Clean up was quick and the stench of blood was also eliminated. More members of the organization showed up during that time. The new arrivals were wrapped in thick cloaks, gloves and winter hats. The winter hats had been popularized by the series the dark rise of Lady Blanche.
While most winter hats were cheap, the new arrivals were not wearing cheap hats. They were wearing expensive hats, the kind that were bought in shops which tailored to the noble.
"Lord Givenchy, Lord Bailey...and your...." Sigrid tilted her head, surprised not only by the arrivals of the two noble lords but some of their children. Each had come with two children and Lord Givenchy had brought Abigail along.
"Does John know that you are here?" she asked with some caution.
Abigail scoffed. "As if he can keep a secret from me. Who do you think told me about this place?"
Sigrid groaned in mild anger.
Brolin drew his sword and Alistair raised his hand. Their defensive stance made everyone else that had a hidden weapon withdraw it.
"Your highness, should we get rid of them?" Brolin asked.
Sigrid shook her head. "Everyone, put away your weapons for now."
Alistair’s hand remained up.
"Alistair your hand is a weapon." She drawled out.
"But they are not with us." Alistair said. "They could betray us and bring down everything that you are trying to build."
Sigrid remained calm as she replied, "I know they are not with us but they will soon be."
The golden staff appeared in her hands as she looked at the new arrivals. "The rules are simple, take an oath of loyalty to me or die." Her voice was soft and yet authoritative at the same same time.
John strolled into the room, he walked all the way to the front and took the oath first. He turned and looked at his father-in-law.
"You want the crown princess’s books, you must be loyal to her. It won’t be fair to my sister if you take her knowledge and use it to help others. Lord Givenchy, I seem to recall you being one of the nobles that sided with miss Emmah Windrider when she was trying to become the secondary wife of the crown prince."
A scowl formed on Lord Givenchy’s face. "You remind me of that every time we meet."
His son Aiden came to his defense. "My father is a righteous man, he was not defending her because she was special. It was just because she saved the life of the crown prince."
"Do we have to take an oath." Lord Bailey asked. "Its just books."
"Oath or death." Sigrid repeated.
"Oh for heavens sake." Aiden murmured. He went up first and repeated the words Alistair told him to say.
Aiden figured they were already on the same ship with the Thorin’s because his sister had married John. The fate of the crown princess was the fate of the Thorin’s and indirectly, the fate of the Givenchy’s.
"Just take the damn oath." He told his father.
Grumbling, Lord Givenchy took the oath, Abigail did the same. Hesitantly, Lord Bailey and his children did the same thing.
"If you betray me, you will die." Sigrid told me.
"Couldn’t you start with that?" Lord Bailey whined.
Sigrid ignored him, she clapped her hands twice and a door was opened. Cosmos and six knights brought in chests that they opened. Each chest had gold coins and they were packed to the brim.
"Is this the gold the prime minister was looking for?" Aiden blurted out.
"Don’t be silly, these are gold coins, legal currency and not gold nuggets. This money will be used to run the affairs of the organization and pay your monthly salaries."
"We get paid!!" Someone exclaimed.
"In gold!!" Another added.
Excitement replaced the weariness which they had been feeling earlier. There was nobody in the world that did not like free money, and it showed on Lord Givenchy’s face. He was suddenly happy, gone was the grumpy man from earlier.
Sigrid urged "Every month, madame Francis will distribute your salaries. Everyone will be paid ten gold coins, those that make special contributions to the organization will be paid more. Each month, tasks will be assigned or announced."
"What kind of tasks?" Lord Bailey asked a question out of curiosity.
As soon as he finished asking, he covered his mouth as if he regretted asking the question in the first place. "I am just intrigued." he muttered because his children were giving him looks that were a mix of judgement and intrigue.
Sigrid was comfortable answering the question. "Well, the biggest task this month will be related to the prince of Solandor that will be arriving soon."
Murmurs broke out in the room, mostly it was excitement.
"Solandor!! Like Solandor, the empire that is rumored to have flying ships?" Lord Bailey gasped.
"The Solandor that is across the ocean! How do you know that a prince from their empire is coming? Why is he coming and who is coming with him? What does his arrival have to do with the tasks?" Lord Givenchy fired off many questions at the same time.
"One question at a time." Alistair said.
Lord Givenchy paid no mind to the butler, he wanted answers to his questions. He did not know why Sigrid was taking her time to respond.
"Well..." he urged her.
"I don’t know his reasons for coming Lord Givenchy, I am not a worm living in his stomach to know everything about him. What I do know is that the king intends to wed the Princess Thalassa to a prince of a large empire, one that is large enough to aid us in the war against Medoris in future." She shared.
"War!" Lord Bailey exclaimed. He stumbled back and his son had to catch him.
"Why does this surprise you Lord Bailey?" She asked, a frown on her face. "Eldoria, Nemoris and Medoris have been at war for the longest time. To become an empire, we must conquer Nemoris but Medoris protects it. A union between us and Solandor can break that tie. If all goes according to plan, the soldiers will march to war just as winter arrives.
With the ships that Solandor provides or the technology they share, we can conquer Nemoris in less than a week. A day if we find their king and behead him.
Now, back to what I was saying, your main task will be to keep the prince away from temptation and by temptation I mean daughters of nobles, beautiful women that happen to be commoners, heck...even beautiful men because I have no idea what his interests are."
She paused and took in the shocked gasps. Some things were whispered about but never admitted, and same sex relationships fell in that category.
Abigail chuckled. Lord Givenchy glared at her before glaring at Sigrid.
"For goodness sake, you are a Lady, there are some things you should not talk about in public."
Sigrid rolled her eyes and said, "Lord Givenchy, in here there is no such thing as Lady or gentleman. Medoris is charging up to swallow Nemoris, when it is done, we are next. For that reason, I will be as blunt as I must be to get the point across."
Someone raised a hand and asked, "What if he visits a brothel?"