Hollow Empire

by Sam Hawke

  “We’re getting closer to solving this,” I said slowly, but with building excitement. “Everyone, listen. We’re nearly there, I can feel it. If we just put our efforts into putting it together, we can do this. We’ve got all the clues we need to find our enemy.” I got to my feet, unable to keep still. “We’ve got an assassin from somewhere we can’t identify, working for the same foreigner who’s controlling this gang, and they’re using the same sorts of tools they did last time. People sympathetic to Aven. Maybe some disaffected Darfri. Someone based in another country, someone with significant power and influence and money, wants our country destroyed. The first plan was indirect and it didn’t work, but they’ve adapted now. They spent the last two years financing a criminal network based on a drug we’ve never seen, which has an effect on the very people who saved the city from ruin last time. That’s not a coincidence. I’m hearing rumors about missing people on the estates, and we already knew strange things were happening with the spirits. They’ve sabotaged our relationship with our neighbors. If we find out who they are, and we can, we’re nearly there, then we can stop whatever’s coming.”

  “A lot of this assumes Sukseno’s information is good, Credo,” Chen said cautiously. “I did warn you people in his position can sometimes give the information they know you want to hear. Like I told you, the next thing he’s asking for is going to be Aven’s release.”

  “Aven’s release!” Lazar looked like he was in danger of bursting. His eyes bulged and his round figure quivered with outrage. “I would die first!”

  “Forgive me, Credo Jovan,” Moest said. He looked genuinely reluctant, shuffling his weight between his feet, speaking slower than usual, as if every word had to be dragged out. “I do not doubt the work you have done, the danger you have placed yourself in in pursuit of this enemy. But I think we do have to consider an alternative explanation.”

  The room went quiet and everyone took their seats again.

  “An alternative explanation?” I asked. “An alternative to what?”

  “You and the Chancellor both have suffered a great deal of betrayal in your lives,” he said, his tone as gentle as Etan’s had ever been. “Seen your world uprooted and your families murdered, and given as much as anyone could ask of you to try to secure the future of our country against long odds. It’s understandable that you’ve been putting your best efforts into making sure you stay ahead of another conspiracy.”

  “Moest, you don’t need to read our eulogies,” Tain said impatiently. “If you have an alternative theory about what is going on and what our next steps should be, let’s just hear it, all right?”

  The Warrior-Guilder set his shoulders and looked around the room. “I think there is a real chance every single thing you’ve told us is right, but you’re searching for a missing part that doesn’t exist.”

  “What do you mean?” I frowned. “What part doesn’t exist?”

  “What I mean is we’ve seen enough evidence, much of it uncovered by Credo Jovan personally, to satisfy any determination council about exactly what’s been happening in the two years since the siege,” Moest said. “You just don’t realize you’ve finished already. You’re still looking for a mastermind, but looking at what’s in front of me, it’s clear you already found her.” He spread his hands. “I don’t dispute there may well be foreign money or drugs involved. But I’ve listened to a lot of information in the last few days and if you ask my honest opinion, the simplest and most likely explanation is this is Aven’s conspiracy, just like it was two years ago. It was Aven then. It was always her. You stopped her before, but like you said, she didn’t give up. She just had to make a new plan. She’s smart and she’s adaptive. It’s what made her a good commander, actually.” He cleared his throat, as if embarrassed to have complimented his predecessor.

  “Of course she’s involved,” I said, not liking the way many of the Councilors were looking not confused or irritated but thoughtful, nodding at Moest. A few shot glances at me that looked almost sympathetic. “But it wasn’t her idea to start a rebellion. We always knew she had backers last time, we just never found them.”

  “Forgive me,” he said again. “But I’ve spent a not inconsiderable amount of time reviewing the reports you’ve prepared and presented over the past few years. I take the betrayal of my office very seriously. You spent a lot of money on very clever accountants trying to trace the finances, and you never really got anywhere. The spymaster collected dozens of reports from every spy or informant we have on the continent, and none of them turned up any sign of a foreign government working against our country. I’ve looked at everything, and the only proof we ever had that Aven was taking instructions from someone else was her word. And we know what that’s worth.”

  Tain had gone silent, looking more drawn than ever. His eyes had taken on a hollow, frightened look. Aven was the monster who haunted him, who reminded him of his mistakes.

  “She isn’t sorry for what she did,” I said. “She didn’t repent or show any remorse. If she could take credit for the whole sorry mess why would she lie and pretend she was someone else’s pawn?”

  “Because she wasn’t giving up on her plans, of course,” Lazar burst in. Nervous agitation ran his words close together and made his hands fly wildly as he spoke. He’d never forgotten the dishonor of our city’s greatest traitor being a member of his own family, and presented with this opportunity to denounce her further, he seemed to be embracing it with enthusiasm. “She pretended she had powerful friends waiting so she’d continue to have value, and you’d continue to be looking outside our borders when we should have had our eyes on the city itself! I should have known. When did she ever make friends with anyone? If she had her way, diplomacy would have consisted of asking people which weapon they’d like to be killed with.”

  Moest nodded. “She’s a convincing liar and there’s no shame in being fooled by her. Perhaps we wanted to believe there was some evil foreign plan to take us down because that was better than admitting we’d created the situation ourselves, and built the very weapon that would be used against us.”

  My head had started to hurt. The things he was saying seemed to make sense, but they weren’t quite right. But the conversation kept moving and I didn’t have time to pinpoint the things wrong with it. “We did create the situation ourselves, yes, but that doesn’t mean someone wasn’t using it to their own advantage.”

  “I agree! Aven was.” Moest had most of the room nodding along now. I felt the ground slipping away from me, and I could do nothing about it. “Afterwards, we knew we wouldn’t get all her loyalists but we were too slow to make links between the drugs and the Hands and her. We thought we had her safely out of trouble, but mistakes were made. She was allowed contact with Guards, given chances to get her message out to her remaining friends.”

  Javesto leaned in, shaking his head as if from a daze. “You were the one who tried to warn us, Credo Jovan. To our shame, we as a Council chose not to take those concerns seriously enough. Captain Chen brought report after report seeking further resources to deal with crime and drug use but too many of us had family indulging in some of these … less savory activities, and we were embarrassed, or perhaps it wasn’t in our interest to try to outlaw what we saw as harmless recreation.”

  “The drugs and the criminal network were how she built up money and control again, right under our noses,” Moest continued. “She only needed a couple of the Guards on her side to have regular contact. Who better to have onside than a Guard, who can go anywhere in the city, however unsavory, and pretend to be investigating?”

  “But the Prince, and the Wraith—” I started to say.

  “There is no Prince, I’d lay bets. Just an excuse for a memorable name and a symbol they can easily mark round the city. And the Wraith’s likely just one more henchman. If we were to unmask her, I’d lay odds on finding a soldier or former soldier in there. Someone with a connection to Aven.”

  Chen, even Chen, was nodding now. �
�Sukseno told a convincing story about the Wraith not really being in charge, and he’s worked around criminals too long not to know the best lies are the ones that are as true as possible. She was taking orders from someone, but maybe someone a bit closer to home, eh? And instead of letting us focus on Aven as we might otherwise naturally have done, given her history, he’s sending us hunting down mysterious foreign agents and trying to make deals to get her out.”

  “The Warrior-Guilder confessed her involvement to your own sister,” Lazar exclaimed. “And Credola Kalina’s word is surely more than enough evidence for everyone here.” Funny, how suddenly Kalina was such a respected voice to people who’d largely ignored her existence or infantilized her for years. “It cannot be disputed that Aven established or at least informed and joined forces with this criminal gang. You’ve all heard they hired an assassin—and such things do exist, you should remember, my dear Councilors! My own dear great-grandmother herself was murdered by an assassin! The famous Red Piper!”

  His grandmother had choked on a fish bone and as far as my family knew had never even met the infamous Red Piper, but again, what would be the point in saying so?

  “And this was no mere brute of an assassin, as you yourself reported, Credo Jovan! Committing not just murder but nefarious attempts to influence your reputation, so we’ve heard!”

  I tried to keep myself calm, but the twitching had begun and I had to keep track of the flexing of my muscles, counting in my head, over and over, and it was so hard to do that and also make a coherent argument at the same time. “Yes, true, but where does he come from? If he’s just hired by the Hands, why did he have a book in some kind of other dialect or code?”

  “Perhaps the Scribe-Guilder could assist here? I understand that evidence is in her Guild’s custody.”

  Budua shuffled in her seat. She had the air of someone considering hard the effect of her words, perhaps sensing the tide of the room and wishing to ensure her answer didn’t make things worse. “There has not been enough time to learn anything of significance,” she said. “Certainly the language fragments we cannot identify are from no known variation of Sjon, but they appear consistent with the form of the rest of the words.”

  “What about the contents?”

  “An expert in every country on the continent has been asked to consider the document. None recognize the cultural markers described in it. The religion apparently depicted does not resemble any known religion or culture.” She scowled and adjusted her glasses, apparently offended to have been so defeated, even if only temporarily.

  “The point is, wherever he comes from, it isn’t Sjona,” I said. “How are the Hands supposed to have found and hired him? And why? He barely speaks the language at all. Have any of you tried talking to him?”

  “We’ve all heard from the determination council, same as you, Credo Jovan,” Lazar said, bristling. “The man doesn’t speak. He doesn’t respond to anything. No threats or bribes or anything at all. What would you have us do? Torture the man?” He gave a theatrical shudder. “That kind of violence is one of the things Sjona has always stood against.”

  “I didn’t say to torture him,” I said, reining in my frustration with some effort. “I said he wasn’t Sjon. I don’t know what he is, and neither do the top experts in the country. Doesn’t that concern you? And what about that Darfri woman—who was no Speaker An-Ostada recognized, by the way, but someone taught her—where did she come from? And what did she want?”

  “Chaos! Destruction! Who knows with these people!” Javesto said. “You’re searching for logic in the actions of illogical people! Aven just wants us to burn, she wants the whole city to suffer for her own sense of ego or revenge or whatever it is. She’s not the only one ever born with that character flaw, Jovan. There are fundamentally bad people in this world, people not all the rehabilitation sponsors in the wide land could help. Our ancestors knew that and we shouldn’t forget it, either. Just because we are more enlightened now doesn’t mean every child born thinks the same way.”

  “The assassin did react to your family name, Jovan,” Chen pointed out. “It’s pretty clear there’s a personal focus on the Oromanis. Who hates your family like Aven, eh? Between your sister and yourself you ruined her last plot and so it’s personal.”

  “He makes some sense,” Il-Yoro said, grudgingly. “It does fit. And let us not forget the baseless accusations thrown at An-Hadrea only a week ago. It is entirely possible her reputation was a target of Aven’s people as well. Did you not say yourself at the time it was likely designed to cause division, to turn us on each other?”

  “Well, now, wait just a moment there.” Sjistevo waved an angry finger. “There were Darfri sabotages. My boat—”

  “Your boat was a petty prank, Sjistevo, not a terrorist act.”

  “Do you know that for sure? Show me the people responsible if you expect me to believe it. Clearly the Hands and Aven had some Darfri onside. At least one Speaker, you can’t deny that. Some of us saw her at the arena, conjuring wind and fire with her bare hands!”

  “Hold, hold, Credo Sjistevo,” Lazar said urgently. He looked around the room, puffing out his chest and holding his hands spread wide. “No one is saying most Darfri or even a lot of them are involved in this mess. We all saw what An-Hadrea and her people did at the arena, and at the siege. We don’t doubt her loyalty.”

  “Well, some of us do not,” Salvea said, icy.

  “Peace, An-Salvea,” Lazar begged. “Emotions are high, but like I said, they only need a few bad fruits, so to speak, a few who would have preferred if the city had fallen two years ago. They’ve been learning some sorcery or what have you. All I’m saying is that all the ingredients for this terrible disaster at the arena could be found right here in Sjona, and we need to find and stop these internal villains as our priority.”

  My frustration rose. “That’s like trying to stop the knife and not the person wielding it. We’ve got clues, finally, about who it is, and you want to focus our efforts on the weapon.”

  “I wouldn’t suggest we stop looking into the foreign connections,” Moest said, in what he probably imagined to be a reassuring manner, but with an edge of condescension that made my anger flare hotter. “There might well be foreign backers. Just that we make rooting out the local conspirators our priority and not allow ourselves to become distracted by the errands this Sukseno, who we know is passionately loyal to my predecessor, has left us.”

  “What do you mean by distracted, though? Wasn’t it just a moment ago we were agreeing the Perest-Avani delegation was suspiciously absent from the arena? And the drugs are likely coming in from out of the country? And the assassin definitely did not come from here?” I bunched my fingers in my hair, feeling the strongest urge to pull on it and scream, like a children’s illustration of frustration. What was happening here, right under my nose? We were close to answers and now they were talking themselves out of looking for them? “This conspiracy is bigger than bloody Aven!”

  “I agree it’s likely there’s some foreigners mixed up in it,” Moest continued calmly. “I don’t like the coincidental illness but you’ve got to admit the Perest-Avani are also an obvious target for misdirection. You said yourself the assassin used poisons to cause illness before; let’s not rule out the possibility that he’s laid a false trail by dosing their delegation. Indeed perhaps this affectation ‘Prince’ is deliberately intended to throw suspicion on Talafar or Tocatica, and toward male conspirators? It seems within the realms of my predecessor’s sense of humor.”

  I could do nothing but stare at him. The conversation had veered entirely out of my control. “Are we going to at least investigate it?” I asked, incredulous. “We should be getting more information from Sukseno and any of the Hands we’ve captured. We should be looking into what’s happening on our estates. The missing people. The dead spirits. I spoke to some people last night—”

  “Honestly, how many more people does this conspiracy need to have to satisfy your s
ense of scale, Jovan?” Sjistevo looked like he was refraining from rolling his eyes at me only out of white-knuckled effort.

  Javesto put up a restraining hand, glaring at his colleague, then turned a sympathetic expression on me. “It’s just that we have people being murdered by the hundreds here in the city. Two of our own are dead. Families of Councilors have been attacked in the most cowardly fashion. And conniving known traitors who might well be trying to distract us from the murderer we already have under our noses. The criminal behind the Hands might style himself a Prince, but that doesn’t mean he is one, or that he is even a he. Let’s keep looking into things, eh, and maybe An-Ostada can send someone back out to the estates, but the priority should be rounding up the Hands first and foremost. Whoever else might be involved, we know they’re out there, we know they have money and maybe some more explosives. Let’s get them into custody and shut this thing down, and then we can start repairing our relationships with the neighbors we’ve gravely offended.”

  “And what of me?” A cold and quavering voice rang out over the discussion. Karista, who had been tight-lipped and stiff at the far end of the table from me, finally spoke. “It is not just Credo Jovan’s family who has been targeted. It was my family murdered in the hospital in droves. That assassin wasn’t indiscriminate. He was finding people with Leka tattoos. You say we’re being distracted by Aven and Sukseno, well, I see a room distracted from the actions of certain members of this Council, who deal in secrets and lies and do not honor our laws or our division of responsibilities! Credo Jovan dodges questions whenever they are asked. He tells us of a grand conspiracy against his family but it seems to me it is other families who have suffered, often to his gain!”

  “Not this again.” Eliska rubbed a weary hand over her face. “Honor-down, Karista, haven’t we had enough of this?”

  “How am I supposed to trust this Council when it is ignoring what has happened to my family! One of the most honored, respected families in this country, blasted to a bare few, and we are still sitting here indulging Jovan’s farfetched theories! I’ll have had enough when people are held to account for their actions, that’s when!”