The entire court was silent and still as the Preceptor spoke
‘First four young nobles lined up at the gate can take the vigil, starting at noon; if any don’t pass muster, the next in line may try.’
The movement was almost imperceptible at first, as the sons of the great houses started edging towards the side door. Becoming one of the Dragon Guard guaranteed immortality of a sort and every young man in the room had dreamed of joining at some point. The Duke of Farrenreed Isle, standing closest to the gate and realising what was about to happen, grabbed his wife and children before moving smartly towards the throne and, more importantly, away from the door. Within seconds the edging had become walking, then hurrying, then an avalanche. Within a minute, a melee had broken out on the south side of the throne room as the young men fought for the front of the line.
The Lore Master scowled at the Preceptor. ‘Possibly not the wisest thing you’ve done today!’
The Preceptor scratched his head and grinned, ‘That happened last time too.’ He looked at the king. ‘My apologies for destroying the decorum of your court.’
The king laughed. ‘I look forwards to developments, things have been stagnating here for too long. This is the best thing to happen since the mid-winter celebrations. We’ve been discussing fish taxes for the last month and that becomes tedious after the first day or so.’
Without taking his eyes off the battle royal going on in front of the doors to the Southern Hall, the Preceptor asked ‘Did you find time to order reprisals for Blevin’s death?’
The king coughed and glanced at princess Bria. ‘Last week. The brothel was burned to the ground and the madam has been shipped over to Skarran, indentured for 10 years to work in the fish-gutting sheds.’
The Lore Master harrumphed ‘Silly old fool shouldn’t have gone anywhere near the place, let alone take his armour off.’
The Preceptor frowned slightly. ‘We are not some order of monks, cloistered away from the world. We live in it and work in it and in the end, we are only human.’
The king shrugged. ‘Blevin’s frailties are immaterial. An attack on one of the Guard is treason and always has been. I just wish we had caught the killer. They would have been staked out on the shoreline for the gulls and rats. The only reason that the madam didn’t suffer that fate was that we couldn’t prove she had fore-knowledge of the plan but she did try to sell the armour. Is it undamaged?’
The Preceptor patted his own armour. ‘It’s sound, Sire. The suits are incredibly tough but it’s very pale now, even worse than this suit. We need to get some more dragon blood to recharge all the suits. At the rate they are fading, we may only have a decade or two left.’
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The king nodded ‘and then the guards will be mortal again.’
He lowered his voice. ‘I notice my son has ambitions to join you. If he makes it to the vigil, I’ll wager you a thousand Dragon’s Tears, that he doesn’t make it through.’
The Preceptor’s head whipped around, taking in the now empty space next to the king. ‘Sire, that sounds suspiciously like a bribe. You know I don’t have a thousand Tears if he fails the vigil or tests.’
The king chuckled. ‘I could order you to take the bet’
The Preceptor frowned. ‘You could try that of course, but then I’d have to insist that the title ‘Commander of the Dragon Guard’ is not nominal and that you join in the daily training in the practice yard.’
The king winced. ‘Very well, no bet then.’
The Preceptor finally took his eyes off the scrum and looked at the king. ‘It wouldn’t hurt you to put some time in the practice yard Sire. It’s not just your ego that’s getting bigger.’
The herald gasped; ‘Preceptor! You should not speak to the monarch thus!’
The king flapped his hand at the herald. ‘By tradition, the Preceptor is permitted to be blunt with the monarch. His duty is to protect the ruler from all threats, including from themselves. You should know that.’
The Preceptor grinned at the herald. ‘That and the fact that I have a pretty decent claim to the throne, having been crown prince myself. You should know that too.’
The Lore Master stirred. ‘Actually, you don’t, you renounced any claim when you took the oath of fealty to the king on his coronation’
‘Lore Master, you’re slipping. I acknowledged his claim should supersede mine and swore loyalty to him, as I have done to every monarch since my mother, queen Karaliene passed. To do otherwise would have meant civil war. I renounced nothing.’
‘You may not be Lore Master or Preceptor and maintain your place in succession. The tradition has served us well for the last three hundred years. I was blocked from taking the throne when my father passed two hundred years ago.’
‘Gloria was Queen, Lore Master and Preceptor.’
The Lore Master tapped his staff on the ground, seemingly quite agitated. ‘And two centuries passed before we recovered from the bloodbath that befell the kingdom when Gloria was killed, mainly as a result of her centralising the power in her own hands. Do not cite Gloria to me as an example of anything.’
Princess Bria stared at the pair of them. ‘Gloria was a guard? You said ‘Nobles’ not ‘Noblemen.’ Women can be guards!’
She turned to hurtle down the steps, but the Preceptor caught her by the green linen sleeve of her dress. She struggled to escape his grip. ‘Let go of me! I want to join.’
He pointed to the seething mass of young noblemen still fighting for the front of the line. ‘Your highness, do you really want to try and fight through those idiots?
The king looked at the Lore Master. ‘Is this true that the Dragon Guard will admit women?
The Lore Master froze ‘Sire I must protest at even the idea. Women were admitted in rare circumstances only. I scarcely think that we need allow young ladies, with no training, admittance to the Southern Hall when there are so many keen young men.’ He pointed to the scrum down by the oak doors into the Southern hall.
‘Your Majesty.’ The Preceptor came to attention. ‘I formally request that we reopen the western barracks of the Southern Hall, traditional home for women in the Dragon Guard. Admitting them will significantly enhance our role as investigators and judges. Witnesses may well speak to them where they would not speak to us.’
The king nodded and steepled his fingers under his chin staring first at the Preceptor and then at the Loremaster. ‘Granted Preceptor. Bria, go and get Lady Adelyn, Lady Camryn and Lady Nia. The four of you can stand vigil together.’
Princess Bria looked as though she had just found the jewel of the isles. ‘I really may join the Dragon Guard?’