Chapter 11 #3
Tallu examined the scroll, checking the ends of it. Unlike the Krustavians, who closed their messages with a stone seal, it was more common in the Imperium to send a message with a scroll rolled inside a personalized case—a wooden cylinder carved with the sender’s house name.
In Tallu’s case, as emperor, there was a handle on the top and bottom of the cylinder, with a dragon head carved on one side and a tail on the other.
Quuri wasn’t wrong. This was one of Tallu’s cases, carefully guarded and numbered. The master of scribes kept track of each numbered case. The only missing ones were the ones sent to Krustau.
Tallu read the letter, then handed it to me.
I ran my fingers over the paper first. It was thick, expensive. “This is the paper from the Imperial Palace. And the handwriting is identical to one of the scribes.”
Hipati, the scribe we had used to help us investigate Bechi and Maki’s documents, had shown me the difference between how a palace scribe would write compared to a secretary for a rich businessman like Bechi or a member of the military.
Maki must have had one of his underlings mimic the scribes, the style was much more complicated and endlessly specific it was almost impossible to copy.
I turned my attention back to the letter.
The letter ordered Quuri to listen to General Maki’s orders and give him whatever he needed in his fight against the traitor generals. It indicated that Tallu had complete faith in Maki, and she should treat Maki’s words as Tallu’s own.
Reading it, I began to see what game Maki had been playing. Before I said anything, I glanced at the servants. They might be attempting to appear as deaf and mute as statues, but that didn’t mean they had lost their eyes or ears.
“Kennelmaster, what do you advise we do with the rest of the servants now that the guilty party has admitted his crime?” It was easier to ask the Kennelmaster rather than to force Tallu to have to do something neither he nor I wanted to.
I expected the Kennelmaster to imprison everyone, to put them through the initial torture he had planned.
If one man had done this, surely there had been someone else who had seen him do it and said nothing.
Instead, the Kennelmaster turned to Quuri. “Was there anyone else General Maki introduced as an employee of His Imperial Majesty?”
Quuri nodded, and when given the names, the Dogs went off in search of more of Maki’s spies. That still left us with a room full of possibly innocent kitchen servants.
“Quuri and…” I had missed the name of the head chef. Awkwardly, I said, “Head chef. I’m sure most of these people have something they should be doing. His Imperial Majesty requires fresh food.”
Quuri and the Kennelmaster both turned to Tallu, who raised three fingers, flicking them aside. I didn’t recognize the gesture, but the reaction was immediate. Everyone spun into motion, the head chef ushering his people back into the kitchens.
Before he left, I caught his sleeve. The head chef froze, turning to me with wide eyes.
“The Dogs will be watching. But from now on, whoever was involved in a dish will be required to taste it before it passes His Imperial Majesty’s lips, even if their sole contribution was to bring it to the table.
Make sure that everyone understands that. ”
I kept my tone light, the smile on my face just friendly enough that the threat might be seen only as a warning.
The head chef nodded, bowing to me, then turning and bowing even more deeply to Tallu. Two Dogs followed him back to the kitchen.
When we had been leaving the Mountainside Palace, ten Dogs had seemed more than enough. But now, faced with a potential palace full of assassins, it seemed a very meager number.
“Perhaps I should hire you,” the Kennelmaster muttered, his eyes fixed on me in appreciation.
I looked out at the table and Quuri standing next to it. She wasn’t doing anything like wringing her hands or publicly showing her anxiety, but I could read it on her face.
Lerolian came through the wall, looking around the room with interest. “The servants are whispering about Maki’s workshop. They whisper of ghosts and the smell. Now, they wonder if he was doing something even more unnatural than they suspected.”
“What did General Maki do when he was here?” Tallu asked.
“He… he received your letters. At least, we assumed they were from you, Your Imperial Majesty. The first letter said that we were to assist him as he alone could win against the traitors Bemishu, Nimati, and Kacha. He worked in his workshop, where he said he was performing the miracle you had asked of him.” Quuri’s face was so pale it might have matched Coyome’s.
“Was all of it a lie? How, Your Imperial Majesty? The letter passed all of my checks. It was identical to any letter I received from… from Dragon Blessed Emperor Millu.”
I watched Quuri, trying to see any hint of dissembling, but her panic was making it hard to tell if she told the truth or if it was all fabrication.
“Take us to his workshop,” Tallu said. He stood, using his hand to ruffle his cape into position. “Kennelmaster, I trust you to question General Maki’s men adequately. It is important we learn of any plot immediately.”
“Of course.” The Kennelmaster bowed, then gestured four of the remaining Dogs to stay. The rest he took with him. I hoped screams didn’t echo in the palace.
We followed Quuri down a hall to a narrow stairway. The size and lack of decoration told me it was mostly used by servants. We had to descend single-file, the steps growing shorter and more worn the closer we got to our destination.
Finally, Quuri stopped. There was a door that looked as though it was built into the very foundation of the palace.
The brass keyhole nearly blended in with the brown marble the door was made of.
“Open it,” Tallu demanded.
Quuri took a step back. “There was only one key, and General Maki took it with him—”
“You are a very efficient steward of this palace.” I stepped forward, running my thumb across the small indentation where the key should go. “You take great pride in your work. You have the respect of the servants beneath you. You have only their best interests at heart.”
The small landing we stood on was barely big enough for three of us plus the two Dogs pressed so close behind Tallu that they looked like dark wings over his shoulders. Another pair of Dogs stood on the stairway, crowding us further.
“A servant such as you would never leave a room with a single key. There is too much of a chance of it being lost. Too many things that could go wrong.” I watched her face, and she glanced to the side where Tallu stood, his face masked in mild annoyance.
“It is illegal, punishable by death, to make any keys without His Imperial Majesty’s approval.” She swallowed.
“And what punishment do you think His Imperial Majesty will mete out if General Maki has left something behind in the Lakeshore Palace and you are helping him hide it?” I didn’t try to catch her eyes, instead letting her stare at Tallu with terror.
“I… I only wanted to keep the Lakeshore palace secure,” she whispered. “I am a loyal citizen, a proud servant of His Imperial Majesty. I assumed Your Imperial Majesty knew... that you had ordered—”
“That I had ordered what?” Tallu asked pointedly.
Quuri wet her lips. “That with so many of your most trusted generals acting against you, it would be logical to look into forbidden techniques. The Lakeshore Palace is so far from the capital. We understand that we are, as with your father, a place where an emperor might not have the eyes of the court on him.”
I squinted at the door. “What was this room before?”
Quuri was quiet, but Tallu’s face had taken on a flatness. “This is where my father took his girls?”
In answer, Quuri took out a ring of keys and, with shaking hands, found a brass one, carved with the dragon symbol of House Atobe. Tallu watched, his lips pursed.
“You assumed I was like my father, that his dark, forbidden desires stained my soul as well. Only my desire was not to bed unwilling children and double their pain through my efforts, but rather to go against the laws set in place after the war with the blood mages?” His tone was tight, nearly a growl.
Quuri’s hand shook so violently that she dropped the keys. I bent and picked them up. I didn’t offer them back, finding the key she had been trying to use and inserting it into the lock.
“I am loyal to the Imperium,” Quuri whispered. “I did not ask what he was doing, because I know we must crush the rebellion before it gains a foothold.”
Turning, I met her eyes. “His Imperial Majesty knows you are loyal.”
Because if one thing was clear now, it was that the Lakeshore Palace was where the crown hid its dirtiest, deadliest secrets. How many girls had Millu had tossed in the lake when he was done? Did the sea serpents in the moat grow fat and sleek from feasting on them?
It was no wonder that when told the emperor wanted somewhere secret for Maki to do his terrible work, Quuri had accepted it with only a letter to go by. I turned back to the lock, turning the key. Now let us see what horrors Maki had left behind.
The door opened.