The Dragon's Path

Dawson

Simeon paced before them all. The king's face was a mixture of hesitance and determination that Dawson had seen on hunting dogs unsure of how to get down a slope, aware that once they began there would be no stopping. Whatever counsel his old friend had taken in the long night, it hadn't been with him. On the other hand, he was certain it hadn't been with Curtin Issandrian either.

The audience chamber they sat in now wasn't the usual. There were no tapestries or soft velvet cushions, the walls were bare brick. There were no rugs or cushions to support the bent knees of Simeon's subjects. The king's guard stood along the walls with swords and armor that could not be mistaken for merely decorative. Prince Aster sat on a silver throne behind his father. It was clear the boy had been crying.

Curtin Issandrian knelt across the aisle from Dawson, his face drawn and pale. Alan Klin was at his side. Canl Daskellin and Feldin Maas had both managed to avoid attention. Odderd Faskellin was dead of an arrow to the throat, and his killer already feeding the gallows flies. Geder Palliako, by all rights the hero of the hour for holding the southern gate, had already left the city. Dawson was alone.

Behind and above the three of them, the viewing galleries were packed. Every man of nobility sat on low, uncomfortable stools behind the length of woven rope that pretended to separate them from the formal audience. The women stood in the upper gallery, including, somewhere amid the press, Clara. The highest gallery was customarily reserved for the most honored lowborn subjects of the king and ambassadors from foreign courts. Today, it stood empty.

The king stopped pacing, and Dawson didn't lift his head.

"This ends today," Simeon said, his voice ringing out to the farthest corners of the chamber. "It ends now."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Dawson said, his voice carefully humble. A moment later, Issandrian and Klin echoed him.

"Antea will not follow the dragon's path while I sit on the Severed Throne," Simeon went on. "These petty intrigues and political games will not bring confusion and strife to the empire at the heart of the world. I swear my life to it, and as your lord, I expect and demand the same of each of you."

This time when Dawson said, Yes, Your Majesty, Issandrian's cabal spoke with him.

"Noble blood has been spilled on the streets of Camnipol. Foreign swords have been drawn on our streets," the king went on. "It no longer matters whether the motives behind it were pure. There must be a reckoning."

In the corner of his vision, Dawson thought he saw Alan Klin grow even more ashen.

"Do you have any statements before I pass judgment?" the king asked. "Lord Kalliam?"

"No, Your Majesty," Dawson said. "I abide in loyalty to you and to the Severed Throne."

"Lord Issandrian?"

"Your Majesty," Curtin Issandrian said. His voice was shaking. "I wish to draw only two things to your attention. First, I beg that you consider that the violence yesterday may not have been the intention or plan of any man present. But if Your Majesty is adamant that punishment must be meted out, I ask that you spare my compatriot. The games for Prince Aster were my project, and mine alone. I would not have innocent men suffer simply because they know me."

It was a pretty speech, Dawson thought. But ill-advised.

"My Lord Issandrian forgets that this is not the first violence that your disagreements with House Kalliam have spawned. If you would like to offer yourself up to be made an example of, I will consider it, but don't think that anyone will find safety behind your skirts."

"Majesty," Issandrian said.

In the silence that followed, Dawson closed his eyes. His leg ached where his weight ground bone and skin into the stone floor, but he wouldn't shift. Fidgeting would be beneath the dignity of the occasion.

"Dawson Kalliam, Baron of Osterling Fells," King Simeon said. "I am doubling the duties owed by your holdings for the next five years. You are to absent yourself from the court and Camnipol for not less than half a year, nor are you permitted to raise soldiers or hire mercenaries without the express permission of the throne."

Dawson didn't speak, but deepened his bow. His heart was beating faster now, and he was careful not to show his anxiety.

"Curtin Issandrian, Baron of Corsa," the king went on. "I reclaim all lands previously held by you south of the river Andriann, and dismiss you from your positions as Warden of Estinport and Protector of the East. I am doubling the duties owed by your holdings for the next five years, and you are to absent yourself from the court and Camnipol for not less than half a year, nor are you permitted to raise soldiers or mercenaries without the express permission of the throne."

Dawson closed his eyes. He had to force himself not to shake his head. The disappointment sank in his belly like he'd swallowed a stone. The judgment against Klin would necessarily be equal or less. And indeed, King Simeon sent him into the same exile, increased his obligations, and stripped him of minor titles. Feldin Maas, wherever he was hiding, escaped without even that much.

When he called them to stand, Dawson looked up at his old friend. His king. Simeon's face was flushed, his breath fast, his face still set in a furious scowl. Behind him, Price Aster's chin was lifted as if in defiance. For a moment, Simeon looked into Dawson's eyes. If there was a flicker in the king's apparent outrage, it was the only acknowledgment Dawson would get. The king's guard stood aside, and Simeon strode out, Aster following, and the galleries burst into a thunderous clamor of voices. Dawson looked across the aisle to where Issandrian and Klin huddled in conversation of their own. Klin looked stunned. Issandrian seemed sad, and Dawson wondered whether it was for the same reason he was.

"Lord Kalliam, sir?"

The captain of the king's guard was a tall man, broad across the shoulders, with a pug face and apologetic, watery eyes. Dawson nodded to him.

"I'll have to ask you to be outside the gates by sundown, my lord," the man said.

"Is my household bound?"

"No, my lord. They can stay if they please."

Dawson scratched at his aching knee. The captain stood for a moment in silent respect, then moved to Issandrian's cabal to deliver, Dawson assumed, the same warning. He turned and walked out. The outer hall was black marble and worked silver. The midday sun glared through tall, unshuttered windows. Clara was there already, waiting for him with Vincen Coe behind her like her shadow. Jorey appeared at the hallway's end walking toward them quickly. His boots rang on the stone floor.

"I thought that went quite well," Clara said.

Dawson shook his head once.

"It was a travesty, dear," he said. "It was the end of the empire."

The carriage awaited them on the street, the team of horses snorting and impatient, as if the animals felt the changes in the city itself. A hundred others like it crowded the narrow streets, waiting for the assembled nobility of Antea to trickle out from the Kingspire. All of them made way for House Kalliam. A swift return to his home was the traditional last respect given an exile.

The rough cobbles rattled the carriage wheels. No one tried to speak. Dawson watched out the side window as the Kingspire vanished around a corner. They passed through the great square and into the streets of the city. Pigeons rose in great flocks, circled, and returned to earth. Then the Silver Bridge, and the great drop of the Division. Smoke rose from the forges and ovens.

A day ago, noble blood had spilled in these streets. Today, it looked the same as it always had, except to the few like himself who knew better.

At his private mansion, the servants brought out the steps as they always did. Dawson waved away the offered hands. The old Tralgu door servant greeted him solemnly. Within, the servants of the household were preparing the house. Tapestries were being taken down, furnishings draped against dust. His houndsman already had the dogs in their traveling cages; the animals whimpered their confusion and distress. Dawson knelt by them, pressing his hand against the bars to let the dogs smell him and lick at his fingers.

"I can stay on," Jorey said.

"Do that," Dawson said. "I won't have time to put everything to rights before I leave."

"Some of the servants have to stay, dear," Clara said. "The gardens won't survive without the gardeners to look after them. And the fountain in the rose court still needs repair."

In the cage, the dog looked up at Dawson. Its huge brown eyes were soft and frightened. He reached through a finger and stroked its muzzle. A jaw strong enough to sever a fox's spine with a bite leaned gently into him.

"Do what's best, Clara," he said. "I trust you."

"Lord Kalliam?"

Vincen Coe gave a huntsman's salute. Dawson brought himself to nod.

"Lord Daskellin's come, my lord," Coe said. "He's in the western sitting room."

Dawson drew himself to his feet. The dog whined as he walked away from it. There was nothing he could do. He had no more comfort to offer. In the sitting room, Canl Daskellin stood at the window, his hands clasped behind his back like a general overseeing the field of battle. His pipe smoke was sweet enough to cloy.

"Canl," Dawson said. "If there's anything you want of me, it had best be something quick. I don't have time for a hand at cards."

"I came to offer my sympathies and congratulations."

"Congratulations? For what?"

"We've won," Daskellin said, turning away from the window and striding into the room. "You played your hand brilliantly. You lured Issandrian into a thrust he couldn't follow through, then cut his conspiracy down. Now he's in disgrace. His inner circle is exiled. Stripped of lands and titles. There's no saying who will take Prince Aster as ward, but it won't be any of them. There won't be a farmer's council in our lifetimes. I'm sorry it came at a price to you, but I swear that your name will be praised as a hero while you're gone."

"What good's winning battles when the war's lost?" Dawson said. "Did you actually come here to celebrate, Daskellin? Or is this how you gloat?"

"Gloat?"

"Odderd Faskellin was a rabbit and a coward, but he had high blood. He died yesterday. In Camnipol, and by foreign hands. That hasn't happened in centuries. And how did Simeon reply? Increased taxes. Petty exile. A few minor lands and titles shuffled about."

Daskellin leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. Grey smoke spilled from his lips and nostrils.

"What would you have had him do?"

"Slaughter them all himself. Bind them, take sword in hand, and take their heads with his own hand," Dawson said.

"It sounds like you're missing Palliako already," Canl said dryly. Dawson ignored him.

"An armed company in the streets? It's treason against the throne, and to answer it with less than death is one step short of open surrender. He made himself a mask of fierceness, and all it did was point out how frightened he is. You should have seen it. Simeon strutting and raging and calling for an ending. It was like watching a shepherd boy trying to shout down wolves."

"Frightened? Of whom?"

"The power backing Issandrian. He's afraid of Asterilhold," Dawson said, and then pointed an accusing finger at Daskellin himself. "And he's afraid of Northcoast."

The imitation of a smile bent Daskellin's lips and he took his pipe from his mouth.

"I am not Northcoast, old friend," he said. "And if consideration of the reactions of the other courts and kingdoms brought King Simeon to a place of greater mercy, that's wisdom on his part."

"That's permission for every landholder in the kingdom to spread his loyalty as widely as he can," Dawson said. "As long as answering to a duchess in Asterilhold or a bank in Northcoast makes us safer than standing by Antea, Simeon won't have a court of his own. He wants to keep the kingdom off the dragon's path so badly that he's walking down it."

Daskellin knelt by the fire grate, knocking the bowl of his pipe against the soot-stained brick. A rain of ashes fell from it.

"We disagree," he said, "but there can be room for a little differences between allies. You're right, of course, that even with Issandrian's cabal hobbled, the danger to the kingdom hasn't entirely passed. Whether you believe me or not, I'd thought to reassure you that I would keep working during your exile."

"By selling us to the Medean bank?"

"By seeing that King Simeon has the support and loyalty he needs."

"Spoken like a diplomat," Dawson said.

Daskellin bristled, and then as Dawson watched, gathered his temper in. He tucked his pipe into his belt and stood. The smell of old smoke still hung in the room.

"It's a dark day for you," Canl said, "so I'm going to take that for what you said and ignore what you meant by it. Whatever you think, I didn't come to gloat."

The two stood for a moment, the silence between them stretching. Canl Daskellin made a rueful half-smile, then walked out, putting a hand on Dawson's shoulder as he passed. Dawson listened to the footsteps draw away, drowning in the noise of his household being uprooted. He stood a moment longer, looking out the window without seeing the early summer trees beyond it. Without hearing the birds or the servants or the whining of dogs.

He turned away.

Dawson left in a single open carriage. He sat on the forward seat, looking back toward the city, Clara sat at his side. Vincen Coe on the bench beside the teamster. Carts with his belongings would come more slowly, but they would come. The path to Osterling Fells would carry them over the dragon's roads for half a day, and the dragon's jade under their wheels was smoother than the streets of Camnipol.

"There isn't any chance of coming upon them, is there?" Clara asked.

"Who?"

"One of them," Clara said. "Lord Issandrian or Lord Klin. Or Lord Maas. It would by entirely too awkward, I think. I mean really, what does one say? I can't see inviting them to share a meal, but it would be rude not to. Do you think we should tell the driver to keep distance if he sees another carriage? If we can pretend not to have realized who they are, we can all keep to form. Unless it's Maas. Phelia must be in ruins over this."

Despite everything, Dawson smiled. He took his wife's hand in his. Her fingers were thicker than when he'd first known her. His own, rougher. Time had changed them both in some ways, and in some ways left them untouched. From the first day of their marriage, before even, he'd known she saw a different world than he did. It was part of what he loved in her.

"I'm sure we won't," he said. "Issandrian and Klin won't be taking this road, and there's no reason for Maas to leave court. Not now."

Clara sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"My poor man," she said.

He craned his neck a bit, kissing the hair just above her ear, then put his arm around her shoulders.

"It won't be so bad," he said, trying to sound as if he believed it. "I missed the winter in Osterling Fells. This can make up for it. We'll summer at home, run back to Camnipol for the closing of court, and then turn back for the winter."

"Can we?" Clara said. "We could stay through the winter if you'd rather. We don't have to make two trips."

"No, love," he said. "It's not just to see the autumn pageant. I'll want to see how things have played in court before winter anyway. It only seems like I'm indulging you. I'm really a selfish boor."

Clara chuckled. A few miles later, she began snoring gently. Coe, noticing, handed down a wool blanket in silence, and Dawson covered Clara without rousing her. The sun sank behind them, reddening. Shadows spilled across the landscape, and the trilling, shrill birds of evening announced themselves.

Dawson was leaving the field of battle, but the fight would go on without him. Issandrian, Maas, Klin. They weren't killed, nor had they acted alone. Maas and his allies in court would do everything in their power to see their names raised again to respectability. Daskellin would doubtless take the helm of Dawson's own group, or at least that part of it that could stomach the bland little banker from Northcoast. Simeon would dance between the blades and tell himself there was a place at the middle where everything could balance, that peace could be kept if he only never made a stand.

A weak king might survive if he had a loyal court, but in casting Dawson out, Simeon had exiled the only man who had truly championed him. Nothing good could come now. The court was being led through an idiot's dance, made up of men with their own agendas. Shortsighted, self-serving idiots.

It would take a miracle to redeem King Simeon now. The best hope of the kingdom was that Prince Aster be sent as ward of a family that could show him what kingship was better than the king himself. Dawson indulged himself for a moment in the fantasy of taking the prince under his own wing and teaching him what Simeon could not. Clara murmured in her sleep, pulling the blanket more tightly around her.

The sun dipped down to the horizon, the walls and towers of Camnipol obscured by the power of its fire. For a moment, Dawson imagined the light came from a great conflagration. Not the sunset, but Camnipol burning. It had the weight of prophecy.

Shortsighted, self-serving idiots. A burning city.

Dawson wondered, almost idly, where Geder Palliako had gotten to.