“And the Army just found out?”
“A marshal and several generals have been relieved. An investigation is under way.” Poincaryt looked to me. “That’s another reason why we wanted to talk to you. Dichartyn has said you had an explosion at a branch of the Banque D’Excelsis in your district.”
“Whoever did it was an expert. It was designed to bend the outer doors open, but not to injure anyone. So far as I could determine, as I told Master Dichartyn, the entire idea was to get my attention so that I would believe the information handed to me.”
Dichartyn nodded. “We have been led to believe that the funds transfers were shifted from commercial accounts in overseas branches.”
“Both of them?” I asked.
“So we’ve been told; but without seeing the actual ledgers, we can’t prove whether Subcommander Cydarth and Councilor Caartyl are being set up or paid off.” Dichartyn’s lips pursed in an expression between disgust and frustration. “Without evidence, we can’t question either one.”
“Have you seen or heard anything more about the use of explosives here in L’Excelsis?” Maitre Poincaryt asked me.
“No, sir.”
“There’s one other matter,” observed Dichartyn. “No one has shot at you or attacked you, have they?”
“No.”
“That’s troubling…”
I understood why. The last time Ferrum had gone to war, they’d deployed assassins all across Solidar, and more than a score of imagers had been killed. If the Ferrans were considering war against Jariola, and the likelihood that Solidar would oppose Ferrum, then given the fact that the Collegium had created problems for Ferrum in the past, why hadn’t there been any resumption of attacks against imagers? But…there was one other thing. “Did you hear that Captain Bolyet was killed in an accident by a loose crane on Lundi? His lieutenant is acting captain, and he’s definitely a backer of Cydarth.”
Poincaryt and Dichartyn exchanged glances, and the Maitre of the Collegium nodded ever so slightly before asking, “Have you heard anything from your other sources?”
“I told you about the Pharsi deaths. I still think they’re connected.”
“So do we, but we haven’t figured out how they fit in and why they’d benefit the freeholders, the factors, or the Ferrans.”
We talked a while longer, although they did most of the talking, largely about possibilities and cautions.
“Before you go, Rhenn, there is one other thing.” Maitre Poincaryt smiled pleasantly. “You also need several sessions with Draffyd. He’s expecting you on Lundi night at seventh glass for the first. If that interferes with your Civic Patrol duties, you can change the day.”
“Lundi night will be fine.” For me, though not necessarily for Seliora; but the sooner I got through what ever they wanted, the better.
When I met Draffyd for another grisly session of many was, I suspected, up to me; but now that I’d revealed that I had some talent for medical imaging, Maitre Poincaryt was determined it would be developed as much as practicable. And I’d need to fit that in with everything else at a time when both Seliora and I were handling more than either of us had planned on…not to mention a daughter who was clearly less than pleased with the diminished amount of attention available from her parents.
19
For all of the worrying and discussion that had taken place on Jeudi afternoon in Maitre Poincaryt’s study, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary occurred in Third District on Vendrei, although I had cautioned all the patrollers to be alert for anything unusual and to let me or Alsoran know. Not that there weren’t lawbreakers, because there were, including three out-of-work casual laborers who decided to grab at every wallet in sight around the Plaza D’Este. They hadn’t been exactly sober, but it took three patrollers and several bystanders to subdue them before they were carted off. Another elver was found dead, and Caesaro had to bring in a tart for blatantly soliciting on the sidewalk on the Midroad, and then for trying to cut him up with a dagger.
After my exercises and run on Samedi, Seliora left me with our daughter and took a hack to NordEste Design so that she could catch up on everything she hadn’t been able to do when Diestrya was ill earlier in the week. I couldn’t really complain. I’d worked every other Samedi for the past five years.
Even so, by half-past ninth glass, Diestrya was looking and acting restless. So, despite the chill, I stuffed her into leggings and her coat and cap, and we set out on a walk. The wind was light but chill, but the sunlight was bright, although I could see clouds to the northeast, moving toward L’Excelsis, it seemed.
We didn’t get all that far-just to the gate to Maitre Dyana’s dwelling-where she was trimming the thorn-roses.
“Good morning, Diestrya,” she offered.
“Good morning,” Diestrya replied. “What are you doing?”
“Trimming the thorn-roses.” She set the iron shears on the top of the wall. “How are you doing, Rhenn?”
“I’m fine, but I have to say that I’m worried. I feel like everything is about to explode, and yet there’s nothing obvious.”
She laughed, wryly, reaching down and easing the shears away from Diestrya’s inquiring grasp. “Usually, those are the worst catastrophes. This one looks worse than the Stakanaran-Tiempran disaster.”
I’d read about it, when the Stakanarans had tried to invade the south of Tiempre and seize the diamond and gold mines, but I didn’t recall it. That wasn’t surprising, since it had taken place when I’d been about the age Diestrya was. I’d always wondered what Maitre Dyana did, but her statement suggested something I should have seen earlier. “Was that when you had the position that Schorzat does now?” That was a guess, based on a few observations.
She smiled. “You’re doing better every year, Rhenn. As a matter of fact, I’d just taken over from Maitre Poincaryt.”
“Dichartyn took over from you, later then, as head of security?”
She nodded.
“But you still get all the reports and advise the Maitre of the Collegium?” I grinned. “Are you the, shall we say, unannounced deputy to Maitre Poincaryt? The heir in waiting?”
“Not the heir in waiting.” She shook her head. “Not with this Council, or probably any Council in the near future.” She smiled. “Just think about Madame D’Shendael…or about how much it took for your sister to be acknowledged as a factoria-after she’d totally turned around the Kherseilles branch of Alusine Wool and increased revenues every year for five years, so much so that she handles most of the wool trade there?”
I managed to nod, as I eased Diestrya away from the pile of thorny cuttings beside the stone wall. I’d never told anyone those facts. Neither had Father; but what Maitre Dyana had said in just a few moments confirmed her position and her access to the covert network that Dichartyn controlled-and that was mentioned nowhere. “Doesn’t it get to you, though? Not being recognized or appreciated for what you do?”
“It bothered me greatly when I was younger. It bothered my husband more…”
I never realized she’d been married.
“…but when I look at Poincaryt, Dichartyn, or you, all having to carry full shields all the time, and you worrying about your family every moment of every day…I’ve come to realize that there are worse things than being unknown-or underknown, as you once suggested to Dichartyn.”
“Why did you pick the three of us as examples? You didn’t mention Rholyn or Jhulian.”
“You three are the most visible, much as Dichartyn tries to keep a low profile. You’re the designated targets, if you will.”
“Were we picked because we have the strongest shields?”
She laughed again. “All of you picked yourselves, you more than the others. I don’t think you could keep a low profile in pitch darkness in an abandoned gold mine. That’s not without benefit for the rest of the Collegium, because people tend not to look past the others, especially you.”
I had to pick Diestrya up and set her down away from the pile of thorny branches. “What do you think will happen next?”