After Edvard left Amondo returned to the castle and went looking for the constable. He quickly found him in his office and upon doing so he inquired about the state of both the castle armoury and the baronial horse herd.
“Well, sir four years or so ago your brother instructed the Steward to leave the running of the horse herd completely in the charge of the Marshall who would be reporting directly to him and no one else. At the same time, he had me sell off much of the armoury’s contents, not all mind you but still quite a large part of it. I kept as much of it as I thought I could get away with and tried to ensure I sold them for a reasonable price to reputable sources. However, your brother give the task of finding replacements to his Marshall who didn’t exactly purchase the best weaponry available.
I don’t know whether he did so under orders from your brother or in an attempt to make some money on the side. Either way by the time I found out about it there wasn’t anything I could do about it. If the barony is to survive in the face of the threat from Eugene then we must do so with better quality weaponry than we currently possess, to do so otherwise will only lead to disaster. We must have our smiths start producing new weapons as soon as possible and purchase as many others as we can afford.
When the Marshall died with your brother those in charge of the horse herd started reporting to the Steward again. I have read that report and the monthly ones made since then and they basically state that he had them increase the size of the herd for several years before selling off half of it just last year.”
“I had feared the herd would be in an even worse condition but even if he sold off the best horses we should have sufficient horses to do us. It would be different if we had to fight far away from the barony, but we face a merely local threat, so we’ll manage. How’s our supply of arrows, I know my father kept a good supply of them on hand did my brother keep up the tradition or did he sell them off?”
“We have five hundred crossbow bolts and five thousand arrows and only a single fletcher but if we were to give him some assistants he should be able to ramp up production of new arrows within a matter of days. I’m not sure what kind of quantity we might end up with but we have the whole of winter after all.”
“If I had to call up the levy next week for how long could we supply them in the field?”
“Within Membe itself, one of the lordships or outside of the barony?”
“If we had to hold the Hinatel bridge for as long as possible?”
“Well this time of year, with the capability to resupply and provided we could hold either side of the bridge then as long as the weather holds which if we’re lucky should be until sometime around November. If we had to take everything with us, then two to three weeks mind you we would have to start planning for it now otherwise a single week would be a stretch.”
“I would like you to get with whomever you need to and begin planning for that and other likely scenarios. I need rough drafts of them done before winter sets in. They should not be needed until next spring, but you never know what might happen. I would like the personal equipment of everyone eligible for the levy to be checked, they should all have access to a functioning weapon and at least the most basic of armour.
For those that don’t the armoury will have to provide them as best they can, the good news is that the retainers I brought with me are well armed and no doubt have far more weapons than they will ever need plus I brought a few extras with me. I don’t think we need to apply the customary fine to those who haven’t maintained their required weapons but in the future, if it happens again with their replacements I won’t be as lenient.”
“It’s up to you but we could use the money.”
“No, not with my brother having in a way done the same thing but once we have the new weapons sorted out for them be sure to remind them that such fines exist and that they will be applied in the future.”
“Alright, sir if that’s the way you want to handle it unless there’s anything else you wish to discuss enjoy your dinner and don’t worry I will get started on implementing your instructions straight away.”
“I will leave it in your capable hands but before I go, did my brother finish the repairs on Hinatel bridge that were started by our father?”
“He did though it ended up costing slightly more than your father had budgeted for it and your brother had the lord of Wainthe cough up all of the extra funds needed to do so which as you can imagine didn’t go over all that well with him.”
“That’s all constable, keep up the good work.”
After leaving the constable office Amondo made ready for dinner and after an enjoyable meal during which he had a pleasant conversation with those sitting on either side of him he paid a quick visit to his sister in law. She showed no signs that the birth was imminent and he after speaking to her for a few minutes.
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