Forgotten (14 page)

The gods took the opportunity to show their sense of humor once again. It was Losen.

Though they were
the conquers
, the Urazin way was to change as little of their taken territories as possible. The government was restructured, of course. A woman of the Empress’s choosing was placed in charge, and that woman would select her advisors as she saw fit. Often, those advisors were the very politicians she unseated.
And slaves.
Slaves were always brought into every bit of the Urazin Empire. But, otherwise, all the traditions and customs were left more or less intact.

In Hudukul, that meant guests felt no need to ask permission to enter, nor be announced. They simply wandered in and sat themselves down, helped themselves to whatever food caught their fancy. The cooks always prepared two or three times as much as was necessary. Often it went to waste. That would not be the case tonight. Already, Losen was
picking at the glazed oranges, popping several into his mouth before he even bothered to greet the Rit.

The fat man was as greasy and loud as ever. Slurping and smacking, he made himself quite a spectacle. He also made a point of shooting glances in Kaie’s direction. The advisor’s arrival was doing nothing to curb any of his appetites.

"This man wonders if the woman on the ship is meant to lead the people. Does he have ample cause for concern, he wonders. What does Sir Ironfist of the Ninth Rit
think.
Shall this man continue his worries?”

Kaie struggled not to roll his eyes. He didn’t mind the odd way the Hudukul spoke in circles and third person. But when it was Losen talking, it was all he could do not to shout for him to knock it off. Everything that man did was obnoxious.

Gregor agreed, but managed not to show any sign of it. “I haven’t been informed, Lord Losen. I am still only a solider, and not privy to the Empress’s mind.”

Losen took a bowl of the spicy noodles and slurped them up from between his fingers. His mouth wasn’t even empty when he spoke again. “Surely the Rit is mistaken. He took the greatest city in all Elysium with scarcely a life lost. He is hardly just a soldier.”

Gregor cleared his throat. It was all the answer Losen would get on the matter, though the politician surely missed the dismissal. The man was far too interested in his own comfort to be concerned about anyone else’s.

“If it proves this man’s concerns are warranted, would he be mistaken to think that you would speak in his favor?”

“Your favor, Lord Losen?
What favor is it you are asking of me? Not my boy again, I hope.”

Losen sniffed and snorted, making another of his ruckuses. “Well surely the Rit has much to do tonight, preparing for the lady of the leaf in the wind. Surely it would be a help if this man was to remove him from underfoot.”

Kaie nearly choked on air. It was all he could do to keep still.

Gregor noticed. He tapped Kaie with his boot, more recognition than reprimand. “I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your generous offer. My boy is far too valuable to part with, even for a night. He will simply have to find a way to be useful in the preparations. Now, my lord, you must tell me what this is about a leaf in the wind.”

“Has he not heard?” Every man in the room looked up at the newest guest. Tou Callo entered with all his usual bluster. The old, broad shouldered man was a much more welcome sight than Losen. It would be a stretch to say Kaie was fond of the man, but the councilor of the artisan caste was easily the most tolerable resident he knew. When Callo got him alone, it was always good humor that was offered, rather than pawing hands.

“Tou, welcome,” Gregor said with a gesture to Kaie’s usual chair. The Rit was deeply invested in Callo. His support was essential if any of Gregor’s plans for revolt were to succeed. Thus far, the man showed every sign of being true, but the reliance on him made Kaie nervous. “And what is it I haven’t heard?”

“The ship.
The people all buzz with it. The flag was spotted just an hour ago.
Orange, with half a leaf floating on a wind.
Not a one of the people
know
the sigil, but they are all desperate to ask Sir Ironfist. They are all quite sure that he would know the meaning.”

Kaie couldn’t help the gasp, and coughed quickly to cover it. He knew the sigil. He used to stare at it every day, ran his fingers over it almost every morning for a full year. He used to spend a great deal of time trying to will it away and restore the perfection of the skin beneath it.

“Yes, Lord Callo. I do indeed.” Gregor’s answer came quick, and Kaie knew it was to cover his slip. “That would be house Autumnsong. The lady Hilda Autumnsong is, I hear, very close to the Empress. Her sister Katrina runs one of the most profitable estates in Lindel. I don’t suppose it is any great surprise that the Empress found the family worthy of sorting out whatever it is she wishes of us here.”

“Truly?”
Losen murmured. He leaned back in his chair, the wood creaking under his vast weight. He patted his stomach, getting greasy handprints on his fancy bright blue vest. Kaie supposed it didn’t matter to men like Losen. He undoubtedly obtained a new wardrobe every week. He was from some rich merchant family, as he loved to tell Kaie when he was muttering promises in the hallway. Such men didn’t worry about ruining their clothing. “Sir Ironfist continues to insist he knows nothing? This man hears whispers, stories. Tales that say Sir Gregor Ironfist of the Ninth Rit has a sister. One who knows the Autumnsong family, perhaps?”

Kaie coughed again, his surprise overcoming his better judgment once more. This time, no one seemed to notice.

Gregor stood, chair scraping the stone floor. “Thank you, Lord Losen. I believe I’ve had my fill of dinner. Lord Callo. It was good of you to come. Kale, come to me as soon as the food is cleared away.”

He almost cursed out loud as Gregor stormed away into the depths of the manse, leaving him with the two politicians.

“There now,” Callo grumbled. “See what Losen has done?
Chased away the Ninth Rit with all his prying and poking.
Come now, boy, this man will help you clean the dinner it seems he will not get to enjoy.”

Kaie gave the former mason a searching stare. Callo always acted like he was oblivious to the difference in their social standing, and rarely displayed any concern over proper behavior. Still, it was unlike him to make such an offer, especially in front of a man like Losen, who would be tripping all over himself to report to anyone that would listen how Callo thought himself equal to a foreign slave. No matter how friendly they were to Gregor
and the soldiers, there was no way the people would be pleased if they believed it. Kaie knew Callo wasn’t a fan of political machinations, but the man wasn’t blind to them either. The offer couldn’t possibly be as innocuous as it seemed.

“Yes sir,” Kaie murmured when the man’s friendly smile revealed none of the ulterior motives that must hide behind it.
“Thank you sir.”

Losen was eyeing them both, undoubtedly trying to sort out answers to the same question Kaie was. “The boy will leave the noodles for now,” the fat man instructed, waving to the bowl in front of him. “This man will let the boy and his good friend, Callo, know when he has finished.”

He wasn’t sorry Losen wasn’t joining them. He scooped up three bowls, Callo grabbing the same number from the other side of the table, and led the way through the airy hallways of the manse, to the kitchen.

Night always came early to Hudukul. The wall blocked out so much of the sky, which meant morning came late as well. Somehow, though, the manse always seemed to cling to daylight a little longer than the rest of the city. It was nothing more magical than the odd white stone used to build it. But Kaie could never quite rid himself of the surprise when the walls seemed to glow. So, though it was full dark just outside,
the inside
was lit
enough that he didn’t bother with a lamp for the trip.

The low lighting served another purpose as well, one he didn’t think of until the moment they turned the corner from the dining room and Callo began speaking. As long as they kept their voices low, anyone catching sight of them wouldn’t be able to make out that they were talking at all. It gave the short trip a conspiratorial feel.

“What does the boy’s master know of this ship and the Autumnsong it carries? Tell this man true now. He knows Gregor can’t be ignorant as the Rit claims, and that Kale knows his master’s mind.”

Kaie shook his head, unsurprised at Callo’s directness. It was how the man always spoke with him and Gregor, when there was no one else around to hear it. “We haven’t spoken about it, my lord. He didn’t even tell me the ship was spotted until just before dinner.’

Callo frowned and leaned in a bit closer, dropping his voice even lower. “And what does Kale know about the Autumnsong?”

He wore her brand on his shoulder, just above the military’s. Not that anyone here knew that, aside from the man who put that second one on and Gregor. Not even personal slaves like Kaie were expected to run around with their shoulders uncovered in the military.
Especially not in a place like Jorander, where every bit of exposed flesh made a person more vulnerable to all the sun’s ferocity.
But he could hardly share that bit of with Callo.

Even if the man didn’t act it, Callo was a politician in an occupied city. He made noises about supporting Gregor’s revolt, and Kaie believed he meant it, but his loyalty didn’t lie with the Rit. It belonged to his city and his caste. He was helping them only because he
thought it would help his people. If Callo spoke of the brand on Kaie’s shoulder, and the wrong sort of people heard it, it would bring disaster on them all. The former stonemason would not know that, though. All he would see would be a bit of leverage to use against his city’s occupier.

So Kaie shook his head again. “I’m sorry sir.”

Callo pulled his head away and sighed sadly. “It was foolish to hope for good news. The boy should not be troubled by it. Still,” the big man winked and nudged Kaie with an elbow. “It is surprising. This man was led to believe all
Urazians
know one another.”

Kaie chuckled, because it was expected of him. “Yes sir. We all used to get together for lunch and discuss our day.”

“That does sound like fun. This man will have to look into implementing it here. He has never eaten with the men who clean the shit from the sewers. They would probably have many interesting things to tell me about their day.”

He laughed again, for the same reason, wishing Callo would just hand over the bowls and leave. He really needed time to sort out a plan for dealing with the Autumnsong family’s arrival that didn’t result in a herd of Namers descending on the city and obliterating his mind.
“No doubt, sir.”

The kitchen was empty and lit by a single oil lamp in the far corner. It was one of the few rooms that
wasn’t
open to the world, and the only one in the whole manse without a trace of gold-trimmed decoration. There wasn’t a single richly colored rug or jewel-crusted golden weapon hanging from the walls. For those reasons alone, it was his third favorite place, right after garden. He would never be comfortable around the careless display of wealth left over from the previous owner. Just one decoration would be enough to buy food for a year, yet instead it was used only to ensure visitors knew just how rich their host was.

He and Gregor stripped their rooms of it, thank the gods. But Gregor insisted the rest of the place needed to remain untouched. When the manse was turned over to whomever the Empress chose to rule the city in his place, it might be needed again. Apparently, Urazian nobility found such opulence appealing.

He set his bowls down on the table, not sure what he was expected to do next. The cook and her assistants took care of the left-over food and the dishes. Kaie was always ushered out with a string of incomprehensible mutterings when it came time to clean up from dinner.

It was forbidden, for reasons that seemed extremely stupid to him, for members of the servant caste to be seen by people from a handful of other castes. They apparently considered Gregor to be in one of those. Because of that, when the Rit was home, none of the manse’s servants would set foot in a room where Gregor might pass through. So it fell to Kaie to handle those tasks. But they took their work very seriously, and were quite put out when he attempted those same tasks in any of the rooms they were willing to enter. The kitchen was one of those, but with no one present he was at a loss.

“Is the boy waiting for something?”

Kaie looked around the kitchen again, half expecting one of the women who worked there to appear in a burst of magic.
“The cook, my lord.
She wouldn’t want me to clean this up without her.”

Callo shrugged. “Because of this man’s position, none of the servant caste will share a room with him anymore. She’ll be out once he is gone, no doubt.”

His brows knit as he took the bowls out of Callo’s hands and set them beside his own.
“Out, sir?
From where?”

The big man waved his hand in the direction of a wall.
“From the passes.
Kale is kidding this man, right? All the soldiers know of the passes.” Kaie shook his head. Callo laughed. “Two years in the greatest city, and Kale has not learned even the worst kept secret? That is funny! How did he think the Twelfth got in?”