Blood of Empire

Chapter 46

Michel stood on the southern edge of the Landfall Plateau, eyes intent on the park down below where he’d asked Tenik to meet him at four. It was only noon, and he intended on being there early enough that no one would get the drop on him. He worked through his nerves, testing contingency plans in his head, knowing that he was being a fool.

“You’re actually flustered,” Ichtracia said. She stood next to him on the edge of the plateau, enjoying the sun on her face, looking out across the floodplains toward the distant tower of the godstone.

The statement took Michel off guard. “I’m what?”

“Flustered.” Ichtracia bit off a laugh. “I’ve never seen you flustered.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“Not even when my grandfather had you tied up and was cutting your finger off,” Ichtracia continued. She seemed almost pleased, and it was getting on Michel’s nerves. “You were angry and in pain and desperate, but you weren’t flustered. This is…” She rubbed her face, physically wiping the smile away. “I shouldn’t laugh. You’re right, this isn’t funny. But seeing you so conflicted is kind of…”

“Vindicating?” Michel asked. The word came out as an angry snarl.

“A little,” Ichtracia said as if she didn’t notice his anger. “But I was thinking humanizing. Just another piece of the real Michel Bravis.” She suddenly stepped forward and, to Michel’s surprise, took his face in her hands. Before he could react, she kissed him gently on the lips. “It’s all right. We’re going to warn Yaret, aren’t we?”

Michel swallowed. He was flustered. Flustered and conflicted. He was going against all of his instincts and training. He was operating off a half-cocked plan that might get him killed – or worse, dragged through the streets and delivered straight to Ka-Sedial. “Yes. I can’t just drop these off.” He patted his bag, where he was carrying the purge orders. “I need them to know they come from me, I need them to –”

“You need them to know that you wouldn’t abandon them,” Ichtracia said.

Michel swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. He should have felt better from Ichtracia’s show of understanding. But for some reason he just felt defeated. “I told Tenik to meet me at the garden where we spotted Forgula. I’m hoping it’s specific enough that he gets the message but vague enough that if it’s intercepted by Sedial, I can’t be traced.”

“And where’s that?”

Michel pointed off the plateau to a spot down in Lower Landfall. They could see the park from here.

“You know this is risky?” Ichtracia asked. He could hear the concern in her voice.

“I’m aware. This is why I don’t think you should –”

Ichtracia cut him off. “I came with you to Landfall to watch your back. I’m not going to stop because you’re doing the right thing.”

That did make him feel better, but not in the way that he expected. The words were even more intimate than the kiss she’d just given him. “Is it the right thing?” he asked. “The Palo…”

“You’ve given them everything. You don’t have to give them your friends, too.” Michel noticed that the corners of Ichtracia’s eyes were red. She continued, “I’ve never been allowed to have friends. Allies and enemies. I… envy you the opportunity to save someone you care about.”

Michel took a shaky breath. “Thank you.”

They headed down the side of the plateau and toward Claden Park. Michel gave the park a wide berth and found an old factory overlooking a row of townhouses with a clear view of the area. They did a circuit of the factory before finding a rusted iron ladder that led to the roof. He slapped the side of the building. “All right. Up you go.”

“You’re not coming?”

“No. You’re taking this spot. Like you said – watch my back. I told him to meet me here in four hours, so we might have to wait a while. If I wave twice, I want you to join me. If I wave three times, stay put. If I wave once… well, get the pit out of here.”

Ichtracia hesitated for a moment before giving him a nod. The intimacy and concern she’d shown on the plateau were gone, replaced by a cold, businesslike demeanor. She began to climb.

Michel didn’t wait for her to get into position before heading to the row of houses just in front of the factory. He could make his way up to one of those roofs. He’d be in sight of Ichtracia, and he in turn could watch for Tenik – and find out whether Tenik, as requested, had come alone. If everything went smoothly, he and Ichtracia would be heading back to Greenfire Depths by nightfall.

He found the roof access near the end of the row of townhouses – a narrow iron staircase for chimney sweeps. It was about ten feet off the ground, so he began looking for something to use as a ladder, when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. He pulled his gaze off the staircase and adopted a purposeful limp, so that anyone coming across him might think he was just a cripple looking for a shortcut through the alley.

“That’s not going to work, Michel.”

The words felt like a cold knife through the gut. Michel stiffened and broke into a run, only to make it a half-dozen steps before several figures cut off the end of the alley. They wore morion helmets and carried muskets, with the Household symbol of Yaret draped over their cuirasses. Michel skidded to a stop and spun to look back the way he’d come.

Tenik stood about fifty paces back, leaning heavily on a cane. The cupbearer looked unimpressed and tired. He was flanked by four more soldiers. Michel searched desperately for an escape. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Not at all. Ichtracia couldn’t see him from here, and even if she could, he didn’t want her to attack Tenik. He bit his lip, looking for a way out and finding nothing.

Tenik limped across the space separating them. His face was red, his brow covered in sweat.

“I thought I said to meet me in the park,” Michel said, unable to think of anything else.

“Which is exactly why we’re waiting for you here,” Tenik replied, giving Michel a shallow smile. “You did train me in some of this stuff, remember? I figured all I needed to do was beat you here and figure out where you’d be watching from.”

“Well.” Michel swallowed hard. “I’m impressed.”

Tenik snorted. “Why are you still here, Michel? I warned you, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“I keep my promises.”

“Yeah.” Michel eyeballed the soldiers again, then glanced over his shoulder at those behind him. Definitely no way out. It wouldn’t be long before Ichtracia began to wonder what was taking him so long, but it might still be ten or twenty minutes before she came down to check. He considered running, but even if he could get past the soldiers, the look in Tenik’s eye told him that he would definitely get shot in the back.

“I’m either killing you or taking you in,” Tenik said regretfully. “Pick one.”

“You’re not going to ask why I wanted to meet?”

“If you come in, you’ll be telling us a lot of things.”

“It doesn’t look like I have much of a choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” Tenik replied. “You have two right now.” He lifted his hand, and Michel turned to see a carriage pull up to the end of the alleyway behind him. The windows were shaded with drapes matching the decoration on the soldiers’ cuirasses. Michel even recognized the driver as one of the Yaret Household, though he couldn’t remember the woman’s name.

He realized that Tenik was giving him a choice – an out. Michel could run. He could be gunned down in the street. It wasn’t a pleasant choice, but it was still a way to save himself and all the information stored in his head. It was a way to avoid the endless tortures that Sedial had no doubt planned for him.

“Does Sedial know that you’ve found me?” Michel asked.

Tenik gestured once more to the carriage.

If Michel got into that carriage, he was a dead man, and everyone he knew would die along with him – Jiniel, Emerald, Mama Palo’s entire organization. He would spill it all to the bone-eyes. He tensed, spreading his feet to prepare to run.

“Tenik,” a voice suddenly called. “Please stop the theatrics. Bring him over here.”

Michel turned in surprise to find the carriage door open and Yaret himself peering out from within. The Household head motioned impatiently. “If you want to talk to me, Michel, you’ll have to do it quickly before Sedial’s spies know that I’ve left the house. Now, come!”

Michel considered one more dash to freedom – or death – before turning toward the carriage. He joined Yaret within. The carriage was rolling before he’d even sat down, and he could hear Tenik giving instructions to the bodyguard from the running board. He laid his bag across his lap and met Yaret’s eye.

Yaret looked much the same as he had when they’d last met, if a little worn around the edges. He gave Michel a fatherly smile and shook his head. “Tenik told me that you’d changed your appearance drastically, but I didn’t believe that it was this much. No wonder you’re still avoiding detection.” He glanced down at Michel’s two missing fingers and clicked his tongue, but did not comment on them. “I like you, Michel, but your immediate fate depends very much on whatever it is you wanted to tell us.”

Michel let himself relax into the carriage bench, taking on an air of confidence that he did not feel. The winds had just shifted, and he could sense that this was now a negotiation rather than an execution. “Tenik told you who I really am?”

“He told me that you’re claiming to be a Palo freedom fighter. Though whether that’s your real identity or not, then” – Yaret gave a small shrug – “I find it strange that you’re now fighting the Dynize, when it seems from my perspective that we have given you Palo a hundred times more freedom than you ever had beneath the Kressians.”

“That’s… a discussion we can have later,” Michel said.

“If there is a later.”

“I think there will be.” Michel reached into his bag and fetched the purge order that he’d set aside from the main bundle. He handed it to Yaret. “I stole this from Ji-Noren’s apartment yesterday morning.”

“You robbed Ka-Sedial’s best dragonman?” Yaret said in disbelief. He reached into his breast pocket for a pair of reading glasses, clicking his tongue again. “You’re one bold…” He trailed off as he got the glasses onto the bridge of his nose and opened the envelope. Michel watched his eyes flick across the page and the blood drain from his face. Yaret rapped on the ceiling. “Tenik!”

“Master?” the response came.

“Stop the carriage and join us.”

The instructions were followed, and Yaret’s cupbearer was soon sitting next to Michel. Yaret gave him the letter.

“Where did you get this?” Tenik demanded breathlessly as soon as he’d finished reading.

“Ji-Noren’s apartment,” Michel answered.

“Could it be a forgery?” Yaret asked.

Tenik glanced sharply at Michel, studying him for a moment, before cautiously shaking his head. “This is the imperial seal. This is Sedial’s scrawl. This is his signature. This is the emperor’s signature.” Tenik sniffed the paper. “It’s even the powder Sedial uses to dry the ink. If it’s a forgery, I’ve never seen the like.”

Michel reached back into his bag and produced the bundle of purge orders. He gave them to Tenik, who immediately began to open each, listing off the Household names aloud and setting them aside. “Master,” he said to Yaret, “these are all our allies. Our relatives. Everyone we –”

Yaret cut him off with a raised hand and turned back to Michel. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“Sedial is about to consolidate his power,” Michel replied. “And he has the emperor’s backing to do it. He’ll wipe out anyone who might oppose him in the future.”

“Not just here. He’ll have sent five times this many orders back to Dynize. The rest of my Household will be in danger.” Yaret inhaled sharply and seemed to struggle to gain control over his emotions. He narrowed his eyes at Michel. “You risked everything to bring this to us?”

Michel didn’t answer.

“You knew that Tenik would follow through on his promise to kill you. Even now, we could take you directly to Sedial and hand you over in an attempt to get this sentence commuted.” Yaret shook the envelope under Michel’s nose.

“I figured that was a possibility,” Michel admitted.

“But you did it anyway.”

Michel glanced sidelong at Tenik. “I’m pretty good at reading people, and neither you nor Tenik struck me as the type to betray someone trying to help you. And as Tenik said to me – for the space of a summer, you were my friends. My family. I may be a spy, but I’m not a monster. I’m not going to stand aside and allow your Household to be slaughtered simply to save my own skin.”

Yaret tapped the envelope against his chin, looking down at the pile of purge orders in Tenik’s lap. There was a sudden knock on the door. It opened a crack, and one of the soldiers stuck his nose in. His eyes were wide, his tone frightened. “Master.”

“What is it?” Tenik asked sharply. “Speak up, man. Is it the Great Ka?”

“No, it’s… I can’t entirely be certain, but I think that there’s a Privileged watching us from the rooftop.”

“A Privileged?” Tenik asked. “Who could possibly…?”

“She looks different, but I think it’s Ichtracia.”

Both Yaret and Tenik looked at Michel. He swallowed his unhappiness at the discovery and shrugged. “She’s with me. You probably shouldn’t make any sudden moves until I leave the carriage.”

To his surprise, Yaret began to chuckle, waving his hand to dismiss the guard. “Remain where we are,” he ordered. “Let me know if she approaches or puts on gloves.” As soon as the door had closed again, he glanced at Michel. “You turned Sedial’s granddaughter.”

“I’m not sure if I turned her,” Michel replied, “or just gave her more choices.”

Yaret sighed, staring at the purge order in his hand. “This,” he said, tapping the order, “is not unexpected.”

“Master?” Tenik asked, a note of warning in his voice.

“It’s all right. Michel may not be on our side, but he’s not our enemy, either. At least, not to the Yaret Household.” He studied his fingertips for a moment, clearly coming to some decision, before continuing. “Michel, for almost two years we have been planning on removing Sedial from power.”

Michel scoffed. “You what?”

“It’s been a long time in the planning, with the utmost secrecy, known only to the Household heads involved in the plot and their closest cupbearers. Most of the names on this purge are in on it.” He gave Michel a sad smile. “Together with our allies back in Dynize, we’ve been planning a bloodless coup that would force Sedial into retirement, destroy his hold over the emperor, and keep us from extending this damned war to the whole of the Nine.”

“When,” Michel asked flatly, “did you plan on doing this?”

“That’s the trouble with conspiracies among many,” Yaret admitted. “We haven’t actually agreed yet. Before he uses the godstone, that’s for sure.”

“You’d better be ready to act quickly then, because it’s active.”

“It can’t be,” Tenik protested. “He’s supposed to tell us.”

Michel shook his head. “I’m almost certain he’s managed to activate it and is only waiting until he has the third stone in his possession. Ichtracia agrees with me.”

Yaret waved the purge order at Tenik. “I think we should set aside any trust that we have left for the Great Ka. We shouldn’t be surprised that he’s moved forward in secret. And this… this changes everything.” He pressed his fingers against his chin, staring at the paper, deep in thought.

“Will you act?” Michel asked.

“I’m not sure if we can. Our conspiracy to remove the Great Ka from power has been so carefully planned. We seek to avoid another civil war at all costs. We planned to weaken his public support, distance him from his allies, and then force him to resign.” Yaret flipped the envelope back open and read through the purge order once more. “Eight days. I don’t know what we can do.” He gestured. “Michel, you should return to Ichtracia before she gets nervous. I don’t want an incident.”

Michel looked at Tenik, half expecting the cupbearer to object to his being released. But Tenik seemed to have already forgotten he was there.

“I’m sorry,” Michel said.

Yaret looked up. “Don’t be,” he said with a smile. “I’m not sure if I or any of my Household will be alive by the end of next week. But at the very least, you’ve given us a chance to fight for our lives. Thank you. Now, go, before the People-Eater gets twitchy.”

Michel stepped out of the carriage and glanced up to see Ichtracia’s relieved face looking down at him from above. Not only had she spotted the carriage and followed it, but she’d managed to flank their position from high ground. He felt a stab of pride, and headed down a nearby alley away from the carriage. None of the soldiers stopped him as he left.

He was able to fetch Ichtracia, and the two of them were halfway across the city before they spoke again. “I almost had a heart attack when you didn’t show up on that rooftop,” Ichtracia finally said.

“But you found me. Thanks for that.”

“I take it that Tenik was grateful for the news?”

Michel walked to a café and sat down, ordering two iced coffees. He didn’t want to stay out in public for too long, but he also needed a shot of energy. The encounter with Yaret had left him feeling emotionally exhausted. “It was Yaret. He came out to see me in person.”

“Oh?” Ichtracia snorted. “Sedial did say the old fool liked you more than he should have.”

Michel turned to Ichtracia. “Does Sedial have any idea that there’s a coup planned against him?”

“No one would dare.”

“Yaret just told me. Dozens of Household heads are in on it.”

“You’re joking.” Ichtracia sat back in her café chair, watching his face carefully. “You’re not joking. Damn. No. As far as I know, he has no idea. I never thought the Households would have the guts to oppose him.”

Michel took his coffee when it arrived and drained it, then stared into the cup. He felt troubled, cursed by the feeling that he would never see Tenik or Yaret again. “I got the impression that they’re not going to get the chance. They’ve been planning for years, yet Sedial is going to strike too quickly.” He waited until Ichtracia finished her coffee, then stood up, trying to cast the Yaret Household from his mind. He couldn’t spare them anything else. He couldn’t afford to. “Let’s go. We have work to do.”