Chapter 185 - 130 : Year 31 - 36 The Young and the Guilty

Chapter 185: Chapter 130 : Year 31 - 36 The Young and the Guilty

Elsewhere within Duke Vendettit’s domain, other Counts watched the same developments from their own halls and estates. Some of Their lands being direct neighbors with the lands governed by House Veymont, they traded along the same routes, exchanged reports through merchants and stewards, and understood that a change in one family’s standing could affect the balance of influence around them.

Some had recovered more quickly than the Veymonts. Their roads were safer, their markets busier, and their finances less troubled by the war. They began paying closer attention to the routes merchants chose and to the disputes emerging among House Veymont’s vassals. A few wondered whether the Count’s declining resources would make his family less influential in future dealings. Others cautioned that one unresolved payment was not enough to judge a house that had held its position for generations.

Even those who did not intend to take advantage of the Veymonts could see that their circumstances had changed. The family still possessed its reputation, its lands, and the respect of many who served it. Yet reputation alone could not make a difficult payment arrive, put more guards on a road, or settle a dispute that no one could prove.

For the moment, there were no open challenges. But House Veymont was no longer judged only by the loyalty it had earned in the past. Its vassals were also watching to see how much of that authority it could still enforce.

The roads continued to demand attention, leaving Lucian little time to dwell on the political consequences. The commander had improved the way the fortified stations shared reports, and patrols now varied their routes and timing where possible. On the busiest roads, the changes had made a difference. Several groups had been driven from districts where they had operated freely, and merchants could travel with greater confidence along some of the main routes.

But the gangs did not disappear. Some shifted into less-protected areas, while the more experienced groups learned to avoid leaving evidence that could lead the soldiers back to them. When patrols grew familiar with one route, the thieves changed their approach or struck elsewhere.

The commander laid a map across the table during one of his regular meetings with Lucian. Small markers showed the fortified stations and the roads most frequently targeted.

"We have reduced the attacks along these stretches," he said, moving a marker away from a road west of the city. "But two groups have appeared farther east, where we have fewer men. We can send patrols there, though it will leave the northern road less closely watched."

Lucian studied the map. "Can the stations respond quickly enough if we keep the present patrols on the main routes?"

"Against a small group, usually. If several attacks happen close together, or if the men we send encounter a force larger than expected, they may need support. The difficulty is that we cannot know where the next attack will occur."

The commander also reported that some of the gangs were recruiting younger men. A few had little experience with weapons and were used as lookouts or sent to carry supplies. Others had joined because their families could no longer feed them, or because they believed a gang offered protection and a better chance of earning money than the work available in their villages.

"That does not make them harmless," the commander said. "Some may be frightened or desperate, but they are still helping these gangs rob travellers. We cannot overlook that simply because they are young."

"No, we cannot," Lucian replied. "Those who knowingly take part in murder, rape, or violent attacks on ordinary people must answer for what they have done. Being young does not excuse such acts if they understand the harm they are causing. But we must also distinguish between those who commit these crimes and those who have been drawn into the gangs without taking part in their worst deeds."

The commander rested a hand on the map before him. "And what do we do with the latter, my lord? Some have done little more than carry supplies or keep watch, but they have still helped the gangs operate."

"They should not simply be released and left to return to the same life," Lucian said. "We must establish what each person has done and judge them accordingly. Those who were too young to understand the consequences, or who were forced into serving the gangs, should be held under guard while we determine what can be done with them. Where there is reason to believe they can change, we should give them a chance to learn a useful trade and return to honest work under proper supervision. If they continue to endanger others, however, we cannot let them go simply because they are young."

The commander considered this for a moment. "That will take men to watch them and people to oversee their training. We cannot spare many."

"I know," Lucian said. "We cannot take responsibility for every person who has fallen into trouble, nor can we leave our villages to suffer while we try to help them. Begin with those who are captured. Make certain we know what they have done before deciding their punishment, and do not treat a boy who carried supplies as though he had committed murder. But neither should someone who knowingly helped bring a gang to a village escape responsibility simply because he carried no weapon."

The commander nodded. He might have preferred a simpler rule, but he understood the distinction Lucian was making. The men under his command would still have to capture the gangs and establish what their members had done, but they would also know that the Count expected more than indiscriminate punishment.

Lucian had no illusion that this approach would solve the problem quickly. Some of the younger men might yet return to ordinary life, while others would prove unwilling to abandon the gangs. Helping the former would require time, supervision, and opportunities the house could not always provide. Yet treating them all as hardened criminals would leave little chance for those who could still change, while showing leniency to men who had committed terrible crimes would leave their victims without justice. He expected his officers to consider both the harm done and the circumstances surrounding it, without allowing one to erase the other.

The difficulty was that every response competed with the others for the same limited resources. A patrol sent to investigate a robbery could not guard a grain shipment. Soldiers escorting supplies to a distant village could not pursue a gang reported near a mine, and a unit sent to reinforce one of the Viscounts’ estates might be unavailable when trouble arose closer to the city. Each decision left another part of the territory with fewer men to protect it.

Lucian continued to authorize firm action against those who preyed on villagers and travellers, while supporting measures that could help people return to ordinary work. Hardship did not excuse robbery, but punishment alone could not restore a ruined farm or provide a livelihood where none remained. The house had to protect those already suffering while trying to prevent their circumstances from driving more people into crime.

By the end of the year, Lucian had become more exacting in his reviews of the garrisons and estate officials. Rather than asking only whether a patrol had caught its quarry, he wanted to know what had happened when it failed. Had the men received poor information? Had they arrived too late? Had the group been stronger than expected, or had the patrol lacked enough men to pursue it safely?

He did not punish an officer simply because an uncertain situation had produced a bad result. But neither would he accept repeated failures without a clear explanation of what had gone wrong and what could be done differently.

The commanders began keeping more careful records and making better use of the men available to them. Their reports gave Lucian a clearer picture of where patrols had succeeded, where the gangs had moved, and which problems could not be solved without additional men or supplies. This helped him distinguish mistakes that could be corrected from failures caused by a lack of resources.

Yet better records could not provide the men the house no longer had. House Veymont had lost experienced soldiers in the war, and training their replacements would take years. Meanwhile, the gangs continued to exploit gaps in the patrols, and the people depending on the Count’s protection remained vulnerable to robbery and the slow recovery of trade.

The territory had not descended into disorder, but keeping it secure demanded more than it once had. Lucian could improve his officers, make better use of his soldiers, and judge each problem more carefully. He could not make a limited force cover every road, nor could he deal with every threat at once.

And as the years passed, the difference between the protection House Veymont wished to provide and what it could actually enforce became harder to ignore.