Two Kingdoms 24: Spyglass

[DoctorM]

TWO KINGDOMS 24: SPYGLASS

Author's Note: This is the twenty-second part of an AU construction about a very different post-1120 Gwynedd where the coronation challenge at Kelson's coronation went rather differently--- very differently. This segment falls I think a few weeks after "Map" and "Library". As always, input and comments are very much appreciated.

****

Graff  is looking east and south from under the tree. "You can see all of them from here," he says. "All three towers." He sweeps his hand east to west. "Riverbyrne, Crowfield, Mary's Pool." He looks back at Christian. "Though I'm damned if I know why you had to come out here to see."

Christian shades his eyes and follows along where Graff is pointing. "If I haven't seen it, I don't know it's there. I need to see what's happening."

Graff shrugs. He points downhill to the road. "That's what's happening. We're losing that road. That's Nault's road, these days."

Christian can see the towers in the distance, dark smudges lining the  southern horizon. "Tell me what it's been like."

Graff shakes his head. "We're getting pushed back all along the road. Two  big fortified farmhouses we held down by the river got overrun in the last two weeks."

"Nault's people?"

Graff is leaning back against the trunk of the tree. "Well, you know, that's up in the air. Men-at-arms, no banners.  Quick and hard, though." He points south and west again. "When the coup happened up at Rhemuth, Nault was nobody. Local lord, maybe a step up from cattle thief. He wrote the Queen, pledged his loyalty, and turfed out Duke Nigel's men from those three towers. Hold those three towers, you've got the best roads north to Rhemuth. He got some money from the Queen, kept the roads for us."

"And then it changed, When?"

"He was always extorting extra tolls on merchants," Graff says. "Picked up some bits of land for himself. We mostly put up with it.  Then three, four months ago, maybe— he started saying he didn't need our people on his roads, that he was holding the roads for the Queen all by himself. That came to some push-and-shove, a few brawls, but nothing open.  And then a lot of the other locals in Danoc country started following Nault's lead in things. Bought off. Nowadays, I wouldn't risk sending our people down through here unless I had a couple of hundred horse."

Christian looks back over at Graff.  He's inclined to trust Graff on that. Graff's been Falcon Horse for a decade. Graff's from Finisterre, or so he says, but half the time you can hear R'Kassi in his voice. Been a light-horse captain twenty years and more.  Grey, lean, hard.

"No Haldane troops yet?"

"Not yet. Raiding parties, though, they come through a lot these days. Nault always claims he's chasing them down, but they keep hitting our lines. When the Haldanes do come, though, these are key roads. Like I said, you hold those towers, you're halfway home to Rhemuth."

Christian looks along the road. "Who's coming in here? Somebody's paying Nault, Who's been coming in?"

Graff shrugs. "Not the Bremagni. Ever since you and the Queen gave me this part of our lines to run, I've had people watching the river and watching the roads out of Llannedd. It's not them."

"Keep looking. Look for strangers out of the south— Andelon, the Forcinn, Logreine. Places like that."

Graff looks at him hard. "What do you know that I don't?"

Christian shakes his head. "Nothing, maybe.  But something's happening. It's just hints."

"None of those places have any money. They don't want to be part of the wars here."

"You're right. But I'm thinking southerners as cut-outs, as couriers."

Graff looks southeast. "The kind of money Nault's throwing around, you need more than couriers. I'll keep looking." He stops and stares down along the road. "Patrol coming."

Christian holds up a hand and signals down the reverse of the hill.  His escort is down there— four of Graff's troopers in Falcon Horse scarves, a couple of Queen's Moors. 

Graff motions him down in the tall grass. "They never come up off the road these days. Sure of themselves— they ride through and they know it's their country."

One of the Moors comes up bent over behind Christian and hands him a thick cloth bag with a drawstring. Christian nods. "Shukran bezzef."

Graff looks back from the road and frowns. Christian is pulling a polished-wood case from the bag. He extracts a leather-wrapped tube and pulls at one end. Two smaller tubes slide outward.

Down on the road, there's a party of horsemen coming into view, half a dozen men-at-arms and a pair of officers. You can see a hint of green and scarlet, Nault's colours. Christian puts the tube to one eye.

"What's that do?" Graff asks. "Doesn't feel like magic."

"It's a far-glass," Christian says. "Spyglass. Makes things look close up."

"One more thing I missed, even growing up Deryni."

"Not Deryni," Christian says. He sounds distracted and distant. "I think the Moors figured it out. Lenses and glass."

In the glass he can see the men-at-arms. Nothing special, he thinks. Leather and chainmail, thick-set horses. He looks at the officers and moves the glass around them. Even in the spyglass, their faces are small as fingernails. New fittings on the horses, now. That's something. Bright and gaudy and new, just like their cloaks. Nault's officers, with money to spend on flash bits and bright cloaks.  Money's flowing out, flowing downhill. Nault's showing off, showing how important he is.

"Where'd you get it— the far-glass thing?" Graff is there next to him in the grass

"One of Duke Nigel's townhouses in Rhemuth. After the coup. These things are rare. Bloody expensive, too. I got this, Aurelian got an armillary sphere."

"What's an armillary sphere when it's at home, then?"

Christian is still staring down at the passing patrol. "Shows where the stars are moving. It's a navigation thing."

Graff grins at him.  "Things for mapmakers and ship pilots. And here I am thinking you were a steppe horseman."

Christian shrugs. "The steppe or the western ocean. It's pretty much the same. Sea of grass and all that." He brings the far-glass down. "They're in what passes for  finery here. Nault's got money to spend."

"Nault's aiming high. Two things worth knowing. No Haldane troops in his lands yet, but Nault's negotiating with Duke Nigel.  There was a meeting not long ago." Graff grins again. "You know, a secret meeting. Meaning Nault was bragging about it to all his admirers and hangers-on for weeks."

"He would. You had people there?"

"I did. Duke Nigel sent a couple of his senior officials. Sent one of his sons, too."

Christian frowns. "Which one?"

"The oldest one— Conall."

"Duke Nigel sent his heir?  He's making the meeting official. Whatever happens, it's coming soon."

Graff is looking dead south, toward Crowfield tower. "That's not the best part, though. Nault goes through wives like I go through beer. Got two pretty daughters from his last couple. Very pretty. Older one's got fox-coloured hair; they call her Autumn. The other's white-blonde, blonder than your woman. They call her Winter. Both of them with...reputations. Been spread on more than a few bedspreads.  The older one threw herself at Nigel's son all through dinner for a couple of nights. Did everything but climb over the table to get at him. Nault's aiming high."

It's all Christian can do not to laugh. "Poor Conall Haldane. His handlers must've been spitting nails. If Nault thinks Duke Nigel would ever marry off his heir to some cattle-lifter's daughter, he's a damn' fool."

"He is a damn' fool. Thinks he's important now. The daughter, though... Well, I  really like that red hair. Look, Nault's thinking he'll stay important. He won't. A couple of days after the Haldanes take Rhemuth back, Nault's finished. He won't be an earl, he won't be Lord Warden of the Border. He'll be lucky not to be outlawed."

"That's all true. But somebody's pouring money into his coffers right now. They'll cut Nault off and give it to somebody else."

"Somebody who's not us. Somebody not the Queen."

"That's what I need to know— who's spending the money, who's got the money to spend. I mean, we know what they want, They want the Haldanes back over all Gwynedd and they want the Queen dead. I need to know who they are."

Graff is thinking. "The meeting. I had people there, at least for the dinners. Nault doesn't know much about intelligencers. You'd have to be standing next to him in a mask and a black cloak writing down notes before he'd think you were a spy. But before the meeting... Maybe a couple of weeks before, I lost three of my people. Two just vanished— one at Nault's court, one down at Mary's Pool tower.  The third disappeared from court, but showed up in Desse, dead.  I mean, it happens. Luck runs out, bad luck comes in threes. But all three were Deryni."

"Does Nault have Deryni of his own?"

"Not a chance. As far as I know, he's never had anything to do with Deryni at all. He's supposed to be scared of magic— at least the hill magic kind. Curses and poisons."

"How'd your third man die?"

"Not a mark on him. Not stabbed, not bludgeoned, not garroted. But his eyes were bleeding when they found him. There were witnesses to that. I'm thinking—"

"Mind-stripped, yes."

"Look, this was before the meeting. Whoever did it, they didn't care about the meeting itself. They cared about us knowing it was being arranged. But it wasn't Duke Nigel's people."

Christian sighs. Down there on the road the patrol has vanished out of sight westward. He slides the stages of the spyglass back inside one another. "What they cared about," he says, "was us knowing who was funding Nault or maybe who was briefing Nault on what to say at the meeting. And they cared about Deryni, not about your ordinary informants."

"You're not saying Torenthi, are you? There hasn't been a Torenthi agent in any of the border commands in at least a year. The Torenthi care about what's up in your part of the world, these days."

"It's not Torenth. It's someone else. They're working through southerners. I know that."

Graff frowns, "You're the mapmaker and I'm just a horse archer, but...who's they? Am I missing something? Is there a rich kingdom out there that's just not on the map?"

Christian stands up. "Whoever it is, they think they're better than kingdoms. They have money— they have a lot of money —and they're Deryni. They got rid of your agents because they didn't want to be seen as Deryni. They think they don't need an army, or they think they can use other people's armies."

Graff stands up next to Christian and slaps at bits of winter grass on the leather of his armour. "Just what have you and your woman done? I've fought steppe tribes and Moors and Haldanes for you, but are we fighting the King of Faerie  now? Fighting the King Under the Hill?"

"Something like that."

"And here I could've retired to drink good R'Kassan beer or Finisterre apple brandy."

"Not a chance." Christian laughs. "You'll die in leather and chainmail like we all will. It's a huszár thing."

Graff points at the towers again. "If they reached an agreement, Nault and Duke Nigel's people, if the Haldanes have those towers and the roads, they could be in Rhemuth in a few weeks. We can't hold them, you know that. The southern front is shredding. We're going to lose Rhemuth very soon, no matter what."

Christian shrugs. "A little while longer. All we need is a little while. Then we get everybody out and clear. What I need now— what the Queen needs —is to know who's behind this. Get people back into Nault's castle. Bribe his friends. Look for southerners. Look for Deryni. Find where the money is coming from and how it gets here."

Christian motions down to the escort to mount. He turns back to Graff. "Make me lists-- who Nault's friends  are, who his hangers-on are, who drinks with him, who's sleeping with his pretty daughters. Break it down. Get me the lists, copies to Aurelian at Valoret. Let's grab some people and get some interviews done. Let's ask some questions."

Graff nods. "You're going back to the Queen?"

"No... Not yet. I'm not sure just where, though. Down south, maybe. You hold the line here in Danoc for a while. I think I'm going to the Forcinn."

[DerynifanK]

It gets more and more intriguing. Who is this mysterious player and what is his game? Whose side is he on? Probably his own. No real clues as yet. Good writing Dr. M but could you write a little faster please. My curiosity is killing me.

[Jerusha]

And now Conall shows up - intriguing.  I confess I have no clue where the money might be coming from (good writing, DoctorM!), and I too am curious to find out.

[DoctorM]

And now Conall shows up - intriguing.  I confess I have no clue where the money might be coming from (good writing, DoctorM!), and I too am curious to find out.

I'm planning the revelation out... So I'll be working on that! (Thanks for liking the writing!)

[DoctorM]

It gets more and more intriguing. Who is this mysterious player and what is his game? Whose side is he on? Probably his own. No real clues as yet. Good writing Dr. M but could you write a little faster please. My curiosity is killing me.

I will work on doing things a bit faster-- I'm trying to shape the revelation and what it implies... There are a few clues I've dropped over the last few episodes, by the way... And thank you very much for liking the writing!

[drakensis]

While it's tempting to blame Coram, I suspect that Wencit is the most likely candidate.

[Laurna]

My mind has been racing to Coram all along. However Wencit has more funds than anyone.  but there is Warren De Gray; he hates all Deryni and Charisa is Deryni.

[Nezz]

I'm just loving this story. Maybe someday soon you might number your chapters so we know how to read it for best effect?

[DoctorM]

While it's tempting to blame Coram, I suspect that Wencit is the most likely candidate.

Ah, now. I have been dropping a few hints. We'll just have to see...

[DoctorM]

My mind has been racing to Coram all along. However Wencit has more funds than anyone.  but there is Warren De Gray; he hates all Deryni and Charisa is Deryni.

Wencit has his own problems in the northeast (Bran's offensives into Torenthi territory) and inside Torenth itself (Lionel and others in revolt)...so his money may be spent. All I'll say is...go back and look for hints in the last few stories.

[DoctorM]

I'm just loving this story. Maybe someday soon you might number your chapters so we know how to read it for best effect?

I will have to that! The last few episodes have been pretty much in chronological order, but I will get you a full list!