The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr [130]
“Any service I can pay your gwerbret will be nothing but pleasure.”
“I wish it could be so, Your Excellency, but I’m afraid that there may be some considerable pain involved. You see, Gwerbret Rhys died suddenly last fall.”
“My heart is pierced with a spear to learn of your ruler’s death. I met Lord Rhys on two separate occasions, and always he was the soul of courtesy and graciousness.”
Amyr and the other riders exchanged disbelieving glances, which fortunately Klemiko didn’t see.
“It was a terrible shock to us all,” Nevyn said smoothly. “Even worse, he left behind him a line of succession that’s tangled at best and unclear at worst. He had no sons, you see.”
“Ah.” Klemiko’s brow furrowed, as if he were trying to remember the to-him peculiar customs surrounding an inherited office. “Oh, of course, daughters wouldn’t do, either. Did he have brothers or—I believe this pertains—an uncle?”
“Not an uncle, no, but his younger brother does indeed stand to inherit his properties. Unfortunately, that brother has disappeared. He was last seen here in the islands.”
“Now that’s an oddity!” Klemiko allowed himself a smile. “Has the younger brother taken to commerce to improve his prospects? It’s so rare that one of your lords is that enlightened.”
“I only wish he’d been so sensible. No, I’m afraid I don’t really know what he’s up to, but I wager that it’s something disgraceful. At a guess I’d say it involved girls and gambling.”
“I see that your young men aren’t all that different than ours.” Klemiko looked away, his dark eyes turning pained. “One of my sons has a profound interest in the dance, or so he says. It extends more to the young women who perform it than the noble art itself. I can but sympathize.” He sighed and turned his mind back to the matter at hand. “Do you think he’s in Surat?”
“I have no idea, but I doubt if I’m as lucky as all that. What I need, Your Excellency, is some sort of paper that will allow me to travel with my honor guard. I know that the islands have strict laws about traveling openly with weapons, but I also know that my men—well, to be exact, they’re the new gwerbret’s men—won’t want to give them up.”
“Probably not, no. I’ve noticed that the men of your country get rather insulted if anyone so much as suggests they might disarm themselves for courtesy’s sake. Well, that certainly can be arranged. Since the new gwerbret is a military ruler, it stands to reason that his honor guard would be armed as well. I can give you a selection of documents, and you can use them as you see best. Now, are you going to require horses?”
“Yes. All of these men are cavalrymen.”
“Ah. Well, we’ll present you with some from the city militia’s stables.”
“Your Excellency, your generosity overwhelms me.”
“It is nothing, a mere trifle between friends.” Klemiko allowed himself a smile. “Of course, if you might mention our city’s name to the new gwerbret when you find him …”
“No doubt, Your Excellency, I’ll be mentioning it many times over.”
When they returned to their inn, Nevyn found Elaeno waiting, pacing up and down with a wine cup in his hand.
“How did it go?”
“Splendidly. Klemiko definitely wants to be in the new gwerbret’s favor. Everyone seems to know that the High King’s given Aberwyn a bigger share of the Bardek trade, and you could hear the good archon thinking ‘monopolies’ with every compliment he paid. I didn’t tell him the truth, by the by. I made up some tale about Rhodry being too fond of gambling and women and general carousing.”
“Good. No archon in the islands is going to want to hear the Hawks so much as mentioned in his presence. Might mean he’d have to take some action against them.”
“Do the Brotherhoods have as much power as all that?”
“I wouldn’t call it power, exactly. I mean, they’re in no position to get laws passed in their favor or proper government contracts. Every now and then some archon does