“We know where she went, Sire.” In the lord’s manor of Dulkan, a servant reported to Earl Blake.

“We knew she ran to the east a month ago, what good is month old news now?” The Earl snapped back at his servant.

“No, Sire, we know who took her in?”

“And who else could it be if not Duke Oakley? None of the others there would be daring enough or have the motive to do so.” Still not interested, the Earl continued to read his documents.

“It was Viscount Fiton, Sire.” He stopped reading, and looked up for the first time.

“Who, did you say?”

“Viscount Fiton.”

“Was he not an Earl, his father died in the war, he inherited his lands near the capital.”

“No, Sire, it's his brother. Their father had a viscounty on the eastern border with Shuluk, the reason why he was even fighting. He split his titles between his two eldest sons.” He looked shocked thinking the old coot had gone mad when writing his will.

“And why, in God’s name, did he do that?”

“Apparently, the second son, Braydon, was very popular among the knights and did not have a good relationship with the rest of the family. It was done in the hopes of not causing his eldest too much trouble.” Earl Blake slowly nodded.

“And that boy took her in, why?”

“We have not been able to find that out yet, Sire.”

“Then why are you still standing here?! What do you think I pay you for?” The Earl shouted at the man. The unfortunate man was not yet out of the wood though, he had more bad news to share.

“Duke Burn has begun making noise at court, and it is probably not unrelated.” The glare that came from the Earl nearly caused his heart to stop. He had really drawn the short straw in being the one who had to report such bad news to the lord.

“That bastard just doesn’t want me to get my hands on what’s left of Burgess’s land. It wouldn’t even be me it would be Jett that would be Marquess. And where is that lout anyway, his fiancée ran off a month ago and I haven’t heard a peep from the boy. He was supposed to be married TODAY!” The servant trembled. He knew the Earl would not like the answer, and knew it anyway. He just wanted to take out his frustration on the one who was the bearer of bad news.

“You look pretty happy, Nela anything good going on?” Braydon asked Nela, who was sitting in the study with him. She had offered to help during harvest time. This would normally have been the chamberlain’s job. Colin, however, was busy organising what to do about the harvest from the southern village now that everybody there was a bit dead to collect it.

“Oh it's just that if I had stayed put Earl Blake would have forced me to marry his son today.”

“So that was today, huh, and what do you plan to do in the future? If you go back he would surely force you to marry his son, again. And this time he would probably not leave any escape.” Braydon asked a question that was on his mind.

“Well, his son is not exactly known to be a competent person. So I won’t have any problems once he inherits his father’s position. Either that or I marry someone else, powerful or detached enough that the Earl cannot affect him.”

“And of the two? Which are you aiming for?” Braydon asked again, not letting her avoid the answer that they both knew was more likely.

“The earl does not look like he is going to release his mortal coil anytime soon, so outside of him being killed or forced from his position…” She gave him a side eye, daring him to ask anymore. And given her ability to tease him for the lightest of mistakes over the past month, Braydon did not want to find out her response should he ask such a personal question. ‘Not like I was going to ask for your hand, is there really a need to get so serious.’ Of course he valued his life, and so chose to keep his thoughts to himself.

“And what about you? What are your plans for the future, Braydon? I cannot imagine you staying holed up inside your castle for several months. And you have money now, especially considering that you gained all the wheat from the southern village.” Both of them decided to skip over why he now had all the wheat, it was not a discussion they wanted to have.

“Well if nothing changes, I plan to make a deal with the barons, as we’ve discussed, amongst all their infighting and bad harvests, they need all the food they can get. And I plan to go personally to discuss with Baron Monrow, about gaining some people. He hasn’t been fighting with the other two as much recently so has more manpower to spare. I’ll find someone else to deal with the other two.” He gave it some more thought.

“I’ll probably go exploring the part of the Brimstones that are in my domain, other parts are rich in resources. I do not believe I am less fortunate than other lords. At this the conversation again went quiet as they continued with their work.

As evening fell, they had finished their work and because of the reduction in population they did not gather the same amount of taxes or tolls as expected, amounting to a total of 2100 silver instead of the already reduced 2600 they were predicting. That would be 500 short of a year’s worth of expenditures, if they collected the normal amount of tolls for the rest of the year. Although it was partly offset by the wheat they gained. The problem was it was useless to him as wheat, he needed it turned into money. He would need to go visit Baron Monrow sooner than he would have liked. Not a moment too late, Colin knocked on the door to inform Braydon that they had collected the harvest of the southern village.

“How did you manage that?” ‘I don’t recall having such manpower.’

“Midbury had some spare hands so sent some people over to collect them for us.”

“Remind me to thank Elder Wilf when I next go to Midbury. Is there anything else?”

“No, Sire harvest is finished for the year. It would have been time for the festival afterwards, however nobody has the coin for that this year. At least not in Cliforge.” That again hit home the need to go make deal with the barons.

“Well, I guess I know what my plans for tomorrow shall be.” ‘Meeting Baron Monrow, I could think of worse fates. Not exactly how I want to spend my time though.’