“We don’t have much money left, Father,” protested Trae. “The family’s coffers are empty, as near as matters.”
“Money!” jeered Demansk. “I don’t need to use my money, Trae.” He stopped in the doorway and pointed a finger back at Thicelt. “As it happens—what a coincidence—the Governor just issued a new decree. Any business in a Western Isle province which is one-third owned by a reputable citizen—which requires three generations of citizenship, so no Islander can qualify—is exempted from paying tribute. They’ll still have to pay the regular taxes, of course.”
Trae stared at Thicelt. Sharlz smiled seraphically. “What else could I do? My people were starving.”
Trae stared at his father. Who was smiling also, if not seraphically. “You see how it works? Since I’m the most reputable citizen there is—and, what a coincidence, am the only one moving immediately—I estimate that, within a year, I’ll own a third of practically everything that makes money in this archipelago. I’ve even had fishing crews starting to approach me. Even a fruit vendor!”
“But—” Trae was frowning fiercely. “You still need money, Father. Immediately.”
And now, Demansk’s smile was seraphic. “To be sure. Which I don’t have, any longer—but lots of Emerald merchants do. Especially now, when they’re flush from all the money I poured into their coffers over the past year. Ropers, too. None of whom, alas—being only partial citizens or auxiliaries—can qualify for the exemption. So the Islanders provide the wherewithal and the skilled labor, the Emeralds and Ropers put up the money, I put the whole thing together.” He cleared his throat. “For a modest third.”
Trae was almost ogling him. “You—swindler! Um, sorry. ‘August father possessed of, ah, extreme acumen.’ But still . . .”
Demansk took his arm and led him into the corridor beyond. “It’ll work, Trae. Okay, I’m guessing again—no conqueror’s ever tried to do it this way before, instead of grabbing land—but I’ll be surprised if, within a few years, the Demansk family’s fortune isn’t twice what it was at its best.”
Again, he made that modest throat-clearing noise. “Olver, as you know, is the man I appointed the new governor of the Emeralds. And as it happens—what a coincidence—I’ve just been informed he found it necessary to decree a change in the tax laws. It seems the Emeralds were getting so rich that the sumptuary taxes were eating them alive. So, alert to the needs of his people, he decreed that any wealth accumulated in another province would be exempted from taxation beyond the usual initial levies—provided, of course, that the riches were obtained in a legitimate enterprise. Which—what a coincidence—requires a Vanbert partner.” With a chuckle, and a nod toward the northeast, where the harbor lay: “I think half the moneylenders and merchants of Solinga and Rope are here already. The gods know, I’ve had enough of them clamoring for an audience with me.”
They were now entering that portion of the palace which had formerly contained Casull’s hareem. The giant eunuchs who once guarded the doors were gone, replaced by two Vanbert infantrymen, and the doors themselves were open instead of being barred. The men came to attention as Demansk and Trae passed through.
“This is the hareem, isn’t it? I’d think you’d be more careful,” said Trae with a little smirk. “You know Vanbert soldiers.”
“I’m counting on it,” snorted his father. “If I thought I could get away with it, I’d have already done what the conqueror of legend did—ordered all my men to marry native women. Since that would be too much of a breach with custom, I’ve done the next best thing. Planted thousands of single men, their purses full, in a place full of destitute and desperate women.” He nodded toward the harbor again. “Of which you just brought another huge batch, most of them widows.”
“Sounds like a giant whorehouse.”
Demansk shrugged. “To a degree, it is. But don’t forget that my new regulations apply to the soldiers also. If they marry their new women, they stand to create a retirement for themselves. Which, since there won’t be any land grants coming from this conquest, is something that the smartest of them are already figuring out. We had eighteen marriages yesterday. By next month, I think we’ll have to start conducting mass ceremonies.”