“But it is quite grievous, Lord Marshal,” prompted the Cortain.
“I am sure you would not bother me if it were otherwise, Cortain Koors,” sighed Grefon. “Whatever the problem, it will have to wait. Punishments are public events and I will not have our guests distracted from their business with Lord Ridak. If it involves a death, bury the body and we will discuss it when the meeting days are over. You are both to report to me as soon as the last Lord leaves the estate. Until that time, you will both carry out your orders as they have been given. Dismissed.”
The two soldiers saluted and retreated to the sitting room, past Marshal Garouk and out the door. Koors muttered something under his breath and Marak took the opportunity to leave and check on his men at the Meeting Chamber. All four men were efficiently alert and Marak sprinted back to the barracks and into the officer’s communal room. Tagoro was still sitting where he was when Marak left.
“What happened?” questioned Tagoro. “You have barely been gone long enough for him to chew you out. Will it be slave duty?”
Marak sat down and stretched his legs out. “I won’t know until the meeting days are over,” explained Marak. “The Lord Marshal wants nothing to distract our guests and has put off hearing of the affair until they have left. At least I will have a few more days of freedom before Koors gets his long-awaited wish.”
“So, you think it will be the worst?” quizzed Tagoro.
“Depends on what you mean by the worst,” sighed Marak. “It will be slavery or death, but I am not sure which is worse. I think Koors will push for slavery so he can gloat over me every day.”
“I can’t believe it, Marak,” remarked Tagoro. “You knew the risks all along. How could you have gone over the fence?”
“How I managed to put it off for so long is what amazes me, my friend,” smiled Marak. “It is probably to your credit that I have resisted this long. This whole system of slavery is wrong and I could never last for long with it intact. I have not talked to my mother since I was fourteen. What type of cruel monsters can believe that is just or even acceptable? I kill for these people and I put my life in peril for them. Do they have the right to demand more of me than that?”
Tagoro shook his head sadly. “Why don’t you run away?” he posed. “You have a few days to plan it. I will help you.”
Marak smiled and placed his hand on Tagoro’s arm. “I am beginning to think as my mother thinks,” Marak responded. “I will not let you ruin your life for my sake; however, I am deeply touched by your friendship. I cannot run away and leave my mother behind to take my punishment. I will stay and accept the Lord Marshal’s decree. Now, I must get to bed. If I stray one hair from my duties for the rest of the meeting days, Koors will find some way to make my punishment more bitter than the lituk fruit. Good night, friend.”
Marak slept fitfully and awoke feeling as if he had not slept at all. He quickly cleaned up and donned a fresh uniform. Tagoro already had both squads assembled and ready and Marak led his men off to the mansion. All of the men of Koors Corte, including his own and Tagoro’s, looked at him differently this morning. Marak realized that they all knew and figured Rybak had purposely let it slip. He had no doubt that one of Rybak’s men had alerted the Squad Leader and Rybak ran immediately to Koors. Marak hoped none of the visitors learned of the problem. While he felt justified in what he had done, Lord Marshal Grefon was not at fault for the rules and Marak did not wish to have Grefon embarrassed by the incident.
Inside the mansion, nobody paid any particular attention to Marak, not even Grefon. The morning meeting centered around Lord Ridak’s desire to expand along the coast near Raven’s Point. This push could lead to battles with Lord Saycher of the Morgar Clan. Lord Saycher was a political ally of Lord Quillo, head of the Organila Clan and a member of the Lords Council. If Lord Quilo got the Lords Council involved in the affair, Lord Ridak would come out on the losing end. Different strategies were offered by each of the Clan Lords and their Marshals and Marak was surprised to find out that nobody even thought of negotiation as an option. Nor did anyone suggest driving a wedge between Lord Quilo and Lord Saycher before the advent of hostilities. The only thoughts expressed dealt with troop strength and from which estates to draw the armies.
The midday meal came and went and the discussion turned to expanding at River’s Bend to cut off Lord Saycher’s access to the river. Some thought this would hamper any help destined for the Morgar Clan that might be coming from the Council. Others thought it would open a second front and lead to total war. By the evening meal, Lord Ridak had shelved his expansion plans at Raven’s Point until he could give it more study.
The evening session dealt mostly with finances and commodities. Each Lord had a chance to describe which commodities were costing him too much and others suggested complex trading deals that could bring the cost of the commodities down. Eventually, Lord Ridak adjourned the meeting for the day and everyone filed out of the Meeting Chamber. Marak returned to the barracks and ordered the replacements for the inside guards. As he led the replacements into the entry foyer of the mansion, he saw Squad Leader Rybak emerging from Lord Marshal Grefon’s suite. Rybak either did not see Marak or pointedly ignored him. After making sure his men were in place, Marak returned to the barracks and went to bed.
All of the plans and discussions heard in the Meeting Chamber dulled Marak’s dread of slavery and he slept well. This was the last scheduled day of talks and the remote estate contingents should be leaving the next morning. The men of his Corte were still looking strangely at Marak this morning and he couldn’t tell if it was sorrow or just disappointment they were transmitting.
As he led his men towards their posts, Marak saw Rybak and Koors conversing outside one of the side doors of the mansion. He wasn’t sure what they were cooking up, but decided to push it out of his mind and concentrate on his duties. The men assigned as liaisons had pretty light duty so far and not even the men posted to the Meeting Chamber had any complaints. Marak had heard complimentary comments given to both Lord Ridak and Lord Marshal Grefon about his men’s efficiency and attentiveness. If it weren’t for his little escapade into the slave compound, this would have been a shining moment in Marak’s career.
The morning session picked up where the evening’s had ended and centered on commodities and trading. The afternoon session turned to matters that affected the remote estates, but not Lituk Valley. The only solid proposal to come out of the session, in Marak’s opinion, was Lord Ridak’s approval of a road between Fardale and Forest Deep to allow for grain shipments and wasooki shipments to pass between the two estates without having to go through Lituk Valley. Even that approval was hampered by the fact that other clans controlled some of the intervening land. Both Lord Lashendo of Fardale and Lord Horkad of Forest Deep vowed to commit whatever troops were necessary to get the road built over the other clans’ objections. Neither thought of the possibility that the intervening clans might actually benefit from the road and might be willing to participate in its building rather than fight to prevent it.
The talk finally turned to Fardale’s problems with the Chula. Lord Lashendo retold of his two attempts to gain the Sitari Valley as part of the estate and the disastrous results of both. Because of the Chula resistance, crop production of grain would be greatly reduced next year. Lord Lashendo stated that all of the tillable lands of Fardale were already used up and without the Sitari Valley he would have to default on contracts for next year. This statement did not sit well with Lord Ridak and the discussion turned to ways to make up the shortfall. If the Situ failed to fulfill their contracts, they would lose a tremendous amount of trade and not just on the grain, but other contracts would also disappear. Khadorans had little faith in people who did not deliver according to their contracts. It was not considered dishonesty to default on a contract if you truly thought you would be able to deliver, but buyers chose to purchase from clans who delivered what was agreed to. If anyone thought the failure to deliver was intentional, war or dissolution of the clan could result. After it was determined that only Fardale had a chance at making up the shortfall in grain, Lord Ridak allowed Lord Lashendo to continue.