Page 23 of Court of Treachery

Raedon’s eyes narrowed sharply, filled with distrust. “For what end?”

“That depends. I seek a Pelenor that is peaceful and prosperous. What do you desire?” Dimitri hoped he was right to voice such things aloud to the general. He would not hesitate to punish him in Toroth’s name. He hoped he had the measure of Raedon right. That he, too, grew disillusioned with the king. Raedon’s eyes narrowed further. “It’s not a trick question.”

“Then you ought to know I desire that, too. I am duty-bound to make it so.”

“Of course—and the situation we find ourselves in at present could not be further from that. Could not be moving further away from that,” he added pointedly, meeting Raedon’s glare.

“What are you proposing?” the general asked guardedly.

“If the king is not fit to rule…” Dimitri left the sentence unfinished, the words hanging in the air.

“You are an idiot if you think I will help you?—”

Dimitri scoffed in disgust, cutting him off. “I do not want that. Don’t be ridiculous.” He might have wanted power and security, but he was not foolish enough to desire a throne. “Who are you bound to serve, General? The people and the land… or the king?”

“I won’t betray my king,” Raedon said stubbornly.

“A quality to be admired, to be sure.” Dimitri paced around the area, like a predator circling prey. He stopped to admire arose. “Yet where has it gotten you? Over the years, you have followed orders you did not agree with. I know precisely what you have done.”

Raedon scowled again. “I don’t needyourjudgment. You’ve done far worse, no doubt. I’ve done my duty. I am bound to serve.”

“As are we all. But maybe that doesn’t need to be the case. Maybe we can serve without compromising everything we stand for.”

Raedon scoffed.

Dimitri allowed himself to chuckle. “Yes, quite. Not under the current paradigm. I will give you that.” He shrugged, fingering the rose and letting it drop. “All I’ll say is, with the current troubles in the city, which my reports tell me are spreading across the realm, and the illness that seems to be striking down half the court, including our own queen, I do not think Pelenor will hold much longer without some hope. We need a strong, fair leader to navigate us through this mire. To see Pelenor through to the other side, intact. I do not think Toroth is that elf.”

Dimitri slyly examined Raedon under the pretence of admiring their surroundings. He could not miss the slight straightening of Raedon’s shoulders. The spark in his eyes. The general had always wanted to be powerful, and there was only one position more powerful than the leader of the Winged Kingsguard.

“What would you have happen?” Raedon asked cautiously. They both knew what Dimitri suggested was tantamount to treason. But Raedon was cautious enough not to voice it.

“Just think on it, General,” he said. “Who are you bound to—king or country—and what is your duty?” Dimitri turned and left, his smile hidden. It was child’s play manipulating egos.

When Dimitri returned to his quarters, a note waited amongst his daily post. It was written in a charcoal stick, partly smeared by the hand that wrote it, upon a rough, dirty parchment scrap that had been torn from a bigger sheet. This had come from a smithy. Dimitri held up the crumpled paper.

“We will stand.”

He smiled, the satisfaction seeping through him in a wave of warm elation. The guilds were his.

21

HARPER

Harper stood in the overwhelming silence, staring at the pale faces of her companions. Nothing stirred but the fire. Each spun slowly, taking in the clearing. It looked like a battlefield. Itwasa battlefield. Dead goblins littered the ground, and black blood pooled upon the dirt and grass. The bodies of the horses were most forlorn of all. The goblins had brought the beasts a cruel death they did not deserve. Harper could not look again. She had already vomited everything in her belly.

Now the goblins had Ragnar. Aedon voiced their worst fears. “We cannot hope to rescue him, can we?” he asked dully.

Brand shook his head. “If we found our way in, we would not find him or our way out.”

“What will happen to him?” Harper asked. It emerged as a whispered croak, for she had gone hoarse with shouting during the fight.

Aedon’s eyes darkened. “I dare not imagine. At the very least, they will torture him for sport. I doubt they will give him a swift death.”

“We need help to hunt them, before the worst happens.” Erika was more grim than usual. She stared up at the rift in the rocks, as if she could will Ragnar from the mountain’s bowels.

“Yes,” said Aedon heavily. “Now we have ever more need of the dwarves. And no horses.”

“How far away are we from Keldheim?” Harper looked between them all. Brand and Erika looked to Aedon, who answered.

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