Lescari Revolution 03: Banners In The Wind Read Free Page B

mercenaries now hoarded.
    What of the tear-stained appeals from the families of those who had dutifully answered their dukes' call and paid a brutal price? They begged for news of their loved ones, asking what ransom might buy their freedom. Everyone knew that mercenaries bought and sold their captives as readily as they traded their booty.
    Before he could answer those, Aremil must consult Dagaran's ledgers, to discover which fathers, sons or brothers had died, to be burned on some battlefield pyre. Then he must discover where those who still lived were being held - not for ransom, but until they gave their oath not to raise a hand in any duke's cause. Was he now responsible for imprisoning those proving obdurate?
    Aremil's head ached at the thought of trying to decipher any more scrawl. His eyesight had always been weak, but lately even the clearest writing blurred in all but the strongest light. The grimy windows of this cramped room were already dim as the afternoon slipped into evening.
    Letters from the Guild Councils of Lescar's market towns made another pile. Some were defiant, others abusive. All demanded what was to be done regarding highway dues and town gate tolls and rents and levies due at midwinter.
    Aremil gazed at the flames dancing in the hearth. How quickly might those letters burn? Especially that one double-sealed with the fire-basket emblem of Draximal pressed deep into the wax? But that would be no answer.
    Only he had so little to say to all these people. Yes, their rebellion had overthrown the dukes and taken possession of their castles in Carluse, Sharlac and Triolle. No, they would not stand for the return of the old tyrannical order. But what did they propose in its place?
    Why had all this responsibility landed on his twisted shoulders? He contemplated his crutches, propped against the desk. Because he couldn't ride into battle like Tathrin or undertake the vital journeys their fellow conspirators were currently making.
    He contemplated the inkwell and the sticky quill. His fingers and cuff were stained and his page was blotted to illegibility. He must find someone reliably discreet to do his scribing since haste made his shaky handwriting even worse.
    Some keeper of his secrets could also run up and down Carluse Castle's stairs, even ride a horse when speed was of the essence. Someone hale and strong, unlike Aremil, crippled by his mother's ordeal in her first childbed. Crippled, yet generously provided for. Sent into anonymous exile, but sent to Vanam and its unrivalled scholars once it was apparent his intellect was undimmed, even if his legs were weak and twisted, however much his hands shook and his voice faltered.
    He contemplated the Draximal-sealed letter, still unopened. At least Tathrin had faced his father's wrath. Aremil still had to endure his parents' condemnation, their grief over his unknown brother's death. As word of his true parentage spread, how many would whisper behind their hands, wondering how long it would be before this supposed Master Aremil of Vanam claimed his rightful place as Lord Aremil, heir to Draximal, since he was indeed Duke Secaris's first-born son?
    Aremil's heart was hollow with a different loss. Branca knew he had no desire to claim any such rank but she was travelling to Tormalin on Lescar's eastern border, carrying their carefully crafted response to Tormalin Imperial outrage at the autumn's slaughters.
    With such chaos raging just across the River Asilor, within bowshot of his nobles' holdings, Emperor Tadriol was surely already mustering Tormalin's legions to defend those border domains. Placating him was one of their most urgent and difficult tasks.
    Aremil glanced at the modest timepiece over the mantel. How soon would Branca use her enchantments to speak to him, reaching through the unseen aether that offered a conduit between minds to those who had mastered the mysteries of Artifice?
    Until then, should he use his own apprentice skills to contact