But Prince Hilarion also seemed to have a great deal of money. She doubted that it had all come from Ida; the cost of a successful political campaign, let alone one by a candidate to become Grand Sorcerer, was staggering. Prince Hilarion had to have other backers, but the touts hadn’t succeeded in tracing them. They’d probably handed over bags of Crowns, knowing that even the Inquisition would be unable to track them back to their source. He was buying influence in various places, influence that would be all the more effective for being underestimated...
...And yet...what was he
doing
?
There were only vague hints in the knowledge she’d absorbed about just what happened in the process of selecting a new Grand Sorcerer. Almost nothing was known publicly, although it was assumed that it was a test of a candidate’s magical power and their political support within the Empire. It was almost as if whoever had devised the contest – the first Grand Sorcerer, perhaps – hadn’t wanted to write
anything
down. Maybe the knowledge was in her mind, still locked up until she asked the right question, or maybe the details were passed on by word of mouth. But if that were the case, who was in charge of masterminding the contest?
“It could be a repeat of the Jury Law,” Daria said, when Elaine outlined her thoughts. “I had to study that for work, back when they were offering me the chance to become a manager and even open my own shop.”
Elaine felt her mind click as new knowledge seemed to blossom open in front of her. The first century after the Second Necromantic War had seen corruption spreading throughout the Empire, particularly within the Golden City. It was simple for the rich to bribe juries into taking their side, using their power to ensure that no laws were passed limiting the practice. The early Reform Party had had real problems making any kind of changes. Finally, the Grand Sorcerer of that era had died and been replaced by a man with different ideas about how a city should be run. He’d expanded each of the juries until there were no less than five hundred prospective candidates for each jury, forcing anyone who wanted to bribe them to bribe them all, even though only thirteen of the five hundred would actually serve on the jury itself. The cost of bribing promptly skyrocketed. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but even the richest of citizens would have problems bribing every possible member.
“See who gets the most bribes?” Elaine said. It sounded possible, but it seemed a little unlikely. “Maybe they just throw magic at one another until all but one of them are dead.”
“Could be,” Daria agreed. “But I was thinking that the victor would be the one who managed to galvanise enough support from the city’s power blocks. Power is one thing, but they all have power. Actually ruling the state needs more than just raw power. Maybe the tests force them to cope with a crisis and see how they handle it.”
Elaine nodded. There were thousands of books on the history of government in the Great Library...and they were now all in her head. Some states had eaten their – metaphorical – seed corn and suffered economic crashes due to bad leadership. Others had lasted for centuries before the dictates of aristocratic supremacy put an idiot or a madman in power. Hell, the reason why the Southern Continent was governed by an Empress – and never an Emperor – was that their last Emperor had been a madman who slaughtered his way through most of the upper classes before one of the widowed women, forced to share his bed, cut his throat as he slept.
“You should ask your friend the Inquisitor,” Daria added. “I bet they’d know, if anyone does...”
“It doesn’t matter for the moment,” Elaine said. “I have something else to tell you.”
Daria paused, pretending to consider. “You’re getting married to Bee? You dumped Bee for Dread? That Princess you brought here convinced you that girls are more fun than boys?”
Elaine laughed, despite herself. Daria always took such an irreverent view of the universe. “It’s worse than that,” she admitted. “I have a confession to make.”
“You stole my latest boyfriend?” Daria asked. “Bah – how terrible. And he was terrible in bed too...”
“This is serious,” Elaine snapped, angrily. “I’m trying to make a confession here...”
“I try not to take life too seriously,” Daria admitted. “Not having anywhere permanent to call my home does tend to ensure that I remain flippant at all times.”
Elaine shook her head. After spending so long nerving herself to confess to Daria, it was weird to see the confession being waved away so flippantly. But Daria still didn’t know what she was talking about. How could she?
“I discovered that you were a werewolf,” Elaine said, in a rush. “I’m sorry, it was wrong of me...”
Daria gaped at her and then started to laugh. “We have known each other for seven years,” she said, between laughs, “and you only
just
found out that I am a werewolf?”
Her chuckles grew louder. “I always assumed that you
knew
!”
“I never even considered the possibility,” Elaine admitted, ruefully. Of
course
Millicent had laughed. She’d realised Daria’s secret long ago. “I...”
Her friend held up her palm in front of Elaine’s eyes. It was covered with fine, almost invisible hairs. “I have more hair on my body than you do,” she said, dryly. “You never bothered to take a peek when you were helping me to dress?”
“I always hated it at the orphanage,” Elaine said. Communal living there had been embarrassing, particularly when dealing with children who had actually grown up in a family before being sent to the orphanage. They’d peeked on the girls as they tried to wash, despite their complaints. No one in the orphanage had really cared if the children started to pick on each other. “And then Millicent sent me streaking naked through the corridors...”
“I wouldn’t have minded,” Daria said, gently. “It’s not as if you are particularly attracted to women...”
Elaine stared at her friend and braced herself to say the words that might destroy their friendship forever. “I peeked inside your chest,” she admitted. “I was curious and it was just there...”
“And you saw the amulet that keep my lycanthropy under control,” Daria said, emotionlessly. Elaine would have given her soul to have the same sense of smell as her friend, to know just what she was really feeling. “I never wanted to be a beast again.”
The words came tumbling out, as if she’d wanted to talk about it for a long time. “Some of us are born werewolves, others are turned into werewolves by accident or when they marry one of the folk,” she said. “My parents were both werewolves, but they were both turned werewolves instead of born werewolves. I never actually turned wolf until I was thirteen...”
Elaine frowned. “I thought that born werewolves could change almost as soon as they were born,” she objected.
“Sometimes the magic throws up a few weird things,” Daria admitted. “I grew up believing that I was the only one of the folk who couldn’t change into a wolf. They even tried to bite me so that I would be infected by the curse, but nothing happened. The best they could conclude was that I was naturally immune to lycanthropy. No one realised that I
did
have some of the werewolf senses, even as a child.”
She shook her head. “I think my parents were a little relieved,” she added. “They hadn’t enjoyed being werewolves, or having to join the Travelling Folk.”
“The druids couldn’t help?” Elaine asked. “Surely they could have...”
“The Travelling Folk wouldn’t go to a stinker druid, even if he was on fire and needed someone to piss on him,” Daria said. “You don’t really know what it’s like to be one of the Folk. The best that happens is that the stinkers think that you’re a thief. If you’re unlucky, they chase you out with magic and gunfire.”
Elaine frowned. “The stinkers?”
“
We
are clean,” Daria said, with some dignity. “You people don’t know how to wash properly. I can smell you from halfway across the city.”
She shook her head. “There are few secrets among the Traveller Folk,” she continued, quietly. “I was astonished by how shocked so many of you...”
Elaine smiled. “Stinkers?”
“I was going to say
civilised
folk,” Daria said, with great dignity. “I remember seeing girls terrified when they first saw blood coming out of their crotches, convinced that there was something seriously wrong with them. My family had taught me better; hell, my first cycle was the event that would change me from a girl to a woman. I could get married, or move away from my parents, or even leave the Travelling Folk. Instead...
“The first time, I found myself naked in the forest with no clear idea of what had happened to me. I was convinced that one of the boys had played a prank on me. A couple of them were magicians and they definitely could have mesmerised a young girl into running away naked. But I was too ashamed to tell my parents or anyone else. The next time...
“I’d blocked it out of my mind because it hurt so much,” she continued. “The pain started, as did the animal impulses. My clothes suddenly itched so badly that I had to tear them off and run through the forest naked. I could
feel
my body twisting and breaking, aching as if it was trying to use a muscle I’d neglected over the last thirteen years. And then I saw my hand change into a paw and I lost all rationality. I ran through the woods howling as a wolf, so lost in the animal urges that I ate raw meat and indulged myself. Then...
“And then I ran into one of the magicians. In my delirium, I believed that he was responsible for what had happened to me and I went for his throat. I almost killed him when he managed to knock me back with a blast of raw power, stunning me. He could have killed me then, before I reverted to human form. Instead I woke up with my parents and the wise woman looking down at me. For whatever reason, my cycles had brought the change with them. It took years for me to get used to the change.”
She shook her head. “Born werewolves change so often that they become more...flexible than turned werewolves,” she said. “Every time I changed, I hurt so badly and then I had to be supervised at all times. It wasn’t my fault, everyone said, but I always had two bigger werewolves with me to make sure I didn’t lose control completely. I had to take years of this treatment before I learned enough control to be trusted out on my own. And then they discovered my talent and allowed me to go to the Peerless School. There, they gave me an amulet to control the change. I have only changed once in the last year...”
“To find me when I fled,” Elaine said. “I don’t deserve you.”
“You have changed over the past few days,” Daria said. She leaned closer and made a loud sniffing noise. “Your scent has changed too, a little; more confident, more interested in boys...”
Elaine flushed. “Shame about the flush,” Daria teased, “but I’m sure you will beat that quickly enough.”
She reached out and placed her hand on Elaine’s shoulder. “I understand what it means to go through a change, although I’m not
quite
sure that you were as helpless to stop yourself as I was,” she said. “Your change is unprecedented in my experience and I don’t think anyone could have helped you. But...”
Elaine felt another stab of guilt as Daria’s voice hardened. “...I don’t think you should go peeking in my room again. One thing you should know from the orphanage – and I know from the Travelling Folk – is that what little privacy one can get is important. Do that again and I will do unto you what my father did when he discovered that I’d transformed once before without telling anyone.”
“And what was that?” Elaine asked. The Travelling Folk were strange. Who knew what they considered acceptable punishment for a young girl? “Did he beat you?”
“I’ll leave it to your imagination,” Daria said, darkly, and then laughed. “It’s bound to be more terrifying that way.”
She patted Elaine’s shoulder and then let go of her. “Now,” she said, “how can I help with dealing with Prince Handsome? Want me to date him and then bite him?”
“That isn’t funny,” Elaine protested. “It would lead to another werewolf pogrom and...”
“I know,” Daria said. “It was a terrible joke.”
She shook her head. “On a completely different matter, Bee came around again and offered to cook you dinner in his apartment,” she said, changing the subject. “Do you want to go see him tonight?”
Elaine hesitated. Going to a boy’s apartment could mean getting more than she bargained for – but perhaps it was time to live a little.
“Yes,” she said. “You can set it up for me?”
“Of course,” Daria said. “What are friends for?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I’m glad to see you again,” Bee said, as he opened the door. “How was your trip?”
Elaine hesitated, unsure what to say. “It was...educational,” she said, finally. “It’s strange how people live away from the Golden City.”
Bee grinned, welcoming her into his apartment. “The more isolated a community, the easier it is to maintain its own society even though it is technically part of the Empire,” he said. He’d seen dozens of states, Elaine knew. Her own experience was still limited to the Golden City and Ida. Once the whole affair was settled she intended to travel again, if Dread and the Inquisitors let her. “There are places that make the Golden City look chaotic and places that make it look orderly.”
He chatted away as he waved her to a sofa and started to take a steaming pot off the stove. “I don’t get to cook very often,” he admitted. “I hope you enjoy my food.”
“I’ve never had a boy cook for me before,” Elaine said. Daria had once commented that boys who knew how to cook, and made sure that the girls knew it, had greater success with romance than boys who expected women to do all the cooking. “Is it something from the South?”
“One of our regional specialities,” Bee said, cheerfully. “I grew up with my mother making this – and she insisted that we all learn to cook.”
He put the pot down on the table and grinned as he waved her over to the seat. “Traditionally,” he said as he took the lid off the pot, “we would put raw meat inside and let the soup cook the meat.” Elaine followed his pointing hand and saw boiling liquid, smelling faintly of chicken, inside the pot. “You can put in spices or vegetables to match your taste, as each person has a different idea of what they enjoy eating. Some of us put in so many chillies that we burn ourselves when we try to eat them. I’ve cooked the meat inside the soup for your first time.”