Chapter 86: Captain Odrin Kass (1)
The Far-Watch hall stood against the inner face of the Wall at the fourth mile.
It was the least impressive building of its size anywhere in the fortress.
There were no banners.
No signs.
Nothing that marked it as the headquarters of the men who ventured farther into the Great Green than anyone else.
It was simply a long room with a fire burning at the far end, forty pairs of boots lined against the walls, and a map table covered with so many pins that it was questionable whether the map underneath was still readable.
The man sitting beside the fire did not get up when Encrid entered.
Encrid had not expected him to.
Captain Odrin Kass owed nothing to the fourth son of a Duke.
Perhaps he owed a little respect to a clerk of the Wall.
"My Lord."
The greeting contained exactly the amount of respect required and nothing more.
"Captain Kass."
Odrin Kass was past sixty.
He had the build of a scout that had gone hard with age. His grey beard had been cut short with a knife, and one of his eyes did not quite track with the other.
He was cleaning a boot when Encrid entered.
He continued cleaning it.
"Sit down."
Encrid sat.
"I suppose you’re here about the seat."
Encrid was slightly surprised.
Captain Kass was more direct than he had expected.
"I am."
"Everyone has been here about the seat this week."
Kass turned the boot over.
"Ostrand talked about timber for an hour before getting to it. Ryn sent a lieutenant. Fold prayed at me for twenty minutes."
"And what did you tell them?"
"Nothing worth carrying away."
Kass looked up at him.
"Do you know why they all come here first?"
Encrid could think of several reasons.
Before he could answer, Kass continued.
"It isn’t because I have two votes."
He put the boot down for a moment.
"Vess has one vote. He could make any of those men suffer for a year simply by delaying their grain if he is pissed."
Encrid almost smiled.
"And yet none of them go to him first. Do you know why?"
"It is because of the reports."
"Yes."
Kass nodded.
"It is because of the reports."
He picked up the boot again.
"Every decision the Council makes is based, sooner or later, on reports my people bring back from beyond those stakes."
He wiped a section of leather with the rag in his hand.
"If I say the treeline is quiet, then it is quiet. Workers go out. Patrol schedules remain the same. The caravans continue moving."
He looked at Encrid.
"If I say it isn’t, thousands of people change what they’re doing."
Kass placed the boot beside him.
"Nobody votes against the man who tells them what is out there."
He paused.
"They just want to know what he wants first."
He said it without pride.
Encrid found that more impressive than pride would have been.
He had prepared three different ways to approach Kass.
He abandoned all of them.
For a man who had shown him such directness, Encrid decided to return the favor.
"Then I’ll save us some time."
Kass waited.
"In less than a year, tens of thousands of Roamers will come out of that forest and hit this Wall at the same time."
The old man’s hand stopped.
"Not a surge."
Encrid’s voice remained calm.
"Not a bad season."
He looked directly at Kass.
"Most of what lies in the Great Green will gather in one place and come here on the same day."
The room became quiet.
Kass slowly placed the rag down.
"You already know something is wrong, don’t you, Captain?"
Kass said nothing.
"Your parties have been returning with empty reports for two months."
Encrid continued.
"The drip has stopped."
His eyes remained fixed on the captain.
"And you’ve never seen that before."
Kass’s expression did not change.
"Go on."
"Your patrols have doubled."
Encrid glanced toward the map table.
"And all the additional patrols have gone north and east."
He looked back at Kass.
"That isn’t a search for game."
"No."
"You’re looking for something."
Kass remained silent.
Encrid continued.
"I want to prepare this Wall."
He rested one hand on the table.
"I can’t do much from the Third Office. I can request rope. I can request supplies. I can move numbers between ledgers."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"But there is a limit to how much a clerk can change."
"The matter comes before the Council in fourteen days."
He looked directly at Kass.
"Will you help me?"
Kass leaned back.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then he looked toward the fire.
"I was born on this Wall."
His voice was quieter now.
"In the Shambles. Above what is now the third bathhouse."
Encrid listened.
"My mother was a laundress."
A pause.
"My father was a Lampwright’s labourer."
Kass rubbed his thumb against the leather of the boot.
"In sixty-two years, I’ve never been farther south than the toll-fort."
He looked into the flames.
"But I’ve seen things beyond those stakes that would scare the shit out of noble brats."
His crooked eye shifted toward Encrid.
"And things that lords would tell you don’t even exist."
Encrid remained silent.
"I wrote some of them in my reports."
Kass gave a dry laugh.
"They came back with the important parts underlined by a clerk asking if I was certain."
His expression hardened.
"And now a southerner comes here and tells me the forest is coming."
He paused.
"If this were any other time, I would have laughed at you."
His gaze settled on Encrid.
"But I’m not going to laugh at you now."
Kass shook his head.
"I’ve known something was coming since the day the drip stopped."
He leaned forward.
"I simply couldn’t make anyone understand it."
Encrid opened his mouth but Kass cut him off.
"I have also watched your work. You cleared a drain this spring that nobody had touched in forty years."
Kass pointed at him with the rag.
"You found it in a ledger and fixed it without even going down there."
He paused.
"You also closed a javelin store that the commanders had been using for four years without noticing it had no door."
Encrid stared at him.
Kass shrugged.
"So I will vote for you."
He picked up the boot again.
"Both of my votes."
Encrid did not respond immediately.
He had known it would not be that easy.
There was nothing called a free meal in this world - everything had a price.
"But I want something in return."
✦ ✦ ✦
~Bonus Chapter for Magic Castle - Thank you @Nagii344