The Shadow Queen (45 page)

Jonah stood up from behind the large table where he usually conducted all of his business. The council chamber would now be preparing to go into session, for he had called for a meeting. He smoothed his hands down the fur-trimmed purple velvet robe he wore. He brushed his dark hair back, and, taking his staff of office, he strode from his library calling his secretary, Lionel, to follow him. Entering the council chamber, he took his seat upon his high throne, and looked about. Every man and woman in the High Council was seated and waiting for him. Jonah thumped the ebony staff with its round gold knob upon the floor. “Let the High Council come into session,” he said. “We recognize Cuthbert Ahasferus. Speak, my lord!”

“I have listened to the Hierarch,” the head of the Merchants Guild began, “and it would appear to me if Hetar is to return to the days of its glory we must first return to our traditional ways. The greatest change that has come about in Hetar, and which has, in my opinion and the opinion of many others, caused our decline, is our permitting women to involve themselves in matters that they should not. Women are meant for pleasures, for childbirth, for home and hearth, yet we have allowed them to own Pleasure Houses and businesses, which goes against all we have ever known and been taught. For the sake of Hetar, women need to be returned to their rightful place.” He sat down.

“I have never heard such nonsense in my life,” Ysbail, a representative of the Pleasure Women’s Guild, said. “You cannot expect us to give up the power we have fought so hard to win, Cuthbert. We will not do it!”

“Might I remind Master Ahasferus that the profits from the Pleasure Houses have increased at least tenfold since the women were allowed to own them,” Maeve Scarlet, a representative from the Guild of Pleasure Mistresses, pointed out. “Certainly you are not so stupid as to believe that was by chance?”

“But such commercial ventures are not a woman’s place!” Aubin Prospero said.

“Aye,” the two Forest Lords agreed in unison.

“Can you truly believe that asking women to return to the past will solve Hetar’s problems?” Mikhail, son of Swiftsword, asked. “I do not believe it will.”

“And turning the Pleasure Houses back to male owners could cost you serious profits,” Eres, the other representative from the Pleasure Women, said softly.

“Do you dare to threaten us?” Squire Darah demanded to know.

Eres smiled, but did not answer him.

“What think you, my lord Jonah?” Prince Lothair said, and the eyes of all the council fell upon the Lord High Ruler.

Jonah waited in order to give his words even more weight. Finally he spoke, and all within the council chamber leaned forward to better hear him. “Our difficulties do not stem from keeping women subjugated or allowing them the freedom to indulge in business, my lords and ladies. The Pleasure Houses are, quite frankly, the only enterprises still truly profitable in Hetar. And as has been pointed out so succinctly by Maeve Scarlet, their profits have grown tenfold under the control of the women. I think it would be unwise to change management practices, my lords and my ladies.”

“What of the women who own shops? What of those who trade?” Aubin Prospero wanted to know. “We have not admitted them to our guild, but they still have the temerity to do business, and often are in conflict with us.”

“Perhaps if you admitted these women to your guild, Aubin Prospero, you would have less trouble with them,” Jonah murmured.

“Many of these women were widowed by Hetar’s foolish wars,” Clothilde, representative of the General Population, noted. “They worked with their late husbands, and learned from them. If they did not continue on, who would care for them, Aubin Prospero? Who would feed their children? It is the men who started these wars that helped to bring about our decline. Have Hetar’s women and children not suffered enough by your actions? Now you would drive them to beggary in the name of tradition? Be warned, my lords, that should you attempt to force us back into your servitude the women of Hetar will rise up as one and defeat you!” Clothilde sat down.

“And the Mercenaries will put you down, lady,” Sir Philip Bowman of the Crusader Knights responded angrily.

“I do not think so, Sir Philip,” Peter Swiftfoot of the Guild of Mercenaries said. He turned to his companion. “What think you, Burley Goodman?”

“I think that we stand with our womenfolk, my lords and my ladies,” came the terse answer. “Having the women become involved has been helpful. Especially now with times so hard. They know better than any how to earn a coin, or defuse a difficult situation. Those who enjoy a traditional role are free to do so, but those who don’t are free to seek other ways of being useful to our society.”

There was a murmur of surprise that the two men representing the Guild of Mercenaries would support the women.

It was at that point the Lord High Ruler of Hetar realized that the majority of his council favored allowing the women to keep their hard-won rights. “We will take a first vote, my lords and my ladies. Those in favor of rescinding women’s rights will speak now, and raise their right hands.” He looked out as the Merchants Guild, the Forest Lords, the Crusader Knights and Squire Darah of the Midlands raised their hands. He counted aloud. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. There are seven in favor of taking back the women’s rights.”

“Seven?”
Squire Darah shouted. “What do you mean seven? There are eight of us, Lord Jonah!”

“Nay, my lord, there are seven. Your son-in-law has not yet voted.”

The Squire turned angrily on Master Rupert. “You will vote with me!” he shouted furiously.

“If I do I won’t be able to face your daughter, my wife,” Master Rupert said. “Who do you think founded and manages that cheese business that puts so many coins in your pocket? If our women lose their rights that business will founder. I have no time for it, nor do you. We have fields, orchards and livestock to oversee and care for, my lord.”

“Your wife can continue to run it, you fool. She will do as she is told to do,” Squire Darah blustered, and his son-in-law laughed aloud.

“She will sit at her loom, and tell you that you mustn’t break the new laws you have helped to establish. And if she learns I voted for such laws I will have no peace in my house, and certainly no pleasures. No! I do not believe that women are responsible for all our woes, and I will not vote to take away their few rights.”

Jonah hid a smile. He wondered if Lara was watching from some corner he could not see. He would not have believed his council would go against the suggestion of the Hierarch. Interesting. “We have not finished with the voting, my lords and ladies,” he said. “All those in favor of maintaining women’s rights in Hetar, raise your hands now and vote.” He counted aloud the thirteen hands that shot up. “By a vote of thirteen to seven women’s rights are continued, my lords and my ladies. Now let us move on to the next order of business we must address today. There have been rumors of profiteering, my lords and my ladies. I should like to enact a new law effective immediately to prevent this evil.”

“Does that include your own hoard, my Lord Jonah?” a voice demanded to know, and the Hierarch entered the room followed by half a dozen of his disciples.

“Aye, Hierarch, it does,” Jonah said. “Come, and sit by my side. Speak your wisdom to my council, and let us have a discourse.” Was he taking a chance? Jonah wondered. And if he was it was always possible to remove an enemy in such a manner that no guilt would fall upon him.

Cam was surprised by Jonah’s invitation, but he boldly accepted it, and sat on the bench throne of the Lord High Ruler of Hetar next to Jonah. “May I speak?” he asked.

Jonah nodded his head.

“The people have misunderstood my call for a return to tradition,” Cam began. “They believe it to mean stepping back. It is not that at all. Returning to tradition, my lords and my ladies, simply means honoring those traditions, and refitting them to the times in which we live. But first the council must see to feeding the people, giving them hope. To do that the profiteering must be stopped. The Merchants Guild works hand in glove with the magnates, and we all know it. This must cease!”

“And just how do you suggest we stop it?” Cuthbert Ahasferus asked, sneering.

“Surely you do not forbid profit?” Aubin Prospero said nervously.

“You sell your goods to increase your profits, but to what end, my lords?” the Hierarch demanded to know. “You make money, and more money, and more money. What do you do with all those coins, my lords?”

“Why we invest our monies,” Cuthbert Ahasferus replied.

“To what end?” asked the Hierarch.

“To make a profit!” Aubin Prospero said. “Is that not clear to you?”

“More profit and to what end? More profit?” the Hierarch said. “Your greed for profit alone has driven Hetar to ruin, my lords. Profit is good when the investment is in the kingdom’s folk and infrastructure, not in more and more and more profit. Your coins are nothing more than metal, and useless until those coins are used to help your people.”

“Ridiculous!” Aubin Prospero said.

Watching from her corner, Lara thought that the speaker was beginning to resemble his father, the late Emperor Gaius Prospero. He could not see beyond his pile of coins. She was surprised by Cam’s words, for she knew at this point the Darkling was not by his side. She knew that when Ciarda had felt most of her powers waning away she had gone to learn why it was happening. And in that moment a Shadow Prince was able to slip next to her and listen to her thoughts.

“We must take our excess profits, and put them into rebuilding Hetar,” Lord Jonah told his High Council. “The houses of all the magnates will be searched for hidden wealth. The goldsmiths and the bankers will be called to account for the deposits they hold for the magnates. A percentage will be taken from each of them to fund the rebuilding that must be done to restore Hetar.”

“Do we not pay taxes?” Cuthbert Ahasferus shouted.

“Most of the truly wealthy find ways to pay as little as possible. We will assess the truth, and then each of you will pay a quarter of all your wealth, and in future you will pay twenty percent of your yearly profits,” the Hierarch said.

“Remain seated, Cuthbert, Aubin!” Lord Jonah told them sharply, for he saw that they were attempting to sneak out of the council chamber to warn their cronies.

“You cannot force us to do this!” Aubin Prospero shouted furiously.

“Obey me or I will set the people upon you. I will see your household sold into slavery, your monies, your house and your goods taken,” the Hierarch said in a dark voice. “As for you, son of the traitor and profiteer Gaius Prospero, you will first be whipped fifty lashes in the main public square for your great sin of greed. Then you will be chained to the wheel in a mill house to spend the rest of your days grinding grain.”

“Tell him you will show him his fate,” Lara whispered in Cam’s ear.

“Behold, and see your fate if you disobey me, Aubin Prospero!” And Cam waved his hand in the air.

Immediately everyone in the chamber saw the house of Prospero, the women, children and servants being taken from the house in chains. The picture in the air that surrounded them changed and they saw Aubin Prospero being whipped as the spectators cheered and counted aloud each stroke of the whip. The picture changed again and Aubin Prospero, gaunt and hollow eyed, trod a well-worn circle chained to a wheel that was grinding grain around and around and around the mill house.

Gaius Prospero’s son grew pale with genuine terror as he was shown these pictures. He slumped in his chair, and turned his eyes away.

“This
could
happen, Aubin Prospero, if you refuse to cooperate,” the Hierarch said. “The decision is yours.”

“Tell them you must leave them now,” Lara murmured in Cam’s ear.

“I leave you, good council members, to discuss this by yourselves,” Cam said grandly, and he waved his hand once again only to find himself back in the small room that was now his. Lara was by his side. “Ciarda never allowed me to do anything like that,” he said excitedly.

Lara shook her head as if weary. “Your Darkling doesn’t have enough power to do what I just did for you, Cam. Oh, I know she gave you the power to come and to go some months ago, but that power no longer works, does it?”

“Nay, it does not. When I asked her about it she said I no longer needed such a small power,” Cam told Lara.

“She has few powers of her own, Nephew. And her father has tried to aid her from his prison with the little magic left to him, but the effort he has made has weakened him, and diminished his magic to the point where it is almost gone. He will give her no more, for he wishes to survive to regain his throne,” Lara told Cam.

“Ciarda says that will never happen. That the Lord Kol wants her to have his kingdom,” Cam said.

“Cam, in the Dark Lands, no woman has ever ruled, nor will ever rule. They are a race of men mostly, and the few women born have their fate decided at birth. It is to produce more of their kind, and nothing more. Ciarda has a little more latitude being the daughter of the Twilight Lord. But it is one of her twin brothers who will eventually rule there. It is the duty of the old dwarf who is chancellor to eventually decide which one.”

“But what if those heirs were not there?” Cam asked Lara.

“Then another male in the direct line of Usi and Jorunn would be chosen,” Lara told him. “Whatever Ciarda may think, Cam, she will not rule the Dark Lands.”

“She will try,” he said, surprising Lara. “She means to gain the male seed of the one called Kolbein, and birth a son whom she will rule through even as you rule Terah through your son Taj,” Cam told Lara. “Then she will kill them both. She said it.”

“If she murdered the heirs she would be killed herself, for it is forbidden to kill any in the direct line of the Twilight Lords,” Lara explained to him.

“Oh,” Cam answered. Then he said, “I trusted you today, Aunt, and stood by the side of the Lord High Ruler. I aided him, did I not? Now tell me Anoush is safe, and that you found her.”

“I found her in the castle of the Twilight Lord and brought her to safety,” Lara said. “I do not go back on my word, Nephew.”