by K. J. Parker
“Before the battle,” Valens said quietly. “That’s rather the point.” He opened the wooden box that stood on the folding table in front of him, and took out a small square of folded parchment. “I’m afraid I’ve been reading your mail,” he said.
Orsea frowned. “That’s a letter, is it? For me?”
“Yes.” His hand was resting on it. “I can’t let you have it, I’m afraid; evidence and all that. Major Nennius, would you please read the letter out loud? Admirably clear handwriting,” he added. “I hate it when people scrawl.”
Nennius stepped forward, and Valens handed him the letter. Nennius opened it and cleared his throat; that made Valens smile, just briefly.
Lucao Psellus to Orsea Orseoli, greetings.
Everything’s been arranged as we agreed. The only change of plan is that we can’t send a whole division; there simply isn’t enough time. I’m sure it won’t make any difference, since we’ll have an overwhelming advantage of surprise.
Concerning your own personal safety. Naturally, it’s got to look right. I’ve briefed the expedition commander, and he’ll see to it that all his officers will know what to expect. To begin with, stay in your coach. As soon as the fighting reaches you, come straight out and give yourself up. Say, in a loud, clear voice, “I am Duke Orsea, I surrender.” You have my solemn undertaking that you will not be harmed. You’ll be taken straight to a Mezentine officer. Give him this letter. He’ll recognize the seal. I’ll be there at the Unswerving Loyalty to meet you after the battle and escort you back to Mezentia; from there you’ll go directly to your new estate at Lonazep, where you can start your new life. Unfortunately, it won’t be possible for your wife to accompany you; but rest assured that our men will have strict instructions not to harm her; she’ll be separated out from the rest of the prisoners and sent to join you as quickly as possible. I know this may sound unduly haphazard, but I assure you that you can rely on us; I’ve arranged for a substantial bounty to be paid to the men who secure your wife and yourself, alive and unharmed. That’s the joy of mercenaries; motivating them is never a problem if you’ve got the money.
I appreciate that this has all been very difficult for you, and I may say that your misgivings do you credit. It can’t have been an easy decision to take. However, believe me when I tell you that you’re doing precisely the right thing. The only hope, for your people and yourself, is to end the war before the Vadani contrive to inflict serious losses on the Republic. As for Duke Valens: by seducing your wife he has betrayed you in a manner that is beyond all forgiveness. A man like that can have no claim on your loyalties; and, by your own admission, your duty to your people overrides all personal obligations.
I look forward to meeting you in person at last, when all this is over.
During the long silence that followed, Ziani forced himself to keep his eyes fixed on the patch of ground directly in front of him. The last thing he wanted was to catch Valens’ eye, or Orsea’s. It had all been beautifully clear in his mind when he was giving Psellus his instructions back in the deserted city; he’d seen it in his mind’s eye as a splendid piece of geometry, a work of clear lines and simple design — a tumbler under pressure from a spring, retained by a sear tripped by a lever. This close, all he could see was tool-marks and burred edges.
“The letter was found,” Valens said eventually, in a perfectly flat voice, “on the body of a merchant woman. Pure chance, as far as I can tell; by the looks of it, she was thrown by her horse and broke her neck tumbling down a rocky slope. Fortuitously, she was discovered by the miners coming up to meet us from Boatta. Ziani Vaatzes searched the body and found the letter, and showed it to me. He’s identified the seal. Apparently it’s rather special. Ziani, what was it again?”
His cue. “The Republic’s defense committee,” he said. “Commonly known as Necessary Evil. My understanding is that they’re the ones running the war. I vaguely remember there was a Lucao Psellus on the committee, though I never had anything to do with anybody that high up the hierarchy.”
Another long silence; then Orsea said, “You don’t actually believe any of this, do you?” He sounded so bewildered, it was almost endearing.
“You were seen meeting with a merchant,” Valens went on, “shortly after the expedition left the city. You were seen taking delivery of something from her: a basket, or a package. You spoke to her briefly. She had asked for you earlier by name. The witnesses have identified the body as the woman you spoke to. I can have them brought here if you like, or we can wait for the formal hearing. Though I suppose I should tell you,” Valens added with the unquiet ghost of a grin, “that the hearing’ll be a formality, going briskly through the motions. The last thing I need right now is to get bogged down in jurisdictions and immunities and acts of state. So, if you’ve got anything to say, you’d better say it now.”
A long silence. Orsea was peering at him with his face screwed up, as if it was too dark to see properly.
“This is all complete drivel,” he said eventually. “For pity’s sake, Valens. I haven’t got the faintest idea what’s going on —nobody ever tells me anything, and why should they? But if this is something to do with you and Veatriz —”
Valens broke eye contact for a moment. “You’re not helping yourself,” he said.
“But …” Orsea nodded, as if acknowledging that the rules had changed halfway through the game. “All right,” he said. “Yes, I remember that merchant woman. She turned up in a stupid little chaise — with a red parasol, I think. Anyway, she handed me some potpourri, which Veatriz had ordered from her some time before we left Civitas —”
“Potpourri?” Valens interrupted.
“Yes. You know, bits of minced-up dried flowers, lavender and stuff. You put it in little saucers to make the room smell nice.”
“You’re saying she tracked you down in the wilderness, when nobody except me knew where we were headed, just to sell you dried flowers?”
“No, of course not.” As close to anger as Valens had ever seen him. All the more likely, in that case, to be synthetic. “She was on her way from Calva to White Cross; she happened to stop off at the Loyalty, and heard we were nearby. She’d got this unfilled order for the potpourri stuff, must’ve had it with her, and I suppose she’d got a tidy mind or something. Look, there was a cavalry officer who saw her arrive. Maybe he overheard what she said to me.”
Valens nodded. “Captain Vesanio. I’ve spoken to him. She asked for you by name, and quite by chance you were standing by, only a few yards away. He heard what you said to her, and he saw you take a package from her.”
“Exactly,” Orsea said. “The dried flowers. I took them, and I gave them to Veatriz. Call her here and ask her yourself. She’ll tell you, she ordered it before we left. She probably knows the stupid woman’s name and everything.”
Valens smiled. “Was that meant to be a defense?” he said. “I guess my attention must’ve wandered, and I missed it. Seems to me you’re just agreeing with what I’ve told you.”
“But that’s what happened.” He could see Orsea starting to go red in the face; please don’t let him cry, he thought. “That’s all that happened. Really.”
“Not quite.” Valens’ voice was getting softer. “You came looking for me, with a message. A warning, rather; you warned me that the Mezentines were at the inn and knew where we were. I believed you. We packed up and moved on, straight into the ambush. Yes, I remember that very well.”
“But …” Orsea’s eyes were wide. “The woman said she’d been told where we were by someone at the Loyalty. I thought you ought to know, because if they knew about us at the inn, and the Mezentines were there too, then we were in danger. Which was true,” he added desperately. “It must have been true, because the Mezentines found us, didn’t they?”
“Quite. They knew exactly where we were; after I’d heard your message and acted on it.” Valens shook his head. “As defenses go,” he said, “this one’s a pretty poor specimen. Disagree with me a
bout something, for crying out loud, even if it’s only the color of her hat.”
Orsea didn’t say anything. He was staring, his mouth slightly open, like a man who’s just seen something he knows is impossible.
“There’s the letter,” Valens said wearily. “It pretty much speaks for itself. There’s your own admission that you were seen talking to the bearer of the letter on at least one occasion; also, you admit that you and your wife had had previous dealings with her, before we left Civitas Vadanis. You also admit giving me the message that caused me to lead the expedition to the place where we were attacked.” He frowned. “All right,” he said, “you’ve heard the interpretation I’m putting on these facts we all agree are true. Maybe you could give me yours, and we’ll see if it makes better sense.”
Orsea looked round, as if he expected help to arrive. “I don’t know, do I?” he said. “I suppose — well, I suppose somebody’s trying to make it look like I’m a traitor, and I betrayed us all to the Mezentines. But —”
“But who would want to do that?” Valens interrupted. “Good question. Whoever it was, he was able to procure a letter from an authentic Mezentine official — a pretty high-ranking one at that; so the enemy were in on it as well. Are you going to argue that the Mezentines are plotting to discredit you?”
“I don’t know.” Orsea rubbed his face with the palms of his hands, as if he was trying to wake himself up. “I suppose it’s possible, yes.”
“I can’t see it myself,” Valens replied gently. “To be perfectly frank, why on earth would they bother? Well? Can you give me a reason? Can you tell me why you matter to them anymore?”
Silence. “No,” Orsea said.
“Nor me,” Valens replied. “Come to think of it, I can’t come up with anybody who’d want to frame you for treason, or anything else, except for one person; the only man who’s got any sort of motive for trying to get you into trouble, get rid of you.”
Orsea looked at him. “You.”
“That’s right.” Valens acknowledged him with a slight gesture of his left hand. “Me. I have a motive for getting you out of the way. What I don’t have is the influence to get Commissioner Lucao Psellus of the defense committee to write an incriminating letter.” He paused, then added: “And I don’t really see me arranging for the Mezentines to ambush my own convoy, slaughter my people and near as damn it kill me in the process. I’m not the nicest man in the world, but I’m not the most stupid, either. I think I’d have found an easier way of getting shot of you — poison, an accident, all sorts of things spring readily to mind.” A smile flashed across his face. “So, if it wasn’t the Republic and it wasn’t me; who else have you been pissing off, Orsea? You’re such a mild, inoffensive fellow, always so anxious to do the right thing. Your friend Miel Ducas, maybe? The man you condemned for treason for hiding a letter? We haven’t talked about him yet. Do you think the Ducas might be behind all this?”
Orsea breathed in, then out again. “No,” he said.
“You don’t? I’d have considered him myself, but if you say not, I’m happy to be guided by you. So, forget the Ducas; anybody else?” He spread his fingers on the top of the folding table. “You’re really going to have to come up with somebody or something, if you want me to take your denials seriously. Come on, Orsea, help me out. I’ve been making all the running so far. Suggest something, if only for my sake. Otherwise …” He shrugged. “Well, what would you do, in my position?”
“I can’t.” Orsea was looking straight at him. “Do you want me to make something up? I can’t think of any explanation, any reason. It’s just not true, that’s all.”
Valens sighed, then shifted in his chair, leaning forward a little. “The legal position,” he said, in a rather forced tone of voice, “is complicated. A case could be made for saying that I have no jurisdiction over you, since you are the head of state of a foreign country — one that doesn’t exist anymore, but the law can be funny about that sort of thing. If we were to have a proper trial, with lawyers and everything, I can see us getting well and truly laid up on that one. To be honest with you, I haven’t got the time or the patience; and something like that, dragging on and on, isn’t likely to do my people’s morale any good, either. In fact, I’d prefer it if they didn’t know that someone I’d trusted had sold us out to the Mezentines. I wouldn’t particularly want them to know his motive for doing it — I’m quite satisfied in my mind what that motive was, by the way. I noticed that note of high moral indignation in your friend Psellus’ letter — seducing another man’s wife, completely unforgivable. For what it’s worth, Orsea, I never did anything of the sort. We wrote letters to each other, that’s all. Before I came and pulled you both out of Civitas Eremiae, the last time I set eyes on her I was seventeen. Now, maybe what I did was — well, bad manners, let’s say, or worse than that, a breach of protocol and bad form generally. For that, I apologize. What you did …” He shrugged. “I’ve never seen the point of getting angry,” he said. “Far better to deal with problems as efficiently as possible, which is much easier to do with a cool head. I’m sorry, but I know what’s got to be done.”
He paused, as if inviting Orsea to say something. Silence.
“Fine,” Valens went on. “As I see it, there’re two courses of action open to me. One of them — well, you can guess. The alternative is to send you over to your Mezentine friends, let them have the bother and expense of feeding and clothing you. The risk in that is what you could tell them, things they’d like to know about troop numbers, supplies, future movements. Now, I don’t actually believe you know very much; quite likely you’ve already told them everything you can. Sending you to them wouldn’t be too much of a risk, in my opinion. On the other hand, I’m not sure it’s what I want to do. Have you got any strong feelings on the issue, one way or another?”
But Orsea shook his head. “I can’t believe you really think I’d do something like that,” he said. “So all I can think of is, you want me out of the way so —” He stopped, as though he didn’t know the word for what he was trying to say. “If that’s it,” he said, “you’re making a very bad mistake.”
Valens frowned a little, like a parent rebuking a child’s untimely frivolity.
“If you —” Again Orsea stopped short. “If anything happens to me because of you,” he said, “she’ll never speak to you again. You’ll lose any chance you might’ve had —”
“I know.” Valens’ face was set, but his eyes were wide and bright. “That can’t be helped,” he said briskly. “And you aren’t helping me make up my mind. Who’s going to get you, the Mezentines or the crows?”
“You can’t send me to the Mezentines. They’d kill me.”
“Orsea.” Exasperation; a patient man reaching the end of his tether. “Haven’t you been listening? I’m sorry, but you’ve gone too far, and I don’t have any choice.” He turned his head to look at Nennius. “Change of plan,” he said. “There won’t be a formal hearing, I want this business settled straightaway. Please deal with it; now, as quickly as possible. I’ll need a report — nothing long-winded, just a note with the date, time, names of three witnesses.” He hesitated, then added, “Be reasonably discreet about it, will you? I don’t want the whole camp knowing about it; not yet, anyway.”
If Nennius hesitated, it was only for a fraction of a second; then he nodded to the two guards, who closed in around Orsea like the jaws of a pair of tongs. Orsea looked at them; he was still sitting in his chair, his hands on his knees.
“Orsea,” Valens said. The tone of voice would have suited a man reprimanding a disobedient dog.
“No,” Orsea said, and his voice was high and weak. “Valens, this is stupid. You can’t honestly believe —”
“All right,” Valens said (a gentle man pushed too far). “I wasn’t going to mention it, because — believe it or not — I’m really not enjoying this. But so what; it wasn’t the first time, was it?”
Orsea’s mouth and throat moved several times befo
re he managed to speak. “I don’t understand.”
“The first attack,” Valens said wearily. “On my wedding day. Yes, I wondered about that; I gave it quite a lot of thought at the time, and then other stuff came along and got in the way. The Mezentine cavalry didn’t just turn up out of the blue, on the off chance they’d catch us all out in the open. Someone told them where we were likely to be. It had to be someone who knew the plan for the day: which coverts we were going to draw, where the birds were, roughly how long we’d take over each drive. I’ve been trying to remember who I discussed the plan with; well, the falconers, obviously, but I ruled them out, they didn’t have any way of passing on a message. I suppose they could have been reporting back to someone else, but I doubt it. I’ve known most of them all my life, and the rest are from families that’ve been in our service for generations. No, the only person I could remember going over the program with in detail was Jarnac Ducas; and for the life of me, I couldn’t see him as a traitor, not under any circumstances. Then I found out my friend Mezentius had been spying for the Mezentines, so I assumed it was him; but he wasn’t even there, he was away on the frontier. I know, because I wanted him to be at the wedding, but he couldn’t make it back in time. Then it struck me, left me wondering how I could’ve been so dim. You got the details of the plan from Jarnac — you asked him, making out you were interested; he’d have assumed there was no harm in telling you. Then you scribbled a few lines to your friend Psellus —”
“You’re out of your mind, Valens.” Anger, but too weak with shock to rise above petulance. “I was nearly killed. That weird engineer, Daurenja, he rescued me. Ask him.”
Valens tapped the letter on his desk with his forefinger. “Presumably you had an arrangement with Psellus to make it look convincing, just like in this letter here. I’m not going to discuss it with you, Orsea, this isn’t a trial. I’d more or less figured out it was you before we left the city, but I was too weak and scared of — well, what you said just now. I forgave you; I reckoned you’d have learned your lesson, you wouldn’t try anything so stupid again. Then, when this last lot happened, I tried to put you at the back of my mind, until Vaatzes’ people found the woman’s body and the letter. Even then, I wasn’t going to do anything, because of her. I suppose I was fooling myself, thinking — well, no point in saying it, we both know what I’m talking about. But then she came to see me, about that fool Miel Ducas, and we talked about various things.”
