Ойкумена / Oikumena: Глава 2

Chapter 2

Camrad_RIP 05.08.23 в 12:17

About saving and painstaking multiplication

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 19:56

* * *

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 19:52

It is believed that death on the gallows is unpleasant but quick. Well, it can be so, but not always. The rope, the knot, the physique, the skill of the executioner, everything matters.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 19:57

The gallows man gasped for a long time, pounding his heels furiously on the shapely bronze bars. Flessa looked past the executioner to the harbor of Malersyde. The wind from the east drove the merchant ships, deeply settled under the weight of their cargoes, and helped them out into the open ocean. Autumn... the last weeks of good winds and calm waves. Time to hurry closing out the year's trade and bringing the balance sheet to a close. Those who rush too fast and close early will lose profits. Those who delay risk being caught in storms. Under the bright but already cold rays of the sun, the blue surface of the Great Harbor sparkled with sapphire dust. And Gatekeeper's Island, with its shining lighthouse needle, looked like an exquisite salt cellar of gold.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:02

The second visitor, on the contrary, contemplated the agony with keen interest. Judging by the expression of his unpleasant, almost square face, he was no stranger to such spectacles. Flessa, who by the order of her revered father had stopped with the fashion of routiers, looked down at the clothes of the guest, who was dressed just in military style. A quilted jacket with over-extended shoulders and many silver nails imitating the steel hem of a brigantine. Narrow, tight stockings of fine cloth. Stiff boots with extended paddle-like noses. A mercenary. Not a knight - that one would wear pointy-toed shoes that mimic a steel boot for mounted combat. Unarmed, though, he carries a belt with a distinctive scuff where the sling is suspended. Behind the mercenary's right shoulder stood a silent statue of a guardsman from the personal guard of the ruler of Malersyde.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:05

The duke thought, wiggling his gray eyebrows and stroking the crystal vial that hung around his neck. The unrhythmic thumping of the bare heels against the bars didn't seem to distract him. Most likely, it was. According to legend, thirty-odd years ago, the Old Man (who was not old then) had ordered the hanging of his older brother on the palace wall, thus marking the end of the intra-family competition for the ducal hoop crown. The zealous servants used an old flagpole as a rung, and the sole survivor, Wartensleben, drank wine while watching the long, very long agony of the most hated of his enemies.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:08

The room opposite to which the first hangman had been hanged, the new Duke ordered to be turned into his study, and the flagpole was reinforced with iron and used from time to time for a new purpose. For special occasions or according to the master's mood.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:08

The mercenary broke away from contemplating the corpse and began to examine the Wartensleben coat of arms in two-colored travertine. Flessa suffered silently, keeping a mask of respectful contemplation on her face. The heavy folder was weighing down her arm, and her riding boots were not properly worn and stung. She had only herself to blame, though. The court shoemaker had honestly warned her to keep the boots on the heated pads for at least a couple more days. To give them the marvelous softness for which, among other things, the leatherworkers of glorious Malersyde were famous. The woman was not used to being restricted in any way, and so the discomfort was doubly felt. She wanted to whip someone with a whip.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:10

The sun cast its tenacious rays through the bars. Flessa wrinkled her straight, pedigreed nose. The hangman's trousers of mottled cloth with hemmed ribbons were getting wet fast. The Duke took the vial and flipped off the golden lid. The indescribable aroma of the finest southern pepper, otherwise known as the "phoenix of spices," wafted through the study. The most expensive spice in the world, which was measured by weight with gems and was not even put in food because of the price. The old man held the vial to his nose and took a drag, squinting in pleasure. In addition to the wonderful odor, the pepper made it easier to breathe, cleared the lungs, dried up phlegm, and generally invigorated him.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:14

"All right," said the formidable old man at last. "It's a deal."

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:15

"My honor and gratitude," the mercenary mimed a bow, not too subservient but still courteous enough.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:16

"My treasurer will issue you funds to hire ..." the duke pondered. "Fifty fighters. Good foot soldiers. And a dozen sergeants. That will suffice."

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:17

"Excuse me...

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:17

"I will not allow it," retorted the lord. "You forget I too, have spent much time in the saddle with a spear in hand. All you have to do is to bring the arrogant monastery into submission. The priests have no money, and the walls have not been repaired since the Cataclysm. Fifty good warriors are more than enough, even without cavalry."

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:19

"I daresay," the rather disappointed routier persisted. "The stone ages slowly, so the walls there are still quite decent. And the monks are not going to give in. And the abbot is quite popular with the people. I'm told they've announced a voluntary collection of donations from the surrounding lands and may well raise enough to hire their troops for defense. They will have to be led to obedience quite ... vigorously."

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:21

"Curse the negligent servants of the Lord," the duke said angrily. "They have forgotten that God is God and that on earth, thanks be to Pantocrator, worldly rulers have their hand. It has been so since the fall of the Old Empire, and it must continue to be so. All right, seventy infantry. No more."

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:23

The mercenary bowed again, a look of displeasure and disagreement on his face, but routier knew he would not get more than that here.

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:24

"And tell that ..." the duke held back the epithet, ready to burst on his tongue. "That he owes me even more now. He owes me very much."

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:25

"You could write to him," Routier suggested. "I am ready to be a messenger."

Camrad_RIP 07.08.23 в 20:26

"I could. But I won't. I trust your eloquence, and I believe that ..." the duke grinned. "You will be able to convey the depth of my displeasure to him most accurately and expressively. If a gentleman in authority is unable to solve the problem of stubborn priests, it speaks ill of him. And in time, I shall certainly return to the matter."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:24

"It seems my employer will greatly regret seeking your help," Routier grinned.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:24

The guardsman pressed his lips together and caught his lord's gaze, ready to punish the insolent guest immediately. But the Duke was in a relatively good mood today, so he ignored the joke and confined himself to a philosophical maxim:

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:25

"Everything in the world has consequences, bad and good. Some bring me good news and receive a just reward. Others, on the contrary, multiply my worries. They, too ... are rewarded."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:26

Routier seemed to want to ask if the dead man behind the bars was a member of the second group of gifted, but he held back and bowed his head in silent understanding and agreement. With a faint movement of his palm, Duke indicated that he was no longer detaining either the visitor or the guard. After waiting for the heavy door to close, the old man took another puff of pepper and focused his attention on his youngest daughter. As usual, she felt uncomfortable under the penetrating gaze. And as usual, she muffled her anxiety with her usual effort and looked at the calmed hangman in turn, raising her left eyebrow slightly.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:30

"Dark, sour oil," the Duke explained briefly, exhaustively.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:30

Flessa bowed her head understandingly. She had heard of a merchant who had brought a large shipment of vegetable oil from the southern cities at a very favorable price. The negotiation must have gotten him into trouble.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:31

"Won't we get in trouble with the guild?" the young woman cautiously inquired.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:33

"Of course," the old man reported grouchily and reached for the peppers again. "It's business as usual. The fox children can't understand that the Wartensleben family can't be deceived."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:35

"Such ... excesses ruin a trade's reputation," Flessa ventured to insert. "Sellers of good goods ponder whether it's worth the risk."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:36

"Never mind the fears of peddlers. Merchants must suffer and know their place," replied the Duke even more angrily, omitting with splendid indifference the fact that he was one of the greatest merchant of the West, the representative of all the trading interests of the Island as far as the Middle Mountains.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:38

"Truly, the land of Malersyde is miserable," the old man said sadly. "There seems to be plenty of sunshine, a warm ocean nearby. But the land is salty. The grapes and oils do not grow ... And once the local wines were supplied even to the capital. Now instead of pure clear nectar, we're filling our dishes with some kind of tar. And the saddest thing is that the land is salty, and we have no salt to eat. The founders of the Wartensleben family must have greatly angered Pantocrator, and we are paying for the sins of our fathers and mothers."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:47

"They recommend desalinizing the soil with alfalfa," put in the daughter cautiously. "Gypsum also works well, it binds the harmful impurities in the good soil."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:48

"My girl," the duke said patronizingly, on the verge of insult. "Do you think I haven't asked the best agrarians in Ecumene?"

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:49

"I'm sorry, Revered Father..."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 05:49

"They get all this nonsense at universities," the Duke muttered. "Alfalfa, gypsum, padun-grass, these are all, scientifically speaking, palliatives, or half solutions. Only rain or heavy irrigation can actually clear the salt from the soil. And until magic returns in its former abundance, allowing us to wring the clouds dry, our harvests will remain miserable."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:14

Flessa bowed her head, trying to look as penitent as possible. She'd made a big mistake, displaying her scholarship at the wrong time and place and in light of the Wartensleben patriarch's disdain for classical education. But it seems to have worked out.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 06:28

"Alright then," the old man signaled that it was time to move from empty words to business. "So...?"

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 06:31

Flessa eagerly stepped toward her father, opening the folder of the newfangled style that had come from the City. The boards, so thin that light and darkness could be distinguished through them, were covered with embossed leather on the outside and a special compound on the inside that kept the contents clean while allowing her to write with a stylus like a regular wax tablet.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 06:32

"Spell it out," commanded the duke.

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 06:36

"In fulfillment of your will, revered father, I have audited the accounts of the merchant communities for this year. I have also audited all the active fueres and arvettes [1] of the subject lands. Here is a list of them."

Camrad_RIP 08.08.23 в 06:53

A large sheet of parchment, folded in half and written in very small handwriting from edge to edge, almost without margins, fell onto the stone lectern. There seemed to be quite a few Fueres and Arvettes.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:14

"I must say, our affairs are quite messy. There are too many rules that were introduced at different times and haphazardly, according to current needs. Therefore ..." Flessa drew in air, making up her mind. "I have taken the liberty of proposing a reorganization of the trade duty system."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:18

The duke raised a gray eyebrow.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:18

"... And address the issue of the city's constant supply of provisions. Move from incentive rules to prohibitive and punitive rules."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:19

"'Well...' the Duke stretched out, flicking his fingernail on the crystal of the pepperpot. The noble material echoed with a transparent, vanishingly thin ringing. "I didn't tell you to do that."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:22

"Such is my duty," Flessa faded modestly, mimicking a shallow bow. "A respectful child should strive to please his parents and find something to do, avoiding idleness, the mother of all vices."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:23

"Beautifully phrased," smiled the duke sourly and, after a short pause, relented. "Well, let's see."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:24

"So..." Flessa pulled out two sheets of parchment already. "I have evaluated all the goods that pass through our harbor..." she trailed off for a barely perceptible fraction of a moment, realizing that she had said something stupid and this 'our' could cost her dearly. But it was too late to correct it anyway.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:26

"...and the markets and fairs of Malersyde. Of these, one hundred and fifty-nine are worthy of mention. I've divided them all into six parts. The first is craft goods ready for use. The second is raw materials. The third is the position between the raw materials and the finished product."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 08:29