Chapter 493: The Howling of Wolves

Chapter 492: The Howling of Wolves

Lyria’s POV

True to what I had suspected, and, indeed, planned, Corvin sabotaged the food he had been placed in charge of.

He complained firstly that he had not the resources to provide food for the town. When I asked him what resources he meant, he replied that he meant every resource required to provide food, which, I observed, was a very comprehensive answer to a very simple question.

I had then furnished carriages, with the help of the townspeople, and instructed him to make use of his own money, for was he not a Marquess, and was I not but a princess without a penny to her name?

That had vexed him tremendously, and he had made no great effort to conceal it. When he later arrived with his supplies, the greater part of them were rotten.

I laughed inwardly at so childish an attempt, though I took care that my satisfaction should not show upon my countenance, since he had behaved precisely as I had anticipated.

This had happened some three days past. If he perceived that I had said nothing regarding his attempt, he did not remark upon it. These days he remained at the inn, declaring that he had accomplished all that had been required of him.

And so he had. Hence all the rotten food he had brought was consumed by himself alone, while the rest of us dined upon good provisions, procured quietly by Duke Valenridge.

The other difficulty was Daniel, who was more useless even than Corvin, which again surprised me not at all.

He professed to be supervising, when in truth he did no more than point out difficulties which, if I am to be perfectly candid, were no difficulties whatsoever. Every objection he raised was, moreover, directed at myself and at such work as I had authorised. He questioned my authority, hinting that I exceeded my bounds, and reminded me repeatedly that the Crown would not look kindly upon my actions, as though I had forgotten whose interests we were supposedly serving.

Take, for instance, the day I resolved that the town required another well.

I had gathered Jim, Duke Valenridge, Lucian, Duke Thorncrest, and Marquess Silverwyn to discuss the matter. The construction of the homes had already begun, and Duke Thorncrest and Marquess Silverwyn had set the labourers to work with considerable efficiency. Their progress was encouraging, and the first walls of the new dwellings already stood against the sky like the ribs of some patient creature.

Water, however, remained our chief difficulty.

We had drawn what we could from the canal and from the single well, but there was no other reliable source within the town. Worse still, the water of the well was not so clean as it ought to have been. It served well enough for the crops, which Lucian had taken in hand, and the work upon the fields was most promising; but for cooking and for drinking it was a poor source indeed. I knew that the constitutions of our kind were extremely impressive but that did not mean these people should be made to drink foul water.

There was also the circumstance that, there being but one well, it was perpetually besieged. Women came with buckets. Children were sent with smaller vessels. Men waited with barrels. The line was often so long that valuable hours were squandered merely in obtaining enough water for the day, and I had watched more than one child asleep upon its feet, waiting their turn.

It was not sustainable.

And so I had gathered them to discuss the construction of another well.

Duke Thorncrest proposed an artesian well, a source from which water might rise of its own accord, without requiring any person to draw it by hand. It was a clever notion, and the only difficulty lay in procuring an engineer to undertake the work, whereupon Jim informed us there was one in the town who might help.

The matter was thus resolved, and there had been no argument whatsoever, until Daniel learnt of it.

I was with Duke Thorncrest and Marquess Silverwyn, discussing the division of labourers between the respective undertakings, when Daniel came storming towards me.

"Your Highness!" he called, upon reaching me.

I turned to him. "Y-yes?" I replied.

"I must protest!"

I sighed inwardly.

"D-do tell, what is the m-matter, Daniel?"

"The matter is that you intend to construct another well!" he said, loudly. "Upon land that does not belong to you!"

I stared at him, and the fool, taking my silence for encouragement, continued.

"The land is owned by the Crown itself! You have no right to build a well upon it without the Crown’s authority! This is a violation of Crown property, and I shall be obliged to report it!"

I wondered whether this gentleman and Corvin ever grew weary of hearing their own voices.

Duke Thorncrest appeared to have something to say, but I spoke before he could.

"Are you n-not tired of your h-howling?" I asked Daniel.

"I beg your pardon?" he said.

"Your h-howling," I repeated. "For I know we are w-wolves, but at some p-point, one grows weary of h-howling, does one n-not?"

Daniel stared at me as though he could not decide whether he had been insulted.

"I do not understand what you mean," he admitted.

"I th-thought you would," I said, and folded my hands before me. "After all, you have been t-talking of how everything I have been d-doing in this town goes against the C-Crown."

"Because it does!" he exclaimed. "You have no authority to—"

"And what," I interrupted, "are we all doing in G-Gallowshill, then? Is it not to help the t-town, and restore it? To provide a-aid? To restore what was d-destroyed? To see that the people of this t-town are c-cared for? In the name of the C-Crown? With the C-Crown’s authority? Is that not the p-purpose of this c-competition? Or have I been m-mistaken?"