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.
"Excuse me, but are you Baron Richard Castle?"
Baron Castle had been deep in his own thoughts and had hardly noticed the girl walking towards him in a main hallway of the Imperial Palace.
He stopped and bowed to her.
"I am, my lady. May I be of assistance to you?"
Taking a better look at her, Castle saw that she was not a girl, but not yet a woman. He guessed her to be about thirteen years old, perhaps more, perhaps less. While he was not an expert of female fashions in the Empire, he thought that her dress was several seasons out of style and appeared to not quite fit her properly.
She did show the promise of being a great beauty someday. She was rather tall for her age, some five and a half feet tall, and had a slim body. Her hair was long, straight, shiny and black. Unlike the current fashion with Imperial ladies, it was not curled and piled on her head, held in place by expensive pins, but hung freely down her back. Her face was quite pale, but not with the makeup that so many Imperial ladies used. Her eyes were a deep green and lively. Her smile showed perfect, very white teeth.
He noted that she had little jewelry: A small necklace with a tiny red stone, a silver signet ring on her right ring finger and a simple gold bracelet.
"My name is Arran." She said, curtseying. "I believe you command the Norren Heavy Cavalry Regiment?"
"I do, Lady Arran."
"Might I ask how large your regiment is?"
"Heavy cavalry regiments number one thousand men, in theory. In the case of my regiment, I currently had 992 men present and equipped for duty and twenty-seven more who are in the hospital, on leave, being trained, and three unfortunates who are in the cells for brawling in a tavern."
"Is that not unusual? Most regiments are much smaller than their authorized strength."
Castle nodded.
"Very true, my lady. In wartime, men are often lost faster than they can be replaced, either through death, wounding or sickness. Plus, some men go on leave and some even desert."
"But you have a full-strength regiment."
"I admit to having been lucky. I have a bit of wealth that allows me to keep the regiment up to strength. And the Empire is at peace. Mostly."
Many would say Baron Castle was wealthy because of his courage and intelligence and not due to luck. He had become the ambassador to the Empire from the distant and very wealthy Queendom of Altai and made a tidy profit from the trade in spices, fine cloth and other luxuries. Others would also note that many warriors sought to serve under the renowned Baron Richard Castle.
"How is your regiment organized, if I may ask?"
"Half are armored cavalry. They wear a long chain mail hauberk, and an iron helmet was well as carrying a kite shaped shield for protection. Their main weapon is a thrusting lance, but they all carry a sword and either a war axe or a mace. The other half are horse archers. They usually wear a coat of thick leather, although some wear a mail shirt. Most carry a small round shield. They carry composite bows and two quivers of arrows and also a sword."
"Some regiments have armored cavalrymen that also carry bows so that they can fight from a distance as well as from up close. How do you feel about that?" Arran asked.
"It's an interesting experiment, but I haven't seen how it works in combat. So, I withhold my judgement."
"But that's not all of your command, is it, Baron Castle?"
"You are very well informed, Lady Arrran." Castle said. "I have several troops of scouts led by an eastern barbarian named Sandrall. His troops number almost two hundred, the number varies as his men are not used to the sort of discipline a regular army has. They come and go as they please. I also have a force I refer to as my Companions. They are forty-five of my best men, all equipped as cataphracts."
Castle was beginning to wonder about Lady Arran. Most young girls would be gushing about how romantic it must be to command a cavalry regiment. Not Lady Arran.
"I believe you have also married Lady Katherine, known as the Lady in the White Tower."
"I do have that honor. She is the love of my life."
Lady Arran opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.
"My lady! There you are. I've been looking all over for you."
The speaker was a short, rather portly man whose long blue robes marked him as a teacher of some sort as did the aroma of ink and paper that hung about him. He was rather stoop shouldered and had a long white beard, but a merry twinkle in his eyes.
"I have been discussing the Norren Heavy Cavalry Regiment with Baron Castle."
"Ah, the Baron Castle. Allow me to introduce myself, Baron. I am Sir Thomos des Landes. I have the honor to be the tutor to Lady Arran. Now come, my lady, it's time to study mathematics."
"I was about to ask Baron Castle what the price of the services of his regiment would be."
Des Landes slowly shook his head.
"You could not afford a troop of horse for a day, Lady Arran."
"I have my jewelry…" She began.
"Which would still not pay for a troop for a day. Come now, my lady, you'll never learn to navigate if you don't study mathematics."
Lady Arran curtseyed to Castle who bowed back.
"I apologize for taking up your valuable time, Baron Castle."
"No need. This is the most pleasant and interesting conversation I've had all day."
Which was true. It had been one of those days for Baron Castle.
Castle watched the two walk away. Lady Arran was an unusual young lady. She knew a bit about cavalry and studied mathematics to learn navigation. Hardly what he expected from a person just entering her teens.
He shrugged and went on his way out of the palace. There, waiting for him was Joffree's carriage. He had met Joffree when he had first gone to meet Lady Kate in the famous, or infamous, White Tower. Joffree had been terrified of going near the Tower, but since Castle and Kate had returned to the Empire, he had somehow managed to become Castle's unofficial carriage driver.
Joffree's carriage had been repainted a soft blue color with white trim. Dents and dings in the wooden body of the carriage had been sanded out and rusted iron parts had either been replaced or repaired.
Joffree's horse had also improved. The once skinny nag was now quite sleek. He, like his master, spent most of his days in the shade, waiting upon Baron Castle. Joffree made sure his horse had plenty of apples to munch on.
Joffree himself had obviously come up in the world. After all, Baron Castle was known to be a very generous man, even before his sudden wealth. Joffree wore a pair of stout boots, a fine pair of broadcloth trousers, an expensive white linen shirt and a bottle green coat. On his head there was a fashionable wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off. Life was good for man and horse.
"Back to the Tower, Joffree." Castle said, opening the door to the carriage.
"Right away, Baron Castle."
Joffree pulled out into the street and headed for the White Tower, arriving in mere minutes.
The White Tower was doubtlessly the oldest building in the Capitol. It had been built when the first men had arrived at the planet Serendip and was constructed of some material that the men of the planet could not now make. Over the centuries it had been attacked by enemy armies, mobs, and bandits, but they had never so much as scratched the exterior or damaged a window.
Then one day, after centuries of being unused, lights had appeared in the upper floors of the White Tower. After a few days, Lady Katherine had appeared and begun the legend of the Lady in the White Tower.
But, to Baron Richard Castle, it was simply the home of him and his wife.
He dismounted from the carriage and reached into his pocket, pulling out three gold coins.
"There you go, Joffree." He said, handing the coins to the driver.
"Thank you, Baron. Thank you very much. Will that be all for today?"
"Yes but do come by tomorrow morning."
Joffree drove off, wondering is Baron Castle would ever decide that he could buy a fine carriage and hire a driver for much less than he paid Joffree. The three gold coins were as much as Joffree had earned in good week before Baron Castle.
Castle walked towards the door which opened automatically for him. Once inside he went to the small room he had learned was called an elevator and went to the living quarters.
"DAMN!" Yelled a feminine voice from somewhere. It was the first thing he heard as the elevator doors opened. Standing by the elevator was one of the young, redheaded servants of Lady Kate.
"Is there a problem, Alana?"
"She's had a very bad day." The young girl said softly, gesturing towards Kate's laboratory.
Lady Kate had five young redheaded servant girls. They all looked enough alike to be sisters, but Castle had found out they were more than that. They were called clones and except for their age, they were genetically identical. Castle didn't quite understand all of that, but he knew the girls were faithful unto death to Kate.
"I'm making some of her favorite foods." Alana said." The bean and beef soup, dumplings, those sausages she loves so much, corn bread, corn and a chocolate cake for dessert."
Castle looked around. Someone was missing.
"Where's Lotus?"
"She's on the roof, hiding." Alana said. "Smart lady."
Lotus was a tigery, a gigantic tiger like being with white and black stripes. In spite of looking like an animal, and behaving like one when strangers were about, Lotus was an intelligent and well-educated extraterrestrial female. She was quite gentle and friendly. Unless you threatened her, her family or her friends. Then she was deadly.
"I should go and see what the problem is." Castle said.
He found Kate sitting at a workbench with all manner of glass dishes in front of her.
"Problems, Kate?'
"I get so frustrated. I'm trying to grow mold, and nothing is working right."
Castle looked over her shoulder at the dishes.
"That looks like mold to me."
She stuck out her tongue at him.
"I'm trying to grow a specific kind of mold. A penicillium mold. From it one can make an antibiotic that kills germs. Since what passes for doctors on this planet use all manner of gross things, scrapings from frog's skin, the eyes of salamanders, ground up vultures' bones, as medicines, I thought that something made from mold would attract their attention."
Lady Kate was thought to be a sorceress or a witch by all but a few people, but in fact, she was a scientist.
Back when men roamed among the stars, they had settled two other planets in Serendip's solar system. The next planet out from Serendip was called Quan Yin and the next one in was called Newton. Then a war, fought with weapons of unimaginable power, had erupted. Almost all human life of Quan Yin was killed, and much damage was done to Serendip. Newton, for some reason was spared. The population of Newton was small, but very well educated, having been set up as a scientific outpost. For centuries, the Newtonians had kept to themselves, fearful of another attack. Eventually, they decided to help their neighbors on Serendip. As Kate's father, Jim Beckett, had said, it was easy to change governments but very hard to change societies. Accordingly, Newton had sent a very small number of people to Serendip to gently nudge the planet towards a happier future. Kate was one of those people.
TBC