Theodosius Valkorion's Arc

Chapter 3 of 22

The banner in the fountain held for a week. No pledges came with it. Theodosius stood in the map room of the white towers and looked at the provinces drawn in ink. Nine seals should have arrived by now. None had. He could not march on lords he could not name, and he could not name the ones who were already writing to his enemies. Heinrich found him there at dusk. "You need eyes before you need soldiers," the old commander said. "Send someone who doesn't come back with a report you can read at court." "Who?" "The man who runs the quiet work. I'll bring him tonight." The head of the Clandestine Guard came without a torch. He wore black armor and a helmet with a triangle visor, and he did not bow when the door closed. Theodosius had heard the name in his mother's papers. He had never seen the face and understood he would not. "Master Inag Divondûn," Heinrich said. "Your Majesty." The visor tipped once. Nothing else moved. "Nine provinces," Theodosius said. "No pledges. I need to know which lords are wavering and which are already sold." "Time?" "Three weeks." "Two lords a week. Nine provinces. I can place a man in each." "Placed how?" "Grain clerks. Horse traders. One priest." Inag paused. "I have someone for the western holds." He turned to the door and lifted one gloved finger. A second figure stepped in from the corridor as if he had been standing there the whole time. Black armor edged in gold. A visor that showed nothing. Theodosius had not heard him arrive. "Guardsman Serett," Inag said. "He does not exist. Keep it that way." Serett said nothing at first. He studied the map, then the king. "Which lord do you want first?" "The one who thinks he's safest." "That's four of them." "Start with the one who wrote to my mother most often and has written to me least." Serett's helmet tilted a fraction. "Two weeks." "Three," Inag said. "He'll want it clean." Theodosius set his hand on the map. "Clean. Every name. Every letter. I want to know who to summon and who to bury before the summons." "Understood," Inag said. They left the way they had come. Heinrich stayed. He looked at the empty doorway a long moment. "You've just handed nine strangers the shape of your reign," he said. "I've handed it to two," Theodosius said. "The strangers are theirs." "And if one of the two is already bought?" Theodosius did not answer. He rolled the map and set it under his arm. On the table lay a sealed letter that had come in that afternoon from the south. No pledge. No refusal. Only a broken lotus drawn in red ink, and beneath it, a hawk.