954-955 – A Plot against the King
954-955 – A Plot against the King
King Syrka’s new spy mistress Mastorava proved her worth very quickly. In just a short time, she uncovered close to 50 plots festering within and without Merya’s borders. Most of those plots involved people Syrka didn’t know conspiring against other people he didn’t know.
The only one he cared about was the one she had hinted about earlier, his half-brother Tunya’s plot to kill him.
But she had gone beyond the original vague hints and had identified those who had joined Tunya’s plot. Mastorava had uncovered four additional conspirators, but she had insisted that she would only discuss certain aspects of her work in private, not in the presence of the rest of the Council. They met late one night in her rooms as she was still recovering from giving birth to her second child. She had given birth to a daughter, who was called Chitska Yaroslavlid, and considered a bastard as King Nuyat was not alive to claim his daughter. But Chitska was still the sister to one King, King Nalka of Estonia, and the unacknowledged half-sister to another, King Khaireddin of Nenetsia.
Mastorava informed King Syrka that his half-brother was still plotting his death and she offered one solution, “Your brother is in Vladimir, so we can’t arrest him. I could, however, arrange an accident.”
“Murder my brother? I can’t … I can’t do that.”
“He is trying to murder you.”
“He is troubled, his life has never been easy. But I won’t take what life he has left.”
Mastorava nodded, “Of course not, my King.”
Syrka didn’t look happy, “You said you have discovered more members of the plot.”
“Parush, the High Chief of Mari, has joined your brother’s plot, this was to be expected. He feels that the throne is his by right and it was stolen from him.”
Syrka wasn’t too surprised, he had heard about Parush’s reaction to his election. Then another throught struck him looking at the baby in the crib next to Mastorava, Parush was also the babe’s half-brother. Then he shook his head and replied, “Not by me, it was the Lettigallians that pushed the vote my way, I had no part in their actions.”
“Parush doesn’t care whether you were involved or not. He doesn’t care about you at all, other than as an obstacle that needs to be removed before he can take his rightful place on the throne. Your brother’s plot is an opportunity to remove that obstacle.”
Syrka straightened up wincing at the pain in his gouty joints, “He is my vassal, we can arrest him.”
Then seeing the look on his spymistress’ face, he asked “Can’t we?”
She replied, “It’s not that simple. Currently, only you and I, and the actual conspirators know of the plot. If we just arrest him without providing the evidence of the plot, you will be seen as a tyrant and he may revolt and as you know, until the Lettigallians weighed in, Parush had plenty of support to be King, and those supporters may join his revolt.”
“So we provide the evidence, so all can see his crime.”
“We could do that, reveal what we know and provide evidence but that would implicate all of the conspirators, and they would join him in revolt, or move forward with their plot to kill you immediately to protect themselves. I know they are plotting to kill you, but I don’t know how, yet. They may succeed if we force their hand… and kill you.”
Syka paled, “Who are these other conspirators that would join him in revolt?”
“High Chief Velmayka of Veps, Paksyut Kardazid, and High Chief Brun ‘the Monster’ of Mochkava.”
Syrka was stunned at the mention of his former liege and current Steward, “Brun? Why?”
Mastorava shrugged, “I am not certain of all his motives, he resents having to serve a former vassal, he is embarrassed to have his handling of the vote subverted by the Letigallians, or he is just what people call him, a monster, and wants blood and chaos.”
Syrka shook his head, but now he understood why Mastorava had wanted to meet in secret rather than discuss this in front of the whole Council, “And I can’t arrest him either?”
Mastorava shook her head, “No, it would not be wise to attempt it.”
“Well I can at least fire him from the Council and send him home.“ his words trailed off looking at Mastorava’s face, “Or not?”
“If you fired him, he would suspect you knew of the plot. Besides with him here, it is easier for me to intercept the conspirators’ communication.”
Syrka was exasperated, “And what of the other two? Can nothing be done about them? Who the hell is Paksyut?”
“Paksyut is the bastard son of the late Chief Erziya ‘the Unchaste’ of Chlisselbourg, one of your kinsmen. He served as War Chief for King Virdyan and then King Nuyat, before Nuyat fired him.”
“Why does he conspire against me? Did he expect to return to the Council?”
“Paksyut is a bitter old man, all alone now, maybe he wants to feel important again. And he has no love of Kings. Nuyat seduced his wife, and the only child she ever bore was Nuyat’s bastard, who is now known as High Chief Çortah of Latgale, leaving Paksyut disgraced and without a son or other legacy. And then he was fired after his wife died. Nuyat had only kept him on the Council to keep his wife close by, once she was gone, he dropped the pretense and fired Paksyut the next chance he had. So Paksyut was cast out, with no reward for his years of service.”
“I’m not Nuyat.”
“I don’t think he cares anymore which King he kills.”
Syrka shook his head, “We can arrest him?”
Mastorava nodded, “We could, few would care, but it would alert his fellow conspirators.”
Syrka sighed, “And why does High Chief Velmayka of Veps want me dead?”
Mastorava hesitated, and then plowed ahead. “He thinks you are unworthy of the crown of Erziya ‘the Bold’. He is from the Torzhokid clan, one of the oldest noble families in the Kingdom. They have been proud to serve the Kardazids since the days of the founder of your clan, High Chief Kardaz himself. But he doesn’t want to serve someone from one of the lesser branches of the family, he feels only the descendants of Erziya ‘the Bold’ are the royal line and worthy of his loyalty and to be his liege.”
Syrka growled, “And I am just a poor relative, not worthy.”
Mastorava nodded, “Exactly.”
“I have faced that disdain my whole life, I’m sure that plays apart in all of the conspirators’ motives. The poor cousin only fit to serve the exalted bloodline of Erziya ‘the Bold’.”
Mastorava said nothing, and Syrka continued, “And we can’t arrest him either.”
Mastorava’s beautiful face lit up with a smile, “Actually, we can.”
“What?”
“If you would look back at the list of plots I had given you, you will see Velmayka has started a plot of his own. He is attempting to steal a title from one of his vassals. We can arrest him based on evidence of this other plot. He and his fellow conspirators will not know that we know of their plot to kill you, so we can weaken their plot and make them nervous, but not make them hasty. And if they are nervous, they may make mistakes that will help us thwart them.”
Syrka didn’t quite follow all that, “So we can have him arrested?”
“Yes, my King.”
“Good, let’s do that because I can’t just sit here and do nothing as they plot against me.”
Unfortunately, Velmayka managed to evade arrest and raised his banners in revolt. Surprisingly, just about all of Syrka’s new vassals joined him in defense of his throne… except a few High Chiefs, including Parush of Mari and Brun ‘the Monster’. They did not join the war against their fellow conspirator, further confirmation of Mastorava’s information on their joint conspiracy. But the good news was, they also didn’t join the High Chief of Veps either, Velmayka Torzhokid was on his own.
The village of Merya was ruled by Chief Surt, a vassal of Velmayka’s. So Syrka first sent troops to secure this rebel base that was adjacent to his own capitol. Meanwhile, his allied vassals began to converge on the other Veps’ territories. Chief Velamayka’s first move was to head north and attack Chlisselbourg, which was of little strategic value, but offered him a quick victory to boost his outnumbered men’s morale.
Merya fell quickly and the Merry Men and Syrka’s additional levys moved west toward the capitol of Veps at Torzhok and soon had it under siege.
Mastorava brought Syrka some good news, obviously High Chief Velmayka was no longer supporting the murder plot, as he was fighting for his life, but it appeared Paksyut was sufficiently spooked to also abandon the plot and abandon Yaroslavl, as he was never seen again. For a brief instant, Syrka had wondered if Paksyut hadn’t actually fled, but looking at Mastorava’s angelic face he couldn’t believe she could have done something to the old man. That still left Parush and Brun supporting his brother’s plot.
Soon after Paksyut’s disappearance, there were two attempts on Mastorava’s life. The first attempt was by Syrka’s kinsman, High Chief Tylze of Tver, who Mastorava had discovered plotting to kill a man named Terentiy Sviatoslavovich.
The second attempt was traced back to Hemming of Nordland and Westrobothnia. The ambitious Chief Hemming had recently killed his own brother, Arngrimr, in a challenge duel to claim Nordland, and apparently had immediately begun plotting to kill his remaining brother, Ragnarr. Hemming was a vassal of Nidaros, so Syrka couldn’t move against him directly, but did instruct Mastorava to expose the plot for all to see, especially Ragnarr.
These attempts showed that Mastorava was becoming feared throughout Merya. As she had claimed, she just knew things and was proving invaluable to her King. So, when she reported in late summer that the plot against Syrka’s life had ended because his half-brother, Tunya, had died a natural death, Syrka felt his own twinge of fear. Perhaps Mastorava was capable of much more than he had thought, so he did not ask if she had gone against his orders and acted against his brother.
But the end of the plot did not save Velmayka, his loyal troops had been overwhelmed and all of his lands were soon captured, forcing his surrender. Velmayka was imprisoned. Syrka considered revoking the High Chiefdom of Veps from him, as no one could object as Velmayka is a traitor.
But the Torzhokid clan had held Veps for generations and there would be some fear and resentment if he stripped one of the oldest families of their main title. So instead he used the excuse that Chief Surt ‘the Bewitched’, one of Velamyka’s vassals, held the Chiefdom of Merya which was traditionally part of the royal High Chiefdom of Merya, to retract Surt’s vassalage to Velmayka. This significantly reduced Veps’ strength as Chief Surt also ruled Tikhvine.
High Chief Velmayka, himself, would never leave Syrka’s dungeon as he was sent into the deepest, darkest cell. Syrka would not forgive Velmayka for his part in the conspiracy to kill him. Syrka would also not forget about the involvement of High Chief Parush or Brun ‘the Monster’ in the plot either.
King Syrka’s new spy mistress Mastorava proved her worth very quickly. In just a short time, she uncovered close to 50 plots festering within and without Merya’s borders. Most of those plots involved people Syrka didn’t know conspiring against other people he didn’t know.
The only one he cared about was the one she had hinted about earlier, his half-brother Tunya’s plot to kill him.
But she had gone beyond the original vague hints and had identified those who had joined Tunya’s plot. Mastorava had uncovered four additional conspirators, but she had insisted that she would only discuss certain aspects of her work in private, not in the presence of the rest of the Council. They met late one night in her rooms as she was still recovering from giving birth to her second child. She had given birth to a daughter, who was called Chitska Yaroslavlid, and considered a bastard as King Nuyat was not alive to claim his daughter. But Chitska was still the sister to one King, King Nalka of Estonia, and the unacknowledged half-sister to another, King Khaireddin of Nenetsia.
Mastorava informed King Syrka that his half-brother was still plotting his death and she offered one solution, “Your brother is in Vladimir, so we can’t arrest him. I could, however, arrange an accident.”
“Murder my brother? I can’t … I can’t do that.”
“He is trying to murder you.”
“He is troubled, his life has never been easy. But I won’t take what life he has left.”
Mastorava nodded, “Of course not, my King.”
Syrka didn’t look happy, “You said you have discovered more members of the plot.”
“Parush, the High Chief of Mari, has joined your brother’s plot, this was to be expected. He feels that the throne is his by right and it was stolen from him.”
Syrka wasn’t too surprised, he had heard about Parush’s reaction to his election. Then another throught struck him looking at the baby in the crib next to Mastorava, Parush was also the babe’s half-brother. Then he shook his head and replied, “Not by me, it was the Lettigallians that pushed the vote my way, I had no part in their actions.”
“Parush doesn’t care whether you were involved or not. He doesn’t care about you at all, other than as an obstacle that needs to be removed before he can take his rightful place on the throne. Your brother’s plot is an opportunity to remove that obstacle.”
Syrka straightened up wincing at the pain in his gouty joints, “He is my vassal, we can arrest him.”
Then seeing the look on his spymistress’ face, he asked “Can’t we?”
She replied, “It’s not that simple. Currently, only you and I, and the actual conspirators know of the plot. If we just arrest him without providing the evidence of the plot, you will be seen as a tyrant and he may revolt and as you know, until the Lettigallians weighed in, Parush had plenty of support to be King, and those supporters may join his revolt.”
“So we provide the evidence, so all can see his crime.”
“We could do that, reveal what we know and provide evidence but that would implicate all of the conspirators, and they would join him in revolt, or move forward with their plot to kill you immediately to protect themselves. I know they are plotting to kill you, but I don’t know how, yet. They may succeed if we force their hand… and kill you.”
Syka paled, “Who are these other conspirators that would join him in revolt?”
“High Chief Velmayka of Veps, Paksyut Kardazid, and High Chief Brun ‘the Monster’ of Mochkava.”
Syrka was stunned at the mention of his former liege and current Steward, “Brun? Why?”
Mastorava shrugged, “I am not certain of all his motives, he resents having to serve a former vassal, he is embarrassed to have his handling of the vote subverted by the Letigallians, or he is just what people call him, a monster, and wants blood and chaos.”
Syrka shook his head, but now he understood why Mastorava had wanted to meet in secret rather than discuss this in front of the whole Council, “And I can’t arrest him either?”
Mastorava shook her head, “No, it would not be wise to attempt it.”
“Well I can at least fire him from the Council and send him home.“ his words trailed off looking at Mastorava’s face, “Or not?”
“If you fired him, he would suspect you knew of the plot. Besides with him here, it is easier for me to intercept the conspirators’ communication.”
Syrka was exasperated, “And what of the other two? Can nothing be done about them? Who the hell is Paksyut?”
“Paksyut is the bastard son of the late Chief Erziya ‘the Unchaste’ of Chlisselbourg, one of your kinsmen. He served as War Chief for King Virdyan and then King Nuyat, before Nuyat fired him.”
“Why does he conspire against me? Did he expect to return to the Council?”
“Paksyut is a bitter old man, all alone now, maybe he wants to feel important again. And he has no love of Kings. Nuyat seduced his wife, and the only child she ever bore was Nuyat’s bastard, who is now known as High Chief Çortah of Latgale, leaving Paksyut disgraced and without a son or other legacy. And then he was fired after his wife died. Nuyat had only kept him on the Council to keep his wife close by, once she was gone, he dropped the pretense and fired Paksyut the next chance he had. So Paksyut was cast out, with no reward for his years of service.”
“I’m not Nuyat.”
“I don’t think he cares anymore which King he kills.”
Syrka shook his head, “We can arrest him?”
Mastorava nodded, “We could, few would care, but it would alert his fellow conspirators.”
Syrka sighed, “And why does High Chief Velmayka of Veps want me dead?”
Mastorava hesitated, and then plowed ahead. “He thinks you are unworthy of the crown of Erziya ‘the Bold’. He is from the Torzhokid clan, one of the oldest noble families in the Kingdom. They have been proud to serve the Kardazids since the days of the founder of your clan, High Chief Kardaz himself. But he doesn’t want to serve someone from one of the lesser branches of the family, he feels only the descendants of Erziya ‘the Bold’ are the royal line and worthy of his loyalty and to be his liege.”
Syrka growled, “And I am just a poor relative, not worthy.”
Mastorava nodded, “Exactly.”
“I have faced that disdain my whole life, I’m sure that plays apart in all of the conspirators’ motives. The poor cousin only fit to serve the exalted bloodline of Erziya ‘the Bold’.”
Mastorava said nothing, and Syrka continued, “And we can’t arrest him either.”
Mastorava’s beautiful face lit up with a smile, “Actually, we can.”
“What?”
“If you would look back at the list of plots I had given you, you will see Velmayka has started a plot of his own. He is attempting to steal a title from one of his vassals. We can arrest him based on evidence of this other plot. He and his fellow conspirators will not know that we know of their plot to kill you, so we can weaken their plot and make them nervous, but not make them hasty. And if they are nervous, they may make mistakes that will help us thwart them.”
Syrka didn’t quite follow all that, “So we can have him arrested?”
“Yes, my King.”
“Good, let’s do that because I can’t just sit here and do nothing as they plot against me.”
Unfortunately, Velmayka managed to evade arrest and raised his banners in revolt. Surprisingly, just about all of Syrka’s new vassals joined him in defense of his throne… except a few High Chiefs, including Parush of Mari and Brun ‘the Monster’. They did not join the war against their fellow conspirator, further confirmation of Mastorava’s information on their joint conspiracy. But the good news was, they also didn’t join the High Chief of Veps either, Velmayka Torzhokid was on his own.
The village of Merya was ruled by Chief Surt, a vassal of Velmayka’s. So Syrka first sent troops to secure this rebel base that was adjacent to his own capitol. Meanwhile, his allied vassals began to converge on the other Veps’ territories. Chief Velamayka’s first move was to head north and attack Chlisselbourg, which was of little strategic value, but offered him a quick victory to boost his outnumbered men’s morale.
Merya fell quickly and the Merry Men and Syrka’s additional levys moved west toward the capitol of Veps at Torzhok and soon had it under siege.
Mastorava brought Syrka some good news, obviously High Chief Velmayka was no longer supporting the murder plot, as he was fighting for his life, but it appeared Paksyut was sufficiently spooked to also abandon the plot and abandon Yaroslavl, as he was never seen again. For a brief instant, Syrka had wondered if Paksyut hadn’t actually fled, but looking at Mastorava’s angelic face he couldn’t believe she could have done something to the old man. That still left Parush and Brun supporting his brother’s plot.
Soon after Paksyut’s disappearance, there were two attempts on Mastorava’s life. The first attempt was by Syrka’s kinsman, High Chief Tylze of Tver, who Mastorava had discovered plotting to kill a man named Terentiy Sviatoslavovich.
The second attempt was traced back to Hemming of Nordland and Westrobothnia. The ambitious Chief Hemming had recently killed his own brother, Arngrimr, in a challenge duel to claim Nordland, and apparently had immediately begun plotting to kill his remaining brother, Ragnarr. Hemming was a vassal of Nidaros, so Syrka couldn’t move against him directly, but did instruct Mastorava to expose the plot for all to see, especially Ragnarr.
These attempts showed that Mastorava was becoming feared throughout Merya. As she had claimed, she just knew things and was proving invaluable to her King. So, when she reported in late summer that the plot against Syrka’s life had ended because his half-brother, Tunya, had died a natural death, Syrka felt his own twinge of fear. Perhaps Mastorava was capable of much more than he had thought, so he did not ask if she had gone against his orders and acted against his brother.
But the end of the plot did not save Velmayka, his loyal troops had been overwhelmed and all of his lands were soon captured, forcing his surrender. Velmayka was imprisoned. Syrka considered revoking the High Chiefdom of Veps from him, as no one could object as Velmayka is a traitor.
But the Torzhokid clan had held Veps for generations and there would be some fear and resentment if he stripped one of the oldest families of their main title. So instead he used the excuse that Chief Surt ‘the Bewitched’, one of Velamyka’s vassals, held the Chiefdom of Merya which was traditionally part of the royal High Chiefdom of Merya, to retract Surt’s vassalage to Velmayka. This significantly reduced Veps’ strength as Chief Surt also ruled Tikhvine.
High Chief Velmayka, himself, would never leave Syrka’s dungeon as he was sent into the deepest, darkest cell. Syrka would not forgive Velmayka for his part in the conspiracy to kill him. Syrka would also not forget about the involvement of High Chief Parush or Brun ‘the Monster’ in the plot either.
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