
Marak turned and faced his anxious audience. The slaves had been instructed to attend the meeting without being told the purpose of it.
“Slaves of Fardale,” Lord Marak addressed, “by now you should all be aware that your homes are being repaired. You will inhabit barracks until the homes are ready for your use. The work has already begun and will continue until each of you has a decent place to live. You may have heard that I am organizing a Council of Advisors and that there was to be a seat on that Council for a slave representative. That has changed. There will be no representative for the slaves because Fardale does not have any slaves. As of now, you are all free men. Whatever infraction cost you your freedom is forgiven, but I would hope that you remember it well. Slavery is not abolished in Fardale and it will still be used as a punishment.”
Marak glanced around at the joyful faces, which were all trained on him. “Those of you with guild skills,” continued Lord Marak, “may apply for positions with the appropriate Guild Master. The rest can apply to the Seneschal for employment opportunities. Each of you has sworn Vows of Service to me and the Vows will not be forgotten. The slave quarters that you have lived in will be repaired or rebuilt and the living conditions will be brought up to the standard of other free men. You are all welcome to volunteer your free hours to help that effort, as is true for every person in Fardale. I hope that your freedom will spur your efforts into making Fardale successful and a model to the rest of Khadora. I would love to show Khadora that our society can live without enslaving people to do our work. A lot of that success rests on your shoulders. You have the choice between using your talents to better Fardale or returning to slavery. For both our sakes, make the wise decision, be productive. Are there any questions?”
One young male slave raised his hand and was recognized by Lord Marak. “Will we be allowed to enter the Army?” he asked.
“As of now, you are no different than any other member of Fardale,” smiled Marak. “You may apply for any position you wish.”
The former slaves grinned and hugged each other. Many tried to reach out and touch Lord Marak as he moved to exit the Meeting Chamber. Kasa followed after Marak and Seneschal Pito just stood and shook his head.
Marak walked out the door of the mansion and basked in the sunshine. Kasa came up alongside him as he surveyed the work on the slave shacks.
“I see that work as begun already,” Marak remarked. “Do you think Seneschal Pito will try to fight my edicts?”
“No,” answered Kasa. “He may think that you are young and inexperienced, but he will follow your directions. Actually, I think he was bothered more by abolishing the institution of slavery than the actual freeing of Fardale’s slaves. You may have eased his mind somewhat with your remarks.”
“Do you think he was involved with Tachora in any financial matters?” quizzed Marak.
“I don’t think so,” commented Kasa. “He is old and steadfast in his ways, but he is not ambitious. He will try to do the best job he can, but I think it is time to find him an assistant.”
Marak nodded as he watched men repairing a roof on one of the newer slave shacks. “What do you know about the Ragatha agreement?” queried Lord Marak.
“Not much,” admitted Kasa. “Lord Lashendo had Tachora draw that up personally. I know it gives the right of passage through our lands to Lord Zawbry, but not much else.”
“I want a list of anything that Tachora did personally for the last two years,” ordered Marak. “I think that is the key to the pattern of siphoning off money from the estate. See what you can find.”
Without waiting for a reply, Marak stripped off his wide belt and laid it on the porch. Next, he added his shirt to the pile and strode off across the courtyard towards the workers. The workers paused momentarily as Marak picked up a hammer and a handful of nails and pulled his way up the ladder to the roof of the shack. Marak grabbed a plank and began nailing it in place. The other workers looked at each other in concern as if the Lord was showing them the proper way of doing their job. Marak looked over at them and smiled.
“You looked like you could use a hand,” he grinned. “There will be many volunteers to help you with the shacks and you should not have to worry about their station when they are up here with you.”
The other workers smiled back and returned to their tasks. Several soldiers saw Marak’s half naked form on the roof and soon a dozen of them were helping on the other shacks. Unoccupied guild workers soon joined in and within an hour there were more workers than jobs. Marak took a break and ordered a barrel of ale and some food brought out for the volunteer workers.
Over the next few weeks, the reconstruction party became a daily event with Marak always managing to get at least an hour in on the work. There were always enough workers and the building continued at a rapid pace. Friendships between people of the Fardale estate who would not normally come into contact with each other flourished and Fardale developed into more of a large, extended family than an estate ruled by a Clan Lord.
* * *
Lord Quavry sat at the head of the table in his Meeting Chamber while his guest was shown in. The Sorgan Lord was surprised by the meeting request and was curious what had brought about the visit.
“Lord Quavry,” the visitor began, “I thank you for agreeing to see me. I have information that can be mutually profitable, but I am a bit hesitant to begin.”
“You think that I may speak of this meeting to those whom you would rather not know?” surmised Lord Quavry.
“That and other things,” the visitor confirmed. “I must ask that this meeting and any others that may come out of it be kept in the strictest confidence,” demanded the visitor. “Further, if you do receive gain with the information I have for you, you will entitle me to fair recompense.”
“Done and done,” agreed Lord Quavry quickly. “What possible information can a Situ have that will aid my coffers?”
“Information on your new neighbor, Lord Quavry,” the visitor smiled. “Information on how he can be easily conquered.”
“I think it wise to bring my Marshal into these talks, then,” declared Lord Quavry as he signaled for a runner.
The Lord and his visitor waited in silence until Marshal Yenga arrived and took a seat. “Our visitor is here in confidence,” explained Lord Quavry. “He has information about our new neighbors. I thought you should hear what is said.”
Marshal Yenga was a tall, muscular man, not yet starting to gray. His firm body belied his mature years and his stony face stared at the visitor with interest. “I shall listen in confidence,” the Marshal declared.
“Very well,” the visitor responded. “I am not aware of the information you have on the new Situ Lord of Fardale, so some of what I have to say may be repetitious. Lord Marak is young and inexperienced. At Lituk Valley he was a Cortain, as you were probably aware. This is strange enough, but you should also be aware that he was only Cortain for a day before being made Lord of Fardale. My point is that the new Lord has little or no experience in managing anything more than a Squad.”
The visitor waited for a response, but all he got were two blank stares and so he continued. “His very first act was to ordain a Council of Advisors to be composed of common people. A very sure sign that he does not know what to do. Even laborers and slaves would be represented on this Council.”
The visitor was getting frustrated by the lack of expression from his Sorgan host, but quickly suppressed his desire to leave the meeting. “As you know, Lord Lashendo ran into some problems with his Chula neighbors. He was trying to expand into the Sitari Valley and the Chula were not cooperating. Unfortunately, his guards were not adequate and he was murdered in his sleep. Normally, the new Situ Lord would make his first priority to crush the Chula who dared to attack Fardale. The new Lord, however, crawled to the barbarians and promised not to go near Sitari Valley as long as the Chula would spare Fardale.”
“Anyone who takes the word of a barbarian is a fool,” spat Lord Quavry.
The visitor smiled and continued. “Lord Marak has shown that he is a fool in many ways, Lord Quavry. His next act was to house the slaves in the barracks and demand that they have new houses built for them. Lately, he has even freed those slaves and is paying them for the same work he was getting for free. He also allowed the Fardale Army to choose its new leaders without his own input.”
“If the Lord does not select his own officers,” interjected Marshal Yenga, “he can end up with officers which the men like, but don’t have the necessary skills to lead their men.”
“How does all of this help the Sorgan?” Lord Quavry asked impatiently.
“Lord Marak will lose control of Fardale if this season’s crop is not sufficient to fulfill the contracts which Lord Lashendo negotiated,” grinned the visitor. “His people are busy working on new shacks for the slaves. He has given up the option of using Sitari Valley and his army is incapable of defending itself. Doesn’t this suggest a likely course of action to you, Lord Quavry?”
“Surely, Lord Ridak would just appoint another Lord,” suggested Lord Quavry. “We do not wish a war with the entire Situ Clan.”
“One would think that if Lord Ridak had an available Lord he could trust,” chuckled the visitor, “he would have already sent him. I think Lord Ridak is ready to write Fardale off. The profits have been minimal and his aggravation has been great. I believe he wants a ready excuse as to why the contracts were not fulfilled. Why else would he send a young son of a slave to be Lord of Fardale?”
“Lord Marak is the son of a slave?” quipped Lord Quavry. “I thought he might be Lord Ridak’s son. That was the only reason I could see one so young given the reins of an estate.”
“Certainly, he is not Lord Ridak’s son,” assured the visitor. “He is a young, inexperienced Squad Leader that doesn’t have a clue as to how to run an estate.”
“His selection as Lord of Fardale certainly does not speak well for Lord Ridak’s management,” summarized Lord Quavry, “but how does any of this information help the Sorgan Clan?”
“It is no secret that you would prefer that the Situ abandon Fardale,” shrugged the visitor. “Use the excuse of an untrained Lord to force them out. Cut off his accessibility from Lituk Valley and he will have no one to turn to for help. You could claim that he violated your border and your only course of action would be war.”
“So you want the Sorgan to wipe out Fardale,” pondered Lord Quavry. “Why? What is in this for you?”
“I have been a loyal Situ for all of life,” claimed the visitor, “but I cannot stomach what is being done in Fardale. When you attack Fardale, I, of course, will be taken captive. As is traditional, captives in a war must give Vows of Service to the conquering Lord. These new Vows legally cancel all other Vows of Service. I would become a loyal Sorgan Clan member and one who is already familiar with Fardale. I would make an excellent Lord of Fardale and administer it for the Sorgan Clan.”
“Very ambitious,” remarked Lord Quavry, “but it would appear that all of the risk would be mine. What are you prepared to do to earn your Title?”
“I will do what I must to ensure success,” answered the visitor, “short of getting myself killed, that is. The Title would mean little to a dead man. We shall both assume some risk and reap appropriate rewards. Your risk may be greater, but your reward will also be much greater.”
Lord Quavry looked to his Marshal for some sign of approval or disapproval. “Cutting off his communications with Lituk Valley would be child’s play,” Marshal Yenga commented. “If this Lord Marak is as unskilled as we have heard, our Army will have no problems defeating them. We outnumber them and we will have the element of surprise on our side.”
“So, it can be done if we decide to,” remarked Lord Quavry to the visitor. “Perhaps we will think on it and get back to you. How can you be reached?”
The visitor gritted his teeth and tried to smile at the same time. The result was humorous. “That depends on when you want to get back to me,” the visitor answered stiffly. “If you want to get back to me sometime today, you will find me with Lord Burdine discussing this matter with the Litari Clan. Perhaps they have a greater desire to expand.”
Lord Quavry’s face burned red with anger and he slammed his fist on the table. “Do not toy with me!” he exclaimed. “I gave my word to keep this meeting secret, but I can cut your throat before you leave here and I am sure that no one would know where to look for your missing body. You have made one thing very clear to me. If we decide to go ahead with this plan, I will require you to get one of my people on Lord Marak’s staff. If nothing else, he will be able to keep an eye on you.”
“It will be impossible to get one of your people on Marak’s staff,” declared the visitor. “Marak demands that every person on the estate swear the Vows of Service directly to him.”
“And what of it?” countered Lord Quavry. “Whoever swears Vows to Lord Marak will be swearing them to me again in a matter of months. It will only be a minor inconvenience to whomever I choose. I am also going to need solid intelligence on this Lord Marak’s every move. See that it happens right away.”
“Does this mean you are prepared to go forth with my plan?” pushed the visitor.
“There is a field in Fardale that is close to my border,” detailed Lord Quavry. “The soil is so poor that Lord Lashendo gave up cultivating it. Find some way to ensure that Lord Marak seeds it and I will claim a border infraction. I will have papers already in the capital to lodge a protest with the Council the moment he sends workers out there. Of course, we will not be able to wait for a Council Mediator to arrive, but that will be understandable. Lord Marak will not have filed any papers and we will prove, after the war, that he transgressed our border and we had to defend it.”
The visitor smiled as he nodded. Lord Quavry scribbled a note and presented it to the visitor. “This is the name of the person whom you will get accepted on Lord Marak’s staff. Present it on the way out and you can make arrangements for his travel.”
The visitor rose and bowed his way out of the Meeting Chamber. “This plan is risky, Lord Quavry,” Marshal Yenga declared. “Too much rests on that fool. The military angle is acceptable, but everything else is on shaky ground.”
“You have only the military angle to worry about,” stated Lord Quavry. “With my spy in place, that fool becomes expendable. In fact, you should ensure that he dies in the battle, so I do not have to break my word. I would never accept him as the Lord of Fardale.”
“What if he does offer the same deal to Lord Burdine?” the Marshal quizzed.
“I will know if he does,” chuckled Lord Quavry. “I intend to invite Lord Burdine into this operation. There will be no question of border infringement if Lord Burdine files a grievance at the same time as we do.”
“You intend to split the Fardale estate with the Litari?” the Marshal asked shockingly.
“Certainly not,” laughed Lord Quavry. “All the Litari will do is file the grievance. They will not be involved with the fighting or the spoils. What I can offer Lord Burdine is something he wants very much, though. He wants to cut the Ragatha Clan off from the outside world. He has already denied them the right to cross his lands, but they worked out some deal with the Situ to cross Fardale. If Lord Burdine helps me in this matter, I will stop the Ragatha Clan from crossing what would become Sorgan territory. There is little doubt that Lord Burdine will then take steps to claim Woodville for themselves and kick the Ragatha out of the area.”
“I will issue orders to close off Fardale from Lituk Valley immediately,” saluted Marshal Yenga.