Theodosius Valkorion's Arc

Chapter 14 of 22

The riders went out at dawn with the white book in their saddlebags. Theodosius stayed at the keep and set the oath for noon. The five loyal lords were already inside the walls. They had ridden in with their spears the day before, ready to march to the pass. Now he needed their names on the book before they marched, not after. He held the ceremony in the yard, not the hall. He wanted the legionaries to see it. The Prime Consul stood on a low step in his white and light-blue vestments, the bound code open in his hands, the pale blue star on the cover facing the lords. Behind the Prime Consul, a double rank of the Palatine Guard held the line in white and light-blue armor, four-pointed stars on every breastplate. Theodosius stood at the center in the lotus crown, the star-marked blade drawn and resting point-down on the flagstones. Lightning traced the flat of the blade. The first lord swore. The second swore. The third swore. The fourth stepped up, laid his hand on the book, and did not speak. He looked at the star on the cover. He looked at the star on the visors of the Guard. He said he would swear when the columns were beaten, not before. He said a king should not ask a lord to bind his lands while a foreign army stood two days off. The yard went quiet. Theodosius saw the fifth lord shift his weight, ready to say the same thing. One refusal in the open would be five. He did not raise his voice. He lifted the blade. The lightning climbed the edge and cracked once against the air. He walked to the hesitating lord and set the point on the flagstone between the man's boots. "The book is the star," he said. "Refuse the book, refuse the star. The Prime Consul has said it. I say it now. Swear, and ride to the pass with your spears. Refuse, and your seat passes to your heir before sundown, and your heir swears in your place." The Prime Consul closed the book on one finger and opened it again to the oath page. He said nothing. He did not need to. The lord put his hand on the star. He swore. His voice was thin, but the words were the words. The fifth lord swore after him without lifting his eyes. Theodosius sheathed the blade. The five names were on the book. The Palatine Guard did not move. He gave the order to march at first light. Thraxes would have his reinforcements at the pass by dusk the day after. Inag met him at the hall door as the yard emptied. The fourth lord's steward had ridden out the west gate an hour before the oath, Inag said, and had not come back. Someone in the keep had known the ceremony was coming and had sent word ahead.