“Scarcely hiding,” I objected. “We were having a quiet discussion where we were sure things would remain private.” I got up from my chair and he sank into it gratefully. Evidently he had hastened up the secret steps into the tower.
“Would that Kettricken and I had kept our audience with the Bingtown Traders similarly private. Folk are already talking and the kettle already simmering.”
“About whether or not to ally with them and join their war with Chalced. Let me guess. Shoaks is willing to launch the warships tomorrow.”
“Shoaks I could deal with,” Chade replied irritably. “No. It’s more awkward than that. Scarcely had Kettricken returned to her chambers, scarcely had we begun to sort out between us what Bingtown is really asking and offering, than a page knocked at the door. Peottre Blackwater and the Narcheska required an immediate meeting with us. Not requested: required.” He paused to let us ponder that. “The message was conveyed most urgently. So, what could we do but comply? The Queen feared that the Narcheska had taken some new offense at something Dutiful had done or said. But when they were admitted to her private audience chamber, Peottre informed us that he and the Narcheska were most distressed that the Six Duchies was receiving the ambassadors from the Bingtown Traders. They both seemed extremely agitated. But the most interesting part was when Peottre declared firmly that if the Six Duchies entered into any sort of alliance with ‘those dragon-breeders,’ he would terminate the entire betrothal.”
“Peottre Blackwater and the Narcheska came to you about this, not Arkon Bloodblade?” I clarified.
At almost the same moment, the Fool asked with intense interest, “Dragon-breeders? Blackwater called them ‘dragon-breeders’?”
Chade glanced from one to the other of us. “Bloodblade wasn’t there,” he replied to me, and to the Fool, “Actually, it was the Narcheska who used that term.”
“What did the Queen say?” I asked.
Chade took in a long breath. “I had hoped she would say that we needed a moment to confer. But evidently Kettricken felt more short-tempered about the previous day’s humiliation of Prince Dutiful than I thought. Sometimes I forget she is a mother as well as a queen. She rather stiffly, and immediately, told the Narcheska and her uncle that the Six Duchies’ arrangements with the Bingtown Traders will be determined by the Six Duchies’ best interests, not by threats. From anyone.”
“And?”
“And they left the audience chamber. The Narcheska seemed in high dudgeon, walking stiff-backed as a soldier. Blackwater hunched like a man heavily burdened.”
“They’re scheduled to return to the Out Islands soon, aren’t they?”
Chade nodded heavily. “A few days from now. All of this happens just in time to leave everything out of balance. If the Queen does not return an answer to the Bingtowners soon, then when the Narcheska departs, the whole betrothal will be left in uncertainty. All of that work to solidify our relations, gone to waste or worse. Yet I feel there must be no haste in returning an answer to the Bingtown Traders. This whole offer must be considered carefully. This talk of dragons . . . is this a threat? A mockery of our dragons? A wild offer to us, of something that doesn’t even exist, because they need our help so desperately? I need to make sense of that. I need to send spies and buy information. We dare not return an answer until we have our own sources of facts.”
The Fool and I exchanged a glance.
“What?” Chade demanded.
I took a deep breath and threw caution to the wind. “I need to speak with you and the Queen. And perhaps Dutiful should be present as well.”
Chapter XII
JEK
I am no coward. I have always accepted the will of the God-born. More than a dozen times has my life been put at the feet of Duke Sidder, for the good of glorious Chalced. None of those risks do I regret. But when my most gracious and divinely just Duke Sidder finds fault with us for failing to hold Bingtown Harbor, he is unfortunately basing his judgment on the reports of men who were not there. Hence, our most gracious and divinely just duke cannot be faulted in any way for coming to flawed conclusions. Herewith, I endeavor to correct those reports.
Scribe Wertin wrote that “a fleet of seasoned battleships were defeated and driven away by slaves and fishermen.” This is not the case. Slaves and fishermen were, indeed, responsible for much treachery against our ships, done in secret and under cover of darkness rather than in true battle. But as our captains had not been given warning that the Bingtown Traders might have such organized forces at their disposal, why would we be expected to be on guard against them? I think the fault here lies not with our captains, but with those Bingtown emissaries, scribes and accountants, not warriors, who neglected to keep us well informed. Hanging is too kind for them. Many brave warriors died unworthy deaths due to their laxity in reporting.
