Oathbreaker: The Knight's Tale Read Online Free PDF Page A

their pet villains.
    This is, of course, only my view, but it seems to fit. Why else would we not press aggressively on every tyrant we vilify? Why else would we allow them to grow in power? Our spies are skilled enough and our intelligence network swift enough that we can identify potential threats. The other nations of the world could, I suppose, unite against us at once, but even now I question whether they could overcome us. Possibly they could. Possibly their scattered magi have developed some sort of secret weapon. They could inflict grievous damage on us, but in return, they would suffer losses their lands could not sustain. In short, if we die, they die as well. That, at least, is how it falls out in my mind. It would take our beloved Empire to turn in upon itself for them to stand a chance of succeeding.
    The signs are everywhere that this is about to happen.
    The time is six in the evening. Night draws near. The storm is breaking out over the city, and the wind has a hold of my curtains.

    Thirty-five years ago, I was in a good position to advance myself in the army. Because of my deeds in the Siullan affair, I had risen swiftly and fraternized with the sons of other nobles, including some of those in the High Houses. I do not know if you have kept current with the political maneuverings of the High Houses, though as children of the Lesser Houses it behooves you to understand them so that you can anticipate their moves and be prepared when they call upon your services.
    The Empire balances their influences against each other, but each has its particular whims, goals, and strengths. All of them, of course, help to fund the military, help to patrol the borders, and pay to maintain the infrastructure that supports their takings. They maintain their private armies, with soldiers picked from our academies, but when their soldiers must muster under my command, they cast off their allegiances and their commanders to become soldiers of the Empire.
    As the great families of the Empire, the descendants of King Martyn’s supporters, they guard their prerogatives fiercely. They intermingle with one another, marrying each other for political gain, casting each other aside, and using the peasants to fight their battles with each other. Riots in the cities, food shortages, plagues—I have seen the High Houses use all of these to drive home a point to their momentary rivals, and sometimes even to their allies. By sowing unrest with their foes, they show their own control. The Empire holds these fractious and arrogant Houses at arm's length but doesn't dare to let them go any farther than that. They do not care about the populace except as a means to count the score against each other.
    And now that I am no longer to be part of their society, I may say this openly: they parade their honor, but their influence runs deep beneath respectable society. I do not say that they are responsible for the criminal underworld, but they absolutely profit from it.
    For instance, the Westkitt, those noted humanitarians and most charitable of the Houses, the strongest pillar of Father Church, carry on a brisk slave trade, sometimes even with our most vicious enemies, the Sjuri. Perhaps they are trying to buy their absolution with their tithes. Or take the Cronen: they provide most of the diplomats and ambassadors to our neutral neighbors and our enemies, but they also train assassins and malcontents to keep their enemies off-balance. They sell our secrets when the price is right. The House of Bhumar, one of the great shipping concerns and trade houses, does a brisk business in narcotics and other contraband. The Vukovi, our king's House, send traveling justices across the Empire to serve in places where knowledge of the law is sparse, preaching respect before the throne, and they simultaneously collect a portion of every bought ruling that their lackeys provide the wealthy. And let us not forget our mercantile masters, the House of Deng, whose