Chapter 2 #2
“I assumed it was to instill fear in the emperor’s enemies. They are shadows. They are faceless men. You cannot buy them, because you do not know who they are.” I considered the mask in my hands, turning it over to feel the ridges of the carved bear on the face.
“Yes. It is also because they lose themselves when they take the position. A Dog is nothing more than a servant of his master. He can have no wants except for his master’s desires.
He can have no needs; he can only accept scraps from his master’s table.
” The Kennelmaster nudged Boro with his toe.
“An Emperor’s Dog is not a person. He is a tool. ”
“And why does Emperor Tallu need men who are not men and Dogs who attack his consort?” I asked.
“Ask yourself why the emperor would need men who will follow his bidding without asking questions. Ask yourself why a man whose desires match Tallu’s needs men loyal to him and not the Imperium.
” The Kennelmaster smirked, and a soft breeze whistled through the maze, vibrating the leaves around us.
“Emperor Millu was shortsighted. He could have been served by imperial guards—men who saw the Imperium as he did.”
“What are you suggesting, Kennelmaster?” My fingers gripped the mask tightly, suddenly very aware that I was still alone with a man whose electro magic was powerful enough to stop a lightning bolt before it hit. A man who had his own agenda and knew more than Tallu or I wanted him to.
“I’m not suggesting anything.” The Kennelmaster crossed his arms. “I’m telling you, because the emperor listens to you, that you need to remind him to think about who his allies are.”
“Emperor Tallu is leader of the Imperium. He does not need allies. Everyone in this nation should be loyal to him.” I floundered, put off-balance by how honestly the Kennelmaster was speaking in a court that only ever spoke out of one side of their mouths, holding the truth behind their tongues.
The Kennelmaster snorted, shaking his head. “If anyone in this nation was loyal to the Imperium alone, then they should rise up against Emperor Tallu and demand his head.”
I dropped one of my hands to the knife I had just resheathed, feeling my lip peel back and my entire body shake with anger. Two fights in less than a day, and I still vibrated with the heat of them.
“You urge treason, Kennelmaster. I hope I am misunderstanding your meaning,” I said quietly.
“There is not a treasonous bone in my body. I can promise Tallu that my Dogs are loyal to him. I can promise that I am loyal to him. I have no love for the Imperium. He could use men who are loyal to something more than their nation.” Significantly, the Kennelmaster glanced down at where my hand gripped my dagger.
“Ask the emperor to think of what will happen when the general he lets so close to his neck finds out what Emperor Tallu wants.”
“How can you claim loyalty to Tallu and not the Imperium? Emperor Tallu is the Imperium.” I didn’t release my grip on my blade, feeling as though I had revealed too much simply by asking the question.
Something cracked, and I looked up. Ratcatcher sat on a nearby twig, and as it shifted, the bushes under it rattled.
Terror swooped down, landing heavy on my shoulder, and I dropped Boro’s mask onto the ground at the sudden weight.
“I am loyal to the oath I swore to the emperor. And I am loyal to my men. Emperor Millu allowed me that dual loyalty as well as the coin I was owed for agreeing to never serve another master.” The Kennelmaster bent, picking up the dropped mask.
He dusted it off with his sleeve, considering it in his hands.
“I believe that Emperor Tallu will as well. Tell him to consider who he lets in. Tell him to ask his whispers who they think will hurt him when the truth comes out. And it will come out.”
“The Emperor’s Dogs see everything the emperor wants kept private. Are you threatening to use that information against Emperor Tallu?” I asked.
The Kennelmaster snorted, shaking his head. He turned away from me, raising a hand as he did so. The motion was a dismissal, and a rude one at that.
He took one step toward the entrance of the maze, then turned his head, speaking to me over his shoulder.
“We are both men of shadows and secrets. Speaking as one professional to another, if I wanted to sell information, I wouldn’t bother to tell you.
Consider this an offer of alliance.” He waved a hand at the dead Dog at my feet.
“Don’t worry about Boro. We’ll take care of the body. ”
“Well,” Lerolian said, coming out of the hedges between me and the direction the Kennelmaster had walked. “Isn’t that something?”
I waited until the Kennelmaster was at the entrance of the maze, glancing up at the bird sitting on top of the shrub wall. “Is he gone?”
Ratcatcher squawked an answer, and, on my shoulder, Terror pecked hard at my cheek. I took it as a yes.
“Does the Kennelmaster know that Tallu speaks to you?” I asked Lerolian.
“He likely does. Tallu has been careful his entire life, but he started seeing us when he was a child, and he wasn’t as circumspect then.
” Lerolian looked after the Kennelmaster.
“Tallu has attempted to choke the Kennelmaster out by limiting his funds. He has fewer spies now than he did under Tallu’s father.
He may simply be trying to gain a fraction of that power back, reaching for some leverage. He might not know anything.”
I considered the body at my feet. “No. I don’t think this is a man who makes threats without certainty.”
“What are you going to do?” Lerolian bent low, lifting his hand to hover it just above Boro’s face. My heart lurched with the momentary fear that Lerolian could stir Boro’s blood and bring him back to life.
“Tell Tallu. The Kennelmaster isn’t wrong. Tallu needs someone loyal to him as an ally over a nationalist who believes in the dragon seer promise like General Saxu.”
“It will break the old warhorse’s heart if he ever finds out what Tallu’s goal truly is.” Lerolian closed his eyes, his hands making complicated motions. I assumed it was some blood monk rite to honor the dead.
“Where is Tallu?” I asked.
Lerolian’s lips moved in soundless prayer. I shook my head. I needed to get cleaned up first anyway. Heading down the same path that the Kennelmaster had taken, I walked back to Turtle House.
Nohe bowed when she saw me, instantly issuing sharp orders to fetch both a hot bath and one of the official bath maids to wait on me. She hissed at the sight of my cheek but agreed to delay summoning the doctor until I’d washed the blood off and we could see how bad it was.
Nuti arrived just as the staff finished pouring the last of the hot water into the tub, and she helped me undress and settle in the tub.
I let my eyes fall shut as Nuti scrubbed evidence of both of the fights from me, pulling the crushed pieces of insect from where they were embedded in my skin and gently cleaning the cut on my cheek.
“How is the bathhouse?” I asked.
She drew a washcloth over my arm, rubbing gentle circles over the grime. “It is disused, Your Highness. Less choose the public baths.”
“More so than last week?” I didn’t open my eyes but felt her hesitate before scrubbing over my shoulders. The water had started just slightly too hot, and now, the air was too cold.
“Yes. The Yiilipo family has made their excuses and retired to their house in River Otter province. The Yiilipo matriarch was deeply unhappy about giving up the luxuries to be found in the capital for the rustic appeal of the countryside. Her son was even more distraught. His mistress is about to give birth, and he was forced to choose whether to marry her or abandon the child. His mother was even less happy about suddenly having a daughter-in-law from a house of fishmongers.” She rinsed the area of skin she’d just scrubbed, leaving me pinker than usual.
“There are very few families left in the palace.”
Meaning few still exclusively loyal to Tallu. He’d made enemies when he’d abolished the Emperor’s Council, and now there was no one to rely on.
“Any news from Blue Mountain View House?” I asked. The councilors had been granted a reprieve from their exile after our wedding, meaning they could stay in the capital, stay in the palace, as Tallu decided his next move.
The given reason was the emperor’s whim.
The whispers were that I had requested it and Tallu denied me nothing.
However, the councilors themselves must have been smart enough to suspect that it was simply that Tallu didn’t want them on the road where they might decide to ally with any of the rebelling generals.
“Nothing explicit,” Nuti said, her voice cautious. “But there are some whispers that House Sotonam has reached an agreement to take in the heirs of Councilor Lluso.”
Waiting, I heard Nuti move some glass bottles. They clinked together with bright, chiming sounds. “That means that the Lluso family would give up their last name and take the Sotonam last name? Would it be allowed?”
“Lord Sotonam asked for an exception, as Rute’s death caused a gap in the line of House Sotonam’s succession.
He claimed that since Lord Lluso died, the ‘death in exile’ Emperor Millu sentenced the family to had been met.
They have no patriarch, they have no family.
” Nuti clicked her tongue. “It’s a very fine distinction, and if Emperor Tallu agrees with Lord Sotonam’s interpretation, other houses might try the same. ”
Bringing back in the councilors’ families under different names would breed more uncertainty, an instability Tallu and I could use.
“What do you know about the Kennelmaster?” I asked.
Nuti hesitated, and her clear, gossipy voice dropped to a whisper. “I know that he shouldn’t be crossed.”
“How did he gain his position?” I asked.
“The Kennel used to only manage the Emperor’s Dogs,” Nuti said.
There was a click, and I heard her rub something into the washcloth.
“Since the end of the reign of the second emperor, the Kennelmaster has been the head of the Emperor’s Dogs.
The Dogs were originally trained Dragon Monks, but when Emperor Wollu killed the One Dragon, he took the monks into his household, as there were no dragon eggs left for them to protect. ”
“The Dogs protected the One Dragon’s eggs?” I opened my eyes in surprise and saw Nuti absently rubbing the washcloth between her hands, staring out the high window in the room.
“Four emperors ago, yes. When it became apparent they wouldn’t serve the commanders of the palace guard, Wollu chose one of their number and made him the Kennelmaster.
The current Kennelmaster started only a dozen years ago.
” When I raised my eyebrows at her, she flushed.
“My brother thought of becoming a Dog. He trained for it, but the last Kennelmaster didn’t care for him, and so he didn’t have any chance.
By the time the new one took over, my brother was a blacksmith and had a wife and son. ”
I made a soft, affirming noise, and Nuti looked away again.
“This Kennelmaster is more generous with his definition of Dog. They say that when Dragon Blessed Emperor Millu realized how many among his council were traitors, he began to suspect that perhaps there were others outside his court who weren’t loyal.
So he gave the Kennelmaster more leash. The Kennel has always answered to the emperor alone, not to the military or any of the ministers.
Not even to any of the council members when there was an Emperor’s Council. ”
Nuti twisted the cloth between her hands, a few droplets spilling onto the ground with a soft splashing sound. “And the Kennelmaster did find traitors. He found as many as the emperor wanted to see.”
I knew immediately what Nuti was speaking around, the horrible truth that she wouldn’t have dared voice if I hadn’t spent weeks and weeks bringing her to my side, coaxing her into something like loyalty.
The Kennelmaster had found all the traitors Millu’s bloodthirsty, greedy heart wanted. Even, perhaps, where there were none to be found.
“I worry that a dog used to so long a leash might bite the hand that brings it to heel,” I said obliquely.
Nuti turned her attention to me sharply.
“There are so very few left in the Imperial Palace. The members of court who live outside are waiting to see which way the throne goes. They might listen to whispers from the Kennel. The Kennel is known for its spies and the Dogs who wander like shadows in the palace. No one would want to cross him, but no one would doubt his information either. On the other hand, Emperor Tallu is heir to the promise the Imperium was founded on, and he is Dragon Chosen. The court might be swayed in its opinions, but the people of the Imperium won’t be. ”
I leaned back in the bath, nodding my thanks for the information. I might have enjoyed the bath for longer except for the voice that intruded into my mind, echoing so loud that my temples pounded.
“Tell her I want the food. Now. Or I will eat her and anyone else standing between me and dinner.”