A Trolling We Will Go Omnibus:The Latter Years

Trolling We Will Go Omnibus:

The Latter Years

David. W. Wilkin

Space Opera Books

an imprint of

Regency Assembly Press

www.regencyassemblypress.com

REGENCY ASSEMBLY PRESS

Hemet, CA, USA

First Printing, March 2014

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright © David W. Wilkin, 2014

First published as two separate volumes:

Trolling, Trolling, Trolling Fly Hides! © 2013 by D. W. Wilkin

We’ll All Go A Trolling © 2013 by D. W. Wilkin

ePublished in the United States of America

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A Trolling We Will Go

Omnibus:The Latter Years

Trolling, Trolling, Trolling Fly Hides!

We’ll All Go A Trolling

_______________________________

David W. Wilkin

SPACE OPERA BOOKS

Regency Assembly Press

BOOK FOUR

TROLLING, TROLLING, TROLLING FLY HIDES!

dedicated to

Thomas Harrison III

A great friend and lover of Fantasy

Trolling, Trolling, Trolling Fly Hides!

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

We’ll All Go A Trolling

Author’s Note

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have to thank my writing group for their encouragement in publishing and then refining this book. Deedira Bockhold, Elizabeth Durand.

Chapter 1

I feel old. In my bones. Too many new aches each day. And too many steps. What were they thinking when they built this palace? Humphrey complained but then he was the king. He was allowed to complain, or do almost anything he wished to do.

Well, you are over sixty… Jason was little help. Jason was younger by two years then he which always allowed the man to niggle him about his age. Jason, as a magician, also had lore that allowed him to mix potions and salves that seemed to help quite a deal with the pains of age. He may have been two years younger and still not sixty yet, the man looked like he was in his forties. Jason claimed it was his parentage. Humphrey did not think so, but Jason’s daughter who had married his son Kenneth still looked like she was in her twenties. That parentage remark might have been true, though Jason’s daughter Genevieve also practiced magic.

Kenneth and Genevieve were bringing up their children to cast spells as well. Sometimes it sent lizards up Humphrey’s back if he thought about it too long. He had been orphaned, and now all five of his children were successes. They were the children of a king though.

Humphrey mumbled aloud, A king.

Jason began to laugh and then Tor came over with the drinks that he had gone to fetch. Is he on about that again. Really your majesty, can not a twelfth go by this entire year that you do not dwell on the matter. You make too much of this anniversary celebration.

Not I! Gwendolyn makes too much of it. Twenty years, Humphrey said. The Queen had gone all out, for they were both healthy, though Humphrey would argue his knees betrayed him all the time. Jozakai and Bahgdahnzai laughed at him as well about that. They were smaller, shorter, which Humphrey was sure was the reason the dwarves did not have the same ailments a man had. He believed that battling for so many years, had injured his knees and that was the reason he had such issues now.

Why do you not continue the refurbishment of the Palace? There is the money for it. If you want to make it so that you can conduct all your business here, from this one floor, why not? I have seen the plans, and they seem to be modest enough. Tor was a Duke of the realm now, and Jason was a Baron. Jason had been offered greater titles but had refused them. His grandsons, he said, would be high nobles. His daughter’s marriage ensured that. Jace and Kent were both princes of the realm, sons of a prince, confirmed that statement. Jace had a great deal of magical talent, more Jason said, then he had.

Humphrey worried when the boy, nearly eighteen, so more man than boy, practiced magic. One missed word and the boy would vanish, carted off to some hell that the demons maintained just for spellcasters who mangled their magic. Jason assured him their mutual grandson was too smart for that.

Gwendolyn believes we would not have the privacy we have now were I to order that, Humphrey said. She is not troubled by all the stairs. She says that I can take my time, for no meeting starts until I have come to it, or that the servants can carry me up and down the stairs. As if I should let such an indignity to our person.

Jason smirked, When you start talking all royal I know that you really have something else that is bothering you.

It is our age. I worry… he worried about a lot of things, but lately it was what would happen when he died. Not about the kingdom any longer. They had secured their financial future when they had founded the road to Mah Wee and Welmler. King James the second of Mah Wee, Humphrey’s godson had filled his father’s shoes adequately the last three years, and King Geoffrey of Welmler had also become a good friend for the Torahn Trade road had benefited Welmler as much as the other two kingdoms. The three realms had become quite wealthy.

The money from trade tariffs saw the port of Planterston being rebuilt from nearly the ground up. It was perhaps the greatest port on the entire continent now. Torc too had been very much rebuilt in the last twenty years as well. The second week that he had been king, even before he had a coronation ceremony, he had told his ministers and great lords, to formulate a new name for the capital of their kingdom. It had been the late Duke Franklin who had started to call the city Torcap, for Torahn’s Capital. But then it had shortened to Torc. The name had stuck.

In the twenty years since Humphrey had become king much of the city was changed. The old lands and homes of the council Lords Whelan and Jaston were now the headquarters of the Army and a barracks. Both of those lords had been shortened by a head. Jaston nearly had lived for all that he had betrayed friends. But then it was found that he had paid for the attack on Gwendolyn that had killed Master Dilthruthon so long ago. Humphrey did not relish killing the man, but he had ordered it done. That heinous crime finally put to bed.

When the army had moved out of the palace, and many of the other government ministries, it left the palace to become the seat of government that it was meant to be. And a home for the royal family. Gwendolyn had made it a showcase so that the leaders of Torahn, and then foreign visitors, would come to the Palace and find that they were in the presence of a King. Ceremonies and circumstance she said. It would lend further legitimacy to their reign. Humphrey was in agreement. It had taken some time but her technique had worked.

We were dead forty years ago. Remember? Jason said.

Humphrey smiled, I remember all the time. Not too many are still with us from those days. Not many at all from the first of them. There were many that they had met after those first weeks at Forest’s Edge. Even Hickson was still hanging on, and from what Humphrey had heard, the man could still handle stairs well. But then Hickson had sent the likes of Humphrey and Jason chasing the Trolls at the beginning. He fought, but only from the rear and as a last resort. His knees were bound to be in much better shape.

It is a little rude when you two do that. I may not have been with you when you first fought the Trolls, but I have been with you since then. Well since we went to Mah Wee. When you talk like you are the only veterans in the room, it makes me feel left out, Tor said.

Jason teased, Is the poor Dukie feeling inferior?

Watch it Mage. When My grandson is king, yours will be a court jester.

Humphrey stepped in, Stop it the both of you. You have been friends for more than 30 years. I should never have let my sons marry your daughters. It has definitely caused a strain, he grinned though. The rivalry between his two closest friends only gave them more ammunition in their perpetual war of snipping. I wish you two would take this seriously. I am worried.

That Daniel can not handle your legacy? He will be a great king. Did he not make short work of Parleen last year when they thought to invade us? Did he not do better with the troops he commanded then we ever did? Tor was very proud of Humphrey’s heir, for Daniel was also the sire of Tor’s grandsons.

Yes, but Parleen only had Men and a few Dwarves arrayed against Daniel. He has not really fought monsters except under our eyes when we turned aside the Giants. In the years since the war with the Giants, Humphrey had minimized the three battles against the enormous beasts, for they were not as all encompassing as the battles with the Trolls had been. The fights against the Trolls had been nasty.

We gained hundred of miles of lands. Enough to give every soldier fifty acres in payment for their years of service. I would say that is an achievement. What would you say Magician? Tor defended Daniel, and as Jason’s Barony was in the new lands, the Mage had to agree.

Jason said, The best land we ever have seen in all of Torahn. In the twenty years since the battles with the Giants and Humphrey becoming King, they had taken some land from Seltain, from Greehn and then Parleen. They also had taken back miles from Karasbahn from the Goblins and Dark Elves. It provided the Eastern edge of the Kingdom more definition and strength there.

It is not my legacy that troubles me, or that we have more to do that I will not finish. So much I think that Daniel, should he have a full life as I pray he will, won’t be able to finish either, the king said.

Humphrey had to remind himself that he was king early in his reign. He had contested against the call for a crown to sit upon his brow and the kingdom recognized that. It was one reason he had earned so much respect, he felt. Now, after he had been king for twenty years, he did feel like he finally was the monarch.

There was a list, maintained in his office and that of a few of his ministers also. Tor had a copy, the Chancellor, Chamberlain and Gwendolyn had the list as well. The list of all that they wished to do for Torahn. Some items were small, most were large.

When one was completed, there would be a feast to mark the occasion and acknowledge those who had made the task complete. They had one three weeks before. The list though had well over two hundred tasks on it. Making the palace more accommodating for his pained knees was not on it.

We all fear death. I have feared death since I learned my first spell. But as we talked of so long ago, and I am sorry Tor that you can not appreciate it. Death was our guarantee then. Your father, Tor, was part of the reason I hold a fatalistic view of life. That you and I, majesty, have done so well and did not die forty years ago is a gift from the gods, Jason said.

Tor nodded, Perhaps what troubles you is something that the Highpriests and Priestess should talk to you about. The realm of what comes after death and the heavens is theirs. I little understand it.

We do consult with them. Often. Their words do not comfort me. Is this it? Have we done all we should do. All we could do? Have we done enough? Humphrey looked at his friends. He was being as candid as he could be. Something that they expected, but others would not of a king.

Tor held out a drink to him, Drink that. It is strong and you need it. Especially when you are so somber. In your sixty years you have done a great deal. Can you name any other man alive, now, or during your life that has done as much? And Jason and I have done great things as well. A united college of magic for study. The older magicians sit and teach together all the young apprentices and journeyman. A course of study that is the same for all, and very well controlled. Safe.

Jason shook his head, It is just five or six rooms. And what, forty or so students. Jason beamed. It was the work of the last twenty years for the magician, including his other duties. It was something to be proud of.

I have coerced your nobility to not only follow your orders, but to debate your orders. To support you and give you the best advice that they can. To ensure that the order of nobility polices itself of miscreants before you have to, and so that we do not have vagrants like Jaston or Whelan who polluted the old Council with their presence before your reign began.

Humphrey said, You have done well. And Franklin before you as well. I miss him, Humphrey raised his hand to his eyes. Duke Franklin had proved to be the last of that generation that had treated him like a son, to die. Recently as well. Just a year now he had been gone.

Is that it? You remember Franklin again. You are so maudlin. And you the strongest of us as well. Fearlessly charging against Troll, Goblin, Giant. It made no difference. What is it? Do you want to bed more wenches then you have? The Queen would gut you, but if you truly needed such to sustain your soul, she probably would let you seek such solace, Jason said.

Gwendolyn wouldn’t though. She would cut out his heart were he to seek the bed of another woman. But she was so much of a woman, that he did not desire another’s bed.

That may be a part of it. Regrets for things I want to do and have not. My observation is that we all have them. I do recognize that I have led a life that many men envy. It does not mean that I am not envious of certain things I have not done yet that others have achieved, Humphrey said in all candor. He was able to be truthful with these two men moreso than any other person he knew. And yet, every so often he had to withhold thoughts and decisions from them as well. Some secrets he kept in his heart and could never share with anyone.

Then that is a part of aging. It is what I would tell those that are coming after us, Jason said.

Damn foolish puppies. Let them find out those truths for themselves, Tor said, but Humphrey knew that was bombast. When his son Daniel was overcome with the burden of becoming the next king, he would go to Tor and they would talk. Tor was a mentor to the next king.

Remember when Lord Faireweather retired and he was happy? Before he lost his memories, and even when he knew that he was losing them, he would take joy in the relaxation that the worries of the kingdom were being passed. Specifically to me.

Jason smiled, Oh, were you upset then. Hickson had just retired and you thought that being the Chief General was tough enough. Then to be on the Council of Twenty-One too, I remember that making you very flustered. Do you remember Tor?

I do. I was a Council Lord then as you will recall. I had been friends with his majesty for many years then and saw how uncomfortable he was to take over Lord Faireweather’s seat. Almost as unhappy as that day he walked into the Palace and declared himself king! Tor smiled as well.

You should both remember that you spent the night before I took the throne telling me that it was well past time that I did so and if I did not, Torahn was going to suffer terribly, Humphrey knew he took the throne then for many reasons. But these two along with Duke Franklin and Gwendolyn all had spent hours lecturing him on the reasons for becoming king.

I find myself wandering onto foolish notions too these days. Perhaps I should retire to a country estate? Humphrey said.

There was silence. Tor looked at him as if he was not in the room. Right through him. Jason had a smile on his face and then looked at his drink. Humphrey looked at his drink for some time and then with a jerk raised it and drank it all in one quaff.

Tor said, That is good for you. Is that good for the kingdom? You reminded us that we talked to you the night before you took the throne. We urged you to do it. Yes, that is true. Because the kingdom certainly needed you as the king then. So we have some issues. Will the kingdom be better with you now, or with Daniel? Will it be better for you if you are to take a break now? And of course this is not just a few weeks, a twelfth in the country. If you leave the throne, you can not come back.

Jason looked at Humphrey, Is it that bad. Really?

You know the reason you are my closest friends. Tor, you look at how this will effect the entire kingdom, and how it effects me secondly. I do not criticize. I know you do the same with your own decisions, else it might be you who is king and I the Duke. Jason is the other way round. He remembers me as the orphan woodcutter that he slept next to getting drenched when it rained during the Troll Wars. If I am king or not is secondary to how I am doing, even if we are the original dead men, Humphrey said.

You have been thinking about this for some time, haven’t you? Jason said.

A few weeks, not long, Humphrey said.

Then will you allow us to think upon it for some time as well? The kingdom would be changed by such a decision, Tor said.

Jason then nodded, That is true. And then, if you were sitting there in the country, could you hold your tongue if Daniel did something other than you would? So far I have never known you to be able to do so. That accounts for something in this matter as well, majesty. Humphrey had thought about that as well. It would not be easy to not be critical of his son.

Humphrey said, Yes. I ask your advice so that I may see if you think of anything I have not. Or can see where such an action is not allowable, though I can not find such an objection.

Tor smiled, Well certainly a king may abdicate, or retire. Every other profession allows this, and the nobility does as well. Earl Manson retired two years ago for he has that pain in his joints that has made things very hard for him. His son you elevated to his title. It sets a precedent and I am sure there are others. Henry Manson took over from his father. Henry was also married to his own daughter Bea. And of course with Queen Gwendolyn agreeing and advising you… Majesty, your face. You look distraught.

Stop it, Tor, Humphrey said. You know I have not told Gwendolyn of my thoughts. She would tell me I was a fool and that there was no way she could turn the realm over to your daughter. If your advice, and you too Jason, point me to abdicating in favor of Daniel and Michelle, then Gwendolyn might listen. Otherwise, I fear what she will do and think.

Jason laughed, You did not tell her these thoughts. Well you are a fool still, even if you are a king. Very well, You are tormented about what you must do, or want to do. I shall think on it and tell you my thoughts. I know it is serious.

Tor spoke also, Very serious Humphrey. Do not worry, as much as I will put the kingdom ahead of my thoughts for you, still will I remember that a king who is terribly unhappy trying to rule would be the same as a king whose mind was gone as well. Two weeks, or less, I will give you my thoughts.

Thank you. Now, let us drink and think of the new trade mission to Marain. Daniel should be back from that very soon. The Crown Prince and his wife had gone by boat around the entire Western coast of the continent and were due back shortly. Successfully negotiating a new trade pact with even cheaper tariffs on rice then the kingdom had ever had before. Daniel had done very well.

Chapter 2

She knew that