“Exactly,” I said.
“What do you need?” she added.
“Men,” I said simply. “Every able bodied man and woman you can spare. We have to build that dam as quickly as possible and what we sorely lack is strong backs and sure hands.”
“What you ask is difficult. This is mid-autumn, every man I have is busy with the fall harvest. I can spare most of the guardsmen to help you, though they’ll grumble at doing menial labor,” she pursed her lips as she thought.
I had been thinking on that subject already, “I need them all. I’m planning to buy up all the food and grain I can get my hands on before winter sets in. I believe I can afford enough to keep us from starving before the first spring crop.” It had been an exceptional year for farming so I had plans already moving to have Rose purchase as much food as possible before the roads closed in the winter.
Genevieve Lancaster frowned as she considered my idea, “Do you know how much that will cost? You’ll have more than a thousand mouths to feed till the first harvest next year.”
“More than that,” I informed her. “I’m also recruiting as many men as I can get, so I plan on buying enough to manage at least two thousand.”
“That would cost several thousand marks. Even with as much as James and I have saved we would be penniless if we did such a thing, and that’s assuming the king doesn’t take offense at your buying up valuable supplies right at a time when he needs them himself,” she frowned.
“Frankly I don’t give a damn. King Edward and I are not on the best of terms right now anyway. If we don’t survive this war it won’t matter anyway.”
Penny returned with a tray laden with tea and a selection of sweet biscuits. I couldn’t help but wonder where she had gotten them. The cook never had sweets around when I came hunting. She set the tray down and offered a cup to Genevieve who took it gratefully. Penny moved to sit down beside me but yelped and almost jumped off of the divan instead. I had stealthily placed my hand under her bottom before she sat down. She glared at me and sat down a bit further away without saying anything. Very likely she didn’t want to offend the duchess.
Genevieve raised an eyebrow as she glanced at me over the rim of her cup. I thought I could detect the hint of a smile on her face but she declined to comment on my antics. “Very well Mordecai, I will help you ‘draw the line’ again. You shall have every able bodied man I have to spare. The women of Lancaster won’t be idle either; we’ll harvest what we can while their husbands are working on your dam.”
“We won’t disappoint you, your grace,” I said gratefully.
“You never have Mordecai. You’ve always been my favorite nephew. Whether we succeed or fail I will always be proud of you,” her eyes misted a bit as she said it. She took another quick sip of her tea before setting the cup down and rising. “I’d better be going.”
Penny rose hastily, “But you haven’t even finished your tea!”
“The one thing we have is time, but I don’t think we can afford to squander it. I’ll start making arrangements this evening after I get home.” Genevieve leaned forward to give Penelope a quick embrace, whispering in her ear as she did so, “Good luck my dear, I think you have your hands full with this one.”
I was confused as Penny and the duchess both glanced at me. I couldn’t hear a word for they had spoken too softly. “What?” I said.
Penny gave the duchess a knowing look, “You have no idea!” she said, and they both laughed at that.
Chapter 22
I had thought I would have time to resume my experiments the next morning but as fate would have it the baron saw fit to show up early that day. I had already changed into my working clothes, plain linen with a leather smith’s apron, so I was poorly dressed to greet him. Not that that bothered me in the slightest.
I saw him ride through the gate with two retainers close behind and headed over to greet him before he got to the main keep. “Pleased to meet you my lord!” I said loudly, moving forward to offer him my hand.
He looked down from his horse in obvious horror. He seemed startled that I had approached him so casually. “I am sorry, have we met before?” The young lord kept his hands well away from mine.
I stared at him for a moment, confused by his reticence. Lord Arundel was a slender man in his early thirties, with well-trimmed blond hair. The wind shifted and I caught a scent of lavender in the air. “No, I don’t think we have. Sorry for the confusion, my name is...”
“I am here to see your lord, the Count di’Cameron. You’ll pardon me if I don’t stop to chat,” he said brusquely and without further ado he urged his horse forward. I stepped back hastily to let him pass.
I watched him ride on, bemused at his arrogance. Sam Turner walked over to me as I stood there. “What was that about?”
“I have a feeling that Lord Arundel didn’t expect to meet a nobleman dressed like this,” I replied.
Sam laughed, “He’ll be all kinds of embarrassed after you change into your fine clothes.”
A wicked grin appeared on my face, “No... I think I’ll meet him as I am. In fact we should probably improve on my humble appearance.” I know, I should have been more mature, but I have a devilish side to my personality at times. I’m not sure where I get it from.
My father stumbled upon us a few minutes later, standing beside a horse trough outside the stables. We had dumped some of the water onto the dusty ground to form a muddy slurry. Sam was assisting me as I smeared it liberally over my clothes. “Well you look as happy as a pig in mud,” Royce commented dryly.
That started Sam and I to snickering as we explained what we were up to. My father got to chuckling as well. He always had been an excellent role model. “Son you need to stop fooling around and go take care of business,” he said. He leaned down to get some mud on his hand before patting me fondly on the cheek. “You don’t want to keep the baron waiting.”
“Let everyone know to be on their best formal manners, I won’t tolerate anyone being overly familiar with me today,” I winked at them as I headed for the keep.
Dorian met me at the door, “Mort! Lord Arundel is here, you need...” His words tapered off as he took in my appearance. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Sheldon was a bit rude when he arrived so I thought I’d put on my best clothes for him,” I replied smugly.
“The man isn’t known for his sense of humor Mordecai. You’re sure to insult him.” Dorian had his worried look on, it was the face I was most accustomed to seeing on him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be the very soul of courtesy,” I said smiling. “Tell him I’ll be down to meet him in the great hall momentarily.” I went upstairs to find Penelope.
She saw me as soon as I entered our rooms, “Ugh! Get out! What is that all over you?” I could tell she was pleased to see me.
“Lord Arundel is here to see us,” I managed to get out as she shooed me toward the door.
“Gods! You need to change... and bathe! What will he think if he sees you looking like that?”
I grinned, “He might have to rethink how he greets people at the very least.” I took a few minutes to explain our encounter in the courtyard.
“And you think this will improve things?” she exclaimed. “Honestly Mort I worry about you. At times you’re absolutely brilliant... and then... there’s the rest of the time.” She sighed loudly.
I turned and left before she could spoil my fun. “Come down when you’re ready, I don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“Wait! No...,” she yelled after me. She might have stopped me if she had grabbed my arm, but I think she was afraid of the mud. I escaped her and went down the stairs two at a time. I reached the door to the great hall just a few feet ahead of her.
“How do I look?” I asked, slicking my hair down with a bit of the mud from my shirt.
“Atrocious, you fool,” she replied, giving me her most serious glare.
“Perfect,” I said and opened the door.
I found Lord Arundel seated at the high table with Dorian and my mother. I hadn’t realized she was in the castle or I might have rethought my hasty plan. Still there was no helping it now. I walked over to greet him.
“Lord Arundel! It’s good to see you on such short notice.” I held out my arm to him again, but he made no move to take it. Glancing over I saw my mother gaping at my appearance, I worried she might have a stroke.
The nobleman spoke to Dorian first, ignoring my presence, “Sir Dorian, who is this man?! This is the second time he has accosted me.”
Dorian’s lips had formed a large ‘O’ as his mind struggled with the situation. Eventually he got his mouth working again, “Baron, may I introduce Mordecai Illeniel, the Count di’Cameron. Mordecai this is Sheldon Arundel, your closest neighbor.” Dorian looked as though each word was costing him a year of his life.
It was now the baron’s turn to be shocked; his mouth opened and closed several times before he finally spoke, “Lord Cameron, it seems you have made a fool of me.”
I couldn’t tell if he was upset or not, he still seemed to be in shock. “Nonsense,” I assured him, laughing. “ You did most of that yourself, I was just having a bit of fun since you seemed confused. Sit back down, have some wine.” I gestured to the chair as I took a seat myself.
My mother could hardly contain herself, “Mordecai why are you covered in mud?” She kept her tone calm but I was certain she was fairly agitated. She certainly hadn’t raised me to greet lords while looking like a pig in a wallow. Visions of switches rose unbidden to my mind. I suppose we never get past the ingrained fears of childhood.
“Sorry Mother, I was hurrying to catch up with Lord Arundel after our chaotic first meeting and I slipped in some mud near the stables.” Her expression told me all I needed to know about her opinion of my truthfulness. I gave her an extra-large smile to put her at ease and returned my attention to the baron. “I appreciate you coming so soon considering we haven’t had the opportunity to meet before.”
The good baron seemed to be recovering his composure, though his eyes kept straying to the mud in my hair. “Well yes, I thought to make a good impression since we have only recently become neighbors. Might I ask why you were dressed as a serf?”
I felt my hackles rising at the term. Until recently I might well have been described as such, at least by men with no better knowledge. “I keep no serfs here my lord; the citizens of Washbrook are all freeholders.”
“Freeholders then, it matters not to me what you call your peasants,” he sipped his wine casually. “I am given to wonder if you had not had this prank planned ahead for my arrival.”
I was warming up to the baron quickly as it was clear we would get along superbly. “No I am afraid my poor attempt at humor was entirely spontaneous. I was heading to the smithy to work on a project with my father.” I could see Dorian shaking his head in a silent ‘no’ out of the range of the baron’s peripheral vision.
“I had heard you were raised in unusual circumstances, this must be your adopted father you refer to?” he asked mildly.
“Yes,” I answered. The man’s insufferable attitude was irritating to say the least. “I hate to be abrupt, but I have some rather pressing news to relate.” I worried that the longer we talked the worse things would get so I decided to get directly to business.
“Please go ahead, I would rather not strain your hospitality further,” the baron seemed as anxious as I to have our conversation done quickly.
I gave him the briefest version of what I had learned concerning the unknown threat posed by the shiggreth and the more looming danger of invasion from Gododdin. Even brief as I was it took a quarter of an hour to relate the news and throughout it all the baron showed little sign of apprehension.
“You say you informed the king?” he asked finally.
“I did.”
“What was his response?”
“He will face the invader at the river Trent. He plans to call on our levies as soon as spring arrives,” I told him. “When I discussed this with him I told him I don’t plan to answer that call. Instead Lancaster and I will face them in the valley. We have a plan to...”
“You disobeyed the king?” he interrupted.
“After a short talk he saw the wisdom in letting me attempt to stop them here,” I kept my voice neutral to hide my increasing annoyance.
“You plan to face them by yourself... you’re either a madman or a fool,” the baron’s disdain was plain to hear.
“James of Lancaster and I will work together; we have a plan that may lead to success. If you will hear me out I believe you will find some hope in it.”
“I think not. Nor do I believe the duke would be part of your foolish schemes.” He stood as if to leave.
I was prepared to be labeled a fool if it would gain the baron’s aid but it looked unlikely to happen now. “Before you go,” I inquired, “What do you plan to do?”
“That should be plainly obvious to anyone but a madman covered in mud. I will take my men and join the king as soon as possible,” he replied. He began heading for the door.
“What of your people?” I shouted after him.
The baron stopped for a moment before answering, “I will rebuild when the war is done. As long as there is land people will come.”
Everyone in the room was staring at me. Thus far I had kept my calm, though perhaps I hadn’t gotten off on the right foot. Now it seemed kind words would have no effect. As he reached for the door handle I considered stopping him but I saw little hope of changing his mind.
“What a bastard!” I remarked as the door closed behind him.
“I don’t think your appearance helped any,” said Penny. “Though I am surprised you kept your cool. After he mentioned your father I thought you might burn him to a cinder on the spot.”
“I wouldn’t have wanted his help anyway,” my mother added. On that point everyone agreed, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the baron’s men might wind up being a deciding factor in the coming war. It wasn’t as if we were sure of completing the dam on time.
Chapter 23
The next day I returned to working on my new explosive enchantments. Since my father’s suggestion had worked so well I decided to stick with iron for all my future experiments. I used several pieces to get a more precise feel for how much power could be placed in a specific amount of iron without risking a premature explosion. I was very careful to protect my ears before each test.
Once I had pinned down the amount of energy I could use I switched to my second task, finding a way to set them off from a distance. I could easily do so myself, if the piece was within a range of about five hundred yards, but for our plan to work they would need to be used over much greater distances. The gem Cyhan had used during my bonding ritual had given me the idea I needed.
It was a simple concept; I would include a gem in the initial enchantment to contain the energy within the iron. Afterwards I could presumably remove it and use it to detonate the iron by crushing it. The real problem was that gemstones were in short supply; in fact I had none other than the diamond set in Penelope’s engagement ring. I had a feeling she wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of me crushing it for a test of my new spell. In any case diamonds aren’t known for being easily destroyed.
Eventually I picked glass beads. As far as I could tell there was no reason the activating gem had to actually ‘be’ a gem. It just needed to be something strong enough to avoid accidentally breaking and brittle enough to be easily crushed.
Oddly enough, glass beads were almost as difficult to come by as gemstones. Washbrook hadn’t had an actual glassblower in decades. The small town made do with wooden shutters on windows and handmade pottery for dishware. After a fruitless search and asking various townsfolk I gave up and went inside for lunch.
Penny was studying me as we ate. “You seem deep in thought,” she remarked.
I realized I had been silent during most of the meal, “I’m sorry. I’ve just be
en trying to figure out a problem with a new spell.”
“Perhaps you should bounce your ideas off of me. Let me be your sounding board. Besides I’d like to know what you’re thinking before you kill yourself inadvertently.” It never ceased to amaze me how much faith she had in my magical experimentation.
Penny had a quick mind and it didn’t take her long to understand my problem. “So you just need some glass beads?”
I nodded affirmatively.
“Does it have to be a bead? What about faux jewels, you know... cut glass?” she suggested.
“That would work just as well,” I replied, “but I haven’t seen much jewelry of any kind around here. Have you?”
“No, but there is at Lancaster Castle,” she reminded me.
I was feeling a bit dense. “Where?”
“The chandelier in the sun room, it used to be my job to dust it once a week, it always took me forever,” she said. The sun room was an upstairs reception chamber, the same one where I had my original ill-fated conversation with Devon Tremont. I had never paid particular attention to the furnishings.
“Do you think the duchess would part with it?”
“She’s already given you every able bodied man on her estate... at harvest time, I would think the chandelier would be a small price to pay,” she told me.
“I hate to ask her,” I said uncertainly.
“I’ll do it. I can ride over there this afternoon,” she offered. “I’ve been cooped up here for days now with nothing to do. I’m starting to feel useless.”
“You can’t,” I reminded her, “Not unless I go as well and I have other things to work on today.”
“Why not?” she replied before she remembered our bond. She glanced down at the sword she wore ruefully. “I never thought this would be so inconvenient.”
“Who wouldn’t want to be stuck with me twenty four hours a day for the rest of their life?” I said sarcastically.
“It’s not that,” she said. “It’s just strange not being able to move about on my own. I guess you’ll just have to send a messenger.”