Dangerous Gifts (41 page)

“Ah. Laney, I need to tell you about the Moral Statutes...”

W
E HEADED BACK
to the Entaire household. On the way, I had the less-than-delightful task of telling Enthemmerlee about her aunt.

I saw the muscles of her jaw tighten. Poor child. As though she hadn’t had enough grief.

Then I saw Malleay put his hand over hers, and clasp it, and I felt a little better.

“I was an idiot,” I said. “I should have seen it much earlier.”

“How could you have?” Enthemmerlee said. “I never saw it.”

“I made a stupid assumption. When I realised she was having a secret meeting with Dentor, I thought they were having an affair.”

“An affair?”

“I thought she was bedding him.”

“Bedding... Oh. Oh! You thought...
Selinecree?
And a
guard? Bedding?
”

“Yeah. Sorry. And when she realised what Mokraine could do, she had him shoved into a room as far from her as possible and kept from meals, so there was no chance he’d bump into her and get what was going on in her head. I actually saw her run from the carriage he was in, and it never occurred to me why.”

There was another silence. The pinkish crops bent their heads. It had started to rain again.

“Papa would have died too,” Enthemmerlee said. “She didn’t try to stop him coming to the ceremony.”

“No. And if I’m right, with both of you out of the way, the estate would be hers to manage as she pleased; and she’d be the victim of a terrible tragedy which nonetheless managed to remove a dreadful embarrassment. And she’d have Chitherlee to bring up, properly, in the old ways.”

“Yes.” Her voice was cold.

“What will you do?” I said.

“I will do what is necessary.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-ONE

W
E PAUSED JUST
out of sight of the house. It was dusk; smoke curled into the damp blue air. “We have to assume Selinecree’s still at the house,” I said. “If she sees this lot coming back, she’ll know things didn’t work the way they were meant to and probably make a run for it. I suppose a few of us are going to have to go in the way Fain and I came out.”

Enboryay spoke for the first time since Enthemmerlee had told him the situation. He had ridden in scowling silence all the way from the ceremony, his face paling and darkening by turns. Now it was locked in a flushed glare.

“Stupid,” he said.

“Papa?”

“Me. Bloody old fool I’ve been. You.” He turned his glare on me. “That was a good bit of riding, though watching you on the way back, your seat’s dreadful. No wonder you’re sore. Got some ointment that’ll help. Meantime, you come with me. I’ll show you a better way in, get closer to the house.” He looked at Tantris. “You too. And if you ever hear any bloody silly rumours about being turned away, talk to my daughter. As though either of us would ever turn out our guard. You should be ashamed, the lot of you.”

“Sir,” Tantris said, flushing furiously, and flushing more furiously when he caught Laney smiling at him. Perhaps he hadn’t been attending
privaiya
recently.

“Papa?”

“What is it, child?”

“Be careful,” Enthemmerlee said, clutching Malleay’s hand. “
Please.
”

Enboryay looked at his daughter, and nodded. “I will. Think I’m going to leave you with nothing but this sprig of a boy to help you run the estate? Hah. Come on then,” he said, and we mounted up, in my case with considerable protest from my abused nethers.

We nipped over the wall at a point where it was only yards from the main servants’ entrance.

The seneschal opened the door, letting only the briefest flicker of puzzlement pass over his face before he bowed. “My lord. Was the ceremony successful?”

“For us, yes. Where’s my sister?”

“In the chapel, my lord.”

We opened the gates, and got the chapel surrounded.

I’d got my arms back from Rikkinnet, and had them with me. Having misjudged Selinecree so appallingly, I didn’t trust her not to have another trick up her oversized sleeves.

But there were no guards, no bully-boys, no signs of magic. We pushed open the door of the chapel to see her seated on the low bench, Chitherlee at her side. The old priest shuffled out from his cubbyhole, and didn’t even seem to notice us. Dusky smoke curled from several burners, thick and sweet-smelling; I held my breath. Chitherlee turned as the door creaked open.

“Hello, Aunt Emlee. Is it finished?”

Then Selinecree turned around. She looked simply puzzled, at first, and then her face twisted into a sullen fury that made her look like a distorted child.

“Chitherlee, come out,” Enthemmerlee said.

Chitherlee slid off the bench, and Selinecree grabbed her gown. The girl squawked. “No,” Selinecree said. “No. You’ve taken everything else. You shan’t take her! You shan’t!” She pulled the child towards her by handfuls of material, backing along the bench. The priest, his back to us, oblivious, fidgeted with his bowls and rods.

“Selinecree. There’s nowhere to go,” Enthemmerlee said, her voice calm and clear and very, very cold.

“Let
go,
you’re
hurting
me!” Chitherlee wailed, and pulled.

There was a low ripping, and part of the girl’s gown pulled away from the ruff, revealing the armature, a stark ugly thing of wood and wire, like a cage. Chitherlee ran up the aisle, leaving a long strip of cloth in her great-aunt’s hand.

“It’s torn,” Selinecree said. “Chitherlee, you bad girl, look what you’ve done.”

T
HE
P
ATINARAI CEREMONY
was in less than six hours, and we still had Selinecree to deal with. I hurried along towards the main hall with Laney.

“Laney, what was going on, to keep you in the docks?”

“Well, I was the oddest thing. There was this ship, the
Lovely Aurette
, and she seemed nice and was going the right way, so I booked a passage, and as I was coming away there was this man, he looked sort of familiar, he said was I going to Incandress. I told him yes and he said, did I have friends there, because it was a bad situation and I said, that was why I was going. So I asked him if he’d heard anything, because, well, you know, I’d had your message and I was worried
.
The person who passed it on wouldn’t tell me anythingelse except what you’d said.”

“That’s the Section for you. So what did this man say?”

“Only that he’d heard it was bad there, and he’d really advise me not to go. He must have been there to book his own passage and changed his mind, I saw him talking to the captain.”

“Wait a minute. He asked if you were going to Incandress?”

“Yes.”

“But the ships don’t go to Incandress. Incandress is landlocked. The ships come into Calanesk. You can go anywhere in the Flame Republic and half the Empire from there. So why did he assume you were going to Incandress?”

“You know, I’ve no idea,” Laney said, wandering around the room, tugging at a frayed curtain. “Oh, this place needs somuch doing to it. Really, some decent hangings, a good muralist... and these windows should all be enlarged, and the ceilings moved up. It’s so
grim.
”

“Laney... did you recognise him? The man who asked you about Incandress?”

“I’ve seen him about. Some dreadfully tedious dinner, I think. Oh, I remember; the Guild of Grain Merchants and Seed Dealers. Sucha ghastly evening, I had to play little games with the client under the table just to get him to leave early.” She smiled.

“Do you know his name?”

“Well, no, darling, I don’t think we were ever introduced. I’d know him again, though. His hair was the oddest shade of red, I’m almost certain it was dyed.”

“And what happened after that?” I said.

“I couldn’t get a ship for love nor money, and I did try both. The captains either told me there was no room, or they couldn’t go where I wanted. I ended up on a
tiny
little ship out of some place I’d never heard of,
and
I had to persuade them to go off their course,
and
I had to dim the whole ship; honestly, I was
exhausted.
”

“You had to dim the ship?”

“Well someone was trying to stop me leaving, darling, it was quite obvious, so I had to be sneaky. Only we nearly got hit by another ship as we were coming out of the harbour, because they couldn’t see us. The captain
wasn’t
pleased. I had to spend ages making her feel better.”

“Wait, we’d best talk to Fain.”

He was in his room, shaking out a shirt. “Did you want something?”

“I’ve been talking to Laney,” I said. “Someone on the docks found out she was going to Incandress, and I think they were doing something, bribery, intimidation maybe, to stop any of the captains taking her.”

“Did she know this gentleman?”

“No, but she’d recognise him again, she said. Dyed red hair, and she’d seen him at a grain merchants’ guild function. What is all this business with grain? Incandress doesn’t even
have
any.”

“Oh, no, it makes perfect sense,” Fain said.

“What do you mean, it makes sense?”

“Someone planned to tip the balance, as I thought – but not in the way I thought.”

“But who? And why?”

“A grain merchant.”

“And the why?”

“A disease like the one contained within that spell would certainly be enough of a threat to force the portals to close. And if someone had built up vast stocks of grain, and became the only source of grain... Why, while the portals were closed, that someone would become very, very rich, and very, very powerful.”

“That’s why bread’s been going up so much. Someone’s been buying up all the grain,” I said.

“Yes.”

“Someone was prepared to kill thousands, maybe millions of people for this?”

Fain sighed. “It is not the first time such things have been done for money, or for power. It won’t be the last.”

“So is the redhead our man?”

“A subordinate, I think. It sounds as though he was planted at the docks to keep an eye open for Laney, or anyone else trying to book passage to Incandress, in order to provide... discouragement. If we can find him, he may lead us to the one in charge. That’s who I need to find, and quickly. Before they realise their hand has been tipped. And
someone
in the Section is involved. You didn’t trust Bergast from the start. While I think you were unfair in that, since I suspect him of nothing more than incompetence, I do believe that his being made available was deliberate. What better than to send to Incandress a Scholar incapable of detecting so lethal a spell?”

“You plan to question him?”

“When we find him, yes.”

I
STARTED TO
search the grounds for Bergast, but instead found a wandering warlock. He looked dreadful, like a gargoyle on a frosty day, but he was alive.

“Mokraine! How are you?” I said. “What happened?”

“Oh, a folly. I had simply failed to take something into account. It seems I cannot yet rid myself of this troublesome need of mine.” He looked down at the creature that hopped and dragged after him. “When I feed, it feeds. If I decline, it starves. Unfortunately, it seems our spirits are tied together, and if it dies, I die. I have not yet decided that I desire to do so.” He gave a horrible, twisted smile.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I know. Did you know there is a man tied up in one of those buildings?”

“Oh, yes, Filchis,” I said. “I almost forgot about him.”

“Yes,” Mokraine said. “You have an...
occupied
mind, do you not, Babylon? Interesting.”

“What?” I said.

“I think, perhaps, we should have a conversation,” he said.

“Maybe later.” I didn’t know what he wanted, but I didn’t like the look of mingled fascination and concern on his face.

Having freed a by now somewhat smelly and subdued Filchis, I decided to try the rest of the house, starting with Bergast’s room. Mokraine came with me. Fain joined us. “Ah, First Adept,” he said.

“Mr Fain.”

We were in there turning over piles of papers when Bergast opened his door with his elbows, since he was using his hands to hold his head. He looked like the aftermath of three days in one of King of Stone’s worse bars.

He looked up and saw the three of us. His face froze, mouth dropping and eyes widening. He turned to run and I grabbed his forearms, slammed the door shut with my foot and pushed him against it with his hands against his chest.

“What...? Get off me!”

“Don’t try my patience, Bergast. I hope you never gamble, because guilt was written all over your face the second you walked in here.”

“But I haven’t... I didn’t... Let go... I’ll make you!” Blue fire flickered over his hands and I felt an unpleasant slippery tingle in my fingers.

“Really?” I said. “You have
met
First Adept Mokraine, have you? Or, for that matter, me?”

The fire went out, the slippery sensation dissipated. Bergast slumped. “All right. All
right.
Can you please let go? You’re breaking my hands!”

“I’m not, my lad. If I were, you’d know it. Let’s have those hands behind you.” I bound his wrists together.

“First, where have you been?” Fain said.

“I fell asleep,” Bergast said sullenly.

“You fell
asleep.
”

“Yes! I was talking to Lady Selinecree about some of the work I’d been doing on the language – oh, I need to tell you about that – and she gave me a drink and I fell asleep.”

“For an entire day?”

“Yes. I woke up a few minutes ago out in the grounds.”

“Lucky,” I said.

“Lucky? I got soaked through!”

“You’re lucky that Selinecree either couldn’t find, or didn’t bother using, a lethal potion instead of one that merely knocked you out. Considering what she was planning.”

“What do you mean? What was she planning?”

Fain told him. Bergast’s mouth opened and shut a few times as he considered the implications. “You thought I was involved?” he said.

“You’ve been hiding
something,
” I said. “Right from the beginning. From me, from Mokraine...”