CHAPTER 16 – SENDING A MESSAGE
13:46 (Paris Time)
Monday, October 3, 861 C.E.
Royal suite, abbey of St-Germain
Auxerre, Western Francia
King Charles II was in the suite loaned to him by the Abbot of St-Germain when someone knocked urgently on his door, prompting him to shout out loud.
‘’COME IN!’’
The door opened at once, with his chancellor, Louis le Rorgonide, entering and bowing to him.
‘’Your Majesty, Margrave Robert le Fort has just arrived…with 300 armored cavalrymen at his back.’’
That last sentence immediately froze Charles with alarm and worry: Robert le Fort had once rebelled against him, allying himself with Charles’ own brother, Louis le Germanique. He had then submitted to Charles only after receiving Neustria in exchange. That Robert had come with a force that could easily overwhelm his royal guards could mean very bad news indeed for Charles, who had no shortage of enemies and few allies.
‘’Did he say why he came?’’
‘’He simply said that he wanted to speak with you, Your Majesty. He is presently waiting alone at the main entrance, with his cavalrymen staying in one corner of the courtyard.’’
‘’Very well! Assemble first my knights and barons in the main hall, then bring Robert in.’’
‘’Yes, Your Majesty!’’
Louis le Rorgonide then left, closing the door behind him. Charles pondered for a moment what Robert’s visit meant. If he would have come to kill or overthrow him, then he would have simply stormed the place without warning. Maybe he really meant to simply talk, but about what? The Vikings? Not knowing what to think, Charles took his time in putting on a silk cape, giving plenty of time to his chancellor to assemble his armed followers. Only after a good ten minutes did Charles started on his way to the main hall, arriving there to find a good forty knights and barons in armor and waiting for him. A bit reassured now, Charles made a sign to his chamberlain to introduce Robert le Fort. The latter entered behind Louis le Rorgonide and looked with disdain at the assembled armed followers of Charles before walking with an assured step towards him. Charles didn’t miss the fact that Robert was fully armed and armored, wearing a heavy scale mail vest and a helmet. The Margrave of Neustria finally stopped a good six steps in front of Charles and bowed rather perfunctorily to him. That alone was enough to alarm anew Charles, who did his best to sound sure of himself.
‘’To what do I owe your visit, Robert?’’
‘’I came to bring news, Your Majesty. First off, I was able to inspect six days ago the Viking camp in Jeufosse and found it completely devastated, with all the Vikings dead. They were apparently killed by people from the future traveling in huge flying ships.’’
‘’I have heard about those people from the future. They seemingly established themselves in Toulouse and supposedly killed all the Vikings inside Francia, if I could believe what Brother Erigène told me about them. What else?’’
‘’As incredible as this may sound, those people from the future left behind in the camp the chests containing the gold and silver you paid to the Vikings as ransoms, apparently not taking one coin from them. I thus decided to bring back that treasure under escort, Your Majesty.’’
Charles suddenly felt immense relief on hearing those last words: that explained the strong escort accompanying Robert le Fort to Auxerre. His anxiety however returned at once when a gigantic shadow masked the Sun outside, plunging the main hall in semi-darkness.
‘’What the…? What is happening outside? Count Vivien, go see outside, quickly!’’
‘’Yes, Your Majesty!’’ Replied the chamberlain before nearly running out of the hall. He was back in less than two minutes, his face as white as a sheet.
‘’Your…Your Majesty, a gigantic ship made of steel is now floating in the sky above the abbey. It is in fact bloating most of the sky.’’
‘’WHAT?’’ Shouted Charles in disbelief before getting up from his throne and running to the nearest window. What he saw then literally made his hair stand up: an impossibly large ball of metal was indeed floating silently just above the abbey. Charles then saw some kind of small metal boat come out of the ship, floating down towards the abbey. The small boat soon landed in the courtyard, between the main entrance and the soldiers of Robert le Fort. A sort of ramp then lowered at its back and four silhouettes came out, walking calmly towards the main entrance of the abbey. Charles then noticed that the men of Robert le Fort were not reacting to the newcomers, as if the arrival of a flying ship was common occurrence. Becoming suspicious again, he gave a hard look at Robert, still standing in front of the throne.
‘’Do you know who the people that landed in the courtyard are, Robert?’’
‘’In fact, I do, Your Majesty. One of them is Sire Boson, whom you sent as emissary to Toulouse. Another is Lady Ann Shelton, the representative of the people from the future.’’
‘’And how would you happen to know that, unless you plotted in advance with that Lady Shelton?’’
‘’Your Majesty, before you do something regrettable, I would suggest that you simply wait until the arrival of Lady Shelton. She will then be able to tell you herself what the goal of all this is. Do not worry: neither I nor her wishes to kill you, unless you attack us, of course.’’
Seeing his knights and barons starting to draw their swords at those words, Charles urgently signaled them to refrain.
‘’HOLD, MEN!’’
Returning to his throne and sitting on it, Charles shot a murderous look at Robert but otherwise did not said anything until four newcomers entered the hall and walked towards him. One of them was effectively young Sire Boson, while another was a tall woman wearing a sort of armored suit with helmet whose visor was pulled open. The two others were massive men who wore complicated armored suits and acted pretty much like bodyguards, staying two steps behind and to each side of the woman. Charles started sweating profusely as he reminded himself that such armored men had reputedly massacred with ease the vaunted Vikings. The group stopped beside Robert le Fort, with Sire Boson then bowing to Charles. Neither the woman nor her two bodyguards did so, however. The woman, who was truly beautiful and appeared to be in her late twenties, spoke up in a firm but polite tone.
‘’Greetings, King Charles! I am Doctor Ann Shelton, Plenipotentiary Envoy of the Human Expansion in Toulouse. I came to respond to your letter, which you sent to me via the services of Sire Boson.’’
‘’And what exactly is your response to my letter, Doctor Shelton?’’
‘’That you won’t get any part of our revenues in the county of Toulouse. We also will not swear allegiance to you, as we see no benefit or reason to do so. I however have a message for you and for the rest of the nobility of this kingdom.’’
Charles felt acid form in his stomach then: this was probably not going to be to his liking, but there was little that he could do right now but listen.
‘’Go ahead, Doctor Shelton: deliver your message.’’
‘’That message is actually simple: start governing with the welfare of all your people in mind and, most importantly, stop your stupid and wasteful conflicts between yourselves, right now! Anyone attacking someone else for reasons other than self-defense will from now be dealt with harshly by us. Even in a case of self-defense, we will then act as arbitrators in order to stop the violence. This land has seen too many deaths, destruction and misery during the last decades, mostly due to the selfishness, greed and petty thirst for power of both you and of most of your nobles.’’
‘’Now, wait a minute! I…’’
‘’SHUT UP! You owe your present throne strictly to your bloodline and have shown precious few personal abilities or skills in governing or administering your kingdom. Furthermore, you failed to protect your people from the Vikings and instead wasted much resources and manpower in pursuing an imperial crown that is now utterly meaningless. Your brothers, sons, nephews and other nobles have proved equally negligent and selfish, so we have no choice now but to impose an immediate and indefinite armistice across the whole of Francia. That means Eastern Francia and Lotharingia as well as Western Francia. Anyone violating that armistice will be warned at first, then will be destroyed if the violence continues. By anyone, I mean the nobles and rulers that will have ordered the violence, rather than the soldiers themselves. Those soldiers will in turn be able to return to their respective villages and towns to grow crops or pursue other, more constructive trades than war. Once I am finished here, I will be paying visits to your brother, Louis le Germanique, as well as to your nephews and to King Salomon of Britain, to whom I will be serving the same conditions as I am now doing to you. Hopefully, common sense will then prevail and peace will return to Francia.’’
‘’What about those who were revolting against me and are sowing discord and chaos in my kingdom? You pretend that I won’t be allowed anymore to ascertain my authority as King of Western Francia?’’
‘’Basically, all your vassals from the level of counts and down will now be responsible for the welfare of their present territories but will have to restrict their actions to those said territories. No more territorial encroachments at the expense of neighbors! If there is any local dispute about who is in charge, then we will mediate and will support the most capable and caring local noble. If none of those nobles prove to be worthy of governing, then we will reserve the right to name someone competent at the head of that territory.’’
‘’What about the royal taxes due to me?’’ Shot back Charles, getting more furious by the minute. Ann looked down at him with something akin to contempt.
‘’You mean the taxes that you were wasting on offering yourself a life of luxury while your people lived in utter poverty? The taxes that you should have used to build an army strong enough to chase the Vikings out of your kingdom but instead used to pay ransom after ransom to those Vikings? Well, from now on you will have to live strictly on the revenues from your own personal land holdings. The people of this land have had to support too many parasites like you for too long and it is high time that it finally gets priority in the distribution of resources.’’
One of the barons of King Charles, understanding that this would probably mean the loss of his lucrative court function, then unsheathed his sword and held it high while shouting to the other nobles present.
‘’DON’T YOU SEE THAT SHE IS INTENT ON USURPING THE THRONE? KILL HER!’’
The other 41 armed and armored nobles, equally incensed by Ann’s declarations, then rushed at Ann with their swords high, led by the baron. The two commandos flanking Ann immediately stepped forward, forming a wall of steel in front of her while at the same time raising their weapons. As per their prior orders from Ann, they used strictly the stun guns attached to their disintegrator rifles, firing in continuous mode and sweeping their fire from left to right and back. The nearest any noble got from Ann was a knight that fell on top of the feet of one commando, stunned unconscious before he could even deliver a single blow of his sword. Ann, now as tense as a spring and holding her own stun pistol, was left to look at the piled bodies around her commandos. She then glanced at both Robert le Fort and Boson, who had drawn their swords and had stood ready to defend her flanks.
‘’Are you alright, my friends?’’
‘’Perfectly alright, Lady Shelton.’’ Replied Boson.
‘’The same here, Ann.’’ Said Robert le Fort, who then pointed at King Charles, who was cowering on his throne. ‘’What about him?’’
Ann gave Charles a disdainful look.
‘’Him? He will now be king in name only.’’
She then walked to Charles and bent down over him, her expression hard.
‘’You heard my terms, Charles. You will now abide by them, disband your army and your court and return to your own lands, where you better start treating correctly your people. If you don’t, then I will pay you a second visit and you may like it even less than this one. If I hear that you ordered your army into the offensive after this, then you will die, end of story.’’
Ann didn’t wait for a reply from Charles, turning her back to him and returning to the side of Robert le Fort and of Boson. The latter, still in shock at all that had happened so quickly, looked hesitantly at her.
‘’What about me and my family, Lady Shelton? I was also part of the King’s court, along with my sister Richilde.’’
‘’You will now be free to return with her to your family lands in the Ardennes. The good news is that you will no longer have to pay royal taxes from now on, which should save you a pretty penny. You may also remind your sister that we are not adverse at seeing women in administrative or government positions. As long as you don’t use force or violence to attain your goals and as long as you take care of your people, you will be free to build your lives the way you want. If you wish so, I am ready to offer you and your sister a quick trip back to the Ardennes. You will have an hour to pack.’’
‘’I will go speak to her right away.’’ Said Boson before nearly running out of the hall. Ann next looked with fondness at Robert le Fort as King Charles, still sitting on his throne and not daring to move, listened on.
‘’I am sure that you will take good care of the people of Neustria, Robert. I can assure you that the gold and silver recuperated from the Vikings will be equitably distributed and used to compensate those across the kingdom who lost everything to the Vikings. I will also use it to help rebuild what was burned down.’’
‘’I know that you will use that money well, Ann. We will keep in contact in the future, I hope?’’
‘’Of course we will, Robert. I in fact intend to arrange something soon to provide instant communications between Toulouse and Tours, so that we can converse at will in the future. Now, let’s make sure that King Charles passes around his ultimate orders as sovereign of Western Francia.’’
In another part of the abbey reserved for female guests, poor Boson soon hit a major obstacle: his furious sister.
‘’YOU HELPED THAT WOMAN TO BASICALLY STRIP KING CHARLES OF HIS THRONE? ARE YOU CRAZY? I WAS HOPING TO BECOME QUEEN ONE DAY!’’
‘’Queen of what?’’ Replied her brother, standing his ground. ‘’Of a kingdom ruined by Viking invasions and constant infighting? Charles was a failure as a king. Can’t you think past your own personal good for once?’’
‘’And what will our father think of you after that? You betrayed your king and broke your oath of loyalty to him.’’
‘’An oath of loyalty is worthless if only one side respects it. As for what Father will say, did you realize that, with counts now being basically independent, he will not have to worry anymore about being stripped of his titles by the King on a simple whim in the future? More importantly, our father will now be able to name himself his successor instead of the King doing so. That means that his titles will stay in the family. Count as well the fact that we won’t have to levy royal taxes on our peasants and merchants anymore. That will help our county prosper instead of it only barely surviving. A prosperous county means in turn more revenues for us. Just the fact that we won’t need to provide a military contingent every year for the King’s army will save us a fortune. Do you have any idea how much it cost our father to equip and support those extra men-at-arms and knights he was sending away every year? A bloody fortune, that’s what!’’
Shaken by Boson’s arguments, Richilde furiously thought for a moment, trying to find counter-arguments.
‘’If there will be no royal army left, then who will defend the kingdom, Boson?’’
‘’First, King Charles’ army did little to actually defend the kingdom against the Vikings, who were looting, burning and murdering nearly at will. It was too busy fighting the King’s brother and nephews. Second, if you are worried about the defense of the kingdom against invaders, just go look outside and up at the sky: you will then see a mile-wide flying ship made of steel thicker than my arm and able to fly across the whole kingdom in less than one hour. I know because I came from Toulouse in it. And that is only one of the flying ships of Lady Shelton’s people.’’
‘’But, what if the King resists, keeps his army around him and rallies his followers against those people from the future? Brother Erigène said that they are blasphemers of the worst kind.’’
‘’The hell with Brother Erigène!’’ Nearly shouted Boson, getting tired of this. ‘’What does he know outside of his religious books? Compared to Lady Shelton’s people, he is an utter ignorant. As for the King trying to rally his followers around him, good luck to him! By the time it will take him to simply get to Paris, Lady Shelton will have sent ships all over the kingdom to announce his demise. Do you think that many counts will follow King Charles, once they know that they could now act completely independently from him and keep their titles forever? Hell, I expect all but a handful of them to simply turn him around politely. That’s if they don’t simply kill him on the spot! Do you really want to stay associated with him, Sister?’’
Richilde was left speechless for a moment as she realized that Boson was right.
‘’But, what are these people from the future hoping to gain by all this? Does that Lady Shelton plan to name herself Queen?’’
To her surprise, her last question made Boson explode in laughter.
‘’Lady Shelton, Queen? Never! She doesn’t even believe in the concept of nobility or of hereditary passage of power. Back in Toulouse, I visited a huge, incredibly luxurious hotel they literally put in place in one day. Lady Shelton was staying in that hotel, along with the rest of her people in Toulouse, that is until yesterday, when she moved into a gigantic, mile-high tower that was assembled in mere days. An ex-slave of Count Raymond, a simple fisherman who had become with his family citizens of her Human Expansion, also lived in that hotel until yesterday. Care to tell me who had the largest apartment?’’
‘’Lady Shelton, of course!’’ Replied at once Richilde. She then hesitated on seeing the smirk that appeared on Boson’s face.
‘’Wait! Don’t tell me…’’
‘’That she had the smallest apartment? Yes, and that simply because she is single, while that ex-slave had a family with many children to accommodate. In fact, her apartment was only half the size of that ex-slave’s apartment. When I asked her why that was so, she simply replied that her society considered everyone as equals, irrespective of race, sex or social status. In her society, an administrator at her present level cannot by law receive a salary that is more than three times the minimum salary earned by their lowest worker. Their own supreme leader, a woman by the way, who is ruling over eighteen million people, cannot earn more than six time the minimum salary. Those people truly believe in the common good, contrary to too many of us. Hell, I was myself one of those selfish nobles before, until I saw what was going on in Toulouse. I believe that we are on the verge of a marvelous future, Richilde, and that we should help those people help our own people.’’
Richilde slowly sat down on her bed, trying to bring order to her mind. After a long moment, she looked up at her brother.
‘’Do you think that I could meet and talk with that Lady Shelton, Boson?’’
Boson nodded at once.
‘’I am sure that she will love to meet you, Sister.’’