As the horses moved forward, Arutha said, ‘To polish shields and boots.’
The Duke smiled and the Krondorians laughed. The western soldiers held those of the East in low regard. The East had been pacified long before the West had been opened to Kingdom expansion, and there was little trouble in the Eastern Realm requiring real skill in warcraft. The Prince of Krondor’s guards were battle-proved veterans, while those of Salador were considered by the guardsmen from the West to do their best soldiering on the parade ground.
Soon they saw signs that they were nearing the city: cultivated farmland, villages, roadside taverns, and wagons laden with trade goods. By sundown they could see the walls of distant Salador.
As they entered the city, a full company of Duke Kerus’s own household guards lined the streets to the palace. As in Krondor, there was no castle, for the need for a small, easily defensible keep had passed as the lands around became civilized.
Riding through the city, Pug realized how much of a frontier town Crydee was. In spite of Lord Borric’s political power, he was still Lord of a frontier province.
Along the streets, citizens stood gawking at the western Duke from the wild frontier of the Far Coast. Some cheered, for it seemed like a parade, but most stood quietly, disappointed that the Duke and his party looked like other men, rather than blood-drenched barbarians.
When they reached the courtyard of the palace, household servants ran to take their horses. A household guard showed the soldiers from Krondor to the soldiers’ commons, where they would rest before returning to the Prince’s city. Another, with a captain’s badge of rank on his tunic, led Borric’s party up the steps of the building.
Pug looked with wonder, for this palace was even larger than the Prince’s in Krondor. They walked through several outer rooms, then reached an inner courtyard. Here fountains and trees decorated a garden, beyond which stood the central palace. Pug realized that the building they had passed through was simply one of the buildings surrounding the Duke’s living quarters. He wondered what use Lord Kerus could possibly have for so many buildings and such a large staff.
They crossed the garden courtyard and mounted another series of steps toward a reception committee that stood in the door of the central palace. Once this building might have been a citadel, protecting the surrounding town, but Pug couldn’t bring himself to imagine it as it might have been ages ago, for numerous renovations over the years had transformed an ancient keep into a glittering thing of glass and marble.
Duke Kerus’s chamberlain, an old dried-up stick of a man with a quick eye, knew every noble worth noting – from the borders of Kesh in the south to Tyr-Sog in the north – by sight. His memory for faces and facts had often saved Duke Kerus from embarrassment. By the time Borric had made his way up the broad stairway from the courtyard, the chamberlain had provided Kerus with a few personal facts and a quick evaluation of the right amount of flattery required.
Duke Kerus took Borric’s hand. ‘Ah, Lord Borric, you do me great honor by this unexpected visit. If you had only sent word of your arrival, I would have prepared a more fitting welcome.’
They entered the antechamber of the palace, the Dukes in front. Borric said, ‘I am sorry to put you to any trouble, Lord Kerus, but I am afraid our mission is dependent on speed, and that the formal courtesies will have to be put aside. I bear messages for the King and must put to sea for Rillanon as soon as is possible.’
‘Of course, Lord Borric, but you will surely be able to stay for a short while, say a week or two?’
‘I regret not. I would put to sea tonight if I could.’
‘That is indeed sorry news. I so hoped that you could guest with us for a time.’
The party reached the Duke’s audience hall, where the chamberlain gave instructions to a company of household servants, who jumped to the task of readying rooms for the guests. Entering the vast hall, with its high vaulted ceiling, gigantic chandeliers, and great arched glass windows, Pug felt dwarfed. The room was the largest he had ever seen, greater than the hall of the Prince of Krondor.
A huge table was set with fruits and wine, and the travelers fell to with vigor. Pug sat down with little grace, his whole body one mass of aches. He was turning into a skilled horseman simply from long hours in the saddle, but that fact didn’t ease his tired muscles.
Lord Kerus pressed the Duke for the cause of his hurried journey, and between mouthfuls of fruit and drinks of wine, Borric filled him in on the events of the last three months. After he was done, Kerus looked distressed. ‘This is grave news indeed, Lord Borric. Things are unsettled in the Kingdom. I am sure the Prince has told you of some of the trouble that has occurred since last you came to the East.’
‘Yes, he did. But reluctantly and in only the most cursory manner. Remember, it has been thirteen years since I journeyed to the capital, at Rodric’s coronation when I came to renew my vassalage. He seemed a bright enough young man then, able enough to learn to govern. But from what I’ve heard in Krondor, there seems to have been a change.’
Kerus glanced around the room, then waved away his servants. Looking pointedly at Borric’s companions, he raised one eyebrow questioningly.
Lord Borric said, ‘These have my trust and will not betray a confidence.’
Kerus nodded. Loudly he said, ‘If you would like to stretch your legs before retiring, perhaps you’d care to see my garden?’
Borric frowned and was about to speak when Arutha put his hand upon his father’s arm, nodding agreement.
Borric said, ‘That sounds interesting. Despite the cold I could use a short walk.’
The Duke motioned for Kulgan, Meecham, and Gardan to remain, but Lord Kerus indicated Pug should join them. Borric looked surprised, but nodded agreement. They left through a small set of doors to the garden, and once outside, Kerus whispered, ‘It will look less suspicious if the boy comes with us. I can’t even trust my own servants anymore. The King has agents everywhere.’
Borric seemed infuriated. ‘The King has placed agents in your household?’
‘Yes, Lord Borric, there has been a great change in our King. I know Erland has not told you the entire story, but it is one you must know.’
The Duke and his companions watched Duke Kerus, who looked uncomfortable. He cleared his throat as he glanced around the snow-covered garden. Between the light from the palace windows and the large moon above, the garden was a winterscape of white and blue crystals, undisturbed by footprints.
Kerus pointed to a set of tracks in the snow and said, ‘I made those this afternoon when I came here to think about what I could safely tell you.’ He glanced around one more time, seeing if anyone could overhear the conversation, then continued. ‘When Rodric the Third died, everyone expected Erland would take the crown. After the official mourning, the Priests of Ishap called all the possible heirs forward to present their claims. You were expected to be one of them.’
Borric nodded. ‘I know the custom. I was late getting to the city. I would have renounced the claim in any event, so there was no importance in my absence.’
Kerus nodded. ‘History might have been different had you been here, Borric.’ He lowered his voice. ‘I risk my neck by saying this, but many, even those of us here in the East, would have urged you to take the crown.’
Borric’s expression showed he did not like hearing this, but Kerus pressed on. ‘By the time you got here, all the back-hallway politics had been done – with most lords content to give the crown to Erland – but it was a tense day and a half while the issue was in doubt. Why the elder Rodric didn’t name an heir I don’t know. But when the priests had chased away all the distant kin with no real claim, three men stood before them, Erland, young Rodric, and Guy du Bas-Tyra. The priests asked for their declarations, and each gave them in turn. Rodric and Erland both had solid claims, while Guy was there as a matter of form, as you would have been had you arrived in time.’
Arutha interjected dryly, ‘The time of mourning ensures no western Lord will be King.’
Borric threw a disapproving glance at his son, but Kerus said, ‘Not entirely. If there had been any doubt to the rights of succession, the priest would have held off the ceremony until your father arrived, Arutha. It has been done before.’
He looked at Borric and lowered his voice. ‘As I said, it was expected Erland would take the crown. But when the crown was presented to him, he refused, conceding the claim to Rodric. No one at that time knew of Erland’s ill health, so most lords judged the decision a generous affirmation of Rodric’s claim, as the only son of the King. With Guy du Bas-Tyra’s backing the boy, the assembled Congress of Lords ratified his succession. Then the real infighting began, until at last your late wife’s uncle was named as King’s Regent.’
Borric nodded. He remembered the battle over who would be named the then boy King’s Regent. His despised cousin Guy had nearly won the position, but Borric’s timely arrival and his support of Caldric of Rillanon, along with the support of Duke Brucal of Yabon and Prince Erland, had swung the majority of votes in the congress away from Guy.
‘For the next five years there was only an occasional border clash with Kesh. Things were quiet. Eight years ago’ – Kerus paused to glance around again – ‘Rodric embarked upon a program of public improvements, as he calls them, upgrading roads and bridges, building dams, and the like. At first they were of little burden, but the taxes have been increased yearly until now the peasants and freemen, even the minor nobles, are being bled white. The King has expanded his programs until now he is rebuilding the entire capital, to make it the greatest city known in the history of man, he says.
‘Two years ago a small delegation of nobles came to the King and asked him to abjure this excessive spending and ease the burden upon the people. The King flew into a rage, accused the nobles of being traitors, and had them summarily executed.’
Borric’s eyes widened. The snow under his boot crunched dryly as he turned suddenly. ‘We’ve heard nothing of this in the West!’
‘When Erland heard the news, he went immediately to the King and demanded reparation for the families of the nobles who were executed, and a lessening of the taxes. The King – or so it is rumored – was ready to seize his uncle, but was restrained by the few counselors he still trusted. They advised His Majesty that such an act, unheard of in the history of the Kingdom, would surely cause the western lords to rise up against the King.’
Borric’s expression darkened. ‘They were right. Had that boy hanged Erland, the Kingdom would have been irretrievably split.’
‘Since that time the Prince has not set foot in Rillanon, and the business of the Kingdom is handled by aides, for the two men will not speak to one another.’
The Duke looked skyward, and his voice became troubled. ‘This is much worse than I had heard. Erland told me of the taxes and his refusal to impose them in the West. He said that the King was agreed, for he understood the need of maintaining the garrisons of the North and West.’
Kerus slowly shook his head no. ‘The King agreed only when his aides painted pictures of goblin armies pouring down from the Northlands and plundering the cities of his Kingdom.’
‘Erland spoke of the strain between himself and his nephew, but even in light of the news I carry, said nothing about His Majesty’s actions.’
Kerus drew a deep breath and started walking once more. ‘Borric, I spend so much time with the sycophants of the King’s court, I forget that you of the West are given to plain speech.’ Kerus was silent a moment, then said, ‘Our King is not the man he once was. Sometimes he seems his old self, laughing and open, filled with grand plans for the Kingdom; other times he is . . . someone else, as if a dark spirit has taken possession of his heart.
‘Take care, Borric, for only Erland stands closer to the throne than yourself. Our King is well aware of that fact – even if you never think of it – and sees daggers and poison where none exists.’
Silence descended over the group, and Pug saw Borric look openly troubled. Kerus continued. ‘Rodric fears others covet his crown. That may be, but not those the King suspects. There are only four conDoin males besides the King, all of whom are men of honor.’ Borric inclined his head at the compliment. ‘But there are perhaps a dozen more who can claim ties to the throne, through the King’s mother and her people. All are eastern lords, and many would not flinch from the opportunity to press their claim to the throne before the Congress of Lords.’
Borric looked incensed. ‘You speak of treason.’
‘Treason in men’s hearts, if not in deeds . . . yet.’
