‘And Gaunt,’ said Wilder bluntly.
‘Look at you,’ Meryn laughed, nodding to Wilder and Gendler. ‘Didi, robbed of his wealth and birthright by the war, and the captain here, seething with animus towards the man he blames for his brother’s death… Or at least, his brother’s lost reputation. You’re both pathetic.’
‘You despise Gaunt too,’ Gendler snapped. ‘He cost you your world.’
Meryn nodded.
‘He did. And I’d love to see him suffer. But bitching and moaning behind his back is hardly productive. You should do what I do. Take that hate and make it work for you.’
‘Yeah?’ sneered Wilder. ‘And how do you do that?’
‘Well,’ said Meryn with a shrug, ‘for a start, I don’t openly discuss vengeance against Gaunt, or his arse-wipe son, or the high spires of Verghast aristocracy, or any other iniquity, in front of a fething commissar.’
He looked at Blenner.
‘Probably wise,’ said Blenner. ‘He is my friend.’
‘Is he?’ asked Gendler. ‘Is he? He seems to treat you like crap on a regular basis.’
Blenner opened his mouth to reply, then decided to say nothing.
‘You’re all missing the point,’ said Meryn quietly. ‘You’re all too worked up with your own grievances. You need to learn the long game.’
He walked over to one of the stoves, and sampled the contents of a cook-pot. He wrinkled his face and spat it out again.
‘Gaunt’s at the palace,’ he said. ‘Out of the way, and probably too good to mingle with the likes of us any more. The company’s moving to the front line, and feth knows if they’ll come back alive. We’re here alone. We’re in charge.’
He smiled at them. It was a dangerous expression.
‘So, Didi, you could slice that runt’s throat. Wilder, you could put the boot in too, if you felt like it. Get a little payback for your brother. And we could ditch the body in the rubble wastes, and claim Felyx Chass was lost during the retreat operation. What would that get you? Ten minutes of private satisfaction? A temporary outlet for your resentment?’
‘So?’ asked Gendler.
‘That’s if you got away with it,’ said Blenner bleakly. ‘There’d be an inquiry…’
‘You’re all so dense,’ Meryn laughed. ‘We don’t need to off the boy. He’s an asset. He’s rich, you idiots.’
‘What are you saying?’ asked Wilder.
‘I’m saying the profits we’ve enjoyed over the years have reduced significantly since Daur’s bitch of a woman blew the viduity scam,’ said Meryn. ‘Booze and pharms make a little pocket change. We need a new revenue stream.’
‘What, we milk him?’ asked Gendler.
‘Deep pockets, you said,’ replied Meryn.
‘Are you talking extortion with menaces?’ asked Blenner. He felt very cold, suddenly.
‘I’m suggesting we have a quiet word with Felyx,’ said Meryn, ‘and illustrate how life will be much better for him in this regiment if he has friends looking out for him. Friends like us, who can make his existence a great deal more bearable. In exchange for, say, regular withdrawals from his family holdings. We could split it comfortably, four ways – maybe even set aside enough so that one day, not too long from now, we could just ghost ourselves away, score passage on a merchant ship and get the feth out of this life.’
‘Whoa, whoa,’ said Wilder. ‘I’m… I’m not comfortable with this conversation.’
‘Really, Jakub?’ smiled Meryn. ‘Not even the thought of screwing over the man you hate by means of his own bratty son? That not doing it for you?’
‘I think Captain Wilder is concerned that you’re talking about extortion with menaces, and desertion,’ said Blenner. ‘This conversation alone counts as conspiracy to commit. And as you pointed out yourself, Captain Meryn, it’s not a conversation you are wise having in my earshot. I thought you were smart, Meryn. I knew you were crooked as feth, but I thought you were meticulously careful. That you “played the long game”.’
Meryn grinned more broadly. He took Wilder’s flask and helped himself to a swig.
‘I am, commissar,’ he said. ‘I plan ahead. I cover the angles. I don’t open my mouth until I’m sure it’s safe to do it. Who’s going to tell?’
‘This conversation ends now,’ said Blenner. ‘If you don’t think I’ll report you if you carry on with this–’
‘How are those pills working out for you, Vaynom?’ asked Meryn.
Blenner hesitated.
‘What?’
‘Contraband somnia. Oh, that’s bad news. Possession, well… that would get a man flogged. And a commissar, what do we think? Execution? Or the worst possible punishment squad posting, at the least, I should think. A Delta Tau-rated posting. A death world, Vaynom. Want to end your days on a death world?’
‘A-are you threatening me?’ asked Blenner.
Meryn made a casual gesture.
‘Me? No. You’re one of us, Vaynom. One of our inner circle. We’re all friends. We can talk freely. None of us is going to rat on the others, is he?’
Meryn wandered across the tent and stopped face-to-face with Blenner. Blenner couldn’t meet his eyes.
‘We need you on this, Vaynom,’ he said. ‘The sweet, cures-all-ills protection of the Officio Prefectus. And you’d benefit too. You like your life, Vaynom. You like it comfortable.’
‘Damn you,’ murmured Blenner.
‘Oh, all right. Damn me.’
Meryn turned away.
‘Your choice,’ he said. ‘But we’ve got you cold. You flip a coin on us, you’re done. You really think I would have opened my mouth in front of you if I didn’t already own you? Long game, Vaynom, long game.’
Blenner swallowed hard. He felt unsteady. He could feel all three of them staring at him. The self-preservation that had seen him safe his entire career kicked in faultlessly.
He lit his most charming smile.
‘I was just testing you, Flyn,’ he said. ‘I wanted to make sure you were serious. It’s about time we stopped picking up scraps and got ourselves a decent score.’
‘Are you serious?’ asked Wilder.
‘Throne, Jakub,’ said Blenner. ‘My only hesitation was whether to do this myself or bring you in on it.’
Meryn nodded and smiled his crooked smile.
‘We have to put this in motion now,’ he said. ‘The next hour or so. Better here than once we’re inside the palace.’
‘We need him alone,’ said Gendler.
‘Everyone needs to get scrubbed and showered before we ship to the palace,’ said Blenner. ‘Carbolic soap, anti-bac. We’ll only be admitted if there’s no lice infestation. The instructions are specific.’
‘They are?’ asked Wilder.
‘They are if I say so,’ said Blenner.
‘What about that fether Dalin Criid?’ asked Gendler. ‘He’s shadowing Felyx.’
‘He’s my adjutant,’ said Meryn. ‘He’ll do exactly what I tell him to.’
‘But what,’ Wilder asked, haltingly, ‘but what do we use as leverage? The boy’s an arrogant little bastard. What’ll stop him telling on us?’
‘He’ll be too scared to talk,’ said Gendler.
They’d already had to double back four times. The road links across the city between Gaelen quarter and Low Keen were frantically congested. Instead of taking shelter from the raid, the population of Eltath seemed to have taken to the streets. Convoys of traffic, transports laden with people and belongings. It was like an exodus. People seemed to be trying to flee north.
Baskevyl had seen this before. It was like resignation. When a population had been beaten and deprived for too long, it finally snapped. In the face of another attack, the promise of another destructive cycle of death and dispossession, they turned their backs and fled, unable to face the danger any more.