This time, to her excitement and even to her amazement, research did not eliminate the legend from consideration. Instead it led her more and more deeply toward something that looked rather like truth.
MELINA'S RESEARCH into the tale of the Star Wizard and the Dragon of Despair fell into two separate but connected channels. One was hunting for the places mentioned with such exasperating obliqueness in the story. The other was searching for the spell by which the Star Wizard had bound the dragon and by which, so the tales said, it could be again set free.
True, all the tales said that the holds that bound the dragon could not be released without terrible cost, but Melina was not afraid of cost. Hadn't she already given up her homeland and proximity to her children? Hadn't she given up property and the respect of her brothers? Hadn't she accepted that she was spoken of in the same breath as her brother Newell—and she as the worse of the two, though Newell had sought to murder King Tedric?
Cost frightened Melina little enough, and if she succeeded in this venture she would take back much of what had been stolen from her. She would reclaim her obedient children and punish that traitorous bitch Sapphire. She would have property enough—kingdoms' worth.
As for slander on her name, none would dare speak of Melina with other than perfect respect. The New Kelvinese would give her honors easily, for their awe of magical power was universal. The Hawk Havenese would struggle, but fear was a powerful force, as Melina had learned in educating her children. There would come a time when no one spoke of Melina with anything but wonder, awe, and respect.
She would be like her ancestress, Zorana Shield, now called the Great, but where Zorana had been merely the queen of one small, constantly embattled kingdom, Melina planned to rule all this region. The New Kelvinese had waited too long for their Founders. It was time they acquired the ability to go looking for their absent landlordsùand to demand an accounting.
The first step in that journey was solidifying the region and its resources behind one leader. Realistically, New Kelvin was a small kingdom. It needed harbors and fleets, land more fertile than its own rocky soil to support such an effort.
To the north New Kelvin was bordered by mountains, inhabited, as far as Melina knew, by nothing but a few isolated communities. To the west were the Death Touch Mountains, known as the Iron Mountains in Melina's natal land. There was nothing but wilderness in those western lands, and although someday the raw resources of that wilderness might prove useful, for now the west could be ignored.
South and east were where Melina looked to find what she desired. In the south lay Hawk Haven and beyond it its new ally, Bright Bay. Hawk Haven would provide a source for rich agricultural resources as well as laborers and skilled crafters. Bright Bay would serve as a buffer against potentially aggressive neighbors farther south. Its navy would be sent to conquer the Isles and bring them back under mainland control.
For her exploratory navy, Melina planned to go into Waterland. Conquest there would be interesting, for the only thing that the Waterlanders valuedùas far as Melina could tellùwas money. She had several plans she might employ in her conquest, one of which simply involved using the hoarded treasury of New Kelvinùbacked by sufficient force of armsùto buy herself into the place of the Supreme Affluent. There might be laws forbidding such, but Melina planned to find that which would make laws a formalityùat least where she was concerned.
Such were the dreams and visions that kept Melina at her research long after Toriovico had slipped into sated slumber, that kept her at them when even Apheros the Dragon Speaker relaxed and took time for some light entertainment. Such were the researches that led her at last to the tunnels beneath Thendulla Lypella, hunting for where the Dragon of Despair was imprisoned.
Chapter XV
FOUR TIMES A MOON PHASE the Healed One met with the Dragon Speaker in a very private meeting. Ideally these meetings should occur at neat, astronomically defined times, but the responsibilities of being joint heads of government meant that the current Dragon Speaker and Healed One met when convenient, usually on a date as close as possible to that which had been the appointed.
Toriovico knew this casualness regarding date had not always been the case. During the reign of the second Healed One the Stargazers had gained great prominence by dictating the precise hour at which the moon was full or at her first quarter or whateverùand dictating when meetings should be held thereby.
The Stargazers had abused their power, though, often calling for meetings at odd hours of the night, or hauling the Dragon Speaker from other duties at the whim of the heavens. When the insanity of the third Healed One had meant that meetings were held when possible rather than when the Stargazers ordained, and when no great catastrophe had befallen New Kelvin, then the Stargazers had fallen from glory. They never had recovered.
Or rather, Toriovico thought, observing who Apheros had admitted at the end of today's briefing, they have never recovered until today.
The man and woman Apheros had begged permission to admit so that they might advise on an order of new business were the two most prominent Stargazers in the kingdom: Dimiria and Xarxius.
Technically, Dimiria was merely one of the three Primes elected from within her sodality. In reality, she was the driving force within her triad. It was widelyùif quietlyùsaid that the other two did not dare vote contrary to her wishes.
For eighty years the stars had looked down upon Dimiria and the brave jested that for at least seventy-five of those years she had been ordering them about their business.
Dimiria wore her eighty years neither well nor with any attempt to disguise what they had done to her. When her hair had thinned, she had adopted a hooded robe rather than a wig or weaving hair in to thicken her queue.
When the majority of her teeth had fallen out, Dimiria had ordered the remainder pulled. The dentures she now wore were as much statement of identity as her tattoos or the patterns of her face paint. Each ivory tooth was incised with an astrological symbol from her personal horoscope. As if this wasn't enough to draw attention, the set had an idiosyncratic fit so that Dimiria's speech was underlaid with a certain hollowness.
Superficially, Xarxius could not be more different from his colleague. Indeed, although his training had been among the Stargazers, for the last decade or so he had been a member of Apheros's Dragon's Threeùappointed as the Dragon's Claw, whose specialty was interaction with foreign peoples.
Xarxius reminded most people of a hound dog, both because of his general friendliness and because of the bags under his eyes. People tended to get lost in his amiable personalityùa mistake that Toriovico, who was himself often misjudged, did not make.
Xarxius had become interested in foreigners and their customs during a tour in Waterland as a member of the New Kelvinese embassy. This, because of the Waterlanders' superstitious regard for the stars, always included several promising Stargazers.
Apheros said that it was as an expert on Waterland and an expert on trade, rather than as a Stargazer, that Xarxius had been asked to attend today's meeting. Still, Toriovico did not forget Xarxius's training and his probable bias.
After the new arrivals had supplicated themselves before their Healed One and offered less humble but equally formal greetings to the Dragon Speaker, Apheros moved to the business that had brought them together.
"The most important matter of new business is a proposal from certain Waterland business interests that will increase trade between our countries. In short, these interests wish an exclusive contract to handle foreign sales of certain types of glassware, silk, and pharmaceutical products."
Toriovico raised an eyebrow.
"And in return?" he asked. "What do we get?"
Apheros went on as placidly as if he had not just presented a proposal that would put the majority of New Kelvin's foreign tradeùand profitùinto another country's hands.
"In return the Waterland interests have offered to reduce the prices we will pay for slaves, for goods of their o
wn manufacture, and…" The Dragon Speaker cleared his throat. "And to give into our hands a certain number of artifacts dating from before the Burning Timesùartifacts that hold great promise of being magical."
No one made a sound, so Toriovico was certain that the other two had been briefed in advance. Certainly Dimiria would not have kept silent otherwise. He glanced at her now and noticed an odd vacancy about her expression.
"Dimiria," he said, "what do you think about this offer?"
"It is very generous," the Stargazer said immediately. "I have examined a few of the artifacts in question, both some years ago when I served as part of our embassy in Waterland and more recently when I traveled there as an honored guest for their major planting festival. They seem to hold potential, at least as much potential as did the three artifacts that were in our possession last winter."
Silence fell again as everyone remembered those events and their disastrous conclusion.
"Moreover," Dimiria continued, "it has been hinted to me by several of my Waterland contacts that these are not the only advantages we could gain through this trade agreement. One of the Opulences with whom we would be doing business has. told me that he is willing to lease to usùfor a token feeùa small harbor and the surrounding land."
This was an offer nearly as stunning as the one to supply New Kelvin with potentially magical artifacts. One of New Kelvin's great shortcomings was that it lacked an ocean port. This would answer that need, even if the New Kelvinese would be forced to travel a great distance to use the promised harbor.
Toriovico could not believe what he was hearing.
"How certain was that 'hint'?" he asked.
"Quite," Dimiria said blandly. "The merchant in question is among the top-ranking members of the Waterland oligarchy. I think he believes that securing an exclusive trade contract with our country would be sufficient to raise him to the Supreme Affluent."
The Supreme Affluent was a post similar to that of the Dragon Speaker, the first among a larger ruling body. Unlike the Dragon Speaker, however, the Supreme Affluent held the post by merit of wealth alone, wealth calculated and assessed by a complicated formula that only the Waterlanders themselves understood.
Internally, Toriovico shook himself. Something was very odd about all of this. This type of meeting was a dance he knew quite well, but something was off in the cadence of the steps.
He turned to Xarxius. The Dragon's Claw had been unusually quiet during the presentationùunusually not because he was a particularly talkative man, but because this was his area of expertise and he was permitting others to present the proposal. Moreover, although Apheros had included Xarxius in the meeting, he had not once asked him to speak. Indeed, now that Toriovico had been given an opportunity to observe them, it seemed to him that all was not well between the Speaker and his Claw.
"What do you think, Xarxius? You've been remarkably quiet."
Toriovico regretted the last phrase as soon as he said it. He didn't want to draw attention to the oddness he sensed until he had a chance to figure out its source.
Xarxius, however, appeared to notice nothing. He smiled apologetically in response to the Healed One's rebuke.
"The Dragon Speaker and Prime Dimiria have made such an excellent presentation," Xarxius said, "that I had felt my words unneeded. However, may I suggest that we proceed with some caution? A Waterlander thinks first of his own profit, then of others."
The phrase was such a commonplace as to nearly be proverbial. Despite this, both Dimiria and Apheros glared at Xarxius as if he had suggested refusing the proposal out of hand.
This is more the dance I know, Toriovico thought. There should be more debate, more flow of ideas. Why are both Dimiria and Apheros so in favor of making this deal? Is it the lure of the artifacts? Before the others were stolen we were close to unraveling their secrets. Melina's fresh point of view was a great help.
As always when Toriovico thought of his newlywed wife he felt a mingling of wonder and awe, a rosy haze that made him smile warmlyùrather like an idiot, he feared.
Toriovico shook the feeling from him, aware that he had fallen into a completely inappropriate daze. He succeeded in pulling himself into the present, though the warm feeling lingered caressingly at the back of his mind.
Toriovico looked sharply at his three advisors, but none of them looked as if they had noticed his lapse. Apheros and Dimiria still glowered angrily at the Dragon's Claw, while Xarxius waited patiently for the Healed One's comment.
"Certainly Xarxius has a point," Toriovico said with a slight effort. "We do not wish to make such a monumental decision in haste. For example, we must make certain the promised artifacts are indeed from the days before the Burning Times, not manufactured 'antiques.' I suggest that the Sodality of Artificers could give us assistance there."
Dimiria didn't look pleased at Toriovico's suggestion. After all, she had already offered her opinion as to the authenticity of at least some of the artifacts, but, oddly, she spared them her acid comments.
It's as if Dimiria is waiting for something, Toriovico thought. A cue? Are she and Apheros working on this together? Are the Waterlanders paying them some bribe? Has Xarxius refused to be bribed and so finds himself on the opposite side from his usual ally?
Apheros's expression showed that he also was less than pleased with Toriovico's caution. His reaction confirmed the Healed One's evolving theory that the Waterlanders must have bribed the Dragon Speaker.
Normally, Apheros was the representative type of the isolationist New Kelvinese, often refusing to meet even prominent ambassadors. One reason that Xarxius was so valuable to Apheros was that he spared the Dragon Speaker such distasteful inconveniences.
Had this been a more usual quarter-moon meeting, Toriovico would have been inclined to let himself be persuaded by the mere sign of the Dragon Speaker's displeasure. This, however, had not been a normal meeting, nor was this routine business. As Torio saw it, it amounted to signing away a good portion of New Kelvin's trade income in return for these nebulous artifacts and the unseen harborùand for preferential trade options on goods they could do without.
"No decision will be made at this time," the Healed One stated firmly. "That is my final judgment."
At his words, Dimiria and Apheros rose from their seats almost as one and began their part of the departure ritual. Xarxius moved a bit more slowly. When the other two marched from the room, their disappointment evident despite their formal and ceremonial farewells, the Dragon's Claw lingered.
"A good decision," Xarxius said softly, "and thank you for your hospitality."
"Oh?"
Toriovico was puzzled.
"Yes, Apheros didn't really want me to attend, you see." The hound dog face gave a wry smile. "I pointed out to him that you were certain to want my advice on such an important matter of trade. Your questions, as well as your support of my opinion, justified my insistence."
Xarxius bowed himself from the room before Toriovico had an opportunity to ask more. That didn't stop the Healed One from wondering. Usually, he was content to leave governing to the Dragon Speaker and to restrict himself to the secret duties of the Healed One. After today's meeting, however, Toriovico thought he had better pay more attention to less esoteric matters for a time.
After all, last winter he had overlooked the machinations that had brought both Lady Melina and three magical artifacts into New Kelvin. He smiled as he considered how those events had changed his life. It wouldn't do to miss anything that had the potential to transform it once more.
DESPITE DERIAN'S CONCERNS that Peaceùor Jalarios, as he must remember to think of the Illuminatorùand his young "son" would be immediately discovered, the deception survived their stay in the Gateway to Enchantment. Derian was somewhat surprised that Peace insisted that he and Citrine remain in character once the group had left Gateway and the roads seemed empty of any travelers but themselves.
"I was the Dragon's Eye," Peace reminded them when Elise expressed th
e discomfort they all felt at treating the other two as servants. "That meant I learned to watch people, to see what they gave away when they thought themselves unobserved. I have learned more from a fist clenched in anger by a man who believed his action hidden within the cuff of his sleeve than from any smiling face and sweet words."
Doc looked up from sorting through the additional medicinal herbs and ointments he'd purchased in Gateway.
"How'd you manage to see it if the man's fist was hidden within his sleeve?"
"Simple, Doctor," Peace replied. "You of all men know how the muscles and sinews are connected. I saw the sinews along the man's neck tighten slightly on one side and wondered why. Then I saw that his hand was withdrawn and guessed the rest."
"Clever," Doc said with a grin. "I guess much isn't hidden from you."
Peace only smiled, too polite to agree.
Derian, however, thought that Doc's observation was probably only the truth and he wished that he felt happier about it.
For this trip, Peace had chosen a different route than the one they had taken to Dragon's Breath the first time. It was a longer route, but then, as Peace pointed out, speed was not the important thingùat least not at this point.
"King Tedric wishes you to gather information," he reminded them. "You will not learn much from farmers in the high country. Better to travel the more usual trade routes, stopping at the public houses, pausing to buy a bit of fabric or glassware.
"Besides, we are traveling in summer with good horses to pull the wagons. In the winter you would be lucky to have light for a third of the day on the road. In summer we can travel for half the day or even longer."
Derian agreed. As Peace had noted, they were well prepared to follow this course. The wagon gave them room to pack away their purchases. In the high country, they would have had to abandon the wagon completelyùan unrealistic decision for those who were coming to trade.
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