Chapter 367 - 360: The East Gate

Asterion Royal Palace

"You threatened to have that horse sold before your clothes were even dry," the Royal Guardian said.

King Alaric smiled over the rim of his cup.

"That sounds reasonable. What had it done?"

"Stopped at the stream. Unfortunately, you continued."

The old mage sat opposite him in the king’s private sitting room. The afternoon sunlight reached across the carpet, and a plate of sliced fruit stood between them, largely untouched.

Alaric chuckled.

"I imagine you found that amusing."

"What else,I had to pull you out and you spent the entire ride back explaining how the saddle was at fault."

"Was it?"

"The strap was still fastened when we returned to the horse."

The Guardian waited for the familiar objection. Alaric usually insisted that this proved nothing, then accused him of having frightened the animal deliberately.

This time, the king only shook his head.

"I cannot remember that."

The old mage’s hand paused beside the fruit plate.

Alaric reached for a slice of pear.

"When was this?"

"Before your coronation. During the autumn hunt."

"Ah. That was a long time ago."

"It was."

The Guardian picked up a piece of fruit.

"You remembered it well enough to threaten me when I mentioned it at your coronation feast."

"Then you probably deserved the threat."

The old mage laughed with him.

He had heard Alaric tell that story himself on several occasions. In the king’s version, the stream became deeper each year, and the horse acquired an increasingly unpleasant temperament.

Now he seemed to be hearing it for the first time.

If Alaric had been an ordinary mortal, the Guardian could have accepted that the years had dulled an old memory. He might have let it pass even now, had he not already been watching the changes inside the palace.

Alaric glanced toward the letters stacked beside his chair.

"I barely have room in my head for what happened this morning. You will have to forgive me for misplacing a horse from my youth."

"Provided you remember how to stay on the next one."

"That depends on whether you are coming along."

Their conversation moved to the coming rains and repairs along the northern road. Alaric knew which villages had petitioned for help and corrected a figure in the latest account without consulting the document.

The Guardian listened, keeping his concern from his face.

A knock interrupted them.

"Enter," Alaric said.

A palace attendant stepped inside and bowed.

"Minister Dervan is here with the household accounts, Your Majesty."

"Send him in."

The Guardian began to rise, but Alaric gestured for him to remain seated.

"You need not leave father. This should not take long."

The old mage settled back as Dervan entered. The minister bowed to the king, acknowledged the Guardian with a respectful dip of his head, and approached the table.

Alaric moved the fruit plate aside to make room for his papers.

"The grain is arriving before the older stores have been cleared, Your Majesty," Dervan began. "We need another dry room. If the deliveries remain in the courtyard, the rain will ruin them."

"Use the empty store beside the kitchens," Alaric said. "Have it cleaned before the wagons arrive."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Guardian listened without joining the discussion. Dervan described a delayed cloth shipment and the repairs needed above the west storeroom. Alaric asked about the cost, checked the figures, and approved the work.

Then the minister turned another page.

"There is also a change I would recommend to the delivery arrangements, Your Majesty. The smaller supply wagons could use the east service gate from tomorrow."

The Guardian kept his cup resting comfortably in one hand.

Two days earlier, he had been present when Captain Rovan recommended that same gate to the king. His explanation had concerned the congestion in the main courtyard.

Now Dervan had come with a matching proposal.

"Why the east gate?" Alaric asked.

Dervan’s finger stopped against the page.

"Err... it is like this, Your Majesty. The main entrance is crowded with merchants and petitioners by the time our wagons arrive. The smaller gate leads directly to the stores. We could unload there without blocking the courtyard."

Alaric nodded.

"Is that so? Then the change seems necessary. You may continue."

Dervan lowered his gaze to the next item.

The Guardian said nothing. He listened while the minister finished his report, then watched him gather the papers the king had returned.

"That is everything, Your Majesty."

"Very well. See that the grain stays dry."

"I will, Your Majesty."

Dervan bowed and left.

Alaric placed the approved requests beside his other documents and reached for the next letter.

The Guardian set down his cup.

"It seems this will keep you busy for a long time,i should leave you to your work."

"We will finish our conversation another time," the king replied.

The old mage nodded and withdrew.

He returned to his own study, closed the door, and waited until the attendant’s footsteps had faded.

He had shared his suspicions with neither Alaric nor Crown Prince Cassian. For now, this inquiry would remain between him and the Shadow Guards.

"Shadow."

A figure appeared beside the bookcase.

The man wore dark grey clothing beneath a short cloak. A strip of cloth covered the lower half of his face, and nothing on him identified his rank or service.

He lowered himself to one knee.

"My lord."

The Shadow Guards answered directly to the Guardian. Their names did not appear on the palace watch lists, and most officials had no idea they existed.

"Follow Dervan," the Guardian said. "Find out where he goes and whom he meets. Watch him discreetly."

"Yes, my lord."

"If he meets someone worth watching, put another of our people on them. I want to know who is involved before anyone is disturbed."

The man bowed his head.

The edges of his cloak blurred as he activated his concealment spell. Within a breath, the space beside the bookcase was empty again.

The Guardian settled behind his desk.

Outside, the palace continued its afternoon routine.

Dervan stopped twice before leaving the administrative wing.

First, he returned a document to a clerk who had forgotten to attach the supplier’s receipt. Then he spent a minute speaking to an elderly steward about the leaking roof above the west storeroom.

"If it rains into the grain again, send the repair bill to the man who assured me it was fixed," the minister told him.

"The man is asking for payment for the first repair, my lord."

"Then he will have something to think about while he waits."

The steward bowed, looking considerably happier.

Concealed beside a pillar, the shadow guard watched Dervan continue down the corridor.

The minister did not look behind him. He greeted the guards at the stairway and descended toward the kitchens, carrying papers beneath one arm.

The shadow guard followed at a distance.

Invisibility did not make the passage any wider. When two servants came through with a basket of linen between them, he stepped into a doorway and waited for them to pass before continuing.

The lower corridors smelled of baking bread and boiled meat. Kitchen workers hurried between the stores while someone behind a closed door shouted that a pot had been burned.

Dervan passed them without stopping.

At the end of the passage, he turned into a small room used for counting household supplies.

A thin servant stood beside the table, checking a row of sealed jars.

He looked up immediately.

"Minister."

"Hesk. Have you got it?"

The servant put down his tally stick.

"Yes, my lord."

Dervan closed the door most of the way, leaving a narrow gap. The shadow guard moved beside it.

Through the opening, he watched Hesk take a key from beneath his tunic and unlock a small cupboard.

The servant brought out a folded paper packet.

Dervan put his documents down before taking it.

"Was there any trouble?"

"Only a delay with the delivery, my lord. The next supply should arrive tomorrow morning."

"Make certain it does. Yesterday was inconvenient."

Hesk bowed his head and reached for the water jug.

Dervan opened the packet. Two small, dark pills rolled into his palm. He returned one to the paper, placed the other on his tongue, and swallowed it with the water.

The shadow guard remained perfectly still.

Nothing visible happened.

The minister did not collapse or lose awareness. He set the cup down, wiped a drop of water from his lower lip, and tucked the remaining pill inside his coat.

"And the gate, my lord?" Hesk asked.

"The change is approved. The wagons will use the east entrance tomorrow."

"That should prevent another delay."

"It had better. I have enough people complaining about supplies already."

Dervan collected his papers.

Hesk stepped aside to let him leave, then returned to the cupboard.

The shadow guard followed the minister out and paused at the next turning. An ordinary-looking palace attendant was coming along the corridor with a folded cloth over his arm.

The guard briefly allowed his concealed hand to become visible and made two quick signs.

The attendant’s pace did not change. He turned after Dervan.

With another member of the Shadow Guards following the minister, the first operative returned to the storage room.

Hesk was still inside.

He had locked the cupboard and resumed checking the jars when footsteps sounded from the opposite end of the passage.

Captain Rovan entered without knocking.

The captain wore the palace guard’s colors, with his sword secured at his side. He stopped beside the table, within sight of the open doorway.

"The minister has been here?" he asked.

"He left a moment ago."

"Good. I have the arrangements for tomorrow."

Rovan placed a folded sheet on the table.

Hesk looked at it before opening the cupboard again.

"The driver will come at the usual hour," he said. "He should not have to wait outside."

"He will not. I have put men on the gate."

The servant handed him another packet.

Unlike Dervan, Rovan did not ask for water. He swallowed one pill, folded the paper around the remainder, and pushed it into his belt pouch.

"Send word if the hour changes."

"I will, Captain."

Rovan left.

Hesk waited until his footsteps had faded before picking up the sheet.

The shadow guard watched him read it twice, fold it carefully, and place it in the same cupboard as the pills.

The light outside the Guardian’s study had begun to fade when Shadow returned.

The old mage(Guardian) was standing beside the window. Below, servants were carrying empty baskets away from the courtyard, and the evening watch was assembling near the main entrance.

"Report."

Shadow described what he had seen.

The Guardian listened without interrupting. When the guard reached the second exchange, his fingers tightened slightly against the window frame.

"Did either appear ill beforehand?"

"Neither showed an obvious illness, my lord. Dervan seemed impatient about receiving his supply."

The Guardian turned away from the window.

Two men involved in the same decision had taken pills from the same servant. He would need a sample to know whether they were ordinary medicine or something connected to the changes he had noticed.

"Any magical reaction?"

"None that I could detect, my lord."

"Who is watching Hesk?"

"One of our people has taken a place among the servants working in that passage. Dervan and Rovan are being followed separately."

"Good."

Shadow placed a short written account on the desk.

"The cupboard contains several more packets, my lord. I could obtain one."

"Only if you can do it without him noticing. He may know exactly how many are there."

"Yes, my lord."

The Guardian recalled the arrangements Alaric had approved.

The minister could arrange for goods to enter the palace. Rovan could decide which guards received them. Between the two, an unfamiliar crate might reach a storeroom without anyone outside their chosen men taking a proper look at it.

He disliked how easily that could be done.

"What of the servant’s record?" he asked.

"We have not examined it yet, my lord."

"Have someone check it quietly. Find out who brought him into the palace and which rooms his duties allow him to enter."

Shadow inclined his head.

"Shall I have the delivery stopped?"

The Guardian looked toward the door.

He could order the east gate closed, arrest all three, and have the cupboard emptied within the hour. He would also warn whoever supplied Hesk that something had gone wrong.

With no knowledge of how many others were involved, that would be an expensive way to discover very little.

"Have our people watch the wagon before it reaches the gate," he said. "I want to know where it comes from, who travels with it, and where each crate is taken."

"And Hesk, my lord?"

"Keep someone with him. When he leaves the palace, follow him. His duties may end at those doors. I doubt his other business does."

"Yes, my lord."

The Guardian lowered his gaze to Shadow’s account.

Alaric’s puzzled expression returned to him. He could not yet connect the king’s lapse to anything Shadow had witnessed, but he wanted to know how far those little packets travelled.

He was grateful Elena was away from the palace.

He folded the account and placed it in his desk drawer.

"Report directly to me. No requests through the palace clerks, and no names entered in the watch records."

"It will be done, my lord."

Shadow bowed and disappeared.

The Guardian stood alone for several breaths before reaching for the small bell on his desk.

A servant entered shortly afterward.

"More tea, my lord?"

"Please. The last cup spent so long listening to reports that it died of old age."

The servant smiled and hurried to collect the pot.

The Guardian settled back into his chair and opened a book.

Tomorrow’s deliveries would proceed exactly as Dervan expected.

This time, someone would be watching where they went and he would find how deep this rot goes.