studiobondurri The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom, Part III: Act 3, Chapter 9
The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom, Part III: Act 3, Chapter 9
The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom, Part III: Act 3, Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Eighty-eight...eighty-nine...ninety...
The air parted around Remedios’ blade as she performed her morning sword drills. She ignored the household staff as she went through her forms, but then the doorbell rang.
“Miss Custodio,” Carla said. “The Grandmaster is here to see you.”
Remedios lowered her blade with a sigh. Decent warriors honed their bodies and skills in the morning, but Gustav was never one for improving his combat capabilities.
“Get some breakfast ready for him,” she said. “I’ll be right down.”
She sheathed her blade and made her way up the stairs to her solar. Fifteen minutes later, she came back down in her full uniform. Upon entering her dining room, she found that Gustav wasn’t.
“Not here on official business, Captain?” Remedios frowned.
“What,” Gustav put on an innocent look, “I can’t visit an old friend for breakfast? Besides, nothing that I’m about to share is official...yet.”
Remedios took a seat across from her guest. Gustav always did things in roundabout ways and she supposed that becoming the Grandmaster of the Holy Order hadn’t changed that. If anything, it had made those tendencies worse.
“Where’s that young man I sent your way?” Gustav asked.
“Working,” Remedios replied. “He went and infiltrated one of the houses around the city.”
“...for some reason, it feels strange that you can say something like ‘infiltrated’ with a straight face.”
“Is there a better word for it?”
“No, just saying. Honestly, I half expected you to raise him as a Squire. What did he find out?”
“A lot, but nothing that we can act on so far. He said that things are going to get heated soon, though.”
Gustav popped a fig into his mouth, munching away with a slight smile.
“What?” Remedios said.
“You seem to be doing better now,” Gustav told her. “Back to being the old pain in the ass.”
“Except I don’t have to deal with all of that paperwork anymore.”
“Didn’t Sanchez and I do most of it back then?”
Remedios cut out a piece of broiled fish. Paperwork wasn’t the reason why she had been made Grandmaster anyway.
“What about you?” She asked, “How were things out east?”
Gustav settled into his seat, leaning back as he sipped his tea. Remedios reached for a slice of cheese.
“The Royal Army is gone.”
A sharp clink sounded as her fork punched through the wedge of cheese, split apart the stone cutting board under it and embedded itself into the table.
“Gone?”
“I was mediating a logistics dispute between the local leaders near the wall and the Royal Army when the survivors started returning from the wilderness. We rushed back to the capital after hearing a half-day’s worth of their accounts. The Royal Court has three weeks at best to figure out what to do – after that, the news will have reached the ears of the common citizens.”
“But...but how could a whole army just be ‘gone’? If you include the forces that the southern Nobles committed, that army was twice as large as what we had to fight Jaldabaoth!”
That fact still rankled her like a poisoned arrow. The southerners had withheld their forces even when the very existence of the Holy Kingdom was at stake, then conveniently produced a giant army once there was something to gain.
“It sounded like a whole lot of things went wrong in quick succession. The army followed the highway to Re-Estize for thirty kilometres before heading east into the Renclusa Valley, spreading out to clear the tribal settlements.”
Remedios envisioned their advance on a map in her head. There was nothing remarkable about Marquis Bodpio’s strategy, though nothing remarkable was required. All they were doing was sweeping away tribes of primitive Demihumans that weren’t anywhere near as powerful as those found in the Abelion Hills.
“When did things start to go wrong?” She asked.
“Roughly three or four days in,” Gustav answered. “All of the carrion left behind by the fighting started attracting scavengers from the mountains. It wasn’t long until wild Gryphons, Wyverns, Manticores, Perytons and all sorts of monsters went from feeding on the carrion to raiding the army’s supply lines – and their escorts. Once the army was paralysed by provisioning issues, the Demihumans they were pushing back rallied and launched a massive retaliation. That’s the last bit of information that we got from the retreating scouts.”
“Dammit!” Remedios banged her fist against the table, “I told them that they needed me to come along!”
“You weren’t the only one,” Gustav noted. “Marquis Bodipo himself requested your presence, but the royalists insisted that you should be kept at home for national defence.”
In their blind greed for acclaim and territorial gains, they had disregarded her warnings about threats that only powerful combatants could counter. As usual, most of the southern Nobles believed that chivalric élan and numbers were the only things that mattered in war and that very élan had fed their numbers to the perpetually hungry wilderness.
“How many of our people survived?” Remedios asked.
“I don’t know. Anyone more than a day into the wilderness that isn’t a Ranger is as good as dead. The only survivors will be army scouts and some of the troops assigned to the supply lines.”
Remedios leaned on her elbow, rubbing her temple. A colossal headache was on its way.
“You already reported this to King Caspond?”
“Of course,” Gustav said. “He’s convening the Royal Court to discuss the matter this morning. I’ll be there and I’m sure you’ll be summoned, as well.”
“What do you think they’re going to do? Open recruitment?”
“Recruitment’s already open,” Gustav told her, “and this travesty is going to make enlistment go from crippled to dead. More importantly, we’ve essentially lost the entire army. Getting a few recruits isn’t going to do anything when there’s no army for them to join anymore.”
“Then all of our domestic issues are going to get worse, too.”
“...I’m afraid to ask what ‘domestic issues’ you’re referring to.”
“Hmm...well, while you were away,” Remedios leaned back in her chair, “the Nobles basically took over Hoburns’ economy and law enforcement. The Holy Order barely receives any reports from outside the Prime Estates anymore. Iago Lousa was assassinated and now someone that people refer to as the ‘Faceless One’ is rallying Los Ganderos as a new militant faction to defend their interests against the Nobles. The other Nobles are up to something in the west and the rumours say that Duke Debonei’s moved into the Summer Palace in Rimun to organise them.”
Gustav stared at her as she listed off one thing after another. Remedios wiggled her fork free from the table and worked on the rest of her meal.
“His Divine Grace never mentioned any of this.”
“Maybe it’ll be brought up at the court session.”
The Grandmaster inhaled his breakfast before rushing off.
That can’t be healthy...
“He didn’t even thank us for the meal,” Carla sniffed.
“Busy’s busy,” Remedios said. “How do you think the Nobles will respond?”
“It’s a massive blow to both factions,” Carla replied. “The loss of Marquis Bodipo stands out as the greatest, but the royalists invested heavily in the campaign expecting major gains. With everything that’s happening around Hoburns tying up the royalist’s attention and resources, I believe that the conservatives are free to make their next move.”
“And what move might that be?”
“The Duke’s motive for moving to the Summer Palace is clear: he’s going to throw his support behind Prince Felipe when the fleet arrives in Rimun. All of his faction’s activities should revolve around building up and consolidating their power while formalising the structure of their political movement.”
“...are they going to fight?”
“Prince Felipe’s faction will insist that King Caspond is unsuited to rule and point to the Holy Kingdom’s current state as clear evidence of that fact. King Caspond shows no sign of remorse over his edicts and policies and the royalists are guaranteed to support him. Unfortunately, civil war appears to be our current course.”
Damn that Jaldabaoth.
As if leaving the Holy Kingdom in ruins wasn’t enough, the Archfiend had left a legacy that would perpetuate even more ruin long after he was gone. It was as if no one cared about the country anymore; the future was filled with endless bickering over a land that spiralled further into destitution with every passing month. The legends of past Fiends were nowhere near adequate a warning for the reality that came with them.
And I bet that Sorcerer King will conveniently appear to ‘save’ us again.
She wouldn’t be surprised if the Sorcerous Kingdom had a hand in their current troubles. Everything since Jaldabaoth’s invasion in the autumn had conveniently worked in the Undead menace’s favour, and he was all too happy to exploit the situation to make himself appear as a saviour.
“What will you do?”
“Me?” Remedios blinked.
“Not that part. Everything after that. I bet they had you brought in just to be baited into that response of yours and that helped them get what they wanted.”
“Maybe I would have done the country a favour by punching Cohen’s head off back there. What do you think they did?”
“Something with the army,” Gustav said, “but I have no idea what.”
“I could ask Carla about it,” Remedios said. “We have our new source, too.”
“Our ‘source’, huh...”
“Morning, Captain.”
“Hey, Hugo,” Gustav replied.
Remedios did a double take as their ‘source’ was led past them in chains.
“What?” Gustav stopped and looked at her.
“...that was Liam just now.”
“Really?”
She gave Gustav a look.
“Hey,” Gustav said, “I spoke to him for ten minutes, at most.”
People person, my ass.
They followed Hugo and his captive back to the Holy Order office. Hugo came back out to the front counter to file his report after locking Liam up.
“Hugo,” Gustav said. “That man just now didn’t look like he was from the Prime Estates.”
“I brought him in from the west quarter, Captain,” Hugo said.
“That far?”
“Yeah,” the senior Paladin shook his head. “Two counts of assault and battery. They couldn’t keep someone that dangerous in the local gaol.”
Remedios walked off toward the prison. She opened the door viewer to each cell, peering into them until she found the one with Liam inside. Then, she realised that she didn’t have the key to his cell. Halfway back to the office, Gustav appeared, holding up a keyring in his hand.
“You didn’t have to rush off,” Gustav said. “It’s not as if he’s going anywhere.”
“That’s what you say,” Remedios said, “but I’m not sure what the limits of his capabilities are.”
They entered Liam’s cell and closed the door behind them. Remedios crossed her arms, leaning against the entrance as Gustav took a seat across from Liam.
“I’m Captain Montagnés. What’s your name?”
Both Remedios and Liam rolled their eyes.
“I guess this is convenient,” Liam said.
“Don’t tell me you beat up two guys just to see us,” Remedios frowned.
“Uh, that’s a different story,” Liam replied. “But I couldn’t get past all the increased security in the Prime Estates to see Remedios this morning.”
“What happened?” Gustav asked.
“A lot of accidents,” Liam answered. “Things might get ugly faster than expected.”
Liam gave his account of what had happened since he had last spoken with her. Remedios sighed as he described the events that got him arrested. In the past, patrols on and along the Great Wall had similar accidents happen several times a week. His account of the accident with the child, however, disturbed her to no end.
“What are those idiots doing?” Remedios bit her lip, “Are we going to have a pile of kids stabbed to death by jumpy patrols every night?”
“They’ll probably be extra careful about that from now on,” Liam said, “but scared people still do stupid things. What will probably stop it from reoccurring is parents keeping their kids inside while it’s still dark.”
“Those charges levelled against you are valid, though,” Gustav noted. “If it can’t be proven that events went the way you described, you’ll be in a bit of trouble.”
“How much is ‘a bit’?”
“Two counts of assault and battery is...a week in the stocks?”
“Or a month of temple service,” Remedios added.
She didn’t like the idea that Liam might be undeservingly punished, but the Nobles were especially slippery when it came to matters of law.
“Oh, that’s not bad. I got stuck in the stocks once.”
Remedios and Gustav frowned at Liam.
“You did?”
“Yeah,” Liam said. “Two years ago, I was pinned for some kind of theft. The town militia beat me up before locking me in a pillory for a few days.”
Re-Estize throws kids into the stocks?
He said he was fourteen, so that meant he had been incarcerated when he was twelve. On false charges, no less.
“Still,” Gustav said, “you’re pretty cavalier about all this.”
“It’s just a weak retaliation,” Liam smirked. “House Vizela is screwed either way for killing that kid.”
Remedios resisted the urge to wrap him up in a comforting embrace. Someone his age shouldn’t have so easily rendered such a cold, vengeful reply.
“Speaking of which,” Liam said. “House Restelo is probably going to end up with House Vizela’s part of the city soon. You may want to focus patrols along the new borders.”
“I know they got into a scuffle,” Gustav said, “but they’re still all royalists. They won’t break their solidarity so easily.”
“That’s the thing,” Liam said. “I don’t know what it looks like in the Royal Court, but House Restelo’s been cut loose from the royalist faction. Did you hear about the incident with Iago Lousa?”
“I just got back from the east, but Remedios mentioned something about it. Are you saying that they’re responsible for assassinating Lousa?”
“No,” Liam shook his head. “What was actually going on was that House Restelo found out Lousa was doing business with both the royalists and the conservatives, so they asked their allies to send some men to set Lousa straight. Then, he mysteriously died and no one knows who did it. Since Restelo is the only house with a clear motive, everyone’s assuming that they’re responsible. Personally, I think it’s a third party that wants to shake up the politics of the north.”
“So an enemy of House Restelo or someone trying to weaken the royalists,” Gustav stroked his beard. “And now Hoburns has an independent house set against all the royalist houses occupying it.”
“Which is why it’s probably a good idea to watch their jurisdiction,” Liam nodded. “So far, there have been four incidents related to the other houses trying to pressure House Restelo in the city. Two of them have led to fatalities and one of those fatalities was a kid fetching water for his family. The other houses might back down for a while because of what happened, but they won’t tolerate House Restelo gaining ground in Hoburns.”
“How long do you think before they start causing trouble again?” Gustav asked.
“I don’t know,” Liam shook his head. “It depends on everything else that’s happening, I guess.”
“I see,” Gustav rose from his chair. “Well, good job so far. I’m glad you were able to work with Remedios here.”
The young man shrugged.
“Once you understand that her brain doesn’t stand between her heart and her mouth, she isn’t very hard to get along with.”
Gustav snorted.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Remedios said. “If people were more forthright in their interactions, they wouldn’t have all the headaches that they end up with.”
“That aside,” Gustav cleared his throat, “We can’t testify on your behalf in court, so I hope you’re not expecting us to get you out of trouble.”
“I’m not.”
Remedios straightened from the door as Gustav made his way over.
“In that case,” the Grandmaster said, “may the gods be on your side for this trial.”