Things will go more smoothly once you’ve grown accustomed to
mY little quirks. If, however, anyone here finds what I’m doing too
inconvenient, I won’t hold him to the oath he’s just sworn. He’s free
to leave the duchy of Erat at any time, and if he can devise a way
to carry his lands and his house on his back, he can take them along
with him. I should advise you, though, that I don’t think that even
my father could do that, so the lands and houses will probably stay
right where they are. Let me put it to you in the simplest possible
terms. “My realm; my rules.” Are there any questions?’
There was a sullen silence and no questions.
Duke Alleran, however, immediately mobilized a large force and
marched it to the south bank of the River Camaar.
‘That isn’t really necessary, Alleran,’ I told him a week later when
I found out what he’d done. ‘I can take care of myself, you know.’
‘Just a precaution, Aunt Pol,’ he told me. ‘The fact that the army’s
there might help to keep a lid on people like Lageron. I know all
those barons up there, so I know what it takes to keep them in line.’
I shrugged. ‘It’s up to you, Alleran,’ I told him, ‘but you’re the
one who’s paying all those soldiers. Don’t send me any bills.’
‘Nerasin and Corrolin have agreed to help defray the costs, Aunt
Pol, and to provide more troops if we happen to need them. We all
want your duchy to be stable, so you might look on those friendly
troops lining your southem frontier as our communal investment
in peace.’
‘Whatever makes you happy, dear,’ I said, patting him fondly on
the cheek.
In addition to the tithes I received from my vassals, there were
extensive estates which I owned outright, and Killane advised me
that about a quarter of the entire duchy was exclusively mine. I was
still determined to abolish serfdom, so it goes without saying that
I planned to emancipate my own serfs almost immediately. One of
the peculiarities of that repugnant institution was the tradition that
a serf who ran away and evaded capture for a year and a day was
automatically a free man. If serfdom were abolished on my estates,
they would in time come to be viewed as havens of refuge for
runaway serfs from one end of the duchy to the other, and a strictly
enforced ‘no trespassing’ policy would keep my vassals from amusing
themselves by hunting down their departing property.
wouldn’t be long until every able-bodied worker in the duchy
resided on my land, and there’d be nobody to work the estates of
my vassals.
‘They’ll all have t’ be comin’ t’ yer grace – hat in hand – t’ git th’
manpower fer ploughin’, plantin’, an’ harvestin’,’ Killane said.
‘That’s more or less what I had in mind, Killane,’ I told him
smugly. ‘Now, then, let’s get
back to the location of my manor
house. I want it to face the lake and to be bordered on one side by
the river, butcet it on a hill to avoid any spring floods.’
When spring arrived, I opened the little vault I had hidden under
the hearth in my bedchamber, quite nearly emptied it of all my
surplus money, and sent Killane north to buy materials, hire
workers, and begin the construction. ‘Don’t butcher my forests
building roads,’ I told him quite firmly.
how am I supposed t’ git all that marble t’ th’ buildin’ site,
Lady-O?’ he demanded in some exasperation.
‘Killane, dear boy,’ I explained patiently, ‘the building site is right
beside that river. Build some barges and float the marble to where
you’ll need it.’
He blinked. ‘I hadn’t thought o’ that,’ he admitted. ‘Tis a
wonder
ful clever person y’ are, me Lady.’
‘Thank you.’
‘I’ll be after sendin’ Y’ reports on me progress from time t’ time,
but I’d take it as a kindness if y’d stay away until it’s all finished.
I won’t be after needin’ y’ lookin’ over me shoulder every step o’
th’ way, don’t y’ know.’
‘I’ll be good,’ I promised a bit meekly.
I lied about that, of course. I flew north at least once a week to see
how things were coming along, but I didn’t really see any need to
let him know about those visits.
Actually, I was far too busy that summer to stand around watching
the construction of my manor house. I issued the proclamation
emancipating my serfs, and the priests of Chaldan immediately went
up in flames. The Arendish clergy was deeply involved in the feudal
system, and they recognized the
dangers posed by the existence of
vast tracts of unserfed real estate adjoining church lands. I was
denounced from pulpits from Seline to Sulturn as an ‘abolitionist’.
The term didn’t really take hold, though, since the sermons were
delivered – for obvious reasons – to increasingly empty churches.
The high priest of Chaldan, who owned vast estates down in
Vo mimbre, made a special trip to Vo Wacune to advise me that if I didn’t
rescind the emancipation of my serfs, he’d have no choice but to
excommunicate me.
‘That doesn’t really concern me, your worship,’ I told him. ‘I don’t
serve Chaldan, you know. My Master’s his older brother, Aldur.
Why don’t we just let the two of them hammer this out? The next
take it up with my Master.’
He stormed away, spluttering to himself.
My major concern that summer revolved around the fact that
there wasn’t really anything remotely resembling a legal system in
Arendia. The dukes ruled by decree in each of those duchies, and
their decrees were largely based on whims. In addition to being
profoundly unjust, that approach to law was decidedly inefficient.
I was certainly not going to spend all my time settling disputes and
passing judgement on wrong-doers. I needed a body of written laws
and fair judges who at the very least could read those laws. What
passed for laws in Arendia at that time – and to some extent still
does in that troubled land – were little more than a set of arbitrary
rules protecting the privileges of the nobility. If there happened to
be a dispute between a baron and an ordinary freeman, the baron
always won. I’d encountered some of the same kind of thing on the
Isle of the Winds during my stay there, and one of Kamion’s major
chores had been the codification of the laws. I had certain advantages
Kamion hadn’t had, though, so I sent my thought out to the twins
and asked them to plunder my father’s – and uncle Beldin’s –
libraries for me. I wanted every law-book available.
Then I sent a pair of Killane’s nephews – and a sizeable herd of
packmules – to the Vale to pick them up for me.
The Arendish Council met at the Great Fair about mid-summer
that year, and I noted a number of searching looks thrown in my
direction as we settled down to business. Quite obviously Aleran,
Corrolin, and Nerasin had expected me to be too busy – and too
frantic – to even attend the annual get-together.
‘Any problems, Aunt Pol?’ Alleran asked almost hopefully.
‘Nothing particularly significant,’ I replied with a slight shrug.
‘My vassals are beginning to realize that when I say something, I
really mean it.’
‘Rumor hath reached me that thou hast emancipated all the serfs
on thine own estates,’ Corrolin noted. ‘Was this truly the course
of wisdom? Dost thou propose to farm those extensive lands by
magic?’
‘Good grief, no, Corrolin,’ I told him. ‘I’ll hire my former serfs to
do that for me.’
His eyes bulged and his mouth dropped open in sheer
astonishment. ‘Thou wouldst actually give a serf money?’ he exclaimed.
‘Unless he wants something else,’ I replied. ‘A good ox, maybe,
or a new suit of clothes.’ I frowned. ‘The only problem I see with
money lies in the fact that serfs can’t count past ten – nine if they
happen to have lost a finger. That’s going to make payday very
tedious. I may have to build some school-houses on my estates to
give my former serfs the rudiments of arithmetic and a nodding
acquaintance with reading.’
,Monstrous!’ Nerasin exclaimed. ‘You can’t teach serfs how to
read!’
‘Why not? Educated workers would probably be more efficient
than untutored ones, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Lady Polgara, there are hot-heads out there who’ve been writing
all sorts of inflammatory nonsense. If the serfs can read, they might
get their hands on documents that could start a revolution!’
‘Revolutions are healthy, Nerasin. They clear the air. You probably
wouldn’t be where you are today if Earl Mangaran, Baroness Asrana
and I hadn’t removed your uncle from the throne in Vo Astur,
would you? Happy workers don’t revolt. It’s when you start
mistreating them that they come after you with pitchforks. That’s not