47
The hold house fire did not erupt quite so quickly as it seemed to Quaeryt at the time he hurried out into the courtyard, but it spread fast enough and burned long enough that it was well past the third glass of the afternoon before all that remained was a pile of smoldering ashes and charred stone and brick walls. The various regimental commanders had managed enough men and buckets to keep the fire from spreading to the outbuildings, although that was helped greatly by the fact that the courtyards were wide enough that, with almost no wind, few sparks and embers traveled that far. In the upheaval and firefighting, Zhelan and Calkoran had little difficulty in entering the hold grounds.
Quaeryt did take the precaution of putting the shaken captain under guard and protection of the imagers, since he was the only witness besides the imager undercaptains. He also had a guard posted around the area of the south wing of the hold house where the officers’ salon had been. Once the fire was no longer a threat, slightly before fourth glass, Quaeryt summoned the remaining two full commanders-Justanan and Nieron-to a meeting in what had been Luchan’s study in the large guesthouse.
By the time both commanders entered the study, Quaeryt had eaten and rested somewhat, and he stood beside the table desk that had been Luchan’s. He gestured to the chairs before the table desk. Nieron had thick black hair, wide blue eyes, and an open face, the kind most people trusted on sight. Justanan was narrow-faced, with deep-set watery green eyes and fine and thinning blond hair. His forehead was lined, as if he’d worried his entire life.
After a moment both sat. Quaeryt settled into the chair behind the table desk.
“You asked us to join you, Commander?” asked Nieron. “Should that not have been Commander Justanan’s prerogative, since he is senior?”
“Commander Justanan is indeed senior, but there are a few matters to discuss, Commander,” replied Quaeryt coldly. “Lord Bhayar sent me to determine why he had received no reply from Submarshal Myskyl, despite a number of dispatches and inquiries. When I tried to ask the submarshal about that, he turned three of Kharst’s former imagers on me, and attempted to use a blunderbuss on me. The failure of the Bovarian imagers resulted in a fire and an explosion that killed the imagers, the submarshal, and Commander Luchan.”
“We have only your word for that.”
“Actually, that’s not true. Captain Whandyn, the submarshal’s personal aide, was a witness to the entire disaster, and we managed to rescue him from the fire. So were two of my undercaptains. Shortly, I’ll let the captain tell you his version. Once we return to Variana, Lord Bhayar will make a final judgment, but at present, given the fact that Submarshal Myskyl appeared to have been compromised, or somehow had his judgment or loyalties altered by the Bovarian imagers, and perhaps Lady Myranda…” Quaeryt paused, then asked, “By the way, has anyone seen the lady?”
“She rode off during the fire, we think,” replied Justanan.
“There will likely be a price on her head,” replied Quaeryt, “but that will be up to Lord Bhayar.”
“Don’t you speak for Lord Bhayar?” asked Nieron sardonically. “In anything that matters?”
“Only when he’s told me what to say,” replied Quaeryt quietly. “Only then. That’s something that Submarshal Myskyl never understood.”
“You were saying,” prompted Nieron.
“At present, under Lord Bhayar’s authority and as Minister of Administration for Bovaria, I will be acting as senior officer.”
“The other officers will have something to say about that.”
“No,” said Quaeryt. “As you pointed out, Commander Justanan is senior. If, after he hears all that has occurred, he has reservations, then, and only then, will we discuss that. First, you need to hear some background. Then you need to read a dispatch. After that, you will hear Captain Whandyn, and if necessary, my undercaptains. And … once the fire has cooled enough, we will examine the so-called officers’ salon in the ruins of the hold house.”
“What exactly will that tell us?” said Nieron.
“Oh, I imagine that the iron of the blunderbuss mounted in a hidden alcove will be largely untouched, as will the iron shutter in the wall, and the iron backing of a false bookcase … as well as a few other items.”
At that, Nieron frowned, but did not speak.
“For you to understand what happened and why, there’s one set of facts you have to keep in mind. For the entire campaign up the River Aluse, and even at the battle of Variana, Lord Bhayar and Marshal Deucalon were greatly concerned about Rex Kharst’s imagers. Yet neither those imagers nor their bodies were ever found. They were known as ‘the three.’ There were in fact more than three. How many we may never know. What I do know is that several of them contacted Submarshal Myskyl, most likely through the most attractive and charming widow of High Holder Fiancryt.”
Quaeryt looked at Nieron and image-projected a compulsion to tell the truth as he asked, “Were you aware they were here?”
For a long moment, the commander was silent. Finally, he said, “I knew the submarshal was meeting with men who had served Rex Kharst.”
Justanan cleared his throat and looked at Nieron.
“We all thought they might be imagers,” added Nieron quickly.
“Why did you think he was talking to them?”
“It wasn’t my place to ask,” replied Nieron.
“And what did Myskyl say about them?”
“He only said they might be helpful in restoring full power to Lord Bhayar.”
“I see. And did he mention why Lord Bhayar might not have full power?”
Nieron did not quite meet Quaeryt’s eyes.
“Did he?”
After a silence, Quaeryt went on. “We’ll come back to that presently. Myskyl met with the three. What they said I don’t know. What I do know is this. For more than three months, the submarshal has sent no messages or dispatches to Lord Bhayar. He has sent no tariffs to Lord Bhayar, and he responded to none of Lord Bhayar’s requests. Now, I have known the submarshal since he was a commander in Tilbor. He was always a faithful and responsible officer, one whose efforts were always in service of Lord Bhayar. Yet, sometime after the three contacted this devoted officer, he changed. He sent no tariffs. He pretended to send dispatches, but they never arrived. He began to talk to High Holders, expressing worry that Lord Bhayar was the one who changed…”
“He said you changed Lord Bhayar,” said Commander Nieron.
“That I was the one who usurped Lord Bhayar’s power?”
“He never quite said that,” interjected Justanan. “It was always implied.”
Quaeryt laughed softly. “If I were such a schemer, why was I always at the front of the battles? Why have I been the one wounded three times? I came here with two companies, and I entered Fiancryt nearly alone, with two junior undercaptains. If I were a schemer, why would I leave my regiments, leave Variana and Lord Bhayar, and spend a month traveling to find out why Lord Bhayar received no dispatches? I didn’t agree with Kharst’s imagers to build an iron-walled room to trap another officer. I didn’t withhold tariffs, but sent everything I collected in southern Bovaria … Oh, and by the way, Submarshal Skarpa didn’t just squat in a high holding in southern Bovaria. When the High Holders there revolted, he put down the revolt, discovered they were allies of the Autarch, and went on and conquered Antiago and turned it over to Lord Bhayar. He didn’t let himself be turned against Lord Bhayar by Aliaro’s imagers.” Quaeryt smiled coldly at Nieron. “Now … Submarshal Myskyl was once an honorable officer. He was turned from his duty by the evil three. Who knows? Perhaps those imagers of Kharst’s were the reason why Kharst was so depraved.”
Quaeryt couldn’t help but notice that Justanan nodded thoughtfully.
Nieron worried his lower lip.
Quaeryt lifted the dispatch from Myskyl from the folder on the table desk and extended it to Justanan. “We intercepted this several days ago. You may find it somewhat interesting.”