16 Chapter 16

Earl Abery was a barrel of a man, seemingly overweight but a trained eye could see he possessed a great deal of muscle underneath his fat. He had to be strong, his earldom bordered the forsaken lands and was often raided by warbands of orcs and draknids.

The territory mostly attracted adventurers and mercenaries looking to make their fortune killing beasts and collecting mana cores in the north. The people of his territory were exceptionally coarse and hearty, being on the front line of endless invasions saw to that. They had the type of mentality that only respected the strong and would never serve a fanciful noble that didn't get their hands dirty.

His older brother Teller was a perfect example. He was heir to the earldom but his lifestyle of wine and women that nobles so often had worried the people of Abery. Simon on the other hand was a budding adventurer who slayed a barghest when he was just thirteen turning the beasts pelt into a cloak and wearing it as an iconic badge of honor.

The people of Abery loved and respected him and when their father was on his deathbed he declared Simon the heir. Humiliated, Teller jumped into the arms of the Abery's rival Marquis Verden. The Marquis was more than happy to oblige Teller as it gave him justification to seize Abery lands in the name of the rightful heir.

The fighting quickly got out of control and began involving other territories forcing the crown to put an end to it. The king ordered that one third of Abery lands be given to the Marquis, under the condition that Teller would manage them as a baron. Simon could do nothing to sway the outcome, his skills laid in fighting not politics.

The land taken was mostly farmland which wasn't too much of a loss for Simon. The Kingdom of Brent had an overabundance of farmland and the price of grain was always low. At least that was the case until the crops began dying two years ago. The blight started in the northeastern lands of Crandor and quickly spread, decimating crops all across the Brent.

Crandor's priests of The Thirteen were able to mitigate most of the damage and Crandor recovered but Brent wasn't as lucky. While The Thirteen was also the state religion of Brent, the people cared little for the gods and in return the gods cared little for Brent. Thus Simon was forced to sell off his families personal possessions to purchase grain for his people at the exorbitant prices Crandor was charging.

To make matters worse, due to diplomatic treaties with the other kingdoms he was required to provide a quarter of the grain to the fifty thousand soldiers stationed at the two forts bordering the forsaken lands. When the blight came back for the fall harvest this year he was forced to act. He couldn't watch his people starve to death so he called a meeting with his advisors.

The meeting devolved into talks of war with Marquis Verden to reclaim the lands they took years ago but that was unrealistic. His people were already on the verge of starvation, the coffers nearly empty, he couldn't pay ten thousand soldiers let alone feed them. It was then his son Fen suggested they go north instead.

His plan was to take a small group of men and capture some dark elves and orcs and sell them as slaves to the Kingdom of Duran to the south. Slavery was outlawed all over Alduun with the only exception being Duran, the tribal nature of their people made slavery a cornerstone of their culture.

In Duran a mans worth is measured by the amount of slaves he owns thus when the rest of Alduun agreed to outlaw slavery they vehemently refused.

The idea of turning to slavery left a bad taste in Simon's mouth, when he heard enough of his sons plan he smacked him in the head shutting him up. If any other noble learned that he was trading in slaves his lands would be seized and they would be thrown in prison, it would make no difference whether he was an earl or a commoner at that point.

Simon decided to do the only thing that he could, he went to the capital to ask the king for aid. The king simply gave him a pittance and sent him on his way, hearing no more from him. The gold the king provided wouldn't even buy enough grain for the winter and once he returned to Abery he was left with a choice, let his people starve or enact his sons plan.

He refused to see his people starve so without a better option he chose the latter and in early winter he sent his son along with a few men to the north. They returned a few weeks later with four dark elf children which infuriated Simon.

He didn't want to involve children, that would make him no better than a demon in his eyes. Sending the children off he beat Simon bloody, he had hoped that sending the boy north would make him more of a man but it seemed like he was more like Teller than Simon.

When Simon was done wailing on Fen, the boy told him he already had a buyer and that they would provide enough grain to last the winter. Simon felt torn, his own morality was screaming at him to not take part in this evil act but a lords duty was to his people and his people were starving.

A part of him died when he gave the go ahead to proceed. The grain allowed them to make it through the winter and once again he sent his son north but this time he explicitly told him not to take children.

His son was gone for over a month as he looked over the documents on his desk. They were mostly grain requests from the towns and villages in his territory but he had no more to give until Fen got back. A breeze knocked some of the papers off his desk followed by a heavy gust that knocked off the rest. Simon turned to close the window but saw that it was already closed as another heavy gust entered the room.

A small silvery bubble began to form in the center of the study before expanding rapidly and popping. The mage Pontus appeared holding Fen's bloodied body in his arms before collapsing. Simon quickly ran over to them checking on his son but the arrow sticking out of his neck gave a clear indication to his sons condition.

He was dead and Simon could only stare at his sons lifeless body in indignation. He closed his eyes for a moment wiping his tears before speaking calmly to the mage.

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"What happened?"

"M-My lord, it was a trap. After scouting out a new dark elf village we encountered a dark elf ranger. We thought she was alone so we attempted to capture her but she wasn't! There were multiple dark elves in the woods who fired upon us the moment we moved. I was forced to use a teleportation scroll to escape with young master Fen but an arrow shot out the moment the spell completed. I-I'm sorry my lord. I couldn't do anything to save him..."

Simon went quite taking one last look at his son before turning to lean on his desk. Head held low he stayed silent for what felt like an eternity. His eyes caught sight of the grain requests that were now littering the room.

"...Do you know the contact Fe-...My son was using to sell the slaves?" Simon spoke nearly choking on his sons name.

"..Yes they're Durani merchants at the harbor. I've met them before with the young master, my lord."

"Get cleaned up and bring them to me. On your way out send the servants in..."

"Yes, my lord i will go right away!"

The servants came shortly to remove Fen's body and have it cleaned for his funeral. Simon brought his advisors in and awaited Pontus' arrival. His advisors stood in silence while the servants attempted to clean the blood from the floor to varying success. After an hour of silence Pontus finally arrived.

"My lord these are the two Durani merchants Kers and Inik." Pontus spoke with his hand out as if displaying the two tan skinned merchants.

"Good. In three months time i plan to invade the dark elf lands. How many ships can you provide to ship the slaves to Duran?"

"Earl Abery, we brothers own four ships but if you tell this merchant that there is money to be made then this merchant will tear down the Shrine of Primes to build a boat if need be." Kers spoke in an accent that seemed to flow off his tongue like water.

"Four will do, have them in Abery harbor ready to embark by the first month of summer. You may go."

"We brothers look forward to our business Earl Abery." Kers spoke before giving a slight bow with Inik and leaving the study.

Once the merchants had left the silence was broken by Marshal Dolan.

"My lord, are you sure about this? What will you tell the crown if they ask why were sending troops to the north?"

"If anyone asks i'll say they killed my only son while he was trying to make contact for trade, however they won't find out. Pontus what is the population of the two villages you found?"

"Nearly five thousand between the two of them. The closest one to Abery has a population of nearly fifteen hundred and the second village to the north has a population of about three thousand."

"Hmm... Dolan, i need fifteen hundred men. If need be tell them we're going to avenge my son. I want you to choose a hundred loyal men to handle the slave transportation after the battles. They need to be absolutely loyal else we'll all be thrown in prison. Do you understand me?"

"Yes my lord..."

"Good, get it done we leave in three months."