Chapter 134: The Estate
Kael stepped through the doors of the estate.
The parchment from the watchtower remained folded in his hand.
Behind him, the courtyard had become busy.
Ronan and the others were taking the three prisoners toward the holding room while the Black Dragon soldiers watched from nearby. A few servants had stopped what they were doing to see what had happened.
Lily waited near the entrance.
Her eyes moved from Kael to the prisoners.
"More trouble?"
Kael handed her the parchment.
"Read this."
Lily unfolded it.
Her expression changed as she scanned the names and routes.
"These are roads."
"Yes."
"Some of them pass through Blackwood."
"Most of them."
Lily looked up.
"How long have they been watching them?"
"Long enough to know when caravans leave."
She looked back at the parchment.
"Then this is bigger than those missing travelers."
Kael nodded.
"Much bigger."
He started toward the inner hall.
"Have the records brought to my chamber."
Lily followed.
"You intend to work again?"
"I intend to think."
"Those are usually the same thing with you."
Kael gave her a sideways glance.
"You’ve become rather bold."
"I have served you long enough."
That earned the smallest smile from him.
They continued down the corridor.
Before Kael could reach the stairs, a voice came from behind.
"My lord."
He turned.
Captain Roland stood at the edge of the hall.
His armor was worn from years of service, but it was kept clean. A sword hung at his hip.
"The prisoners are secured."
"Good."
"They refuse to speak."
Kael nodded.
"Don’t force them."
Roland looked surprised.
"My lord?"
"If they believe silence will protect them, let them keep silent."
Kael walked closer.
"Fear makes men careless. Patience makes them careless faster."
Roland understood.
"Yes, my lord."
"And place two guards outside the room."
"Already done."
Kael nodded.
"Good."
Roland hesitated.
"There is another matter."
Kael stopped.
"The three soldiers you left behind have returned."
Kael looked toward him.
"From where?"
"The northern road."
"What happened?"
Roland lowered his voice.
"They found another village reporting missing livestock."
Kael’s expression hardened.
"Monsters?"
"They believe so."
Kael was silent.
The problems were beginning to overlap.
Road attacks.
Missing travelers.
Monster sightings.
Vanishing livestock.
He had spent the last several days thinking the expedition had uncovered one problem.
Perhaps it had uncovered several.
Or perhaps they were all connected.
"Where are the soldiers?"
"In the courtyard."
"Take me to them."
Three Black Dragon soldiers stood beside their horses.
Their armor carried the black dragon emblem.
One stepped forward.
"My lord."
Kael looked at him.
"Tell me what happened."
The soldier bowed.
"We were traveling north when we reached a farming settlement. The villagers said something had been taking their animals during the night."
"How many?"
"Seven cattle. Four sheep."
"Any deaths?"
"None among the people."
Kael nodded.
"What did they see?"
"Tracks."
"Monster tracks?"
The soldier hesitated.
"They believe so."
Kael noticed the hesitation.
"You don’t."
"No, my lord."
"Why?"
The soldier looked toward the others.
"The tracks didn’t make sense."
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
"Explain."
"They looked like claws."
He paused.
"But the creature walked on two legs."
Ronan arrived from the holding room.
He had heard the last sentence.
"How large?"
The soldier held his hand about waist-high.
"Perhaps that tall."
Ronan frowned.
"Too small to be one of the larger beasts."
"Yes."
Kael looked toward Selene.
She had just entered the courtyard.
"You heard him?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"What do you think?"
Selene thought for a moment.
"Tracks can deceive."
Kael waited.
"But if the marks are fresh, I can tell you whether they belong to an animal."
"Can you?"
"Yes."
Kael looked at the soldier.
"How far?"
"Half a day’s ride."
Kael looked toward the sky.
The sun had already begun its descent.
"We’ll leave at first light."
Ronan nodded.
Selene did as well.
But Kael didn’t move.
His eyes remained on the road beyond the estate.
Something about the report bothered him.
Not the creature.
The timing.
The prisoners had been watching the roads.
Now a strange creature had appeared near a settlement.
Too many problems were appearing at once.
He turned toward Lily.
"Send word to the villages."
"Which message?"
"Nothing that will cause panic."
Kael thought for a moment.
"Tell them to keep their animals inside after sunset. Tell the village elders to report anything unusual."
Lily nodded.
"And the roads?"
"Increase the watch."
She hesitated.
"We don’t have enough soldiers to cover every road."
Kael looked at her.
"I know."
Those words stayed with him.
He knew.
That was the problem.
Blackwood had eleven villages.
Its territory was larger than the estate itself.
The Black Dragon had only fifty soldiers.
Fifty men could defend a place.
They could not be everywhere.
Kael looked toward the barracks.
His thoughts moved toward the army.
Then toward the villages.
Then toward the roads.
He had been thinking about the problem of monsters.
But perhaps the real problem was larger.
Blackwood needed more people.
More soldiers.
More eyes.
More hands.
More craftsmen.
More healers.
More farmers.
More of everything.
For the first time, Kael began looking at his territory not as land he had inherited, but as something that had to grow.
He turned toward Lily.
"Tomorrow, bring me the population records of all eleven villages."
Lily blinked.
"All of them?"
"Every village."
"And what will you do with them?"
"I don’t know yet."
Kael looked toward the distant hills.
"But I’m going to find out."
That night, Kael sat alone in his chamber.
The parchment from the watchtower lay on one side of the table.
Blackwood’s village records lay on the other.
He read them slowly.
Eleven villages.
Thousands of people.
Fields.
Livestock.
Mills.
Small workshops.
Hunters.
Farmers.
A few merchants.
The territory survived.
But it was not thriving.
Kael leaned back.
His eyes moved toward the map.
Blackwood sat in a position that could become valuable.
The roads connecting several settlements passed nearby.
If those roads were secured, trade could increase.
If trade increased, merchants would come.
If merchants came, craftsmen would follow.
If craftsmen followed, people would come.
If people came, the army could grow.
And if the army grew...
Kael stared at the map.
He had been thinking about solving one problem at a time.
But perhaps he needed to stop thinking only about problems.
He needed to build something.
A territory where people wanted to live.
A place where travelers felt safe.
A place where farmers could sell their harvests.
A place where craftsmen could find work.
A place where children could grow up without fearing the road outside their village.
Kael reached for a blank sheet of parchment.
He wrote one word.
Blackwood.
Then beneath it, he began writing.
Population.
Food.
Roads.
Trade.
Defense.
Housing.
Water.
He stopped.
His eyes settled on the last word.
Water.
Kael remembered the estate.
The bathing arrangements.
The waste pits.
The wells.
He frowned.
He had been so focused on armies and monsters that he had overlooked something obvious.
If he wanted people to come to Blackwood, he couldn’t simply offer them land.
He needed to give them a better life.
Kael dipped his quill into the ink.
He added another word.
Sanitation.
Then another.
Bathing.
He stared at the parchment.
A faint smile appeared.
Lily would probably think he had lost his mind again.
Kael continued writing.
Outside his chamber, the estate slowly fell silent.
One hour passed.
Then another.
The candle burned lower.
Kael didn’t notice.
His thoughts had already moved beyond the immediate problem.
Blackwood had eleven villages.
For now.
But there was no reason it had to remain that way.
And if Kael was going to build the future he imagined, the first thing he needed wasn’t another battlefield.
It was a foundation.
He looked down at the parchment.
Then he continued writing until the candle finally burned out.