As morning was drawing to a close, Braydon decided that he had done enough lazing around. All his worrying for the past few days had done nothing for his sleep, and the mornings had won a few more battles against him. The first thing on his agenda would be to discuss with Colin about the roads, something he’d have done days ago had the world not conspired against him, that and anxiety. As he was about to finish eating, a guard knocked on the door.

“What is it?”

“Baron Abel has requested an audience, Sire.” ‘And who’s Baron Abel, exactly?’ Braydon drew a blank, he’d never bothered to remember all the barons, there were at least 15 in Fiveria, most of little consequence. Seeing the confusion on his face, Steven whispered into his ear.

“The Baron of Kirton, one of your neighbours.” ‘Great.’ Braydon was not best pleased. Wondering whether it would have been better for him not to know and make a faux pas, at least that would have improved his mood.

“Steven, go find Lady Nela.” “Let him in.” After seeing Steven had left from another door, he told the guard waiting for orders to let the man into the great hall. ‘At least I am already in the room, I don’t think I would have made the effort otherwise.’

“Viscount Braydon, it is a pleasure to finally meet you!” A boisterous voice came before the man himself entered the room. ‘Did he just refer to me by name on the first meeting? What kind of education did this man receive?’

“Yes, Baron Abel, it is nice to see that I have such a hearty neighbour.” ‘Hearty indeed.’ The man was huge, no muscle involved. It would not be hard to say he had a triple chin. He walked with a waddle, and had the gut to make it necessary. ‘How did he make it through the door?’

“Please, call me Louis, we are neighbours and will be seeing a lot more of each other.” Baron Abel smiled and scratched his bald head, making one wonder if he could even see when he did that. ‘Not if I can help it.’

“No, I insist, that would be much too rude.” ‘No way am I getting chummy with you.’

After an excruciating couple of minutes of small talk, Steven returned, Nela in tow. She had a friendly and unchanging smile. If Braydon had not seen her when she was truly smiling, he’d have thought she were being genuine. Now this smile scared him.

“Baron Abel, let me introduce you. This is Lady Burgess, Marquess Burgess’s daughter. The lady has requested to stay in my lands for a period of time” Nela curtsied to the Baron.

“Greetings, Baron Abel.” Her presence was a surprise to the baron. Whilst it was no doubt not a surprise to her father and the nobles in the west by this point, it had still not reached the eastern nobility that Nela had run away from her engagement. Especially as he was not a particularly high rank and was busy infighting with his neighbouring barons. It was an open secret that her father’s weak position had meant the powerful Earl Blake found the opportunity to force him to accept his daughter’s engagement. She was next in line to her father’s title, making her hand quite the prize to be sought after.

And now she appeared on the very opposite end of the kingdom. Under another lord’s protection, within a month of when she was due to marry, no less. The implications knocked him for a loop, almost forgetting why he came here.

“Now, what may have brought someone as busy and experienced in military matters such as yourself to my keep?”

“I came to establish good relations, Sir, it would not do one any good to be making enemies for a reason such as a simple greeting.” Baron Abel smiled, Braydon’s mockery either flying over his head or his response being a clever repost. After another ten minutes of meaningless conversation, the Baron took his leave.

“That man is either extremely stupid or increadilby clever.” Braydon sighed, clearly worn out by the unflappably boisterous attitude the baron had continued to display despite several more attempts at subtle mockery.

“Act like he is the former, plan like he is the latter. He may seem like an idiot but he has managed to keep his position for years whilst fighting the other two barons. For all we know, he may have just come to see how many men you have.” This was the truth, and he was not about to be put in a bad position for underestimating a man who annoyed him so much.

“Lets just hope that the other two don’t show up today”

Two hours later the same guard came to find Braydon again. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. In this case he appeared in the form of Baron Monrow of Mapjess, at least according to Steven. It was all the same to Braydon. This time, Nela was already with him in his study, talking about the girl’s condition.

“Here we go again.” “Let him in.”

“Welcome Baron Monrow. Forgive me for not greeting you in the great hall, I was not expecting your arrival.” ‘Please leave, I cannot deal with another Baron Abel.’

“Thank you for receiving me on such short notice Viscount Fiton. And how pleasant it is to make your acquaintance, as well, Lady Burgess.” Now this was unexpected; Monrow had the manners Abel lacked, even if he did not like being called Fiton. Not only that, he had the connections, or the means, to find out about matters his contemporary did not. He was a rather thin man, very tall as well. He dressed in what Nela later informed Braydon were the latest styles of the capital. By the end of their meeting, Braydon was in a better mood than he thought he would be going in. And Nela shared his opinion.

“He is certainly more pleasant to deal with than Baron Abel, and appears more genuine. Though he could equally be more dangerous.”

“Well that just leaves one. Do you think we will see him today as well?”

“I doubt it.”

“How so?”

“Right about now he should be dealing with burning crop fields. A sort of present from Baron Abel in you will.”

“Sounds delightful.” ‘Boy am I glad a castle stands between my lands and this racket.’

“Perhaps we should look at getting right of passage through more stable territory, for trade.”

“Best of a bad bunch really, Baron Abel and Baron Walker, have been taking to pillaging each other’s lands as of late and Baron Monrow did not have a great harvest this year.” Well that left one choice. And at least there would be plenty of buyers for his own spare grain.

“Baron Monrow it is then.”

After dealing with the Baron’s shenanigans Braydon finally had time to ask more about the state of his land from Colin. The Chamberlain told him that expanding the roads would be labour intensive, and the previous earls had not seen the need to do so. The land was not a drain on their resources so why make it one. But this was not good enough for Braydon. He did not have the wealthy Fiton, with its large tax base, to fund his aspirations.

The problem was that even if he had the money, he did not have the amount of people necessary to make it happen, there would barely be enough young men to refill his garrison,and he wasn't about to waist them on such a task.

“It appears I know what my first proposal to Baron Monrow will be. Whilst it may be morbid to think, there are now 50 less people in my land but the food they grew is still sat in the fields.”

“Indeed it is, but making the best of a bad situation is all we are able to do right now, Sire.”