Dusaan had to smile at the old man’s fear. Some Qirsi, he knew, were sorely ill prepared for the changes that were coming to the Forelands.
“I assure you, Chancellor, the emperor’s decision will do no such thing. It may anger a few of the lords, but it will not lead to the downfall of the empire.” Several of the ministers laughed at this, though Stavel only appeared to grow more distraught. “Circumstances in the south are especially difficult right now,” Dusaan went on, trying to sound reasonable. “Muelry is still recovering from the pestilence that struck there during the last growing. And as Nitara has pointed out, her lands are poorly suited to growing anything more than grasses and thistle. Pinthral and Refte have no need of more land, and would not be granted such if they requested it.”
Stavel started to protest, but Dusaan raised his hand, silencing him. “The matter is decided. The emperor has spoken, and I believe that a majority of those in this chamber agree with his solution.” This might have been a stretch, but none of the others would question him, not on this. “Word of the emperor’s decision will be sent south in the morning.” He glanced around the chamber. The older chancellor and his small group of allies appeared disheartened, but Nitara, Kayiv, and several of the younger ministers looked far more pleased than they usually did at these discussions. “Is there anything else?”
He knew there would be—he had heard several of the ministers speaking of it in the corridor earlier that day—but it was not for him to broach the subject.
That task fell to Kayiv. Naturally.
“You’ve heard of the death of Lord Lachmas?” There seemed to be a gleam in the young Qirsi’s bright golden eyes.
“Yes, I have. A tragedy for all of Braedon. The emperor was rather distraught.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
Dusaan held the man’s gaze until at last Kayiv looked away.
“If there’s something on your mind, Minister, you should speak and be done with it.”
“Isn’t it obvious, High Chancellor?” Nitara asked, answering for the young man. As he had before on several occasions, Dusaan found himself thinking that she and Kayiv might very well be lovers. “Nobles have been dying throughout the other realms over the past year, all of their deaths attributed to the Qirsi conspiracy. Now it seems that this conspiracy has finally reached Braedon.”
Actually it hadn’t. The Weaver had not ordered Lord Lachmas’s death and he had no reason to believe that any of his underlings in the movement had acted without his consent. Indeed, he had no underlings in Braedon. He needed to be able to walk in the dreams of those who served him, and his renown in Braedon would have made it too dangerous for him to do so. This was, until just a few days before, one of the great weaknesses in his plan. He could not afford to have Qirsi in the Braedon courts serving him, but the longer Braedon remained immune to the movement’s attacks, the more the realm’s lack of strife would draw the attention of others in the Forelands, Eandi and Qirsi. With Lord Lachmas’s death, that was no longer a concern.
As far as Dusaan could tell, the man had truly died as the result of a hunting accident. According to the message from Lachmas, a stray arrow, apparently from the bow of his younger son, struck the lord in the back. The arrow itself might not have killed him, but the fall from his mount snapped his neck. A tragic accident that aided Dusaan’s cause as much as any planned assassination could have. The emperor was terrified. He had ordered the doubling of the number of guards positioned at every gate in Curtell city, and had taken even more drastic precautions with the palace walls and barbicans. It seemed the emperor’s Qirsi were frightened as well, or at least curious.
“We have no evidence that the conspiracy had anything to do with this,” he said calmly. “The message the emperor received from Lachmas made it sound like an accident. Tragic to be sure, but completely innocent.”
Kayiv smirked. “Of course it did. Lachmas dies in a hunting accident. Filib of Thorald is killed by common road thieves. Carden of Aneira takes his own life. Grigor, his brother, is hanged for poisoning the queen and her dukes. And we’re just to accept that all of these deaths have nothing to do with the conspiracy, that Eandi nobles are dying in great number by sheer coincidence.” He shook his head. “I, for one, don’t believe it.”
“I see.” Dusaan glanced at the others. “And the rest of you?”
“It does seem odd,” Stavel said. Others nodded. “You say that the emperor was distraught. Was there more to it than that? Is it true that he trebled the palace guard?”
Dusaan hesitated, as they would expect. “Yes,” he admitted. “It’s true.”
“Is there reason to believe that an attack on the emperor is imminent?”
The high chancellor had to smile. “There is no reason to believe that there has been any attack, or that any is forthcoming.”
“It wouldn’t matter if there was,” Kayiv said, and Dusaan thought he heard a hint of pride in the young man’s voice. “If the conspiracy decides that our emperor is next on their list of Eandi nobles to be killed, all the guards in Curtell won’t be able to stop them.”
Stavel eyed him warily. “You speak as would one of these renegades, Minister. You’d best take care you’re not branded a traitor.”
Kayiv glared at the man. “Branded by whom, Chancellor? Traitors come in many forms.”
“That’s enough! Both of you,” Dusaan added, glowering at Kayiv and Stavel in turn. He could foresee a day when having Harel’s ministers and chancellors questioning each others’ loyalty might serve his purposes, but that time had not yet come. The emperor was frightened enough already. Any whisperings among his Qirsi to the effect that one or more of them might be disloyal would convince the emperor that no white-hair could be trusted, not even Dusaan. “I will not have the Qirsi of this palace casting accusations at one another like quarrelsome children! For the last time, Lord Lachmas died as a result of a hunting accident, and until we have proof to the contrary, we shall not discuss the matter further. Those of you who can’t accept that should leave the palace at once.” He allowed his gaze to travel the chamber, as if waiting for any number of them to walk out of the room. “Good,” he said at last, lowering his voice. “The emperor is imagining Qirsi traitors in
every corner. The last thing he needs right now is to have his most trusted advisors fueling his suspicions.”
Kayiv gave a small mirthless laugh. “He hasn’t trusted us for some time now. Lachmas’s death is probably just the excuse he’s been looking for to have us all hanged.”
For all the promise the Weaver saw in this young man, he also found him thoroughly exasperating, in no small part because of comments like these. The minister seemed to assume that Dusaan was just another fawning Qirsi advisor who had turned his back on their people to devote himself to the Eandi courts. Well, the time had come to banish that notion from his mind.
“This discussion is over,” he said. “We’ll meet again tomorrow.”
He watched as the underministers stood and began to leave his chamber, some of them whispering among themselves, but most of them silent and withdrawn.
Dusaan did not usually allow himself to grow anxious about anything—in his position, how could he? But waiting for the ministers to go, he felt his pulse racing like that of a war stallion driven beyond endurance. There was a risk here. Not much of one, to be sure. He had studied these two for some time, and he felt fairly confident of how they would respond. But there was danger nonetheless, far more than he had ever entertained before.
“Minister, would you stay a moment?” he called, just as Kayiv reached the door. His voice sounded even, calm.
The woman remained as well. They had to be lovers. Normally he would not have tolerated her presence, but in this case he had expected it, even hoped for it. The promise that had drawn him to the one could be found in both.
He wouldn’t tell all. Not even his most trusted servants knew that much. But all wouldn’t be necessary.
“Close the door.”
Kayiv and Nitara exchanged a look. Then he pushed the door closed and they returned to their seats. They made a fine pair, he slender and muscular for a Qirsi, she lean as well, but with a round, attractive face, and full lips. Just the kind of young nobility that the Weaver would need to lead the Forelands when the Eandi courts finally fell.
“You need to learn when to speak your mind and when to remain
silent,” the Weaver said, taking a seat near theirs. “You’ve nearly got old Stavel convinced that you’re a traitor.”
Kayiv looked away. “We’re all Qirsi here,” he said, a bitter note in his voice. “We should be able to say what we wish without worrying that others will go running to the emperor spouting tales of the conspiracy.”
“Come now. You can’t really be that simple.”
The younger man glared at him, but Dusaan was watching Nitara. All this time he had been planning to turn Kayiv, with the hope that the woman would follow. But it suddenly occurred to him that she was the more reasonable of the two, the one who could control the other.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, clearly understanding already.
“Just what you think I do. To say that we’re all Qirsi is to ignore the lessons of our people’s history. No doubt the Weavers who led the Qirsi invasion nine centuries ago thought much as Kayiv does, just before Carthach betrayed them to the armies of the north.”
She sat forward, light yellow eyes wide and eager. “Lachmas was killed by the conspiracy, wasn’t he?”
Dusaan smiled. He wasn’t ready to answer her just yet. “Why would the conspiracy want him dead?”
Kayiv shrugged. “Because he’s Eandi.”
“You think that’s reason enough?”
Nitara shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t be. They have to see some gain in it, some way in which it would weaken the empire.”
“Good,” Dusaan said, nodding. “Can you think of any?”
She sat still for several moments, her eyes trained on the floor, as if she were looking for answers in the patterned carpet. “Lachmas and Curtell were rivals in the earliest days of the empire,” she said at last. “But for the past several centuries, the lords of Lachmas have been among Curtell’s more reliable allies.” She looked up. “Is it possible that they wanted to make it seem the act of one of the other houses, say Qestryd or Hanyck? Houses that have been more vocal in their dissatisfaction with the Curtell Dynasty.”
Dusaan pressed his fingertips together, watching her reason it out. She really was quite lovely. “Perhaps. To what end?”
Nitara frowned, looking to Kayiv for help. “Could they be trying to start a civil war? That’s been their aim elsewhere. At least that’s how it seems.”
Kayiv shook his head. “It wouldn’t work here. The ruling houses in
the other realms need at least a few allies among the rest of the houses. Without it they could be overthrown. But here . . .” He shrugged. “House Curtell is really the only power in Braedon. The emperor could crush any dissent before it became a threat to his hold on the throne.”
Dusaan nodded. “Good,” he said again. “Very good.”
“So then why was Lachmas murdered?” Nitara asked, her brow creased.
The Weaver regarded her placidly. “Actually he wasn’t.”
Kayiv narrowed his eyes. “You know this for certain?”
“Yes, as it happens, I do.”
“How?”
Dusaan could hear it in the man’s voice. He knew already, just as she had before. They both would serve him well.
“Because if he had been, I would have been the one paying the assassins.”
They shared a glance again, and Nitara grinned as if to say,
You see, I told you
.
“You’re with the conspiracy?” Kayiv asked, sounding doubtful.
“We prefer to call it “the movement,’ but yes, I am.”
Nitara started to speak, but the minister stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Why should we believe you?” He gave that same small laugh again, his eyes darting about the chamber as if he expected the imperial army to appear at any moment. “Why shouldn’t we just go to the emperor right now and reveal you as a traitor?”
“You’re welcome to, if that’s what you wish to do. I’ll deny it, of course. I’ll tell the emperor that I was testing you, that after your strange comments in our discussion today, I feared that you had betrayed the empire. Your decision to inform the emperor will have established your innocence, and so life in the palace will continue on as if nothing happened at all. Except that the three of us will know the truth, and eventually, when the opportunity presents itself, I’ll have you both killed, or imprisoned as traitors, which I suppose is the same thing.”
The blood drained from Nitara’s face and even Kayiv looked unnerved, although he managed to hold the Weaver’s gaze. Dusaan continued to stare at them for a few moments, his expression grave. Then at last he smiled, though neither of them looked relieved when he did.
“But I don’t think that will be necessary, because I don’t think either of you is going to repeat any of this to the emperor.”
Kayiv took Nitara’s hand, his eyes never straying from the Weaver’s face. “You sound so certain.”
“I’ve been watching you both for some time now.”
“Watching us?”
“All of you, really—the emperor’s ministers and chancellors—trying to decide which of you might be prepared to join the movement.”
“And you chose us.”
“Does that surprise you?”
Kayiv didn’t answer, but Nitara released his hand, shifting in her chair. Her color had returned and she was eyeing the Weaver with interest.
“What would we have to do?”
“Not much at first. Mostly you’d act as though nothing at all had happened. The three of us would meet from time to time so that I might inform you of how our plans are progressing. And you’d probably receive some gold.”
To their credit, neither of them asked the obvious question.
“How long have you been with the movement?” she asked instead.
Forever. Iam the movement
. “A long time. Since its inception.”
“Are you one of its leaders.”
“The movement is led by a Weaver. None of those who serve him know his name or where he can be found. But all instructions come from him.”