S. Stirling - The Given Sacrifice

Rudi nodded gravely. “It’s a puzzlement to find a Crown castellan who’s both able and not needed more urgently elsewhere. Which is why, Rigobert, you’re going to spend your old age working harder than you want. Here.”

He slid a parchment he took from the wide trailing sleeve of his houppelande across the table. Rigobert glanced at it and choked on his sip of brandy.

“Congratulations, Sir Rigobert de Stafford, Baron of Forest Grove. . Baron of Pomeroy. . and Count Campscapell. We’ll have the ceremonial investiture later in Portland-Matti will be appointing you, strictly speaking.”

There was a lot of noise for a moment, and Lord Rigobert stopped gaping and coughing; his friend Sir Julio pounded him on the back.

“And as for a Castellan and second-in-command, well, that will be your responsibility. I’ve heard good things of a certain Julio Alvarez de Soto, though.”

Wow, Órlaith thought. Campscapell is a big castle.

There was a murmur of congratulations from below. Heuradys sighed very slightly, getting a bit bored, but Órlaith loved to watch her parents being King and Queen, even if she didn’t understand it all yet.

Delia stopped with a snifter halfway to her lips. “And Lioncel. . Lioncel will be a Count!”

“Only when I’m dead , Delia,” Rigobert grinned, and she blushed. “I might point out that you are now a Countess. Don’t be alarmed, I think I can handle it without demanding Baroness d’Ath give up her Châtelaine.”

“You’ll do a good job of it, Rigobert,” Tiphaine said. “Better than I would. You’re better at getting people to cooperate, especially in peacetime, but you’ve got an excellent record in the Prophet’s War too.”

“And in my fifties, people have different expectations. I can delegate. . certain matters.”

Sir Julio laughed, a low sound that made Órlaith feel a bit shivery, and flexed his sword-hand.

“Speaking of jobs,” Rudi said. “Lord Maugis, you did say most of the war damage has been repaired on your Barony of Tucannon?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The basics; only time will cure some things. My vassals and everyone down to the very cottars worked like heroes, just as they fought during the war.”

“Good. Then I won’t be taking you away from your folk in their hour of greatest need.”

He produced two more parchments, and slid one to Lady Tiphaine and one to Baron Tucannon. Maugis read his, frowning and then blurting:

“ Grand Constable of the Association?”

Tiphaine spoke simultaneously: “Marshal-Commander of the High King’s Hosts?”

Her father threw back his head and laughed. “That’s squeal-of-complaint followed by Your Majesty , if you please, my lord, my lady.”

Maugis rose from his chair and went down on one knee, bending his head. Aleaume was fighting to keep an incredulous grin off his face.

“Your Majesty, I am not worthy of this honor.”

“That is for your sovereigns to decide, and we have,” Mathilda said. “Do you accept the office, my lord?”

T hat’s me-and-Da ‘we,’ not the other type of ‘we,’ Órlaith decided.

Maugis sighed, and looked at his wife. She nodded. . after an instant’s hesitation. “Yes, your Majesty,” he said.

“You needn’t look as if I’d sent you to the mines, Lord Maugis,” Órlaith’s father said. “Get back up and enjoy your cake, for all love.”

Mathilda spoke: “I wanted an able man for this, one with a good war record in independent commands, administrative talents. . and one who was not heir to a Duke, which is why Érard Renfrew Viscount of Odell isn’t getting it, to be blunt. Also I trust your liege Count Felipe to be sensible about it, given that you’re not a tenant-in-chief.”

Maugis sat back down slowly, and Lady Helissent gripped his hand. “I. . I will do my best to fulfill the trust you have shown me, Your Majesties. Though it will be hard, following such a Grand Constable as the one who led the Association through the war.”

Tiphaine had been frowning. When she spoke it was slow and considering, her voice even more cool than usual. “Your Majesty, you’re appointing me commander-in-chief for Montival as a whole? Creating a new ministry and me to head it?”

“Exactly. You’re fit for the job, and you’re also the only Associate most of the rest of the realm would accept. Being, as it were. . unconventional.”

“But you don’t have a Host in peacetime for a Marshal-Commander to command. All you have is a Royal guard regiment and some people the provinces send in rotation. You need a general the way a bull needs a mandolin! It would be like calling me a Lord High Admiral because you gave me a rubber duckie for my bathtub. If you and Matti don’t want me as Grand Constable anymore, fine-the job’s routine now anyway and I’m tired of it and the Gray-Eyed knows I’ve got enough other things to do. But this is make-work. I don’t need my feelings soothed.”

Órlaith’s father raised a hand. “The job’s organizational, not operational, yes, but none the less real for that. I need a staff structure that will be there and ready if. . when, alas. . it’s needed and I call up contingents.”

Tiphaine started to nod, then glanced sharply at her Châtelaine’s carefully concealed delight.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “This is an appointment by the High King.”

“And High Queen,” Mathilda put in.

“Both of you, yes. That does mean you could punish anyone who challenged me, have their head and forbid the encounter; the High King’s ministers are immune, extraterritorial, even if they’re Associates.”

“That’s in the Great Charter, yes, Marshal-Commander.”

“I don’t need protection-” she began sharply.

“Shut up!”

Órlaith blinked; that was her mother, and she’d accompanied it by a cracking slap of her palm on the table, and she was using the High Queen’s voice.

She wasn’t the only one surprised; she could see that all the grown-ups were too, except maybe Lady Delia. Mathilda pointed a finger at the silent face of Lady Tiphaine:

“Look, d’Ath, you’ve been carrying water for House Arminger since you were fourteen years old. You rescued me when I was ten. You saved Rudi’s life not long after. You held the Prophet out of most of Montival until the Quest got back. You only killed what’s-his-name’s uncle-

“Sir Vladimir. Minor Stavarov connection. The late young idiot who just bit it trying to avenge his uncle was Sir Bogdan.”

“Sir Vladimir in the first place because it was politically convenient for my mother to deliver a pointed message after the Protector’s War. Do you think that we-that I -am going to let Lady Delia and the children be left alone because of blowback you earned serving us ?”

“I’m not asking-”

“I’m not asking you . I’m telling you, Tiph. It’s good lordship to protect a vassal, and you’re going to get our good lordship whether you like it or not .”

Tiphaine opened her mouth. Rigobert leaned forward. “Tiph, don’t be an ass,” he drawled. “And if you think either of us has anything to prove at this late date, that would be exactly the case. With gray fur and long ears yet.”

“Darling, please ,” Delia added.

Slowly, Tiphaine subsided back into her chair and sipped her brandy. “All right,” she said grudgingly. Then to Rudi and Mathilda: “I’ll do it. Your Majesties.”

Rudi sighed. “Thank you. And now, friends, why don’t we have another drink, and perhaps some songs? And tomorrow. . I understand the partridge are plump and plentiful hereabouts this time of year, by the kisses of Angus Og MacDagda. And that Marshall d’Ath has most excellent falcons.”