Chapter 1976: Clipped Wings - Part 4
If there was a Kingdom to be inherited from Dominus Patrick, it would have been that.
Oliver slowed his horse, and saw Nelson turned, cutting Hod off and forcing him to stop.
The Minister did well to conceal most of his irritation. It was only a mild look that he wore on his face. "What can I do for you, Your Majesty?"
"A King without a Kingdom, isn’t that the issue, Hod?" Oliver said quickly, evidently excited by his idea, as his eyes glittered.
"Quite," Hod said patiently.
Oliver pointed at the Black Mountains, his grin childish. "Then can’t I have those? Can’t I lay claim to all of the Black Mountains? It shares a border with the Emerson King, but surely he would not mind? It would be the Yarmdon we were bothering – we could claim land for the Stormfront in the same process."
"You would take the old land of House Black?" Hod said. "Interesting. Then, would it be Blackthorn’s claim that you act upon?"
"...Sorry? I’m pretty sure that Lord Blackwell didn’t have much interest in the mountains aside from as defence."
Hod raised an eyebrow, seeming now as confused as Oliver. "Did you not mention it for the historical precedent already set? For the fact that it was the Black Mountains that House Black claimed for its own, before they bent the knee to the First King, and joined him in his conquering of the rest of the Stormfront?"
Oliver blinked. "Oh. So someone’s already done it."
The disappointment was evident in his voice. "How is that something that you do not already know?" The Minister of Logic said, quite clearly beyond confused, and towards the point of exasperation. "Did they not teach you that at the Academy? Besides, how long have you lived here for? No – beyond that, what would make you claim the Black Mountains if not for the history that they hold?"
"...Uhhh, because I know them pretty well," Oliver said. "And no one else wants them, do they?"
"The reason House Black lay claim to them was for their defensibility, and for what you just said, that indeed no one else wanted them. By themselves, they could hold no finer stretch of land. It was the bottom of the barrel, the first bit of the Stormfront ever claimed, until the First King began his conquest... Hmm... Perhaps there’s a certain degree of poetism in that."
Oliver shrugged. "I suppose it doesn’t matter. If that isn’t going to work, we can think of something else. I just thought that, perhaps we were thinking too strongly about old Kingdoms, stuff the Silver Kings already lay claim to. But I’m a nobody really, aren’t I, even if we dare to call me a King? We ought to snatch up something that no one else is interested in. Perhaps those Verna lands that we’ve annexed?"
"No," Hod said, shaking his head. "I am in agreement with you. It’s not a bad approach. What do you think, Lord Idris?"
Verdant was quietly listening into the discussion, after seeing the two had stopped. He’d come trotting closer on his horse, followed by Lady Blackthorn, and soon enough Nila.
"Land easily enough laid claim to, and it certainly lends weight to the title that King Patrick bears," Verdant said, nodding slowly. "It seems... perhaps a little roundabout, but sensible enough."
"You don’t think it’s too much of a diversion?" Oliver asked. "Now that I think about it, it seems silly. It’s taking us further away from the High King. We ought to be seeing this war to a conclusion. I just couldn’t think of anything else, so I suppose I got too excited about that."
"A roundabout way like this," Hod said, "is the only path that is available to us now. It will please King Emerson to hear of it, for I do believe there has been a nervousness to him, expecting that you might need to ask him for some richer land. In the form of Ernest, right in the heart of his own territory, or something more inconvenient. But indeed, the Black Mountains, they are a good fit. He will yield them to you freely, for the fact that you become the shield between him and the Yarmdon."
"...Then what though? The Pendragon lands still exist, and now it seems as if they ought to have another Silver King. Have we not just brought another Silver King into existence, and now do we not simply have five Silver Kings rather than one?" Oliver asked.
Hod gave a devious smile. "It is one thing to acquire the Pendragon lands by gift and by agreement. It is another for a Silver King to seek to expand his domains."
"Indeed," Verdant nodded. "They can be taken by conquest. That does solve our problem."
"Was your problem not the justice of it?" Nila intervened. Oliver was glad to hear her speak up, for she rarely did in such exchanges, and he was wearing a troubled look, hearing the same thing. "Will you not simply be plunging an already burned people into another war?"
"Right," Oliver said. "I don’t think we could burden the lands that Asabel put so much time into rebuilding further."
"There would hardly be bloodshed, for there are no Pendragon armies existent to defend it," Hod said. "We would simply be marching straight through, and declaring ourselves. King Patrick of the Black Mountains, and of the Pendragon lands."
"I don’t know..." Oliver said, looking to Nila again for support. It began to walk the line of what seemed to be rather immoral. Judging from the troubled look on her face, she began to think so too. "Do you not think that we walk perilously close to tyranny at this point? And if we are to take the Pendragon lands regardless, why should we both declaring the Black Mountains as our Kingdom?"
"For it sets a precedent," Hod said. "A King invading a country is very different from a General snatching a crown for himself."
"I can’t say I begin to understand your logic, Hod," Oliver said. "Your sense of justice is pointlessly strange."