"The rat problem?" Barak asked in confusion.

  "Forgive me; I am being allegorical. The rats are the spies and other people who may wish to sabotage our success," I said. "Have we caught any?"

  "Actually, we have caught a few. At first, we told all the new people they were not allowed to leave the camps and were watching them. Of course, that didn't work perfectly. As people like Marcus slipped through our grasp and were visiting places they shouldn't have been. Then, a conversation in the town hall gave us another idea. We have dyed the shirts of each of the new village residents in various colors. They are not allowed out of their village without a pass from the stewards.

  "So nobody is allowed to leave their villages." The blatant disregard for people's freedom that hadn't even done anything yet bothered me, but I knew that with this flood of new people coming in, there was no help for it.

  "It is a common practice. The law states that peasants are not allowed the freedom to move without the lord's permission. Here in Bicman and some other baronies, that has always meant leaving the barony, but lords have also restricted movements between fiefdoms or villages," Benjamin said.

  "Yes," Edward confirmed. "Most of the peasants had no reaction to the fact that they were not to leave their villages unless they had written orders. It is very common in counties where all the baronies and fiefdoms are close together. Nobody wants their best workers moving elsewhere. Here in Bicman, peasants don't really have anywhere to flee to, so we have a more lax policy, but in many areas of the kingdom, people live and die all within several kilometers of the place they were born, never leaving their fiefdom."

  "If they aren't allowed to leave, then why did so many come?" I asked.

  "The harvest is over, and winter is coming. The people that came to us would have just starved anyway. Most barons account for this eventuality. So rather than starve, the people took the risk, betting on the fact that their masters would be happy that they did not have to feed people who were just going to die anyway. If it had been summertime, I am sure more barons would have put a stop to the flow of people. In fact, with how overcrowded some baronies are, if some barons did not stop their people, we would have had double the numbers. They probably turned a blind eye to some people fleeing. I am sure that the barons knew exactly where their peasants were fleeing to as well," Benjamin said.

  I guess when you have hundreds of thousands of people in a duchy, a thousand is not really that much.

  "Alright, so we have restricted their movement and made them wear different colored clothing. We need to make sure our policies do not cause segregation. Even though these people have their movements restricted, they need to be made feel as if they are just as important as our original citizens. If they are to integrate and work towards the success of Bicman, then we need to make sure they know they are valued. Our current residents also need to know these people are valued. To that end, I will be visiting each village. Have you had people try to sneak out of the villages after you implemented this law?"

  "Of course," Edward said. "When they are caught, they are interrogated. We then put them on the prisoner work crews. If they try to escape again, we execute them."

  "Execute them?" I said.

  "We don't have the resources to do otherwise. Also, anyone who runs is assumed to be a spy. We are feeding everyone two meals a day. Also, anyone over the age of fifteen who works that day gets an extra half portion. Everyone has been very pleased with that, and it is more than generous. That is why we assume people who are trying to leave their villages must be spies."

  He knew I did not like killing unnecessarily, but I was no longer going to impose judgments that might harm the barony. I had learned that lesson. I could not end the rat problem if I just kicked them out of the barony.

  "We even caught some spies from Plimgus and Malcomp. We decided that it was important to maintain good relationships with our neighbors so we didn't kill them. But they got to witness another spy being executed. We politely told them to report back to their barons that a complaint would be sent to the count," Edward said.

  "A wise decision. So we have got the villages pretty much locked down. I see that the palisade is up here in Kerisi. How are the other villages doing?"

  "Bicman village now has a palisade. We left the palisade at the manor where it was, but they are building a stone wall that doubles the space on the manor grounds. We figured once it was built, we could tear down the inner palisade."

  "Or we leave it up as a fallback point," I said. "How are we going to utilize the extra space?"

  "Storage for a siege, and we will expand the inner fields."

  "What about housing for people?"

  "We were planning for them to just use tents. We are planning on additional barracks."

  I guess that made sense. Don't waste space on housing. We will only use it during a siege. I would have to take a look when I got there.

  "And the other villages?"

  "Yes, the palisades are the first thing to go up in our defenses."

  "Can all the people of each village fit behind the walls?"

  "Not comfortable, but they will all fit along with all the food storage. Each fort also has its own well. The storage, wells, and latrines are still under construction."

  "And how are we explaining these projects to the people?"

  "They all know how you feel about protecting your people after the raider attack. It seems to make sense with how you have built up the military here. So, the new people are more interested in the fact that you are arming peasants than the fact that you are building defensive forts."

  "We aren't conscripting the new people yet, are we?" I asked nervously.

  "No, my lord," Chris said. "We have told them they will be allowed to join after we have vetted them."

  We will have to work through more divisions among the people, but it is necessary. I am starting to like this different-colored shirt idea.

  "How will the newcomers defend their villages if they are attacked?"

  "They will rely on the thirty guards stationed there. I'm sorry to say this Paul, but I actually hope Kerisi is attacked first if word comes from the south that they are coming up the main road. This place is much better equipped to handle an attack," Chris said, turning to Paul.

  Paul grimaced.

  "Actually," I said. "We got some information from Benjamin's father. It appears that the attack will most likely come from the north. Countess Blackwell is in contact with Rabiss raiders."

  This caused everyone's jaw to drop.

  "We don't know exactly how they figured it out, but after we found out who it was, the countess found out we knew they were coming. I have no doubt she has sent word via pigeon to the raiders."

  This news caused Chris to swear. Then he flushed. "Sorry, my lord."

  "Well, there is good news and bad news about this. The good news is that we know the direction they are coming from. The bad news is that we won't be able to ambush them. Well, we can, but they will be looking for us."

  "So the plan was for them to come in, cause some havoc, capture some people, and leave?" Barak asked.

  "Most likely, it is probably meant to make the king look bad or give a reason to call troops back from the war."

  "But the Rabiss raid coastal villages all the time."

  "I am guessing this will be more than just a raid. They won't be coming just to harass and capture. They are coming to kill as many as they can," I said.

  "They would hire people to kill us just to make the king look bad?" Paul said in shock.

  "Well, if they can recall their troops, then they can gain more power to overthrow the king."

  "Wait, my lord, forgive me. Who is trying to overthrow the king?"

  "Someone is always trying to plot. We are just so far out in the backwater that it doesn't much affect us. Nobody is going to seek the support of some barony with no power or influence."

  "Which means we are also disposable if they need to stir up some trouble," Barak said.

  "Ok, we are off-topic, and these are matters that need to be discussed with all the head men. Let's get back to the information that I need. How are we on food?"

  "With the caravans you sent, we should be okay through the winter. We will reduce people's meals to one per day—at least for those who will be sitting inside and not moving around much. Workers will get two," Edward said.

  "And the goats. With all the extra people, did we have any left? I bought four hundred.

  "We did. But probably not as many as you would like. Not only did the men steal your money, but the people who arrived said that the mercenaries ate at least one goat a day. We have about one hundred and sixty."

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Mercenaries suck," I muttered under my breath. Without oversight from my guards, I would assume the caravan must have been in on it, too. Then they left for the Githum Duchy, thinking that some lowly baron who would never be on their trade route again would just roll over and let this pass. In their eyes, it would probably be a joke for the other nobles if a baron like me complained about a few goats. But they didn't just steal from a lowly baron. They stole from the Count of North Cove. I would become the dominant exporter of fine goods and the greatest center of learning in the kingdom. No one would want to do business with them in a few years. I would make sure of it. And if anything happened to my guards, the punishment would be much worse than having nobody doing business with them.

  Just then, Richard, the headman of Melnon, arrived, along with Joshua, the steward of Barum. They both bowed deeply and apologized for their tardiness.

  "It's no problem," I said. "We were just reviewing what I missed while I was gone. Before we get started on what you have been up to, I wanted to inform you of what you missed."

  I went over what I had told the others. As I did so, Richard's face began to pale. "I hate to say it, my lord, but I was hoping the invasion would come from the south. They will use the road to reach Melnon. We cannot do without that road if we are going to continue to supply Fort Cove or The Fort."

  "Ok, you know what. I have decided that I don't like having to say Fort Cove and The Fort. I am officially changing the name of the Fort to Pine Ridge. People are used to calling it a fort, so if we slip up and mention The Fort, they will think we are talking about Fort Cove even though we have changed the name. Since we are moving all our special projects to Pine Ridge, we will continue to expand it to house all our hidden knowledge."

  "Why Pine Ridge?" Edward asked.

  "Well either that or Area 51, but I like Pine Ridge better. In a story I haven't written yet, the city of Pine Ridge was a source of great knowledge. "

  This was, of course, not true. Oak Ridge, Tennesse, was the secret city where the Manhattan Project took place. It was a reminder to me that what I was attempting to do for the defense of my people could have very bad consequences.

  Was creating gunpowder worth it? Maybe I should call it Eureka. They got close to destroying the world in almost every single episode.

  "Again, I digress. Benjamin, I believe, came up with a good solution for this issue. Since the road closest to Fort Cove is barely above the level of the swamp, we will redirect some water from the mountains. Then, build a dam. As soon as the invaders come, we will break the dam, and it will flood and become an impassable marsh. Maybe it will become a lake."

  Benjamin and I had plenty of time on our way back from Kimton to come up with ideas for various situations. My idea was to just block it with stuff and disguise it, but he said their scouts would find the road, and it would be obvious we didn't want them to use it. Turning it into a marsh would be better.

  "We are also going to start construction on a road from Fort Cove to Bicman. It won't be finished by the time they get here, so it will just lead them into the middle of the marsh. Speaking of Melnon, though, how are things going?"

  "Excellent, my lord. With all the new people here, we have been able to increase the number of miners, and that has been helpful."

  "You're using the new people?" I said with a look of concern.

  "No worry, my lord, we are just moving some of your original peasants from other projects to the mines. None of the new residents have been allowed north of the Cofi River. We also have a prospecting team. They have found another coal deposit next to our new copper mine." He said excitedly.

  "Well, that's good. Hopefully, it is a good one," I said. "Anything other deposits?"

  "Nothing yet, but they all came back last week. Snow has started to accumulate in the mountains, and they might get stuck soon. We will have to start shutting down Melnon mines soon as the small pass that leads there sometimes gets blocked by snow. We have had men die in the past due to not being able to get back to Melnon."

  "I didn't think we got that much snow," I said in surprise.

  "The mines are at a higher elevation, and the mountains trap the rain clouds so it snows more there. Oh, but good news, we got the wheel issue fixed on the rail carts.”

  “There was an issue?”

  Richard scratched his head, “Hmm, I guess you weren’t here when we started having that problem. The wheels that we were using for the mine carts were fine when we were moving the cart in a mostly straight line, but when the path down the mountain curved around a bend, the wheels would pop off the track.”

  “So how did you fix it?” I asked.

  “By accident, you see, we had one wheel that never popped off the track when going around a curve to the left. After pulling it off and comparing it, we found that it was smaller on the outer edge. It had to be a mistake when making it. We changed the other wheels so that they were the same, and now they don’t pop off the tracks.”

  “That’s what I call a happy accident. Good job.”

  “Was not me, my lord. I am just the lucky man that has to report it to you.”

  “So how is the rail system working out? Is it worth the effort that it took to build it?” I asked.

  Richard smiled, “My lord, I do not know what I like better, the wheel barrel or the rail system. They both make life in Melnon so much easier.”

  “Better than the trip hammer, rock crusher, and bellow?”

  This caused Richard to flush a bit. “Sorry, my lord, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful for the other things you’ve given us as well.”

  “That’s not what I meant, Richard. I’m glad everything is working out well.”

  “The bellow was not complete yet. I’m afraid when it is, our boys will become lazy. Pumping the bellows is good for them.”

  “We will have other work for them, don’t you worry,” I said with a grin. Then I turned to Joshua. “Well, Josh, how are things in Barium?”

  “My lord, things are going well. We converted the old loom shop into a town hall. The palisade is up, and we are clearing out any trees closer than two hundred meters to the fort. We are collecting rocks and trying to build a stone wall inside the palisade. I doubt that it will be very high by this spring, but it should help fortify the wood.”

  “Excellent. Is your village prepared for winter?”

  “We have a list of all our residents. My wife has been attending classes at the manor and can add and subtract,” he boasted. And not without good reason. A peasant who could read and write was head and shoulder above even some noblemen. “Edward has verified her calculations, and everything is in order.”

  "Excellent work, Joshua. We'll make a real Headman out of you yet."

  The praise caused him to blush.

  "Anything else to report?" I asked.

  "We found more evidence that the marsh water may be the cause of the disease. One of our townspeople has a friend in Karr. They said that one of the reasons that the Karr moved south of Bicman River is that the illness they call yellow-eyed fever was more prevalent in the marsh. We are building up the bank on the lake's northern edge and trying to create runoff channels to the West for the marsh that will prevent the water from seeping into the lake. Eventually, we'll drain the areas north of the lake."

  I nodded in approval. "Does anyone else have anything else to report before I bring up a more urgent matter?"

  There was silence for a moment, and then I continued. "I received a report from Plimgus that bandits are plaguing his barony. He says it is due to people flooding Bicman. He says he does not have enough men to deal with the increase in banditry. I have not received the messages you sent south, and the letters that I sent north have not reached you. This means that someone was stopping the messengers even before people started coming North. So maybe it is a group of his guards disguised as bandits. It wouldn't be hard. Just give them crappy weapons and no armor, and they will look like peasants turned to banditry."

  "So, do we help him?" Chris asked.

  "If Vaspar were still the count, then I would send a complaint to him. But it is my land now. I also think this will be good for our men. It will prepare them for the invasion."

  "How many men do you want to send?"

  "I want two hundred men sent south."

  This caused everyone to look at me in surprise. Paul said, "Isn't that too much for just bandits?"

  "If Plimgus works with them, he will not make it easy for us to find them, and they may ambush us. Overwhelming force is what we need. They have to know that I do not tolerate banditry in my county. And we need to make Plimgus afraid to cross us. If I can link this to him, then I will have one less spy on the council when I am done with him," I growled. The fury of losing Drake to the bandits still burned strong in my heart, and the men before me could see it on my face. "I swear to all of you. Never again will bandits think they are safe in my lands."

  We went on to discuss how much farming equipment we had and what we would need for next year's planting. We also talked about planning out areas for new fields. Each headman was responsible for finding the best places for new fields. I told them I wanted to double the amount of fields in each village.

  "Forgive me, my lord, but why would we need so many more fields?" Barak asked.

  I decided to drop the next bombshell. "A good friend of mine warned me that we may need to prepare for the dukedom to send us a lot of refugees if war breaks out in the kingdom. We may become a dumping ground for people fleeing the war. It almost seemed like they were going to intentionally direct them to us. That means we will need to plant more grain, vegetables, and flax. We need to clear forests and store wood. We need to plot out new sites for villages."

  Edward looked very concerned. "My lord, we will not have enough people to clear new village sites."

  "We are not going to necessarily clear them. We just have to have them planned out and clear trees leading to the areas. We will have to pray that my gold is going to buy enough food to last while the people build their villages. If we are lucky, we won't have any refugees coming in for a few years. Right now, I want to survey land and plan."

  What I really needed was some civil engineers. I also wanted to make a compass. Not the type that points the way but the type that you use to draw circles and measure distances on a map. I didn't know how much help it would be, but we used them for my orientation merit badge. I wonder if they already had them here. They divide circles into 360 degrees here. I wish I had been able to spend time among the laborers in Kimton. I probably could have gotten more ideas other than the pump and the turbine.

  "Any word on the canal from the mountain to the bay?"

  "From what I understand, they were able to break through the ridge and start draining some of the swamps, but they are having trouble with the hilly terrain closer to the mountains. There are too many low spots. They will have to smooth out the land in order to get the water to flow," Edward said.

  I knuckled my forehead. "We need aqueducts."

  "A what?"

  "Never mind, I review it when I get there."

  "Yes, my lord."

  We will need an engineer to help us build cranes. And I hope we have enough concrete. This may take a year or two.

  The meeting went on until late in the evening. The days had become shorter, so it was dark by the time we left, and the minutes of the meeting were being taken by candlelight.

  “Before we retire for the evening, gentleman, I have an introduction to make. Rick, please bring in Tumlus. He is probably bored in the carriage.”

  “If I may be honest, my lord. I very much doubt that. The boy has been obsessed with your reading lessons, and every time I check on him, he is rereading the few stories you made for him,” Rick said before he left to get the boy.

  There had not been a lot to do in the carriage on the way back so I had spent my time teaching Tumlus the alphabet and then words. The boy absorbed the information like a sponge.

  Tumlus had his head down when he came in. I could tell he wanted to put his hood up. I had commanded him to never put the hood of his cloak up unless he was in the rain.

  “Gentleman, this is my friend Tumlus. He is a glassmaker from Kimton and will be working for me here.”

  There were shocked looks on the men in the room as a Rabiss entered.

  “Until I met you, Lord Bicman, I had only seen people of the Kingdom. Now, I have met people with strange hair, and now this boy who has odd skin. Where is this one from.” Barak said.

  It still boggled my mind that people around here would not know what other cultures look like. But most people spent their whole lives inside their barony or village.

  “Tumlus is from Rabiss.”

  The room went silent. Unfortunately, I did not have a pin to drop to test whether or not everyone could hear it. Joshua was the first to speak.

  “I knew my granddad was a liar. He always said Rabiss had horns.”