12

Q: State your name and House.

A: Aliera e’Kieron, House of the Dragon.

Q: What was your position at the time of the incident in Tirma?

A: As near as I can reconstruct the moment, I was sitting down.

Q: Please tell us your official position with respect to the Empire.

A: Prisoner.

Q: Please tell us your official position, with respect to the Empire, at the time of the incident in Tirma.

A: Warlord, although in point of fact, my respect for the Empire is, at this moment, under something of a strain.

Q: Were the Imperial troops in Tirma acting under your orders?

A: I was the Warlord.

Q: I take that as an affirmative.

A: You can take that and—yes, they were acting under my orders.

Q: What orders did you give with respect to the rebellion in the duchy of Carver?

A: To suppress it.

Q: Were you specific as to the means of suppressing it?

A: I thought perhaps a nice bouquet of candlebud surrounding a bottle of Ailor would do the trick.

Q: The Court reminds the witness that copies of her orders are in the Court’s possession.

A: The witness wonders, then, why the Court is bothering to ask questions to which it knows the answers.

Q: The witness is reminded that she may be held in contempt.

A: The feeling is mutual.

 

“Want to tell me about it, Boss?”

Just to be unpredictable, I filled him in on what I’d put together. When I’d finished, he was quiet for a while; maybe from shock. Then he said, “Okay, what now?”

“Can you think of any reason for the Left Hand to have that cottage watched, except for what I’m thinking? They’re pushing for an Imperial investigation, and the Left Hand doesn’t want that to happen. Am I missing something?”

“Boss, you don’t know anything about those people. That’s one thing they’re doing. What if it’s something else entirely?”

“Like what?”

“How should I know?”

“You really think it’s something else?”

“No, I think the same as you. But you don’t know.”

“Then let’s run with that for the moment, and see where it gets us. If the Empire investigates, the deal’s off, and the Jhereg, the Orca, and the Left Hand all lose. So, they don’t want the investigation to happen.”

“But it’s happening anyway, having nothing to do with anyone in any little cottage. Where does that leave us?”

“That’s what I’m trying to work out.”

“Work away.”

“Okay. How do you stop an Imperial investigation?”

“You know, Boss, that’s something you neglected to cover in my training sessions.”

“Can’t pressure the Empress directly, we have nothing to pressure her with.”

“I don’t get it, Boss. Why is the Empress doing this, anyway?”

“So she can get out from under the Jhereg; to look good to the nobles, and maybe to the people too, I don’t know.”

“Okay, I’ll buy that.”

“So then, the thing to do is to discredit the investigation.”

“Good plan, Boss. How do you do it?”

“Spread rumors that these Easterners are behind it? Maybe plant some evidence?”

“Possible.” He didn’t sound convinced. Neither was I, for that matter.

“Boss, where are we going?”

I stopped. As I had been thinking and walking, my feet had taken me over the Stone Bridge and were leading me back to my old area—the worst place I could be. The chances of the Jhereg spotting me were too high to make me comfortable anywhere in the city; in my old neighborhood it was nearly certain.

“Uh, nowhere. Back to the Palace, I guess.”

I changed direction; Loiosh kept his comments to himself.

I made it to the Palace without incident, entering through the Dragon Wing just to be contrary, and because I was in a mood to glare back. I found some food, then crossed to the House of the Iorich.

I clapped, and, once again, he opened the door enough to peer out, then let me in. One of these days, I was going to have to ask him why he does that.

I sat down and said, “The Empress is launching an investigation into the events at Tirma.”

“Yes,” he said. “I seem to remember telling you that. What about it?”

“Do you think it’s a real investigation?”

He frowned. “As opposed to what?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “A bunch of running around, closed-door testimony, followed by whatever result the Empress wants.”

“I doubt it’s that, not from this empress. I should find out who is in charge of it. That might tell us something.” He stood up. “I may as well do it now.”

“Should I wait here?”

“Yes, but relax. This might take a while.”

I nodded. He slipped out. I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. I guess I fell asleep, or at least dozed. I had some vaguely disturbing dream that I can’t remember, and woke up when Perisil came back in.

“Were you sleeping?” He seemed amused.

“Just resting my eyes,” I said. “What did you learn?”

“It’s being run by Lady Justicer Desaniek.”

He sat down behind his desk and looked expectantly at me. “Sorry,” I said. “I don’t know the name.”

“She’s one of the High Justicers. I trust you know what that means?”

“More or less,” I said.

“I know her. She isn’t corruptible. She’s a little fast and loose with her interpretations of the traditions, but completely unimpeachable when it comes to judgment and sentencing.”

“So you’re saying that the investigation is straight.”

“Probably. She’d be an odd choice if the Empress didn’t want to actually learn what happened, and why.”

“Might there be other pressures on her, less direct than orders to rig it?”

He hesitated. “Maybe.”

“So then, how would someone stop it?”

“Stop it?” he said. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Not me. There are others.”

“Who?”

“Let’s say powerful interests. How would they go about stopping it?”

“I can’t answer that unless you give me more information. What interests? Why do they want to stop it? Powerful in what way?”

“All good questions,” I said. I paused to consider just what I could tell him. It was frustrating: he could almost certainly tell me useful things if I didn’t have to worry about what he might be made to tell.

“Just suppose,” I said, “that there existed a large criminal organization.”

I hesitated there; he watched me, listening, not moving.

“And suppose,” I said, “that they had come up with a great idea for changing the law in such a way that they made a lot of money, and that they were working with certain other very powerful interests.”

“How powerful?”

“As powerful as you can be at the bottom of the Cycle.”

“Go on.”

“And suppose that this idea for changing the law required putting pressure on the Empress, and that this investigation had a good likelihood of relieving that pressure.”

“I’m with you.”

“How would such a hypothetical organization go about stopping or sabotaging the investigation?”

He was silent for a minute or two; I could almost hear his brain bubbling. Then he said, “I can’t think of any way.”

“Heh. Suppose they killed Desaniek?”

“Would they do that?”

“They might.”

“It wouldn’t work anyway. The Empire would find someone else just as good, and make sure it doesn’t happen again, and hunt down whoever did it.”

“I suppose so. In any case, I apologize; I understand this is outside of your usual line of work.”

He shrugged and a wisp of a smile came and went. “It’s a welcome break from thinking about rules of evidence and forms of argument.”

“Oh? You don’t enjoy your work?”

“I do, really. But it gets tedious at times. This whole case has been a bit out of the ordinary for me, and I appreciate that.”

“A pleasure to be of service,” I said. “I can’t imagine doing what you do.”

“I can’t—that is—never mind.”

“Do you care whether the person you’re defending is actually innocent or guilty?”

“Innocent and guilty are legal terms.”

“You’re evading the question.”

“You should be an Iorich.”

“Thank you, I think.”

“The House has decreed that, whatever a person may or may not have done, he is entitled to be defended. That is sufficient for me.”

“But if he tells you he did, doesn’t that—”

“No one would tell me that, because I’d have to testify to that fact.”

“Oh, right, I knew that. But if, say, the person implies it, or hints at it—”

“I still give him the best defense I can, because that’s what the House dictates, and what Imperial law decrees as well.”

“And you feel good about that?”

He looked puzzled for a minute. “Wouldn’t you?”

“Huh? Me? I’d feel better about it if the poor bastard was guilty. But I’m not an Iorich.”

“No, you aren’t.”

“It feels good if a guy walks away, then?”

“What are you getting at?”

“Nothing, really. I’m making conversation and letting the back of my head work on this problem.”

“Oh.” He gave me an odd look, then said, “It feels good to make the best arguments I can, and it feels good when, sometimes, it actually has something to do with justice.”

“Justice? What’s that?”

“Serious question?”

“No, but answer it as if it were.”

“I don’t know. I don’t get into the deeper, mystical aspects. Some do. But justice? Edicts occasionally have something to do with justice, but statutes almost never do.”

“Uh, what do they have to do with?”

“Practicality. For example, right here in Adrilankha, when meatpacking became such a big industry, they passed local statutes saying that any peasant who fell short for the year could be kicked off his land. The nobles raised an outcry, but didn’t have the clout to do anything about it.”

“I don’t understand what that has to do with meatpacking.”

“Kick peasants off the land, there’s your labor force for the packing plants. Along with a lot of Easterners, of course.”

“Oh. Are they that, I don’t know, obvious about it?”

“Sometimes. In the area around Lake Shalomar—right where Tirma is—they discovered silver. First thing that happened was an influx of miners, the second thing was an influx of merchants selling to the minors. So the Duke passed a statute taxing both the sale and the purchase of mining equipment, set taxes to some absurd level, and provided for the conscription of anyone unable to pay the tax. That’s how he recruited his army. I don’t think you’d call that justice.”

“Um. No, I imagine not.”

“There are worse cases. Around the Korlaph, north of the Pushta, they discovered tin, and had a real labor shortage. The Count went on a statute rampage, and by the time he was done, he not only owned all the mines, but had made up the most absurd laws to have a few thousand locals arrested, and then sentenced them to work the mines.”

“He can do that?”

“Once in a while, someone has enough family with enough money to bring a particular case to the attention of the Empire, and a particular law gets overturned.”

“And I thought the Jhereg was corrupt.”

“Law is a reflection of society, justice is a reflection of an idealization of that society.”

“You’re quoting someone.”

He nodded. “Yurstov, Iorich Emperor of the Fifth Cycle, who tried to create an actual justice system. He failed, but he did some good.”

“And you stay with Edicts because they aren’t as bad?”

He frowned. “I guess that’s part of it, though I don’t think of it in those terms. I had a client once who annoyed someone, and the someone set him up to look like he’d committed a crime. I got him off. That felt like justice.”

“Was it? I mean, what had he done to annoy the guy?”

Perisil shrugged. “I don’t know. As I said, the deeper levels I leave to others. But that’s justice to me. Suppose some poor fool of a Teckla steals a chicken from his landlord because he’s hungry. And some high-and-mighty Orca manages a scheme to cheat his crew out of half their pay. If the first guy gets off with a couple of cuts, and the second goes to the Star, well, to me that’s justice.”

“How often does that happen?”

“I don’t know; I don’t deal with those sorts of cases. Those have to do with traditional law, and I work with Edicts. More often it’s the other way around, I should think. Is there a point to all this, Lord Taltos?”

“I’m a curious guy, is all. And you’re—odd.”

“You’ve met advocates before.”

“Yes, but only the ones interested in money.”

“Oh,” he said. “Yes, I suppose so.”

I stood up. “Sorry, I’ll let you work.”

“And you?”

“I need to think like a Jhereg.”

“I imagine that comes easier to you than thinking like an advocate.”

“A little,” I said. “Oh, one other thing. Desaniek. Where do I find her?”

His eyes narrowed. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m not sure. But I have no intention of killing her.”

“If you even talk to her—”

“I doubt it will come to that.”

He hesitated, then said, “While she’s conducting the investigation, she’ll be working out of the Office of the Imperial Justicer in the Imperial Wing.”

“What does she look like?”

He frowned again. He clearly didn’t like the way this conversation was going.

“Really,” I said. “I don’t intend to kill her. Or beat her. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it could end up that I’ll be saving her life, depending on how things shake out.”

“All right,” he said. “But I’m not very good at describing people.”

“What’s the first thing you notice about her?”

“Um. Her face?”

“Anything special about how she dresses, or what she wears—”

“She keeps her hair up, and she always wears a stickpin in it with a lot of little diamonds.”

“Thanks,” I said. “That should do it. And don’t worry about it too much.”

I took myself out of the office and back up to the main floor of the House. I needed to think, and I needed to find a place to do it. I crossed over to the Iorich Wing, stared for a moment at the sculpted thing and wondered what it symbolized, then ended up letting my feet carry me toward the prisons while I tried to put the pieces together.

I hadn’t gotten anywhere when I reached the big gates; the same guard was there. He said, “You want to see Aliera?”

“Yes,” I said, though I hadn’t actually formulated the idea.

I just had to sign and seal one paper, affirming that everything I’d signed before still applied. Someone I’d never seen before guided me in.

I clapped at the door before the guard could; she opened the door and let me in, saying, “One hour.”

Aliera was in the same place, the same position she’d been in before. I had the impression she hadn’t moved since I’d left. On the table next to the couch were several wine bottles, all empty.

“Well,” she said, glaring at me.

“Verra!” I said. “First Sethra, now you. Great.”

“Huh?”

“When I spoke with Sethra, she was drunk, too.”

“Is there something I should be doing instead?”

“Answering my questions.”

“Ask them.”

“First question: Did you know the Empress is starting an investigation into the events in Tirma?”

“First answer: Why should I care?”

“Because it was not wanting to run that investigation that led to you being arrested.”

“So you say. And by the way, yes I knew. Some Iorich came in here and wanted to ask me questions about it.”

“And you were in just the shape you’re in now, right?”

She shrugged.

“Perfect,” I said. “Can you remember what she wanted to know?”

“Sure. She wanted to know if I enjoy slaughtering innocent Teckla.”

“Did she ask that in so many words?”

Aliera made a vague sort of dismissing gesture.

I said, “You’re probably too drunk for this to do any good, but I need to point out that if the Empire is investigating the real thing, then there’s no need for them to press fake charges against you.”

“And yet,” she said, “here I am.”

“Yes. I’m trying to fix that.”

She yawned. “Let me know how that works out.”

“If I come back tomorrow, will you be sober?”

“If I stay drunk, will you stay away?”

I could have pointed out that she wasn’t helping, but I was beginning to get the idea that this wouldn’t be a powerful argument. There needs to be a better word than “stubborn” to describe a Dragonlord whose pride has been offended, and then a better word than that to describe Aliera.

“So tell me,” I said. “Do you enjoy slaughtering innocent Teckla?”

She stared at me for a minute, then burst out laughing. Since I’d figured it was either that or she’d kill me, I was just as pleased. She laughed for much longer than it was worth, but I attributed that to her state. Eventually she wiped her eyes and said, “Yes, but not by proxy.”

“I doubt the Iorich would accept that answer.”

“You never know,” she said. “They might. I’ll ask my advocate if we should base our defense on it.”

“Do that. I’ll ask the Empress what she thinks.”

“Do that. I’m curious about what’s behind all of this.”

“Me too. That’s what I’m doing here.”

“What, you think I can tell you something?”

“Almost certainly. And you might even be willing, if I knew what to ask.”

She swirled the wine in her glass and stared at it. “Maybe I would. What exactly is the problem you’re trying to solve?”

I gave her a quick rundown about things as I saw it.

“So, you think the Jhereg,” she almost spat the word, “are going to sabotage this investigation?”

“Have you ever known them, or the Orca, to give up a chance for profit if there was a way not to?”

“No. But I don’t see anything they can do that won’t back-fire on them.”

“You aren’t really drunk, are you?”

“No, not really.”

“I should probably tell Norathar, or else the Empress, about what I think is going on.”

“Probably.”

“Unless you’d rather.”

“Why would I?”

“I don’t know. A way of saying there are no hard feelings?”

“What makes you think there are no hard feelings?”

“Okay, a way of playing politics? My problems aren’t the sort that can be solved by having the Empire owe me anything.”

“I don’t actually care.” She hesitated. “But thanks for the offer.”

“D’ski!tna.”

“What?”

“You owe me no debt.”

“I know what it means. When did you learn Serioli?”

“Only a couple of words,” I said, feeling my face turning red. “I met a bard who—never mind.”

She shrugged. “Anything else, or can I get back to plotting my jailbreak?”

“You can get back to it. Can I smuggle you in a little blue stone or something?”

“They’re actually purple, and, yes, I’ll take three of them.”

“Heh.”

I stood up to go. She said, “Vlad.”

“Hm?”

I expected her to thank me for all my work. Or maybe announce something profound, like telling me about a vision she’d had of the Demon Goddess. What she said was, “I don’t mind my daughter playing with your son.”

“Um. Okay, thanks.”

I had the guard let me out of the place.

Being in the Palace anyway, I went back to the same vendor and found some sausages that weren’t too bad, and bread that could have been staler, then made my way back to my room. Loiosh told me it was empty, so I went in. I lay down on the bed and tried to think. My stomach grumbled a little. I wondered if I was getting too old to be living on bread and sausage; that would be sad.

As I lay there, I found my hand stroking the tiny golden links on the hilt of Lady Teldra. In the years I’d had her, I’d only used her twice; I somehow thought that would please her. Those thoughts led me to another Issola I knew, but I pushed those away: I needed to concentrate on business.

My hand kept stroking Lady Teldra’s hilt.

Hey, you in there? Any ideas? Can you help?

Nothing.

I suddenly missed her—I mean, the real person—very sharply. It’s all well and good to think of her personality being preserved inside a weapon, but for one thing, I’d never felt it that I could be sure of. And for another, I didn’t entirely believe it. I wonder if she would say murdering a bunch of Teckla was impolite. I wondered if the fact that I didn’t much care made me a bad person. Probably.

“I wonder if she’d say anything about lying on top of the bed with your boots on.”

“Probably.”

My mind wandered, which is a good thing, because sometimes it wanders to where it needs to go and uncovers just the right rock. In this case, it wandered to High Counsel Perisil. An interesting fellow. What I’d said to him had been true: None of the advocates I’d run into before had any interest other than in making themselves rich. This shouldn’t be seen as saying anything about the House overall: it’s a particular set of them who end up working for the Jhereg. I don’t know, maybe the Jhereg exerts an influence on some people, turning them. Or maybe those with such inclinations, in any House, are more subject to working for them, more subject to taking and giving bribes, to stabbing people in the back, to setting up some poor bastard the way Perisil had said—

Oh.

Well, sure. That would do it.

“You think, Boss?”

“Why not? What would happen?”

“I don’t know. You figure that out.”

“I already have, Loiosh. The investigation would be stopped, at least for a while, and there would be all sorts of noise about rounding up and suppressing Teckla and Easterners, and the nobles would blame Zerika for letting it get out of hand, and it would be a round throw whether she’d be able to get things back in hand, or whether she’d have to cave to the Jhereg to get the pressure off.”

“That’s the part I don’t see, Boss. How does going along with the Jhereg relieve the pressure on Zerika?”

“Now that is an excellent question, my fine jhereg friend. I think I’ll go ask her.”

“Now?”

“I’ll probably have to wait for hours to see her; can you think of a reason not to start the wait?”

“Put that way, I guess not.”

It was early evening; just beginning to get dark. I didn’t know what hours Her Majesty kept, but it could do no harm in asking, so long as no one polished me up during the walk from the inn to the Palace.

Loiosh and Rocza kept careful watch, and I took the roundabout path I’d taken before, and made it to the Palace without incident. I won’t bore you with a repetition of making my way to Asskiss Alley. Harnwood was still there; like Aliera, he seemed not to have moved.

“Count Szurke,” he said.

I bowed. “Good Lord Harnwood, would it be possible to find out if Her Majesty would consent to see me?”

His face gave no sign there was anything odd in the request. “Is it urgent?”

“A few hours or a day will make no difference,” I said. “But I have new information.”

He didn’t ask about what. Maybe he knew, but more likely he knew it was none of his business. “I shall inquire. Please have a chair.”

I did, and waited maybe half an hour.

“The Empress will see you.”

I started to follow him, stopped, and said, “When backing away from Her Majesty at the end of the interview, how many steps do I take before turning around?”

He smiled; I think the question pleased him. “If you are here as a personal friend of Her Majesty, then five. If you are here as Count Szurke, then seven. If as Baronet Taltos, then ten.”

“Thank you,” I said.

If I had the choice between trying to figure out an Issola and trying to figure out an Iorich, I think I’d take a nap.

Harnwood led me through a different route, shorter, and to a cozier room; I had the strong feeling this was a part of her living quarters, which meant I was being honored, or else that I was irritating her, or both. She was waiting. Harnwood bowed deeply to Her Majesty, less deeply to me. I bowed to Her Majesty, she nodded to me. It’s just like a dance.

She didn’t offer me a chair. I said, “Majesty, thank you for seeing me. I hadn’t realized you knew the Necromancer.”

She frowned. “How did you—” then looked down at her golden outfit. “You’ve seen Sethra recently.”

“Your Majesty’s powers of deduction are—”

“Leave it. What is this new information?”

“There is going to be an effort made to stop the investigation into the events in Tirma.”

She frowned. “What sort of attempt, and how do you know?”

I nodded. “Please accept my compliments, Majesty. Those are good questions. I recognize good questions, because I can come up with them myself.”

Her brows came together. “Are you bargaining with me, Taltos?”

“No, Majesty. I’ll answer yours in any case. I’m hoping Your Majesty’s gratitude will—”

“I get it. I’ll think about it.”

Being Empress means being able to interrupt anyone, at any time. Lady Teldra wouldn’t have approved, but I have to admit it was the first thing about the job I’d ever found attractive.

I said, “An attempt will be made on the life of Justicer Desaniek. I know by deduction, from hints I’ve gotten, and because I know how the Jhereg operates.”

She stared. “The Jhereg? They wouldn’t—”

“It will look like an attempt by a group of Easterners and Teckla; one of those outfits of political malcontents. It will be very convincing.”

She sat back and her eyes half closed. The Orb slowed down over her head, and turned purple. I’d never seen it slow down before. I wondered what it meant. After about a minute, she looked up at me. “What are your questions, Taltos?”

“Just one: Why would they do it?”

“Eh?”

“I know about their attempt to get you to pass decrees outlawing certain chemicals—”

“How do you know that?”

I answered the question she wanted answered, not what she’d asked. I said, “From the Jhereg side, Majesty, not from anyone to whom you entrusted the knowledge.”

“Very well.”

“As I said, I know about that. And I understand that Your Majesty—”

“Forget the formal speech, Taltos. I’m too tired and too irritated.”

The Orb had, indeed, turned icy blue. I bowed slightly and said, “I understand you’re trying to break out of the trap by bringing the truth out about the events in Tirma, and I admire that. But I don’t understand the other side of it. That is, how it is that if you cooperate with the Jhereg, make the decrees they want and all that—how does that take the pressure off you?”

She was quiet for a long time; the Orb gradually changing from blue to a non-descript green. “My first duty,” she said slowly, “is to keep the Empire running. If I fail in that, nothing else matters. To run the Empire, I need the cooperation of all of those I can’t coerce, and to coerce those who won’t cooperate. To do that, I need the confidence of the nobles and the princes. If I lose the confidence of the nobles, of the princes, I cannot run the Empire.”

“Sounds pretty simple. Can the Jhereg really cause the nobles and princes to lose confidence in you?”

“A week ago I thought they could. Now—” She shrugged. “Now I guess we’ll put it to the test.”

I bowed to her, backed up seven steps, and left.