“We need rooms,” dal Sason said as he approached the innkeeper.
The innkeeper nodded. “How many?”
The banneret shrugged. “How many do you have free?”
“Four.”
“We’ll take the lot, then,” dal Sason said.
Guillot chuckled. “It seems I’m a bad influence on you.”
“I work for the king,” dal Sason said. “The Prince Bishop’s finances are of no concern to me. Right now, a hot meal and a good night’s sleep are the only things that do. If we’re well fed and rested, we’ll be better able to do what we came out here to do.”
“Are we too late for food?” Guillot said.
“Stove is still lit,” the innkeeper said. “I can have something heated up for you.”
“Excellent,” dal Sason said. “We’ll take it over by the fire.”
“Won’t be a moment, my Lord.”
“Before you go,” Guillot said.
“Be careful,” dal Sason whispered. “Don’t want to start a panic.”
Gill nodded. “Has anyone come here from Villerauvais in the past couple of days?”
The innkeeper shrugged and shook his head. Gill’s heart sank, but it had been a slim hope.
They walked over to a table by the fire and sat. Two of the Spurriers went to attend to the baggage, leaving only Short—Banneret Eston—and Sergeant Doyenne at the table. They both looked so young to Gill. Eston couldn’t have been more than a year or two out of the Academy, while Doyenne didn’t look much older.
“What brought you to the Order?” Guillot said to Doyenne, trying to take his mind off Villerauvais.
“Opportunity,” she said. “They’re few and far between for a woman. At least for those looking for a bit of adventure. The usual paths after university didn’t take my fancy. This did.”
Guillot nodded. “Sounds reasonable.”
For a woman, education and the professions—medicine, bookkeeping, and the like—were the only paths to an independent life, and they weren’t for everyone. He couldn’t imagine a worse life than spending it doing something like lawyering, although on reflection, he supposed his past few years did come pretty close.
“Plus it means I get to wear a rapier like all the bannerets,” Doyenne said.
“The Order can do that?” Guillot said, looking to Leverre. The law had always been that only bannerets could wear a rapier within city walls, but that didn’t stop a variety of others from trying to get away with it.
“Many of us are bannerets,” Leverre said. “The king gave us a dispensation for any who aren’t.”
“That was nice of him,” Guillot said.
“It was necessary, if we’re to fill the role he has in mind for us.”
“What role is that, exactly?” Guillot said. “Does he find himself in need of replacing his old bunch of drunken lechers?”
Leverre’s face reddened. “You were one of those drunken lechers, as I recall.”
“I may have been a drunk, but I was never a lecher. And I resigned. Apparently the old king never got around to accepting it, though. Says a lot, really.”
“Strange that you use the past tense when it comes to your drinking,” Leverre said. “I heard you’ve spent the last half-decade at the bottom of a bottle.”
“Makes for better company than fellas like you,” Guillot said, his temper flaring.
“Gentlemen,” dal Sason said. “It’s neither the time, nor the place. We’ve got a job to do, and it’s more likely to succeed if we get along. I’d ask you to apologise to one another, but I don’t think that’ll get us anywhere. Instead I’m going to ask you both to put it behind you and move on. Focus on what we’ve got ahead of us.”
There was a strained silence. Guillot had always hated it when he couldn’t defend his behaviour.
“I’m telling you to both move on,” dal Sason said, with an edge to his voice that Guillot hadn’t heard before.
“We don’t have to like each other to work together,” Guillot said. “I worked with the other Chevaliers for years, after all, without killing any of them. More’s the pity.”
Leverre snorted. “Do your job and we won’t have any problems.”
“Duelled a Competition winner, have you?” Guillot said. Even his anger couldn’t stop him feeling ridiculous making the threat. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. “How in hells am I supposed to kill a dragon, anyway? Let it eat me and try to choke it on the way down?” Even as he spoke, he realised this was far from the worst of the ideas he’d had so far.
Eston let out a laugh that was cut short by a ferocious glare from the dark-eyed Sergeant Doyenne. Leverre maintained his humourless, impassive expression, a mix of boredom and constipation, while dal Sason shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Guillot could see that the same question had been occupying his mind.
“Have you … detected it yet?” Guillot said. “Are we even going in the right direction?”
“We are,” Leverre said.
“You seem very certain,” Guillot said. “You realise we’re moving into mountainous terrain. The right way might not be the direct one.”
“I realise that,” Leverre said.
“So you know the area?” Guillot said, his suspicions rising. “If you’re so sure we’re on the right track.”
Leverre shifted in his seat and looked at Doyenne. She gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head, but Guillot spotted it. “You know we’re on the right track because you’ve been there before, haven’t you?” Guillot said. “Have you tried to kill it already and failed?”
The expression on Leverre’s face shifted slightly.
“No, that’s not it, is it?” Guillot said.
“I really don’t see this as being in any way constructive,” dal Sason said.
“I think it’s very constructive,” Guillot said. “What were you doing up there?” he said to Leverre.
“We were on state business,” Leverre said.
“You bastards let it out, didn’t you?” Guillot said. The anger in his voice crackled like the log fire they sat beside. “You went poking your noses where they didn’t belong, and you let it out.” It took Guillot everything he had to restrain himself. If it came to blows, Leverre would likely kill him. “This is all your fault.”
He turned his gaze to dal Sason. “I knew it was more than a coincidence when you turned up in the village at the same time all of this started happening. How long had you known about the dragon?”
“We took action as soon as we had an understanding of what was going on,” dal Sason said. “It came as just as much of a shock to the king as it did for any of us.” He paused for a moment. “My involvement only began when I was tasked with fetching you.”
“I dare say the people of Villerauvais got quite a bit more of a shock than the king,” Guillot said. Moments like these made having a sword strapped to his waist so much more dangerous.
“Yes, I … well, I’ve been meaning to say how sorry I am for your loss,” dal Sason said. “We haven’t had the time to consider what a traumatic blow that must be for you.”
“You can shove your apology,” Guillot said. “It doesn’t repair the damage done. It certainly doesn’t bring back the dead.”
“Perhaps we should skip dinner and get some rest,” dal Sason said. “It’s been a long day. We can discuss how we’re going to proceed with clear heads in the morning. Nothing has changed.”
“To hells with that,” Guillot said. “I want to know what happened, and now. How did all this start? I’m done with being kept in the dark.”