The Dragon Round (Dragon #1)(73)
Livion knows the Shield has to make hard choices when it comes to protecting itself, like a captain has to when protecting his ship. Everyone, from Eles to the night soil man, knows the risks of impeding profit. It’s business, not personal, just as someone has to supply the building materials in the wake of catastrophe. But to take a life, to start a war, to create the catastrophe; that Livion can’t believe of them. He’s worked beside them. He’s taken their pay. He’s devoted himself to them. And for all Herse’s posturing, when Livion looks right at him, this man he’s cheered on the hip-ball pitch seems trustworthy.
Who is he, a junior, to overrule them, regardless of what he may or may not know?
Ject opens his mouth to continue, but Eles recognizes Herse.
After checking that the rumor about the shipment of cinnamon was true and the cargo was awaiting liberation, Omer heads for Livion’s office. In the Round Square, he looks at the poor sods selling their junk and thinks, Am I any better? Every day I unroll my own blanket and lay out the latest rumors. Sure I have a contract with the Shield, but that won’t last. Maybe this cinnamon is my chance. He consciously avoids touching the pouch with his monthly and perk. I have my stake. I could cover the harbor fees and buy the spice myself. Why shouldn’t I get a taste for once? I could sell it to the Shield myself and -double, triple, my money. When I put it like that, he thinks, I have to.
To lift some other boats with his rising wave, Omer tosses pennies into several containers. Their merchants thank him with whispers. One battered and broken old drunk, having seen such gestures before, offers him for a penny more a shark’s tooth engraved and inked with what could be a hook. He says, “With this you’ll always have a fish in your net and a boy in your partner’s belly. I’d bet a penny on it.” Omer declines, the drunk himself proof of its uselessness, and looks around. Where is the man with the huge blue shells? He would have liked one. What pearls must have come out of them!
Omer takes a shortcut to the docks, worried that someone may beat him to the deal. He darts through alleys, dodging teamsters and drunks, fishwives and brats, relieved to come around a corner and see the docks at the end of the way. Then a man blocks out the light. Two more rush up behind him. The man in front digs his middle finger into the corner of his half-red eye.
“Members of the Council,” Herse says, “I’m late because Ayden has again reached inside our walls.”
“Not unlike yourself,” Ject says. “Your trespasses—”
“Take your seat, General,” Eles says. Ject complies, stiffly.
“Members of the Council,” Herse says again. “Bandits supplied by Ayden have robbed and murdered our traders on the road, and their privateers have savaged our shipping. They’ve put our border towns to the torch for not sharing the spoils of our markets with them. Company agents in Ayden have been detained and valuable secrets about company operations have been revealed. And a quarter hour ago my men arrested an Aydeni for entrapping one of our own soldiers.”
“Is this your news, General?” Eles says. “Another Aydeni detained?”
“No, but it shows the pattern of escalation that leads to my news. And I bring terrible news.” He raises his voice. “We haven’t struck back because proof was tenuous and the costs of responding far outweighed the losses suffered. But they’ve struck at our wallets now. And our hearts.”
He pauses for effect—and to cue Rego to enter. The wispy man stops on the threshold so the guard can’t close the door, and Herse says, “The Shield’s wolf pack was attacked and destroyed by Ayden. They murdered two owners from the Shield, Mulcent and Sumpt, as well as Solet, a Hero of Hanosh.”
His words carry into the waiting area. Livion hears gasps, jabbering, and then footsteps as many leave to spread the word. Eles is about to tell the guard to stop them when the chairs and tables scraping in the chamber make him hold up his hand to keep the company representatives in place. They squirm and pout, worried someone else is already taking advantage of the news. Rego walks to the seat beside Livion, and the guard closes the door.
“This accusation,” Eles says, “should have been conveyed in private.”
“It isn’t an accusation,” Herse says.
“Your proof?” Ject says.
“One of my patrols was told about two galleys wrecked on a beach near the Ynessi border. They investigated. At first they thought it was a dragon attack. However,” Herse pulls a folded piece of paper from his pocket, “I received word not two hours ago that my men captured one of the attackers. He was Aydeni, badly injured, and hiding in the woods, abandoned as lost. He was questioned, and he revealed their orders: destroy Hanoshi shipping.”
“Where is this man?” Eles said.
“The man didn’t survive the questioning,” Herse says. “His wounds were considerable. We were lucky to find him alive.”
Ject says, “As much as I appreciate the general’s yeoman investigative work, we must give careful consideration to any response.”
“I share the general’s concerns,” Herse says. “Our evidence, however alarming, is scanty. I would be happy to seek further proof, as well as indications of future Aydeni attacks, but I thought it better to address the Council now, with facts that are likely accurate when we might do something about them rather than later, when the facts may be more solid, but obsolete.”