by Radu Aldea
“Is there a chance you can find out who burned down that manor?”
“Everything is possible, darling, but finding the particular senator who messed with the count is far more challenging than finding the human, which has been hard enough.”
“Does this lord reside anywhere near Lucian’s lands?”
“You don’t give up, do you? You don’t care about the truth. You’re just using Kara’s death to further your agenda, which is to get control of the Order. You are twisting the facts so they would serve your narrative. Lucian’s in your way so Lucian needs to go.”
Julia seethed with anger. One more word from Dana and she was going to slap that bitch. “How dare you? Kara thought Lucian wanted to kill her and now she’s dead. The soldiers that murdered her came from Essland sent by a count who, judging by your reaction, was in Lucian’s sphere of influence. And you think I’m preparing a takeover of the Order?”
“I don’t hear you denying it! If you had any evidence pointing to Lucian I would help you. You may find this hard to believe, but I liked Kara, and her death threatens the stability of the Senatorial Order, which is the last thing I want. Yet you have no evidence other than what I gave you and it points to Western Suttland, not Essland.”
“The senator who purged the count is not one of ours. Each one of our senators has been accounted for, right down to the last pleb, so you can bet he is on this side of the mountains.”
“You know it doesn’t work like that. The senator who ordered that purge could’ve done it from anywhere, even your side of the mountains.”
“Then there would’ve been no need for a delay, would there?”
Julia knew Dana was seeing her theory collapse. If you needed a delay it was to give someone time to reach the count. And someone really wasn’t in a hurry to get to him. Quite a bit of time had passed between the attack on Kara and this one. There was another explanation, of course. The purge had not been motivated by the desire to cover one’s tracks, but revenge. Then someone knew what the count had done.
“That still doesn’t make your friends from the west innocent. They might’ve needed the time to get someone else close to the count and make sure all evidence was destroyed.”
Dana had a valid point, but she was missing something. “The only way one of us wouldn’t have been ready to eliminate the count immediately after using him to kill Kara was if we were planning to use him again. Which means there are other soldiers out there ready to kill senators. I’m going to tell you who the most likely target is. It’s me! And before you start celebrating my death you do well to remember that I’m all that stands between you and Lucian. If I’m gone, you’ll soon follow. Do you know that Lena Casta is with Lucian right now? Do you know that we have reliable information that she is Circle?”
“No, I didn’t know that…”
“What do you think they are talking about there, Dana? Because I’m guessing they aren’t exchanging recipes. Kara and I were the only ones standing in their way. You know I’m not a despot and I don’t want to become the sole leader of the Order. The same is not true for Lucian. I don’t know much about Lena, but I have the feeling they have much in common.”
“What are you proposing?”
What was she proposing? Nothing Dana would like or acquiesce to. “Join me, let’s get rid of Lucian and Lena for they are the biggest threat to our stability and you will get Essland.”
Julia saw Dana considering her offer, which was more than she expected. “And you get everything else. What would stop you from killing me and my brother then? The moment we do something you don’t like you will crush us. I trust you Julia, but I don’t trust anyone with this kind of power. We always had the Council and the Order has prospered. Now you want to replace it with a strong leader. Even if it’s a benevolent one, like you, what will happen the moment that leader is gone? Because there is no guarantee another one would follow.”
“And you think you can stop the tide, build a dam by yourself?”
“I’m going to try even if I may be the last sane senator. We’re choosing the same path as the wizards and we’ll end like them. I’m sorry, Julia, but if you won’t withdraw from Ornulf’s Gap we are going to stop you. Give me more time and I will find the senator who controlled this count. I promise you, we’ll bring to justice the persons responsible.”
“Fine! You give me no choice. But you should remember that if you don’t find anything there won’t be ten thousand soldiers in the Gap, there will be twenty thousand in Essland. And if that still isn’t enough next there will be forty thousand and then eighty thousand and so on until I found what I want or tear Essland and Cuttland brick by brick. I will withdraw most of our forces, but the fortresses I have I’ll keep. Consider it an incentive to work faster.”
“Thank you! I know this is hard, but you are doing the right thing.”
“Don’t thank me. You might live to regret this if they kill me, which I’m sure Lucian is planning. If anyone attempts to take my fortresses, our deal is over.”
“I understand. I will make sure Lucian and Lena also understand how detrimental it would be for them to do that. We will talk soon.”
When Dana left, Reyna joined her immediately. The Western Suttland senator had been listening to their conversation. Julia was rather curious to see what her reaction would be. It could range from extremely pissed to incredibly happy.
“This is it then. We withdraw the troops and hope Dana keeps her word.”
So that would be extremely annoyed. “That’s not what we are doing.”
Julia saw the older senator smiling and understood she had only been pretending to be angry. “You know, it took me a while to figure out your plan. You never intended to take over the Gap, you just wanted some fortresses. And five of those we took have great strategic value. It would’ve taken a lot of troops to secure the Gap, a lot more than we have committed so far and it would’ve left us vulnerable to offensives elsewhere. And you knew that Lucian would wait and Dana would negotiate, which would allow you to keep the fortresses. This was your plan all along. You saw something on that field Marcia and I missed. I guess I would have to congratulate you for it, but I don’t like that you kept it secret.”
“Can we trust Marcia?”
“I think so! The decision to send the message only to Cuttland, we all agreed with it. I’m not even sure who came up with it. We all thought, you included, that the soldiers came either from Veneguard or the Land between the Rivers. You just suggested Essland because Dana is right and you have your own agenda. I was suspicious when so many soldiers got close to Kara, but I’ve known Marcia for a very long time and I can’t see how she could deceive us both.”
“Me neither,” and she meant it. Julia still thought none of Kara’s clients had betrayed her and the answers were still in Essland. And she wasn’t going to wait for Dana to get them.
“The message we got and this purge are awfully coincidental. I have noticed that you failed to tell Dana the reason for the purge might be revenge.”
“I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“You think my niece sent that message, don’t you?”
That message had arrived late last night courtesy of a family of three. Julia had expected something like this and when it came it still shook her. Its simplicity made sure that nobody else but her would understand it. The first part was about Lena Casta. That everyone who read the minds of this family would comprehend. She was still astonished Kara managed to get the information and confirm Lena’s powers. Julia had a pretty good idea how she did it.
She would’ve preferred to keep this information secret, but it was not to be. By the time it got to her other senators knew. The senator who checked the family when they tried to get to Suttland was weak and unfortunately not a diviner. When they encountered him the family announced they had a message for Julia Mettela. He didn’t know what to do with them so he sent word to his patron instead of contacting her. She should punish that idiot.
When the patron got to check them there was no block. They were no longer under senatorial control, although they had been when they encountered the first senator. The messages were in their minds though, the most important one, only in the mind of the little girl, which was what Kara would do. Of course most of her senators ignored this one.
By the time the family got to her everyone knew about the first message. They were worried. Fighting two members of the Circle of Five was bad enough – they all suspected Aaron would join Lucian – but going against three and Cuttland and Essland was suicidal. Some of them, like Vergil, spoke their minds, others kept quiet when they saw she wouldn’t be deterred. The fools didn’t know they were in a far better position than they thought. She was never going to allow Aaron to join Lucian and the girl’s message made her more confident. Her senators tried to figure out who sent the message and if it wasn’t just a simple deception.
She could’ve confirmed for them the message was real. Kara had sent it, so there was no doubt in her mind. She didn’t say anything and let them search. By reading the minds of the family they knew the message was from a woman, but that was all they got. The family hadn’t seen anything so they came up with the brilliant idea to search the minds of the other refugees. It would be just as futile. If she managed to cross the Gap when it was flooded by soldiers, she knew better than to be seen by humans. Besides, comparing a face you got from the memories of a human to one you knew was impossible. Images tended to be more subjective in memory. People thought in words not images, and that’s what senators knew how to retrieve with complete accuracy. Of course, she told her senators there was no way to tell when the family had been taken over and pretended to ignore the girl’s message. Dove, fly swiftly! So simple, almost like a greeting and she was sure they all thought it was exactly that.
“I know the message was from Kara.” She saw no reason to lie to Reyna.
“Dove, fly swiftly! That means something to you.”
“It means that I’m in her way.” What it actually meant was that during a battle the one who received the message would create a diversion while the other would execute the actual attack. If Julia had wanted Kara to create the diversion the message would’ve been, Fox, run swiftly. Since the message was for her it meant that she should step back and let Kara deal with Lucian. The diversion had already been created. Julia thought she heard dissatisfaction in those words because she hadn’t listened to Kara’s first request: to guard the passes and wait.
“Even if we punish everyone responsible, this isn’t over, is it? You knew that, that’s why you wanted to go after Lucian, and so did my niece. That’s why she’s there.”
“Of course! All we needed was a spark. She could’ve dealt with the count in Essland easily enough without going there in person. Going after Lucian, however, demands her presence.”
“How can she possibly think she can get Lucian on her own?”
“I’m sure she has at least one plan and it’s a good one. How did Kara escape that attack? That’s what you missed.”
“I assumed that she managed to kill them. She is more powerful than we thought and she might’ve come up with a solution we didn’t see,” Reyna answered.
“That’s the difference between me and you. I don’t assume she is better and can think of something I can’t. You thought somehow she killed them, ran home and sorceresses came at the lake and cleaned up the mess. Or maybe she managed to run and the riders for some reason didn’t pursue her and waited for the sorceresses, who then killed them. The second story fits better with the evidence. The problem with that is that I don’t see why they didn’t chase her. Kara was their target. But you know something, I couldn’t think of a way to escape that trap. She was almost certainly empty and even if she still had some power left there still were too many riders. So I thought and I thought and I couldn’t see how she could’ve beaten them by herself. Then it occurred to me. She didn’t do it by herself. Someone helped her.”
“Who?”
“That’s the part you are not going to like.”
Chapter thirty-seven
Alexandra woke up with a start, only to witness Tamzin’s panic. They still kept the same watch schedule they used while they traveled. Lucian’s villa was not any safer for them than the journey had been. Alexandra knew why her sister was panicking. The empress had sensed the same thing that shook her out of her sleep. At first she thought it had been a dream, but Tamzin’s reaction convinced her otherwise. The danger was very real.
Her senses would alert her when a threat entered their range, even when she was asleep. Alexandra couldn’t imagine a greater danger. She didn’t think she would meet a senator more powerful than Lucian, but now she was going to have the opportunity. The power emanating from the senator was different than what she had sensed from Lucian or Lena. There was more of it, to begin with, less controlled, wilder. She wasn’t quite sure how to describe it, but it made her uneasy in a way other senators couldn’t. That the senator wasn’t alone and was accompanied by a powerful wizard only managed to increase her paranoia.
“They are coming here,” Tamzin finally spoke.
Obviously they were coming here. The wizard must’ve sensed them long before they did. “This has nothing to do with us. The senators can solve their own problems.”
“You know who that is, don’t you?”
That was almost a rhetorical question. The way Lucian spoke about her, she was the only senator with more power. She was supposed to be dead, but it seemed the rumors of Kara’s demise had been exaggerated. “She’s more powerful than Lucian thinks.”
“We have to warn him! Maybe you failed to notice, but she has a wizard with her.”
“Yes, I noticed. It’s rather hard to miss. She’ll be dead soon enough.” Although she said it Alexandra wasn’t sure that was the truth. Senators could take over wizards only for a limited time before the wizard fought the control successfully and turned on his master. Alexandra assumed this wizard could fight the control, but Kara’s power created doubt in her mind.
“Not before she kills us all. You know why she’s here and I doubt she’s going to leave witnesses.” Tamzin was growing increasingly irritated, which amused Alexandra.
“Not to mention you conspired with the fat one to have her family killed.”
“That isn’t even remotely funny.”
It kind of was. “Relax. Lucian probably knows she’s on her way here and has called on thousands of soldiers to stop her. Besides, we have no idea why she is here and I’m not going to jump to any conclusions. I doubt she knows how deep your hatred for her runs. I am just sorry that the fat cow is away. I would’ve rather enjoyed the confrontation.” Lena Casta had left without giving them a reason. Presumably, Lucian knew why and where she went, but he wasn’t saying anything. Their understanding was that she was coming back, though.
“I hope you are right. What are we going to tell Lucian about the wizard?”
That was a very good question. If Kara was coming here to kill everyone in the villa perhaps it would’ve been a good idea to warn him. But if she wasn’t the villain Tamzin seemed to think she was, it wasn’t a good idea to betray her or the wizard. Judging by what she had seen so far she didn’t like Lena at all and she definitely didn’t trust Lucian. “There’s no way we are going to have a civilized discussion with Lena or make an alliance with Lucian. I don’t know what Kara had done to you that you hate her so much, but she has to be better than these two. If I remember correctly your husband wanted us to look for that girl in the south.”
“That’s what worries me! And I don’t hate her, I don’t even know her.”
That’s what she thought. Alexandra noticed something was bothering her sister, something she couldn’t talk about and was eating at her on the inside. She didn’t ask questions because she didn’t think her sister would answer. Their journey had changed her opinion of the empress. If before she had thought Tamzin was arrogant and aloof, now she realized
her friend, and Tamzin had become a friend again, was doing her best in a difficult situation.
“We’re going to tell him a senator is coming. We’re not going to say anything about a wizard. We are not going to sell out one of them without a very good reason.”
The empress agreed, although she didn’t look at all happy. Nor was Lucian when they woke him in the middle of the night. When he heard what they had to say he was suddenly alert. Apparently Kara and her wizard were good enough to evade his patrols. Alexandra worried a little he was not going to have the time to call on reinforcements.
Lucian seemed to relax a little when Kara knocked on his door and asked for shelter, which was the traditional formula for becoming someone’s guest. Alexandra was well aware of the guest law, which limited both the host’s and the guest’s actions if they had respect for it. The guest law existed for humans and sorceresses too, but it was treated more like a suggestion compared to the ferocious way the senators enforced it.
Tamzin still didn’t like it. “I don’t think it’s a very good idea to let her in.”
You could refuse someone who wanted to become your guest. Alexandra was just not sure it was smart denying Kara, not until you knew what she wanted. Lucian seemed to agree. “Refusing Kara’s request might be interpreted as a declaration of war. If you are willing to go out there and attack her and are sure you can dispose of her, I’ll agree to your request.”
Alexandra didn’t think they could offer him certainty. In fact, she was pretty sure they were the ones who’d be dead if they attacked. “We’re neutral! We’re not going to do that.”