Chương 395: 11.4

It was near the end of Birdbane, and Jewel glared down at the diminished form of Mathias Stein, High King of the Realm of Cantor Reborn. The welcoming feast had been just as extravagant as she remembered from when she was newly risen as Countess of Viznove. The faces of the guests were different, but their opulence was no less staggering. The comments in whispers were absent entirely this time though, even in the hallways, what was said in the palace about Jewel was said openly or not at all.

However she knew they likely still whispered beyond the grounds, but that was not important at the moment. Now it was after the meal and real business with her king was to be had, even if he seemed terribly worn since last she saw him, he didn't look that aged last time!

It had been ten years yes, but still the difference was stark, he stood straight and limber upon his throne through dinner, but there was a frailness to his body, a wasting stink beneath his perfumes, a hollowness to his eyes and a papery quality to his skin where it could be seen at all beneath his clothing. He wore as much finery as before, his hair was well oiled if more grey then not. But High King Mathias Stein was showing his age, more so than Muriel had before the winter took her. Where was the time going?

It was just winter and Muriel was dead, then it was spring and Jewel was arranging her replacement in the army, now it was nearly summer and she was confirming the support of her king? The weight of mustering the armies for war seemed to fill every moment of her life now and yet the hours and days kept slipping away from Jewel like the waters of the Vah.

Markedly absent through all the feast and even her journey to the Capital was the court advisor Thurzó, Jewel's friend had taken to a poor constitution this spring, his wife's hand wrote the letters but assured Jewel Arva would send its full muster to her aide. Still the dragon's share of the army of Cantor Reborn would come from Mathias and his pledged vassals.

She had met with him publicly and the courtiers and guests representing her peers had witnessed his declaration and support of the war as all honor entailed. But what was said in open court and spoken in confidence alone at this table were not the same. Jewel missed Paul's council but his place was in Kaeketeh preparing for his place as ruler of Viznove and guardian of her ''true wyrm egg', while her Mother and Gwenn took up guidance of Rochford and Valasect respectively.

There was enough to do for all of them and it was Jewel's place to meet with Mathias and secure what support The Realm could offer. She had thought she knew what the limits of the Realm's armies available to her would be. But the difference was starker than Jewel could have imagined!" One wizard? You can promise the service of a single wizard from the three circles of the realm!?" Mathias looked up at her and for all the ways that his body seemed to be waning his eyes were sharp and dark.

"One, and only that because he demanded to join you as service owed, to you in particular. I've no idea what you did to rouse the wheat hewer from his toil but he has never risen to my armies in war, his service to the realm has only ever been one of tithe before." Jewel glared at Mathias Stein, aged and drained so much in what felt like so little time since the last she had been called to the Capital, it was so long and yet so short, ten years! But there were more important matters!

"Only one wizard and not even one of the war wizards, Mathias! Are you truly sending the armies of Cantor Reborn up against Magarska with the Weird of Farms?!" Mathias sighed heavily, matching her with a glare of his own.

"And the Shining Wyrm of Viznove, You've made yourself a great deal of enemies, my Vassal, Even in the Ridgetail Vault I have to hear entreaties and bile about you and how fat you've grown on wyrmspun wool." Jewel snorted.

"Mathias, this is war!" He laughed at her, laughed at the doom on the horizon.

"A war that you assured me you were going to prevent! A war that every one of my vassals has been wasting rivers of ink and herds of parchment on making it clear they are going to see as your deserved reward for denying them the right to tithe your damned spinning! Where are YOUR wizard allies? Where is the Weird of Ghergeintat's circle!?" He fell back into his throne, head turned up to the faux stars of his throne room's ceiling. The glittering metal of silver and gold reflecting off the coal filled braziers.

He seemed to collapse inward at that, his robes and finery caving in over a far frailer body then she expected. Leaving him looking more like a broken man than a king.

"I entrusted you to be my voice, and now you've put me in an impossible position, Jewel. It is war, the army will muster, I must call all my vassals to my banners and rally the levies." He did not meet her gaze, still staring up at the facsimile of the night sky and the zodiac. He sounded wane and tired, Jewel only just held back the snarl.

"Of course my king, that is your place! I didn't ask you to give me your voice in these matters! I didn't ask you to send Erhard or his halberdiers! But you did it anyway! All I asked for was support in meeting with the High King of Magarska!" He finally lowered his gaze to look up at her, his eyes blood shot with signs of stress or lack of sleep. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I could do little else, You asked for support and any less would have shamed us both, Just as I cannot afford to not rally the realm. But I can only promise you a quarter muster of the army this year." She did not gape, but her cheeks felt slackened. Her lips parted, her flame gone cold.

"A quarter?! Murad is insane! He is going to march a full muster for certain. Every principality but the Vanaand is bound to him by a heaven's vow!" Mathias scowled, taking a heavy breath.

"Magarska is not the only threat to the Realm, Jewel. The lands of the Free men are rallying armies, There is word of an accursed beast tide in the underways that may be upon the northern most counties this year, and you have made a great many enemies among your fellow Vassals." He looked back up at the dome."

You were so sure of peace Jewel, you all but swore it would be so to me, peace with a Magarska softened by the Vlach Land rebellion was worth the cost of your stupid wool and the forbiddence on the tithe over it." He huffed, Jewel simply stared, what was this?! She had been a good subject of the Realm! A proper Vassal! She had tended to her people! Brought them riches and peace! But all of this because she had demanded that there be no extra parceling of her own labor to others in the realm?!

Just looking out for her people's prosperity!?

"Well, at least you managed to turn that southern brute's own wyrm against him. And I'm told you secured Count Vladimer Tepes' alliance too. For that alone I can placate the worst of the demands that the realm leave Viznove and the Ridgetails to its fate." Now she did gape, her wings flaring in shock, horror, and pained betrayal.

"Because of these circumstances, I can promise you a quarter of the realm's armies, enough officers and proper knights from all the families and the service of a single wizard volunteer. But we cannot spare anymore, Jewel. If the Freemen see the armies emptying from my western vassal's lands, they will come for us this year instead of next." She could not find her voice, so the High king continued, uninterrupted.

"If I demand my vassals obey as Murad has done, even if they were bound by a heaven's vow (which they are not!), you will have traitors among your officers and generals. The armies will be led by my own most loyal knights and soldiers. Not the lower nobles of their homelands. It will be thin, but with a full muster from the Ridgetail Vault and your allies beyond the realm there we should have enough men of war to keep the army from routing before you act."

She had truly inspired this much ire in the rest of Cantor Reborn?! That Mathias had to leave the majority of the force from his own vassals behind during a muster!? During the very event that was the entire point of the realm and the promises of fealty from his vassals! Jewel heard exhaustion and resignation in his voice, but no lies. Despite how much she wanted there to be one.

"All told, that will be twenty thousand men from outside the Ridgetail Vault, most of it levies, with a thinner core of fully armored and trained soldiers than is traditional. A perfectly suitable force for holding a few cities or forts in your wake." She felt her flame fluttering.

"The Halberdiers?" Mathias smiled wryly up at her, his posture slumping further into the back of his throne as he gazed into her eyes as if he didn't have the strength to even sit up straight anymore.

"I sent the entire contingent of Halberdiers in the realm with you into Magarska. And such a deployment required the constant attention of Erhard to maintain their sorcery, he cannot sustain anymore than what you've witnessed, and I will need them in reserve if the worst should come to pass." A bluff, the High King Mathias had sent every single one of his most fearsome soldiers with her into Magarska as a bluff; she just wanted the words to stop, but Mathias continued.

"By my count there will also be twenty Griffon Knights that can be enticed into a chance at glory. None of the Gryphon Lords or their closest men of course, that would be a risk of disloyalty and needed besides if a second front opens in the west. But if you can rally as many as you and Thurzó called for in the little incident with Bathory?" Jewel thought of the way the skies of Magarska were full of winged beasts. Certainly not all sufficient to carry riders, but the numbers would be far more numerous.

Creatures that had proven themselves a match for Vampyres! The Knights would be overwhelmed alone. She had read the sums of what Viznove could afford in a muster; she'd gone over it with her father and the newly appointed General on Land, Lord Sergej. She had gotten confirmation from Arva and at least for now the unaligned Counties of the Ridgetail Vault were inclined to muster. The Gryphon Riders of the Ridgetails at least could be trusted to follow the first among them in Lord Rochford.

But all told, that would barely be more than the combined forces that had joined in the war against Thurzó and Mathias when she was ten. A combined army of just shy of twenty thousand, maybe a few thousand more if the more distant counties that stayed independent joined. Maybe thirty gryphon riders across all the Ridgetail Vault. She'd come to the capital to confirm the full muster of the Realm of Cantor Reborn, at worst maybe half! But a quarter?!

And only one of the wizards which all boast and ballad had told was the balance between Cantor Reborn and Magarskan Gryphons. Unless she wanted to strip the lands of Viznove bare of able bodied men, even with all the prosperity of her entire reign? Assuming weapons and arms could be found for the levy, she was not going to make up for the short fall. Jewel felt a chill at the reality of what she was being asked to do.

"You expect me to face the full wroth of High King Murad the Conqueror with forty five thousand men, overburdened in levies and fifty gryphon riders?" He glared up at her, as if she was insulting him with the absurdity of what she said.

"The Shining Wyrm of Viznove routed a thousand men for each year of her life when she was an unbloodied child. I should hope the Countess of Viznove who marched all but unscathed out of the middle of Magarska after declaring war in Murad's face instead of killing him there, could manage something a little better than that." She glared down at him, but at the same time, she could not deny those words.

"As my king commands." The words she had uttered left her flame bitter on her tongue. Jewel turned from Mathias on his throne, alone in the empty hall, with his false stars overhead. Holding back the shudders of worry, it was almost Hay Turn. Where was the time going? Why were the seasons slipping away from her! She had to get back to Viznove, to rally at the Vastreign with her allies and the far inferior forces she had been expecting. One Tyrant Wyrm. Maybe Fifty Gryphon Riders.

Forty-Five thousand men overbalanced towards levy. Against the full might of Magarska and eleven of its principalities. With the dubious aid of Vladimer Tepes and his monsters for support. She heard his words muttering, knowing she could hear." Your king indeed oh tyrant wyrm."