The Lord and Lady in the White Tower

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this. No, really. Rating: K Time: This is a sequel to the Lady in the White Tower and begins some months after that story ended.

"I should go with you." Kate said.

"You need to stay here." Rick replied.

"You should stay here as well." She shot back." You are the Viceroy, not I."

"And what vastly important duties have I done as Viceroy in the last month? Let me see. I've counseled Bishop Ryan on the ongoing repair of the cathedral's organ. It sounds like the dying wail of some gigantic, mythical beast. Which I will admit is better than it sounded a month ago. Oh, I also tasted the very first batch of apple cider produced here. It was quite good, as anyone could have found. I increased my Companions to more than eighty cataphracts and have plans to increase that to one hundred. Then there was the argument about the portcullis. Should we…"

"Enough." Kate said. "The reason you should stay is because there may be an enemy army out there. We need you here."

"A dozen officers in my command can hold a city with walls like ours. If an enemy comes, and we don't know if any is even out there." He stopped, stepped forward and took her hands in his. "Kate, I need to see what's to the south of us. We may have allies that we don't know of. We may have enemies, perhaps this Nikodimas or perhaps someone else."

"The truth is, you're bored, and you want an adventure." Kate said. "Well, I'm bored as well, and I want an adventure. An adventure with my husband."

Rick laughed.

"Quite true. I am bored and seek an adventure. But I need to know what's out there. And you need to stay here in my place. Between you, Duchess Ann and Princess Arran, you can run the city as well as I can."

She led him towards their bedroom.

"Then let me give you another reason why you should stay."

In spite of the very many reasons that Kate gave him to stay in Aurum, Lord Castle found himself standing on the deck of Admiral Deese's flagship, looking back at the chestnut-haired figure waving to him from the dock. He waved and did so until he could no longer see Kate.

Once at sea, the fleet of fourteen caravels spread out in a line abreast formation. The ship nearest the shore stayed in visual contact with the land and the rest sailed far enough apart so as to just keep the ships to their port and starboard in sight. This way, they could cover a vast tract of the sea, hoping to find a merchantman or even a fishing boat to tell them of what lay ahead.

Alas, they found no merchantmen, but did run across several fishing boats. At first the boats tried to run but were quickly run down by the faster caravels. When they found out the ships intended them no harm. They became quite friendly. When their catch was purchased for golden coins, the friendship increased.

However, all of the fishing boats came from islands off the coast of Auricania. They told Deese and Castle that they did not sail near the coast. When asked if this was because of an army led by someone named Nikodimas, they said no, that the cities along the coast had long seized fishing boats that intruded on what they considered their waters and enslaved the crews.

While the simple fishermen had no charts, they did know the seas quite well. They were able to show Deese where their islands were on his charts. And they could also give some information as to the coastal cities.

"Do you think the city folk will attack us?" Deese asked Castle.

"I brought a dozen men from my regiment on each ship and another ten Mimbrenats from chief Tokar's people. And your sailors can fight, if necessary."

Deese thought about that.

"If what the fishermen said is correct, we can outsail any ship we're likely to run into here, as long as we have sea room."

Three days later, they arrived at a city on the banks of a small river that fed into the ocean. They were met by a large and rather unwieldly ship.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Called a man from the ship.

"We are representatives of Emperor Paulus of the Empire." Castle called back. "His Imperial Majesty is has reoccupied the city of Aurum and rules the Golden Coast. We come in peace. We have many things from the Empire and beyond we can trade with you. May we land."

"No, you may not. We will resist you if you try." Was the response.

"Why not? Don't you wish to trade."

"We have heard rumors of this Empire of yours. It is far, far away. We pay homage to Lord Nikodimas. He has forbidden us to have any relationship with anyone other than him. Go away. Lord Nikodimas will be angry with us and with you. Leave now."

"We'll leave." Castle said, and leave they did.

"At least we now know that this Nikodimas is real and that he's powerful enough to frighten at least one city." Deese said.

The next day they came upon another coastal city. The leaders of that city were equally determined not to let anyone land, but they were more polite about it.

"We cannot let you land, Lord Castle." Said Guildmaster Prothro, who led the small group that had sailed out to meet the Imperial fleet. "Lord Nikodimas would never allow us to trade with you. And I like my head here on my shoulders, thank you."

"What can you tell us of this Lord Nikodimas and his army?" Castle asked.

"It would be unwise of me to tell you anything of him or his army. However, three or so days sail to the south is the city of Wakitannsa. They are fortunate that Lord Nokodimas will not attack them and so they have a degree of freedom that we lack."

"We'll go there, then and not mention who told us of the city of Wakitannsa."

"How very thoughtful of you, Lord Castle."

Wakitannsa was only two days sail away what with the speed of the caravels. They were met by a small ship and invited to land.

Wakitannsa was a large city, even by Imperial standards. Castle guessed there might be as many as two hundred thousand people in the city. The larger part of the city was on an island nearly a mile from shore, connected to the shore by a wide bridge. On closer examination, Castle was able to see that the bridge was made entirely of wood and could easily be burned. That part of the city was walled with many towers providing a means of shooting arrows at attackers from their flanks.

The smaller part of the city was on the shore. It had no walls and the buildings seemed to be rather flimsy.

Castle and twelve of his men, plus one of Chief Tokar's men were led to the palace, in the walled city, and brought before King Amandrius.

"Please, sit down, Lord Castle. Have some wine. We have much to talk about. We have heard that the distant Emperor Paulus is now the lord of the Golden Coast, and a good thing, I might add. We can trade with you and you with us, and we will all become richer and richer."

"I had understood, Your Majesty, that a certain Nikodimas held this coast in fief, so to speak."

Amandruis laughed.

"Much of the coast, yes, but not our city. He won't attack us."

"And why is that? While you have strong walls, walled cities have been taken before. Why are you so sure?"

"When Nikodimas was a young man, his mother brought in a famous soothsayer to tell his fortune. He told young Nikodomas that he would found a great empire. However, at all costs he was to avoid attacking an enemy across a body of water. The soothsayer said that if he did, he'd find his death and the destruction of his empire."

"He won't cross a body of water?" Castle asked.

"Not if there is an enemy on the other side. He'll ride across a river or a lake, a lagoon or any other body of water, as long as no enemy waits on the other side. Naturally, he has nothing like a navy."

"What can you tell me of his army?"

"His army is all cavalry and numbers at most, some fifty thousand men. Of course, he cannot maintain that number of men in the field together for very long. They'd soon exhaust the food and fodder in that area and have to move on."

"He could not sustain a siege for any length of time then, could he?"

"Very unlikely. In fact, he has no siege train. At best he'll have his men make ladders to scale city walls, and no more. He has no ballistae, onagers, or trebuchets. They can make crude battering rams, of course. And he has no miners to dig under city walls to undermine them. In short, even if Nikodimas were to decide to besiege Wakitannsa, he could take that part of the town on the mainland, but he'd not take our walled city. And as we have access to the sea, we can bring in food, other supplies, weapons and soldiers."

"I believe that Aurum is in the same position, although we have only a small moat around the city." Castle said.

"I do believe a moat might stop him." King Amandruis said, nodding his head.

"You say his army is all cavalry. How are they armed and equipped?"

"Every freeman is obligated to serve in the army or Nikodimas. The poorest are equipped as horse archers and not that well equipped, being poor. They have the worst horses, the least armor, and the poorest weapons. The rest of the cavalry, the nobles, the professional soldiers and those who've been equipped with the loot that Nikodimas has gathered are armored cavalry. They have a lance, sword and usually a war axe. Also, a coat of mail and an iron or steel helmet and a large round shield. Their horses are at least above average and those of the higher nobility are excellent."

"How many horse archers does he have?" Castle asked.

"Between two or three thousand. Nikodimas and his nobles believe it is dishonorable to fight an enemy from a distance. They want to get close enough to use lance and sword. Accordingly, Nikodimas doesn't call up all of his horse archers when he begins a campaign."

"Where is Nikodimas and his army now?"

"Far to the east of here. Their home country is a good fifteen days ride from here."

While Castle gathered all of the information he could about Nikodimas and his army, Admiral Deese showed the merchants of Wakitannsa the products of the Empire that he could provide for him. In turn the local merchants showed him products that would sell well in the Empire.

Back aboard Deese's flagship, Deese told Castle what he'd learned.

"They trade with a number of cities down the coast and with an island nation that is south and west of here. While we can both make money once trade gets underway, we will also be competitors for trade with other cities, and especially the island nation of Cipangu. They say it's quite wealthy. Perhaps we should go there next?"

"That's your decision, Admiral." Castle replied.

The fleet did stop at a few port cities further south, but they were too frightened of Nikodimas to allow any of the Imperials to land. However, a number of merchants did sneak out at night and discuss what they might trade, if such trade were done quietly. They also gave Castle what information they had about Nikodimas and his army.

They then sailed for Cipangu.

TBC