28. Cain
28
CAIN
Water spewed from Cain’s mouth as from a drain suddenly unclogged. He coughed and hurled up the remaining water in his lungs onto a wooden floor. His mind was still underwater. Was this the boat or the docks? It wasn’t the bottom of the sea, at least. Lying strewn to his left was the chain that had been around him only a few moments ago. His soaked coat was clinging tightly to his body. Even in his delirium Cain wondered if his spectacles were still in it.
“Disgusting.”
The stout man’s fingers were entwined and resting on Cain’s sternum. He wiped his face with his sleeve.
Septima, in her black stola and a lantern on her knees, sat at the side of the boat. Cain was on the same boat he had come in on. Another, empty boat of similar size was bobbing next to theirs. Devadas, soaking wet, was hunched over and searching the body of the motionless ex-legionary before him. It was difficult to tell whether she was alive or dead.
“He really lives again,” said Septima, arching an eyebrow.
“We don’t know that yet,” the stout man said with a sideways look at him. “In my sailing days, I’ve seen many a man dragged out of the waters who revive to die anyway or become useless for life.”
The feeling of lightness and peace that Cain had felt in his last moments of consciousness in the sea was gone, and the crushing weight in his chest was back. He took the stout man’s extended hand but his grip failed and he fell back down on his rear. The poison still lingered.
Septima stood up and looked at him closely.
“Devadas fished you out instead of that woman,” said the stout man. “Don’t make us regret that.”
All he could answer with was more coughing.
“What happened?” Septima asked.
Cain just about managed to catch his breath. “How did you get here? How did you save me?”
“We have our ways,” said the stout man.
Devadas, apparently coming up empty on the ex-legionary, looked at them and shook his head, even as he continued his search. As the boat rocked, the woman’s arm beneath him moved lifelessly like a puppet with its strings cut. Her chest on the lower left-hand side had caved in as if hit by a hammer. Devadas, done with his search, wrapped the body in chains and threw it into the ocean, making a loud splash. Foam rose to the surface, and then nothing.
“What happened, I said.” Septima looked impatient.
Before answering her, Cain rifled through his coat and found his spectacles. As he put them on, everything came back into focus. With a calmer head, Cain thought carefully before opening his mouth. What could he afford to tell them?
“That man… Safani. He poisoned me with a dart.”
He wanted to show them his thigh but to do so he would need to take off his trousers. Devadas stared at him with wide eyes.
“So you survived that too,” said the stout man. “You almost died twice tonight.”
Septima took the bait. “Tell me about Safani. Where is he now? I thought he’d be here.”
“You were right. He’s working for Gladdis.”
Cain told them everything he knew about Safani. He didn’t need to lie about that at all. He still didn’t know what exactly he did for her, only that he was at Gladdis’s house. This was where the stout man interrupted with a whistle of amusement.
“You went inside her house?”
Septima glared at the stout man, who immediately shut his mouth. Thanks to this, Cain confirmed they hadn’t been following him the whole time. Or perhaps they were trying to make him think so, to see if he would lie? Who knew where this chain of suspicions would end.
“What was Gladdis’s plan?”
Cain had to think for a moment. That Gladdis wanted to destroy the Capital using the Circuit of Destiny under the Senate was not a plan he had heard this evening, but something that Eldred creature had told him, in the room inside Arienne’s mind. Did he believe this was true? If he did, should he tell Septima? But now that Gladdis was dead, he couldn’t see the point.
“I don’t know.”
Septima frowned. “Then what do you know? What have you been doing this whole time?”
“The woman is dead. Doesn’t that mean whatever she was planning is over?”
“Safani is the kind of man who will follow through on a job, whether the one who hired him is dead or alive.”
Fienna had bidden Cain to save the people she cared about. It was a hallucination from the poison. But it was also something the Fienna Cain had known would have said. Wouldn’t telling Septima now be the best way to save them? But the words wouldn’t leave his mouth. His vengeance was over, so why was he hesitating?
Devadas began rowing them back toward the docks.
Maybe, somewhere in the shadows of his heart, he wanted to see the Imperial Capital go up in flames. Many heartlanders believed that all provincials deep down wanted to harm the Empire. Cain was beginning to think this might be true.
“I don’t know what the plan is, but it’s soon. She said something about two days of delay… But also that two more days would be too late. And that she would have Safani do it to stay on schedule.”
The part about the Capital turning to ash was conveniently left out. How could he trust Eldred, Cain thought, justifying the omission to himself. Still, he couldn’t think of a good reason to have left out the stolen Power generator in the empty house.
“There’s nothing we can use here,” muttered Septima.
“Knowing Safani, I’d venture a guess it’ll involve an assassination or five,” said the stout man.
“It would be most welcome if it were simply that, as nothing is more replaceable than people in the Empire.”
But could the Empire replace hundreds of thousands? Would they just bring in people like olive oil was brought in through the docks? As the boat crossed the black waters, Septima and the stout man swapped theories while Devadas, rowing, stared at Cain without speaking.
The boat made it to the docks. Devadas went up the ladder first and took a quick look around before signaling the others to follow. The stout man quickly climbed the ladder. Septima turned to Cain and said, “You’re going to our headquarters.”
“But I… Didn’t you hear? I almost died twice tonight.”
“And two people actually died, one of them a great merchant with connections to the Senate. We need to write something in our report, you know.”
They had two days at most before the Capital blew up. Sooner, if Safani did his job… He has to be stopped. But he could not find the words to say it.
A short distance from the docks, a black carriage waited for them. A driver in a dark cape nodded in their direction. He woke the horses with a shake of his reins, their hooves clacking on the cobblestones. Septima sat next to the driver, and the stout man got inside. Cain was very conscious of Devadas standing right behind him, blocking any chance of escape. There was an air of skepticism coming from him that Septima and the stout man did not share. Cain climbed into the carriage and took the seat behind the stout man. Devadas sat next to Cain.
Along with the other central offices of the Empire, the Ministry of Intelligence headquarters were in the old city. The carriage briefly paused by the wall that surrounded the area, permits being required to enter this part of the city at night. The guards signaled over the wall, and the gates opened. The first thing he saw were the dense rows of streetlamps, which turned the old city a different color from what it was in the day. Pale blue, running on Power. The carriage ran through a street that was as blue as a river.
The stout man was talking. “Have you ever been in the old city?”
“A few times, to deliver oil,” said Cain, looking out the window. Almost no provincials lived in the old city, and even people from the other six cities of the Imperial heartland were uncommon. As the district where the Senate, the Commons, and almost all the headquarters of the Imperial ministries and merchant houses resided, this was the true center of the world, the place where the Empire was born. Buildings were grander, lights brighter, shops more extravagant. Even the leaves of the ubiquitous trees planted among the streetlights and the buildings gleamed.
“Take a good look, because you won’t be seeing the outside for days.”
If Eldred was correct, the 327-body Circuit of Destiny would overload, causing an explosion big enough to destroy the Capital. Even worse, a Star of Mersia could be unleashed to destroy the entire heartland; if either happened while he was in the Ministry headquarters, he wouldn’t be seeing the outside ever again.
Cain realized Devadas was still staring at him, which made him so uncomfortable he finally just met his gaze directly and asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Devadas said, in a low voice, “You weren’t alone on that boat.”
“Of course not. The ex-legionary woman was there, and Gladdis.”
A strange look came over Devadas’s eyes. Something like a look of sadness. He pointed his finger at Cain’s sternum.
“No. There was one more. I can see it in your face.”
Cain felt his heart stop. He didn’t answer. How could he know what Cain had seen in his poison-addled state?
Devadas lowered his voice. “You have a task, right? A burden you inherited from someone great.”
The stout man scoffed. “Truly a Varatan, no question. If you say something superstitious like that too loudly, the Office of Truth will come and take you back.”
Not responding, Devadas turned away and closed his eyes.
Cain remembered Fienna’s last words to him. To avenge her, to vanquish villains, and to save the world. Or not the world perhaps, but at least the people she had taken care of. As if he was their king. She was only a figment of his poisoned mind, but those words had been ringing in his mind ever since.
Cain finally understood why he had not told the agents about the Circuit of Destiny conspiracy. This was not a job for the Ministry of Intelligence, or any other organ of the Empire. This was a job for Cain himself.
But the realization had come too late. He should’ve made a run for it before he got in the carriage. Devadas and the stout man made it impossible for him to escape, and to do so from the Ministry of Intelligence, one of the most guarded places in the world, was unimaginable.
Outside the window on the right, he could see the hill of the Senate, the stately white-domed building of the highest political power in the world. And buried somewhere inside that hill was the Circuit of Destiny that would devour the whole city. Cain knew that Safani was in there, trying to create the disaster that would bring down the Empire. He felt the weight in his chest keenly.
The lights of the streets began flickering like stars on ocean waves. Devadas stirred. The stout man frowned and looked out the window.
Suddenly, all the lights went out.
“What’s—”
Before the stout man could finish what he was saying, all the streetlamps lining the street suddenly shattered, raining sparks. Power, having lost its vessel, flowed down the poles, and the pale blue of the street was now lit with violet lightning.
Septima shouted, “Hold on!”
The horses screamed. The world itself seemed to shake, and Cain was soon bouncing in his seat. The carriage leaned violently to the left, and Cain’s body was thrown to the opposite side. He could hear the stout man shouting. Just as Cain turned his head toward Devadas, a huge impact struck his body.