Chapter 60. Fealty
"My King." one lord sollicited, breaking the excited silence.
It was the one with the oiled tail and beard who had spoken to Akane the previous day. He looked uncertain and defiant at the same time. The King's steady stare fell on him and the lord seemed to hesitate, to calculate and then decided that he couldn't pass it over.
"Begging your pardon, my King, but why are we conferring amidst this gathering." he asked indicating the whole great hall with an ostentatious gesture. "Surely these matters do not concern the common folk."
"What happened to us concerns as all, sir. As do the decisions we make here today." Vegeta said coldly.
The King's unmoved expression never changed, but the bold lord did not have the courage to speak up again.
Vegeta's dark eyes held him for another second before he resumed in that commanding voice: "I received word that our neighbouring galaxies have withdrawn from the WTO. I have been asked to sign a peace treaty with the rulers of the Sunstrewn Galaxy, which I intend to do after we finish here today. Whether the WTO has disbanded completely is unknown. The rulers at Sunstrewn believe the organisation might still by operating in distant galaxies, but this is for later concern. Our focus now should be on rebuilding our own nation. To you the task of restoring order in your own lands."
None of the lords raised objections to this. His demand was a reasonable one. This changed when their King continued.
"To replace the losses in the Royal Fleet, all of you will send fifty of your own men to the capital. More if you can spare them. That we are under no immediate threat does not mean we can abandon our defences."
Now it started. The stirring, the girning, the nagging, the sulking and the discontent. The lords were going to test him for what he was worth now.
"But my King," one of them, a haughty fat lord, spoke up. His voice was querulous, conveying his pretentious nature. "What about our own defences. When this war started I already sent half my men down to the capital to strengthen the forces. If I were to send you fifty more from the Gap, I have too few left to man my own walls."
Vegeta eyed him in passing, unaffected like Akane knew him to be. His face showed none of the irritation she felt course through their bond. "Do you expect an attack on your walls, sir?" he asked.
The fat lord looked to another lord a few places further down the table. It was the one with the oiled beard again. The hostility was blatant in the fat lord's ruddy face.
"One can never be too certain, my King."
Vegeta leaned forward in his high seat, calm still but for the boding in his dark eyes as he cast an uncompromising look around to all the lords at his table. He was going in for the kill immediately and make known that he had not come here to bandy words with them. Akane saw them stir uncomfortably under the gaze of their King. Every single person in the great hall seemed to be holding his breath.
"I will make this plain for all of you. Whatever enmity or grudges you might hold amongst yourselves, forget them. The alleged slights you suffered, the conniving and the discord, all your petty grievances, it ends here. I will hear none of it. Any aggression towards or claim to another's lands is considered high treason and will be punishable by death. If word were to reach me of it, I will personally take it on me to behead you for your crimes against your kinsmen. We will have no more war amongst ourselves. Vegetasei is one nation. If you wish to rule in my name, you will do so in peace."
Vegeta sat back and held out his hands to indicate the tribes men on the far end of the council table with one, and Biran at Akane's side with the other.
"Take a lesson from the rulers of the Southern- and Eastern Quarter. Through the conciliation of my mate's brother and their mother-brother, the tribes have been united for the defence of Vegetasei."
The faces of Biran and Ansgar displayed similar purposeful expressions. Their achievement was not something they took pride in. They had simply done what was needed to protect their people. Such were the men with whom Akane shared her blood. It was an unbelievable achievement nonetheless. The five tribes had ever been at odds with one another. Their accomplishment should therefore not be left unmentioned by their King. They deserved credit for it.
None of the lords dared to speak up again, yet none seemed obliged to be the first to meet the King's demands. They shared looks with each other across the table again, assessing looks like they had given Akane, distrusting looks. But her brother spoke and Biran's rough voice was as clear as his words.
"Bethar will send a hundred men to strengthen your forces, my King."
Vegeta gave him a curt nod of thanks. None would be able to tell what Akane could. That the King was not just thankful for the gesture as he was for the uniting of the tribes, but relieved and appreciative of Biran taking the lead. Vegeta hoped, and so did Akane and probably Biran himself, that it would help spur the other lords on in meeting his demands. The King had one ally in his plight at least. He asked through their bond if it was Akane he had to thank for this. She assured him that she had no hand in making her brother compliant.
Biran's loyalty to his King had nothing to do with his kinship to her. The young Lord of Bethar understood the importance of a strong standing army. He wasn't the only one. A gargantuan lord clothed all in white and grey furs with a coarse black beard, a bald head but for an extremely long black braid laying over his shoulder and calculating grey eyes was the second to speak. Akane thought he might be one of the few lords like her brother who still had warrior aspirations. He certainly looked a warrior with his enormous buffed frame and the deadly air that was readily perceiveable about him. His battle power was no joke either.
"My King, I will send you a hundred men from the Teeth." his voice boomed through the great hall.
Akane knew the Teeth were a vast mountain range in the Northern quarter of Vegetasei. Her geographical knowledge of the planet was sound, but she had little knowledge of the lords that ruled the places she could point out on maps. Her father had never taught her that much. Biran should know though. Their father had groomed him to become Protector of the East after him.
She leaned in and spoke nearly inaudably into her brother's ear: "Who is he, brother?"
"Lord Brachus, Protector of the Northern Quarter. Just man. Good leader, better warrior." Biran muttered back swift and short. Their father had groomed him well.
Then the Chieftain of the Shield Smashers spoke up in his raw, hissing voice. It looked like Vegeta had succeeded in winning him and Bardock over all by himself. True, it pleased Ansgar that the King had taken a descendant from the tribes for his blood woman, one that was blood of his blood no less, she with whom he had laughed so much during their piss up last night, but the Chieftain clearly felt appreciation for the sort of man Vegeta turned out to be.
"The South sends the King a hundred men."
Or perhaps Akane had been wrong. One hundred weren't all that many. The South was inhabited by thousands of people divided over the five tribes, every single one of them a warrior. Vegeta agreed with her that it was a meagre haul, such he shared through their bond, yet as he made ready to voice his displeasure, the leathery faced Chieftain spoke again. This time his ominous grin was plain for all to see.
"A hundred for every tribe as the King bade. I speak on behalf of the other High Chiefs as well today. We will strengthen Vegetasei's forces with our youngest and strongest warriors. The defence of Vegetasei is our first priority."
Now that was a haul. Five hundred men. Plus the two hundred Vegeta had already been granted. Restoring the forces was going to be a doddle if this trend kept up. They already had back over a third of the men they had lost in the war with the WTO.
The remaining lords took it in turn to declare the number of men they would be sending from the places they ruled. Most of them only met the King's demand of fifty, but the few that looked to have some warrior blood left in them and understood the need for adequate space defences agreed to send more.
A very young lord, one that looked like he had just left his mother's teat, declared with much confidence: "Mandale sends one-and-fifty men, my King."
Akane had heard some ridiculous numbers pass over the table: five-and-fifty, two-and-sixty even, but at this she could no longer hold off her temper. "One-and-fifty?"
Bardock at the far end of the table gave a snort of laughter and Chieftain Ansgar shook his head so vigorously in his outrage that the bones braided into his long, dark red hair rattled. Biran looked incredulous and so did several other lords.
The gargantuan lord from the Teeth who was seated next to the proud boy lord, gave him a look as if he couldn't believe what had taken up a place aside him. His coarse black beard twitched in distaste as Brachus demanded: "Has your mother dropped you on the head too often as a babe, laddie?"
The boy lord grew rigid. He ignored the insult by the immense man at his side and addressed Akane instead: "It is what I can spare, my Princess." He threw a fretful look from Akane to his King, observing the glance passing between them with growing apprehension.
Their King's amusement for the boy lord's absurd commitment went by the lot of them. Akane could tell though. She always could because she knew what to look for in his unmoved face. How one of his eyes narrowed just a tiny bit with the suggestion of a wink like it did when he tried his best to keep a straight face. He was doing it right now. This, together with him putting forth through their bond that he expected her to have a lot more to say on the matter, gave her the confidence to be more blunt when she spoke again.
"Believe me, sir, as the Grand Marshal of the Royal Fleet, I value every single man that serves in my forces, but the number you propose is ridiculous. If fifty is what you can spare, it is fifty you send. You do not send one-and-fifty. It is an insult to your King."
The boy lord blushed furiously. "I meant no…"
"How many men do you have at your command?" Akane asked before he could finish.
The boy Lord was tugging at the snowy white lace of his high collar. Apparently it was becoming a bit hot in the great hall, though immense lord Brachus clad in his many furs seemed to not be bothered by it in the least.
"Five hundred, my Princess." he answered bravely.
"Not five hundred and one?" Akane asked amazed. She abandoned her jeering and resumed: "I have visited Mandale once. I remember it has a small keep. Its gate house can hold about a hundred soldiers? One fifty perhaps?"
"That is correct." the boy lord replied, swallowing hard. "But there is also the fort at Kern that needs manning and the surrounding towns…"
Akane cut across him yet again. "So you could just as easily spare two-and-fifty men? Or three-and fifty? As your King made clear there is no more need for heavily manned walls. Why do you have use for so many men in Mandale? Your boarders are safe. Might there be another reason?"
"Mandale has ever been loyal to the crown. As my father before me, I live to serve my King. I would never go against his wishes, my Princess." the boy lord huffed.
"Well then how does two-and-fifty sound? It pleases your King if you throw in that one man extra to prove your loyalty. But I do not need to tell you that, you have shown to understand that very well. Clever boy."
High Chief Ansgar was hissing with laughter. "Five-and-fifty might be more adequate still."
And Bardock supplied in his booming voice: "I find six-and-fifty a much more satisfying number. That will truly give the forces a boost."
"You should make it a nice rounded number like you originally planned, laddie. Seven-and-fifty, I say." the gargantuan Lord Brachus joined in sarcastically.
Biran was biting back snickers. He wasn't the only lord that did so. The common folk on the balconies and down the dais where completely engrossed by the exchange, watching the nobility play out their political ploys with bated breath. Akane kept her face in check though and so did Vegeta on his throne at the head of the table, though that unexecuted wink had become rather persistent.
"Five-and-seventy then." the boy lord said now thoroughly bludgeoned. "If it pleases my King, I will send five-and-seventy men from Mandale." his frantic eyes fell on Akane, then on his King and he lost all courage. "A hundred, my King. Mandale sends you a hundred men."
Vegeta accepted with another curt nod. "A generous offer, sir. Mandale proves to be loyal indeed."
The boy lord grew tall in his seat with self-regard. The King's words were a strategic move, not meant to show him gratitude but to put across to the remaining lords that they should be a lot more forthcoming in the granting of men for the forces.
Vegeta showed that he was not without merit as a politician. He had inherited some of his father's political talent after all. His manoeuvre proved a success. After his words the remaining lords became more generous with the granting of men to strengthen the Royal Fleet. None seemed willing to displease the King, give rise to suspicion of disloyalty, nor risk being beaten down so relentlessly in front of the whole council and common folk by Akane, the tribes men and massive Lord Brachus.
When all the lords had stated their number, the forces were almost brought back up to scratch. Vegeta sat back on his throne more comfortably, looking as if he had never sat anywhere else as he planted his elbows on the broad arm rests, his elegant, white gloved hands dangling down nonchalantly.
"I have some introductions to make." he announced.
Akane could not take her eyes from his handsome, unnaffected face. Her heart began a war drum in her chest at what was to come next. This was it.