Moon's Artifice (5 page)

Kettekast was the sovereign land of House Moon – one of the Empire’s ten noble Great Houses that ruled the known world. Within that domain lay House Shadow’s own lands, a subordinate nation but Narin couldn’t remember exactly where it lay. Most maps of the Empire he’d seen only marked the domains of the ten Great Houses and tiny Imperial warrants granted to merchant houses. Everything was secondary to the Great House hegemonies and for outsiders the details mattered little.

‘It’s hardly proof the tattoos are fakes,’ Narin said.

‘No, what makes the tattoo a fake is that I say so. It’s a good one, would fool more’n a few tattooists I reckon, but it’s not old enough to be the one he got as a child.’

‘I don’t buy the military service either,’ Narin added, ‘doesn’t seem to fit him.’

‘No ? Big man with scars in the military – not beyond the realms of possibility ?’

Narin shook his head. ‘The goshe use physical training to purify the mind, the Shure teaching martial arts anyway. It’s all about enlightenment through perfecting skills, even at free hospitals the basic idea remains the same. They’re also Shure, just teaching medicine instead.’ He pointed at the thick slabs of muscle on the goshe’s arms and chest. ‘A man this size, taught to seek perfection in the martial arts ? Doesn’t strike me as someone not to be noticed and promoted. He’s a few years older than me so must have served a full term, and if he was an idiot it’s unlikely he’d be caught up in something Lord Shield would take interest in, certainly not on a solo mission.’

Enchei nodded. ‘And there’re no scars on his back, so a bad attitude wasn’t holding him back.’

‘Do you … do you think he could be an Astaren ?’ Narin asked quietly.

In spite of everything, saying the word sparked a flicker of excitement inside him. The Imperial City was a sheltered world to grow up in and the House of the Sun’s elite Astaren warrior-mages had been obliterated centuries ago along with its warrior caste. Like the rest of the city, everything Narin knew of the Astaren came through rumour and myth. A secret kept even from the lords and generals of their own Houses, the Astaren were warrior-mages who formed the secret core of each army, performed the impossible and answered only to the Gods.

Enchei puffed out his cheeks and frowned at the goshe. His curled greying eyebrows twitched as he thought, absent-mindedly twisting the bone fetish around his neck through his fingers.

‘Doubt it. They’d probably have tracked you down by now if you had one of their own,’ he said eventually. ‘Let’s hope he ain’t, eh ? Near enough the games of Gods in terms of us getting out alive.’

Narin let out a deep sigh and nodded his agreement. Normal folk getting caught up in the machinations of the Astaren rarely fared well and it was one additional complication he didn’t need.

‘Quite a night you had, then,’ Enchei commented. To the older man’s astonishment, his idle comment seemed to deflate Narin completely. The Investigator’s head dropped and he dropped back into a chair and slumped.

‘Stars above, what’s come over you ?’ the old man exclaimed. ‘Don’t tell me you argued with that girl of yours ? That’s where you found him, right ? Out seeing Kine ?’

Narin shook his head miserably. ‘If only we
had
argued,’ he admitted.

The Investigator fell silent, unwilling to say more. Enchei was his closest friend and the only other who knew of Narin’s relationship with Kine, but somehow he feared to speak the words in the light of day. The idea of children had been a small fantasy they had each mentioned on occasion over the last year ; wilfully dreaming of a life they’d never have. While it remained just between him and Kine, it wasn’t quite real yet – but telling another would make it so.

‘Well, spit it out, boy. It’s because of me the two of you met ; reckon I feel some sort of responsibility.’

Enchei stood and headed around the makeshift bed Narin had set up. He put a hand on Narin’s shoulder and bent down until the Investigator met his arresting, cobalt-blue gaze.

‘Better we hadn’t met I think,’ Narin sighed.

Enchei made a disgusted sound and stepped back. ‘You say that again and I’ll smack you round the head. I ain’t saying it’s the best way of falling in love, her being married to a Wyvern nobleman and all, but we all get dealt a shitty hand sometimes. I could’ve picked life to go a better way too.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Narin insisted, ‘Enchei, she’s pregnant.’

The older man stopped mid-reply. ‘Pregnant ? Ah. That could prove inconvenient.’ He scratched his jaw and held up a finger like a schoolmaster waiting for his pupil’s attention. ‘Now I know I’m old and forgetful, but when you saved that nobleman’s life like the hero you are, hadn’t they just cut his balls off ?’

Narin groaned and pressed his fingers against his temple. ‘What was I thinking ? As soon as she starts to show, he’ll know she’s taken a lover and have her killed !’ His voice became panicked at the very thought of it, his heartbeat jumping rapidly though he couldn’t even find the strength to rise.

‘Don’t be so foolish,’ Enchei said in a sharp tone, ‘it’s not so drastic as that.’

‘What ? The man’s been castrated ! He knows he’s not going to be the father, how long before he works out it’s me ?’

‘Hah, Lord Cail Vanden Wyvern ? For a man of the noble caste, he’s a spineless bureaucrat and not the cleverest either. I’d be surprised if he got that far in nine months – which is, by the way, how long you’ve got to find a solution.’

‘He’ll know long before then !’ Narin protested, only for Enchei to dismissively wave his words away.

‘That there’s a child coming, sure, but the man’s not going to announce to the whole of House Wyvern he’s been cuckolded, is he ? Remind me why he thinks you’re the greatest Investigator of all time ?’

‘Ah, because you saved him from assassins and made me take all the credit ?’

Enchei wagged a finger in Narin’s face. ‘Try again.’

‘What ? What are you talking about ?’

‘Poor Kine, the child’s likely to be simple,’ Enchei sighed, shaking his head theatrically. ‘Saving his life was one thing, but covering up the fact his balls got cut off for not paying a gambling debt ? That’s what made you the shining sun of the whole Imperial House, in Vanden’s eyes.’

Narin was so bemused he didn’t even bother objecting to Enchei’s irreverent turn of phrase comparing him to the Emperor. The old man had joined the House of the Sun gladly enough, but had only ever managed a sort of gruff affection for their young Emperor descended from Gods.

‘So I helped …’ Suddenly it all fell into place and Narin gasped. ‘Oh for Pity’s sake, I must need more sleep. Of course – it’s the only heir he’ll ever have ! He’ll not endanger that, no matter how angry he is with Kine. It’s not as though he can prove the child isn’t his, someone’ll ask why. He’d most likely take his own life than live with the shame of the truth getting out. Wyvern skin varies quite a lot – might be he can accept the child as his own even if I am the father. Kine’s darker than he is. So what do I do ?’

Enchei looked down at the unconscious goshe beside them. ‘You’ve got more pressing problems, hey ? There’s a God waiting for answers from you and when this one wakes up, my guess is you’ll not have time to worry about Kine for a week or so.’

He headed back over to the stove, beside which he’d deposited a hessian bag. From the bag he pulled a clay wine bottle and several wrapped packets which were each set out in an orderly line. ‘Go find the lovely Sheti, ask her if she wants to eat with us after she’s finished her duties. There was squid and dappled crab at the market today – what I’m planning requires a more appreciative audience than you.’

Narin didn’t move from his seat, watching the man with astonishment. ‘You hear all my problems and all you care about is cooking to impress a widow ?’

‘The best solutions are always found over a meal,’ Enchei said with a flourish of a kitchen knife. ‘Have I taught you nothing these last two years ? If you think it’s just the sum of my wisdom on the dachan court you should be picking up, you’re more simple than any of us are willing to admit.’

‘And what about him ?’ Narin demanded, pointing at the goshe. ‘What do you propose I tell Sheti about him ?’

Enchei shrugged and fished from his bag a knobbly vegetable Narin didn’t recognise. ‘Tell her the truth, or some approximation of it. That woman’s seen life in all its colours and was no fool to start with – plus, she does chores for this whole compound,’ he said, gesturing to the square of housing Narin’s rooms were within.

‘That means not only is she around during your shift hours to keep an eye on him, she also hears gossip from all over the city.’ He smiled and looked up with a comically wistful expression. ‘Us lonely old men love to gossip with a pretty face – and anyways, it’s not as if she’s the only one you’ll have to tell.’

‘What do you mean ?’

Enchei laughed. ‘Investigator Narin Deshar, your life is not your own. You might be the rising star of the Lawbringers, but there’s one star risen higher than yours that you still bow to.’

‘Rhe ?’ Narin said with a sinking feeling. ‘Stars of Heaven, why ?’

‘Aha ! The one and only Lawbringer Rhe,’ Enchei exclaimed, arms raised in theatrical adulation. ‘Scourge of the criminal classes, slayer of generals and insufferable bore. Lawbringer Rhe indeed ; the man under whose tutelage you’ll ascend to the rank of Lawbringer, assuming you don’t get yourself brutally murdered first. The man whose sharp eyes will soon enough notice his protégé’s distracted state and time spent on a side matter – then do what comes naturally to such a sanctimonious, arrogant shit : investigate.’

As the evening light turned the vast white walls of the Imperial Palace golden, Sheti realised she had been lost in the sight and shook herself back to her senses. She set her sewing aside and blinked out through the window at the skyline beyond, breathing in the scents of jasmine and honeysuckle that drifted up from the garden below. Far in the distance, around the towers and sharply peaked roofs of the Palace, long-winged birds turned lazily through the thermals. The day’s warmth remained and when she leaned out over the window to look down at her small corner of the garden, she could hear the contented hum of bees as they attended to the flowers.

It was an indulgence, she knew, to have her part of the communal garden taken up by flowers, but her needs were modest now that family life was behind her. The tall plants and bushes provided a snug, secluded spot in the sun where she could work, partitioned from the rest of the grounds by a prickly hedge the chickens and geese steered clear of. She turned her head right and looked down the length of the communal garden. It was empty of people, but a pair of geese waddled between neat plots of beans and tomatoes, their bamboo frames shaded by lemon trees.

‘My boys are improving,’ she said with a smile. ‘I’ll make peasants of them yet !’

Though she had two grown sons of her own, Sheti had spent almost a decade working in this one Imperial compound for unmarried men. She had moved there soon after her husband’s death and regarded many of the residents with maternal fondness. The Imperial staff who lived there had mostly grown up as orphans within the colleges of their professions. After a childhood in college dormitories and being worked hard from an early age, most were shy of anyone beyond their own small world and so unused to the presence of women they frequently never married.

Even Investigators like Narin, who saw the harsher side of the city, were often as wary as little boys around her. Sheti knew it was only at the urging of his worldly friend, Enchei, that Narin had first invited her to eat with them, more than a year ago now. The invitation was now a regular one and she had found the pair enjoyable company in a way her stern and weary daughters-in-law were not. Spurred on by the occasional invitation to these convivial evenings, others in the compound had tentatively followed suit. Now a growing sense of family was developing ; Sheti playing matriarch to two score men mostly young enough to be her own sons.

Sheti straightened and shook her hair out. Pulling it deftly back she slipped a scarf – black, denoting peasant caste – over her head and tied it underneath her hair in the style of a married woman. She paused and blew a kiss towards a small painting of a young man that hung above the fire. It was a typical sailor’s portrait ; simple and quickly-made, but accurate enough to stir her memory.

The portraits were traditional wedding gifts for the brides of sailors, as so many men were lost to the sea-fogs and rocks of the Inner Sea. She had almost refused it when Oshene had presented the portrait to her, feeling immediately guilty at the idea, but for once he had been insistent. The pain of his loss was dimmed and distant nowadays, but forever present. It remained one of the reasons why she had chosen to work in the compound rather than live with one of her sons.

Only in the quiet moments did she remember him properly, felt him at her side as the bed creaked gently at night or a breeze brushed the sheets. For that ghostly memory she was glad to put up with long hours of work at the compound, cleaning and mending for careless young men, and the twinkling smiles from that aging fool, Enchei.

‘No, he’s no fool that one, my love,’ she said with a wag of one finger towards Oshene’s portrait as though her late husband had spoken through it. ‘However much he plays one, that old boy has us all well worked out.’

She closed the shutters and slipped the latch, gathering up her shawl as she headed towards the door though her journey was as short as could be.

‘No, far from a fool is our Enchei,’ she continued under her breath as she went out into the compound’s courtyard, ‘even if he does like teasing me to the point of getting a smack.’

And there’s the crack in his armour
, she added privately.
The man might like to argue about the sun and stars given half a chance ; but it’s always with a smile and never a raised voice. That smacks of a man who misses his wife, to my mind. Oshene and I squabbled the same way often enough.

Curtseying with a smile to one of her younger neighbours as he hurried out, tugging his Investigator’s robes straight as he went, Sheti crossed the packed-dirt courtyard and made for the stairway on the other side. She could hear Enchei long before she reached the door, clattering a pan on Narin’s stove while singing in his strange native tongue.