Song of the Dragon

“I have heard that the Keeper might have found better uses for insolent, young boys,” Soen said with a lightness in his words.

“Perhaps,” Ch’drei said through a dark chuckle; then she paused. “Soen, the Myrdin-dai have a problem on the Icaran Frontier. They need it silenced, and they want you to do it for them.”

The Icaran Frontier! The farthest western reaches of the Empire and about as far from the Imperial Court as one might hope to be assigned. Even if it were only briefly. .

“What is the problem?”

“Something happened in the folds,” Ch’drei spoke softly. “The Myrdin-dai have been basking in the glory of their handling of the folds in this last war against the dwarves. They’ve even gone so far as to make something of a public spectacle of themselves, using this as an opportunity to rub the noses of the Occuran in their success. Now something has happened in the folds of the frontier that has them worried-worried enough that they insist that you, the favored Iblisi of the Emperor himself, take care of it discreetly. They want it silenced, and they want it done by someone close to the Emperor. And they’re willing to promise anything and pay anything to make it happen quickly. You’re to be given complete access to the folds controlled by the Myrdin-dai throughout the Empire to serve this purpose. You’ll be given a commission and seal specifically for this purpose.”

“Generous of them to provide transport,” Soen considered, “especially since it will allow them to follow my movements.”

“Who trusts anyone anymore?”

“And they would not tell you what actually happened in the folds?” Soen asked.

“They didn’t even try to lie to me,” Ch’drei said with a shrug. “That was the most insulting-that they didn’t even bother to make something up for me. I tell you, elves today have no respect for their elders.”

Soen drew in a deep breath and nodded, his own black eyes looking at the Keeper from under his heavy brows. “So it is in the service of the Emperor’s Will that the Keeper of the Iblisi is commissioning me to travel the Myrdin-dai folds to the Icaran Frontier to silence an unspecified matter that is currently distressing a companion Order of the Empire?”

“Oh, what nonsense!”

Both Ch’drei and Soen laughed heartily.

“I too soon forget why I like you, Soen,” Ch’drei said through her grinning smile. “You have such a charmingly dry sense of humor. No, of course that isn’t why I’m sending you. I wouldn’t mind currying a little favor with the Myrdin-dai right now, but, no, that’s not why you’re going.”

Peril or profit? Which will it be?

“The Myrdin-dai were not my only urgent audience today. Their rivals, the Occuran, visited me this morning,” Ch’drei said, her voice softening. “Something has gone very wrong with the Aether Wells of the Icaran Frontier.”

“Twin trouble in the Western Provinces?”

“Yes. It has caused disturbance patterns resonating all through the Aether links throughout the Empire. The Occuran tell me the Aether Wells have failed on the frontier.”

Soen raised his eyebrows. “Failed?”

“Yes. . failed.”

Soen straightened to stand upright, considering the implications of what he had just heard. “It’s been a long time since a well failed. Some of these Fourth Estate lords go to the frontier without knowing what is required to survive. Still, I don’t see why you need me to. .”

“It wasn’t just one well that failed, Soen,” Ch’drei said. “This wasn’t just some mistake made by a careless House Lord. The Aether in the entire region collapsus, and a number of Houses in the Province have fallen completely.”

“Fallen?” Soen’s left brow rose in surprise. “One House falling is a potential catastrophe. . but the fall of multiple Houses at once is unimaginable.”

“The warding glyphs that link the Wells are meant to prevent such a cascading failure-severing the connection to the collapsus Well before any damage is done,” Soen mused. “How could they fail in multiple Wells at once?

“According to the Occuran, the Wells all across the Western Provinces not only collapsus completely but inverted for a time, but we do not know enough,” the Keeper continued. “Communication from the Frontier has failed both from the Occuran and the Myrdin-dai, but from the little we know as many as a dozen Houses could have fallen-and that could be an optimistic number. The glyphs must have worked eventually or the entire Empire would have gone dark.”

“What about containment?” Soen asked, his mind still racing through the possibilities.

“Again, we don’t know-and that is why you must depart at once. You have to discover the cause of this and secure its truth. If knowledge of any vulnerability to the system of Aether Wells were to become commonly known. .”

“I agree,” Soen mused with a frown, “but if even a dozen or so Houses have fallen, the number of slaves released from their Devotions alone. .”

“I’m only interested in the cause of this collapse-not a few ‘bolters.’ If any slaves have something to do with this, then, of course, hunt them down.”

“And the problems of the Occuran and the Myrdin-dai are related?”

Ch’drei shrugged. “Beyond doubt-but that is for you to discover.”

Soen nodded. “How do you want the rest of the slaves handled?”

“If they can be usefully enthralled again, then ship them here for new Devotions; otherwise kill the broken ones,” Ch’drei said though she was not really interested. “I’ll leave that to your discretion. It is good policy, makes us a profit on the resale of the slaves, and maintains our rather ruthless image.”

“I’ll need a Quorum.”

“You may take two Codexia of your choice.”

“Qinsei and Phang, then, if the choice is mine,” Soen nodded as he thought. “And the four Assesia?”

“I should think that Yarou, Shonoc and Wreth would be honored by the task. Perhaps you could also take young Jukung as your fourth?”

Soen smiled once more. He knew Jukung was a spy for Ch’drei. This assignment was important enough that the Keeper wanted a second set of eyes to report to her.

Who trusts anyone anymore. .

“So the Myrdin-dai provide the transport and means to allow us to solve a mystery for their rivals, the Occuran,” Soen chuckled. “We garner favor with both and neither is the wiser.”

“Everyone profits,” Ch’drei smiled. “Especially us.”

“Thank you, Keeper.” Soen bowed. “I am honored to serve with such a Quorum. . and may I add my personal thanks as it will be good to serve under an open sky again.”

“Do not thank me so quickly,” Ch’drei returned. “You do not know what awaits you in the Western Provinces-and many a truth has left its Inquisitor buried beneath that same open sky.”

CHAPTER 18

Tracks

The evening had deepened into a purple twilight around the horizon by the time Assesia Jukung joined the rest of the Quorum in the courtyard of the Keep. The globe-torches mounted on the inner walls of the Keep had just flickered to life in the gathering night, illuminating the ancient flagstones beneath their feet. Above the walls to the east, the towering subatria of the Imperial City shone in the night with a soft incandescence, the Cloud Palace itself shining above them all.

Soen saw none of its beauty; his eyes were focused on the Quorum that had formed before him. Each of them was clothed in much the same manner as himself, in a dull reddish-brown hooded robe with a black sash