Viscount's Rise

“I see that you are well.” Duke Tetland greeted King Aled, his knight standing slightly behind him. Their meeting was much smaller in scale than the previous day, only including the King’s inner circle of nobles and a few guards. As Braydon watched things play out, he was almost certain that the day before had partially been used as a show for anybody who was thinking of betraying the King. The difference between the two events was too stark for it not to have other meanings.

“Indeed, you may have noticed that my fortunes have changed in recent days.” Aled responded. He was much less theatrical than when he had welcomed the two knights, and he didn’t need to be. There was no need to put on a performance when there were very few people to see it. 

“Haha, yes they have. I hope that things continue in this light.” Tetland said one thing but it was not hard to guess what he was implying. He wanted to maintain their good relations. And it was lost on nobody.

“Then let us dispense with the greetings and get down to what matters.” The King motioned for everybody to sit. He was not about to just stand around and discuss their plans when they had perfectly serviceable chairs in his tent. Not to mention that would almost definitely be taken as a slight by Duke Tetland.

“So you have already subdued them?” Once they were all seated, Duke Tetland asked the question that was most pressing on his mind. Since Rotleach’s army was still camped with the royal army, he knew that they must be but he could not help but ask. If he got rid of the man’s most loyal knights, it would not be hard for him to ‘inherit’ his territory now that he was dead. Even if he did have a young son and a wife back in his duchy.

“Of course, though they may be roughed up a bit. For some reason they did not want to be imprisoned quietly. And though the army that they brought has been subdued for now, it would be good if you made a personal appearance. After all, they have not seen their leader for a number of days and now his knights have not appeared either. There might be some who are starting to feel restless.” The King admired the fact that Rhydian had managed to get Rotleach’s men in order without the cooperation of the pair of knights but that did not mean that Rhydian was omnipotent. Without someone who they saw as ‘their own’, it was likely that there would be some troublemakers appearing soon.

“Do the rank and file know of his unsightly demise?” Duke Tetland asked and it was not hard to guess whom he was referring to. If they knew of Duke Rotleach’s death already then it would probably be harder to convince them that it was the pair’s doing. He was certain that they would have tried to convince the men that it was some sneaky assassin, which it was, rather than themselves. But that was dependent on if they had even told the people below them.

Instead of answering, the King looked to Braydon. Rhydian had asked for his liege’s help when it came to getting the new arrivals in some semblance of order. There was already enough on his plate as it was and while he could do something, he would require others to help. And of the people that Rhydian trusted, he knew for certain that Braydon did not have much going on. That and he was less likely to rub common troops the wrong way like some other nobles had a habit of doing. 

“From what I have gathered they do not know but there are some rumours going around and they have been going around for some time. Since they have not seen him for days now, there are a number of men who believe that Duke Rotleach has fallen seriously sick.” Braydon was glad that he had Gerald talk to the average soldier as he had tried to get the late Duke’s army into some semblance of order. 

He had not much time for anything else as they were suspicious of an outside trying to give them commands, and he could tell from the outset that Gerald was not much help on that front. Instead he knew that Gerald would do much better trying to befriend people with alcohol. Gerald did not disappoint, getting the gossip and rumours that were going around the camp easily.

“Perfect! They have made this almost too easy.” Duke Tetland’s smile held a great amount of malice. He was going to enjoy what he was about to do. Since they had lined things up for him so nicely, he could easily blame the death of Duke Rotleach on the knights and there would be no love lost between the knights and the common soldiers. All that would be left were for him to help the King stabilise in Fiveria and then he could go home and start removing the unworthy remnants of House Rotleach.

“I would advise that you do things quickly. From the looks of it one of them is not going to live past today anyway. That sword he took through the stomach really did a number on him.” Cinar commented. As the highest ranked person after the King and Duke Tetland, he had the most leave to speak freely in this meeting. Braydon almost laughed when he heard Cinar’s words. He could already guess what Cinar truly wanted to say. ‘You just don’t want to sit through several hours of them haggling over how they should split Rotleach’s men.’ To be fair neither did Braydon and that was why he held his tongue.

“Then shall we get straight to the most important part?” The King gave Cinar a side eye, clearly knowing what the latter was thinking too, but didn’t say anything. He was most concerned with getting a good deal out of Duke Tetland and if putting a time cap on the meeting was the way to do it, then he was not going to say anything about Cinar’s comments. After all, it was Duke Tetland who wanted the knights alive so that he could publicly execute them. They had no such concerns.

Darkwood

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