Chapter 5 - Of Ambition

Fourteen men were seated around the long table placed in the small hall of Palace Brodiz, formerly known as Brodiz Castle, until King Denes II undertook major refurbishments fifteen years ago to turn the rugged fortress into an aesthetic royal residence.

Many monarchs of kingdoms with a long history carried family names which directly reflected the name of the land they ruled. King Denes II on the other hand was still formally and commonly known as Denes II of the House Uveges, King of Faz. The reason for this lay in the fact that the land of Faz had only recently been united under one ruler. Denes II was the second generation of his family to call himself king of the entire land of Faz.

Of course, it was not to say that they had been commoners before. The House Uveges had ruled one of the largest earldoms in the region for a long time. After a few well-planned marriages, dodgy alliances, the lucky downfall of one rivaling earl and some final battles, Denes I had managed to unite the lands of Faz.

In the aftermath of battle, as is the case with all newly established monarchies, there were some atrocious acts of brutality towards surviving rivals and other threats to the new reign. But it was fair to say that the majority of involved parties were happy for the constant strife to end and their homeland to become a recognized kingdom united under a strong leader.

The glory was not as easily found as had been expected though. It did not take long for the people to realise that simply being united was not enough to be treated as equals by the long established neighboring kingdoms. The refurbishments on the Brodiz Castle had been an attempt to come closer to the image of a kingdom.

Indeed, over the past decade, the population of Brodiz had tripled as the town developed from a regional hub in to the official capital of Faz. The inner layer of fortifications had been unarmed to develop sections of the inner wall into new palace wings, residences and rooms of governance. The area between the two walls had been filled up with markets and the narrow gateways were knocked down to be replaced with pompous timber doors.

The pomp was evident in the excessively decorated banquet halls and royal rooms too. In general, the entire indoors looked as if an uninterested head steward had bought everything the traders happened to have brought one day and assigned them randomly to all the rooms.

Above all, not to undermine the efforts of the citizens and vast amount of tax which flowed into this refurbishment, the construction was still evidently a fortress.

The massive moat, the high battlements, the location atop an isolated hill with a town – soon to be a city – spreading at the foot of it… It would take a few more generations for Brodiz Castle to give way to Palace Brodiz.

Despite the unpolished capital, the lands of Faz were a promising gem.

The region, defined by its endless rolling hills, moderate climate and lustrous soil, covered vast amounts of land. To the North, it bordered on the small sub-northern states which provided a buffer between the central continent and the great northern kingdom of Keyron. To the South, the lands stretched all the way to Karvhos, which had previously been the largest kingdom on the continent of Khaan until the founding of Faz.

To the East, Faz had access to the ocean. Far, far beyond these waters, exotic lands were said to lie, but only few would venture into the unknown. To the West, the borders were defined by the Dona river, the most prominent water way and trade route of the continent.

The lack of natural barriers such as mountain ranges and large waters over such a large stretch of land had made it easy for borders to shift, power to be exchanged frequently and for each regional ruler to build their own fortune.

Now, with centralised governance, production of wheat and corn on these fertile lands had notably improved. The produce would be carried down the Dona river to arrive two moons later in the coastal kingdoms and city states, many of which depended on Faz for their food supply.

The growth in wealth had allowed for heavy investment in military growth over the past two years. Now, Faz boasted the largest immediately mobile army of all its neighbors.

And perhaps that was why Faz was about to welcome a significant prize, a token of recognition, a reward for their ambition.

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At the head of the table in the small hall, a man well into his sixties sat with his head rested on the back of his tall chair. The council had continued all too long and he was exhausted. The excitement was inevitable though.

The heir to the throne of Faz would be wedding the imperial princess of Sisa. Sisa was not strictly an empire as the title suggested, but its ruling family was possibly the most powerful, oldest and prideful on the continent.

And it was not just any daughter. It was the eldest and only daughter of the emperor. Not to mention that she was neither too old nor too young and rumored to be of exceptional beauty, although beauty was something frequently exaggerated when speaking of royalty.

“My lords”, a bearded man knocked the table. “We have yet to agree on a proposal to Sisa.”

“Two thousand gold for a woman!”, another scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Not just any woman, Lord, a woman a farmer like you could not have even laid eyes on twenty years ago”, another responded, placing a sarcastic emphasis on the noble title.

The insulted lord’s face grew pink and looked as though it could explode any moment but before he could retaliate with a similar insult, the conversation had moved on.

“Two thousand gold is indeed unaffordable. The treasury barely holds a thousand and a half.”

“How much does the treasury of Sisa hold?”

“I hear one hundred thousand!”

“With a history of six hundred years? Surely it is more.”

“We propose any less than two thousand and it will be an insult to them. That is fact”, one lord said firmly, to which the whole table either nodded in agreement or shook their heads in despair.

“But where does the gold come from?”

This time, the table unanimously shook their heads.

“Ahem… lords”, one member of the council begun uncomfortably. “I do not believe it is possible for this… ”

“No!”, an angry voice interrupted his speech midway.

A young man in his mid-twenties, dressed in flashy crimson garments and a short cloak had stood up from his observing seat further away from the table. This man was none other than Crown Prince Uram himself. Uram had an assigned seat at the council directly to the right of his father, the king. However, the restless prince had grown bored and tired of the endless talk and had chosen to sit comfortably in an armchair in the corner of the room.

“No, if there is no gold, you will find gold! If there is still no gold, my Lords will offer their personal wealth to make that gold! You will bring! Me! The woman!”, the prince shouted at the room and then dropped back into the armchair with a scowl.

The table had gone silent as each lord attempted to not catch the prince’s attention and avoided meeting his eye.

“My lords, I have a suggestion”, one man broke the silence. He was possibly in his early thirties, light brown waved hair was trimmed at chin length and he wore plain brown, yet high quality garments. Despite being much younger than most who sat at the table, he spoke calmly as all eyes watched him.

“There is one piece of land on the east side of the river which is currently under His Majesty’s rule. It has a well-built fortress and good lands around it. It is close to a prominent city of the kingdom of Sisa, so it would surely give the emperor of Sisa some piece of mind for the fortress to be in his hands rather than ours.”

“Giving up a border fortress and land? Lord Prince, you ridicule the bloodshed it took to conquer it!”, one man raised objection, which triggered a chain of chattering and nodding between the men.

While none of the men currently seated on the council were old enough to have fought in the battles of unification themselves, the stories of their fathers and grandfathers were still fresh in their memories and land was a sensitive asset.

However, the noise was silenced by the king raising his head to speak.

“Continue”, King Denes said simply and rested his head once more.

With a short nod towards the king, the man continued.

“My lords, with gratitude to the great deeds of yourselves and your for-fathers, we are no longer at war. Neither within nor with outer forces. A strong alliance with Sisa should grant us more safety and stability than a single fortress on the opposite side of the river.”

“Will that really satisfy Sisa?”, the bearded lord said skeptically.

“No, my lord. We will also offer one thousand gold from the treasury and additionally one quarter of all earnings from trade. Sisa is aware that our produce is growing year by year. Combined, this is passable as the equivalent of two thousand gold.”

He looked around the table for approval. The small council of the king comprised mainly of men who were previously small territory earls or commanders of the army. They were not well-versed in such matters and most active decisions and governance took place outside of the small council.

As he expected, no objections were raised against the only plausible solution to the problem and the council was dismissed for refreshments. They would gather again later in the day to discuss further matters of unimportance regarding the treaty which would be signed after the wedding.

As the man who had neatly wrapped up the session strode out of the hall, he saw the crown prince glaring at him angrily. With a short respectful bow, he left the hall without moving a single muscle of his collected half-smile.

This man, referred to as Lord Prince by other lords on the council, was somewhat of an irregularity to the royal house.

As one may have noticed during the council, King Denes II was old enough to be the grandfather of Prince Uram. For many years the queen did not conceive an heir and one day the king suddenly introduced his bastard son Frigyes and announced that he would be raised as an heir to the throne.

This was accepted as an unfortunate but natural turn of events, until the queen finally conceived her first child at an age which astonished the entire kingdom. The other child – then ten years of age – was forgotten behind the excitement over the true heir.

Ever since then, the bastard prince Frigyes had lived quietly behind the scenes. Growing up, he never showed ambition to take the throne and focused his intelligence and composure on studying. Now, twenty five years since the birth of Crown Prince Uram, the Lord Prince Frigyes was rumored to be the driving mind behind the rapid growth of Faz’s economy and the most trusted advisor to the king.

On the other hand, he was also known for his impeccable consideration and respect towards his half-brother and for having no intention to take a wife before the Crown Prince did.

Hence, as rumors spread throughout the land that the king sought a suitable royal match for the Crown Prince Uram, excitement ran through the noble families of Faz that this may be the chance to wed one of their daughters to the Lord Prince Frigyes. What the Lord Prince Frigyes himself thought of this however, was unknown. He had not uttered a single word regarding his own plans for marriage.

As he strode down the hallway of the palace towards his personal chambers, an indistinct man appeared from behind a pillar and strode in time with him. The man whispered something in a low voice and subtly disappeared again at the next turning. From a distance, it would have been difficult to notice any exchange between them.

The Lord Prince strode a few more steps, glanced around to confirm that he was not drawing any attention and increased his pace with a stern look on his face.