Kingdom's Fall

Chapter 25, Part 1

The negotiations between Lady Buloch and the Islander earl were a stormy affair. Kara had thought it would be a polite negotiation, what with the Islanders coming ashore in their dozens, but as the threat of their presence lost its teeth Carolin grew suddenly very bold in how she defended her territory. The Earl had stormed from the room at least once already, claiming that the land she sought to plant the Islanders on was barren and no better than the land they had come from. As much as Kara had rolled her eyes at the drama of the gesture, the consensus was that he had a point. Buloch's initial offer would have placed the Islanders in little pockets of land around the rim of the northern coast, surrounded on three sides by Kingdom lands and the fourth offering nothing but salt-spray and cliffs. She meant to see them corralled and divided, and although it made sense from a Kingdom point of view it was clumsily done.

The returning demands of the Islanders were equally ridiculous. Erlend demanded that the Islanders - natural masters of the waterways, as he put it - should take control of the sea-wall, the estuary, and the docks. At the thought of the revenue loss, Carolin had turned an unflattering shade of beetroot purple and was rendered nearly incoherent with rage. A recess had been called to allow her to calm down and remember there was still a sizable Islander force standing in the town, albeit a slightly tipsier one than had first landed. That beginning set the tone for much of what followed. Little by little, the two leaders allowed one another concessions that put them on the road to an agreement. For all their compromises, it was a hard-fought journey.

"I don't think I can take much more of this," Kara said to Aiden. The two of them had left Buloch's office to take a break from the constant tension and periodic outbreaks of shouting. Kara's head was pounding from it, and she hadn't even been taking part in the argument. Just witnessing it was enough. All she wanted to do was spend the rest of the evening slumped in a chair with something cool - and preferably alcoholic - to drink. By comparison, Aiden seemed composed.

"It'll be fine," he said. "Carolin's always been like this. Trying to argue with her is like arguing with a stone, but if you back down she'll never respect you." Aiden sniffed and looked over his shoulder, as if he could see into the room where they were still talking. "Actually, I think she likes him. This is the first genuine threat the north has seen in years. If I had to put a word to it, I'd swear she's having fun."

"This is her idea of fun?"

"Of course it is. She's bored. All this power and wealth and absolutely nothing to do. Did you notice my news about the queen's behaviour was not new to her?"

"Wasn't it? She seemed surprised to hear it."

Aiden shook his head. "The queen has been sending messages. Commands, really. By bird at first, but the first actual messenger arrived days ago."

"What does she want?"

"What does anyone with power want? More power. Men, money, and fealty. She even commanded the whole Buloch line to come down in person and swear their loyalty to her."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know. You've seen what she's like when her blood gets up."

Kara thought about the rage that had surfaced so suddenly on the older woman's face. Kara had been sure that the desk she sat behind was about to be sent flying across the room. "I don't think I would have wanted to be the messenger that brought that one."

"Quite. Carolin had been ignoring her messages quite courteously up to that point, probably in the hope that someone would step up to tell Morwen how things worked under her father, but you and I both know that was never going to happen. Had there been any chance that the army would march north it might have tipped her hand, but the queen made a serious mistake. The messenger she sent had heard rumour about the southern marshes falling."