The Champion's Companion Ch. 11

He stayed silent for a moment and blankly looked up at her. "So when do I eat?" He asked slowly.

She couldn't help but shake her head. "You can eat while you work and have all the yams you want." She said sitting.

"A yam? A yam?" He shouted and kicked the carriage. Ein pulled him back a step. "That is commoner food!" he said balling up and throwing a handkerchief at the carriage.

"Hardly Monto, you ate yam on several occasions in Mavvus. It is a good food that fuels health. That silly mindset you have will weaken you further." Princess Ruegin noted. "Now, several other crops are coming in while were here. You got yourself here by constantly making foolish statements. You'll likely be done before supper and if you are in good form, someone may even assist you." She finished waving her papers. "I have two weeks of this."

The prince remained angry and unconvinced. "I don't care! don't you have clerks for this?"

"A majority of the field customs that takes in material will be at the markets and gates." They will tag and weigh so that farmer can be timely paid. Liaisons officers are working to house the people and get them out of the streets and commercial thoroughfares." A team of four horses came around the corner led by a mounted army non-com in uniform as she spoke.

"Menthino must be hurting for people. Why don't you turn out the rest of the army?" He remarked snidely.

"Listen, this is important work that is recorded and used in decisions all year around. Just the act of being near this stuff, is good, healthy, and should be cherished. This is a small but important piece of what needs to happen and having a noble handle it directly means you can look on it later and know that dependable, close, hands made the information and it can be trusted for judgments that effect many lives." As she spoke, the army officer quickly dismounted and competently turned and backed the horses for the carriage.

"This is ridiculous. I am still hungry! You're just being mean!" The prince shouted petulantly. He tried to jump up and climb into the carriage in final bid to at least be taken seriously. Ein stepped forward trying to get him down.

"Monto don't be childish, it's unbecoming." Princess Ruegin said quietly from her seat. Marcos stood and disembarked from the other side as he cursed Ein and struggled against her. Below, the officer finished hooking the team and waited.

"How is this even important?" He said sulking and gave up as Ein pulled him down. She was slightly shorter then him, but he found her remarkably strong.

"If things are short or overabundant in the counts this year, it could mess up what we pay farmers for next harvest. Farmers are buying seed now in relation to the set prices for next year. The prices depend on what we need and are likely to have this time next year. The numbers cannot be off. If that happens, we will have shortages or excessive surpluses of crops because farmers will return with too much or too little for the markets." The princess said turning to him.

"You should be proud to contribute. In a hundred years, people will be looking back on this Monto. I must go now for the city's granaries. We have responsibilities to store food for famine and drought. We also use these numbers to find how much we can store. Before the markets buy all this and it's distributed we have a short time to count and prepare. There is much to do Monto. If you cannot do this, I'm sure Lord Panthi and the King can find a job retrieving arrows on the front for you." She sat and Marcos waved the officer on.

The princess and her Hjordis were pulled off to the next engagement. Marcos shooed the boy in. He tutored the boy in finding the volume of thirty boxed bushels of yams. He had him weigh them, restock the boxes, and count them in the boxes. It was simple and mundane work but necessary for large populations living and eating.

The work could have taken until mid morning but the boy dragged it well after lunch. As they worked, Ein reclined on unsorted and inspected piles of yams and dozed with a blissful smile.

Eventually Marcos left them to return with an open carriage and took them in for the afternoon.

"I never wanna do that again." The prince said tiredly as they rode.

"Young prince what would you do?" Marcos asked genuinely curious for a simple answer.

"Well what do you do?" The prince turned the question.

"Protect and provide stability to the Immortal Crown and Eternal throne of Menthino. I serve as the First Knight. I am also a high priest of Mavvus and high advisor to Queen Mensillin. I'm like an inspector with a roaming license." Marcos answered quickly before getting back to the question. "What do you want to do?"

The prince huffed looking around. "I don't know. I don't want to do that again."

"There must be something. In fact, I think you want to go home." Marcos ventured.

The prince seemed to reflect on that for a moment. "I... Yes. But I'd want it be how it was when...I want to be welcomed back."

Marcos nodded. "We want that also. Not to have a claim on the throne. We want to have stability in that young country. Sellis has gotten boisterous of late" Marcos recalled.

"It's the 'Treaty of Passive Powers'. When we signed it, we thought it would protect us from you. Now it keeps us from incorporating cities along our borders. The generals grow restless because we speak of nothing else but surly towns and unruly cities on our border. They will not send a representative to our senate and join the commonwealth. Their diplomats come and tell us endlessly of the same problems that they debate in our senate." The young prince explained.

Marcos realized the boy was only a few months ago a direct spectator into what they were doing. The few times anyone had tried to de-brief him had failed to find any real value in his knowledge.

"Like what?" asked Marcos. He had heard vaguely the same thing. His information came from the border towns, and from Sellisian nobles. It pointed to Sellis building an empire. He didn't have too much information from their nobles. He collected a fair amount of gossip and he tried to focus on the moods of things. If the royals didn't realize they had become something else at this point. They were headed into regional wars of conquest. It's hard for a people even the leaders to not know what effect their actions are having. Someone must have noticed, since things were still rolling.

"In the senate, they are always obsessed about trade and land. Land is needed for raising horses without fences. You don't do that here and it stunts the horse." Lectured the prince. "Trade is needed to sell the horses but if we had the right amount of cities we could sell to ourselves. Everyone needs horses, dye, fine woven silk, wine, and whisky." He said looking out at the market as they passed. People with hard tans looked around lost in the huge open market.

"So what do the diplomats from your neighbors say?" Marcos just realized a key thought. Unsaid, the prince just asserted that Sellis' goal was to control trade everywhere in the region. Likely by the centralized control of the markets. The area was fertile so they shouldn't starve despite how bad it would likely turn out. "They complain when we stop trading with them. We get a new city and they stop trading with the people they used too because we always offer cheaper." He said. "With our navy we trade everywhere. They got ships in Cardin right now."

"Why does Sellis need to expand Prince Carthin?" Marcos asked plainly. He hoped the prince had this discussion around the dinner table once before.

The carriage turned out of the busier parts and got to the more quiet wide streets of the municipal district. Around them were Cardin's municipal complexes the Council Chamber, the Customs house, Academies, Hospitals, and the Guard barracks towering behind matching iron fences. Students, guards, officials, and other citizens worked behind the fences doing the small things those complexes needed to do so things outside could run smoothly.

Cardin employs a relatively large portion of its workforce for this season until spring. Nevertheless, this is the critical time, when the population more than quadruples as the masses come pouring in. Many never know Cardin is a marvel of civil engineering.

"So that we're all together. We can fight together without worries of the other cities army. This first started as Sellis grew from a city. We said 'we won't charge tax for people who join with us and they get a say in the senate what we do'." The prince explained. "Cities took the chance to be able to have access to trade and we flourished. We offer aid to cities in time of suffering. We got an army trained together and it may not have Menthino's numbers but our cavalry is larger." He said looking toward the passing city guards' barracks. The only horses they used were for drawing carriages and parades.

"So who picks what's sold?" Asked Marcos.

"Our guilds that are dedicated to different services. The more cities we get the more they come together. So for instance, Sellis sells horse. We can help transport goods and provide a cavalry. We have a guild for all that, and all the horse related stuff from husbandry to making carts and tack. That's what our city does. We need grain, and a guild does that, handling the farm stuff. The guild of storehouses and warehouses sets up and maintains granaries and warehouses. There are many more and it's a great system. The young go and apprentice in these groups. Cities that join the common wealth pick what they want to be dedicated to. Cities still do stuff like grow their own food and repair saddles on their own. But not like the guild, they are the ones who really sell rare, exotic, expensive, or surplus mundane stuff, and set the prices for everything. They have market similar to the senate where they talk about the projects and work together."

"Why do they want more markets to sell to?"

"They want more people to buy their stuff. And if enough people buy and sell we'll have balance. When you're in the commonwealth, the guild becomes the main supplier of many things. Kind of like Menthino I mean how do you get rid of all those yams?"

"The Crown, the cities, merchants, and others buys the product from the farmers and distribute it to other locations. Major cities like Mavvus, Leethon, Lafaust, and the army consume a lot of it. They all have buyers come in who take this stuff out. The king's army is paid by the taxing account setup from customs. Because of the tax, we are able to provide for an army and safe cities without the need to expand to fund it. The crown also owns a majority of Mavvus, and several other towns like Tilin. The rent is necessary in those places for upkeep, but it is low. The sales tax on trade is our real revenue producer. We also receive some money from new charters of businesses started and new trade ships but again those are low and mostly pay for the navy." Marcos said. "I will add that, for large projects such as stonework or shipbuilding we do use guilds, but not as freely. We need their cooperation to build the large sailing ships. They can help and harm an economy. Everyone wants money prince. If they charge too much, not many will be built. It's best to let the one making it, and the one buying it, decide how much is too much for something."

They pulled through a city manor in the municipal area. The mansion had a fenced yard only big enough for the carriage to bring them around to the door. Around this trip, Ein had been quiet as usual.

"How are things?" He asked her as the prince scooted past them to stand.

"He is unreasonable, and seems to take pleasure in being useless and problematic. He thought to bully me but we are well past that now." She said looking at him shyly.

They stood to step down and the door of the regal building was opened inward by a stout grey maid. Stepping in to the open foyer, they were taken to rooms to relax. The prince declined loudly and he went directly to await supper in the dining room.

Marcos was seated in the upper level library with Princess Nossin who was asleep in a high backed armchair. Kaarthen was on the settee with Rinis but she seemed distant staring of into space. Mara was playing a board game of Queen's crux against Jilleta. She seemed to be beating her.

He watched and it was an interesting game. More so than other games, Queen's crux is strategic game where pieces are lost and regained quite easily. In Menthino, it is the national game. Both seemed to be masters, and they chased each other around the board in a mutual attack strategy. Marcos was quite impressed; he'd seen old men play the game for hours with only half a dozen moves between them. These two played in quick turns and altered styles frequently.

They were summoned for supper before either player gained any kind of advantage.

Marcos looked up shocked. "Wow, that was amazing you two did that for a whole hour and I didn't even notice as I stood here." Marcos said genuinely impressed. He had been genuinely sucked into the drama and actions of the board game and even felt a energetic buzz from it. It almost made him want to play despite the fact he wasn't very good.

"Well she learned earlier with Princess Nossin. Perhaps it was beginner's luck." Said Kaarthen coming awake.

They moved to the dining room as Ein and the prince departed. No one said anything to the other party.

They were seated with Princess Nossin at the head with Marcos and Kaarthen at her right and left. Mara sat next to Marcos and Rinis was seated next to Kaarthen. Jilleta, Princess Nossin's Hjordis stood behind as she ate.

"How was the day?" Kaarthen asked. They had just finished a soup course. It was obvious the kitchen was in disarray after the prince was allowed to compress and collapse the chief's schedule.

"Boring enough to need a drink for a distraction. Speaking of which, we'll be heading for Sellis when we return. We may be fighting our way out or bringing peace to the region so be prepared."

"Will my angels be alright?" Kaarthen asked reaching for Rinis.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Marcos replied confused. He realized that they did not have immortal eyes. They were no longer vampire nor exactly succubae but it didn't say what or any limitations they may have. They had gotten stronger, but Marcos thought perhaps that was from the milk Kaarthen pushed on everyone. "Would they be?"

"They will not have trouble." Princess Nossin said looking down the middle of the table and out the window.

Marcos looked at Kaarthen blankly. "See? The Princess always knows." Kaarthen stared at her before looking back.

Kaarthen considered the question further of what could hurt the girls, but the Goddess occupying a corner of her mind seemed deliberately vague with answering. Kaarthen understood that nothing they were likely to face could hurt them but that didn't answer what actually could.

The meal was excellent. They were served veal over rice and a tangy gravy. The group went upstairs to the parlor and met with the appeased Prince Carthin. He tried to show graciousness and attempted repeatedly to speak with his peer Princess Nossin. She let his conversations drop and left inane questions unanswered, as she watched Marcos and Kaarthen stand at the edge of the room. The prince persisted and she finally turned to him and missed when her subject disappeared with Kaarthen into their room.

"You'll go crazy if you don't get better prince. Kaarthen will come for your head then." She said with uncharacteristic venomous cruelty, and immediately stood and walked off to her room.

Marcos and Kaarthen went to be alone privately in their room. As he closed and locked the door, he turned and found her nearly naked already. She climbed sinuously onto the bed. Her ass raised and her wet hairless holes peaked out invitingly. She slid flat on her stomach and looked over her shoulder at him from the soft mattress. The bed had a canopy and seemed an elegant backdrop for the beauty of her divinely feminine frame. The tower's training and rich food helped her keep her curves and muscles but softened her with a pleasant soft layer. She looked at the moment not as a barbarian Amazon from the wilds but like a six and a half foot tall, impossibly curvy, pale as death, seductress. Her silvery white hair rolled over a shoulder and her catty pupils danced merrily in their voids. Her curved ass and thick muscled thighs contrasted well with her narrow waist and wide back. Marcos undressed in a trance staring at her. She had achieved synergy with her divine occupant and synchronized to radiate feminine sexuality as she writhed on the bed. His fantasies and impulses danced in her minds eye and she danced with them. Her tumbling spread her scent around the room and messed up the bed to create a love nest of mussed bed clothing and pillows that would envelop them. Her movements enthralled him more and more as she showed more and more of herself to him. Marcos stumbled as he undressed and he stepped out of his pants revealing his hardness. Finally unclothed, he straightened and walked to the bed.

Kaarthen lay pointed away on her stomach and felt his hard cock slid between her feet as he climbed over her. It jumped and pulsed as it slid up her calves. It wetly slid up her thighs and when it reached her pubic gap it thrust in. She felt how his drooling cock prodded for entrance into her vault. The combined moisture accelerated the process as they slipped along each other. The skin of her body was clammy with the fragrant scents of her pheromones as Marcos dragged himself over her and sank over her like a second skin. Kaarthen's whole world was on the small patches of their touching skin. She closed her eyes and smiled inwardly as her hips rose and writhed slowly helping his quest.

He found the center of her heat and wetness and shoved in. His cock did the talking as he told her of the irritation and stresses of his day. She turned her head instinctively and opened her eyes. She reached a hand up and over from under her and guided him for a kiss. His cock jumped within her and hardened as their lips met. She kept him from pulling away as she continued and he gasped into her mouth as he thrust in hard gushing into her.

The goddess perked up suddenly from its corner with a celebration of feminine fertility. Sex with Marcos for Kaarthen, was always mind bending and a rewarding reaffirmation of the goddess within her. She immensely enjoyed her worship sessions in this manner.

Marcos reveled in being close to her and separated from those outside, and didn't seem interested in leaving despite the fact it was still quite early. Kaarthen understood the sentiments he tried to share during sex. She was surprised at the level of dark cold energies of death the prince inspired in those who surrounded him. Marcos, despite his irritation, was only a sliver of that attention. Ein had an order of magnitude more of antipathy towards her charge. Ein's feelings however, were dwarfed by Princess Ruegin's cold calculating hate.

She spoke into the pillow as he lay atop her. "The Goddess is greatly pleased with us Marcos. We must settle the business in the west quickly for my child to be born by spring." She kissed him and patted him.

"If we can make an easy pass that would be the ideal. Sellis may or may not be aware of the beast they are creating. If someone in the guild is actively planning to usurp control, or if in their arrogance the nobles and royalty don't believe us then we may have troubles." Said Marcos, as they looked face to face for a moment. "I will have cavalry and several of our heavy infantry units in Leethon. It will take them two weeks to follow. Sellis is known for cavalry and they fight mounted similar styled armies in that region. I won't be able to win with just a cavalry detachment. I may likely have to ship the heavy assault infantry corps from Pessilberg around the west and up to make landing." Marcos said and finally rolled off her onto his back.