AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s so,” Emde said. “Though there seems precious little for me to do, with the bargain, and a good one, already agreed to.”
“Then make Djer a Partner,” Auron said. “For I’ll keep no other bargain.”
All three dwarves stared at him. Sekyw began to sputter like a broken teapot: “But . . . but . . . pttt . . .”
Emde chuckled. “Djer, this drake is loyal to his friends, I will give him that. Young skyking, this copper-whiskered, though apparently promising, youngster can’t be brought into the Partnership. There are rules, traditions, codicils, seniorities—”
“I thought you were simple dwarves of trade. If it is so difficult, I can find my own way east.”
“Just a moment,” Emde said, holding out his hands. “You’ve not even tasted the hospitality of the Chartered Company. At least have a meal before you go. It’s not every day one gets to talk to a young skyking.” The Partner pulled on another bell-rope by the door his secretary had left from.
“Why do you keep calling me skyking?” Auron asked, sniffing the air in the hope food was on its way.
“That’s the old Dwarvish word for ‘dragons,’ in happier times. Funny, but I heard it used just the other day. . . . Enjoy the view while the food is being prepared. Excuse me, and Sekyw, as you value your position, don’t let our visitor leave without further negotiations.”
The smell of food brought Auron away from the view of the great river valley: hills reduced to hummocks and trees foreshortened to blades of grass. He and Djer left the balustrade and returned to the office, where platters were being uncovered on an end table.
Emde came in from the main door. Auron got a peek at the tops of the assembled dwarves’ heads. They were bowing to two wizened figures, whitebearded and wrinkled, shuffling into the office supported by canes of carven crystal. Djer sucked in his breath and bowed, and Auron had to tear himself away from the food.
“Shut the blasted curtains, Emde,” one said, a little more red-faced than the other.
“We’re not petitioners you need to dazzle,” the other said.
Dwarves appeared as though by magic and closed off the view, then disappeared as suddenly as they arrived.
“Young skyking,” Emde said, ushering in the two, “it is my honor to introduce Vekay and Zedkay, of the original Charter, our senior Partners. I told them we would be happy to join them in their quarters, but they insisted on coming down for a meal and a talk.”
“Ach, most pleased,” the red-faced one introduced as Zedkay said, in an accent enough like Djer’s for Auron to like him better than the other dwarves he had met today. “Don’t stand on ceremony when you can stamp on it, I always say. Dig in, young skyking—there’s an entire roast for you at the end there.”
“Or if it wasn’t for you, it is now,” Vekay added.
Auron and Djer started in to their meal with day-old appetite; Emde and Sekyw ate a polite morsel or two. Sekyw ate with more enthusiasm after Vekay elbowed his brother and said, “That’s a hard-working dwarf’s appetite if I ever saw one,” pointing to Djer.
Djer smiled with grease running down his chin.
“There’s a question of a bargain young Djer made with this dra—skyking,” Sekyw said.
“The dragon is insisting that he’ll keep the bargain with our tradesdwarf alone, and the Partnership rules . . .”
The oldsters mumbled at each other. “Why, yes, he’s young,” Zedkay said, more loudly to the assembly, “but so were we at the Chartering. I hardly had hair below my ears, and Vekay had but a tuft on his chin. The elders treated us as good as any other of the Company, though.”
Vekay tucked his beard in his belt and buttoned his frazzled woolen vest. “Just the other day we were speaking to Emde about the Charter, and how it was modeled on the Ancient’s Riian Partnership. Ages past, long bankrupt, but in those days, the Riians had elves, men—yea, even dragons—working for them. Happier times.”
“Happier times,” Zedkay agreed, before his brother continued.
“They had several skykings, the stories go, young males who were making a nuisance of themselves otherwise to their families. We kept their stomachs full, and they flew as couriers, across the Inland Sea, to the east, to the lost kingdom of Wyang, even. Didn’t lose a single pouch in hundreds of years, or so they claimed. A very lucrative business, courier service.”
“Very lucrative,” Zedkay rasped. “So don’t be so quick to throw away the goodwill of a skyking over a niggling matter of procedure.”
“But the Charter,” Emde said.
“The Charter won’t be hurt,” Vekay said. “There are provisions to add Partners for contingencies in it.”
“That takes a Significant Majority in a Quorum Vote,” Emde said, “and we don’t have anything like a quorum—”
“Or a Simple Majority of the Founding Partners, as you’ll find in Paragraph Two of Article Nine, methinks,” Vekay said.
Emde reached into a pocket, retrieved an ivory scroll-tube, and uncapped it.
