Last Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 2) (26 page)

              “We are far from discussing the parameters of a treaty.  You do understand the grave circumstances between us?  Right?”

              “Grave?  Oh, no!  Not all.  I wouldn’t call them grave.  There simply has been a misunderstanding!”

              “Oh,” Berrien said with a smile that came as slowly as his words.  “This misunderstanding insulted His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Hargon.  Not only was he embarrassed by your queen’s actions, it angered him to the point where he feels that Karmon might be a threat to the empire.  And when the emperor is angry and embarrassed, he is not pleasant.  And when he is not pleasant, he sometimes makes rash decisions.  I know you don’t want him to make rash decisions.”

              “Of course not!”

              Berrien leaned forward and said with a much louder voice, “Then what are you going to do about it?”

              “I can certainly meet with the queen and discuss the issues,” Lord Martin said weakly, showing the fear that was in his heart.

              “Not only have you let a woman run things, but you have let a girl run your kingdom.  A girl with no experience as a leader, one who is prone to rash and naïve actions.  She is smart enough to have men like you around, but she is not smart enough to give you the power to act in the best interest of the kingdom.”

              “The queen may be young,” Lord Martin protested.  “But she comes from royal stock and has good wits about her.”

              “Really?” Berrien said with a laugh.  “Do you really believe that?  Or are you just saying that because you do not wish to disparage your queen?”

              Lord Martin sat back in his chair and looked down at his goblet.

              Berrien leaned back in his own chair as well.  He sipped from his goblet before continuing. “I thought so.  Your kingdom is a small spot on our map.  A place that the emperor cares very little for.  Your location on the continent offers no real military advantage to our army.  Your land is mostly forest with the Gulf of Taran on the west coast, and the great oceans on your south and east.  The White Mountain range protects your north.  If an army did try and invade us from the east, it would go through your kingdom first.  We would simply camp our army on the other side of the White Mountains and wait there in ambush.  You have no real army.  Your knights, formidable as they are, would not stand up to the overwhelming might of the centurions.  It would be simply numbers.  For every Knight you could put on the battlefield, we could put forth a hundred soldiers carrying long pikes.  Yes, it would be bloody.  But yes, we would win.  Your natural resources do not offer us much, either.  What you have here, we pretty much have somewhere in our empire.  There are some beavers and other small animal pelts that you have here that we cannot find anywhere else, but it is certainly not worth taking over your kingdom for.”

              “Then why did Neffenmark sign a treaty that would establish a garrison of Taran soldiers in our kingdom?” Lord Martin shot back.

              Berrien was surprised not at the question itself, but the accusing tone.  Up until this moment, Lord Martin had been an overwhelmed underling trying to play the part of a leader.  And he was failing miserably.  He was easily influenced by words and tone of voice.  But the question and tone told Berrien that Lord Martin was not stupid, nor was he a completely ineffective advisor to the queen.  He just wasn’t suited for leadership.  Which is why there was a queen on the throne and not a king named Martin.

              “Neffenmark was power hungry,” Berrien replied.  “His goal was to gain the throne of Karmon with any means necessary.  And he did, did he not?  And in doing so, he, as the king of your kingdom, with full authority to do so, signed a peace agreement with Taran.  It is the position of the emperor that the treaty be enforced in full.”

              Lord Martin shook his head.  “We will not have a Taran garrison in the city.  Friend or not, we will not have your army inside our walls.  We can entertain all the other provisions of the treaty that Neffenmark established, but I can assure you, the queen will not accept a foreign garrison in Karmon.”

              “And do you know what will happen if I returned back to Taran to tell Emperor Hargon that you are not going to honor the treaty?  I will tell you.  He will not be happy, and he will realize that maybe Karmon does offer a military advantage.  He will realize that the great trees of your forests can be felled and used for constructing a great city in the eastern province.  Imagine a city two, three, four times bigger than South Karmon sitting in the middle of the forest.  This city, let us call it Hargon for talking purposes, would be the greatest city in the entire world.  And he would do it, not because he needs to, but because he can.  Emperors are like that.  They like to just do things because they can.”

              Lord Martin’s face turned a light shade of red and his hands started to shake.  “You are threatening us?”

              “You have insulted the emperor of the greatest nation on earth.  Taran does not make threats.”

              Lord Martin’s voice became very quiet.  It shook while he spoke.  “I can only share your concerns with the queen.”

              Berrien took his time to refill his goblet with wine.  Hibold had been very clear about how this meeting needed to end, which Berrien had found slightly disappointing.  Although he was given wide latitude in how he handled the meeting, Hibold told him in no uncertain terms that he was to leave with a reestablished relationship between their nations.  He didn’t really care about the previous treaty, but Karmon needed to think that Taran was her friend.  But Berrien wasn’t going to allow this insignificant lord the chance to take advantage of him.  He would be the one who takes advantage of the lord.  The treaty would be in place and a garrison of Tarans would be in the South Karmon.  Lord Martin was just the weak leader to allow that to happen.

              “I am afraid that will not suffice.  The emperor is not a patient man.  He will expect an answer upon my arrival.  And I shall be leaving shortly.”

              Berrien took a long drink from his goblet and watched Lord Martin fidget.  He set the goblet down on the table and said, “I really do want this to work out between us.  A friendly relationship between Karmon and Taran is highly beneficial to everyone.  From the common people, to the merchants and tradesmen, all the way up to you and me.”

              “Of course,” Lord Martin agreed.

              “If I left as planned, without a commitment from you, then both of our nations would suffer.  And we would suffer.  With the promise of a treaty, I could delay my departure until spring.  This would keep the emperor satisfied, as the treaty would be all but a done deal.  I will simply report that we are finalizing the terms and wording.”

              “But the queen…” Lord Martin stammered.

              “Will be persuaded,” Berrien finished for him.

              “How?  I have tried to talk to her about the importance of peace with Taran, but she really doesn’t believe me.”

              “Then I will help you convince her.”

              Lord Martin hesitated to respond.  A cold chill crept up his spine, but he knew he had no option but to accept the help of the foreigner.  “Go on.”

              “There is a certain danger to having Taran as an enemy.”

              Lord Martin let out a forced laugh.  “You want me to convince her to have peace with Taran by threatening her?  That is no way to have a relationship!  If you want me to be able to convince Queen Elissa to sign a treaty with Taran, I will need something more than that.”

              “You’ve had a water problem in your city and it is only going to get worse through winter.”

              Lord Martin blushed, trying to hide his lie.  “It is a minor problem that we are working through.”

              “You have poisoned wells, Lord Martin.  And I know why.”

              “Poisoned?  Hardly!  The wells are fine.  I don’t know what you are talking about!”

              “You lie very poorly, Lord Martin.  I know, because I know who did it.”

              There was a commotion behind them and a loud cry of pain.  Lord Martin jumped up and spun around, seeing the larger man holding the smaller man down.

              Iffus was on the ground, crying out in pain as Peter had one of the smaller man’s arms pulled behind his back and the side of his head crushed against the hard stone floor.

              Berrien stepped up to Lord Martin and said softly in his ear, “This man is a spy from Taran.  He was put in place by the same man who started your war with Thell.  He is part of a rogue element within the empire that is trying to bring the empire down.  Emperor Hargon has been trying to root out these enemies for many years and we have now discovered that they have extended their operations into other countries.  They are terrorists who will do anything they can to disrupt the dealings of the empire.  Their plan was to poison your water supply and then make sure that the empire is blamed.  Fortunately for you, I was able to find the terrorist before they were able to complete their plans and blame the empire.”

              Iffus continued to struggle to speak, but Peter had has forearm across his throat.  With no size or strength, Iffus could do nothing.  Eventually, what strength he had wore out and he just laid on the ground with Peter on top of him.

              “Guards!” Lord Martin called out.

              It did not take five seconds before four armed guards burst into the chamber, their swords drawn and ready.  Peter wrestled Iffus up off the ground his arm still around the man’s throat so that he could not speak.  His eyes were wide with fear, knowing that he had been crossed by his own people and his life was clearly over.  There would be nothing he could say that would save his life as Berrien clearly had the ear of the Karmon lord.

              “Take him away!” Lord Martin ordered.  “Bind him in his cell.”

              “Go with them, Peter,” Berrien ordered.  “Make sure that Iffus behaves himself.”

              It took only moments for the room to be cleared, leaving Berrien and Lord Martin alone.

              “Taran’s poisoned our water?” Lord Martin said as much to himself as to Berrien.

              “No,” Berrien said.  “Terrorists.  These are a group of people that do not represent the empire and wish the empire to fall.  They will do anything to try and accomplish their goal.  And this includes going into other nations to do their work.  They have no conscience, no mercy.  They are evil.  You clearly need our help to root out these people.  You cannot do it alone, which has been proven.  And we don’t need a garrison here to help you either.  We just need a friendly relationship where we can help you.  Now, can we get that done?”

              Lord Martin did not know what to think as things seemed to be moving too fast for him.  “I think so,” he finally said.  “I think this will help convince her.”

              “Of course it will,” Berrien said.  “And you will not do it alone, either.”

              Berrien looked around the chambers, smiling at the warmth from the fire and the coziness that it offered.  “This room will suit us fine.  We will need blankets for sleeping.”

              Lord Martin glanced around, following Berrien’s eyes, a puzzled look on his face.  “What?”

              “This chamber, it will suit us fine.  The fire, it shall burn as strong as this day and night?  Yes?  And the cheese and meats?  Common fare for you, I am sure.  Very enjoyable.  And this wine, it is very tasty.  I am sure there is much more were it came from?  Yes?”

              “But,” Lord Martin stammered, looking around the chamber.  “These are not sleeping quarters.  This is a royal meeting chamber.”

              “Bedding, of course,” Berrien said.  “Will make it a sleeping chamber.  And if you would have a page come down to tidy things up a bit, that would be wonderful.”

              Lord Martin was stunned to silence.

              “And more wine.  Please make sure the page brings more wine.”  Berrien put his arm around Lord Martin and walked him to the door.  “Do not worry, I am at your side while we get through this.  In no time, we will have our treaty, your borders will be safe, your water will be safe, and your kingdom will be safe.”             

              “Of course,” Lord Martin said softly as he was escorted through the door.

              With the door closed behind him, Lord Martin realized what had happened.  His authority, what little he had, had just been usurped.  But he knew there was not much that he could do about it.  If there were terrorists in his city, he would need Berrien’s help to find them and keep them from doing any more damage than they had already done.  Plus it would give him an ally to try and get the queen to understand what she needed to do to keep control of the kingdom. 

***

              Berrien stepped back over to the table that held the wine and refilled his goblet.  He drank the fine wine like it was water, guzzling it down.  He popped a few cheese chunks in his mouth and looked around the room, feeling the enjoyable warmth of the fire.

              His plans had actually worked out much better than he had expected.  Not only had he gotten the ear of the lord, he had been able to procure himself a fine place to spend the winter.  There was no guilt in his heart at what he did to Iffus.  It was just the nature of the business for sacrifices to be made.  His biggest worry was whether or not Peter would handle it well, but he did just as a professional would.  It gave him the confidence to know that Peter could be counted on and trusted in the future.