The Dragon's Path

of the show?”
    “Convinced me,” he said.
    “I’m glad to hear it. Hornet! Watch the line there. No, the one you’re standing on!”
    Hornet danced to the side, and Master Kit shook his head.
    “Some days I’m amazed that boy hasn’t broken his leg getting up from his bedroll,” Kit said.
    “Cary’s getting better.”
    “I think she’s more comfortable now. By the end of the season I expect she’ll have all Opal’s old roles in place. I’m still hoping to find a girl to replace Cary, though. I can put Smit in fancy dress and high voice, but I’m afraid it gives the tragic scenes a somewhat lighter tone.”
    “Any luck?”
    “Some,” Kit said. “I’ve talked with a couple of girls who might be good. One’s more talented, but she lies. I find that being a good companion on the road is more important than being a good player on the stage. Theater craft is somethingI think I can teach. How to be a decent person seems to be a harder thing.”
    Marcus sat, his back to the wall. In the west, the sun had fallen behind the roofs, but the clouds overhead still glowed gold and orange. Kit took a last swipe at his eyes and tucked the cloth into his belt.
    “There’s a tavern just the other side of the wall,” Master Kit said. “We’re staying in the back free of charge every night we play one of the comedies. We’re on our way back there now, if you’d care to join us.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    Master Kit folded his arms. Concern showed in his eyes.
    “Captain? All’s well with the bank, I hope? Everything I’ve heard suggests that our girl is doing quite well.”
    “People keep bringing her money,” Marcus said.
    “That’s what we’d hoped for, isn’t it?”
    “Is.”
    “And yet?”
    Marcus squinted toward the bathhouse. Two Kurtadam men were shouting at each other, gesticulating toward the house, their words running over each other. A gangly Tralgu girl ambled by, watching them.
    “I need a favor,” Marcus said.
    “What did you have in mind?”
    “I’d like you to tell me again how this is her mistake to make. And that I shouldn’t be trying to strap padding to every sharp edge she runs at.”
    “Ah,” Master Kit said.
    “She’s playing at higher stakes than she knows,” Marcus said, “and against people who have decades of experience. And…”
    “And?”
    Marcus ran his hand through his hair.
    “She’s wrapped herself in it. She doesn’t have any idea how much of herself she’s putting into this scheme. When it falls out from under her… I want to stop it now. Before she gets hurt.”
    “I hear you saying that you want to protect her.”
    “I don’t,” Marcus said. And then a moment later, “I do. And I have a poor record protecting women. So I want you to tell me that I shouldn’t be trying to.”
    “Why not take this to Yardem? He knows you better than I do, I expect.”
    “I know what he’s going to say. I even know the tone of voice he’s going to say it in. No point going through those motions.”
    “But you think you’d believe me?”
    “You’re persuasive.”
    Master Kit chuckled and squatted down beside him. Cary shouted, and the actor hauled the stage up on its hinges, the wooden planks transforming from floorboards to the side of a tall cart. Sandr went to harness the mules. The salt breeze stilled for a moment, then shifted, cool against Marcus’s cheek. The clouds greyed, losing the sunlight. It wouldn’t be long before the taverns and brothels and bathhouses all hung out their colored lanterns, trying to draw coins and customers the way they drew moths. The queensmen would be out. And Cithrin. Marcus tried not to think what Cithrin would be doing.
    Slowly, he laid out everything to the actor. Cithrin’s business plans, her ambitions for the bank and the escort fleet, her courting a relationship with her half-Jasuru rival. Master Kit listened carefully, and when Marcus ran out of words, he pursed his lips and looked up at the darkening sky.
    “I’ll say this, Captain, because it’s true. I believe that Cithrin has all the tools and talents she needs to make this work. Ifshe pays attention, uses her best judgment, and gets only a little bit lucky, she can do this.”
    “
Can
is a lovely thing. Do you think she
will
?”
    Master Kit was silent for four long breaths together. When he spoke, his tone was melancholy.
    “Probably not.”

Cithrin
     
    C ithrin lay in the darkness. Qahuar lay beside her, the slow deep rhythm of