Amondo and the constable looked over the maps laid on the map room table for a few minutes before they were joined by the first of the meetings other participants. Melton Cardea was the chief clerk of the barony whose main responsibility at the meeting was to take the meetings minutes. He was a rather plump man in his forties who had been a man at arms when younger but after seriously hurt his left foot in a hunting accident he could no longer make a living in his chosen occupation.
He was followed shortly by Sir Justine Nedina who was the longest-serving household knight in the barony. He was an older man of forty-nine who had faithfully served Amondo’s family for nearly thirty years. He could still swing a sword and ride a horse as well as the next man but he was past his prime and twice as dangerous. When he was younger Amondo had looked up to him as a good example of what a knight should be. They had talked briefly during the gathering last night but still had a lot of catching up to do.
Hector Barker, the senior member of the barony of Membe’s small three strong force of light calvary and Rantham Sika the leader of the band of light calvary Amondo had hired to accompany him home on a year-long contract were the next to arrive. The two of them had never met before but after talking to each other last night over a beer they had learnt that their grandfathers had served together and were fast becoming friends.
It was five minutes later before the next attendee arrived, Turell Davis was his late brothers master of the hunt. He had been responsible for organising the twice or sometimes thrice-weekly hunts Leonid had held. When it was decided what prey the next hunt would be after the master of the hunt would use his wide-ranging knowledge of the local game animals to go out and find some of the prey and then arrange all aspects of the hunt from the appropriate weaponry to the men who would be responsible for carrying the carcasses back at the end of the hunt.
He was a total unknown to Amondo having been hired by his brother five years ago when his predecessor had gone blind in his right eye after falling off a horse during a stag hunt. Since the job required travelling all over Membe to find animals to hunt he was perhaps the person in the Malla family lands most knowledgable about the area and that was why he was asked to attend the meeting. Finding game to hunt is after all in a way not that much different than hunting bandits.
Since the death of Leonid, he hadn’t been all that busy only having to keep a lookout for dangerous predators that might endanger human life and holding a hunt every month or so. With the arrival of Amondo, he hoped this state of affairs would soon change once the potential posthumous heir was born and the matter of the possible need for a regency was settled.
After Turell the next to arrive were Shau Rayun, Amondo’s cleric, Sir Erdal Spaci and his treasurer Marke Alfara who were there to provide an outsiders perspective on the situation. They were followed by Brando Gergan who was in charge of toll collection within Membe and Gustav Varian the Bailiff of Membe.
With their arrival, the only other person invited to the meeting was the chief forester and since he had indicated he would be running late Amondo decided to delay the meeting for another few minutes. He used this time to his advantage, getting acquainted with everyone present and getting a feel for how they interacted with each other. When the forester hadn’ arrived ten minutes later Amondo who couldn’t wait any longer got the meeting started.
It wasn’t until half an hour or so after the meeting began that Marton showed up and immediately apologised for his late arrival. Amondo then asked that he remain behind after the meeting so he could have a few words with him in private.
The meeting was a success with a workable plan for securing the barony against bandits having been created. It was even thought that the lords of Hasford and Wainthe would find it acceptable. With the meeting over the attendees started to slowly leave one after the other until only Amondo, the constable and the chief forester remained.
“Constable see to it that copies of the plans are sent to Hasford and Wainthe but only as advisories after all the succession hasn’t been settled yet and until it is its best not to antagonise them unnecessarily.”
“I will see to it at once, don’t forget that the reeve and carpenter are expecting you at the north gate in ten minutes as requested and be assured the arrangements for your trip tomorrow are in hand.”
“Thanks, constable would you please have someone inform my ward that I wish to see her when I return from my tour and what pray tell is the latest word on my sister-in-law’s condition?”
“No change sir.”
“Very well then you may now get on with your other duties.”
“I will take my leave.”
With the departure of the Constable, the Chief Forester was the only one remaining.
“Chief forester was the dispute settled to your satisfaction?”
“These things are never settled to anyone satisfaction by their very nature the best deals leave neither side completely satisfied but the settlement reached on this occasion was at least acceptable to both sides. As usual, the resulting lumber will be split evenly and it’s their turn to do the actual milling.”
“Good to hear are there any other problems I should be made aware of?”
“No sir everyone is currently keeping to their allotted estivation and to the best of my knowledge no illegal logging is occurring and the sustainability of the Barony’s woodlands is being maintained.”
“After talking to you as the constable mentioned earlier I am going to have a quick look at the state of the village wall and I wish you to accompany me.”
“As you wish sir I don’t think any work has been done to them since shortly before your brother’s last wedding nine years ago. Even then it was just the gates and the areas surrounding them.”
“Hopefully the rest isn’t in to bad a condition not that it was ever meant to truly protect the villagers from anything other than bandits. It’s only there to hopefully buy the villagers enough time to head to the castle if it’s being attacked in force.”
“It has been quite a while since the village has been attacked even by bandits. I can’t quite remember what was supposed to have happened the last time but the time before that was when the castle itself nearly fell to a sneak attack.”
“Yes the sneak attack during the rebellion by the Lord of Ruehasen a hundred and forty years ago, the then Baron Manfred Malla was lured into dealing with an attack elsewhere while another force made ready to strike at the village. Thanks to the actions of the barons eldest son and my namesake the castle held out until the return of his father. The last attempt you were thinking of was by the then baron of Henick during which the village was spared from destruction since the main battle occurred near the dungeon entrance on the last day of that year’s fair.”
“Yes, that was the one I was thinking off, a very close battle if the stories hold. They say that if it wasn’t for the help of some of those attending the fair it would have turned out quite different.”
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