The Cerberus Rebellion (A Griffins & Gunpowder Novel) (14 page)

“
My Lords,” he said as he strode through the hall. The sleeping nobles were nudged awake by those around them and all eyes were on the last of the western dukes to arrive.

Haldane Strong stood. “Lord Seward, I’m glad to see the bay did not best you. The winter seas are known to be hazardous.”

“
There isn’t a storm that has been able to best me or my ships,” Putnam bragged. “Though with as many men and supplies as I brought, I’m surprised the ships didn’t sink on their own accord.”

Half of a dozen lesser nobles followed behind the Duke of Sea Watch. Most swore their fealty to Dalton Croutcher but held lands closer to Sea Watch than to the main rail lines.

Elvin Arington of Seaguard, Branton Kerby of West Gate and Emory Blackman of Black Mountain still wore their salt stained clothes. Their faces were wind burnt and their hair was in tangles.

The dukes stepped out of the hall and the lesser nobles found their seats among the tables as stewards flowed into the hall once more. They carried long furled banners and moved to hang them around the hall.

The stewards refilled the flagons with wine, beer and mead and finally cleared the breakfast plates. The midday meal would be presented soon and Hadrian wondered what they would be served. The Tirrell Barony was known for its spice market and it was always a source of mystery when the expert cooks were put to work.

Lord Simon Cardwell was seated to Hadrian’s left. The boy had been the Earl of West Shore for nearly half of his sixteen years, but had only just come out from under the regency of his mother. Despite his relative youth, he carried himself with more authority than many of the nobles in the hall.

“
My lord.” Hadrian greeted the earl with a nod.

“
Lord Clyve, a pleasure to see you.” Simon inclined his head in greeting and poured himself a mug of mead. “How long have you been encamped?”

“
I arrived five days ago,” Hadrian said, pouring himself a mug too. “I was tasked with collecting the levies for my wife’s father, and some of his lesser lords were reluctant.”

“
How is Lord Tullen?”

“
He is aging poorly,” Hadrian confessed. “I fear that if this expedition carries too long I will not be present to see his passing and ease my wife’s grief.”

“
I pray that Hedron will stay his reaping until you are able to return to your lands,” Simon offered. Few were so bold as to pray to the God of Death, but Hadrian would not point that out to the young man.

“
I thank you, my lord.” Hadrian raised his mug. “Milord, would you pardon me? I see a few old friends that I feel compelled to greet.”

“
Of course,” Simon said.

Conversations sparked as the nobles were seated and Hadrian found his way to the floor to greet some of the newly arrived nobles.

Lords Burnard Paullin, the Baron of Ridere, and Harleigh Leaman, Baron Saewald, had found themselves seated with Raedan and Lord Weston.

“
Ah, the other Clyve,” Harleigh greeted. “What brings you down to chatter amongst the minor nobles?”

“
Harleigh,” Burnard chastised, but the man waved him off.

“
A joke,” he offered with a smiled. Hadrian grasped his hand and shook it firmly. The discomfort in Leaman’s eyes was obvious. “I understand that your sister was wed just before we received the King’s summons.”

“
Indeed,” Hadrian confirmed. “To the younger son of Earl Odwolfe.”

“
Your influence just continues to spread,” Harleigh noted.

Hadrian ignored the jab. Harleigh had wanted his heir to be married to Stephanie and when Hadrian had refused the match, the Baron Saewald had tried to involve their liege lords. That move had been ill-conceived and Lord Croutcher had extracted a gold payment out of the lesser noble in payment for the poor manners.

Raedan seemed to sense the tension, as he said, “Midday meal should be served soon.” His fingers caressed the onyx stone in his amulet and his eyes narrowed.

“
I’ve heard that Tirrell’s cooks are the best in Ansgar,” Harleigh said.

“
Have the ham, if it is offered,” Hadrian suggested. He heard someone clear his throat and turned to see the dukes had returned. “If you will excuse me.”

Hadrian was back in his seat before the dukes had taken theirs. A heavy gavel slammed onto the center table and the stewards scurried from the room. Every door was shut and Hadrian quickly noted that everyone except for the nobles had left the room. Everyone’s attention was focused on the center of the dais.

“
My lords.” Dalton’s voice cut through the silence after an uncomfortable pause. As the senior noble present, it was his right to speak first. “I know that you are all wondering why we have called you here instead of waiting for everyone to assemble at Aetheston. This is a natural staging point for our journey to Aetheston. It is better suited than any of our duchies to gather troops via land and transport them by boat to the capital.”

Dalton paused. Hadrian noted the words and the way that they were said. The duke was being very careful how he approached the matter and the words that he left unsaid were as powerful as the words that he spoke.

“
But all of that, all of everything that we have done since we received the letters from King Garrard, has been a ruse. That His Majesty called our levies, and requested that we gather at Aetheston, was convenient. If he had not done so, it would have been difficult to explain our actions. Many of which were, in fact, planned years ago and put into action before His Highness knew that there was a war brewing across the Vast Sea.”

“
To what purpose did you make these plans?” Cedric McKinley asked.

“
To the purpose of freedom.”

The room exploded with shouting, mugs pounding on tables and the excited chatter of the nobles. Hadrian’s eyes narrowed; Raedan leaned back in his chair.

“
The issue has been discussed amongst the Dukes of Western Ansgar for more than one hundred years,” Dalton continued. “When Kerberos invaded our eastern lands, there was a serious discussion on whether to answer the call of King William or to leave him to fight the war for himself. And this king has only made the situation worse. Many of you have felt the effect of his higher taxes and of his unfair trade practices that favor Eastern merchants and nobles. Some of you have felt the results of his inaction.

“
And now he asks us to call our levies to arms and sail them thousands of miles to fight a war that we have no interest in.” Dalton stood and pressed his palms to the table. “Gentlemen, Lord Seward, Lord Ridley and I have called our full levies to arms as a sign that we are not like our king. While he would stand by and let you and your men sail across the Vast Sea to fight a war for his friends, we are willing to lead our own soldiers to battle for ours.”

“
Your Grace, if we do this…” Slayton Norwich let his voice trail off in suggestion.

“
If we do this, we will be branded as traitors. The King will likely claim our lands for the throne and will call his levies to arms. Freedom will not come without a cost, My Lords, I assure you of that. But at the end of the day we will be free, or we will be dead.”

“
The King will not stop at our own lives. Our wives, our children—”

Putnam spoke. “Lord Alvey, I have a wife and children as well. And I know what it will cost them if we were to fail. But isn’t freedom worth the risk?”

“
We will not force anyone to join us,” Dalton announced. “If you decide that this course of action does not suit you or your territories, we will not force your hand. We only ask that you remain neutral in the matter.”

“
How many soldiers do you request of us?” Hadrian asked. Their initial levies would not be sufficient to withstand the wrath of the king.

“
We ask for one of every four able men. Half of your full armed levies,” Dalton said. Some of the nobles complained loudly, others remained silent. “The other half will remain in your territories to act as your home guard. The duchies will contribute two thirds of our levies to the effort.”

“
And who is going to fund this insurrection?” Cedric asked. He was heir to one of the most wealthy territories in the west.

“
We will leverage our manufacturing, raw materials and volume of trade for loans where necessary. Taxes, however, will provide the majority of our funds.” The nobles that had previously remained silent joined their fellows in uproar as men shouted and pounded mugs on the tables. Dalton remained stone faced and waited for minutes until the noise finally subsided. “Do you not pay taxes to the Crown? The King claims five silver shields out of every golden crown that you bring into your coffers. We will not ask any more of you or your people.”

“
You say that now,” Burnard Paullin said. “But who is to say that when we are in the middle of this revolution that you will not suddenly ask for more?”

“
And what is to stop you from recalling your troops and begging forgiveness from the King?” Preston asked as he leaned forward in his chair. Dalton suppressed a grimace but Hadrian saw the twitch in his jaw. “Even if we have to purchase food and powder from across the Vast Sea, taxes will be able to sustain our campaign for many years.”

“
We brought you together here because we believed that you felt the same way that we did. We believed that you were willing to do what was necessary to bring our lands out from under the boot of a king thousands of miles away. We excluded anyone that we believed would not agree with our actions. That is why Earl Irwin is not present.”

Hadrian frowned as he realized that he had not noticed the missing noble. Lord Dalwin Holloway was one of the most respected nobles in Ansgar. He had ruled his territory for forty-five years and was a solid supporter of King Eadric.

He was unsure of his own feelings on the matter. His family had been loyal supporters of the Throne for century after century. They had been given their lands by Liam the First King in exchange for gold to fund the initial colonization of Ansgar. They had prospered with the rest of Ansgar and his children would need for nothing.

But the Crown had become lazy and unresponsive. When his claim to the Broken Plains Barony had come to arms, King Eadric had refused to provide funds or soldiers for the fight to reclaim the territory. And the trade agreements that flowed from Aetheston like water had become increasingly detrimental to his merchants. Taxes had increased by nearly half since the time of his father and there was no end in sight.

An independent nation in the west of Ansgar would change so many dynamics that Hadrian’s mind strained to consider them all. First, he thought of his family. As one of the closest advisors to Duke Arndell, he would wield considerable influence on the formation of the new nation. More influence than he had over the laws and governance of Ansgar.

The nobles of Western Ansgar had been loyal servants to the King in Aetheston for more than twelve hundred years. With the exception of a single uprising in the early years of the nation, an uprising that had been more about showing force than actual independence, there had never even been the whisper of revolution. And now the dukes had set into motion plans that would not only bring the issue to the forefront, but would do so in stunning fashion.

Hadrian looked up when Raedan stood. His brother towered over the seated nobles that surrounded him.

“
My Lords.” Raedan’s voice silenced the whispered conversations that had sprung up throughout the hall. He was eloquent, precise, and his voice carried well. He had learned well from their father. “I may be one of the newest nobles in this hall, but I come from a house with a long history and deep roots. I had to fight to reclaim the territory that would be mine. And when it came to that fight, His Grace Lord Croutcher and other nobles gathered here provided forces to my cause. But His Majesty King Eadric did not. He deemed that the territory was not worth the cost of the campaign to reclaim it. My lands are still in turmoil and our economy has not recovered, but I will stand with Duke Croutcher in this matter. I will pledge the service and arms of the Broken Plains Barony to this cause.”

Raedan remained standing. Other nobles stood and Hadrian found himself among them. The Revolution was started.

Chapter 9 - Raedan

Raedan clenched a small, tightly rolled cigar between his teeth. It wasn’t one of the cigars from the Black River, sweet leaf dipped in cherry juice, but it wasn’t terrible. A mixture of sweet and bitter leaf had been rolled and dipped in vanilla. The bitter leaf made it burn faster but also heightened the vanilla flavor.

A gentle breeze blew in from the west, driving a drift of light snow ahead of it. The snow was still thick on the hills but the roads were well traveled and the wind was barely noticeable, especially to Raedan.

He pushed against his stirrups and looked up and down the long column of riders.

Behind him rode four battalions of Baron Kendryk’s cavalry, led by Lord Tristen Burkes himself. The baron was a small man, barely six inches taller than five feet. He was thin to the point of being gaunt but he wore a thick cloak with a massive hood that hid his features in the dim light.

A standard bearer rode behind him with the baron’s banner raised high: a blue field struck with a gold lightning bolt. His men wore similar blue greatcoats and rode with their aging carbines across their laps.