North America / Kingdom of Yorkania (Crownlands of Manhattan): December 25th, 1517.
It was a beautiful day for the world.The birds were chirping their songs as mankind went about their daily routines with smiles on their faces at beauty of the city, but also sad looks on their faces at the horror of it whether it be financially, emotionally or physically, yet if you were to look closely at a kingdom. To be more specific, inside of a war chamber, you can see a beautiful woman sitting at the head of a long table with a face that did not move, but eyes that could make a candle feel cold.
Her outfit being that of a black and gold suit like attire.
(Morgan's POV)
"Three wagons. One village. Two escort men dead. Horses taken. Tools taken. Storehouse burned." Said percival calmly, his voice tight as he read from the parchment.
The chamber was silent.
Not the peaceful kind.
The kind of silence that made every breath sound guilty.
A large map of torkania was spread across the long table with little gold, black and white markers placed across roads, ports, villages, rivers and storehouses.
Galahad stood to my right in black armor.
Merlin stood near the window with both hands behind his back.
Charles sat across from me with his legs crossed, his face unreadable.
Bagdemagus sat with a cup of tea like this was a family gathering and not a slow declaration of war.
Michael bailey stood at the far end of the table with a bruised face, swollen lip and blood still dried at his collar. His left eye was swollen slightly and his hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles looked ready to crack through his skin.
I stared at him for a moment and said calmly "You look great."
Michael bowed his head and said hoarsely "I tried to look worse your majesty, but the raiders were in a hurry."
The room went silent.
Bagdemagus burst out laughing.
"GYAHAHAHA. I like this farmer. Give him teeth made of gold when his fall out." Said Bagdemagus loudly as he slapped his knee.
Michael's mouth twitched slightly but he did not smile.
I ignored bagdemagus and looked at michael.
"What did they say." I asked calmly.
Michael clenched his fists and said "They said to tell you the roads are bleeding and that you cannot be everywhere."
The room went quiet.
I leaned back slowly.
"How poetic. Bandits with theater training." I said calmly.
Galahad's eyes hardened.
Percival placed the scratched coin on the table.
*Tak*
"Foreign coin. Intentionally damaged. Not enough mark to prove jersey. Enough to suggest it." Said percival calmly.
I looked at the coin and then at Charles.
Charles stared at it.
"It is jersey." Said charles nonchalantly.
"Likely." Said percival with a sigh.
"Likely is a whore that hides evidence under her skirt, it is the commonwealth." I said calmly.
The chamber became silent.
Merlin rubbed his smooth chin and said calmly with squinted eyes "We cannot accuse without proof, but we must find shelter for the injured to recoup our forces."
"I know." I said calmly.
Merlin glanced at me and said "Do you."
I slowly looked at him.
The chamber went even quieter.
Merlin smiled faintly and said calmly "I merely meant that grief and rage can both make rulers walk faster than the evidence."
"Don't get to comfortable merlin." I said calmly.
Merlin was silent and his eyes moved to michael for only a moment.
"No your majesty. You are calculating." Said merlin calmly.
"Good. For a moment I thought you forgot how to be useful and." I said calmly.
Galahad stepped forward from the side of the chamber and said with a serious voice "Your majesty. Give me the order and I will have riders cross the northern road before sunset."
"No." I said calmly.
The chamber went silent.
Galahad stared.
Percival blinked.
Michael's face tightened.
Even bagdemagus stopped sipping his tea for half a moment with confusion.
"Your majesty. The roads have been struck. The army must answer." Said Galahad calmly with his eyes on me.
I was silent for a moment and said calmly "The army will answer when I tell it to answer. It will not foam at the mouth because some rats scratched the furniture."
The chamber was silent.
I looked down at the map and said calmly "We do not chase rats into their own tunnels because they squeak loudly. We build cats."
The room was silent.
"That was almost poetic. I hated it less than usual." Said bagdemagus while sipping tea.
I pointed at the map.
"From today forward, create crown road wardens. Not noble men. Not house guards. Crown men and women. Paid by the throne. Villages will nominate two watchers each. Merchants will register wagon movement. Every grain route gets signal bells and smoke markers. Storehouses will hold crown ledgers. No shipment moves without two seals and one witness who can count higher than his age." I said calmly while rubbing my smooth chin with my calloused left veiny hand.
Percival's quill moved quickly.
*Shk* *Shk* *Shk*
Charles watched silently.
Galahad's eyes did not move and said calmly with a serious look in his eyes "Your majesty. If villages nominate the watchers, corruption may enter from below."
"Corruption is already entering from above, your grace. At least below has the decency to act meak and not strong." I said calmly with a wave of my right hand.
The chamber went silent.
Galahad bowed his head slightly.
"Escort convoys. No isolated grain wagon leaves for the next month. The army will not stand on the border looking handsome and useless while the roads bleed. Break them into moving teeth. Small units. Fast. Quiet. I want raiders captured alive if possible." I said calmly while leaning forward with both of my hands on the table with cold eyes.
The chamber was silent.
"And if not possible." Asked galahad calmly.
I was silent for a moment and said calmly "Then make it educational."
The chamber went silent.
Michael's eyes widened slightly.
Percival swallowed but continued writing.
"Any noble house that refuses to provide road men or grain records will pay a road coward tax." I said calmly while leaning back up with cold eyes.
Percival stopped writing for a second.
"A road coward tax your majesty." Asked percival carefully with confusion.
I nodded and said calmly "Yes. If they wish to enjoy roads without protecting them, they shall pay for the privilege of being useless."
Bagdemagus nodded seriously and said with his hand stroking his beard "Taxing cowardice. Good. I should have thought of that before I aged."
"You aged before thought arrived so you get a pass uncle." I said calmly without looking at him.
Bagdemagus froze.
The chamber was silent.
Then he burst out laughing.
"GYAHAHAHA. HOO…she wounds me in my old age. Cruel girl." Said bagdemagus while wiping his teary eye.
Charles stepped forward a little to close and asked nonchalantly "You are not declaring war."
I glanced at him and pushed him away while calmly saying "Men declare war when their pride has no patience. I prefer evidence, hunger and timing."
Charles's eyes stayed on mine.
"That is wise." Said charles nonchalantly while closing his eyes.
"Do not compliment me in public. It makes the air suspicious and I do not blush your majesty." I said calmly with a wave of my left hand.
Merlin's mouth twitched.
Charles sat back down in the chair an leaned back slightly in his chair and said nonchalantly "Then I shall insult you next time."
"You may try. But do understand, charles, I have insulted men into silence, shame, and better posture. I doubt your contribution will trouble history." I said calmly with my eye widening slightly.
The chamber became quiet again.
Michael stepped forward slightly and said "Your majesty…my village."
I looked at him.
"The crown will send grain, tools, seed, two carpenters, three road wardens and a royal scribe. Your bakery will be rebuilt. The injured will be paid. The dead will be recorded." I said calmly.
Michael's lips trembled.
"Do not cry. I am tired of wet faces in government chambers." I said calmly with a sigh.
Michael swallowed and dropped to one knee and said hoarsely "Hail the queen mother."
I looked down at him and said "Rise. You are more useful standing."
He rose.
The chamber was silent.
I glanced at percival and said calmly "Names of the dead."
Percival looked down at another parchment and said with a tight voice "Thomas reed. Escort guard. Age thirty two. Wife and one daughter. Henry mallor. Escort guard. Age nineteen. No wife. Mother still living."
I tapped my finger once against the table.
*Tak*
"Their families receive full compensation. Triple for dying on crown duty. Their names enter the road ledger as first blood of the northern route." I said calmly while staring down at the big map.
Michael's eyes lowered.
I glanced back at him and said calmly "Your village will remember them."
Michael nodded with gritted teeth "We will your majesty."
"Good. Dead men cannot spend coin, but living families can. Government should understand at least that much before embarrassing itself in my presence and act as if they achieved something worthy of what the name should represent." I said calmly with a soft snicker.
Percival wrote faster.
Merlin looked at me for a moment but said nothing.
I was about to leave but pause and said calmly "Also. The boy who found the coin. His name."
Everyone looked at me.
Michael had a confused look on his face and said hoarsely "Jonas your majesty. Jonas miller. He is ten."
"He noticed what grown men failed too. Give him ten dollars, bread for his household and a place in the first crown school once it opens. I need good eyes and instincts in the army." I said calmly with both of my hands behind my back.
The chamber was silent.
Michael's eyes widened.
"Your majesty…he is a commoner boy." Said a minor lord near the end of the table before his intelligence could stop him.
I slowly turned my head.
The minor lord paled.
I stared at him and said calmly "How observant. Had you not spoken, I wouldn't have noticed you at all so just stay silent like you're meant to."
The chamber went silent.
The lord lowered his head immediately.
"Your house." I asked calmly.
"H…house vell, your majesty." Said the man with a stutter.
"House bell. Very fitting. Loud, hollow and useful only when struck." I said calmly with a roll of my blinking eyes.
Bagdemagus made a choking sound into his tea cup.
I looked back at percival and said calmly "Write it."
"Yes your majesty." Said percival with a nod.
Charles's eyes moved to the map again and said nonchalantly "You seem to reward observation."
"I reward usefulness. Observation is merely the first sign that a brain has not surrendered." I said calm and very sharply.
The chamber was silent.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
A guard entered and bowed.
"Your majesty. A wounded raider has been found near the old mill road." Said the guard loudly.
The room shifted.
My eyes slowly moved to him and asked calmly "Alive."
"Yes your majesty. Barely." Said the guard with his head still bowed.
"How barely." Asked merlin calmly.
The guard swallowed and said "One arrow in the thigh. Broken ribs. Fever starting. He was left in a ditch."
"Abandoned." Said galahad calmly.
"Good. Abandoned men talk better than loyal ones. Their pride has already been divorced from their cause." I said calmly while looking back down at the map of yorkania.
Percival looked at me and asked with sweat starting to appear on his forehead "Should he be brought here your majesty."
"No." I said calmly.
The room went silent.
I stood up.
The chair scraped softly against the floor.
*SKRRR*
"We go to him. Sick rats should not be dragged across clean floors unless there is lesson in the stain." I said calmly with both of my eyes squinting coldly.
Michael straightened his back and said with a very horarse voice "Your majesty, I can come."
I looked at him and waved my hand dismissively and said calmly "You can barely stand."
Michael clenched his jaw and said "Then I will stand badly."
The chamber went silent.
Bagdemagus smiled slowly.
I stared at michael for a moment.
"Fine. Stand badly behind me. But if you collapse, I will leave you there until someone with more free time develops sympathy." I said calmly.
Michael bowed his head and said "Yes your majesty."
Charles stood up.
Merlin sighed.
Galahad already moved toward the door.
Percival gathered the parchments quickly.
Bagdemagus lifted his tea cup and said "Should I come as well."
"No." I said calm and Immediately.
Bagdemagus blinked.
"You are staying here. If any nobleman complains while I am gone, explain the road coward tax to them. I find you have talent in doing nothing." I said calmly with smiling eyes.
Bagdemagus smiled with too many teeth.
"With pleasure." Said bagdemagus with a chuckle.
The minor lord from house bell went pale again.
I started walking toward the door.
The chamber shifted with me.
War did not always begin with drums.
Sometimes it began with stolen grain, scratched coin and a wounded rat breathing in the wrong ditch.
I reached for the double doors and thought calmly "Excellent. Let us go speak with the barely."
…
THE END…