RING OF DRAGONS by Morgan Rice

Author:Morgan Rice [Rice, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Ravin stood at the head of a procession of the nobles of his newly acquired kingdom, standing before them resplendent, dressed for the occasion in the purple of his robes of state, his crown of platinum atop his head. He smiled with satisfaction at the sight of so many of those who had stood against him before there, forced to participate in this moment by the presence of the soldiers who flanked them.

His men had drawn them from around the castle and its grounds: all those who might have stood against him. He wondered how many of them thought they were being led to their deaths. Ravin enjoyed that.

The former queen, Aethe, was there toward the middle, along with her daughters. Vars was toward the rear. Ravin had made a point of putting them there, to make it clear to them that the old order of precedence was no more. The women didn’t seem to care, but he could see the anger on the coward king’s face.

“Begin,” he ordered a herald beside him. The man raised a horn to his lips and blew a single long note. Together, their procession started to move down into the city.

The signs of the new order stood all around, in Ravin’s troops keeping control of the streets, in the officials moving from noble house to noble house to take a tithe from each. It was more orderly than sacking the city in a rush, and it did far more to establish who ruled here.

Ravin turned his attention to the city’s great Houses, each standing above a district of the city, each with its traditional role to play in the order of things. Ravin intended to make full use of each. The House of Weapons was already belching out black smoke again, as Ravin wished it to. His armies would still need weapons to maintain order, and would use its training spaces to practice their skills.

The House of Scholars stood with its towers flying Ravin’s colors now. It would write histories of his glory, provide his empire with knowledge that had been hidden for generations. Perhaps with their knowledge, his colonies in Sarras would even succeed.

The House of Merchants stood blocky and secure above the markets. Ravin was having his men take their share to return to the south with, but it was not all of it; it did not need to be. It was better to keep everything running, making money for him. This was not some foreign land to raid anymore: it was his kingdom.

As for the House of Sighs with its silks and its painted façade above the entertainment district… well, his men would need ways to enjoy themselves, especially now that the war was all but done. An army with nothing to do needed distractions, so that it didn’t become dangerous.

Ravin led the way down through the noble district, and even though his men had not completed the bridges yet, he led the way across the stream bed there. Ravin was a warrior, and he had come prepared with a fighter’s boots.

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