‘Only just. Any trouble?’
Aagen shrugged. ‘I heard that some soldiers were looking for her — the Butterfly girl. The locals round here aren’t exactly Empire sympathizers. Odd what counts in your favour, sometimes, isn’t it?’
‘This city is working itself towards revolution,’ Thalric decided. ‘Ulther didn’t see it, he thought it was still tame in the palm of his hand. He’d lost sight of the realities.’
‘Let’s hope we’re both well clear before that happens,’ Aagen said, and Thalric nodded.
‘I’m sorry I had to use you, Aagen. I had nobody else.’
‘Well,’ the artificer said with a sheepish grin, ‘I’m not complaining, you know?’
‘She danced for you?’
Aagen tried to suppress the smile, but it spread regardless. ‘She did, as it happens. Just danced, nothing else, but. .’
‘I know. I’ve seen her.’ Thalric stood, clapped his comrade on the shoulder, feeling glad that here at least was one friend that he had not been forced to turn against. ‘I’m glad you came through this safely. I owe you, as a comrade and as an officer. I’ll remember.’
With dragging footsteps he made his way to the throne room, for he knew there was bound to be a reckoning. The doors were opened for him by fresh-looking soldiers, and closed again as soon as he had gone through. The room itself was almost empty. Much of Ulther’s finery had already been removed.
It did not surprise Thalric at all to see the central throne occupied by the same nameless man who had been at Latvoc’s council. He now regarded Thalric keenly, his thin face creased into calculating lines. Colonel Latvoc was there, too, standing to one side of the throne, a scroll half unfurled in his hands. Odyssa the Spider was absent, but Thalric noticed te Berro lounging to one side, almost hidden behind a pillar.
‘Colonel,’ Thalric managed a salute, ‘you’ve made good time.’
‘I haven’t,’ Latvoc told him with a smile. ‘In fact I haven’t officially arrived yet and, indeed, will not for some time. The handing over of the governor’s power will be as seamless as if Colonel Ulther himself had effected it. However, someone must oversee matters until then — in an unofficial capacity of course.’
‘Of course, sir.’
‘You appear to be one of those rare officers who delight in leading the charge, Major Thalric,’ Latvoc observed. ‘It is a mixed blessing but I can only congratulate you on your work here.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘It can’t have been easy for you.’
Thalric blinked once, considering. The wise course was to disavow all personal feelings in this, but they were weighing him so heavily that he did not think he could. Not quite. ‘I am loyal to the Empire, sir. I made my choice.’ But his voice was not as steady as he would have liked.
‘Good man,’ Latvoc said. ‘Of course, this resolution will not be entirely without benefit to yourself and-’
‘That’s not why I did it, sir,’ said Thalric, more firmly than he meant. He was aware that after the previous night he was not as in control of himself as he would prefer.
There was a flicker of annoyance in Colonel Latvoc’s face. ‘I was not suggesting, Major, that you did. However, as far as the records show, you are ranking Rekef officer in this city. If you have any decisions to make, as de facto governor, then make them.’
It was a harsh question to put to a man unprepared for it, but Thalric guessed that he would be given no second chance.
‘The Butterfly slave, Grief in Chains.’ He looked keenly at Latvoc for a reaction.
‘I hear she’s quite the performer,’ the Colonel said mildly.
‘She belonged to Colonel Ulther. I would like to give her to Lieutenant Aagen, who was instrumental in aiding my work here.’
‘Agreed,’ said Colonel Latvoc without even a batted eyelid. ‘Anything else?’
‘Another chattel of the colonel’s, a slave of our own kinden named Hreya, was of some assistance to me. I would like her freed.’
Latvoc coughed into his hand as though Thalric had made some error of etiquette at a social gathering. ‘The Empire does not free its slaves, Major. It may gift them, reward them, treat them finely, bestow responsibilities on them, even suffer them to render advice, but never grant them freedom. What a precedent to set! However, the Empire will gift her to you, Major. If you, as an imperial citizen, wish to free her, well, I’m sure your eccentricity will be overlooked this once. Anything else?’
‘Just that I would also like to mention Lieutenant te Berro’s good work on my behalf.’ Thalric saw the Fly flinch at the mention of his name, but then raise his eyebrows at the compliment.
Latvoc nodded approvingly. ‘Recognizing the worth of subordinates is a good trait in an officer. It breeds loyalty. Duly noted.’ From te Berro’s unguarded expression Thalric had the impression that this was not a trait Latvoc himself possessed. ‘Anything else?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Nothing, Major?’ Latvoc frowned. ‘Colonel Ulther had a great many more chattels than that — a whole palace full of them, in fact.’
‘I leave them in the safe hands of the Empire, sir. I would like only to return to my work in Helleron. The plan must be nearly at fruition now and my agents will need my leadership.’
‘Well.’ Latvoc glanced briefly at the enthroned man. ‘Major, there has been a proposal made concerning your future. General Reiner has noted your abilities and sensibilities and decided that they are just what the Rekef is seeking in its officers.’
Thalric stood quite still because, by the naming of that silent, enthroned officer, he had been admitted to some greater and more secret world. The generals of the Rekef were themselves almost never knowingly seen beyond the imperial court.
‘Sir?’ he said.
‘You have done sterling work for the Rekef Outlander in your time, Major,’ Latvoc said, as the general’s eyes bored into him. ‘However, your skills could also be of use to the Rekef Inlander. The Empire must be constantly guarded from within as well as without.’
This would be more than a promotion, Thalric knew: the Rekef Inlander, the older and more favoured sibling of his own service branch, answered to nobody but the Emperor. They were a law unto themselves. They feared nothing.
Except each other murmured a treacherous thought.
And everyone feared them. They were the shadows within the army. No man knew if his neighbour was writing reports on his ill-chosen words or if his slave had passed on his drunken confessions of the night before. Every man felt the eye of the Rekef on his back, whether he was an enlisted soldier or a great general of the Empire. No man was immune, and anyone could disappear without warning or trace.
This task here, with Ulther, was Inlander work. It had been a test, then? They had set him at his old mentor’s throat to see if he were cold enough for it. He was cold, ice cold.
‘I appreciate the honour, sir, but my plans in Helleron-’
‘Can be completed by another, I am sure. Think it over, Major.’
And in the Rekef Inlander it would always be his own people who were under the knife. He would protect the Empire from treason like a surgeon saving a body from rot, by cutting out the infected part and everything close to it. Every day would be like last night then. And no doubt the call would come, one day, to set him against Aagen or some other loyal man he had once called friend.
‘If the Empire orders it, sir, I will do as I am ordered,’ he said, knowing that these next words could see the fear of the Rekef landing on his shoulders, could see him gone as surely as Ulther was gone. ‘However, if I am merely offered an invitation, I must decline. My work in the Rekef Outlander is precious to me and it will falter without my guidance.’
There was a long silence. Latvoc glanced at General Reiner, and Thalric watched for a message to pass between them, but none came that his eyes could divine.
And at the last, ‘That will be all, Major,’ said Colonel Latvoc, and Thalric turned and left the room still not knowing what their thoughts were.