by K. E. Young
The knives were easier since I was a lot less fussy about them. I ended up gathering several knives I liked. I also picked out a staff, a set of canes, a club, and a bow. Master Thoras led me out to a little side yard off the main practice yard where archery butts were placed and watched critically while I strung the bow and gave it a few practice shots. I noted that we needed to replace the string as it frayed a little on the last couple of shots and Master Thoras promised to see to it.
Another messenger boy was waiting for me when I handed the bow to Thoras. "My lady! There is a man named Belam waiting for you in your office. He said you summoned him. He bears a green ribbon but isn't on the rolls for your household."
I thanked the kid and left my weapons with Tani. It had to be Voth's friend. Before I went into my office, I nipped into Mero's for a quick smooch and, to his amusement, stole some of his office supplies and a report waiting for filing. I sighed inside at the mess he had made of his desk already.
When I entered my office, I saw a thin mid-height fellow in somewhat ragged clothing standing at the empty fireplace looking uncertain. "Are you Voth's friend?"
"Yes, my lady. He said you sent for me and gave me this ribbon but the fellow at the gate said it didn't seem to be legitimate."
"Oh, its legitimate all right, I just need to add your name to the list. I should have asked Voth what it was before he went to fetch you. I am sorry about that. It's been an incredibly busy day so far. Now, Voth said you can read and write." I handed him paper and writing utensils.
"Yes, my lady. I also know arithmetic."
"Excellent. Now, I'll read something and I want you to write it down as close to what I say as possible. Don't worry if words are shortened or misspelled or even missing as long as you can read it. Understand?"
"Yes, my lady." He looked lost but terribly earnest sitting there. I read off the first half of the report, then I had him read back what he had written. He got it exactly. I looked over his shoulder at what he had written. He had used odd contractions and there wasn't any paragraphing but it was exact. Readable. His penmanship was better than mine was. Of course, he was more familiar with writing the language than I was and had developed the muscle memory for it so it should be expected.
"Well done! You're in although I had no doubts about that. I'll be using you as an assistant. You'll get special training from me and an extra allotment so you can pick up some new clothes. I can't have you dressed like that. As my assistant, you have a certain status to uphold. It comes with meals and a room here at the palace. Weapons practice as well if you have any skills and yes, street brawling is a skill if you're any good at it. Do you think you can take orders from me?"
He still looked a little lost but seemed to have realized what I was offering. "My lady, are you offering me a place in your household?"
"Yes, as my assistant. For now. Maybe you will do well as Lord Cassettis'. If that's the case, I'll ask you to move over to his household, but since both households are merging, it's more of a technicality."
"Lord Cassettis? The spymaster?"
"Ah, you're aware of that then. Yes. He's my mate. His requirements for the job are more specific than mine are so it's harder to find the right person. I was his assistant for all of two days before they figured out I'm a dragon. That changed everything. I got a lot done but there's still much to do before I can turn it over to someone else. Maybe you can help me with that. Meanwhile, what do you think? Willing to give it a try?"
"Yes, my lady. I think I have a lot to learn though."
I grinned in sympathy. "Don't we all? Probably not as much as you think. Common sense will carry you through most situations. Just keep one thing in mind. You are no longer a lower class commoner, a nobody. You are a member of my household and my assistant. I am a member of the Drakkeni imperial family and I accept only the best. It will help give you the attitude you need to keep the idiots here at court from hassling you. You belong here. Who are they to question that?"
Belam's smile was shy and hesitant, as if he still didn't quite believe his good fortune. "Yes, my lady."
"All right, let's go find my housemaster, Tani. She may end up using your services too so it's best you meet her. She can also give you your room assignment and we'll see what we need to do to get you some decent clothes. Oh, and I should take you next door to meet Mero. Lord Cassettis." I chuckled. "Look at his desk, you'll see why he needs an assistant."
We trooped next door and I introduced him. Mero signaled him to sit and waved me away. "Go find Tani while I talk to this young man. Don't worry my love, I won't eat him."
"Better not. He'd spoil your appetite." I wandered out to find Tani leaving Belam in my mate's tender clutches.
Chapter 16
Day 8: 46th Day of Sanctuary, 3866
I tracked Tani down outside the new quarters and briefed her on my new assistant. She had a room already set aside for whoever got the job and agreed that the expense of a couple sets of clothes was worthwhile to keep the image of the household intact. "I'll send him out with a warrior first thing tomorrow with a letter of credit. That should take care of the matter. There's no time to do it before dinner. I'll go let the guard know he is one of ours now."
"How long is it until dinner? I'm hungry."
She laughed. "Only an hour. I'm sure you can hold out that long."
"You're asking an awful lot from me." She continued on her way, laughing the whole time. I grinned, then turned back towards Mero's office. When I arrived, I found Mero and Belam laughing over drinks in front of the fireplace. Belam was telling a story about a woman of his acquaintance and looked considerably more relaxed than when I left him.
Mero glanced up and grinned at me. "My love! You have returned to me!"
I snorted and gave him the evil eye. "I have returned for my assistant!"
"Are you sure I can't have him? I find I rather like him. He's just bloody-minded enough to understand the value of spies and assassins and knowledgeable enough about people and politics to be useful. Admittedly, he speaks of politics as if they were street gangs."
I chuckled. "Not yet. I want to teach him a few things first. However, he will help me get your office in order. And what makes you think street gangs aren't politics? Some gangs prowl palace hallways while others prowl alleyways. It's a matter of us against them. Work to benefit your own group and destroy the others. At its base, they're all just animals contesting for resources."
Mero sighed. "You have a way of cutting to the core of a thing."
"You can blame my grandmother for that. She's the one that taught me that the motivations we give are often just an excuse to cover our animal instincts at work. Court fashions are a way to attract a mate, just like the bright feathers of a bird. Politics and social class, a way to establish a place in the pack and secure needed resources, or in our case, not so much needed as keeping them away from our competition. Our imagination allows us to dress it up any number of ways, but it's still just instinct."
Mero's head was tilled in thought. "So all we are is animals?"
"Not entirely. Our imagination saves us from that. Our ability to look at the world and see the possibilities. Art, science, magic, music, charity. It's when we turn our attention away from ourselves that we become more than animals. Isn't that what the gods encourage, those bits of ourselves and our works that surpass the animal?"
Mero and Belam both looked thoughtful at this. "Those things that make us More… You may be right in that my love. If so, then we dragonlords are just as guilty of being animals as anyone else. Perhaps that is why you're here. To put us back in the good graces of the gods."
"Or maybe it was to give you a smacking on the practice field to deflate your ego." I grinned.
He barked a laugh and pulled me into his arms. "Perhaps." He nuzzled my neck, breathing in deeply before whispering, "I love you, Kendra. I don't care why the gods brought you here. They brought you to me."
I stoked his hair and hugged him back. "They
did." I pulled away after a moment and turned to Belam.
"You have a room already assigned and Tani is adding you to the household rolls. You'll meet them at dinner, which is in less than an hour, and tomorrow you'll head out with a letter of credit and a bodyguard to get some new clothes and gather whatever you have that you want to keep. Tani is my housemaster, Koris is Mero's, Michael is my accountant, and Ilatis is in charge of the palace staff. Now, do you want to know where the library is? I can introduce you to Thermin if he's there. Any questions?"
"Why didn't you hire Voth as your assistant? He must be better qualified." He still didn't sound as if he believed it was real. It made me a little mad. From all I had seen and heard, he was a very smart man who just needed a chance. That he had learned so much with so few resources said a lot about Belam. That he did it without resorting to dishonesty said even more.
"I need him to help set up schools and find teachers for me." I grinned at him. "Besides, I like the idea of helping someone who is considered inferior based on false and arbitrary premises. I want to help them fight the odds to get what they want. I did some of that myself. So, if you know anyone else who needs a little help making these uppity nobles eat sand, let me know."
Belam looked thoughtful at this last bit although he refrained from replying.
The bell rang for dinner just then and I peered at Mero. "It's early."
"Maybe the upset of putting your household together caused the kitchen to time the preparations wrong."
I gave him my best little kid look. "Maybe Tani let them know how hungry I am."
Mero snorted and smiled indulgently. "Probably not." He tucked an arm around my waist and led me towards the dining hall. I waved at Belam to follow us.
"Ah well, let's go eat! Belam, I'll show you the library some other time."
We made our way to the dining hall and Mero cast a critical eye on the arrangements. "Crowded."
It was, but it would only get worse. "Imagine it when the Drakkeni arrive."
He was silent for a moment. "Gods above and below! You definitely have a way of putting things in perspective. They won't fit!"
"They will if everybody is friendly and they get here before we fill the empty house positions." He chuckled in response and pulled a chair out for me, dropping a kiss on top of my head as I sat down. Tani sat down in the first spot along one leg of the table and Koris took the one on the other leg. This left space for two or three people to either side of Mero and me. Place settings hadn't been set but that didn't deter Dantalion who took the empty spot to my left.
"Greetings, sister! How was your first full day as a dragonlord?"
"Too much stuff where my only contribution was to stand there and look decorative."
He laughed. "If we get time, I'll pull you aside and see if I can hold up my end of a sword match. Will that help?"
As fun as the match with Mero had been earlier, it wasn't enough. I typically trained hard and lead a class or two a day. The lack of exercise over the past week had me feeling edgy. "Immensely! I even have a new sword to try out."
His look askance spoke volumes. "Ah, I need to wear armor don't I?"
He didn't need to worry. At least, not for the reason he thought. "It might be a good idea. I might hit you by accident. Swords are not my best weapon. I focused on weapons it was either legal to carry or that my opponents were likely to carry. Swords just aren't common there. I need lessons. Master Thoras says my temporary armor will be ready tomorrow though. I may as well test it to see how well the alterations work out."
"Lessons eh? I shall teach you then, but I'll want you to teach me your dagger. It could be useful in a fight."
"That sounds like an excellent plan. So, how much longer till we know when they arrive?"
He knew whom I meant. "I've been expecting them for hours and I'm surprised someone hasn't arrived already. By my estimation, they're late. The emperor should have sent his fastest couriers to let us know when he would arrive and how many to expect."
"Maybe he thought it was a joke." I could hope.
Mero spoke up. "Even if he thought it was a joke, he would have to come. It's too important. I agree with Dantalion. They're late."
"I had hoped…. So, anything new on Nurian's plans?'
Mero nodded heavily. "Knowing what the poison is and where it comes from, Wik and I narrowed down which ships it had to have arrived on. One of them is due back in port in a few days. It gives us a timeline at least. We have men on the docks keeping an eye out for them and he's tracking the cargo. Maybe it can give us a clue where Nurian stashed it. I also have men checking out Nurian's holdings. It has to be relatively close. Ilatis has some of her people checking out hiding spots in the palace."
I shook my head. "It might not be in any of his holdings, it may be somewhere unrelated like a warehouse hired by a third party." We had no clue where this stuff was and that alarmed me. It could be anywhere.
Mero dropped the roll in his hand back onto his plate. "I know, but it's unlikely. He'll want to keep it close. With his ego and desire for control, he'll want it where his allies won't be tempted to seize or control it for themselves. From our investigations and from what Sebas said, we know he doesn't have enough yet to poison the palace's water source. However, he does have more than enough to be a threat to us if he uses another method instead. We need to find that poison. The capture of Nurian's accomplices is a secondary concern."
Dantalion spoke up as he filled the plate a servant had snuck in front of him while Mero was speaking. "At least we are aware of the issue and have hope of resolving the problem. It's more than we had a week ago. I think if Kendra hadn't come here, we would have gone unsuspectingly to our deaths. We've gotten complacent."
Mero tugged on his ponytail. "I agree. We let their outward acceptance lull us.
Dantalion's own frustration reared its head. "What makes me angry is that even if we're successful in dealing with Nurian, it won't do any good. The Lords will remain a problem and this will just give them more reason for disaffection. You wouldn't believe some of what I have to put up with from them when I'm with the army. At least I rarely have to deal with the sneaky ones you have here. I can't tell you how often they want us to roust out some poor family because they can't pay the extra taxes levied by the lords."
Mero's expression was disbelieving. "They're still doing that? Geran forbade the practice."
Dantalion washed his mouthful down with tea. "It hasn't stopped them. Get far enough from the city and the lords are still the greatest authority. I have stopped them from using the army to do their will, but it doesn't stop them from trying to get around me. In the last six months, I've had two officers executed for diverting army resources to the lords, one other is in prison for accepting bribes."
Mero growled. "You had better have reported it to Geran."
Dantalion's grin held the same glee he had shown after I beat Mero. "Of course. Why do you think Geran gave those southern estates to Taglion's bastard rather than his declared heir?"
Mero raised a brow in interest. "I thought it was because there's no way Taglion sired the heir."
Dantalion laughed. "Why would Geran care? No, the message I received from Geran said the heir's actions put him out of consideration. If he did that before he even officially owned those lands, then Geran couldn't trust him to administer them. Geran was kind enough to allow me to give the brat the news. You might think he was a karis from his howling."
Mero shook his head in annoyance. "No matter what we do, they never seem to learn. Dragos and Kaio said they had similar issues with the lords in Therys until the valbore taught them the error of their ways. Unfortunately, we don't have anything like that." Mero grasped my hand and gave it a squeeze. "Kendra, I think your idea of fosterage will make a difference there. We thought enough time had passed that the nobility had accepted the new power structure but obviously not."
I gave an exasperated huff. "Not even close, as I could have told you if anyone
had asked. Where I come from, there are two religious sects that claim to branch from the chosen son of a man named Abraham. He had two sons, one sired on a slave woman and another sired on his wife. One sect claims the slave woman's son, who was born first, was the chosen one while the other sect states it was the legitimate son, even though he was born second. The two sects have been fighting for well over a thousand years with no resolution or accommodation in sight. If anything, the rift has grown. Humans are tribal by nature and the locals seem to have that much in common with us."
Mero sighed. "Perhaps you are right. Once again, you put it into perspective for me. I cannot imagine Drakkeni doing such a thing. Our dragons wouldn't let us. Once authority has established and proven itself capable, we accept them. The recent rift with the isolationists is an aberration."
I leaned against him for a moment. "In my old world, fear is the biggest cause of political isolationism. They fear change, chaos, strife, and the unknown. They fear those who are not like them, those they do not understand. Combine that with the very human desire to ensure that their tribe or group was dominant. The best way to fight that is to educate them. Teach them about what they fear. It's harder to fear what you understand."
The rest of dinner was more somber at the head of our table, but that didn't deter everyone else from having fun. There was copious noise and laughter and people from other tables came to visit and join in the fun. I was just beginning to recover my good mood watching the antics of my new household when a warrior in black and red came in and whispered in Dantalion's ear. Dantalion stood and nodded to Geran before turning to Mero and me. "The advance guard is arriving now. The lookout says he counted six dragons." He then followed Geran out of the room.