Chapter 16 #2
“It is more complicated now than it was then,” Asahi said. His face was covered by a mask, and I didn’t want to pry any more than that. We were all allowed our secrets. Or, rather, Tallu and I could appear to allow others to have secrets.
The reality was more simple: with our number decreasing, our unkillable spies would be able to tell us everything we needed to know.
The twisted trees leaned away, giving us our first view of true sunlight.
It was late afternoon, and the sky was a brilliant orange, already shadowed dark toward the east. Tallu and the rest of the assembled servants and soldiers strode down the path, apparently unconcerned that if the trees had bent away from them, there was a chance that they could bend back.
I caught up with the group, but didn’t push my way through it to reach Tallu’s side. We arrived at the Chaliko family estate before sunset, and fireflies were beginning to sparkle under the leaves of trees, dancing through the tall grass that we waded through to reach the door.
Unlike in the swampland proper, none of these trees were glowing, but I could still see hints of that bioluminescence in the pattern of the trunks and the way the moss clung to the bark.
The grass buzzed softly with the sound of insect wings, a background to the shouted orders we could hear coming from inside the enormous manor house.
The soldiers came out first, followed by Lady Chaliko and her father, who leaned heavily on his cane.
The house had been built in the imperial style, with massive columns running along the front, carved with dragons and other members of the animalia court.
It was painted a dark blue, but the paint was peeling off of the marble beneath it, the heat and humidity making the house shed and revealing the white stone beneath.
Moss grew over one of the windows, clinging to the casing and covering the pane with a sickly yellow green.
Vines climbed most of the pillars, growing up from the ground unlike the ones in the trees, which grew down from the branches.
It was impossible that an imperial of Lord Chaliko’s previous power and standing would see the manor house as anything other than a punishment.
Behind the Chaliko family were servants, bowing low in the proper imperial manner. From the tops of their heads, I could tell they were elven, their glossy hair coming in a rainbow of colors from the more typical white to pale violet and crimson red.
The servants didn’t rise when Tallu approached. Lord Chaliko rushed down the stairs, aided by his one living son. At our marriage ceremony, Lord Chaliko had brought a root from the elder tree, naming the price he had paid: his sons’ blood. Lady Chaliko followed behind him more slowly.
Once at the bottom of the stairs, Lord Chaliko bowed, his knee giving out, so that he landed hard on the damp earth.
His daughter knelt next to him, whispering until he shushed her, both of them forming triangles with their fingers.
His son came down slower, lowering himself to his knees.
I thought I saw a hint of challenge in his gaze before he bowed his head, hiding his face in the thin grasses that rose past his shoulders.
Slowly, the servants and soldiers moved aside, enveloping what was left of House Chaliko in the circle until Tallu stood in front of them.
He gazed down, and I wondered what he was thinking.
He had once told me that Lord Chaliko was the single member of his father’s council that he had not destroyed himself.
“Lord Chaliko, we are grateful for the hospitality you offer,” Tallu said, as though the offer had already been made and accepted, and Lord Chaliko had no need to actually say it.
“We are grateful for the opportunity, once again, to serve Your Imperial Majesty,” Lord Chaliko said.
Despite his obvious frailty, his voice carried.
“We are grateful for the opportunity your father and you have offered us. We have striven to fulfill your wishes in running the elven school and searching for the remaining elder trees.”
I noticed that nowhere in his speech was he asking what Tallu was doing here, or why the Emperor of the Southern Imperium had arrived with a few dozen soldiers and servants instead of the retinue he should have.
Then again, the Chaliko family had escaped after Bemishu and Kacha had already declared war.
They had likely snuck away in the chaos when the two generals had claimed the capital and the Mountainside Palace.
Lord Chaliko had once been intelligent enough to fool many at court and had risen to a position on the Emperor’s Council. He likely already understood exactly what we were purportedly doing in Tavornai.
Slowly, with help from his daughter and remaining son, Lord Chaliko rose from the ground. His leg nearly buckled again, but he managed to keep hold of his cane.
“We will show you to the best rooms we have available. I can only apologize that they are not more worthy of Your Imperial Majesty.” He gestured with one hand in the imperial manner, and his daughter murmured quietly, commanding one of the servants forward.
The elf shuffled forward to the edge of the stairs, then politely and properly gestured an invitation for Tallu to follow her. Tallu strode up the stairs, his remaining servants with him. I waited, watching.
Irad?o joined me at the same time as Terror swept down from where he had perched on top of the roof.
Irad?o was silent, and Terror nuzzled the side of my head, croaking into my ear, “Many elves just left the house. Children, based on their size. They went out the back as Commander Rede and his men checked the building.”
I turned, keeping my voice low. “Where did they go?”
“Dawn and Ratcatcher went after them. I stayed behind, to make sure you knew.” Terror sounded pleased.
“You stayed behind to make sure you got fed for the information,” I said, unable to hide my smile.
“Such a baseless accusation. I resent it. I will be charging double for my information from now on, if that is how you feel about me.” Terror pushed off, his claws digging deep into my shoulder.
I had insisted Homisu dress me lightly. The humidity of the swamp had been terrible even aboard the ship, and now I was paying the cost. I was sure that Terror had scratched me with his talons.
I glanced at Irad?o significantly, and she raised her eyebrows before nodding. She disappeared into the mass of servants already clamoring for information from House Chaliko’s servants.
Lady Chaliko took charge, raising her chin and speaking with authority, despite her youth. Her brother took hold of their father’s elbow, helping him back up the stairs to follow Tallu and his retinue.
I felt something cool next to my shoulder, and glanced over, already expecting him.
“So?” the Kennelmaster asked. “What are we walking into?”
“I’m not sure. But I think you and whichever Dogs you have among the many here should focus on finding Namati.
Running one of the elven schools means that there are plenty of young elves in residence who may hear more things than the adults think they do.
” I glanced significantly at the elves still on the porch, now eyeing Tallu’s own servants with suspicion.
“That is true, but it was not my question.” The Kennelmaster eyed me with a frown, as though now he was wondering what I was keeping from him.
“I’m not sure what we’re walking into. For that, we would need to ask Commander Rede and his scouting party.” I waited until the Kennelmaster nodded in agreement. Then he was off, and I finally made my way into the manor house.
Tavornai had been conquered by Tallu’s grandfather, Emperor Rellu.
What had once been a thriving elven nation had been ruthlessly logged and reduced to what we now saw.
In our old tales told around the fire on winter nights, the elves were a proud race who lived longer than any of the other peoples on the continent.
Their trees grew into houses, a forest could be a city with woven bridges connecting each of the magic buildings. Passing through the swampland, we had seen no evidence of that.
Because after Rellu conquered Tavornai, he and his son had set about eradicating as much of the elven way of life as they could.
They couldn’t change the elven lifespan, but they could change how their children were brought up.
So any elf under the age of twenty had been dragged out of the trees and forced into imperial schools where they learned trades that would benefit the Imperium and then forced into slavery doing jobs true imperials didn’t want to do.
It had been one of the horror stories my mother had told me and my sister, a reminder that death wasn’t the worst thing the Imperium could do to us.
In the manor house, where a wealthy imperial family would have drawing rooms and libraries, music rooms and salons, we passed rooms full of sewing practice, others where large baskets filled with rocks and charred pieces of wood were being carefully crushed and turned into the powders and paints the imperials used on their skin.
I walked into one of the rooms, frowning as I picked up one of the stones. The tools used to crush it were small, too small for my hands. They were the size of a child’s hands.
As I glared down at the mortar and pestle that was clearly wielded by an elven child, I heard the softest sound of someone breathing in the room. The children had been sent away as soon as His Imperial Majesty’s presence had been known, based on what Terror had said.
Which meant, whoever was here was hiding, waiting for an opportunity. Gently, I put the pestle down at the same time as I loosened one of the knives along my leg. I kept my gaze down, striding through the room as I took note of the carefully decorated tins and tubes.