“I will remember. Thank you, Father,” said Stephano softly.
Sir Ander embraced him. “Julian would be so very proud of you. I wish he could be here.”
Stephano remembered his father standing at the foot of his bed when he had been so ill. He remembered the ghostly image of his father riding at his side during the battle. Julian was here. He had never left his son’s side.
Father Jacob and Sir Ander moved on, walking over to speak to Dubois. Stephano stood alone in the crowded ballroom. His mother, seated in a chair and talking with Sir Henry Wallace, must have felt Stephano’s gaze upon her, for she smiled at him and touched her left hand, with the little golden ring, to her heart.
Stephano searched for Rodrigo and found him sitting at a pianoforte, accompanying himself as he was telling some scandalous story, to cries of horrified delight from his audience.
He waved to Stephano to join them.
“My dears,” said Rodrigo to the women gathered around him, “I want you to meet Stephano de Guichen. He’s—”
Rodrigo dropped his voice to a whisper. The women leaned closer, then gasped and looked back at Stephano with fan-fluttering adoration.
“This is supposed to be confidential,” said Stephano.
“Oh, we know,” said Rodrigo solemnly. He looked around the women. “We won’t say a word, will we?”
The women promised they would die before they told, and gathered around Stephano, begging to hear his adventures. He cast Rodrigo a baleful glance.
Rodrigo grinned, then motioned him to come close. “Seriously, my dear fellow, I am immensely pleased for you. Consider the strange ways of fate. All this happened because we were hired to find a missing journeyman.”
Stephano managed to disentangle himself from the bevy of admirers and was finally able to make good his escape. He needed to go somewhere quiet, to think and reflect. At home, Benoit would be awake, waiting for him. He would tell him the news, which would make the old man gloriously happy. Benoit could spend the remainder of his days sitting in front of a fire in the kitchen of the castle in Argonne, ordering about a staff of hundreds.
The Dragon Brigade. The king had asked him to name his replacement. Stephano did not have to look far for a commander. Captain Dag Thorgrimson would make his home in the de Guichen château near the dragon training grounds, and the old dragon, Droal, would be on hand to assist. Dag’s first new recruit would be Lieutenant Tutillo. He and Petard would make a good pair.
Viola would be unhappy, for she would have to find a new rider. Stephano promised himself he would still make time for her. The two of them were a team; he would always be a part of the Dragon Brigade, even if he was retired from combat.
Roaming the gardens outside the palace, Stephano gazed up at the myriad stars. The Breath of God was soft on his face, telling him of a future that held a wife, the “lovely and gracious lady,” and sons and daughters. He would teach them all to ride dragons.
Feeling a tickle on his palm, where Gythe had traced the good luck charm, he gently closed his hand over it.
He thought back to the last time he had been in the castle of Argonne, sitting between his father and the Duke of Bourlet; he looked forward to a time when his family and friends would gather around the same table.
Lord Captain Dag Thorgrimson would tell them stories of his latest triumph of the Dragon Brigade. The elderly Doctor Ellington would be sitting proudly on Dag’s shoulder, plotting, in spite of his advanced years, to get to the butter. Miri and Gythe would talk of their latest adventures as they sailed the Breath in their new boat, the Dragon Song. And Sir Rodrigo would impart the latest court scandals and show them the book titled The Seventh Sigil, that bore his name.
Stephano could hear the sound of laughter, see the sparkle of the crystal goblets in the candlelight, feel the warmth and camaraderie. Beneath his hand was fine linen, silver knives and forks and spoons, porcelain plates painted with dragons.
He looked around the table at his family and friends and knew that he was blessed.
BOOKS BY MARGARET WEIS AND ROBERT KRAMMES
Shadow Raiders
Storm Riders*
The Seventh Sigil*
*A TOR BOOK
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
MARGARET WEIS attended the University of Missouri, Columbia, graduating in 1970 with a B.A. in literature and creative writing. In 1983, she moved to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to work as a book editor for TSR, Inc., producers of the Dungeons and Dragons® role-playing game. She is the author or coauthor of a number of New York Times bestselling series, including The Dragonlance® Chronicles, Darksword, Rose of the Prophet, Star of the Guardians, The Death Gate Cycle, Sovereign Stone, Dragonvarld, and The Lost Chronicles. She recently contributed to a role-playing game set in the popular Firefly universe. She lives in Wisconsin with her four dogs. Discover more at www.margaretweis.com.
ROBERT KRAMMES lives in southwest Ohio with his wife, Mary, and their two cats. He is a longtime member of The Society for Creative Anachronism, an avid Cincinnati Bengals fan, and a backyard bird-watcher. The Seventh Sigil is their third collaboration, following Shadow Raiders and Storm Riders, the first two novels of the Dragon Brigades.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
THE SEVENTH SIGIL
Copyright © 2014 by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes
Dragon ornament copyright © 2013 by Jeff Easley
All rights reserved.
Edited by James Frenkel
Maps by Ellisa Mitchell
Cover art by Chris Rahn
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Weis, Margaret.
The Seventh Sigil / Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes. — First edition.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates Book”
ISBN 978-0-7653-3350-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-0182-0 (e-book)
1. Fantasy fiction. 2. Epic fiction. I. Krammes, Robert. II. Title.
PS3573.E3978 S49 2014
813'.54—dc23
2014015847
e-ISBN 9781466801820
First Edition: September 2014
The Seventh Sigil (Dragon Brigade Series) Page 66