Retribution (Drakenfeld 2) (36 page)

‘What was she like at that time?’

‘There were no more signs that she was disturbed by the message, if that’s what you mean. As I say, she has a good face for hiding her feelings. Lady in her position needs to be like that. So she carried on as normal.’

‘And you were . . . ?’

‘Waiting in the dining room. The opposite side to her house to where I’d taken the horses. Time passes and one of the other lads came to ask me why she’s taking so long. We head to the bath where there’s no noise, no splashes. Eventually we go inside and find it empty. Search the whole house. In the end there’s nothing to be found and when Varn here,’ he nodded to a short but muscular individual, ‘took a look out front, we saw that her horse had gone. Couldn’t even see her in the surrounding hills.’

‘What was your next course of action?’ Sulma Tan asked, in a much more friendly tone than before.

‘I sent a few men in different directions, leaving one back just in case she returned. It was clear she’d taken the horse to go somewhere, so there seemed no point in looking around the house. Hours later and we’d seen nothing. We gave it another night, waiting for her to return, and waited for patrols to get back and then we got word from the city about what had happened. So we set out last night to get here as quick as we could. There the story ends.’

‘Has she ever left you alone before, for any length of time?’ I asked.

‘Never. Absolutely not. I wouldn’t say she was paranoid, but she paid us for protection and safety.’

‘Had you ever had any trouble previously?’

‘No more than what you’d expect in the world of business. If things got heated then we were there to calm things down, a lady who lives alone like that, and who has so much to lose, needs a few spare hands if things get rough.’

‘She
deliberately
left you because she didn’t want you to follow,’ I concluded. ‘For the first time in her life, she went somewhere without telling you. All of this came immediately after a message arrived from the city, a message she brought with her and which was presumably taken from her during her murder. Whatever was in that message would reveal, of course, what we’re dealing with, but that’s not available to us.’

‘Could it be a business rival?’ Santhan asked.

‘Were there really any serious rivals to someone of such power?’ I asked in return. ‘You should know.’

‘Guess not. But maybe there were those who wanted what she had.’

‘Again, were you aware of any?’

He shrugged and shook his head.

‘Besides, the killer has not taken anything . . . No. All they’ve taken is her life and that’s probably all they wanted.’

‘You have a theory forming, am I correct?’ Sulma Tan said.

‘Not really. For a while now I’ve believed the past to be behind the deaths of Bishop Tahn Valin and Grendor of the Cape. And Lydia’s death also leads me along this same road. A message that came out of the blue, enticing her to the city. Something from the past. A secret that she wanted no one to know about . . . These three people were killed the same way for a reason. Somehow, by looking at these three lives, we’ll find out what has connected them all.’

Santhan was listening eagerly and clearly wanted to know what to do. His mistress was the one who gave the orders, and now there were none. He rested a hand on the wall and looked at me expectantly.

‘Santhan,’ I said, ‘you will lead us to Lydia’s country residence tomorrow evening, after the games. Along the way you will tell me absolutely everything you know about her life. You may know more than anyone. What you say may help me to discover a vicious killer.’

‘Aye, sir.’

‘Good. We’ll meet you here. Don’t stray too far in case we need you.’

With that, Santhan took his men back through the corridor and outside, leaving Sulma Tan and me to linger in the calm of the house. We moved to one of the lighter rooms, overlooking the gardens towards the front.

As my gaze drifted across the herbs there, I reflected on the direction of the case. Sulma Tan, too, remained quiet – though she couldn’t hide the fact that she was unsettled.

‘Have recent developments given you reason for concern?’ I asked.

‘He was right.’ She gave a deep breath and tilted back her head.

‘Who, Santhan?’

‘He said I spend too much time behind a desk.’

‘I must confess, it is not the life for me. As much as my life has its problems, I love being among people out in the world. Seeing different landscapes.’

‘I envy you,’ she said. ‘Seeing so much of the world the way you do.’

‘The other option always seems more attractive,’ I replied.

‘No. I genuinely envy you.’

‘There are always opportunities to come and work in the Sun Chamber,’ I said. ‘I’m sure they’d welcome your ferocious intelligence.’

‘I don’t know if that is the life for me. My place is here with my queen.’

‘I must confess, I’m deeply glad to have such intelligence to hand. We’re going to need both our minds if we’re going to solve these crimes.’

Allius Golt was waiting for me on the street corner by the front gate of the palace compound. He was standing there in somewhat more ceremonial garb – a fine, dark-leather breastplate and highly polished boots glinting in the afternoon sunlight. He stood a little taller and looked into the distance, as if I was his commanding officer.

I introduced him to Sulma Tan and she explained how she could permit him access inside the palace – or wherever he was required to work. After we went inside and the guards searched him, we saw to it that he was issued with passwords for the next three days, for morning and night, which he silently mouthed a few times until they were committed to his memory.

We walked the long corridors and were granted access to increasingly off-limits sections of the palace, until eventually we reached our quarters. There, Allius turned his back to the wall and took his position on duty.

Inside, Leana and Nambu had returned from their interview with Grendor’s friends. They were currently working through yet another set of sword techniques, though this had been of a gentler and more instructive nature. They both turned to face us on our arrival, and we sat down to exchange information.

First I mentioned Allius Golt, the man on the door, telling them of the reason for extra protection.

Leana was quick to understand the need for more help, which was a relief. It was important she understood that I was not questioning her abilities. One of Leana’s admirable qualities was that, despite her competitiveness, despite her desire to be better at fighting or learning fluent Detratan, she would never think of her own pride first.

‘How did it go with Grendor’s friends?’ I asked.

‘Spirits save me, at first they would not speak to me.’

‘Why was that?’ Sulma Tan asked.

‘Because of the colour of my skin,’ came the nonchalant reply.

‘Oh.’ Sulma Tan looked embarrassed.

‘It is not your fault.’ Leana shrugged. ‘I am used to this. I am merely thankful that I am not as pale as northern people. They suffer so badly under the sun. Not even the slave dealers will trade them.’

‘That may be so,’ Sulma Tan said, ‘but in this prefecture we pride ourselves on being a welcoming people. We believe in the latest thinking, in dignity and politeness, and not hostility. The queen once wrote a pamphlet demanding that a certain level of decorum be shown to visitors.’

‘Perhaps,’ Leana said, ‘the people we saw have yet to read it. But eventually from these men I managed to discover . . . very little. We met up with three of them individually, and another two who were brothers that shared a house. Each of them reacted similarly, apart from the two brothers. They were very odd – to the extent that I thought they might have been lovers as well as brothers.’

Nambu’s reaction clearly demonstrated that her mind was revisiting her disgust.

‘But when I presented the queen’s seal,’ Leana said, ‘each of them more or less cowered into the corner of the room and was only too willing to give any information, what little use it was.’

‘I rather enjoyed it,’ Nambu added with a grin.

‘Seeing them individually helped verify their accounts,’ Leana continued. ‘They all said exactly the same thing, though I did not think they had rehearsed it. According to them there was nothing strange about his behaviour. He had spoken warmly of future events – both the next day and the following years. He was in good spirits, joking and laughing. He left alone, having consumed only a small amount of wine – because he never liked returning drunk to his wife. There is nothing here of use.’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ I replied. ‘Someone who does not expect trouble, someone who shows no signs of worry, is either a very good actor, or they
genuinely
have no reason to feel worried. Grendor was currently living a happy life. This, again, suggests to me that the reason for his murder was because of something that happened in the past.’

‘We assume much.’ Sulma Tan sounded mildly annoyed.

‘That is the nature of our work,’ I replied. ‘The facts do not present themselves easily. Patterns must be observed. Similarities established. Even the differences could tell us something. We have three victims of a similar age, all killed within the prefecture, all having been murdered in a way that suggests a kind of brutal revenge. Grendor had nothing to worry about in his current life. Lydia Marinus receives a letter, which she shares with no one and which forces her to act out of character. All the victims have been on display in public, in one way or another. And they are all linked.’

At that moment I discussed the connection with Grendor’s Naval Exports, with Lydia’s mining operations, and the evum that potentially connected them all. I lifted out the bishop’s ring again. ‘This is something to do with the murders. It connects all three victims in some way.’ I stepped over to Sulma Tan and finished softly: ‘So do not despair. We have some direction.’

An uneventful evening passed, bringing a much-needed period of deep rest and regeneration of the soul. Even my dreams were peaceful, visions of sipping wine under the shade of an olive tree, with not a soul for miles.

It was Allius Golt who eventually summoned me back to the land of the living, by knocking harshly on the door.

‘I brought a small sand timer with me, given you said how dark it was down here.’ He spoke through the gap in the partly open door, showing no signs of tiredness from having spent the entire evening on guard. In one hand he held out an ornate instrument, which he placed back in his satchel. ‘Six rotations of this make up one hour. I gave it forty-two rotations before deciding to wake you. Somewhere out there, by my reckoning, the dawn light should be showing.’

‘Excellent thinking.’ I was impressed at his preparation and dedication.

‘You might think this was purely for your benefit, but it helps keep a man sane on watches like this. It’s routine that you start to crave after a while, familiar things, reassurances.’

‘Were there any disturbances during the night?’

‘No one came close to me . . . though it wasn’t easy to tell if I’m honest. If it’s possible, it would be prudent to see that this corridor can be lit throughout. At the moment, I’m standing by a cresset – I might as well have a target painted on my chest, for all the good it does.’

‘I see your point. I’ll see if we can get that changed.’

‘Much appreciated, sir. But as I say, I don’t think anyone came down here. You get to hear the odd shuffle, rats most likely, but in these long corridors, looking out into the dark for seven hours, sounds can trick the mind. Best not to let paranoia get the better of you.’

‘You’re free to head home, of course,’ I said. ‘You have access for the next few days so by all means come down here by dusk – no need to wait for me outside. And I, myself, might not always be here. But that doesn’t mean you won’t go without coin for your efforts.’

‘Understood.’ With a sharp nod, he turned and marched along the passageway, into the darkness.

I headed back into the room to light more candles. Removing my shirt, I examined my abdomen in the warm light: nearly all the bruises had now vanished. There were no cuts, no scars, and very few blemishes. Just a few patches of discoloration to indicate that I had been on the receiving end of sustained violence. It was remarkable, really, that the healing had been so rapid. Just a few days and the transformation was one of thirty days’ worth of healing.