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“I would apologize for the suddenness of this summons,” said Garnett as he led them to the old throne room. “But I have been taking observations from the top of Valamir Tower these past two nights, and when I worked out the calculations, it was clear that this hour was the most propitious for the meeting.” He turned and inclined his head to Caedmon. “I am certain that, as a man of learning and a natural philosopher, you understand.”
“H’m, yes,” said Caedmon. He was not listening very closely to anything the man said, but was instead trying to decide what he would say when he met the duke. First, Ellard had gotten him flustered and angry, and now this absurd, self-declared “doctor” wouldn’t shut up and let him think.
Would it be best to avoid mentioning the breach between Diernemynster and Myrcia, or should he address that issue directly, head-on, right at the beginning? How much authority did the new duke have in that matter, anyway? Was he speaking with the approval of the new king, or was the duke acting on his own? And how could Caedmon find out which it was without causing unnecessary offense? Caedmon had once had an impressive reputation as a diplomat, and courtiers and ambassadors had asked him what his secret was. But most of his success in that field had resulted from nothing more than taking a few minutes before a meeting to figure out how not to offend the people on the other side.
Garnett led them down the hallway of polished slate and under the familiar wide arch, and then they were in great hall, the ancient throne room of Leornian. At the entrance, two soldiers in white robes held censers aloft on long poles, waving them to and fro and filling the room with the scent of sandalwood and garlic. Through the curling smoke, Caedmon could see the throne of the old kings, still up on a raised dais where it had always been. By tradition, it was only ever used when the sovereign visited the old castle. The dukes who now owned the palace greeted visitors while sitting on lower chairs.
Caedmon faltered in his steps when he looked up and saw someone was sitting on the throne. He was a large man, with long, straw-colored hair and clothes of blue velvet. To his right, a slender woman with wispy blonde hair sat on a smaller chair. The man, presumably the duke, remained impassive as they approached, but the woman, who must have been the duchess, smiled and waved at Garnett, who bowed to her, and then to the duke, and then to the duchess again.
When they were the traditional five paces from the throne, Caedmon stopped to bow, and the other hillichmagnars followed suit.
The duke inclined his head, then spoke. “Caedmon Aldred, Pallavi Ratnam, Ellard Koehler, and Stasya Nikonovna, I must beg your pardon for the way you have so far been entertained at my castle.”
“No more than a prudent precaution, your grace,” said Caedmon. “I assure you that we do not take offense in the slightest.”
“Do you approve of the measures we have taken against the plague here?” asked the duke.
“The quarantine was Doctor Garnett’s idea,” said the duchess brightly. “He’s ever so clever, and I’m sure you and he would have so much to talk about, Lord Aldred.”
The good “doctor” bowed again to her. “If I am able to penetrate the mysteries of creation, your grace, it is only because of the invaluable support that you and your noble husband have provided.”
“The quarantine,” said Caedmon carefully, “was certainly a good idea.”
“Oh, Doctor Garnett does so much more than that,” said the duchess. “He knows all the best herbs to cure the plague—provided the stars aren’t against you. And if that happens, there’s not much anyone can do. Except Earstien, of course. And the doctor also calculates the best times for the burnings at the pits, based on the conjunction of...oh, what is it, again, doctor?”
“The sun and the planet Termis, your grace.”
Ellard said, “Wouldn’t it be simpler to check which way the wind is blowing?”
Caedmon only barely stopped himself from laughing openly at that. He shot a look at Ellard, and the boy nodded obediently and looked at the floor. That was good. Everything between them was as it should be again.
“As a man of science, Lord Koehler,” said Garnett, with an air of wounded dignity, “I am sure you appreciate the influence of the heavens on the progress of this dread pestilence.”
Caedmon stepped forward and bowed again to the duke. “Your grace, my colleagues and I are here to render aid to Leornian in any way you see fit. If you will permit me, I would propose to begin by making a thorough review of all measures currently being taken against the spread of the disease.” He smiled at Garnett, and added, “With no offense intended to the good doctor, of course. I would also suggest that we examine the workings of the city sewers and aqueducts.”
“Sewers and aqueducts,” repeated the duke, drumming his fingers on the arm of the throne.
To Caedmon’s left, Garnett was regarding him and the other three hillichmagnars with a distinctly sour and aggrieved air. Caedmon ignored him and carried on. “Yes, sewers and aqueducts today, your grace. And measures against the plague. But later, when this scourge has ended, it is my hope that we will continue to cooperate. As you know, it has been well over a century since hillichmagnars and the ordinary men of Myrcia have worked together. I hope that our joint endeavors will herald a new era of cooperation. Diernemynster and Myrcia have each been, I think, worse without the other.”
The duke exchanged a look with the duchess. “Lord Aldred,” she said, “perhaps you have misunderstood precisely why my husband and I have invited you here. Dear Doctor Garnett has the sanitation needs of the city well in hand. We need you for something quite different. There is no peace in the land. One hears every day of the most shocking outrages against travelers. Within the city, Rodgar’s soldiers keep the peace, but beyond the walls, bandits rule.”
“Some of them,” said Rodgar, “with the approval of my supposed vassal lords.”
“I think we saw something of that,” said Ellard, and he quickly described the group that had attacked them at the manor house.
“People have lost faith in their liege lords, in the church, and in Earstien,” said the duchess. “No one can trust his neighbors any longer. People have given themselves over to every kind of vice and violence. One hears of the most shocking things being done by people who live only for today, and give no thought anymore to Earstien’s law. Doctor Garnett has informed me that there are people in this city who have taken to behaving in ways that would make Immani courtesans blush for shame.”
“I appreciate your concern, your grace,” said Caedmon, “but until the plague has subsided, I think any attempts to suppress banditry in the countryside or vice in the city may prove counterproductive. Once the pestilence is gone, then the king’s officers will once again—”
“The king?” scoffed the duke. “No one believes in the king anymore, Lord Aldred. No one has seen him, holed up in the Summer Palace outside of Formacaster. We’ve had three kings in three years, my lord. They’re already calling the last one ‘Oswald the Unlucky.’ I would say this new one should be called ‘Edmund the Unknown.’ How can any of us feel loyalty to a man who can’t stir himself at all in defense of his realm?”
This was getting into dangerous territory, even for a duke, so Caedmon tried to steer the conversation back to safer ground, toward something more practical and less like seditious libel. “As I say, your grace, there will be time after the plague has passed to address such problems. In the meantime, perhaps you might wish to consult more closely with your brother dukes in the other shires. This is one area in which we hillichmagnars are uniquely qualified to—”
“I couldn’t give a shit what the other dukes are doing,” snapped Rodgar. “They’ve done nothing for me, either, except for Holwin, that ass, down in Keelshire, who had his soldiers drive the sick and starving out of Keelweard and made them all come to my lands, instead. If all the dukes in Myrcia were lost in the Void, I wouldn’t light a fart to show them the way out.”
Pallavi and Ellard both snickered at this ancient, puerile jest, and Caedmon had to clear his throat to get them to stop. “Surely, your grace, you do not wish to disparage Myrcia, when—”
“Myrcia can go hang! Myrcia has gone its own way—straight to the Void. Surely you must see that, my lords and ladies. Leornian stood on its own once; we can do so again. All we ask is that you join us and help me set Leornian free.”
The duchess and Alwin Garnett were nodding and smiling at this little speech, as if what the duke had just said was mere common sense, and not open treason. “Your...your grace,” stammered Caedmon. “You cannot be serious. Do you understand what you are asking? You are asking me to destroy Myrcia, when I fought to create it.”
“That is precisely why we need your help,” said the duchess, with a pleasant, endearing smile. “If you are on our side, then everyone will see that what we want to do is right. Everyone trusts you.”
“They certainly will not if they think I have taken leave of my senses and betrayed my king,” said Caedmon.
“He’s hardly your king, is he?” said the duchess quietly.
Caedmon was trying to think how to answer that without being impolite to a lady, when Ellard spoke.
“I think it’s quite a good idea. I say we should help them.”
The other three hillichmagnars turned and gaped at him. “Now is not the time for your jokes,” said Caedmon.
“It’s no joke,” said Ellard. “It’s plainly a good idea. Myrcia is dying, and the duke seems like the sort of man who could build a new country. A new Edmund Dryhten, if you will.”
Caedmon ground his teeth so hard that he was sure everyone in the entire throne room could hear it. Forcing his voice to remain low and calm, he said, “This is not a topic for discussion, Ellard.”
“Perhaps it should be,” said Pallavi.