Chapter 45 — The Knight of Flowers

The warehouse opened under four seals. A Caron clerk broke the black wax. Wayne removed the Ashenblade impression. Bennard, pale beneath the attention of both lords, cut the merchant association's cord. Loras stood close enough to see every hand. His clerk checked and removed the Storm's End seal added the day before, then recorded the time before the doors moved.

Ten barrels of Red Sun Flame remained where the previous count placed them. Twenty glass sets sat in their fitted crates. None of the outer seals had been broken, and the weights copied at the gate matched closely enough that no barrel had been replaced by water or emptied in the night.

Auston produced the extraordinary valuation. Loras read the figure, then asked for the schedule used to calculate it. The tax official referred him to Nightsong. Elton's steward produced no older schedule applying the same rate to Myrish glass, strongwine, imported perfumes, or any other luxury passing through Rainwood. "Then this is not a toll table," Loras said. "It is a number chosen for one seller."

Elton answered that unusual goods required unusual assessment. Loras accepted the principle and rejected the method. Until Storm's End reviewed a written schedule applying equally to comparable goods, Rainwood would collect the ordinary transit duty recorded in the previous year's accounts. The bonded storage charge remained valid only for the hours the goods had actually spent inside. FireStorm would pay it. The disputed twenty-dragon levy would not be collected. Arlan did not call that complete victory. The delay had consumed fodder, wages, and a day of trade. Ordinary tolls still applied. FireStorm had also moved clandestine loads through Rainwood after the first blockade, and Harlan's carters had bribed officials whose names now sat inside Caron records.

Loras asked for the batch books. Wayne produced the copy Morton sent with the wagons, along with retained bottles from the runs carried inside. The ribbed glass, eight-rayed seals, dates, and worker marks matched the warehouse entries. A Caron cooper opened one selected barrel before all three witnesses, compared it with the retained sample, and found no difference beyond the wood's stronger scent.

The counterfeit jug from Gareth's accusation appeared next. Its clay body, pine pitch, greasy residue, and nine-rayed painted sun did not match FireStorm's containers or records. That did not prove who adulterated it. It did prove the poisoning could not be attached to the sealed cargo merely because somebody had painted the same symbol badly.

"Open trade requires declared marks and batches," Loras ruled. "FireStorm answers for goods bearing those marks when the record follows them. A copied sun on an unrecorded jug is evidence of imitation, not ownership." Arlan accepted the obligation. A recognized mark protected the product only if FireStorm also accepted the cost when a genuine batch failed.

Harlan came from custody before midday. He had bruising around one eye, a split lip, and the temperament of a fox released from a snare while the hunter remained nearby. Loras asked the charge against him. The detention book named unregistered trade and evasion of extraordinary duty; the first two days recorded no charge at all.

The merchant admitted moving FireStorm liquor through hidden roads and paying men to ignore cargo. He did not admit poisoning anyone, falsifying seals, or forfeiting every barrel, horse, and warehouse House Caron had taken. Loras separated those acts. Goods proved to belong to Harlan would be returned unless tied to an ordinary offense. Bribes and concealed shipments remained subject to investigation. Detention without a recorded charge would be reported to Renly.

"You are not declared honest because Lord Elton treated you badly," Loras told him.

"I would never burden a knight with such a declaration."

Harlan's answer earned no smile, though one white-cloaked rider looked away too quickly. The accusations against Arlan received the same treatment.

Ser Alistair's preliminary report listed the Black Pine prisoner statements, warehouse tallies, sword marks, rawhide payment strip, Caron token, and dyed mule traveling north under his guard. The originals had not yet reached Storm's End, and no piece proved Elton personally ordered the raid. The verified count and separated accounts were enough to contradict the claim that FireStorm had allied with Bloodhand and then murdered men already at peace.

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The supposed weapons inventory came from an older state of FireStorm's stores. It included spears issued before Graeme's arrest and omitted the heavy crossbows bought afterward. That supported Arlan's claim that stolen records had been reshaped into an accusation; it did not identify the forger.

The Dornish letter remained weakest. It carried no Dornish seal, named one pass by an obsolete title, and came with no messenger, witness, or corresponding reply. Loras placed it under seal rather than tear it in the street. A poor forgery could still reveal the hand or source that produced it.

Finally, the altered summons was laid beside Renly's copy. The inserted line granting Caron custody used different ink, a slightly altered hand, and a seal warmed after the addition. Loras's wounded courier identified the road where his case had been taken and the colors he remembered on two attackers. He had not seen Elton.

"Lord Renly will hear who handled this after it left Storm's End," Loras said. "Until then, it grants House Caron no authority over Arlan Ashenblade."

Elton remained composed. "And Ashenblade walks free after raising armed men, trading through smugglers, and filling your roads with corpses?"

"He answers Lord Renly within ten days. He also submits weekly reports on armed patrols while this dispute remains open. His freedom today is not acquittal from every question."

That condition quieted the merchants who had begun treating Loras as Arlan's champion. Storm's End had interrupted an unlawful arrest, not declared FireStorm beyond supervision.

The immediate orders were read in the market square.

The extraordinary levy ended. Existing FireStorm goods could move under ordinary tolls, declared batch marks, and joint inspection where a dispute arose. The coordinated prohibition on grain, iron, cloth, salt, and medicine had no approval from Storm's End and could not be enforced as a regional command. Harlan would be released, and property documented as seized under the disputed measures would be returned or entered for restitution. Elton was required to present himself at Storm's End within ten days. Until Renly heard both parties, no further armed action against FireStorm could be taken without specific lawful authority. Caron patrols retained ordinary responsibility for roads around Rainwood; FireStorm did not gain the right to treat the town as its own market by force.

Elton bowed stiffly. Gareth looked toward Arlan with the same anger he had carried through every retreat, but neither man offered another threat in front of the clerks writing Renly's conditions. The three hundred Caron soldiers withdrew from the central streets. Gates reopened. Archers left the roofs. Rainwood found its voice slowly, as though merchants feared the order might reverse if they spoke too loudly.

The market did not begin again from nothing.

Bennard and the surviving association members already held contracts. Once the warehouse opened, they inspected the ten barrels and twenty glass sets they had partly paid for. Existing orders were renewed under the new toll terms, and several larger merchants increased deposits because seizure no longer depended on a single Caron clerk's discretion. More than a dozen buyers committed to roughly five hundred bottles of Red Sun Flame and one hundred glass pieces each month. Half the expected payment was advanced. The greater advance did not represent sudden courage; it reflected lower bribes, shorter delays, and cargo no longer expected to vanish inside an unrecorded store.

Harlan read the new agreements with his swollen eye narrowed. "Give me exclusive handling in Rainwood and I will recover every stag they cost me."

"You retain the hidden routes while they remain useful," Arlan said. "Open trade remains open."

"Cruel. You free me and immediately limit my revenge."

"Profit will survive."

Grain dealers and smiths approached after the first contracts were copied. Some offered prices lower than those demanded during the blockade, eager to secure a customer before competitors returned. A few accepted partial payment on delivery because FireStorm now carried witnessed obligations rather than desperate promises. The two wagons that had entered Rainwood became part of an eight-wagon return convoy. Grain and seed rode low over the axles; wrought iron was strapped where guards could see any shift, while herbs, cloth, and signed agreements stayed beneath canvas against evening damp. Coin was divided between vehicles rather than placed in one chest.

Loras stopped Arlan before departure. "Lord Renly did not send me to make you stronger."

"No."

"He sent me because Nightsong cannot turn every delegated power into private law. Do not mistake that purpose for affection."

"I rarely mistake politics for affection."

"Good. Arrive within ten days."

The convoy left Rainwood before dusk. Wayne kept scouts ahead as the road narrowed beneath Black Pine Forest, while Harlan rode near the ledgers and complained about every rut as if House Caron had dug each one personally. Night settled among the trees. The first scout returned with a raised fist, and steel rang beyond the next bend before he could speak.