“Or at least prevent them from contacting Wregor. The few Jegeru naval captains or griffin commanders we’ve spoken with have not been able to reestablish communications since the attack started.”
“If that’s their reasoning, then they would have never have bothered with such a tactic if they believed themselves invulnerable to a Wregor invasion. Yet another sign that delaying such an invasion plays right into their hands. As long as there is any kind of resistance in Jegeru, we have a chance at creating a multi-front war, but if we wait much longer-”
“There will only be a wasteland of thralls to fight.” He drank another sip from his cup. “Assuming my father feels assured that his heirs are safe from succumbing to strange diseases, he still won’t mobilize the bulk of our forces if the Chiszir remain a threat.”
“That can be allayed with the help of other kingdoms. Surely you must have heard back from some of them by now.”
“Perhaps. I have not heard from father on that front. In any event, I’m sure learning that the Hoic-Dro are already making good on the promise of large-scale devastation will spur the most skeptical to take some kind of action. I have to admit, without all the information you’ve brought us, I would have presumed Jegeru’s predicament to be the result of a civil war, not the work of ancient, otherworldly beings. I suspect many still view Jegeru’s problem as their own concern.”
“Or the consequence of Wregor’s meddling.”
“There may be a seed of truth in that statement, but everything my father and forefathers have done has been to make Efios a safer, more stable place. The present anarchic state of northern Efios is nothing compared to what the entire continent looked like after the dragon war. Order needed to be restored, and it’s our growing empire that has brought it to more and more people.”
“Yet I wonder if a less distrustful Jegeru would have given the Advent such a strong foothold in the kingdom? I wonder if Wregor will truly be the first empire in history to avoid the collapse that has happened to every empire before it?”
“Or would the Hoic-Dro have spawned a dozen deeper footholds throughout Efios if a Wregor empire did not exist?” Seeing me about to respond, he put up a hand. “Never mind, princess. I have a feeling we could debate the advantages and disadvantages of an empire for the rest of the night, but I wish to leave early tomorrow, and as I’m certain you know, a royal’s sleep is too often a sporadic thing.”
I stood from my seat and bowed. “I understand, my lord. It’s just as well. There’s no sport in winning an argument when one’s opponent is clashing with fatigue.”
Standing to return the bow, the prince said, “You’ll soon find that goading me will only sharpen my retorts in our future confrontations.”
“Ah, then I’ll simply extend my wish that my lord have himself a pleasant visit to the dream realm.”
“I extend the same pleasantry, Princess Astor.”
Despite the valkrean prince’s wish, my sojourn into the mysterious dominion of dreams allowed for the vague visions of disfigured, burning, deranged thralls to slip into my conscious. It was such a quiet, blurred nightmare, that it almost wasn’t a nightmare at all. Only when I caught my veiny, greenish reflection in a pool of water did the mental images kick me out of unconsciousness. I was actually glad to have a different kind of nightmare for once. Too often it was the vision of my mother’s death that jolted me awake. Progress?
As it turned out, I woke up minutes before a Wregor soldier came in to inform us that we had a chance to eat an early breakfast. They even offered a bottle of chicken blood to Clarissa, which she accepted. I merely asked for a bit of fruit, since the lingering memory of my despoiled face pushed away my appetite. In a rare moment, Ghevont chose a few more minutes of sleep instead of awakening his ever pensive mind.
When we stepped out into the courtyard, an armored prince came up to me and said, “I’ve received word that my uncle is experiencing symptoms from the desiccation disease.”
“Your mother’s older brother, correct?”
“Yes. Lord Louhan Ren. My father would like for your scholar to determine how severe his case is. However, he’s not to attempt to cure him, not until my father gets specific details on his condition.”
“Got that, Ghevont?”
“Yes, princess. No curing, only examining.”
A few moments later and we inhabited the sky again. With even my slumbers frequently invaded by nightmares, riding a griffin was really the last blithe activity I could enjoy in these times. I wish a griffin had a little more room to maneuver my legs to more comfortable positions. Alas, I would just have to wait for Mercer to summon Aranath again for that. All the same, it was a lovely, bright day for flying. It remained so through most of the flight.
Our invisible road led us to a large estate on the Kikokumo Plateau, its square perimeter bounded by a row of small, scraggy trees. Two long, single-story buildings with green roofs and red walls flanked a two-story edifice of the same colors. Our griffins landed in the courtyard garden at the center of the estate. Many of the plants decorating the garden were more yellow than green at this altitude and time of year.
Prince Ashina and my group followed an elderly, spry looking servant to the two-story building. Going through a sliding door inside the home brought us to a spacious bedroom with a mature woman sitting by a large bed that an even older gentleman occupied. From my point of view, the lord only appeared a little tired. Prince Ashina spoke with the couple in the Wregor tongue for a minute before introducing us. The lord’s wife then stood up to bow and allow Ghevont room to examine the patient.
Lord Ren either could not or chose not to speak the shared tongue, so it was the spry servant that translated any answers the lord gave to the scholar. While we waited, we sat by a small table and drank the tea Lady Ren poured for us.
When Ghevont finished his examination, he came over to us and said, “His current condition seems stable enough, but there are quite a few spore clusters around his kidneys and lower lungs. Oh, er, I suggest that I stay overnight. That way I can estimate just how quickly his condition is deteriorating.”
“That will be acceptable,” said Wuhen. “I’ll inform my father what you learn tomorrow morning. Until then, we can rest on some real beds and eat a fine feast. Here, let me show you the guest hall.”
The guest hall turned out to be the eastern building adjacent the main home. With the lord of the house sick these past few days, no other guests occupied the structure. The estate lacked a large force of guardsmen, so with mainly demure servants watching over us, I felt like we had some measure of privacy for the first time since entering Wregor territory.
I wanted to spend some of this private time with Gerard at once, but somebody had to watch over Ghevont. Since Clarissa’s time in the sun made her feel sluggish, Gerard took it upon himself to take first watch while I washed up, ate a hearty meal, and took a nap.
A couple of hours before midnight, it was my turn to give Gerard a chance to cleanse his body and mind. I walked into Lord Ren’s room. A few minutes after doing so, the lord asked his wife to get her own rest, or at least I believed that’s what he said, since she left the room, wished us a good night, and had the servant close the door behind her. The domestic waited by the door for a moment, hearing his lord’s wife recede farther and farther away. When he couldn’t hear her anymore, he turned and nodded at his lord. The lord returned the nod and went back to limply staring at the ceiling.
In a flat voice a tad quieter than a regular speaking tone, the servant said, “Greetings, Princess Astor. At first I did not believe the scholar when he claimed a royal would do something as menial as keeping a vigil in the middle of a capital city.”
“We have no choice to be wary, Master… I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”
“Ah, it’s Tuktu Ojitaka, Your Highness. As I was saying, you and my lord each have cause to remain wary. Forgive him for not speaking to you with his own mouth, but his mastery of the shared tongue is minima
l.”
“I understand. No offense taken. Now, directly or not, I get the impression your lord wished to speak with me in private.”
“Yes. Lord Ren was the one to instruct your scholar to suggest keeping an overnight watch on him. To be sure, my lord still has a little paste left. He could feel better within days, but he risked a little sickness in order to bring your scholar to him, and by extension, yourself.”
“For what purpose?”
“To discuss the strong possibility that someone close to the royal family is a traitor. Even before your arrival, my lord has held the suspicion that the desiccation disease was no mere accidental contamination. Your warning about the Hoic-Dro has merely confirmed that the disease was somehow brought over on purpose.”
“He isn’t the only one in his family who holds such a notion. We wouldn’t have even known about the disease were it not for a certain someone seeking a private conversation of their own.”
“Is that so? Then have you had any success in determining who is responsible for the treachery?”
“I’m afraid not. While we are well aware of the danger a traitor poses, our efforts have been focused between curing the disease and liberating Jegeru.”
“Well, my lord’s efforts have been aimed at revealing any and all conspirators. Unfortunately, until he notified me of his concerns only a fortnight ago, he has been alone in this endeavor. As you can imagine, he is forced to trust no one. He can’t even bring himself to include his sister in his misgivings for fear he will place her in greater danger. He knows he can attract the wrong kind of attention if he does anything in his investigation indelicately. But now there are finally people he can trust to help him.”
“We’ll do what we can, Master Ojitaka, but I’m sure you realize that my companions and I are limited in what we can do under the watchful eye of your empire.”
“I understand, princess.” We walked over to the little table and gestured me to have a seat. He poured us a cup of steaming tea and sat down as well. “Now then, Lord Ren’s investigation started with two simple assumptions. The first is that the emperor was the primary target. The second is that the disease was not taken from Chiszir lands by the same person who spread it during the royal retreat. For instance, a servant could not have gone across a well-defended border without cause, and a noble would have found such an exertion difficult to accomplish quietly. Yet, it had to have been a servant or noble to unleash the sickness upon us.”
“I see. Your lord must then believe someone who could cross the Chiszir border with impunity handed the sickness over to someone else, someone who could infiltrate the retreat.”
“Correct. Multiple conspirators points to a correspondence taking place. It was only a question of who had the freedom to cross borders and correspond with someone close to the family, and without drawing attention in either case. That line of thinking led to the nobles of the Tho Blye people. As it so happens, Tho Blye is not terribly far from the manor the retreat took place in.”
“And who are the Tho Blye people, exactly?”
“One of the latest nations to come under the empire’s banner. Unlike other civilized kingdoms who share a border with the Chiszir, Tho Blye have a fairly cordial relationship with the nomads. And like many kingdoms that come under a new rulership, there are some who resist the transition, sometimes violently. Tho Blye is not a major offender, but the sect does exist. It’s not out of the question that a noble or two supports the resistors.”
“So your lord’s next step was to investigate which noble’s ventures most resembled suspicious activity.”
“Yes. It’s this aspect of the investigation that required the most subtle and delicate kind of work. Using traders and other allies as middlemen, Lord Ren has learned as much as he could about the Tho Blye nobility. It’s thankfully not a large class of people, but sorting through dozens of people’s lives in secret took time. Nevertheless, it was time well spent.”
“He learned who the conspirators are?”
“It’s more accurate to say my lord has narrowed the list of suspects to two men. Several Tho Blye nobles have had family or friends die in the scuffles between the empire and their kingdom before a treaty was reached nearly a decade ago, and even fewer have the standing to meet with both Chiszir chieftains and Wregor nobility. My lord’s two suspects possess these motives and opportunities to accomplish the first phase of treachery.”
“And what’s your lord’s next phase?”
“To bring them in for questioning. In fact, they and others of their ilk should be somewhere between their homeland and the capital at this very moment. They should arrive in a week or so.”
“I assume they do not know they are being lured in to be questioned about a plot to assassinate the emperor.”
“No, of course not. They believe the empress invited them to one of the countless military and trade summits that take place here.”
“Many nobles simply send representatives to such meetings. Are you certain they’ll come?”
“Oh yes. Such summons also come with an invitation to one of the banquets and balls the empress throws. Those who wish to move up the ladder and stay in the empire’s good graces will do well to come. Even if the conspirator himself felt nervous enough to refuse the invitation, no doubt his peers would pressure him to grace us with his presence. In any case, I imagine a refusal would have merely forced my lord to take a different approach.”
“Then it sounds as though your lord has devised a solid plan. Where do I come in?”
“The questioning itself. Before you came, Lord Ren was planning on risking exposing his intent to the royal family by hiring interrogators, which would have surely gone through the grapevine. Now that you’re here, he was hoping you would take it upon yourself to handle the matter, or at least request the services of the interrogators using your own name.”
I noticed Ghevont turning to look back at me, his reflective eyes recalling the same circumstances I was remembering. I acknowledged him with a head tilt and an extra-long blink.
Looking back at Tuktu, I said, “Interrogators can be inefficient in a situation such as this. There is another way. I too had to lure out a traitor from my kingdom, but rather than interrogating dozens of suspects, we succeeded in getting the traitor to reveal herself to us by pretending to blackmail her. I believe we can do something similar here. Once your suspects arrive, we can separate them and have someone act as a blackmailer. Using everything we know, I’m sure we can coerce the truth out of the conspirator.”
“Hmm, an intriguing angle. But who would the blackmailer be?”
“It can be anyone in my group. We can pretend to be nobility from the north. We just have to make certain we can understand each other. Do you know whether the Tho Blye nobles can speak the shared tongue?”
“I’m not certain. Allow me a moment to discuss your proposal with my lord.”
Giving the lord and his servant a bit of space and privacy, Ghevont walked over to me. Having the situational awareness to whisper, he asked, “Do you trust what they say? He may be misdirecting you.”
“That same thought has crossed my mind, but without the ability to move about on our own accord, we have no choice but to react with what we’re presented with. Besides, if the emperor or someone in his family wanted us dead, there’s nothing we could do to stop them from overwhelming us. I say that’s enough proof that the traitor is not someone with the power to order our imprisonment or assassination, so let’s see where this thread takes us.”
“Ah, okay.”
Several moments later Tuktu finished speaking with his lord and returned to the table. He wore a mildly befuddled face as he cleared his throat to say, “My lord approves of your plan. He can’t be sure that they speak the shared tongue, but they have had years to learn the Wregor tongue. My lord says you may use me as a translator if we get the chance to interrogate the suspects.”
I gently smiled at him. “Do I sense uncertainty in you, Master Ojitaka?
”
“Interrogating schemers is not normally the domain of a servant, neither is danger in general.”
“Allay your worry, good sir. My friends and I will always protect the vulnerable before ourselves.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I’ll manage to steel myself when the time comes. After all, I’ve vowed my life to my lord and his family, and if I can help expose the ones who made them sick, the gods require that I keep my word.”
“You’ll do fine. Still, if you wish, we can start practicing what we’ll say.”
“Now?”
“Why not?”
“I-I suppose we could.”
“Good. In turn, you and your lord can help me figure out the finer details of what to except when the Tho Blye nobles arrive. Where will they go? How long will they be here?”
“We’ll answer what we can, princess. One other thing, may I ask what you know of the dragon knight’s situation? My lord has only heard news that he is alive, but nothing more.”
“All I know is that he’s on the move. Exactly when he gets here depends entirely on how rutted his path is.”
“Can’t he fly here?”
“He’s a young dragon knight. Wings are not always available to him. Now then, shall we get to work?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mercer
I couldn’t yet chew anything harder than honey without the ache returning, but at least my jaw no longer flared up during a conversation. And unless I stomped my feet or struck my sword as hard as I could against another hard object, most vibrations did not trouble my fracture anymore. Sneezing sometimes hurt, so I stopped them when I sensed them coming.
Anyway, I was able to return to near full speed training against whoever was up for it. That typically meant the convoy defenders. Fortunately, losing half my soul did not compromise my reflexes, remove my experience, or dull my tactical skills. The training sessions usually happened early in the morning or after we reached the latest inn. I slept during the day and practiced my flame spell away from the others at night. I wasn’t trying all that hard to keep my flame a secret, so it was inevitable that someone was going to notice its unique strength.
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