Indomitus Vivat (The Fovean Chronicles) by Robert Brady Page A

way,” I said, nodding to him.  “And for my skill at making money.  What is your skill, Lord Jaheff?”
         “Being in the right place at the right time, it seems,” he said.  “My father is Duke Groff of Andurin’s brother, a common merchant.  I have no skill at trading this for that, and an older brother who does.  I am as like to hurt myself as another with a sword, and no shoulders to bear armor, I am afraid.”
         So much for the military aspect, though I couldn’t help feeling that I should find a use for this man.
         Dinner continued for a while, with more talk like this.  One of the barons, Tenlen, had responsibility for the treasury, and reported that we wouldn’t starve, but we didn’t see much profit, either.  We had barely a city and certainly no village up to date on its taxes.
         “In honesty, your highness,” he told the room, “the more the cities make, the less they seem to want to pay.
         “They are conserving their strength, it seems,” Tom said.  “Especially Yerel of Uman City.  He didn’t send a payment at all last month.
         “What’s the law on that?” I asked Oligarch one, who sat to my left.
         He considered.  “I can say that he has breached the law,” he said, finally, “but I cannot say that there is a penalty for it.”
         “His Majesty would usually appear in person and collect,” Oligarch two said.
         “I would not advise that,” said Oligarch three.  “However the heir actually has no power to demand taxes.”
         I looked at Tom directly.
         “How big is his private army?” I asked.
         No hesitation.  “Three thousand men.”
         I looked at Daharef.  “Does that seem large to you?” I asked.
         He nodded.  “Eldador the port has only four thousand.”
         “The heir has no power to invade a city within Eldador,” Oligarch four said.
         I nodded.  “He does have the power to hire outside aid, however,” I said.
         “All business transactions of the state are within your domain,” Oligarch two said.
        I smiled and took a big bite of beef.  It tasted really, really good.

 
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    Under New Management
     
     
     
         One great thing about a palace is that it’s made to have too many rooms, so that it takes up a lot of space and looks grand.  The downside is that it employs too many people, making it expensive as hell to run.
         The royal family lived in the ‘family tower,’ which made up one of the four towers that took up the outer corners of the palace.  The family tower consisted of a big room where Glennen slept, then stairs and a room above it for Tartan, then more stairs, a few guard rooms, and then rooms for the other kids.  At the top a big, empty room took up a whole floor and had nothing in it.  From there you could get to the upper, open air floor where you could station archers behind a parapet with merlons.
         No one ever went to this big room, and you could get to it without going through any of the other rooms.  No one but the royal family and their guards were allowed in the family tower – and me, of course, not because I had any sort of right to be here, but because they were all afraid of me.
         J’her had been a farmer once – an Uman from outside of Steel City.  He’d had a few bad years and he’d lost his farm to creditors, and the local Earl had taken it.  J’her’s wife had bailed on him with his kids.  That had pissed him off, and he’d gotten into the habit of massacring anyone who took up residence on his old farm, until he got caught and was sentenced to death.
         This was the sort of person whom Ancenon didn’t want in the Free Legion. 
         This was exactly who I wanted in the Wolf Soldiers.
         “J’her,” I said to him, when he entered the room at my summons.  Part of the test had been for him to get