White Road

Some have music or the hand for art. We had the white blood of the Dragon.”
    “How could no one else in Aurënen ever have known?” Seregil wondered.
    “They knew at Sarikali. That is where she went with the first rhekaros, and that is where she was given her first vision that sent her to find the people of the blood.”
    “She must have been a very strong woman,” said Micum.
    Rieser finally spared him a glance. “She was. We strive to be worthy of her legacy, and that of all our forebears.”
    A proud people
, thought Seregil. That would make them all the more dangerous.
    “We should have gone to Sarikali when we had the chance,” said Alec. “If she could take a rhekaro there, then we could have, too!”
    “Other rhekaros can’t kill,” Seregil reminded him.
    “We could have found a way.”
    Seregil sighed inwardly. He didn’t blame Alec for being angry right now, and probably feeling helpless into the bargain. All Seregil could do was trust that he wouldn’t do anything stupid and impulsive. Alec was too smart for that.
    Even so, Seregil was still all too aware of the pain his talímenios was in, and how much he hated their unwanted companion. He had no doubt that if Rieser tried anything, he wouldn’t get more than a bowshot away.
    They came in sight of Ero early the following afternoon. The ruins of the citadel were visible for miles, and Alec forgot his simmering worries for a moment at the sight of them.
    The remains of towering walls and ruined castles stood stark against the blue sky on a high promontory. As they drew closer, he could make out the broken outline of the wall that had encircled the city from harbor front to thecitadel. It hadn’t been as large a place as Rhíminee, but still worthy of a royal capital.
    “Someday when we have time, I’ll take you up there,” Seregil told him. “It was called the Palatine, and all the nobles in Ero had palaces and villas there.”
    “What happened to this city?” asked Rieser.
    “The Plenimarans burned most of it when they raided it in Queen Tamír’s day.”
    “How long ago?” asked Rieser.
    “Five centuries. Later on the rest of it burned again. I think they just gave up on it in the end. Some even say it bears a curse, from the days when Tamír’s kinsmen seized control. Plague was a problem, too, though that was more likely a problem with the swamps or drains than a curse. It must have been a beautiful place in its day, though. You can still find traces of murals inside some of the old villas and palaces, and a bit of statuary. They were a very prosperous people. The original royal crypt is up there, too, or what’s left of it. Queen Tamír had the remains of her kin moved to Rhíminee when she built her new city.”
    Alec resisted an urge to snap at Seregil. When he fell into his storytelling ways, he could go on for a long time. Rieser didn’t need to know all this. Deep down, however, he realized that what he really resented was the familiar way Seregil was speaking with the Hâzad, almost as if they were comrades by choice.
    Play every role to the hilt, Alec
. He knew that this was what Seregil was doing, but with rather more relish than Alec was feeling right now.
    “The Skalans must be a powerful people,” said Rieser, shading his eyes as he stared out at the ruins. “I’ve never seen cities as large as they have here.”
    “They are a good people, overall,” Seregil told him.
    Rieser snorted at that.
    They reached the outskirts of the old wall and followed it past scattered farmsteads and pastures to Beggar’s Bridge, which lay just south of the old city. There really was an ancient stone bridge there; a large one, with traces of the ornate carvings that had once decorated it.
    “That’s a pretty fancy bit of work, to be called Beggar’s Bridge, don’t you think, Alec?” Micum remarked.
    “I suppose so.”
    “Seregil?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe it was a popular place for people to beg.”
    Beggar’s Bridge was small but didn’t seem particularly impoverished. In fact it was no different from any of the little ports Alec had seen. There were a number of small vessels moored close to shore, and several larger ones farther out. Even from here he recognized the
Lady
. She was sleeker than the high-prowed trading carracks, and was the only ship there with battle platforms.
    It was getting dark as they entered the town through a simple gate.
    “Don’t speak unless you have no choice. Your accent is too