Even as he was speaking I could feel a giant heart beating in the earth beneath me. I had planned to use my power to do something mildly showy… like breaking his lovely desk, or tossing some papers around, but the voice and that deep rhythmic beat gave me another idea. I let my mind expand; feeling the heartbeat below as if it were my own… then I directed my thoughts outward. Go ahead and shake, I thought at it.
A rumble shook the building, sending a vibration through the floor. It was deep, like a sound too low to hear, and everything began to move. Mister Aston tried to stand as astonishment flickered across his face. He promptly fell as the building gave a shudder and the floor moved underneath him. I was growing concerned myself, dust and plaster were sifting down from the ceiling and my stomach was full of butterflies as the entire building moved again. Stop! Enough! I screamed mentally, to who I’m not sure. The rumbling died down and the building grew still, but I could still feel that gigantic heartbeat pulsing far away… below the earth.
I looked at the banker; he was on all fours clutching at the carpet beneath his desk as if to anchor himself. I wasn’t sure what had happened but there was no need to let him know that, “You were saying something about how solid the bank is Mister Aston? I don’t think I caught all of it. Perhaps you’d like to repeat yourself?”
His face was blank, “Uhh…” He seemed to have lost the power of speech.
“Perhaps you’d better go get those account books so we can get down to business?” I suggested amiably.
“But I can’t…” he started.
“Can’t is an ugly word Mister Aston. Let’s keep a positive outlook. Go fetch the books so I can get out of your hair. I’m sure you have a lot of other work to do,” I gave him a reassuring smile.
The blood had drained out of his face. My smile sometimes has that effect. He got up and started to leave the room, “I think perhaps you’re right Lord Cameron. Let me get my assistant and we’ll sort things out as quickly as we can.”
“Please tell my bodyguard and maidservant to come back in on your way out.” I had to stifle a giggle at the thought of calling Penny a maidservant, but I managed to keep it in.
Penny and Cyhan came back in immediately after he left. As soon as the door shut she gave me a questioning glance, “What did you do?” She seemed to have forgotten her anger at being called a servant. Meanwhile Cyhan was glaring at me. I got the feeling I had made my situation with him worse, but I couldn’t be sure.
I tried to calm her down, “Nothing. It wasn’t me! I just heard the voice again and this time I told it to go ahead and shake things up. I had no idea that things would actually shake!”
“You’re hearing voices already?” Cyhan interrupted. He said it as if he had expected something of the sort.
“Just every now and then, but I’m not crazy. Honestly… I know the voices aren’t my own,” the more I talked the crazier I sounded. It couldn’t be helping my case with him. I wondered what would happen if he thought I had truly lost my mind. Would he try to hurry up the bonding, or just murder me in my sleep? Before we could finish our conversation Mister Aston returned with two assistants and several heavy looking ledgers. I was grateful for the interruption.
The next hour was a confusing mess of numbers and accounting. Having decided to cooperate; Mister Aston had become the very soul of courtesy and helpfulness. My father’s company had closed a few years back but they had continued operating for over ten years after he died, while paying in his share of the profits to the bank. The Count di’Cameron had also been a dutiful saver when it came to preparing for the future. Once Aston had finally summed everything up I was stunned at the total. I immediately understood why the bank had been reluctant to let me have the funds.
“Wait, could you repeat that for me?” I asked.
“Twenty six thousand four hundred and twenty three gold marks in liquid assets, plus a six percent interest in the Royal Bank of Lothion,” Aston repeated dutifully. “Then you also have to consider your land assets, the mining operations in the southern Elentir copper mines and the wool factorage in Gododdin…”
“Wool factorage?”
“A trading concern there, buying and selling wool, presumably your father invested in it due to the high prices of wool here in Lothion. A good portion of the shipping his other company handled was wool. After the government in Gododdin collapsed the factorage stopped shipping to Lothion, which caused Trigard Export to fall into a slow decline. Although the two nations are no longer trading actively his interests in the wool factorage are still there. I don’t have up to date numbers but the Bank of Gododdin should still be keeping records of his profits there, whatever they may be.”
In spite of the chaos of a civil war and rebellion the bank was still operating normally? I guess banks could care less about matters of government and religion… business goes on. My mind was still reeling from the shock of what he had told me. “What exactly does six percent interest in the Bank of Lothion mean exactly? Is that interest paid on my cash assets here?”
“Oh no! That’s six percent ownership in the bank. Your accounts receive a small dividend on all bank profits each quarter. Now if you’d like to sell off your shares in the bank we could probably find a buyer rather quickly…” Aston’s eyes lit up with greed.
“No that’s quite alright,” I stopped him. “I think I’ll leave the hard assets alone for now. The numbers you’ve been quoting me are a lot more than I expected. Are all the nobility so rich?” I felt foolish for asking but the shock had given my self-control a blow.
Mister Aston snorted, “Hardly! Quite a few are in debt to the bank. You’re probably the fourth or fifth richest man in Lothion at present. The king has considerably more, and the duchies of Tremont and Lancaster are doing very well of course. Most of your monies come from your father’s accounts. The Cameron accounts were respectable but the Illeniels have been building wealth since the nation was founded.”
A thought occurred to me, if I had let… whatever that was… destroy the bank I would have been destroying my own property. I almost chuckled. “I’ll need to withdraw some money for my return home, about five thousand marks should do.”
The banker blanched at the figure but kept his thoughts to himself, “Very good.”
“I also would like a letter of credit written out for Lady Rose Hightower, so that she may draw upon the rest,” I continued.
“Excuse me?” he choked.
“Which part was unclear?”
“How much credit do you wish for her to be permitted to draw upon?” he asked carefully. It looked as though he had swallowed a bone.
“The ‘rest’ would imply all of it, except the hard assets of course,” I replied sarcastically.
“But… she could bankrupt you!” he was almost shouting. He might have made me angry but for the fact he was now trying to protect my interests. I thought harder then… he must be protecting his own interests as well. I didn’t know much about finances, but at a guess the bank might not have that much in available coin. He might be worried Rose would render the bank insolvent by withdrawing more than their available cash reserves. It would also partly explain his original efforts to slow down my access to my accounts.
“Mister Aston, I understand your fears. I trust Lady Rose implicitly, the bank however I am still not so sure of. I realize that were she to use the entirety of that money it might place the bank in an awkward situation. I do not think she will need to do so, at least not immediately. In the meantime I think it would be best for the bank if it were to spend the next month making sure it has sufficient cash reserves that it is not relying upon the balance in my accounts to remain solvent.”
He flushed, “Are you implying…”
I interrupted, “I’m not implying anything Mister Aston. You know your bank far better than I do. Make sure she has access to those funds. If she has any problems drawing on my accounts I will have to return to Albamarl, and I won’t be happy.” I gave him a hard stare.
“Very well my lord, I think we understand each other,” Aston wasn’t happy but he could tell when his back was against the wall.
After that he drew up the letter of credit and had it signed and notarized. Getting the five thousand marks out of the bank turned out to be a much larger chore than I had realized. That much coinage weighed nearly four hundred pounds. In the end we had to leave and purchase a couple of mules and some sturdy leather packs to load the money into. For some reason the task put me in a good mood. Something about the feeling of having several hundred pounds of gold, in my ‘pocket’ as it were, gave me a lighthearted feeling. Told you I’m a fool. Any sane man
