The Duke and the Davar

The nurse stared straight ahead, rooted to the spot. When the prioress came to her personally, and told her that she was to come to this bench right away, her heart skipped a beat. She was sure that she had done something wrong, but what could she have done? And then the prioress introduced her to the davar of Darvazde Yepenhan, who was an important person indeed. She was sure that the davar was angry with her for telling him that he could not question Astra yesterday. But the davar was smiling, and seemed to have forgotten about it. He said that he was satisfied with Astra's answers, and wanted to discuss a few things before he left. And so he and the prioress were chatting, while she, no fool, spoke only when spoken to. And then another girl came into the garden, showing the Duke of Penhan himself into the alcove!

Earlier that morning, the Duke of Penhan had received a "red letter" from the Penhanese Postal Service, with a special seal indicating a priority delivery. He opened it and called for his horse to be equipped immediately - he was going to the frontier. By the afternoon, the Duke had arrived at the White Hospital.

A lady of the Hospital ushered him into a small alcove off the main courtyard. There was a heavy stone table and two stone benches. Seated were a thin, non-descript girl and a man with a familiar face. The prioress was seated on a stone bench. The Duke bowed and greeted the davar.

"You are looking well, Shaheen Agha. I just got your letter this morning. I certainly hope that I can be of help."

"I am thankful for your quick arrival, Kalaak Agha. I hope not to take too much of your time. There has been a crime on our side of the border. One of the witnesses is in the White Hospital. She is undoubtedly a victim, as she was hurt. But she undoubtedly has broken some of the rules and customs of Hespan as well. I have asked you, as well as the prioress and the witnesses' nurse here, to let you know what I will need."

"Well, we are in this together," said the Duke. "How can I help?"

"First, make sure that the witness, who goes by the name of Astra, is taken care of. Having talked to the prioress and the nurse here, I am confident that she is getting the best care possible. Second, make sure that she does not wander off before I tell you that she can. She may try to go down to Torbus. Even though she will be gimpy, and unable to walk for a while, I think that she may try to leave the hospital before she is ready. She is wanted as a witness to murder and horsetheft in the province of Corona. Until these matters are cleared up, I would ask that she stay here."

The Duke replied, "Do you want me to just order her to Darvazde Yepenhan and one of the towers? That would make things simpler."

"No need. I do not want to ship someone who is as badly hurt as she is to the towers based on a need for a witness. I have her account of these matters, and at this time, it is good enough for me." The davar turned and looked at the prioress and nurse. "Now it is understood that nobody talks to others about the things that we are talking about. I will be very disappointed if I hear that someone spread gossip about these matters."

The Duke and prioress nodded their heads. The nurse's throat tightened, and she slowly nodded hers as well.

"Astra and a courier from Golabi, Hesht, were headed for Darvazde Yepenhan when they met two traders, Gog and Magog, on the Old Frontier Road. Magog is dead. He was apparently trampled by a horse. Gog has a broken leg. Hesht was knocked out, and may not be alive when I get back. Astra was beaten. I have Hesht's account second-hand, but there are reasons that I do not trust it. I have Astra's account, which for the most part agrees with Hesht's, but there are problem with it as well. I have Gog's account. He claims that Astra is a common prostitute." The davar noticed that the nurse was shaking her head slightly. "Miss, you do not believe it, do you?"

"That is not possible, Agha Davar. I had to tend to her. Not only did she not show any signs of doing that sort of thing, but she was very worried that she was ill-used when she was blacked out."

The davar nodded. "Thank you, Miss. That is helpful information, but I did not want to ask her directly. You will, of course, not mention it outside this company."

"Yes, Agha Davar."

The davar then assured the prioress and the nurse that, whatever questions Astra might have to answer, he knew that justice required that she be able to answer them when she was as whole as she possibly could be. The davar then had a surprise for the nurse. He took a jewelled comb out of his pocket, and gave it to the nurse. The nurse was about to refuse, as she was not supposed to accept worldly gifts. But the prioress gave her a sharp look and a nod of the head, and mouthed the words, "Take it." The nurse placed the comb in her hair, and thanked the davar. The two women left the room, and the nurse held her head up a little higher.

"Amazing. My wife wanted me to get rid of that comb, as it was out of style, and the jewels were not top-quality. But that young girl looked at it like I gave her the keys to the Royal Hespaniard Treasury."

"Yes, Shaheen. The nurses in the Hospital usually began life as orphans and abandoned children left at the hospital. The Hospital cares for them, but they never have much beyond two meals a day and clean set of linen."

"They do admirable work. If I may change the subject, Kalaak, there are some things that make this a less than straight-forward case."

"Two sides have different stories. That happens a lot."

"Yes, yes. But that was not what I was talking about. First, I am stretching my jurisdiction. The crime took place on the Old Frontier Road, which should be subject to manorial law."

"Good luck. The father of the present king managed to remove all the barons of Tenge."

The davar grimaced and nodded. "Yes, and he and his son have been very slow to fill in the gap that was left behind. Technically the King has jurisdiction - but the King's court is many leagues away. In practice, justice is either not pursued, or pursued by private means."

"Feuds."

"Exactly. I cannot control what happens in the interior of the Tenge. But I have let it be known that if you break the rules west of the Old Frontier Road, you have to answer to the city of Darvazde Yepenhan. We are not going to go the way of the rest of the Tenge. That is the way we have done it for the last twenty years, and the King has never had a problem with it. It works. But if there is a problem, we cannot ignore it, or the chaos of the Tenge interior will spill over onto us."

"So what makes this a particular problem? Nobody escaped."

"No, but you mentioned the feuds. The couriers belong to trading companies, and some of them are rivals. Some of these rivalries come from old feuds, but most of them come from outsiders that have moved into the Tenge. One of the things that I have to find out is what companies, if any, that Hesht and Gog belong to. If the men of the companies are not satisfied that my judgment is fair, they will cause trouble."

"But you are not going to change your judgment based on what the company bosses say?"

"Heavens, no. But if I can avoid trouble by explaining how I and the elder arrive at the judgment, before it is made publicly, then that would be better."

"And these two belong to especially troublesome companies?"

"Gog's boss has already sent word that Gog should be sent to him, and the matter is best handled privately. Jegar the Toll Collector, on the other hand, went out of his way to help Hesht. I placed him under arrest for taking bribes, but part of the reason that I did that was to send a warning to any of the couriers in town not to take revenge on Gog."

"Gog has made himself unpopular?"

"I think that he was unpopular before last night. His boss, Nozh, is apparently a rough man, and Jegar claims that his men tend to be bullies when they think that they can get away with it. Now word has gone out that Gog beat up a helpless young woman. I am holding Gog and Jegar in the towers to keep this from turning into a private war."

"So what do you think happened?"

"I do not know, exactly, but based on the evidence, I think that there was an illegal duel between Magog and Hesht. [Duelling was legal in Hespan, but it had to be licensed by the King himself, a tax had to be paid, and had to take place at a set date and time at the capital.] Astra claims that she challenged Gog, but I think that she is trying to take guilt that may belong to Hesht. It will be informative to see what Hesht has to say. I also tend to believe that Gog behaved dishonourably. He is not too bright. When I asked him about the cargo and the swords, he said that it was all his, and if Hesht or Astra had any, then it was stolen. That may be true, but then it would mean that Astra and Hesht were defenseless when they met the two. Of course, I let him talk. In their cargo was thunderstone."

"Uh-oh. The King takes a dim view of selling it outside of Hespan. Are you going to charge him?"

"I cannot prove that he was smuggling it across the border. Gog is not very bright, but he was sharp enough to claim that he was headed inside the country, although he was very vague as to who he was trading with. Still, I might mention it to Nozh, should he decide to be quarrelsome."

"What about Astra?"

"If it up to me and me alone, then I would let her go. Gog's story holds less water than a sieve. But there is the matter of why she is really in Hespan, as well as Gilder of Corona."

"Ah, yes. Gilder. Is he a sound man?"

"He has the king's confidence."

"Lovely."

There was more to this exchange than met the ear. The davar could not say something like "No, Gilder has a spotty reputation and he only has his position because he drank and revelled with the King for years." That would be treason. The Duke picked up on the lack of comment about Gilder's judgment or ability.

The Duke continued, "Well, I guess that I am going to get a request to extradite Astra from Gilder soon?"

"Yes. And here is where I want you to do me a favour. Refuse any such request, as Gilder does not have jurisdiction. Tell him that only the King can ask for that."

"Technically you are right. But in practice, he speaks for the King in Corona, just as you speak for the King in Darvazde Yepenhan. I am just going to infuriate Gilder and annoy the King, which is never a good idea. Penhan is independent, but Hespan is much more powerful. Why do you want me to do this?"

"Getting a fair judgment in Corona is going to be difficult. You and I know that."

"Is she more likely to get justice before the King?"

"I think so. Perhaps the King is slow in appointing the davars required for the Tenge, and maybe at times his ear is swayed by flattery. But do you remember him when we were both at the Royal College of Law?"

Penhanese law was based on the Law and Customs of Hespan, so it would be expected that the son of a Penhanese duke as well as a sharp Hespaniard clerk would spend some time there.

The Duke answered, "Indeed I do. He was about fourteen at the time. He was an earnest young man. He was polite, and was said not a bad student, although he was of course too young to attend studies with us. I remember a feeling of relief when I met him; not at all like his father, who was very sure of himself and domineering."

"Yes. I spent a few years at the Royal Court afterward. He has a good nature, but his attention tends to wander. Definitely not like his father. If he listens to both sides, it will help that Astra is quite comely. That should not make a difference, but in fact it does. It should be enough to balance out the King's fondness for Gilder. If she has the facts on her side, then she should have a chance."

"You are going through some pain to obtain justice for a woman who may indeed be guilty. But I agree that sending her back to Gilder, who may have a personal disagreement with her, does not seem to be fair. I will turn down any request as courteously as I can, and will cite her health so as to reduce the offence caused."

"Excellent. One more thing. This Astra claims that she is Aqualarian, and in fact disappeared from a reception for the Allarian ambassador. While her story is far from solid, it might pay to make some inquiries. If we have an Aqualarian citizen, no matter how humble, and the story makes its way back there in the wrong way, then the Matriarchy might use it as an excuse to make trouble. What are the nearest countries with an Aqualarian envoy, so that we may check the story discreetly?"

"That is tough. I think that Allaria is the nearest place in the Havnheim where they have an envoy. I know that they do not have any diplomatic relations with Hespan or the border states."

"I think that you are right. That works well. According to the woman, the Allarian ambassador to Aqualaria was there when she disappeared, and he should know about it, and word would get to the other embassies. Do Allaria and Penhan exchange ambassadors?"

"No, I think that the King would not be happy if we did. But I know that there are Allarian envoys in Torbus and in Hespan itself."

"The last I heard, relations with Allaria are warmer than at any time in recent memory. Still, I would rather not use our embassy to make the inquiry. If there is any truth to the story, I do not want the inquiry to be traced back to Hespan."

"So you want me to send a letter to the Allarian ambassador to Torbus, asking about the disappearance of a lady at a court function in Aqualaria?"

"Not in so many words, no. Make it more general. 'Due to the recent boom in trade goods, the Duchy has seen an increase in the number of merchants and travelers from beyond the greater Hespaniard region, and it has come to our attention that a few claim to be from Aqualaria and adjacent areas. Could you spare a few moments and bring me up to date on the customs, affairs, and recent happenings in the court, etc. etc.' If she really was a lady of quality who did disappear from a big reception, it must have caused a sensation."

"Very good. And if we find out that she really was a high-ranking lady, whom has been kidnapped and abused while in the Kingdom?"

1. The davar paused before returning an answer....

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