Warlord Adolf of Lesy Province rose. He was in dire need of a bath and a shave.
He growled angrily, “What about taking back the five provinces the bastard father of
yours stole from us? What about driving him out of Dorum?”
Zoran replied, “That is going to happen — but not like you think. As you may have
heard, his heir, Radek, has died. He then announced my sister Lida as his heir and then
tried to force her to marry Baron Bogdan’s pig of a son. She refused him and is now
married to Duke Leo, Baron Milan Matous of Gladno, one of our allies. Already Baron
Kazimir has regretted that move and has tried to assassinate her twice now. When
Kazimir finally dies, Lida will inherit Dorum, and she is with us, promising to undo
everything Kazimir has done, freeing everyone that is under his dominion today. If we
just be patient, warlords, we can win total freedom for all of Adapazan without any loss
of life, without even going to war against him. Yes, it may well be the coup of the
century.”
As far as Zoran could tell, the ten leader’s spirits rose considerably. That the
death of the hated Kazimir would instantly reverse the years of his ruthless rule came as
a complete surprise to these warlords. Warlord Eduard of Kin Province then rose,
“Mages are rare in the Wild Lands, but I can have my Mage here send you messages of
any possible threats against Kin. We can give you as much advance notice as we get of
any impending attack against us.” At once, Warlord Adolf also agreed that his Mage
could do likewise, and rapidly the others quickly agreed to send messages via their
Mages as well.
Good, thought Zoran, this is a start. Warlord Ivan of Tehov Province added,
“Since we seem to be in this together, if Kin is attacked, I can send much of my forces to
his assistance. It is in my best interests to stop any advancing army in Kin before it gets
to Tehov. Many others begrudgingly agreed with his idea. With their combined forces,
the dragons, and the proposed other five armies, that any attacking army could be
stopped before it got to their province appealed to their self-preservation.
Warlord Jolana of Valy Province, a blonde woman who looked every bit a robust
fighter, rose. “What about getting us some of our own dragons? I for one would like to
have a dozen protecting Valy. Can you get us some or are the dragons only for you and
not for the rest of us?” Her antagonistic tone told volumes of unsaid words and ideas.
“Dragons are highly intelligent and magic users, as witnessed by the two
Archmages sitting here with us. They are at the top of the food chain; we are definitely
below them. Do not fear; they do not like to eat humans. Antelope are their delicacy. If
you agree to treat dragons with great respect and honor, I can certainly get a dozen gold
dragons for each of your provinces. However, they demand a price for their services.
They are master gem cutters and prize gems above all but magic. As long as you can pay
them their required gems, I am sure I can get each of you a dozen of your own. Are you
really interested in having dragons about your province?”
This was discussed for a half hour, pros and cons. Every warlord was taken off
guard by Zoran’s readily agreeing to provide them some dragons. Not one of the
warlords expected this. Surely, they thought, Baron Zoran would be keeping the dragons
all to himself. They certainly would have if they were in his shoes. Now they faced the
reality of the actuality. Archmage Emil presented the terms that the dragons would
demand, and they discussed this for some time. In the end, all ten requested a dozen
dragons of their own. Zoran promised to deliver them in about two months’ time, giving
them a chance to either back out or come up with the gems to pay the dragons.
Warlord Ivan bellowed, “Say, what about weapons and armor? We need lots of
good quality swords. My warriors have nothing but makeshift leather padding and
cannot stand against the steel armor of Kazimir’s shock troops. What about that?” Cat
calls echoed around the table. Indeed, Zoran expected this request.
Warlord Osvald of Tratky Province, a burly man wearing furry animal skins,
perhaps the crudest looking of the group, broke in, “Nay, we need grains. Tratky is the
northernmost province, and we’re barely surviving. Not enough food, especially grains.
My people need food in their bellies if they’re gonna fight. And then there’s dem
damnable Yellers. U’all drove ‘em up our way.”
“Hey, and our way too,” interrupted Warlord Petr of Zovou Province. “Got
nothing but problems with Yellers running rampant. Ain’t got no time to go a’fighten
Kazimir. U’all ‘ave given us a huge problem. How’s ‘bout you taken ‘em back into your
provinces, eh? See how you like ‘em ‘ttacking u all duh time.”
The room erupted into a yelling match between the warlords. Everyone blamed
everyone else for the Yeller mess. Zoran allowed them to vent their hostilities. As soon as
there was a lull in the bickering, he spoke up. “Does anyone have any ideas how we
might solve the Yeller problem, short of genocide?”
Genocide was their first idea, naturally, but his challenge met mostly silence.
“What else can we do about them? They’re just a bunch of blood thirsty wild beasts
running around on two legs,” one warlord broke the silence.”
“Well, that’s why we are here. To put our heads together and see if we can come
up with some bright ideas,” Zoran replied. “I must admit that I have not have contact
with Yellers. I’m sorry about that. I freely admit that I am mostly ignorant of them. All
that I know about them comes from book learning, and we all know how off that can be.
Surely those of you who have faced them have some ideas?”
He noticed that both Warlords Sabina and Jolana gave him a most curious look.
Here was a Duska, a royalty, a nobleman, who was not dominating or insisting that he
knew everything or that he knew best what was needed for them. Both reappraised him.
“Well, we’ve mostly been driving them out of our provinces,” Warlord Adolf
replied. “Yeh, I know that we’re driving them into your provinces, but where else can we
drive them?” More arguing ensued.
“Let me see if I follow what you have been doing,” Zoran spoke up during the next
lull. “For centuries now, starting at Dorum Province, the Yellers, who were natively here,
have been constantly being pushed westward or northward. Today, their largest
concentrations are now in Tratky and Zovou Provinces. The warlords in those two
provinces now have no place else to drive them. Is this a fair summary?” It was.
“If’n we ‘ad a lot of boats, maybe we kin drive ‘em over to Dolni Island,” suggested
Warlord Petr. Give’m their own land away from us.” Heads nodded agreement, voices
seconded his idea.
Then the alto voice of Warlord Sabina spoke up, “Well, we don’t have boats, but
we now have the next best thing, we got us a Duska. How about our Duska moving the
Yellers out of here, eh? What say you to that, Baron Zoran? You don’t have a hankering
to genocide, so how about you doing it?”
“Well, this is why we are all here today. If I am to be your Duska, I certainly have
to know what your problems are and have lots of ideas of what we can do to work
together to solve them. I will certainly see if I cannot find a way to do as you ask, move
the Yellers to their own place.”
“Ya, but what about getting us more food and better cloth and stuff,” asked
Warlord Jolana. “You know that we are going to need vastly improved roads between
our provinces if all this supposed commerce is going to come from other planets.”
“She’s right, warlords. If I am to get large trades going with other worlds, we have
got to have a vastly improved transportation system between our provinces. How are
you going to get your wagon loads of iron ore, coal, and the like here to Brn so I can
transport them to the other worlds and bring back your wagons full of grains, cloth,
weapons, and armor? I can’t have hundreds of your wagons sitting here loaded with
your grain waiting for your Mages to come teleport them sack by sack. If you want
quantity, you’ve got to have a good transportation system, to say nothing of a good
communication system between you and us here in Brn.”
“Yeh, but what are they going to want from us for all this stuff?” asked a warlord.
“As I understand it, the agrarian worlds need ores of all kinds. Iron, copper, lead
— just the stuff we have in abundance here. The more wagon loads of ore you can
deliver, the more goods I can get in trade. Others will want gold, silver, and gems,
especially for horses, swords, and armor. The better the quality of these that you can
produce, the more the other worlds will give you in exchange. As time goes on, I will be
in a better position to know what else these others may wish in exchange and we can act
accordingly,” Zoran replied and decided now was the time to get them participating.
“Okay, so there are eleven of us. You’ve all heard the problems that I am working
on and additionally, I will see what can be done about the Yeller problem. If I can find a
way to move them to Dolni Island, then I will need each of you to round up the Yellers
that remain in your provinces. Well, excepting Zovou and Tratky, where their densest
populations are located. I’ll work out something special with you two. So what of the
other problems that we face are you willing to work on solving?”
“Well, we all need to work on improving our roads,” Warlord Jolana volunteered.
“We ought to coordinate our plans or else my new road will not connect with Boris’ new
road.” Everyone roared with laughter. She was right in her observation. They all agreed
to make a better road system as soon as the spring snow melt began and to coordinate
with their neighboring provinces.
“We’d better ramp up our mining production,” another suggested. All ten agreed
to give this their full attention as well. Several volunteered to get a dozen ore wagons
ready within four weeks so Zoran could acquire some much needed grain for Tratky. All
agreed to really get going on gem stone production to satisfy their newly acquired
dragons. Further, they agreed to have their Mages communicate vital information to
Zoran’s Mages every week or more frequently as needed. The Warlords of Lesy and Kin
Provinces promised to send out spies into the neighboring provinces of Kazimir’s to gain
advance notice of any army buildup along their borders.
Around four, they finished up and the warlords took their leave, departing as they
came. Over dinner, Archmage Karel exclaimed, “Well, Zoran, I just don’t believe it. The
warlords are an incredibly wild, rebel bunch, and you not only got them in one place but
working together along with you as well. I say you just performed a miracle. You realize
that no one in centuries has gotten this bunch together as you have done today?
Incredible, just incredible. Maybe there is some hope for the Wild Lands after all and not
just Brn as I thought.”
“Thanks Karel. No way could we get their cooperation by force of arms. People
usually respond well if given a chance to help. I gave them that. If they follow through on
all that they have promised, just the improved roads will be a strong uniting factor,” he
replied.
“Yes, but dear, you promised them to deal with the Yellers,” Zdenka decided to
speak her thoughts. “Just how are you going to handle them? I mean they are more like
wild animals.”
“I don’t know; it will have to wait until the spring thaw. We’ve got more pressing
problems at hand. I am worried that Kazimir is going to try something awful.”
“I would expect something at the High Council first, Baron Zoran,” General Lavos
spoke his mind. “Based on my experiences with that vile man, he is not a total fool. He
knows well the devastation caused by dragons. No, I think that you should look for all
manner of trouble at the High Council meeting. It is imperative that your Circle be
recognized officially and that you are given your proper baron’s seat on the High
Council. I would look for him to first attempt a political solution from the High Council.
If that fails, then you can be sure that, dragons or no dragons, he’s going to take more
drastic actions. After all, you have him cornered like some wild animal. He’s about to
lose everything that he and his ancestors fought for and defended: the ruling of
Adapazan.”
“Damn, I know nothing about the High Council or how it works or its rules,”
Zoran cursed.