Seraphina(43)

“Seraphina, wait!” cried Guntard. “Everyone—how were we going to thank Mistress Seraphina for all the work she’s doing?” He blew a pitch whistle while his fellows hastily swallowed their mouthfuls and washed them down with wine.

To the great amusement of the rest of the dining hall, the saarantrai alone excepted, they began to sing:

O Mistress Seraphina,





Why won’t you marry me?





From first I ever seen ya,





I knew you were for me!





It’s not just that you’re sassy,





It’s not just that you’re wise,





It’s that you poke Viridius





In his piggy little eyes!





“Hurrah!” cried all my musicians.

“Boldly taking on Viridius, so we don’t have to!” cried a lone smarty-breeches.

Everyone burst out laughing. I smiled as I waved farewell—a real smile—and kept grinning all the way to the east wing. It had occurred to me that these knights might be able to describe the dragon in enough detail that Orma could identify it as Imlann. Then I would have real, concrete evidence for Lucian Kiggs, more than just a coin, a dragon’s worry, and the vaguest of vague descriptions.

Then perhaps I might work up enough courage to speak to him again. I owed him an apology, at the very least.

A single guard manned the top of the eastern basement steps. I stood a little straighter and wiped the leftover grin off my face; I needed all my serious concentration if I was to pull this off. I tried to make my steps ring out confidently as I approached. “Excuse me,” I said. “Has Captain Kiggs arrived yet?”

The fellow tugged his mustache. “Can’t say I’ve seen ’im, but I’ve just come on duty. He might be downstairs.”


I hoped not, but I’d deal with that if I had to. “Who’s on duty downstairs? John?” John was a good, common name.

His eyes widened a bit. “John Saddlehorn, yes. And Mikey the Fish.”

I nodded as if I knew them both. “Well, I don’t mind asking them myself. If Captain Kiggs shows up, would you please let him know I’m already below?”

“Hold on,” he said. “What’s this about? Who are you?”

I gave him a lightly flabbergasted look. “Seraphina Dombegh, daughter of the eminent lawyer Claude Dombegh, the Crown’s expert on Comonot’s Treaty. Captain Kiggs wanted my insight in questioning the knights. Am I in the wrong place? I had understood they were being held here.”

The guard scratched under his helmet, looking conflicted. I suspected he didn’t have specific orders against letting anyone down, but he still didn’t think he should.

“Come with me, if you like,” I offered. “I have a few questions about the dragon they saw. I hope we can identify it.”

He hesitated, but agreed to accompany me downstairs. Two guards sat outside a stout wooden door, playing kingfish on an upturned barrel; they lowered their cards confusedly at the sight of us. My guard jerked his thumb toward the stairs. “Mikey, take the top. When the captain arrives, tell him Maid Dombegh is already here.”

“What’s this, then?” said the one called John as my guard unlocked the door.

“She’s to question the prisoners. I’ll go in with her; you stay here.”

I didn’t want him there but saw no immediate way to prevent it. “You’re coming in for my protection? Are they very dangerous?”

He laughed. “Maidy, they’re old men. You’re going to have to speak loudly.”

The two knights sat up on their straw pallets, blinking at the light. I gave them half courtesy, keeping close by the door. They weren’t as decrepit as reported. They were gray-haired and bony, but had a certain wiry toughness; if the brightness of their eyes was any indication, they were playing “helpless old men” for everything they could.

“What have you brought us, lad?” asked the stouter one, who was bald and mustachioed. “Do you supply your prisoners with women now, or is this some newfangled way of making us talk?”

He was impugning my virtue. I ought to have been offended, but for some reason the idea tickled me. That could be my next career: instrument of torture! Seducing prisoners, and then revealing my scales! They would confess out of sheer horror.

The guard turned red. “Have some respect!” he blustered through his mustache. “She’s here on behalf of Captain Kiggs and Counselor Dombegh. You will answer her questions properly, or we will find harder quarters for you, Grandpa.”

“It’s all right,” I said. “Would you mind leaving us?”

“Maid Dombegh, you heard what he just said. It wouldn’t be proper!”

“It will be perfectly fine,” I assured him in a soothing voice. “Captain Kiggs will be down any minute now.”

He set the torch in a sconce and left me, grumbling. The room, which served as storage most of the time, contained some small casks; I pulled one up, sat down, and smiled warmly at the old men. “Which of you is which?” I said, realizing I would already know their names if I were here legitimately. To my embarrassment, I recognized the skinnier of the two, the one who hadn’t spoken yet. He had shooed Orma away from me at that disastrous dragon procession five years ago and had helped Maurizio carry me home. I had grown a lot taller since then, and he was old; maybe he didn’t remember me.