The Dragon's Path

man’s fearlessness was an act or genuine. All along their route past the canals and down the streets, faces turned to see the banker in chains. Geder marched, his walking stick tapping resolutely against the streets. He kept his expression sober, to hide the fact that he didn’t know why he was doing the things he did. He had no doubt that by morning the whole city would know he had taken the man in. That it was clearly Klin’s intention didn’t reassure him.
    Sir Alan Klin met them in the wide chamber that had once been the prince’s audience hall. All signs of the former government were gone or else covered over by the Antean banners of King Simeon and House Klin. The air smelled of smoke, rain, and wet dogs. Sir Alan rose, smiling, from his table.
    “Magister Imaniel of the Medean bank?”
    “The same, Lord Protector,” the banker said with a smileand a bow. His voice was amiable. Geder might almost have thought Klin hadn’t just humiliated the man in front of the city. “It appears I may have given your lordship some offense. I must, of course, apologize. If I might know the nature of my trespass, I will, of course, guard against it in the future.”
    Klin waved a hand casually.
    “Not at all, sir,” he said. “Only I spoke with your former prince before he left in exile. He said that you had refused to fund his campaign.”
    “It seemed unlikely that he would repay the debt,” Magister Imaniel said.
    “I understand,” Klin said.
    Geder looked from one to the other. The tone of the conversation was so calm, so nearly collegial, it confused him. And yet there was a hardness in Klin’s eyes that—along with the chains still around the banker’s wrists and ankles—made everything he said a threat. Klin walked slowly back to the table where the remains of his midday meal were still sitting on a silver plate.
    “I have been looking over the reports of the sack,” Klin said. “I saw that the tribute to King Simeon taken from your establishment… Well, it seems surprisingly light.”
    “My former prince may have an exaggerated opinion of my resources,” Magister Imaniel said.
    Klin smiled. “Is it buried, or have you smuggled it out?”
    “I don’t know what you mean, my lord,” Magister Imaniel said.
    “You wouldn’t object to my factor auditing your books, then?”
    “Of course not. We are pleased that Antea has taken the authority that rightly belonged to it, and look forward to doing business in a more friendly and ordered city.”
    “And access to your house?”
    “Of course.”
    Klin nodded. “You understand that I will have to hold you until I find the truth of all this? Whatever money your bank holds here is now subject to Antean review.”
    “I expected as much,” Magister Imaniel said, “but I trust you won’t take offense that I had hoped for better.”
    “It’s a fallen world. We do what we must,” Klin said, and then to the captain of the guard at Geder’s left, “Take him to the public gaol. Put him on the lower level, where everyone can see him. If anyone tries to talk with him, take note of what they say and detain them.”
    Geder watched as the small man was led away. He wasn’t sure whether he was intended to follow along or not. But Klin wasn’t glaring at him, so perhaps he’d been meant to stay after all.
    “Did you follow that, Palliako?” Klin asked when the banker and guards had gone.
    “The bank had less money than expected?” Geder said.
    Klin laughed in a way that left Geder unsure whether he was being mocked.
    “Oh, it’s there,” he said. “Somewhere. And from what the prince said, there was quite a bit of it. Enough to pay the mercenary forces to outlast a siege. Enough to buy the Maccian forces twice over. Maybe more than that.”
    “But he kept it from his prince,” Geder said.
    “Not out of loyalty to us,” Klin said. “Bankers answer to no throne. But if they drowned the money, someone will have helped cart it to a canal. If it’s buried, someone held the spade. If it’s smuggled, someone arranged it. And when that person sees the head of the bank in gaol, they may panic and try to buy their way free.”
    “Ah,” Geder said.
    “You’re the man associated with the arrest, so you’ll needto be available these next few days,” Klin said. “Approachable. And whatever you hear, you bring to me.”
    “Of course, sir.”
    “Excellent,” Klin said. The silence between them stretched, and Geder realized that he’d been