Chapter 5 #2
“When I turn her in to His Imperial Majesty’s people, I’ll be happy to let them know who found the rat and captured her for them.” I met his eyes, letting him believe the absolutely true fact that Tallu would be grateful to have Topi Bemishu in his possession.
“Take her.” The overseer nudged her again and smirked at me. “For His Imperial Majesty. I heard the ghost of the One Dragon came back and put the crown on him himself. He is the promise.”
“Emperor Tallu embodies it. He will unite the continent,” I agreed. “As was promised to Emperor Wollu.”
“My sister was at his one-month celebration,” another man said. “She said the traitor Bemishu put a ship in the sky to kill the emperor, and the emperor used his magic to bring it down and kill all of Bemishu’s forces. Now, Bemishu uses the goblins in the south and pretends they’re Imperials.”
“The emperor took one look at the monsters Bemishu brought from the south and killed them. I heard their ghosts had to walk all the way back to the Ariphadeus.” A shiver went through the crowd.
If they knew the truth, that Tallu had sent the elephants and their handlers south to the Ariphadeus with a unit of General Saxu’s most trusted men, they wouldn’t understand.
Even Saxu had been hesitant, until Tallu had lied that the goblins had sworn loyalty and were acting as spies against Bemishu.
Commander Rede had reported that the elephants and the goblins had disappeared into the desert almost as if they’d never been.
“Either way. No one can stand against the emperor,” the overseer said. He shoved Topi again, sending her scrambling for purchase, her face going even more pale as she struggled for breath.
“May he fulfill the promise in his lifetime, blessing the Imperium with his success.” I parroted back a long-forgotten phrase that Lord Fuyii had drilled into my sister.
With a significant glance at Sagam, I let him and Asahi cut Topi down, dragging her back toward our carts.
I raised a hand, showing off three silver coins between my fingers.
“A round for everyone here who struck a blow today against the traitors. Long live His Imperial Majesty!”
A cheer went up, and the mob slowly became a crowd of people again, heading back into the tavern. I pressed the coins into the innkeeper’s hand, adding a few coppers to sweeten the deal. Then I gave him a wolfish grin.
“Now I have to go start enjoying my own prize.”
He nodded, but from the purse of his lips, he was not as enthusiastic. It was interesting to see a man so comfortable with the murder of a young girl but uncomfortable with her rape.
I followed behind Sagam and Asahi, reaching the wagons just as they hefted her into the one Tallu and I had been sitting in. I let a cloth covering fall closed over the back before crouching in front of her.
“A courtesan?” Topi said.
“Quiet,” I hissed. Glancing at Sagam, I nodded my head toward the inn.
He didn’t need to be told twice, disappearing out the back.
“They don’t have enough horses to trade ours.
We’ll have to rest again soon.” Asahi looked Topi up and down, then clearly decided she was no threat.
“I’ll go start readying the carts.” When he was gone, I could hear him speaking with the Dogs outside, feel the jerk as the carts were moved, ready to be re-harnessed to the horses.
“I didn’t, you know.” Topi kept her voice low. “Neither did Pito.”
I opened one of the crates, digging through until I found some rags for cleaning.
They looked washed, and I leaned over, pressing one to the wound on Topi’s face.
“Sleep with Kacha? Of course not. It would be cold, even for the two of you, to share a bed with the man who killed your mother and whom you had spent so many years readying for the slaughter. Sorry I didn’t finish that for you. ”
“We shouldn’t have trusted a man with women’s work,” Topi said. She put her hand over mine, and I released the rag to her, letting her press hard on the wound.
“Where is Pito?” I asked.
Topi let out a sharp breath, then looked down.
Before she answered, the flap in the back of the cart opened, letting in first Tallu and then the Kennelmaster and a Dog named Coyome.
He sat close to the back while the Kennelmaster took position in the front of the cart.
Tallu glared at Topi. She had taken his spot.
He settled next to me, our thighs pressed together, and I could feel the tension throughout his frame. Above us, I heard Terror and Ratcatcher bickering back and forth. My heart ached. I desperately wanted to know what they were saying, even if it likely was as petty in words as it sounded in caws.
“We’re ready,” the Kennelmaster leaned forward and informed the driver, who slapped the reins, urging the horses onto the road.
He looked at me, his gaze assessing. “The overseer congratulated me on having such a business-minded member of my house. He’s excited to hear what the emperor thinks of whatever news this one brings. ”
“And what news does she bring?” Tallu’s voice was low and the threat in it so clear he may as well have verbalized it.
Topi raised her chin, defiantly silent, but I could see the trembling, the shivers of fear her ordeal had left in her.
When she didn’t answer, Tallu demanded, “Who sent you? Kacha or Bemishu?”
“I came on my own,” she lied. The careful woman of court was long gone. All that was left now was a desperate half of a soul, and I vividly recognized that feeling. I had been the same when Eona? left, wondering who I was without the person that made me myself.
“Who has Pito?” I asked.
Topi’s jaw set, and she closed her eyes. “I’m tired.”
Tallu’s lips pulled, his forehead creasing in a frown. “You might get away from answering now, but you will answer. Airón did not purchase you from your death out of pity.”
Her eyes flew open, fixing on mine, but I let myself be as cold as a northern night. Even if she didn’t tell us what we wanted, we couldn’t let her go, not when she could run back to whoever had sent her, telling a story of the emperor traveling with minimal guards through the Imperium.
She looked away, her fingers going white at the knuckles where she held the rag tight to her head.
Coyome slid forward, suddenly inside her space, and she jerked back, but there was nowhere to move, a box pressed against one side and the wall at her back.
He plucked the rag from her fingers and pulled a waterskin from his waist. Opening the waterskin, he wet the cloth and began gently wiping her face.
“Foolish girl,” the Kennelmaster said, drawing her attention.
She turned toward him, glancing at Coyome every few seconds.
“You do not start by convincing the overseer. That man will only lose if he switches his allegiance. Bemishu or Kacha couldn’t trust him if he did change his colors.
They would have him killed and put their own men in his position, and he knows it, too.
” Coyome cupped her chin to keep Topi from moving.
The Kennelmaster continued, “You start with the other men. You start working for the mine or take up as a barmaid. You listen to their problems and then ask them what they would do different. How the problems could be fixed with the promise in place. Oh the promise, how could we possibly know what some old woman four emperors ago meant? That is how you take down the emperor. The Imperium does not have enough gold to turn a man like the overseer. He knows his fate is tied as closely to Emperor Tallu’s as my Dogs’. ”
“We do not need to look for the traitor generals when we have you among us,” I observed.
The Kennelmaster snorted, turning to look out the front of the wagon. Coyome finished cleaning Topi’s face and then reached into his pack for a small strip of clean bandage. As he wrapped it over her forehead, he said, “It will scar.”
“Thank you,” Topi said, looking away from him. I couldn’t see his expression, but he pulled back and settled into his position near the rear of the wagon, looking out for any hint of threats.
With a glance at Tallu, the Kennelmaster said, “My fate is as tied to Your Imperial Majesty’s as the overseer’s.
You are known for your spies, and for a great many years now, there have been rumors about my Dogs.
If I joined ranks with Bemishu or Kacha, it would not matter what information I gave them or what truths I told.
They would assume whatever my men saw at their camps would be whispered straight into your ears. ”
He looked at Tallu pointedly, his words still echoing in my ears. The whispers he hears… The three of us knew the Kennelmaster wasn’t feeding Tallu his information, but to the rest of the world, that was the only explanation that made sense.
Bandaged, Topi looked even less like herself. One of her eyes was beginning to swell shut, the opposite cheek fading a deep purple. She closed her eyes again, leaning back against the wall of the cart.
“I’ll make a Dog of you yet,” the Kennelmaster said to Topi with what sounded very nearly like fondness. He returned to his seat.
Neither Tallu nor I looked at the three blood mages around the cart, one nearly sitting atop the Dog at the back. We traveled for just long enough that my stomach began to growl, the promised food at the inn having been lost to rescuing Topi.
I could feel Tallu’s thigh against mine. The backs of our hands touched, and I needed to feel him. The lack of privacy was beginning to wear on me, and I wasn’t sure when we’d have it again. Slowly, I moved my hand so that my pinkie curled around his.
Tallu went rigid for a split second before he breathed out softly, his finger twitching on mine. I closed my eyes, concentrating and trying to give him everything I felt in that touch. The cart jostled us against each other, our shoulders pressed together. Tallu remained there.