Chapter Twenty-Nine The Truth of Saevem Arthil
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE TRUTH OF SAEVEM ARTHIL
“T HAT HIVE-MASTER ’ S ON a rampage,” said Ilden a week later in The Steam Dragon, thumbing through the latest edition of the Daily Diamond. DEATH DUST: A ROTTEN DEAL IN INEJIO was emblazoned proudly over the front page.
“Valanti’s always been a hard worker, so I’m not surprised he’s gotten so much done so quickly,” said Lythlet with reluctant respect. “And he has been extremely easy to work with now.” Runt snuffled by her side, gently requesting attention with her wet nose.
Ilden’s eyes went wide. “Good grief, Runt just won’t stop growing. I think you might’ve been bamboozled into taking home a bear, Lythlet.”
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” She kissed the top of her hound’s head.
Runt was the biggest puppy she’d ever seen in her life, now the size of a healthy, full-grown pig, and all who looked upon her would always gawk and ask Lythlet if Runt were actually a bear.
Ederi as she was, Lythlet did not hold a belief in reincarnation as the Oraanus did, yet a quiet part of her wondered if this was the little bugbear cub given a second chance at life.
She knew she’d never get an answer to that—but she was going to make sure it was as good a life as she could give the pup.
“Does she still not know how to bark properly?” Ilden asked, reaching over to flap Runt’s jowls back and forth.
“ROO,” Runt politely confirmed, tolerating his handling with the dignified manner of a highborn lady.
Chuckling, Ilden leaned back against the wall, one arm tucked behind his head. “Now that the Daily Diamond ’s on our side, Shunvi owes me twenty white valirs. He was certain the Diamond Edge would be the first to side with us.”
“Where is Shunvi, anyway?” Desil asked.
“Down at the Homely Home. There’s much to celebrate there, what with how the case is building against Westiro Asa. That’s why I’ve been sent here actually, to invite you two to join. Come along, won’t you? And bring little Roo-Bear, too. The children would love chasing her around.”
“We would love to,” Desil said eagerly as Lythlet shook her head.
“I ought to stay behind to strategize,” she said. “The Daily Diamond may be publishing our affairs, but there’s much more I need to organize with Valanti. The next round of news to unleash, more information on the golden rot—”
Ilden reached forward to pinch Lythlet’s nose. She wrenched out of his grip with a snarl.
“You’re much too serious,” he complained. “Leave tomorrow’s hardships to tomorrow. Plus, I’ve brought along some of the finest bottles of gin Shunvi and I keep in our cellar, and you’ll be missing out on that.”
“Good grief,” said Lythlet, rising from her seat. “You could have mentioned the free gin earlier and we’d be halfway to the Home by now.”
· · ·
I LDEN WENT AHEAD of them, saying he wanted to go greet some old friends nearby first, and he gave them the bag filled with gin bottles to carry to the Homely Home.
Shortly after Ilden stepped off the premises of The Steam Dragon, a tussle began between Lythlet and Desil.
“We’re going to drink it soon enough,” she complained, bottle in hand. “Why can’t I open just one and have a sip or two in peace first?”
“You’re developing a very serious problem,” Desil scolded, snatching the bottle free from her fingers. He cradled the gin satchel protectively to his chest, trying and failing to put on his coat with his one free hand.
She made an attempt for the bottle, then paused, hand lingering midair as something caught her attention.
He narrowed his eyes, guarding the satchel in case she was tricking him. “What is it?”
She pointed at the entrance, and he hesitantly turned to look.
Saevem Arthil was peering inside The Steam Dragon, Runt and Schwala sniffing his boots. When he spotted them, he pointed questioningly at the partitioned private room at the back.
Desil nodded, scuttling off to prepare the table, and Lythlet ushered Saevem into the teahouse.
Within seconds, a steaming teapot and a set of cold appetizers were waiting for them.
Desil gently pulled the partition closed, shutting out the rest of the teahouse with a mother-of-pearl lacquer screen depicting the creation story of the Oraanu, droplets of moonlight spilling to the earth and emerging as sons and daughters of the Moonmachinist.
They waited for Saevem to take his seat first, poured his tea, then seated themselves.
“What brought you here today?” Lythlet asked. Something in Saevem’s demeanor told her to anticipate his answer.
He leaned in, urging them to huddle closer.
“The time has come for me to make my request,” he said in hushed tones.
“I gave you the bestiary because I thought you two were promising conquessors—promising enough to stay in the arena for a long time if you were granted some help. I’d heard before that Master Dothilos had forged strong bonds with certain conquessors he favored in the far distant past, and I needed someone in that position to help my cause. ”
“What does the Coalition of Hope want with Master Dothilos?”
“It’s the folk he associates with that we’re concerned with. He’s a man with many connections, I believe.”
“A fact he frequently boasts of,” she said bitterly.
“There is one man we suspect he is affiliated with, however: Governor Matheranos.”
Lythlet raised a brow. “Corio Brandolas has been relentlessly attacking Governor Matheranos and the United Setgad Party for ages now, accusing him of corruption, cronyism, and all that. Are you hoping to find evidence of the governor’s ties to the underworld to further build your case of his corruption to present to the Court? ”
“Yes,” he said excitedly. “We at the Coalition believe Governor Matheranos has strong ties to the underworld—including outlawed bloodsports such as conquessing. The Eza may be the underworld’s master, but his chaos has been left unchecked and unchallenged by a feckless government.
We’re certain Governor Matheranos receives bribes from either the Eza or his underlings like Master Dothilos to look the other way.
Would the underworld trade be able to run with such ease if it were the Eza alone protecting it?
No, such seamless operation requires someone with a hand in the upper reaches of the white law to connect the two worlds.
You are far from the only non-party members we’ve entreated—we’ve been enlisting spies to search for evidence of anything remotely related to the underworld to submit to the Court. ”
“To no avail?” she asked. She was not unfamiliar with these theories, thanks to Master Winaro’s political ramblings back in her hive-workshop days.
A part of her remained skeptical of these rumors: to think the ever-vaunted Governor Matheranos, the very man whose duty was to broker the relationship between the city and the Einveldi Court, could have ties with the Eza was not an easy allegation to swallow.
“Unfortunately, when it comes to powerful figures who have been shaping society for decades, rumors are often the only things left in their wake. They’re professionals at covering up their tracks, snuffing out dissenters before their efforts can amount to a credible case.
I know this all too well: a dear friend of mine was a casualty of their menace.
” He turned grim, his mind casting for memories of long years past. “A long time ago, during Governor Matheranos’s first term, rumors started popping up in the upper echelons of the watchmen circles of him meeting with various folk affiliated with the underworld: a supposed advisor of the Eza, a former watchman official who’d been forced to resign in disgrace after the revelation he’d participated in the trafficking of prisoners to underworld causes, a broker for an infamous brothel amongst elites that trafficked the underaged—”
Lythlet’s expression sharpened. “Which brothel?”
Saevem paused, surprised by her outburst. “The madam’s name is something along the lines of Kovetti, if I recall correctly.”
She darkened.
He continued, “Corio and I, we had a friend working in the upper watchmen ranks — Azuran Telehir. Azuran set about his own private investigation, quietly checking if the rumors had any substance to them. Months passed, and one day, I received a note from him: he was closing in on the governor, and he was certain he’d found some damning evidence.
He asked me to come over the next day to review it with him.
Not four hours later did I receive more news: Azuran had been discovered dead, having jumped from the balcony of his flat.
Corio and I saw his body ourselves, a mangled corpse staining the white stone with fresh blood.
” He palmed his face, easing the wrinkles on his grief-furrowed brow.
“May the white wind guide his soul. We wept as the watchmen chased us away.”
Lythlet and Desil listened in startled silence.
“A suicide, they rapidly concluded. Utter hogwash, Corio and I knew,” said Saevem bitterly.
“Azuran would never have killed himself. When Corio and I were finally granted access to his flat weeks later, we found everything had been scrubbed clean, not even a single scrap of parchment left behind for us to peruse. Unsubtle work, but frankly, subtlety isn’t needed when you’re the most powerful man in Setgad after the Einveldi Court itself.
The governor must have caught whiff of Azuran’s investigations and put a stop to it. ”
“But Corio Brandolas has been accusing Governor Matheranos of crimes for years, and he’s still alive,” Lythlet brought up hesitantly.
Saevem nodded. “Only because Corio is savvy enough to have made an ally in the Einveldi Court.”
She raised a brow. “The Court sides with him?”