The Dragon's Path

metalwork. And if Klin or one of his favorites noticed that Geder had suddenly more coin than he should, nothing good could follow.
    He’d answered the problem by sending his squire out to exchange only the most innocuous stones—three round garnets and a diamond in undistinguished silver. The purse of coins had silver and bronze, copper, and two thin rounds of gold frail enough to bend with his fingers. For his lifestyle, it was a fortune, and he carried a portion of it now in his satchel along with a book, ready for his last errand of the day.
    The academy looked over a narrow square. In its greater days, it had been a center for the children of the lower nobility and the higher merchant class to hire tutors or commission speeches. The carved oaken archway that led into its great hall was marked with the names of the scholars and priests who had given lectures there over the century and a half since its founding. Within, the air smelled of wax and sandalwood, and sunlight filtered through high horizontal windows, catching motes of dust suspended in theair. Somewhere nearby, a man recited poetry in a deep, resonant voice. He breathed the air of the place.
    Footsteps padded up behind him. The clerk was a thin Southling man, his huge dark eyes dominating his face. His body spoke of deference and fear.
    “May I help you, my lord? There isn’t a problem?”
    “I wanted to find a researcher,” Geder said. “My squire was told this was the place to come.”
    The Southling blinked his huge black eyes.
    “I… That is, my lord…” The clerk shook himself.
“Really?”
    “Yes,” Geder said.
    “You haven’t come to arrest someone? Or levy fines?”
    “No.”
    “Well. Just a moment, my lord,” the Southling said. “Let me find someone that might be of use. If you’ll come with me?”
    In the side chamber, Geder sat on a wooden bench worn smooth by decades of use. The recitation of poems went on, the voice fainter now, the words made unintelligible. Geder loosened his belt, shifting in his seat. He had the almost physical memory of waiting for his own tutors, and pushed back the irrational anxiety that he might not be able to answer the scholar’s questions. The door slid open, and a Firstblood man sidled in. Geder popped to his feet.
    “Good afternoon. My name is Geder Palliako.”
    “You’re known in the city, Lord Palliako,” the man said. “Tamask said something about wanting a researcher?”
    “Yes,” Geder said, taking the book from his side and holding it out. “I’ve been translating this book, only it’s not very well presented. I want someone to find more like it, but different.”
    The scholar took the book gently, as if it were a colorful but unknown insect, and opened the pages. Geder fidgeted.
    “It’s about the fall of the Dragon Empire,” he said. “It’s couched as history, but I’m more interested in speculative essay?”
    The sound of ancient pages hushing against each other competed with the distant voice and the murmur of a breeze outside the windows. The scholar leaned close to the book, frowning.
    “What are you proposing, Lord Palliako?”
    “I’ll pay for any books you can find on the period. If they can be bought outright, I’ll pay a reward. If they have to be copied, I can commission a scribe, but that means a smaller payment for the researcher. I’m looking particularly for considerations of the fall of the dragons, and especially there’s a passage in there about something called the Righteous Servant? I’d like more about that.”
    “May I ask why, lord?”
    Geder opened his mouth, then closed it. He’d never had anyone to talk with about the question, never had to explain himself.
    “It’s about… truth. And deceit. And I thought it was interesting,” he said gamely.
    “Would you also be interested in rhetorics on the subject? Asinia Secundus wrote a fine examination of the nature of truth during the Second Alfin Occupation.”
    “That’s philosophy? I’ll look at it, but I’d really rather it was an essay.”
    “You mentioned that. Speculative essay,” the scholar said, the faintest sigh in his voice.
    “Is that a problem?” Geder asked.
    “Not at all, my lord,” the scholar said with a forced smile. “We would be honored to help.”
     
My contention is this: given the lack of primary documents from that time, our best practice is to examine those who later claimed the mantle of the Dragon Empire, and by considering their actions