City of Towers_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [41]
“I … I don’t know. I tried to bring it up once before, but he changed the subject and I didn’t want to press. He might have been expelled. But it’s always possible that he’s a foundling.”
“What do you mean?”
The change in subject allowed Lei to fall back on her role as sage and lecturer, and they began walking again. “You know that the dragonmarks are bound to bloodlines, yes? Since the marks are tied to the family line of the house, they remain within the house. It’s one reason people who bear a particular dragonmark often share similar physical traits. But when you have an … excoriate … he still carries the power of the mark and can pass it on to offspring. Thus it’s possible for a child to be born outside the house and yet to possess the mark of the house. I think that’s what you see with Jode—a man with the gift of Jorasco, but with no actual tie to the house.”
“I’d think the house wouldn’t approve of that—someone interfering with their monopoly on the mark. What’s to stop a group of outsiders from starting a new house?”
“Well, that’s more or less what has happened with the elves, though the split came from inside the house,” Lei said. “But you’re right, it’s something that has always been discouraged. You have to understand, it’s exceedingly rare for someone to be punished in this way. Uncle Jura is the only excoriate I’ve ever met. As Jode said before, they use to kill excoriates. Even after that practice was ended, excoriates were often castrated or … maimed. Since the rise of Galifar, these practices have been discouraged. Over the last few centuries, most of the houses passed rules allowing foundlings to apply for admittance into the house. Unless the parent was some sort of incarnate fiend, there’s nothing to be gained by punishing the child.”
“And yet we have Jode.”
“Look, I don’t know! Ask him.”
Daine shook his head. “Better left alone.”
They walked a little further. “You changed the subject,” Lei said. “I still don’t understand why your friend Grazen would leave the house. But given that he did … why would he keep that sword? And why give it to you?”
“Well …” Daine ran his fingers along the hilt of the sword. “You’re right. The soldiers of Deneith cannot give their allegiance to any king or queen. Their loyalty belongs to the house first and paymaster second, whoever that may be. Apparently Grazen found something—or someone—who became more important to him than the house. I imagine he had to leave to be with her. So it’s not like, well, what’s happened to you. He may have wanted to keep the memory of his achievements within the house, so he kept the sword. As for why he gave it to me, I couldn’t tell you. He knew I didn’t have a sword.” And wanted to rub my face in it, he thought. “This is a fine blade, and obviously I’ll never be able to wield it without thinking of him.” It was close enough to the truth, and Lei seemed to accept it.
Lei stopped again and looked at him critically. “You have a bit of the Deneith look, you know,” she said. “The color of your hair, those dark blue eyes, even the shape of the eye … I don’t know why I’ve never noticed it before.”
Daine shrugged. “Perhaps there’s a foundling in my family tree? I supposed it would explain why Grazen and I were such good friends.”
Lei nodded. “I suppose it might, at that. Anyhow, we’re here.”
“What?”
Lei gestured at the building next to them. Daine had been so absorbed in the conversation that he hadn’t been paying attention to their surroundings. He glanced over at their destination and blinked. The King of Fire was unlike any tavern he’d ever seen. A squat tower of black stone inlaid with sigils of gleaming brass, it seemed like it should be the fortress of an evil wizard plucked out of fey tales. But the square sign above the door had the unmistakable look of an inn post, bearing the image of a deck of playing cards with the King of Fire showing on the top. As he watched, a trio of drunken gnomes came staggering out of the building. All three of them needed to lean against