Chapter 27

The day before, not long after Lady Theodora sent out her letters, Astrid and her entourage arrived at the first village in her fiefdom that was closest to the Capital. To say that they were stunned by what they saw would be an understatement.

Astrid, who had once toured these villages with her mother, had known them as being vibrant and full of life. Not a trace of that vitality could be seen in these people. The houses in the village were unkempt and some were falling apart. The people shied away as her carriage passed through. Their fear was evident. She could taste it in the air. Even Atali and Hiccup looked disturbed by what they saw.

"I failed as a Noble," Astrid uttered as she turned away from the carriage window, unable to bear to see her people's suffering.

"You've only just become the Marchioness," Hiccup told her. "You aren't to blame for this,"

"Am I not?" Astrid whispered as her hands clenched in her skirts. "I should have asked. I should have asked father how he was managing the territory. Yet, I left it in his hands all these years."

"Miss... please excuse my language, but that's a load of crock," Atali stated. "Lord Anderson would have immediately dismissed you had you asked. There was nothing you could do then because you weren't of age. But you are now and you care. You see this..." She gestured to the state of the village outside and then continued. "You see this and you care. No one can blame you for the past. You were powerless by the laws of this land until you became an adult. You care enough to blame yourself for their suffering miss. I know you will do right by these people,"

The convoy stopped in front of what should have been the village Head's cottage, which didn't look much better than the rest of the houses they had passed. The paint was chipped, the wood was rotting and Astrid was sure that the roof seemed leaky. She frowned as she stepped out of the carriage and took a better look at her surroundings. The ground was muddy so she lifted her skirts slightly to get around better. She then spotted something just as an elderly man ran outside to greet them, or that was what she had thought initially. He fell on his knees in front of Astrid and pleaded with her; not out of happiness to see his Lord, but to beg for her not to take his granddaughter away.

"What in Thor's name?" Astrid asked aloud as she instinctively took a step back from the groveling man.

"Sir please raise your head," Hiccup said and reached out a hand to help the elderly man up. He saw how uncomfortable Astrid seemed by the sudden groveling and wondered what had transpired in this village.

"YOU GET YER MITTS OFF MY GRAMPS!" A highpitched voice shouted and Hiccup had to cover his face as dirt and rocks were thrown at him.

"Hey!"

"Wait!" He shouted as a rock nearly hit his forehead.

"Stop will you!" The knights moved to cover both Hiccup and Astrid while Atali was the one to lunge at the young lady kicking up a storm.

"Let me go! LET ME GO!" The young lady screamed as Atali had gotten a good grip on her, pinning her hands together behind her back and slamming her to the ground as she didn't know just how much of a threat this young lady posed to her mistress.

"I'll never go with ye!" The girl screamed. "Ya can tell Julius to eat a pigs as-"

"ENOUGH!" Astrid interrupted the tirade with her authoritative voice. "What in bloody blue blazes is going on here?!"

"Miss! Please! Spare my daughter! She didn't mean it!" The grandfather uttered desperately.

"Of course I meant it!" The woman exclaimed in defiance. "I will never give that bastard my body!"

"I don't know what is going on here but we had better take this inside." Astrid announced as her knights proceeded to drag the girl back into the house. She noted that their arrival and subsequent scene had gathered a crowd. Astrid then looked at the elderly man that would not meet her eyes. "This crowd doesn't look too friendly and I doubt that our arrival sparked this. I suggest we speak in private."

Once inside the rickety cottage, time seemed to stop somewhat. Gone was the rush she had felt from before. Astrid regretted having reached for her axe that hadn't been there the moment the young woman had started throwing stones. She would never and could never cut down someone so young. The rage the young lady felt...... it had burned brightly. Astrid had recognized some of that rage directed at them. It was a rage that built from being powerless.

Two knights stood guard outside while the Captain and the other knights took up positions near the corners of the cottage. Atali, who was still somewhat glaring at the woman closed the wooden windows with a bang.

Both the young lady and the elderly man had been directed to sit at their table, which was looking worse for wear. It was rickety and the chipped plate with mouldy bread on the table did nothing to please Astrid about this situation.

"Now that we are calmer, perhaps one of you would enlighten me as to this outburst," Astrid stated as she sat down opposite to the two while Hiccup stood next to her looking confused and inquisitive at the same time.

Both granddaughter and grandfather were silent, not willing to meet Astrid's or anyone else's eyes. Astrid just folded her arms and glared. Her patience was frayed at the moment. From what she had witnessed when the convoy came into the village up to now. The girl's words rang in her ears as well. The name Julius was recurring. When both remained silent Astrid sighed before asking "Who is Julius?"

"Are ye playing with us? There's no way you wouldn't know the lout," The young woman growled as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "All ye Nobles are alike. Greedy!"

"Take that back!" Atali shouted at the accusation. "Her Ladyship is nothing like that! When she heard about the state of her fiefdom she immediately sought to get enough supplies together to aid you all!" The maid declared.

"So yer really Julian's master? That pig claimed to be a Noble," The woman spat.

"Liana please... We must not speak ill of Nobles," The old man tried to reason with his granddaughter.

"Why not? It's not like they deserve our respect," Liane shot back before turning back to Astrid and asked "So what? He's yer servant or something?"

"Nothing of the sort!" Astrid looked rather putout by the insinuation. "I have no one named Julius in my employ!"

"Look, I know this is hard to believe but Lady Hofferson really wants to help." Hiccup said as they were now just going around in circles. "But to do that we need to know what happened here. Who Julius is and the overall situation."

"Julius is the steward of this fief. He took over when his father died several years ago," The old man explained.

"He doesn't seem to have a last name which means he's not a Noble, yet you referred to him as one," Astrid directed her statement to the young lady. "Why?"

"Why not? He's claiming nobility," She scoffed. "In this area he's Judge, Jury and Executioner."

"Claiming Nobility is a serious matter of itself," Astrid growled. "And what's more I have no recollection of ever appointing him as my steward. It is true that I haven't held a Court-leet yet but even so, the position of steward is not hereditary. He should have no claim to the position."

"Miss, was he appointed by your father while he was still Regent?" Atali asked.

"Before coming on this inspection I went through all the fief's documentation of the last five years. That person was never mentioned." Astrid was mad now and it was evident by her tone of voice. If her father did have a hand in this then she'd have to deal with that as well as it would be essentially fraud.

"He's a pig, and I stand by that! Just look what he did to our village!" Liana announced. "Just because I wouldn't..."

"Wouldn't what?" The tone of the question said all that was needed to say within the stifled cottage.

"Three months ago, when Julius and his men came to collect the taxes he took one look at my Liana and ordered her to accompany him to his castle to warm his bed."

"I refused of course!" Liana spat.

"You threw a chicken at him," her grandfather groaned.

"I couldn't find anything heavier!"

"Still...."

"What would you have me do gramps?!" Liana exclaimed. "I'd never spread my legs for such a boorish man!"

"Julius was.....not pleased with Liana's response,"

"But he didn't take her against her will," Astrid frowned in confusion.

"No... he'd promised we'd pay for her rebuff." The grandfather stated sadly. "His men dumped salt in our main well and they confiscated most of our livestock. He also levied higher taxes each month on us, stating that everything will return to normal once the villagers drag the girl by her hair to his residence,"

"Your Ladyship, that would explain the hostility I felt from the onlookers," The Knight Captain uttered. "The only thing that is probably keeping them from doing just that is their respect for the old man as their village chief."

"Our village isn't the only one that has it bad," Liana muttered. "The mining villages are worse off."

"Tell me," Astrid stated rather stiffly as she wanted nothing more than to grab a sword and stab the person responsible.

"These are just rumors we've heard from peddlers but in order to increase mining productivity children as young as nine are being forced to work." She uttered. "There's also been news of tunnel collapse but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Astrid was quiet upon hearing this information. Neither Atali nor Hiccup knew what was churning inside her mind as she just sat there at the table... staring blanky at the wall, thinking. No one really knew what to say with their mistress quiet for a few minutes.

After those few minutes Astrid ordered her knights to start distributing some of the supplies to the villagers. This might appease them for now, at least until she could settle this matter. Not all the supplies could be distributed because the convoy need to stop in the other villages as well. She just never thought that the situation would be so dire at their first stop. And judging by the rumors that were just stated, this village was still faring better than others.

Nothing on paper ever suggested something like this going on. It begged the question if her father had been in on the whole matter. On one hand he could have just been lazy in his Regent duties and took the documentation he'd received at face value. The other option... Astrid certainly didn't want to think about that one. The other option would be that her father knew, and actively participated, in this matter. Several questions popped into her mind, was he complicit in the torment of the people House Hofferson had sworn to protect? For how long had this been going on? And where had all the excess diamonds and ore gone if on paper no increase in mining activity was noted.

"Your ladyship will you and your retinue be needing a place to stay for the night?" The old man asked.

His granddaughter however was looking at him incredulously as if him offering their hospitality to a Noble to be such a slap in the face. If all she knew of so-called Nobility was this Julius's grandstanding than Astrid would not fault her for that.

"No, but thank you still. We will make way towards the castle after supplies have been distributed."

"Isn't this Julius person residing in the castle?" Atali frowned as she remembered what they had been told.

"What of it?" Astrid raised a brow. "It is my castle in the first place. If he doesn't like it he can go jump off a turret."

"Miss... by Thor....," Atali groaned.

"What?" Hiccup was confused by the whole thing.

"Be prepared. The miss is hoping for a confrontation," Atali groaned.

"A confron-.... Oh... OOH!" Hiccup realized it too now. "But isn't that dangerous?" He knew she probbaly needed a swift way to deal with the whole situation but purposely goading the man hadn't been what he'd expected. "Is this actually going to work?"

"As long as he's not a Noble, which I doubt he is, then yes," Astrid answered.

The convoy left the village two hours later and made their way to Castle Hofferson, which had been built for Astrid's mother when she had been gifted the fief. It was another four-hour journey though and they reached the castle gates by nightfall.

"HALT WHO GOES THERE!" A guard on the curtain walls above the fortified gate shouted.

"Make way for her Ladyship! How dare you stop us!" The Knight Captain announced.

"I don't know who you are!" The guard shouted back sounding somewhat disgruntled.

"Are you daft?! Do you not see our banners with the house crest?! Let us through this instance!"

"We have orders not to let anyone through!" Another guard announced as several came to stand near the gate with their hands on their hilts.

It was then that Astrid chose to step out of the carriage. She ordered her knights to stay back and not provoke the guards. After that she asked to speak to the one currently residing in t he castle. One of the guards, most likely a commanding officer, ran inside the keep.

Just as Astrid had planned, Julius made an appearance. Though he was nothing like she'd imagined. Having expected a boorish unclothe pig of a man, she was in for a surprise by seeing someone relatively well-groomed and handsome. He wore a white night shirt and a red velvet robe over it but still much of his chiseled chest was visible.

"What did you bring me out here for?!" The richly dressed man asked and one of the guards pointed to Astrid and her retinue who were waiting on the other side of the gate.

He took one look at the knights, rather dismissively, while he looked over Astrid and Atali with some interest. "Did Lord Nelson send me more wenches?" The man groaned. This caused Astrid to be thrown for a loop for a moment. She'd never thought to hear that name uttered here of all places. Was all this Thuggary's doing instead of her father? Just how far did this conspiracy go?

"Away with you!" The man grumbled rather dismissively towards Astrid. "I have had enough of his subpar harlots," Sparing neither her or her entourage much more notice.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Astrid's Knight Captain announced. Clearly offended on her behave by this behaviour. "You will open these gates at once and let the mistress of the castle enter!"

The statement caused Julius to stop and take a closer look at the people on the other side of the gate. It was then that he noticed, in the faint torchlight the distinct emblem on the carriage. The emblem that would spell his doom. He turned white as a sheet as he realized just who he had offended.

"I want their heads!" Julius suddenly shouted towards the guards. "Get rid of them all!"

Astrid grit her teeth as she realized what was going on in Julius's head. He must have figured that there was no going back from this and rather than face the consequences for offending the Lord of this land, he might save his skin if he got rid of them here and now. He could claim it be the work of bandits if there were no witnesses left and no one would be the wiser. "KNIGHTS TO ARMS!" Astrid ordered as the knights drew their swords, ready to face what must be mercenaries on the other side of the gate.

The main gate opened and the guards rushed out with war cries. The Knights were ready however and parried their blows, driving some to fall in the moat surrounding the castle. Neither Astrid, Atali or Hiccup were idle. They had managed to disarm some and take their weapons. Astrid was very impressed by Hiccup delivering an uppercut to a swordsman, claiming his weapon afterwards.

"ASTRID!" Hiccup shouted as he saw someone aim at her back just as she was kicking another axe-wielder in the stomach. Hiccup rushed forward, sword at the ready. He managed to make it in time and parried the blow but another mercenary managed to throw a dagger that hit him in the shoulder.

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted as Hiccup fell to his knees, the pain in his shoulder prominent. He was reaching for the dagger still embedded in his skin when Astrid was by his side, telling him not to pull it out.

"RETREAT! RETREAT NOW!" Astrid ordered as she and Atali helped Hiccup back in the carriage.

Her knights obeyed and they slowly withdrew towards the forest nearby.

"Why did you jump in front of me?!" Astrid desperately questioned int he carriage as she and Atali worked to stop the bleeding. No one had ever just... taken a dagger for her.

"Why wouldn't I?" Hiccup questioned the carriage hit a tree root, signaling that they had entered the forest.

Astrid really didn't know what to say to that and just blushed awkwardly.

"You think they bought it?" Hiccup asked cryptically.

"He'll have his men search these woods once dawn comes," Astrid announced. "There is no way he'll let us live now that we can expose him. So yeah... he bought it,"

"Milady, we are proceeding to phase two now?" Atali asked curiously.