The great hall of Northpass Keep was a monument to faded glory. Tattered banners depicting the Greyrat family crest—a stoic badger on a field of grey and blue—hung from the rafters, gathering dust. The long trestle tables were scarred and barren, and a cold draft whispered through cracks in the stone. It was here that the remaining soul of the fief had gathered: fifty men-at-arms, a handful of servants, and Elara, Kaelan's younger sister, her face pale and streaked with tears.
Roderick stood before them, his bulk casting a long shadow in the firelight. "Our father is dead!" he announced, his voice raw. "The Northpass has no Baron!"
A murmur of despair rippled through the crowd. They had known the Baron was ill, but the finality of it crashed down upon them. They were leaderless, perched on the edge of the world with a storm gathering in the north.
"But we are not without direction!" Eldric's voice cut through the gloom, calmer but no less forceful. He stepped forward, gesturing to where Kaelan stood, slightly apart. "For the next seven days, by our command, my brother Kaelan will hold authority in Northpass. His word will be law."
The reaction was instantaneous and ugly.
"Kaelan the Coward?"
"Have you lost your minds, my lords?"
"He'll have us surrender to the goblins!"
Kaelan watched the faces, his Enhanced Calculation processing the data. Anger, 78%. Fear, 95%. Distrust, 100%. These were not variables in an equation; these were men who had bled for this land while he hid in his room. He saw the veteran sergeant, a man named Alaric with a face like old leather, spit on the rushes in disgust. He saw Elara look at him, her expression not of contempt, but of pure, unadulterated worry.
Roderick's face was purple with shame and rage, but he held his ground. "This is my order! You will obey him as you would obey me! For one week!"
The crowd's protests lowered to a resentful grumble. The brothers' authority, for now, held. But it was a fragile leash.
Kaelan knew a speech wouldn't work. Promises would be empty. They needed action. They needed to see a result.
He stepped forward. His voice, when it came, was not the booming command of his brothers, but a calm, carrying tone that cut through the muttering.
"The Viscount's grain shipment is due tomorrow," he stated. Every man knew this. It was a monthly reminder of their dependency and their debt. "He will use our father's death as an excuse to withhold it. Without it, we starve in a fortnight."
He let that grim truth settle. He saw nods, the anger shifting from him to the distant, comfortable Viscount.
"My first command is not to sharpen your swords," Kaelan continued. "It is to gather specific materials. I need every child in the village, every spare hand, to collect burrs from the thorn-weed by the stream. I need a basket of the black-spotted beetles from under the rotting logs in the western wood. I need two buckets of the white clay from the riverbank."
A bewildered silence fell. Alaric, the sergeant, stepped forward, his jaw tight. "My lord," he said, the title dripping with sarcasm. "With respect, are we to fight the Viscount with... beetles and mud?"
A few nervous chuckles echoed in the hall. Even Roderick looked pained.
"No, Sergeant," Kaelan replied, his gaze unwavering. "You are to fight him by ensuring our bellies are full. The thorns, the beetles, and the clay are the first volley in this war. They are not weapons of steel, but of leverage. Do you trust your lords?" He gestured to Roderick and Eldric.
The men grunted in affirmation. It was all they had.
"Then trust their judgment for seven days," Kaelan said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "The tasks are simple. Have them completed by dawn. Dismissed."
The men shuffled out, confused and grumbling, but moving. Action, any action, was better than despair.
As the hall emptied, Roderick grabbed Kaelan's arm, his grip like iron. "Beetles?" he hissed. "You are making us a laughingstock! This is your grand plan? To become a collector of bugs?"
Kaelan met his brother's furious gaze, his mind coolly analyzing the pressure points on the arm holding him. "The Viscount is a proud man," he explained, his voice low. "He believes we are desperate brutes, capable only of swinging swords. He expects a suicidal charge or a begging letter. He will not expect a letter that shows we know his secrets."
He pulled a small, folded parchment from his tunic. "The thorns will provide a resin for a unique, binding seal. The clay will make an ink that cannot be forged or washed away without leaving a stain. The beetles... their shells, when ground, create a faint, iridescent powder that can be seen only in direct sunlight. It will mark this parchment as mine, and mine alone."
Roderick released his arm, staring at the parchment as if it were a serpent. "What... what does the letter say?"
"It doesn't beg," Kaelan said, a cold smile touching his lips for the first time. "It doesn't threaten with force. It simply states that we are aware of certain... stealing in his own grain named to the Crown. It mentions the name of a certain merchant's wife who frequents his private chambers. It reminds him that while Northpass is poor, it is not without eyes and ears. And it concludes by stating that our regular grain shipment, plus a 50% bonus for our 'troubles,' is expected to arrive on schedule, with an armed escort no larger than ten men."
Eldric, who had been listening silently, let out a soft whistle. "You're blackmailing him."
"I am reminding him that the mouse he thought was cornered has very sharp teeth," Kaelan corrected. "He will be too confused and too paranoid to refuse. Sending the grain is the path of least resistance for him. He will spend the next week trying to find the spy who doesn't exist, rather than moving against us directly."
The logic was chilling, brilliant, and utterly without honor. Roderick looked sick. Eldric looked intrigued.
"And if you're wrong?" Roderick whispered. "If he burns the letter and sends his entire army instead?"
"Then my week of command will be very short," Kaelan said, his voice flat. "And you will get your suicidal last stand after all."
He turned and walked away, leaving his brothers in the cavernous, silent hall. He retreated to the keep's modest scriptorium, a room that had seen little use. With the materials his confused men would soon bring him, he would craft his first weapon: a piece of parchment.
As he prepared the quill, the System screen flickered, a silent observer.
[Strategic Action Initiated: Psychological Warfare.]
[Target: Viscount Valerius. Status: Confident/Secure.]
[Objective: Secure resources via coercion. Estimated Success Rate: 74%.]
Seventy-four percent. Those were the best odds they'd had in years. He would take them.
Hours later, as a grey dawn broke over the Dragon's Tooth mountains, a single rider, a young and nervous stable boy Kaelan had chosen for his utter insignificance, was dispatched down the southern road. In his pouch was a letter sealed with thorn-resin, written in clay-ink, and dusted with the ghostly shimmer of beetle shells.
The rider disappeared into the morning mist.
Now, there was nothing to do but wait. The first move had been made. The gamble was on the table.
Back in the courtyard, Kaelan watched the horizon, his Enhanced Calculation running constant probability updates. The success of his plan, and his survival, now hinged entirely on the pride and paranoia of a man he had never met.