Fire and Sword by Simon Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

are?”
    “He wants another dock built for Amanite merchant ships in the harbor.”
    “That would give them the same number as Lurisia, and two more than Chandra or Hume,” Xella Povis said.
    “Which is undoubtedly why he wants it.”
    “And the second condition, your Majesty?”
    “That the Tithe of Gelt be reintroduced.”
    There was an uproar. Everyone started talking at the same time.
    Areava’s disappointment was clear in the look she gave Orkid and Olio. She waited until the noise subdued. “Is there a problem with this?”
    The uproar started all over again, this time directed against her. Areava’s face paled. “Enough!” she shouted. And just like a summer storm the tempest passed as quickly as it had come. “Is this how you address your queen?”
    “Your Majesty, I am sorry,” Xella Povis said, “but one of the reasons Kendra went to war against Aman all those centuries ago is because they imposed the Tithe of Gelt on any shipping passing by and through the mouth of that river, a tithe they imposed with force. Is Aman suggesting we submit to this piracy voluntarily?”
    Areava felt Orkid stiffen beside her, but he kept his control and said nothing.
If only all my councilors were as disciplined,
she thought.
    “It is nothing so fierce,” Areava told the merchant. “They are asking that every merchant ship that passes by or through the Gelt River pay a tithe worth one part in a hundred of its cargo. As I understand it, the old tithe was one-third the worth.”
    “That is true,” Xella Povis admitted, somewhat mollified, “but the principle involved ...”
    “The principle involved is that in exchange for these two conditions, Aman not only will sign the guarantee of succession, but undertake to construct and permanently man a beacon fire on Triangle Rock at the mouth of the Gelt. Is it not the case, Xella Povis, that even today we lose half a dozen ships a year on that rock?”
    The merchant nodded.
    “And, compared to that loss, how much is a tithe of one part in a hundred?”
    “It is a good bargain,” Xella Povis admitted, bowing to the queen in apology and in surrender.
    Areava smiled lightly. “Am I to take it, then, that there are no more objections to my marriage with Prince Sendarus going ahead?”
    There was no disagreement. Galen Amptra and one or two others seemed unhappy about it, but there was no longer anything they could do.
    “And to come back to our original point of discussion, is it fair and just that my husband and consort should be without one of the Keys of Power when the outlaw Lynan still possesses the Key of Union? And who better to wear that Key than Prince Sendarus, an Amanite who will join in union with your monarch?”
    “All well and good, your Majesty,” Marshall Lief said gruffly, “but how do you propose we go and get the Key?”
    “Are you suggesting the army of Grenda Lear is incapable of marching into allied territory to find a single group of outlaws?” Areava asked. “And especially a group so conspicuous? One prince, hardly more than a boy and holding a Key of Power, one giant ex-constable, one crookback ex-soldier, and one female magicker.”
    “The Chetts won’t like it. And sending soldiers into the Oceans of Grass could raise tensions with Haxus even higher than they already are. King Salokan would have to wonder if we are preparing for a move against him.”
    “We can make it up to the Chetts—they had no objection to our armies marching through their territory when we were clearing up the slavers for them. And I don’t care in the least if the move disturbs King Salokan; I only wish everything I did disturbed King Salokan.”
    “I’ll lead a force,” Dejanus said quickly. “I’m afraid of no Chett.”
    “That was not my concern—” the Marshal began testily, but Areava held up her hand.
    “Constable, how well do you know the Oceans of Grass?” she asked.
    Dejanus balked, suddenly frightened. Did she know of his previous life as