I had forgotten about Henri.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Evan
Tuesday
5:37 am
3 days, 17 hours, 13 minutes until the Falling.
I put the book in the drawer where I kept it hidden, but as I started to shut it I noticed something strange. A faint glow was emanating from the leather bag I kept the rubrics in. I dumped the contents of the sack out into the drawer and found that each of the seven rubrics was glowing with a faded silverish light. They were more special that I imagined possible. It couldn't be a coincidence that I had moved the book with magic and now these rubrics were glowing. They had to have sapience in them, or they were reacting to the sapience in me. I shut the drawer carefully and locked it, excited to come back that night and find out more about their connection with me.
Then I grabbed my half burnt shirt from the floor and pulled it on as I crawled through the secret door in the closet. Part of me wanted to tell Henri about everything that had just happened, but I knew I could never do that. If she knew I had sapience, if she saw the new letter from my father, she would have to face the truth about what I was becoming.
Five minutes later, I burst through a heavy wooden door into the entrance room where Henri was supposed to be standing on the stool, but it was empty. I thudded to a stop.
The stool was there, but Henri was missing. And it wasn't dawn yet.
I panicked. Had she fallen off? Was Mazol tying her up to the lashing pole?
Then I noticed voices. They were coming from the hall. I turned back and followed them. I came to a door and heard the voices on the other side. The thick door was shut, and I couldn't make out what was being said.
I pushed it open as quietly as I could, but was spotted instantly, and they stopped talking mid-sentence. Mazol was sitting on a chair, Yesler was next to him, and Henri was standing, her legs shivering, in front of them.
Were they telling her the punishment for falling off the stool? How many lashes was it going to be?
"What are you gawking at?" Yesler asked, and then spit on the floor.
"If you don't stop spitting, I swear, I'll cut you," Mazol said.
Yesler ignored Mazol, then said to Henri, "We're done with you."
Mazol gave Henri a look that I couldn't interpret as he and Yesler walked towards me. Yesler shoved me in the shoulder as he walked by.
Mazol was a few steps behind and stopped when he passed me to say, "You make sure you're both in the Caldroen before that sun comes up." As if we needed to be reminded. I pushed passed him and limped to Henri.
"Are you alright?" I said, hugging her as tightly as I could, but then wincing from the pain in my back and my burned hand. I left my arms wrapped around her anyways. Suddenly I felt like I had hugged her too long and my stomach tightened into a knot. Stepping back quickly, I said, "What did they do to you?"
"Nothing. I'm fine."
"They let you off the stool early?"
"No... I mean... yes."
I looked at her carefully.
"Just now," she clarified. "They let me go a few minutes ago."
She didn't appear hurt. She didn't even look tired, like I imagined she would look after standing all day and night.
"Do you need to use my crutch?" I offered it to her, more tentatively than I intended. I had been figuring she would need it more than I did, but wasn't so sure anymore.
"No, you keep it." She pushed it back into my hands.
We walked silently to the Caldroen. With everything that happened the night before, I hadn't made time to find some food for us. My stomach was so empty, the pain was almost bad enough to make me forget my leg. I could only imagine how Henri must feel.
But at least Henri was safe.
Or was she? I was a sapient. I only had three days to save her and the other girls. I wanted to ask her what I should do, but I bit my tongue. I couldn't involve her in this. I began to day dream about what it would be like to learn to use sapience. I bet with practice I could even beat Ballard in a fight.
I would have to leave them, but they would be safe. If I could pull it off.
I was going to leave Henri forever.
The thought made my stomach ache. I always assumed I had so much time, I never thought I would lose her. I thought of all the missed chances. I would never know how her lips felt on mine. Sure, we'd slept in the same bed for years. But that was just friends keeping each other warm at night. I would have wrapped my arms around her a little tighter had I known how little time we had together. Now I needed to put those thoughts from my mind. It was better to start getting used to the idea of leaving now.
I couldn't be selfish. I should be happy for her, for all the fallings, they would be safe. And I was happy for them, but there was something else about Henri, something that made me feel like I had just eaten a whole bucket of shale.
Something about the way Henri was looking at me. What had Mazol told her before I arrived? Did she know more than she let on? If she did, she would be afraid. But she didn't look afraid. She looked sad.
I found myself thinking of Cevo, the man from the letter. He would know what to do. If my father never changed his mind about me, maybe Cevo would become like a father someday. I would always have Henri and the other fallings for friends, but it would be nice to find someone to love me as a son.
If I pulled it off, saved the fallings, tossed Mazol and the warts out into the jungle on their fat butts, then I could leave before I changed. I could probably even survive the jungle as a sapient. I could go wherever I wanted, check back on the fallings, make sure they were safe.
But where would I go? There were too many choices and not enough time.
I knew if I did decide to leave, I would go find Cevo. If anyone could help me, it was Cevo. I wondered again what kind of a man he was.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cevo
Tuesday
9:25 am
3 days, 13 hours, 24 minutes until the Falling
My den was filled with animal heads. Elk. Polar bears. Leopards. Even elephants. Not animals I killed myself of course. Hunting is positively barbaric. I order them in from a wonderful taxidermist overseas. But I have to admit, the first time I saw a whole row of large, stuffed animal heads hanging in my den I felt so... exhilarated.
Taxidermy is so virile.
I have hundreds of them in houses around the world. But in El Qįr, in the den I was sitting in as I waited for my chauffeur to ring me, there is only space for twenty four. Six on each identically square wall. I looked slowly at each of them. One by one. Until I reached the last.
There was no head mounted there. Just a plaque with a name engraved on it. It was a symbol more than anything. It reminded me of my purpose in life.
All right. So I did hunt a little. But this was different. This was special. I wasn't hunting an animal. I was hunting a boy.
A boy named Evan Burl.
I wasn't going to put his head on the wall of course, a boy's head is not nearly as majestic as an Elk with a twelve point rack. But I liked the reminder that something was missing from my life. Evan was very special to me. He was the reason I was about to do something I really didn't want to do. I needed to find him, to save him from those that didn't have his best interest at heart.
I picked up the bell and gave it a ring, making sure it was still working. What was taking that man so long anyway? The bell seemed to be in working order, not that I cared to consider myself an expert on such things. I set it down and returned my gaze to the plaque on the wall.
Terillium was selfish to hide the boy from me. I had known Terillium for more years than I cared to count, but I was starting to wonder whether I had ever known him at all. I wanted to help Evan become all he could be, and Terillium was starting to worry me.
Evan may not be safe in his care. I knew the only way to make sure Terillium didn't do anything foolish was to find Evan Burl before it was too late. Even if I found his dead body, Evan Burl would be of u
nspeakable value to me, as long as Terillium hadn't stripped him of value before he was buried.
I did relish the thought of finding Evan Burl alive; it would be so much more fun that way.
But, I couldn't get ahead of myself.
First, I had to know where Terillium was hiding him. Second, I had to find a way to get there. This was why I called a meeting with the city's regents that morning—a meeting I might be late for if I didn't leave soon.
The bell rang.
At last, my carriage was ready. I stepped outside my front door into a humid bath of sunlight as a servant rushed over to shield me from the sun with an umbrella. Waiting at the bottom of the stairs stood six muscular slaves with painted red skin silently bearing my carriage at their waists. I climbed in and they hoisted me up to their shoulders.
Half an hour later we arrived at the great hall, if great was what one could call it. Our city's judgment chambers were attached to the palace in the center of the city. As soon as I was Chancellor, I would tear the entire square down and build something more suitable for the highest office in the land.
Vice Regent Aman spoke first when I entered the hall. "You didn't say the Chancellor would be absent from this special session of the Regency, Cevo."
He looked sideways at the raised throne at the head of the long table. "Some people might get the wrong idea if they discover the Regency is meeting without their Chancellor, especially on our day off."
That line of questioning wasn't going to get us very far, so instead of answering, I diverted their attention to something that would highlight their need for my money.
"Doesn't this city have a cleaning staff?" I asked, as I rubbed my white gloved finger along the dusty table top. I inspected it with disgust and tried, unsuccessfully, to clean the grime off.
From the dingy faded red curtains to the tarnished brass hardware to the green mold growing below the windowsills, the place really was dreadful. A servant pulled out one of the Regent's purple velvet chairs, and I cringed at the sight of it. I'd have to take a bath after sitting on that hideous thing, and even then I may not feel clean for a week.
"I'll stand," I said to the servant. The man's posture was terrible, and he had a disrespectful air about him. The existing Chancellor was really letting the city go, and the people of El Qįr were living far beneath their potential. I was going to show them a higher calling.
If I played my part well, I could win the Chancellorship peaceably, not that I was opposed to a little fight, just nothing too gory. If things got ugly, I could lose considerable ground, and that meant wasted time.
It was vile that, of all people, I should be the least likely to be worried about time, yet I nearly always found myself in a hurry. Why was that?
I turned my attention to the fourteen city leaders seated around the table. They were staring at me with rather stupid looks on their faces as I searched for just the right words to pry their city away from them.
"Let me get straight to the point," I said eventually. "This city, clearly, needs money, and I am willing to provide it." I cautiously picked up the table's dusty and torn runner to inspect it more closely and found it's frayed edges illustrated my position perfectly. I showed it to them, like I was presenting evidence in a courtroom.
"If you're finally willing to pay your fair share of the taxes," Aman said, "you don't need to waste all our time by calling us here to say so. Just send the payment to the bursar's office."
"No, not taxes," I said. "A purchase."
Many years earlier, I received a letter of waiver from a previous Chancellor that excluded me from my obligation to pay the city's taxes indefinitely. The terms of the letter had been disputed many times, but according to the agreement, the only one with the power to revoke it was the authoring Chancellor. And he happened to, quite tragically, die a few short days after signing it.
"If you want to purchase one of the cities assets, you will, again, find the bursar's office more than adequate." Vice Regent Aman stood up. "Good day gentleman. I have some other business to attend to."
"I'm afraid the bursar's office will not do. I wish to purchase something a little out of the ordinary."
"What is it then?" Aman said and looked at the clock for the fourth time since I entered the room.
"I wish to purchase the Chancellorship."
There was a moment of silence followed by an eruption of laughter. Enduring their scorn without just retaliation felt wretched, but I reminded myself that nothing good comes without a price.
When Aman seemed to realize I was serious, he stopped laughing. "We already have a Chancellor. He's quite popular with the people and only forty-years-old. We expect him to be Chancellor for some time."
"That is acceptable. I'll wait."
"You'll wait?"
I looked behind me, like there was an echo in the room. "Yes, I'll wait."
The mood among the Regents suddenly struck a more serious note. They tried, with their limited mental facilities, to figure out what my angle was. Describing them as thickheaded might have been too generous, but I couldn't take them for granted. I still had to seal the deal without raising their suspicions.
"But the Chancellor has children," Aman said. "Tradition holds that the position passes to a child of the existing Chancellor's choosing when he passes."
"Your terms are acceptable. Do we have an agreement then?"
"An agreement for what?"
"If the Chancellor should die while I am alive, and if none of the Chancellor's children are still living, I would simply like this Regency to choose me as the successor. In advance of course."
"But the Chancellor has seven children. The odds are impossible that you would outlive them all."
"That is my problem, not yours. El Qįr's laws state that if a Chancellor has no direct children alive when he dies, then the Regency is authorized to choose his successor. I am simply requesting that you choose me ahead of time, if that happens."
I took out a piece of paper from my lamb-skin satchel and handed it to Aman. "This is what I'm offering in payment for this purchase." His eyes grew large and a buzz moved through the room as each Regent read what was written on the paper. It was an outrageous sum, but I would gladly have paid five times as much. To me, the Chancellorship was quite priceless. Besides, I would recoup the cost many times over as soon as I controlled the city.
"You're a rich man to be sure Cevostramos, but no one can afford to waste this much money on such a ridiculous gamble."
"I will have the money delivered tomorrow morning. Would you like it in gold or maladeum coin?"
"The people would never support the Regency selling the Chancellorship."
"Ahh yes, that's the thing," I said, holding up a single finger. "That is why you will all be sworn to silence. The purchase part of our agreement will be our little secret."
"And all we have to do is promise to make you Chancellor if the existing Chancellor and all his children die?"
"Not a promise. A contract. I just happen to have it with me. Each of your signatures is all that's required, and all the city's financial problems will be solved."
On the table in front of Aman, I placed the paper outlining the details of our arrangement, written in my own exquisite handwriting. I drafted my own contracts. I would not have trusted any of my servants to the task of such an important document.
"This says there are no circumstances under which the contract can be revoked?" Aman said as he scanned the document, his mouth moving ever so slightly as he read. I imagined he probably counted out loud as well.
"As you said, the odds are insurmountable that I will outlive the Chancellor and his seven children. Therefore you have no risk."
"Forgive me for being blunt, but what if they are...," he paused to clear his throat, "...murdered."
"Hmm... You do have a point. That is a possibility." They had taken the bait perfectly. I pretended to think for a moment to let the hook sink in before speaking again.
The se
cret to dealing with someone like Aman was allowing him to feel that he had caught something impossible to think of without his help. Purposely leaving something out works favorably and leads Aman to think he is the smart leader he isn't. Works every time.
"Vice Regent Aman has an excellent point," I said, breaking the silence. I took the contract from Aman, a quill from the table, and began writing at the bottom of the parchment as I spoke. "Let us add a provision that states, 'As of today, if the Chancellor or any of his seven children are murdered, our agreement will be considered completely null and void.'" There was a murmur of agreement as I handed the revised contract back to the Vice Chancellor.
Aman pretended to read the contract for another minute, but I guessed he was actually trying to figure out what some of the words meant. Finally, he put the contract down.
"If there's no chance of Cevo getting the position through malfeasance," he said to the other regents, "then I don't see any reason not to sign the document. There is no way Cevo will outlive the Chancellor and every one of his seven children. He's a fool, forgive me for saying so," he added in my direction, "but that is no reason to not take his coin."
"It's a dirty bit of business," said another, "but I don't see how we have a choice. Our city is nearly bankrupt. We need the money."
"Then sign the thing and be done with it." One of the Regents said as he grabbed the paper and scrawled his name across the bottom. A chorus of agreement rose from the others as they got in line and signed it one by one. Aman signed last, sealed it, and handed the contract back to me.
It was even easier than I imagined possible. At first I had to hold back a smile, but after a moment of reflection, I found I was actually somewhat disappointed. I supposed it came from the part of me that was holding out for some kind of a fight. Perhaps in my old age I just wanted a chance to flex my muscles again like when I was younger.
"There," Aman said. "You have your contract. We expect you to follow through with your end of the agreement, or we'll lock you up for failure to comply with an official ordinance. Oh, and gold coin will be sufficient. Easier for us to manage." Aman tidied up a few other papers that were before him, pretending to be important.
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