Two Kingdoms 49 - Borders

[DoctorM]

TWO KINGDOMS 49: BORDERS

This is the forty-ninth part of an AU construction about a Gwynedd where the duel at Kelson Haldane's coronation went very differently indeed. We are now nearly three years into the Gwynedd Wars-- Charissa's new kingdom at Valoret against the Haldanes in the south and the kingdom of Torenth in the east. This episode follows some time after "Dancers". As always, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

*****

"No violence," Tendall is saying. "It didn't come to that. No one wanted it."

Duke Nigel looks up from the map table. Tendall is Sir Martin, and his brother is the Duke of Corwyn's hereditary chancellor. "No one wanted it yet," the duke says. "But it's coming. Four tries, four refusals. Rheljan's people are keeping their borders closed. They're serious about it."

The king is there listening. Duke Nigel and Nigel's son and heir Conall are there, and sitting there next to King Kelson is the new McLain bishop of Rhemuth, who's been the young king's advisor-in-chief most of the last year.

It's summer here in Gwynedd, and they're closeted in an upper room at Rhemuth Castle with the king. The duke of Corwyn's chancellor has sent his brother with news from the northeastern front. Corwyn is Lord General of the royal armies, and his messengers have been refused entry into Rheljan country. Royal orders that Baron Rheljan put his troops under Corwyn command and declare for the Haldane king have been rejected. Somewhere up in the Rheljan mountains today, the Witch Queen's Leopard banners are flying.

Duke Nigel's son Conall leans in over the map. "What if Duke Alaric went himself? What if he made the demand in person?"

Tendall and Duke Nigel look at one another. The duke shakes his head. "We can't spare him. Alaric Morgan is bringing up an army to Rhemuth. We'll be fighting across the Molling against the Shadow Queen. She's our first priority."

Tendall looks down the table at the king and grimaces. "Your Grace— Your Majesty —if I may. The war against Wencit of Torenth is popular in Rheljan. The Rheljan lords hate the Torenthi, and more than that...the Baron Rheljan has been winning fights. There's been no violence against any messengers so far, but Rheljan's people are inside Truvorsk, and they're not going to give that up. Even if His Grace of Corwyn could get to Rheljan country and bring your orders, they wouldn't listen."

"That's open treason," the bishop of Rhemuth says. "We need to begin a process to have Rheljan outlawed. We did that for Bran Coris back three years ago. We can do it for Rheljan now. And King Kelson can get a new baron created— a loyal one."

Duke Nigel is tracing a finger over the map. "Loyal. Would that be a McLain as the new baron, my lord bishop?"

"Uncle." The king cuts him off. "That isn't helping."

"This has all been a mistake. I said that from the start. Rheljan's a proud man; he always was. We could've brought him back into the fold. We could've used him against Wencit."

The king's face is set. "No. This is about clarity. It's about picking clear sides. Rheljan and too many others— they think they can fight their private wars and attend to their private ambitions and still call themselves loyal. They think they can pick and choose when and how to be loyal. That's been going on since my father was murdered, and I'm not having it. We need clarity. Everyone has to be very clear what side he's on. Everyone has to show it, too."

Duke Nigel draws in a breath. "Nephew," he says, "that's a dangerous position. Everyone who isn't openly on our side must be the enemy? That's not where we need to be."

"His Majesty is right about this," the bishop says. "We can't be left bargaining with lords and their personal ambitions. Everything that's happened since the Shadow Queen's coup shows what happens when loyalty is bargained for. Bran Coris changed coats for a duke's coronet. Baron Rheljan thinks he can fight a war alongside the Shadow Queen and still call himself loyal if he just doesn't say he's her ally. You might want to consult Revelations: those who aren't hot or cold, the ones who won't choose a side and stand by it, God will spit them out."

Duke Nigel shrugs. "We're fighting a war against the Shadow Queen to get Kelson's kingdom back. As soon as we're done there, we'll be fighting Wencit."

"And we'll be putting the kingdom back together." The king is looking back and forth from Duncan McLain to Duke Nigel.  "We have too many lords who think the king is just first among equals. There's a term for all that— overmighty subjects. The magnates and the barons have to know that the Crown comes from God. They have to know that there's one king in this kingdom, and that they're loyal only to him."

Nigel looks at Tendall. "My nephew knows all the most modern theories of kingship. And I agree that a king can't be at the mercy of his lords. You can't run a kingdom if every lord and every burgess gets to vote and bargain about every decision. Nonetheless, someone like Rheljan— we should've let him go on fighting Wencit. When the time comes, we have more to offer him than Charissa. We can get him out from under Bran Coris' thumb, too."

Conall looks across at the king and back to his father. "If the Baron did withdraw from Truvorsk and come join Duke Alaric against Charissa, wouldn't everyone think that we didn't care about Wencit? That we'd let Wencit have Truvorsk back and not care if he went into Gwynedd so long as we could fight the Witch Queen?"

Nigel nods. "You're not wrong. Not at all."

Down the table, Duncan McLain raises an eyebrow. He can't decide whether Nigel's son was directing a barb at his cousin the king. That's something to think about.

The king raps on the table. "Rheljan has to be made an example. All of them, all the lords up at Valoret— they have to learn a lesson. The Witch Queen murdered my father. He was their lord; they'd pledged themselves  to him. They can't back away from their oaths. If they want to keep their lands and their titles and their heads, they have to be loyal to me. I'm the king of Gwynedd; Charissa is a usurper and a murderer. If they're not standing under my banner, they're helping her. There's no room for private ambitions. I saw what happened as soon as my father died and Charissa had her coup— everyone jumping to see what he could get for himself, everyone forgetting about loyalty, the kingdom coming apart. I won't have that."

Kelson turns to the bishop. "Start the process for a trial in absentia. Duncan, draw up a proclamation of outlawry for Rheljan and his chief banners." He looks back at Duke Nigel. "I want Alaric hurried along.  I want us over the Molling. I want my father's killer destroyed and I want all Gwynedd out from under her tyranny. My father died three years and more ago. I'm not waiting another three years to avenge him. We're putting Gwynedd back together. We're doing it now."

[tmcd]

Bishop of Rhemuth, not Archbishop?

[DoctorM]

Well, Duncan is still young. And the Church hasn't chosen a new Archbishop yet. I'm not sure that it would choose an openly Deryni cleric, given the political situation.

[tmcd]

How would they know Duncan was Deryni? That came out in the main timeline only with the Incident at Saint Torin's, which presumably didn't happen in this timeline.

[DoctorM]

Hmmm... Are you sure? I was thinking that Duncan was the first Deryni priest ordained in a long, long time and that the Church wasn't altogether thrilled. Didn't Bad Things happen to the priest who ordained him?  Though I'll be the first to admit that my memory is long out of date.

Still...he's very young, and even with royal patronage, I'd think the top candidates would be older, more well-established men.

[Evie]

Duncan was the first ordained in years other than Denis Arilan (who might have been instrumental in helping Duncan avoid being detected by the merasha drugged wine used to screen Deryni out, or at least the Codex seems to hint at that), but that wasn't common knowledge as it would have resulted in him being burned at the stake for daring to defy the Statutes of Ramos by seeking ordination despite being Deryni. That was the reason Jorian was martyred and the fate Denis appears to have escaped only by divine intervention.

There might have been suspicions that Duncan might be Deryni because he was known to be Alaric's friend and distant cousin through their fathers, but their closer first cousin relationship through their mothers was secret to nearly everyone. Denis appears to have somehow found out or at least suspected earlier on, and as time went on in the series, it became more of a topic of speculation, but there was no public proof of Duncan being Deryni until he chose to reveal himself as such at Dhugal 's knighting in QFSC.

Of course, in an AU, that public knowledge might have come about sooner and/or in some other way, though if it was known prior to his ordination, then either conditions in the AU couldn't have been quite as dire at the time for Deryni or some reasonable backstory explanation needs to exist for how Duncan got away with it without being turned into a crispy critter. 😅

[Jerusha]

Conall delivers a barb at his cousin the king?  Well, my goodness, such a thought. 

[DoctorM]

I defer to your knowledge on this. My memory is foggy here. Myself, I was just thinking that Duncan was young to be a full bishop, even with royal patronage, but that Kelson would certainly get him *something* episcopal. And since Rhemuth is only recently re-taken, the Church in the city was probably in need of a new bishop.

[DoctorM]

Conall delivers a barb at his cousin the king?  Well, my goodness, such a thought. 

I think there's some jealousy there to be seen, even if events haven't been at all like they were in the main timeline. It may also have to do with Conall having been knighted young and seen combat alongside his father-- he's feeling a bit experienced and grown-up.

[tmcd]

(I was still writing this when Evie posted above, hence the overlap.)

Denis Arilan had a classmate, Jorian, who was Deryni and tried to get ordained just before him. But they put merasha in the wine of consecration, he passed out. He was burned at the stake in the presence of Denis, Alaric, and the assembled students of the seminary and others. (The King's Deryni, chs. 40-42) Denis Arilan got ordained because [spoilers]. ("The Priesting of Arilan", The Deryni Archives) He said, "I was the first, once". (The Quest for Saint Camber, ch. 6)

Archbishop de Nore ordained him (bishops ordain priests), assisted by Gorony. Kelson gave Gorony and Loris the world's tightest necklace at the end of The King's Justice; I don't know if de Nore got what was coming to him or not.

Brion knew Duncan was Deryni ... well, I don't know that that was explicitly stated, but Brion put Duncan as a participant in Kelson's power-assumption ritual, so I presume he had to have known. Duncan told Kelson in Deryni Rising, ch. 14, right after Alaric was tried for littering and creating a nuisance, with a palimpsest with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back. (I have dated myself again.)

Duncan's Deryniness became public in Deryni Checkmate, ch. 14, which I finished rereading last night. Duncan is trapped in the tunnels of Saint Torin with Alaric, Gorony, Warin, Warin's men, and a fire. Warin had ordered the outside door locked from the outside, and Alaric was merasha-ed to uselessness. Duncan unlocked it with his Powers. Gorony said, "Oh, my God, he's one of them! A Deryni serpent in the very bosom of the Church!"

Duncan's Deryniness was mentioned at the synod at Dhassa where he and Alaric were excommunicated, but I think it somehow didn't become public public until Duncan knighted Dhugal with the Deryni auras there. ((The Quest for Saint Camber, ch. 3) Possibly the bishops didn't fully believe Gorony, given the circumstances. Denis also said, after the aura biz, "It was one thing when they only thought you might be Deryni.", and it's implied that Duncan might have been the second, with "a few others, too" in "the past two or three years", and that he was the one to arrange at least the other Deryni priests (and maybe Duncan too?).

I don't remember a scene with Duncan's ordination, but I might just not remember.

ANYWAY, all this is a small detail. Duncan might be Auxiliary Bishop like Denis had been, but it leaves open who the Archbishop might be. Maybe the Curia is overly-scrupulous because so many sees have unrecognized bishops, so there's no quorum ... but then they'd be stuck forever, I think, unless some bishops from Charissa's zone show up. (In our Anglican Church, an archbishop is elected by the bishops of his province, but I gather than Gwynedd elects them by a vote of the whole Curia of all the bishops.)

[tmcd]

"Myself, I was just thinking that Duncan was young to be a full bishop, even with royal patronage"

Duncan was auxiliary bishop of Rhemuth in The Quest for Saint Camber. That was when Kelson was knighted. He thinks about the age for knighthood, so he and Conall were about 18, so this would have been in 1124 or 1125, about a year after this.

I don't remember when Duncan got his bishophric -- must have been before the Mearan rebellion, because the first book was The Bishop's Heir.

[tmcd]

Of more importance:  "Loyal. Would that be a McLain as the new baron, my lord bishop?"

Nigel sniping at Duncan and the McLains?! Implying at best undue enrichment, at worst corruption and endangering the crown?! I wish the Web still had blink and marquee tags! What the hell is going on here?!

Mind you, I occasionally thought, in the main timeline, that Kelson's support was dangerously narrow. From High Deryni on, the McLain-McArdry-Morgan-Coris-Derry nexus, and Nigel and his sons -- among the greatest lords, that leaves out only Ewan and his son. Conall on his own almost managed to bring down or cripple the regime. If any of those had turned into (in English history terms) a Duke of Buckingham (Charles I), a Woodville (Edward IV), a Despenser (Edward II) -- that is, if any of the mainstays got a reputation as greedy and/or incompetent and/or otherwise worthless ... well, Alaric and Duncan's reputation alone was one episcopal vote from getting Kelson excommunicated, Gwynedd interdicted, and the realm destroyed when Wencit was invading.

In that timeline, Kelson really needed to spread out his base, but Ralston, Colin, Sir Richard, Ian, and Bran end up often bad but all dead. He should be glomming onto the archbishops and sympathetic bishops like Wulfram, especially given the Deryni situation. The fellow marrying Araxie's sister is a bit of a start of spreading out. Kelson could cultivate knights like Javan tried to do -- pity that Sir Richard took a poisoned dagger for Alaric. General Gloddruth, earl of Eastmarch, whom he pried out of Jared's cold dead hands.

But I'm digressing. I'm still shocked at Nigel. Have Nigel and Duncan + Alaric started forming up into two factions, maybe?

[drakensis]

It's not impossible that Duncan is acting more as a representative of Stefan Coram and his group. We don't know what's been happening.

Meanwhile Kelson has likely spent 3 years angry and frustrated - nothing seems to be going right for him. Throw in some advice that is very black and white, and I can see a young angry king leaning into it. Because shades of grey are not appealing in those circumstances.

And of course, from the timing... what's going on in Meara at the moment. This would be excellent timing for the House of Quinnell to make a return.

[tmcd]

If Nigel's strategy is what they've been doing for the last 3 years, then a natural reaction is "[obscenity] this for a game of soldiers, let's try something different".

But Nigel might still be correct. I'm thinking his opinion is that Kelson has a lousy hand to play, so you push things as far as you can (not that far, really) without going too far.

[DoctorM]

Yes-- I think we do have hints of factions forming. There's nothing more natural: each clan, family, affinity is very much aware off where it stands on the ladder of status, influence, patronage, and wealth. Nigel is going to be aware of the McLains and the Cassan clan. Up north, Burchard de Varlan is sizing up the Marley clan. (And I suspect that many of the northern / pro-Charissa lords have their own views of new men/outsiders like both Aurelian and Christian.)

I think that for Kelson, these last three years have been infuriating. The Haldanes have re-taken Rhemuth, yes, and Alaric Morgan is returning to the wars. But he hasn't yet been able to avenge Brion, and he's well aware that the political structure in Gwynedd was never as stable as he'd thought. I think he believes  that to win this war, he'll need to assert some kind of divine right/absolutist ideology...and that will be harder than he thought.