The Green Pearl Page 11

  On the other hand, the barons had not fulfilled the total scope of Aillas' commands. Few, if any, had disbanded their companies of armed retainers that they might return to more productive work, in field, quarry and forest, and so bring some small measure of prosperity to the land.

  Aillas immediately sent messengers to every castle, fortress and mountain keep, requiring that the barons, or knights, or earls, however they styled themselves, should meet with him at Stronson, the castle of Sir Helwig, high in the heart of the moors.

  Aillas rode to the meeting in company with Sir Tristano, Lord Maloof, who was glum, and Lord Pirmence, who showed an airy detachment, together with an escort of thirty knights and a hundred men-at-arms. The day of the meeting was blessed with fine warm weather; the moors smelled fresh of heather, gorse and fern, with the elemental reek of the dank turf rising heavy below.

  The company, assembled on the meadow to the side of Stronson Castle, made a fine spectacle, with metal gleaming and colours ablaze in the sunlight. The barons for the most part wore mail shirts and metal caps; their jupons, capes and trousers were of rich colour and fine fabric, and many wore sleeveless aprons embroidered with personal emblems or the arms of their houses. Almost all had brought heralds who held high gonfalons displaying the baronial arms.

  Thirty-six of the forty-five barons commanded to the conclave were on hand. Sir Helwig called out a summons and those present came to sit at a semi-circular table, each with his herald and gonfalon at his back. To one side Aillas' escort rested at ease. Not so those retainers and clansmen who had come to Stronson in company with the barons; they stood in knots and groups, with those parties at feud darting lambent glances toward each other.

  For several minutes Aillas considered the thirty-six more or less amicable faces. Privately he felt the turn-out to be satisfactory, but to ignore the nine cases of contumacy would instantly make a mockery of his authority. Here, in fact, was his test, and the barons watched him with curiosity as he stood to the side with Tristano and Sir Helwig's herald, conning the list of those not on hand.

  Aillas went to confront the company; standing clean-shaven and crisply handsome before the grizzled and hard-bitten barons of the moors, he seemed almost ludicrously inexperienced and untried; certain of the barons took no pains to conceal their opinions.

  Amused rather than nettled, Aillas spoke a polite greeting and expressed his pleasure for the fine weather which favored the occasion. He took up his list and called out the names of the missing nine barons. Receiving no response, he turned to Sir Tristano: "Despatch a knight with five soldiers to the home-places of each of these truants. Let the knights express my displeasure. Let them announce to each that since he would not meet me here at Stronson, or send a message of courteous explanation, he is therefore commanded to my camp at Ys. Let each understand with the utmost clarity that if he fails to appear within the week, he shall be disenfranchised from his lands and reduced to the rank of commoner, and all his property shall immediately revert to the king. These truants must also be told that their punishment, should they fail to appear, will be my first order of business, and that, one by one, I will strike them low. Let the knights and their escorts depart at once."

  Aillas turned back to the now grimly attentive barons. "Gentlemen, as you have heard before, the Kingdom of South Ulfland is no longer a land of lawlessness. My remarks today will be brief but most important. First: I command that each of you dissolve his company of armed soldiery, that these men, so released, may devote their efforts either to tilling the soil and enriching the land, or enlisting in the King's Army. You may retain your household servants, gardeners and stablemen; but you will no longer need garrisons nor an armed guard.

  "Through these economies and the increase of your rents you will yourself prosper, even after paying into the exchequer those taxes which Lord Maloof will presently fix upon you. These monies will not be spent upon vanity or proud display, but will go to improve the land. I intend to re-open the old mines, forge iron and in due course build ships. Everywhere in South Ulfland are the ruins of old villages; each is a stark sight, and each shall be rebuilt or replaced to house the population. In this new prosperity you all must certainly share.

  "So that an Ulf army may protect Ulfland, and so that the soldiers you see here may return to Troicinet, I now announce that Lord Pirmence will recruit a force of strong and able men. For your younger sons and landless brothers the army will offer means to advancement, with promotion and rewards based upon merit rather than birth. The men-at-arms released from your personal services may also find careers in the Ulfish Army.

  "Initially I intend a force of a thousand men. They will be trained until they are equal or superior to any other troops in the world, including the Ska. They will wear proper uniforms, eat good food, and will be paid in accordance with the schedule of the Troice army. At the end of their service they will be granted a freehold acreage of arable land.

  "These first thousand troops will become an elite cadre, and assist in the training of future recruits. They will learn a strict discipline and they will learn to defeat the Ska, who until now have marched through South Ulfland as they chose, looting and taking slaves. Those days are now in the past.

  "I have said all I wish to say. You must abide by the new law of the land or face the consequences. If you wish to ask questions of me, or bring important matters to my attention, here I sit, and I will be pleased to listen and respond as well as I can. For those who thirst, I notice that a cask of ale has been broached."

  The barons rose somewhat uncertainly to their feet and looked around the area. Presently they separated into small knots and groups. One of the barons, a person close to middle-age, tall and massive, with a great bush of black beard, approached Aillas and stared at him intently. "Lord King, do you know me?"

  By sheer chance, Aillas had heard the man's name mentioned. "You are Sir Hune of Three Pines House."

  Sir Hune nodded. "I look at you, a boy almost, and I marvel!"

  "How so, Sir Hune?"

  "See me! I am the very substance of the moor! One of my arms would make both your legs! Were we to drink from yonder cask I would put down four pints to your one and still be merry and clear of eye when you were snoring head-down on the table! I can hurl a lance through an oak plank; I can kill a bull with a blow. I know every trail and rock and rill of the fells; I know where the grouse nest and the pools where the trout hide. But now you arrive from Troicinet and wave a piece of paper at us to declare yourself our king. All very well, and this is the way such things are done, but what do you know of how life is lived along the moors? Have you tasted our cruel days and bitter nights, or crept up to cut the throat of the enemy who would have preferred to cut your throat? Still your orders must be obeyed. Is there not an absurdity in all this? And I ask it in all kindliness."

  "Sir Hune, it is a fair emotion which you feel and a fair question. You are indeed a doughty man, and I would not wish to wrestle you. Would you care to try me in a foot-race, the loser to carry the winner back on his shoulders?"

  Sir Hune laughed and slapped the table. "I know little of running. Is this what you will teach your soldiers?"

  "They will run certainly, though not in battle. And as for life along these moors, I know more of it than you might think. Someday, if you are of a mind, I will tell you the story."

  Sir Hune indicated the barons in their groups. "Hear my words! If you hope to stop the bickers and ambushes, if you would halt the midnight sallies and escapades—well then, young king, you will discover a thankless task." Sir Hune turned and, looking across the meadow, jerked his thumb. "See them now, each clan to itself! Each man gives off hate through his back for those who have done him wrong across the ages! And tell me, lad: what else have we to live for, if it is not the hunt and the chase, the raid and the rape, and the glad slaughter of one's foe? Here is our life; it is our way and we have no other amusement."

  Aillas leaned back in his chair. "It is the life of an
animal. Have you no sons and daughters?"

  "I have four of both, and already two-sons are dead, and yonder stands their murderer. Soon I will take him and nail him to my gate, and have my dinner as he dies."

  Aillas rose to his feet. "Sir Hune, I like you, and if you commit this deed I will hang you with great regret. I would much prefer to use your strength and that of your sons in my army."

  "You would hang me? What then of Dostoy yonder, who killed my sons with his black arrows?"

  "And when was this deed done?"

  "Last summer, before the rut."

  "And before I issued my general orders. Herald, convene the group once more to attention."

  Once again Aillas spoke to the barons, and now he stood leaning on the pommel of his sword. "I have spoken with Sir Hune, who has launched a complaint against Sir Dostoy."

  From among the barons came a guffaw and a cry: "How dares that black-hearted villain complain in any wise whatever, him whose hand drips red with innocent blood?"

  Aillas said: "At some specified time the murders must stop. I have already defined that time. I will do so once more, in terms you all can understand. Whoever commits murder, whoever kills except in self-defense—he shall be hanged. I will bring law to South Ulfland, and the sooner you realize that I am in earnest, the easier for all of us. I need fighting men in my army; I do not want them killing each other and I do not want to waste my time hanging all the barons of the moorlands. Still, if I must I must! Go now to your homes and think well on my words."

  III

  AILLAS, RETURNING TO Ys, sought about the camp for Shimrod, without success. He sent an aide to look through the dock-side taverns, but Shimrod was nowhere to be found, to Aillas' annoyance. Several matters hung heavy in his mind. First, he had cultivated a hope that Shimrod might provide some trifle of magic—a spell of temporary meekness, to be used against such as Sir Hune; or a glossic to make Sir Hune's weapons shrivel and droop and all his arrows fly awry. Such assistance, so Aillas assured himself, would rest comfortably with Murgen's edict*, since it could be justified on humanitarian principles.

  *Murgen's edict prohibited magicians from taking sides in secular conflicts. With minor exceptions, the magicians were pleased to obey the rule.

  Aillas also had hoped for the weight of Shimrod's presence during a meeting with the factors of Ys, which events had now made necessary. With Shimrod off about his affairs, Aillas was cast upon his own resources and must confront the cryptic oligarchs alone.

  First he must identify the responsible authorities, which he knew to be no simple process. Upon reflection, Aillas decided that Lord Pirmence was precisely qualified to the task, and sent him out to arrange the conference.

  Late in the afternoon Pirmence made his report to Aillas.

  "Unusual and bizarre!" declared Pirmence in response to Aillas' question as to how the day had gone. "These folk are as subtle as eels! I can well believe them to be derived from the Minoans of Crete!"

  "How does this follow?"

  "I have no clear evidence," said Pirmence. "It is a matter of intuition. These people of Ys move in that ambience of mingled innocence and mystery which is so appealing an attribute of the Minoans. Today they have bewildered me to the verge of apoplexy. I inquired everywhere for their magnates, or a council of elders, or even an influential clique, but in response received only smiling shrugs and blank looks. When pressed, the folk, after frowning and pondering and dubiously shaking their heads and staring in all directions, deny that such authority exists. When I turn away, I suspect that they are laughing at my back, but when I swing about to surprise the insolence, they have already gone off about their business, and this is the larger indignity: they are too bored with me even to laugh.

  "Finally I discovered an old man sunning himself on a bench. When I put my questions to him, he at least had the grace to make me an elucidation.

  "Ys, so I discover, is controlled by an unspoken consensus. Custom and convenience take the place of coercive law; at Ys the concept of central authority is felt to be both repugnant and faintly ridiculous. I asked the old fellow: ‘Who then is qualified to represent the city in a consultation with King Aillas upon important business?' He gave me a typical shrug, and said: ‘I know of no important business and do not see fit to so consult.'

  "At this moment a kindly lady came by. She helped the gentleman to his feet and they went off together. From the solicitude of her manner, I gathered that the old fellow suffers from some advanced form of senile dementia, and so perhaps his analysis is not totally accurate."

  Pirmence paused to chuckle and to preen his neat beard. Aillas reflected that the decision not to hang Pirmence outright, but rather to exploit his devious skills, had so far worked to advantage. "What next?"

  Pirmence continued with his report. "I refused to be thwarted either by evasions, vagaries or the ravings of a madman, if such they were. I told myself that natural law operated at Ys as rigorously as elsewhere, and that, inevitably, the most influential factors would tend to inhabit the oldest and finest of the palaces. I visited several of these and informed the resident factors that, since everyone in Ys denied the existence of a governing council, I now took it upon myself to appoint such a body, of which these gentlemen were now full and fast members. Further, I notified them that they were stringently required to meet with you at mid-morning tomorrow."

  "Clever and ingenious! Well done, Pirmence! Would it not be a great joke if I came to find you indispensable?"

  Pirmence dourly shook his head. "I have transcended that phase in my intellectual growth where I discover humour in simple freakishness. What exists is real; therefore it is tragic, since whatever lives must die. Only fantasy, the vapors rising from sheer nonsense, can now excite my laughter."

  "Ah, Pirmence, your philosophy lies beyond my understanding."

  "Just as yours does mine," said Pirmence with courtly grace.

  Next day at mid-moming six factors strolled down from the city and made their way to the blue silk pavilion where Aillas waited in company with Lord Maloof and Lord Pirmence. The factors seemed much alike: slight of physique, almost pallid of complexion, with fine features, dark eyes and black hair cut short and clasped with golden fillets. Their dress was modest: white linen kirtles and sandals, and none bore arms.

  Aillas came forward to meet them. "Gentlemen, I am pleased to welcome you. Be seated. These are my aides Lord Maloof and Lord Pirmence, both men of cultivated experience and totally dedicated to our common goals. Will you take refreshment?" Without waiting for response, Aillas signaled to his stewards, who served out goblets of wine, which the factors ignored.

  "Our business today is of considerable importance," said Aillas. "I hope that we can conduct it efficiently and with decision.

  "The background is this: by reason of weak rulers, Ska attacks, and general demoralization, South Ulfland, save for the Vale of Evander, has become a wilderness. I intend to restore order and law, beat back the Ska, and eventually restore South Ulfland to its former prosperity. In pursuing these purposes, I cannot for long rely upon Troice blood or Troice gold: the resources must come from South Ulfland.

  "My first concern is an army to enforce the law and to repel the Ska. In this regard no one is exempt from service. That is the thrust of our business for today."

  The factors rose to their feet and, bowing, turned to depart. "Wait!" called Aillas. "Where are you going?"

  "Are you not finished with your remarks?" inquired one of the factors. "You said that they would be brief."

  "Not that brief! I also said that we must make decisions. Will you act as spokesman, or will each speak his mind as occasion dictates?" Aillas looked from face to face, but discovered only empty expressions.

  "I am unaccustomed to such modesty," said Aillas. "You, sir, what is your name?"

  "I am styled Hydelos."

  "I now appoint you the Honourable Hydelos, Chairman of the Council. The six of you, naturally, comprise the council. You, sir:
your name?"

  "I too am styled Hydelos."

  "Indeed! How are you distinguished from this other Hydelos?"

  "By our intimate names."

  "What, then, is your intimate name? We must be practical."

  "It is Olave."

  "Olave, you are appointed overseer of military conscription. The two gentlemen sitting next to you will be your assistants. You will recruit for the Ulf army up and down the Vale of Evander. Maloof, record their names, both intimate and otherwise. You, sir, how are you styled?"

  "I am Eukanor."

  "Eukanor, you are now tax collector for the Vale of Evander. The gentleman at your left hand will assist you. Maloof, record their names. Hydelos, I hope that the conference is moving briskly enough to please you. Your duties will be, first, supervision, and I need not spell out the details at this moment; and also you will serve as liaison officer between the others of the council and myself, or my representative. You must render a daily report."

  Hydelos said gently: "Sir, your requirements are impossible and cannot be effected."

  Aillas laughed. "Hydelos, I urge you to face facts, no matter how reluctantly. You must alter your style of life, at least until South Ulfland is once again whole. You have no choice and I will hear no arguments. If the six of you will not work with me, I must exile you to the Isle of Terns, and try six other folk of Ys, until either I find proper cooperation, or until all Ys has been transported to the dismal crags of the isle.

  "My requirements, in the context of today, are not oppressive and can easily be effected. I am your king and I so command."

  Hydelos spoke in a voice wherein the petulance was carefully restrained: "We have existed many years with neither king, nor army nor taxes; the Ska have never threatened us, nor are we in danger from the barons. Why should we now be hasty to obey a Troice invader?"