Night of the Chalk (Spies of Dragon and Chalk Book 1) Page 13

  They talked for a while before Cal downed his last drink and shambled over to the bedroll, throwing his sword to the ground next to him. He laid down, struggling to find a comfortable position in which last night’s wounds were at peace. As he drifted off to sleep the last thing he heard was the low, rumbling voice of the Dura Mati, taking his place at the table. Cal knew he should pay attention but the long nights were catching up with him. He fell into a dreamless sleep.

  …

  Aaron stared at Cal for a moment, then returned his gaze to the Dura Mati, towering over the table. His face hardened. “No. I will not release you from your service. And those are not your dragons. They are a loan.”

  The Dura Mati spread his broad hands on the tabletop and pushed down on its surface. The table legs creaked alarmingly. “More than three years now,” he said. “I am no slave. Release me.”

  “You have not yet proven yourself,” Aaron began.

  “I saved little man, your friend,” the minotaur cut him off. “Killed many Chalk. Add to your name. What more?”

  “You must wait. The moment is coming.”

  The Dura Mati glared at Aaron, then abruptly went back to his spot in the corner.

  Aaron, for all purposes alone again, rubbed at his pixie eye. The Dura Mati would be a problem. Ever since he learned they were going south, he had been itching to reestablish himself with his race. If Aaron let him go, nothing would change with the minotaur race. The Dura Mati would tolerate nothing short of a return to his former status. Blood would flow. The decline of the minotaur would continue unabated. One of the greatest armies in the east would remain completely blunted by prideful infighting. Meanwhile the Chalk grew unthreatened, their reach somehow even extending to Delhonne. Aaron needed the Dura Mati a little while longer. He was the lynchpin to the southern part of Aaron’s plans.

  Aaron spent the next two hours carefully reading through the pile of invitations by candlelight and trying to wrap his head around the complicated world of local politics. Eventually he reached out for the bottle of whiskey and put it under the table. It was too tempting of an escape.

  Finally, Vander came in from the dark stable yard and told him some Corvale guards had arrived. Aaron knew that precipitated the arrival of Miriam and Conners. He heard Sleepy Jon’s voice outside. His impromptu council was ready.

  Chapter 20. The War Room

  Jon arrived at the stables just as a group of four Corvale guards were let in the front gate. They carried themselves like experienced soldiers, used to uncertain territory, but he noticed a bit of stiffness in them. They were not sure of what they were doing here, of what they were expected to do. They talked quietly amongst themselves.

  Moments later a hooded grey-haired gentleman and a stunning blonde woman emerged from the western side of the stables. Jon recognized her as the waitress who had been listening in on their conversation two nights ago. So this would be Conners and Miriam, Aaron’s new Corvale allies. Jon studied them closely, particularly Miriam. She wore a vapid expression of excitement. It made her look young, maybe someone out of her depths at a war council. Jon suspected it to be a clever mask atop a sharp and observant mind. The first night she had seamlessly played the role of an awed waitress with important guests at a dive bar. Who knew how many masks she had? That first night had given away her desire to get close to Aaron. And here she was, by his side for a third night in a row, right in the mix again.

  Jon had less context he could use to evaluate Conners. The butler uniform made him appear naturally deferent. Jon could see him blending into the background during discussions among Delhonne’s powerful noble class. But here he gave no physical ground, inserting himself directly into the soldiers, passing through them to approach Jon. The Corvale soldiers straightened and moved aside as Conners passed. Jon had worked with enough mercenaries and proper military men to recognize the respect they directed at Conners. Another one to keep an eye on. Even if he was not a physical threat, and Jon wasn’t ready to rule that out, Conners had a stock of ready and willing fighters a twitch of the fingers away.

  Jon introduced himself, greeting Conners with an outstretched hand. Conners gave him a small smile and shook the hand.

  “Conners Toren,” he replied. “And this is Miriam.”

  “A pleasure to see you again,” Jon said to her. She smiled.

  Jon gestured to the door of the barn. They entered. Conners and Miriam hesitated a moment upon entering. The dragons lounged around on the floor. They exuded a laziness that would be envied by off-duty soldiers.

  Aaron crossed the barn floor. He greeted the three and then led the way up a ladder to the lofted area, which had a table set up complete with chairs. A tired-looking Cal sat at the table. He nodded to them. Huddled in the corner, the Dura Mati didn’t even bother looking up.

  Jon continued his scrutiny of Conners and Miriam. Neither offered any reaction to the presence of the minotaur slumped in the corner. They had been prepared for it, which meant they had been studying up on Aaron. Probably Cal and even him as well. Jon had no dealings with the Delhonne Corvale in the past, was only aware of their existence from Aaron. He would have to remedy that oversight in the next few days.

  Everyone joined Cal around the table. Aaron offered drinks which some took and some passed on. There was a brief awkward silence, then Aaron leaned back, looking at Cal. Jon hid a smile as Cal sighed, realizing Aaron expected him to run the meeting.

  “Okay,” Cal started, “we might not all know each other well enough to be friends, but we’ve got certain interests in common. And a lot has happened over the past few days. Why don’t we start by laying out what we know? Maybe some of us can fill in blanks that help the others. Then we talk about what happens next.”

  Cal gestured to Aaron, who gave a brief summary of the attack over Delhonne. Jon talked about tracing the contract on Aaron back to the Lower Sweeps. Then Cal told the group about Zarus Coff and the other Chalk who had attacked him last night, invoking the name Gelden Carr.

  “So, I’ve been in Delhonne these past few years, but I’ve never heard that name,” Cal asked. “Have any of you?”

  “No,” Conners said, “but I can tell you it is almost certainly a Chalk name. That in itself is a big deal. Few among the Chalk ever obtain a name. They call themselves S’Kuhr’Mar, which would mean simply Children of the Ashlands. Based on the histories and studies I’ve seen, they only give individual names to their great generals and leaders. I believe Zarus Coff would mean something like ‘the sharp knife’ in their language.

  “Gelden Carr is a strange name. It translates to something like ‘empty cup’. Most Chalk names tie to objects of power, knives and swords and thrones and such. It is odd to hear one called the ‘empty cup’, if I’m translating it correctly. It might speak to someone of great ambition, or someone with an uncertain future.” Conners waved his hands to show his own uncertainty. “This is all based on very limited knowledge of Chalk society.”

  He leaned back and continued after a moment. “As to the ‘little fish getting bigger’ our friend Jon Harpish reports hearing from Mr. Cullmore…I can speak more to that. We have noticed some unusual patterns within both the Delhonne criminal and noble hierarchies over the past few months. On the criminal side, a few of the smaller players have suddenly started throwing around large amounts of gold without an obvious link to recent profitable endeavors. It’s not particularly widespread. We had not yet really considered it a pattern, just something to observe. There’s not much in common among these players, though they do seem to be concentrated near City Center. But it may just be because that is one of the areas on which I tend to keep a close eye. Near the Corvale House and the Palace.

  “If I had to speculate, I’d say that someone or several someones are vastly overpaying for low level tasks, surveillance and such, that can be completed by street gangs. This would be similar to what’s occurred in the Lower Sweeps. Someone is throwing around enough money to get what they want. They spread
it wide enough to allay suspicion. Only someone taking a very high view, such as Ty Cullmore monitoring his criminal enterprise, gets an inkling of the bigger picture.

  “As to the nobility, there are several who have been spending unusually large amounts of money. But it is not uncommon to see wild fluctuations in their spending. It could be related to profit in far off investments, changes in the market, or something as simple as a successfully completed trading mission. The nobles also sometimes just start spending their inheritance when more cautious family members are not monitoring expenses due to illness or travel. Delhonne’s fashionable younger crowd frequently rallies behind the big spenders until their money dries up and there are no more parties, then they quietly slip away.

  “But what is more unusual is the recent disappearances amongst the nobility. At least seven or eight nobles of the lower to mid ranks have vanished. Those who have gone missing have some common traits. They are all men, mostly young. They tend to be of older families, the kind that quietly maintain their status while bleeding out their family fortune, often trapped in outdated industries. They are not so important as to generate an outcry. If a DeFlorre went missing there would be a massive investigation and some arm-twisting to get to the bottom of the affair. In these cases, some small outcry has been raised by their families, but no one knows where they have gone and whether they are alive or dead. A few disappearances is not unusual. Nobles who are too poor to travel Delhonne without guards make good targets for muggings and it’s easiest to not leave a witness behind. There are few who care to monitor the whole of the Delhonne community of nobles at such a high level to notice the large number of vanishings that have occurred recently. But for those of us who do, we realize there is, if not exactly a pattern, an unusual set of occurrences.

  “Something which you certainly already know is that there is a tremendous amount of interest in these dragons and a great deal of speculation as to how to take them away from you, Aaron.

  “The local politicians of the Tannes Statehouse pushed for seizure of them last night at a closed session, but too many of the key members are in the pocket of Senators to act without their approval. The Senate is in recess for the Festival of Clouds. Several Senators pushed for a special session, but right now there is no consensus on how to act, so you seem to be largely clear of an organized government takeover. That will not last forever. The Home Guard was the right group for your affiliation. They are not firmly in anyone’s pocket, so buying their leadership will take time. I would assume some of the Home Guard men who guard these walls might be on the take by now, but without a critical mass, any action would certainly lead to a lot of bloodshed. And if Aaron simply leaves the city with the dragons, even if the injured one is left behind, the citizenry might blame the Senate for a lost opportunity. We’re at peacetime, and some people see the dragons more as entertainment than as a tactical military advantage.

  “Because we’re at peacetime, the military is not sitting at the tables where these decisions are being made. They would almost certainly seize this compound if they were able to justify it, but no one branch has the backing to do so. They will continue to make the case that the dragons need to be claimed for the benefit of Tannes, but the Senators will take their time on a decision like that, milking every side for money as long as possible. Soon they’ll start asking you about what you bring to the table. The more enterprising ones would have already done so, but they are uncertain whether being affiliated with you might allow them to be demonized as enemies of the state later.

  “The great families, however, recognize that the dragons represent an enormous economic advantage. Any one family which were able to control the dragons gains a huge upside in terms of communications and industry intelligence. They imagine dragons patrolling the harbors and trade routes, reporting ship and caravan counts, carrying messages swiftly across the continent with little chance of interception. They view it as the competitive advantage that will cement their fortunes. They also view the possibility of another family gaining access to the dragons as tantamount to their ruin. This puts you in a dangerous place. You represent a threat.

  “I don’t have eyes on every gathering of nobles in Delhonne, but at least one plot reached the stage of being contracted out. Earlier this afternoon, a group of men were convened in a warehouse not far from here by the Carley family. They were instructed to kidnap Cal Mast when next he left the stables. Though the entirety of the plan was not shared, I speculate they intended to ransom him for a dragon. One of the men they spoke with was on my payroll and had made me and others aware of the meeting. After receiving his instructions, he slipped out a back door. All the rest of the men are now dead, their throats cut. The gold they were to be paid with is gone. A few hours later, a silver platter bearing the bloody knives of the men was delivered to the Carley family home.

  “The tale has already made the rounds. The Carleys lost a great deal of gold, but more importantly, they have lost a great deal of credibility due to their failure. The other noble families will hesitate. This will give you more time.” Here Conners paused for a moment, finally taking a breath after his long speech. “It was an appropriate return of the favor you granted us by attending our meeting last night. That meant a great deal to our people.”

  Conners resumed his report in a brisk, businesslike tone. “The last thing to be aware of is that this very meeting will undoubtedly go reported to many if not all of the competing interests I have outlined. I hope to keep my role in it unrecognized outside of this circle. I trust Miriam to take advantage of the situation whether her place at the table is known or unknown. But as the public face of the Delhonne Corvale, it will be widely assumed that Senator Drake arranged for this alliance. He will face pressure from the Senator groups who currently provide us with funding. I have instructed Senator Drake to be evasive on the nature of any alliance and increase his asking price. I believe this will buy us some time and, of course, we can always use the gold. In the future, we can publicly create whatever image of that relationship we both find advantageous. If we need to distance ourselves, we can make it appear you felt some obligation to meet with the Corvale but never trusted Drake. If we need to strengthen ties, we can even fabricate the story that you were working for us in coming to Delhonne. I agree to do neither without your consent, Aaron. Does this situation sound acceptable?”

  At Aaron’s nod, Conners gave his small formal smile and sat back.

  Jon was impressed by the flood of information. Assuming all Conners said was true, since the sun had risen he had already uncovered and neutralized a serious plot against one of Jon’s employers. And ordered the deaths of several men. This all without Aaron paying him anything, though Jon had carefully noted that the Carleys’ gold from the story had vanished. It presumably joined the Corvale stockpile.

  Jon scanned the table. Cal and Aaron had their usual card table faces, unreadable. Conners looked expectant, waiting for the next report, a hint of eagerness in his expression. He fed off information. He was waiting for his next morsel. Miriam radiated pride, not bothering to mask it. Her loyalty clearly lay with Conners. If Conners left, she would follow. If he asked her to kill Aaron or Cal, she probably would. Conners was the key to controlling Miriam, if it was needed.

  Just to complete his exercise, Jon let his eyes slide over the Dura Mati in the corner. Slumped shoulders, labored breathing. The Dura Mati projected defeat and depression whenever no enemy was near. He didn’t seem to like people, only marginally tolerating Aaron and hardly speaking to anyone else. But beneath his demeanor of disinterest, Jon sensed the minotaur was following the conversation.

  After a moment, Cal broke the silence. “Thanks, Conners. Let’s talk about the dragons for a minute. We don’t know what is coming next from this Carr character, if he’s behind the attacks, but we do know we need to secure the dragons. So how do we do that?”

  Aaron said, “The other thing to consider is that Cal and I have received invitations to see just ab
out every noble or powerful family or institution in Delhonne, and we need a strategy to deal with that. Obviously I took the Corvale invitation seriously, and I’m glad I did, but any other response to the invitations needs to be carefully thought out. Nobody else really has anything we want or need, unless they can keep us secure or lead us closer to Carr.”

  Conners spread his hands. “One idea is to make just enough overtures to interest one branch of government. It will make the others hesitant, force them to evaluate the risks of entering the fray. It will buy more time.”

  “And which branch do you recommend?” Aaron asked.

  “The Palace. King Jacob has been largely marginalized by the Senate in the past few years. He himself possesses little ambition so he’s not a threat. I can control the visit, within reason, at least ensuring it isn’t an ambush. It will throw the Senate off.”

  There was silence again as everyone mulled over the idea.

  Miriam spoke for the first time. “About the dragons…you know it’s your fault everyone is looking at them as a military asset. You crash into an alley, immediately arrange them into a guard, get Cal, then put them under lock and key. The first time you step out, you have someone openly killed. You all carry swords, carry yourselves like battle will break out any moment.”

  Cal protested, “It already has, several times.”

  “I know that, and you know that, but to the average citizen, these dragons are a blank slate. You’ve put them into the context of war, now people are thinking of war. What if you changed that up? What if you turn them into a major cultural event? Or a scientific discovery? I know it sounds strange, but it’s not just the government and the military and the power-hungry nobility that is interested. What about the artists, the scientists, the poets, the historians? They’d all love a chance to see the dragons. And if you can change the story, maybe you can control it better this time.”