Armand’s First Letter. Amelia’s First Letter.
13 May 1019
Bois-de-Bas
My dear sister Amelia,
All is in turmoil here in Mont-Havre. Armand has been arrested. I am—well, not in hiding, precisely, but staying out of the public eye.
It seems we underestimated the perfidy of M. Sabot, and the venality of the majority of the deputies in the Grand Parliament. As of noon two days ago the prominent Cumbrians in Mont-Havre, including Armand, were arrested by the local constabulary on the orders of M. Desaulniers, the Provost of Mont-Havre. His men are armed, and have taken control of the city. He claims to have taken these outrageous actions on behalf of the Grand Parliament and His Provençese Majesty—which is a laugh, as I presume that that the supporters of the pretenders to that throne are still squabbling amongst themselves across the fields of Provençe.
The Grand Parliament has appointed a new governor, representing His Provençese Majesty: our old friend M. Depillage né Sabot. Lord Winthrop, bad luck to him, is under house arrest. Colonel Graham’s garrison is holding fast in their barracks, which are surrounded by Armorican troops in the uniform of the constabulary. All shipping is being held in the harbor, and the city is under martial law.
I was dining with M. Suprenant and his family when the hammer fell. He kept me hidden while he investigated, and this morning shipped me out like so many dry goods to Bois-de-Bas, or else I would likely have been taken as well.
With the closing of the harbor no packets are leaving Mont-Havre; thus I am sending you this message on the Tuppenny Wagons packet Loyalty, which has lately come off of the ways here in Bois-de-Bas. She was meant to be handed over to the Courier’s Guild this coming Tuesday, but the Courier’s Guild will just have to wait; Marc Frontenac has taken her over for the company’s own use, and will be sending her to Cumbria post-haste. She will also carry messages to His Cumbrian Majesty’s government.
There is so much we do not know. I understand from Armand that the Grand Parliament was greatly divided on the subject of M. Depillage and his offers, with many of the deputies holding fast to their agreements with the Cumbrian Crown. I can only assume that these deputies are either singing a new tune or are also being closely held.
The mood in Mont-Havre is sullen. The Grand Parliament has gathered sufficient men-in-arms to hold the city for the present; but M. Suprenant tells me that those citizens with whom he has spoken are filled with disgust, especially the older colonists. They came here to escape the Ancien Régime, as M. Suprenant calls it, not to perpetuate it.
I fear that there will soon be blood in the streets and Armoricans fighting Armoricans. Certainly there are many here in Bois-de-Bas, Marc Frontenac among them, who would gladly take up their wartime arms and march on Mont-Havre. Or, rather, glide in their sky-wagons and sleds, for they were forest fighters in the late war, not line soldiers.
I believe I have persuaded them to hold back for the time being. At present this is not an uprising of the people of Armorica, but of certain men, dazzled by (I hope) empty promises, who have seized power in Mont-Havre. It will go better for the people of this Land if His Cumbrian Majesty’s men do not need to reestablish order at sword-point.
I beg of you, use whatever influence you have as the Heroine of the Approaches to see that the Cumbrian response comes soon!
Your beleaguered brother,
Jack
Author’s Note: As initially posted, Armand’s letter of 10 April 1019 stated that the Courier’s Guild had not yet purchased any packets from Tuppenny Wagons. I later found a reference in a much earlier letter to the Courier Guild’s first purchase; and so I have removed that paragraph from the letter of 10 April 1019, and have gone on to presume that that initial purchase has been followed by others.
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Photo by Sherise Van Dyk on Unsplash
Zymurgia House 