Hollow Empire

by Sam Hawke

  Sjease looked at me, unsure, and though my heart felt like it was in my throat, I closed my mouth and nodded.

  Chen and two other Order Guards had come. The Captain led the way, moving a little stiffly on her artificial leg. “Morning, Credo Jovan,” she said, nodding pleasantly enough, but instead of her usual welcoming grin, her face was closed and grim. The two men behind her likewise gave nothing away, following wordlessly. “Young Credola,” she added to Dija, the overly jovial way she delivered it obviously designed to mask that she’d forgotten my apprentice’s name. Dija gave her a wan smile.

  “Hello, Captain,” she said, in an entirely different voice than the one she’d used on Sjease a moment ago. She sounded young and her voice slightly croaky as if speaking hurt her. I resolutely did not look at the kitchen. What had she done?

  “Good morning, Captain,” I said calmly, as she approached. “Won’t you sit down? Is that leg all right?”

  Chen sighed and took the seat Sjease offered her and the cup of tea apparently summoned from nowhere; another of Sjease’s invaluable skills. Her back was stiff, her gaze uncertain; she seemed reluctant to begin. She rubbed the lower part of her thigh, where her false leg began. “Been a long night, as you can imagine, Credo. I’m not as good on my feet as I used to be. Wears you down after a while.”

  “Yes, I’m sure it does.” Chen had lost the lower part of one leg in the final battle during the siege. Likely she didn’t patrol much, now she sat at the top of the ranks at the Order Guards, but karodee was stretching her resources as it was, let alone the additional frivolities they’d have had to cover last night. “I don’t want to extend what must have already been a very long night for all of you.” I set my cup down. “You must have important news to bring it in person.”

  “Not news, as such.” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Perhaps the young one ought to…?”

  I started to agree, but Dija frowned. “To leave? But Captain, you’ll need me to help explain what happened, won’t you? Uncle Jov got hit in the head so he didn’t see everything.”

  “Hit in the—what?” Chen was staring, perplexed, at Dija, which was fortunate or she might have seen my expression. I tried to catch Dija’s attention to shut down the story, reaching for her under the table, but she was already speaking again.

  “You’re here about the muggers, aren’t you? I thought Auntie Kalina or the physic might call on you.” She glanced at me, looking anxious. “Uncle Jov didn’t want to bother you but just because they got scared off before stealing anything doesn’t mean we shouldn’t report it, right, Captain? Maybe you’ll catch them? There were two men and a woman, but they were wearing masks.”

  Chen finally looked at me, her face a comedy of confusion, but I kept my face as smooth as I could, and she turned back to Dija. “I’m sorry, Credola…”

  “Dija.”

  “Credola Dija, but I’m not—”

  “You’re not going to catch them? Don’t worry, I’m not a baby, I know it’s hard to catch criminals. These ones were in costumes so I really couldn’t see that much. But I could tell you how tall they were, and what their masks looked like. Maybe someone else saw them.”

  Chen looked helplessly at me. “I think,” she said at last, “you’d better start from the start. If you’re able to, Credola Dija. Are you well? Do you need a cup of water?”

  Dija had one, gulping it down and then seeming to regret it, squeezing her mouth and eyes shut and holding her stomach. “Sorry, Uncle, I know I promised to get some rest, but since the Captain’s here—” She broke off and gulped, her eyes closing. Smooth as if they’d rehearsed it, Sjease grabbed the pan and brought it swiftly to her in time for her to be noisily sick. The two Guards took abrupt steps backward and Chen’s face was a rictus of attempted politeness as her hands pressed down on the table, as if she were physically restraining the impulse to push away. Dija accepted a cloth from Sjease and wiped her face, looking shaky. “Please forgive me, Captain.”

  Chen nodded, but seemed unsure what to say. I knew how she felt; I had no idea where Dija was going with this story, but she’d asked me to trust her and it was too late to stop her now.

  “Uncle Jov thought at first I’d just had too many sweets,” Dija said, glancing over at me. “But we think now it was probably some bad meat, or I wouldn’t have been up all night sick.”

  “Up all night sick, you say?” Chen glanced back at her companions and her fingers stilled on her cup of tea.

  “After we got home.” She wiped her face again, as though this was taxing her, then straightened up. “Uncle Jov was supposed to take me home after the Darfri ceremony but I…” She looked down at her hands, as if embarrassed, starting to mumble rather than speak clearly. “I didn’t want to go home. This is my first karodee in the city, I missed out last year, and I begged him to let me stay out, not to the party at the lake, I know I’m too young for that, but there are other things on, plays and music and stuff.”

  Not wanting to come across as a mere spectator in this apparent alibi for my evening, I thought it safe to say, “She wore me down.”

  “You’re a bit of a soft touch, are you, Credo?” Chen gave me a half grin. “Should have known it.” She was starting to look visibly relieved. “So you went … where?”

  “Some of the kids were playing rushuk ball in the arena, so we got honey sticks and watched for a bit, then when it got dark we went and did the candle walk at the sculpture garden. It was lovely, have you seen it? They light up all the statues and things and they look so different with the shadows and light, like they’re all alive.” She smiled at Chen, so utterly convincing in her dreamy recollection of a trip we had not taken that I was almost as alarmed as impressed. Then the smile dropped, her face crumpling. “It was after that it happened. I think most people were down at the party, it was quiet, and I didn’t want to go home yet, so I kept suggesting other things I wanted to see, and I was quarreling a bit.…” She stopped, sniffed, wiped her eyes behind her glasses as if trying to force tears away. “We didn’t hear them, they just came out of nowhere.”

  “Who?”

  She blinked. “The people who attacked Uncle Jov, of course. They tried to rob him. Isn’t … isn’t that why you’re here, Captain? I thought someone must have called you. He wouldn’t go to the hospital, he said it would be too busy, but I know it was because he wanted to get me straight home.”

  “I should never have had you out so late,” I said quietly. “I put you in danger. You could have been…” My turn to trail off. Unlike my apprentice, I wasn’t lying.

  “We found Hadrea and she helped get him home, and then Auntie Kalina got one of the physics from the hospital to come and make sure he was all right.”

  “I’m all right,” I added, when Chen cast a concerned gaze over me, perhaps noticing my stiff posture for the first time. “Bit of a blow to the head, a lot of bruised ribs. One of them stomped on my ankle, but Thendra didn’t think it was broken and it’s moving all right today.” I ran a hand through my hair, thinking fast. Honor-down, but Dija’s story had been good. She’d managed to provide an alibi, explain my injuries, and give a timeline that did not require Thendra to lie about her treatment.

  “They kicked him a lot. I couldn’t do anything,” Dija said in a small voice, and this time I knew she too was speaking with full honesty. It must have been traumatic, watching through that crack in the door and not knowing if I would make it out alive. That only made me feel guiltier. And here I was, involving her in deception against the Order Guards. And not just anyone, but Chen, who I’d personally suggested and recommended for Captain of the Order Guards based on her work in the Oromani quarter during the siege. She was a friend, or at least something like a friend, and lying to her wasn’t something I was enjoying.

  “I wasn’t going to bother reporting it, to be honest,” I said to her now. “You’ve got enough on during karodee and with everything else. We’ve got no way of identifying who attacked us. They were wearing mask
s, like Dija said.”

  Chen nodded vaguely, but she was looking back at her companions again, openly relieved. “So you two were together during the evening, got attacked, and then went home. With An-Hadrea and Credola Kalina, did you say?” When we both nodded, she went on, “And then … you stayed here for the rest of the night?”

  “Well, the physic came,” I said. “Thendra, from the hospital, you know. She patched me up and treated the ankle, but didn’t think it was worth going to the hospital.”

  “And then I started throwing up,” Dija interjected ruefully, “and ruined the rest of his sleep.”

  “You’ll have to excuse us,” I murmured. “I imagine we look a bit disheveled. Neither of us had much sleep.”

  Chen set her cup down, positively cheerful. “Well. I’m very sorry to hear you were hurt, Credo Jovan. About that other matter—you might not be able to help me, though.”

  I tried a casual shrug, as if it were neither here nor there, and smiled politely. “Sorry, what was the other matter?”

  “There was an incident last night—we got a report you were there.”

  Sjease gave a small chuckle. “Forgive me, Captain, but unless the incident involved the inside of a sick pan, my employer is unlikely to be much help.”

  Sjease too! Why was everyone in my household such a terrifyingly smooth liar? I turned to my apprentice. “You go back to bed, Dija. You really shouldn’t have got up, I could have explained to the Captain. Being up is taxing you. Sjease, could you assist, make sure she has water?”

  I waited until they were out of the room before looking frankly at Chen. “What incident? What’s up?”

  She looked troubled again, but her expression was no longer the closed, stiff face of a person facing a dreaded task. “Bit of an unpleasant death, actually. A strangling. Woman claimed she’d seen you, uh, socializing with the chap who died, and that you left together. Seemed pretty confident it was you.” She stared uncomfortably at her empty cup. I refilled it wordlessly, not bothering to hide my wince of pain at the movement, and she nodded a thanks. “Didn’t put much stock in it, myself, but people know we’re acquainted, I didn’t want to be seen to … you know. Ignore information.”

  I met her eyes as I set down the teapot again. “Well, I promise you I haven’t strangled anyone, Chen.”

  “I never thought you—” She broke off, gave me a shamefaced grin, and took a noisy sip of tea, then sighed. “Anyway. Someone’s been wasting our time, lads. Sorry, Credo.”

  “Not a problem.” I pushed myself to my feet, not having to feign difficulty. “But I’d quite like to know more about this party I was supposed to be at. Funny, I don’t remember any invitations.”

  Chen grinned again. “Me neither. Some secretive thing, for the very rich, I got the impression.” Her face turned grim. “There’s no one in the house now, but it was in the upper city, an expensive place. I’ve heard a bit about these sorts of parties before, and let’s just say I’m not overly surprised someone’s ended up dead.”

  From what I’d seen, I privately agreed. “And the woman who said she saw me. Who was she? Was she just mistaken, or is someone trying to cause trouble?”

  “She wouldn’t leave her name. Said there were a lot of powerful people at that party and she was afraid of the Credol Families and repercussions.” Chen shot me another embarrassed look. “I’ll look into it some more.”

  “Please do,” I said sincerely. I dropped my voice. “I’m not the most popular member of the Council, Chen. If someone’s falsely accusing me of murder on the same night I’m attacked by some supposedly random thugs, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a connection.”

  She slapped my shoulder. “I’ll find out.”

  As she was about to leave, halfway through the threshold, she stopped, turned back to me, and said thoughtfully, “You said masks. Just out of curiosity. What masks were they wearing?”

  “Oh.” I tried to look lighthearted, as though I hadn’t found them alarming. “The woman had a wraith mask and the men were whisperers, you know, with the blank faces and the slits, like in a play. They were probably looking to blend in with the masquerade crowd. Why? Does that mean something to you?”

  She hesitated. Then, almost reluctantly, she nodded. “I’ve heard the Hands wear masks sometimes, is all.”

  “The Hands?”

  “The Prince’s Hands.” She said it with a snort. “One of the gangs, fancies ‘ruling’ the lower city, I guess that’s why they call themselves that. Anyway, it’s hard to get anyone to talk about the leaders but we’ve had one or two reports that they wear masks like that. This is the first time I’ve heard of them messing with the Credolen, though.”

  “They’re the ones selling the narcotics, right?” I said slowly. “That new drug, what’s it called?” They’d been talking about distributing it when I’d first overheard them. And I remembered something else, fuzzy at the edges: the woman’s voice, laughing at me in the crowd. First time on Void.

  Chen blew out her lips. “Void. Yes. I keep telling the Council, if you don’t mind me saying, Credo, I keep telling them we need to be on top of the drugs because it’s where the money’s coming from, but they seem to think it’s a bit of harmless fun. When we’ve had businesses vandalized and owners attacked, too scared to say who’s responsible. I reckon the Hands’ve got a hold over a good portion of the lower city now, but I don’t have the resources to…” She trailed off, shook her head again. The men behind her exchanged a glance suggesting they’d heard the spiel a number of times. “You know this, Credo. I don’t likely forget you’re an ally on that Council and I know you’ve been supporting me there.”

  “And I’ll keep at it. Karodee’s been a big distraction. Hopefully after that we’ll be able to convince them it needs attention.” Already my brain was racing. What connection did an increasingly powerful street gang have to the potential assassination of the Chancellor? Chance couldn’t have led the assassin to that particular house at that particular time; he’d taken me there on purpose, and they’d known who I was and put me in that position. What did the Hands have to do with me, or Tain? It was a big step up from intimidating businesses and selling drugs to assassinating Councilors. Unless the Hands hired out assassins to third parties …

  “Mm.” She didn’t sound hopeful. She rubbed her leg, then straightened and shook out her shoulders. “Anyway, sorry to trouble you so early. Should have known it was a mistake, or someone looking to cause trouble. Between this and the fire, it’s been a hell of a night.”

  “The fire?”

  She sighed heavily. “Oh, one of the Ash boats sank last night, there was a fire and it looks deliberate. No one was aboard and no one was injured, but I’ve had half the bloody Ash family down in the Guardhouse, shouting about sabotage. The way they’re talking, that boat was the most expensive bit of real estate in the city.” She shook her head. “Not the worst thing that’s ever happened during karodee, but a bloody hassle for us, gotta get the harbormaster involved, and the Ashes are going to want someone to blame. Like I said, it’s been a hell of a night.”

  Nothing, I reflected to myself after Chen and the others had left with more apologies, I said was untrue, strictly. Which was more than I could say for the other members of my household. I stalked into Dija’s room and perched on the edge of her bed.

  “You poisoned yourself?” I asked grimly.

  She was propped up, looking genuinely ill, but her jaw was set and her sweet round face was as stubborn as I’d ever seen it. “I heard Auntie Kalina and Hadrea talking last night about what could happen. You were in trouble.”

  “I—” Of all the things I had involved her in, this seemed somehow the worst. Mistake compounding on mistake. I dropped my head into my hands. “Honor-down, Dija. Yes, I was in trouble. But I don’t want you to be in any. Not for my sake.”

  “How am I supposed to protect the Chancellor without you?” she asked. She reminded me suddenly and intensely both of my uncle and my sist
er, with their gentle exteriors and their solid cores, and I felt very tired and very old, and an utter failure at everything that mattered. I was alive only because an enemy had apparently decided to target my reputation instead of my life, and I was doing shit-all to protect the people for whom I was responsible. Dija was trying so hard, seeking my approval, and this was all wrong, I was using this intelligent, good-natured little soul for things she should never have had to be involved in.

  We are who we are. I’d thought it before, and what a cold bloody thing that was.

  When I checked in on Kalina she was sleeping deeply but, as was often the case with illness-induced exhaustion, it did not look like a restful slumber. Deep lines divided her eyes and her mouth looked pinched. I smoothed unruly curls off her face and hovered there, watching and worrying. It didn’t count if she didn’t catch me doing it.

  “Credo?”

  Sjease was behind me at the door. I turned wearily and followed them out. “It’s Jovan, please. I think once you’ve given false witness for someone you’re past the point of titles.”

  A pause. Sjease’s eyes were sharp and serious. What they’d heard Chen describe had unsettled them. But instead of questioning me further, they simply said, “Your other family members will wake soon. What do you want them to be told?”

  “They don’t need to know about Chen coming unless they ask,” I said quickly. “I’ll have to apologize for keeping Dija out so late.”

  “To go to the sculpture walk, and eat honey sticks,” Sjease repeated neutrally.

  “I—yes.”

  “She’s very persuasive. I don’t blame you.”

  “They’ll be upset about what happened. The attack.” An understatement. Ana in particular had a way of looking at me with her eyes lowered slightly, as if my chin had offended her, which conveyed her disapproval of her daughter’s new lifestyle. And how could I blame her? There had always been risks, sending Dija here to be my heir. But I was sure those risks had sounded a lot more abstract when they had made the decision.