Inheritance

Month 1 Week 3

The Matriarchy – Offices of Covina Feggotti

“Mistress Feggotti,” The young assistant spoke hesitantly as if she were afraid to actually get Covina’s attention. It was a fear the bookkeeper actively cultivated in her apprentices, they worked harder to accomplish their assigned tasks if they were afraid to ask for help on simple things, but not so afraid as to not know that they damned well better ask for help if they genuinely couldn’t figure it out for themselves. “I’ve noticed a discrepancy in some of the books…” Covina was used to this. The child given to her to apprentice in bookkeeping was learning more about cooking books than tracking actual expenditures and profits.

“No, you haven’t.” Covina didn’t even look up from her current project. There was too much work to do with her creative accounting and there were oh so very neatly stacked, stacks and stacks of account books waiting for her to look over. At the moment she was taking a few items off a shipment and forwarding them to Vincent’s friends in the Men’s Liberation Party. The Men who would make her Matriarch someday.

“I…” Covina looked up and stared her intimidating green-eyed stare at the young girl, daring her to speak again. “Normally I would agree with you and just go about my day. But…but this is a shipment coming directly from one Matriarchal family member to another. They willnotice if the documents have discrepancies.”

“Oh, very well,” Sighing, and shrugging her shoulders, the accountant held out a hand for the document in question. “Give it here.” Immediately, Covina recognized what she was looking at and smiled evilly. “No. Child. This is for the exile going up north. No one will be speaking with her at all. If ever again.”

“The notes reference a personal letter from the Matriarch regarding the development of a plot of land.” The girl added helpfully. “There’s a map included.”

“Can I see that?” Vincent called out from his spot in the corner combing through manifests for items he wanted to skim from shipments. His corner was untidy, scrolls, books, and papers scattered about his chair. She knew that he had spilled sealing wax on that desk and hadn’t bothered cleaning it up. Covina tried not to show her ire that he was making himself far too at home in her office and with her assistant. “The manifest, the letter, and the map also.” The child complied and Covina joined her lover at a table to see what he was so interested in.

“They plan to put her on the southern side of the town near the main trade route for that region. It’s a good thing we caught this.” He tapped the map and letter while glancing up at his partner. “I’ve already sent instructions that her homestead is to be built here,” One greasy finger circled an area that was clearly half swamp and…

“Is that plot on the Treaty Border?” Covina gasped. It was treachery and treason to cross the Treaty border into Orc territory.

“Partially over it,” Vincent whispered gleefully, as he checked over Covina’s shoulder to make sure her apprentice hadn’t heard his confession. The girl was humming quietly to herself with her fingers in her ears as Covina had instructed the child to always do when she spoke with Vincent. “The instructions were quite official. It will look to anyone who cares to check the records as if the Matriarch violated the treaty to give her great-granddaughter a farm.” It was appalling how unconcerned Vincent was with the potential danger this violation of the treaty represented to the entire country.

“But anyone who bothers to check the records will see when the letter with the money arrives that the farm was supposed to be built somewhere else.” Vincent grinned and pulled a message case out from a bag under the desk. From the case, he pulled sheets of paper stamped with his wife’s seal and some that were stamped with the Matriarch’s seal. Covina’s eyes grew round at the magnitude of what those papers represented.

Vincent didn’t care what he had to do to bring down House Freyan. There were two conditions to the only peace treaty the Orc Horde had ever signed. Firstly, no man could ever rule the country they had agreed to peace with. And secondly, The Matriarchy would never extend their lands into the Horde territory. Any violation of this treaty by The Matriarchy would bring the wrath of the Horde down upon all citizens of the nation.