She shivered.
“What’s wrong?” Zaara asked her quietly. She cleared her throat. “Ah, would you like my cloak? That dress doesn’t look…warm.”
“It’s not that,” she said and darted another uncomfortable glance at their surroundings. “This whole place seems wrong.”
“Wrong how?” the woman whispered.
Dotty only shrugged helplessly. She couldn’t put the feeling into words.
They met Jaco in a receiving room with one wall entirely open to the gardens outside. In pleasant contrast to what they’d seen thus far, there was furniture, but it only served to remind them of how bare the rest of the palace looked.
He dismissed his attendant, who withdrew with a curious look over his shoulder. The man watched him leave and ushered their small group to the open wall—and away from prying ears, she guessed.
“A very interesting message,” he said to Kural. “Asking about a ‘certain dragon’ and the founding of Insea? Which ‘certain dragon’ would this be?”
“The dragon you told me about several months ago,” the wizard said in weary good humor. “They all know about it, so you can spare yourself the trouble of trying to mislead them.”
Jaco sighed. “You were always terrible at keeping secrets.”
“Mmm. But now…I’m beginning to think you didn’t tell me the whole story.” He studied his old friend steadily. His gaze took in every flicker, but he looked at Dotty to confirm what he had seen.
She nodded.
“So, it’s true,” Kural said gently.
Their host looked from one to the other. He cleared his throat.
“Jaco,” Dotty said. “It is clear that something is wrong in Insea.” She stepped closer. “Those of us here want only good for the city and have nothing invested in spreading wild tales or betraying confidences.”
“Mmm.” He turned to look at Justin, Tina, and Lyle. “Three former contestants in the tournament, a wizard, a wizard’s apprentice who wears armor and knives, and…you. Who are you?”
“It depends on who you ask,” Dotty said, amused. “To some, I’m a dwarven zauberer defending the caravan from Berghold. To others, I am a shaman-in-training of the orcish earth tribe and slayer of two godsprings.”
Jaco raised an eyebrow. “And if I ask you?”
“I am someone who prefers to not be mugged in alleyways,” she said tartly. “Which I was this morning. And I am someone who will go to rather extraordinary lengths to fix injustices.”
“I promised I would bring warriors back,” Justin said from behind them. “Dotty is one of them.”
“Mmm.” The Master of Ceremonies looked at each of them before he focused on the garden, his expression thoughtful.
“You’ve already decided to tell us,” Dotty said impatiently. “You need the help and the secret is killing you. You might as well spit it out. None of us are getting any younger, and the problem clearly isn’t solving itself.”
He gave her a surprised look and cleared his throat. “Fine. Er…where to start. That’s…rather the problem.”
Everyone waited, some more patiently than others.
“Insea was founded by a dragon,” Jaco said at last. He linked his hands behind his back and bounced nervously on his feet. “Or a…partnership…between a dragon and an elf.” He blushed a bright red.
Tina gestured as if to say, “This is what I was talking about.” Justin lowered his head into one hand, and Zaara struggled openly to keep her composure.
“They were both quite accomplished wizards,” the man explained, having recovered his composure. “They imagined a world that would never know war or famine, one where all would be fed and able to pursue their heart’s desire.”
“A utopia,” Dotty murmured.
“Precisely,” he said. “But the spells went…wrong. To make a very long story short, their utopia never came to pass in the way they had meant it to do.”
“They rarely do,” she said, almost amused. She saw the stricken look on his face, however, and frowned. “What happened?”
“The elf died,” he said simply. “How, I am not certain. Gos’hauke never told me. I think he could not bear to remember.”
“Gos’hauke is…the dragon,” she said to clarify.
He nodded. His jaw was clenched so tightly that she could see a muscle jumping in his cheek.
“He’s dead,” she said quietly, “isn’t he?”
Jaco nodded. To her surprise, tears glittered in his eyes. “Four months ago,” he said. His voice broke on the words. “Give or take.” He seemed to attempt to salvage some shred of his demeanor and took a deep breath. “You see, they had planned that they would imbue the city with a…yearning for a leader. A strong, just leader.”
“I don’t understand,” Kural said.
“The city would call its leader,” he explained, “and release them when their service was no longer needed. It would not be a monarchy made of a bloodline, and the transfer of power would be peaceful.”
“They thought—” Justin broke off when everyone looked at him. He cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, I honestly don’t, but did they truly think it would never go wrong? Power corrupts, right? They say that for a reason. What if a ruler didn’t want to leave?”
“I asked the same thing,” Jaco said. “They told me the city would keep that from happening.” He paused, clearly at war with himself, and then said in a rush, “It would control minds. It must have been intended to do so. And it has.”
Dotty raised an eyebrow. Now that he said it that way, the whole experiment seemed a little less pleasant. “That’s why there aren’t wars involving Insea or nobles trying to take control. The city exerts an influence that stops people from doing that.”
“Yes,” he said bluntly. “Or…it did while Gos’hauke was still alive. As I understand it, if the spell had worked as intended, it would have existed in perpetuity. Unfortunately, when the elf died, they were not able to complete it. They never reached the part where a leader would be called, and the rest—the peace—was something Gos’hauke slowly gave his life to maintain.”
“Ah,” she said. “So the dragons were right when they said that.” She explained what she’d been told and said, “And they’re right, we didn’t complain. But I think part of that is because we didn’t know. Gos’hauke also kept anyone from thinking about it too hard.”
He nodded. “Yes,” he said quietly.
“And now, it’s breaking down,” she added. “Quickly.”
The Master of Ceremonies nodded. “I should have…well, that’s the thing. I don’t know what I should have done. I’m not meant to be Insea’s ruler.”
“They could do far worse,” Kural said with a flash of humor. “I know you, remember.”
The man didn’t look remotely interested or amused. He shook his head flatly and sighed. “And the end came more quickly than he expected. I thought he could come up with a plan but too soon, he was gone and I didn’t know what to do. I think he would want me to find someone to finish what he—they—started, but…”