Raymond Feist - Rage of a Demon King

Erik could only nod. He and the others around him who had traveled with Calis had seen the army of the Emerald Queen, had been a part of it for a time, and he knew that when that host of hired killers arrived on the shores of the Kingdom, chaos would ensue. In the midst of that chaos, only well-trained, disciplined, hard men might survive. And it would be upon those men that the fate of the Kingdom – and the rest of the world of Midkemia – would rest, not on the Kingdom’s traditional armies.

‘Very well, Captain. I accept,’ said Erik.

Calis smiled and put his hand upon Erik’s shoulder. ‘You didn’t have a choice, Sergeant Major. Now you need to promote some men; we need one more sergeant for the balance of this year, and a half-dozen corporals besides.’

‘Alfred of Darkmoor,’ said Erik. ‘He was a corporal and a bully until I got through with him. He’s ready to take on the responsibility, and at heart he’s still a brawler and we’ll need that when the time comes.’

‘You have that right,’ said Calis. ‘Every man a brawler, for that matter.’

Erik said, ‘I suppose we have enough potential corporals around. I’ll make up a list this evening.’

Calis nodded. ‘I must talk to Patrick before this turns into a full-blown reception. Excuse me.’

Roo returned when he saw Calis leave, and asked, ‘Well, did you get promoted or did Jadow?’

‘I did,’ answered Erik.

‘My condolences,’ said Roo. Then he grinned and struck his friend on the arm. ‘Sergeant Major.’

‘What about you?’ asked Erik. ‘You were telling me how things are at home.’

Roo smiled weakly and shrugged. ‘Karli is still upset I took off to go after you on such short notice, and she was right: the children don’t recognize me, though Abigail does call me daddy, and little Helmut just gives shy grins and gurgles.’ He sighed. ‘I got a warmer welcome from Helen Jacoby, truth to tell.’

‘Well, from what you told me, she is in your debt. You could have turned her and her children out on the streets.’

Roo chewed on a piece of fruit a moment. ‘Not really. Her husband had no part in the plot to kill my father-in-law.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ve got a few loose ends to tie up; Jason, Duncan, and Luis have been careful in seeing to my company while I was gone, and my partners in the Bitter Sea Company haven’t robbed me too outrageously.’ He grinned. ‘At least, I haven’t found any proof yet.’ His expression turned serious again. ‘And I also know that this army you’re about to become a significant part of will need provisions, weapons, and armor. Those don’t come cheaply.’

Erik nodded. ‘I have some small idea of how we’re going to meet the Emerald Queen, and while we’ll never put as large a force in the field as she will send against us, we’ll have to mount the most ambitious campaign since the Riftwar, and one never matched before.’

‘How many men under arms do you think?’

‘I’m speculating,’ said Erik. ‘But at least fifty, sixty thousand more than the current armies of the East and West.’

‘That’s close to a hundred thousand men!’ said Roo. ‘Do we have that many?’

‘No.’ Erik shook his head. ‘We have twenty thousand in all the Armies of the West, including the ten thousand directly under the Prince’s command. The Armies of the East number more, but many of them are honor garrisons. With our long-term peace with Roldem, the other eastern kingdoms are calm, not willing to try anything without Roldem distracting us.’ Erik shrugged. ‘Too much time spent with Lord William, I guess, talking strategy … We now must start building for the battle here.’ With a shake of his head he said softly, ‘We lost too many of our key men on our last trips to Novindus.’

Roo nodded. ‘There is a large debt to be repaid to that green bitch.’ Then he sighed audibly. ‘And a huge billing to finance it.’

Erik smiled. ‘Our Duke is getting into your pocket?’

Roo returned the smile, though his was far more wry. ‘Not yet. He’s made it clear that taxes will remain reasonable because he expects me to underwrite a large portion of the coming fight and to convince others, like Jacob Esterbrook, to provide funds as well.’

Mentioning Esterbrook, Roo again thought of his daughter, Sylvia, Roo’s mistress for the better part of a year before his sailing to rescue Erik, Calis, and the others. He had seen her only once since returning two weeks ago, and he was planning on seeing her tonight; he ached for her. ‘I think I should call upon Jacob soon,’ he said as if the thought had just come to him. ‘If he and I together agree to participate in financing the war, no one else of importance in the Kingdom would refuse the Prince’s request.’ Dryly he added, ‘After all, if we fail in this, repayment of loans will be the last of our worries.’ Then he whispered in a somber tone, ‘Assuming we can worry about anything.’

Erik nodded noncommittally. He had to admit that Roo had proven beyond any doubt he understood matters of finance far better than Erik and, should his phenomenal success be any indication, better than most of the businessmen in the Kingdom.

Roo said, ‘I should make my excuses to the Prince and get about my own business. I suspect those of us here who are not part of your military inner circle will be asked to find other things to go do soon, anyway.’

Erik took his hand. ‘I think you’re right.’ Other nobles, not part of the military, were presenting themselves to the Prince. Roo left his boyhood friend and joined the line of those begging the Prince’s leave to depart, and soon only the Prince, his senior advisers, and members of the military remained.

When Owen Greylock entered, Patrick said, ‘We’re now all here.’

Knight-Marshal William motioned for them to gather around a circular table at the far end of the room. Duke James sat to his Prince’s right, and William to the left.

It was the Duke who began. ‘Well, now that the pomp is over, we can get back to the bloody work ahead of us.’

Erik sat back and listened to the plans for the final defense of the Kingdom begin to take shape.

Roo reached the gate where his horse was waiting for him. He had left his carriage at home for his wife’s use, for he had moved his family to an estate outside the gates of the city. While he preferred the convenience of his town house, across the street from Barret’s Coffee House – where most of his business day was spent – the country house offered a tranquillity he couldn’t have imagined before the move. He had grounds for hunting if he chose, and a stream with fish, and all the other advantages granted to the nobility and rich commoners. He knew he would have to find time soon to enjoy those pastimes.

Not yet twenty-three years of age, Roo Avery was the father of two, one of the richest merchants in the Kingdom, and privy to secrets shared by few. The country house was also a hedge, as the gamblers called it, a place from which his family could escape the oncoming invasion to safer refuge to the east before the mob fled the city, trampling everything in its path. Roo had endured the destruction of Maharta, the distant city crushed three years before by the armies of the Emerald Queen. He had been forced to fight his way through the mass of panic-stricken citizens, had seen innocents die because they were in the wrong place. He vowed he would spare his children that horror, no matter what else might come.

He knew what he had been told, years before, along with the rest of Calis’s company, on the shore of that distant land called Novindus, that should the Kingdom of the Isles not prevail, all life as they knew it would cease on Midkemia. He still couldn’t accept that deep within, but he acted as if it were true. He had seen too many things on his trip south to know that even if the Captain’s claims were overblown, life under the yoke of the Emerald Queen’s advancing army would bring only a choice between death and slavery.