BooksBarbecue
Back Oath of Fealty Save as PDF
Contents ( 92)
  1. What Has Gone Before
  2. CHAPTER ONE
  4. Vérella
  5. Duke’s Stronghold, North Marches, seven days later
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  10. Vérella, the palace
  11. CHAPTER FOUR
  13. CHAPTER FIVE
  15. CHAPTER SIX
  17. Vérella, two days later
  18. CHAPTER SEVEN
  20. Chaya
  21. CHAPTER EIGHT
  23. CHAPTER NINE
  25. CHAPTER TEN
  27. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  29. CHAPTER TWELVE
  31. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  33. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  35. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  37. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  39. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  41. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  43. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  45. CHAPTER TWENTY
  47. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  49. Valdaire
  50. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  52. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  54. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  56. Chaya
  57. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  59. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  61. Cortes Vonja, Aarenis
  62. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  64. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  66. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  68. CHAPTER THIRTY
  70. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  72. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  74. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  76. Cortes Vonja
  77. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  79. Vérella
  80. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  82. Verrakai Holding
  83. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  85. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  87. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  89. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  91. CHAPTER FORTY

Thinking of Paks, she thought of the Duke—the king, she reminded herself yet again. She counted the days … was it two or three until the Spring Evener? She looked around the great rooms, dimming as the winds brought a layer of cloud across the sun … nothing like the palace in Chaya, full of color and life. So easy to imagine the bustle of servants, guests, the talk and the laughter, the music—no. That was self-pity, and she would not indulge.

She found Selfer still supervising the removal of salvageable items from the tower. “Shall we burn it now, or hope that’s rain enough to keep any flames from the other buildings?” he asked.

“I’m thinking perhaps we should do it on the Spring Evener,” Dorrin said. “A day of renewal and also balance, restoration.”

“I think you’re right,” he said. “But if it rains—”

“Barrels of oilberries,” Dorrin said. “We’ve enough oil to burn even the old dry wood. In fact, we can start pouring that on it now. And light it on the Eve.”

“We can call it an honor to the king at his coronation,” Selfer said, grinning.

“And it will be,” Dorrin said. “If I could, I’d light fires for him all the way to Aarenis.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Valdaire

On the road south, at the head of his cohort, Arcolin half ignored the Vonja agent who wanted to chatter about his new status. His mind ranged ahead to Valdaire and the south, and behind to the north where his domain—his domain—waited. He made plans—his plans, not that different from Kieri’s, but his own. Rain came as it always did; the road was a quagmire where it always was; the cohort stopped in the usual places.

“Gettin’ back to it, is he?” he heard over and over. Arcolin nodded and waved without pausing to explain. When they finally made it over the pass and he saw once more the Vale of Valdaire opening below, his heart lifted.

The Duke’s great barracks just outside the city on the northeast, originally a caravansary, had been sublet by his factor to another company. Valdaire did not permit troops to camp near the city, so Arcolin found them cramped accommodation in an inn northeast of the main market. His cohort filled every available room; some slept in the stable loft as well. Arcolin went out at once to deal with the business that held them in Valdaire: money and the need to hire captains.

News of Kieri Phelan’s new position as king of Lyonya had reached Valdaire as a rumor, widely disbelieved but a good item of gossip. As he chatted with men at the hire-sword hall, everyone had a different version of the rumor, and they all asked for more. Arcolin turned the questions aside and asked his own, interviewing everyone who looked like officer material, talking to the other captains he knew.

“So, Captain, they’re saying your duke turned out to be royal-born.”