Chapter 86:

Another telegraph. Another envelope, just for Vek. Anzana hands it to him. “Take it easy,” she says. She’s worried about him, it’s clear. Vek tries to smile. He opens the envelope. He pulls out the telegraph. His heart sinks. He’s not done. He thought that once he finished the nine names he’d be done, that he’d be assigned to something else, but he’s not, this telegraph is from Op, it’s his next mark from Op, now that #9 is done with the crypts and off to a Rajas cell, Vek has to do it again, he has to do it again, again, again.

Anzana’s turning away, of course, like she always does, and it’s a good thing too because Vek almost cries out – his breath is caught in his throat – and if she were looking at him she’d see it in his face, but she isn’t looking so she doesn’t see, and it’s Vek alone who reads the next name on his list, name #10, and it says it right there: Anzana Kanari, of Squad #210.

***

Find out what she knows about the pamphlets. Find out if she knows who is writing them, and how they’re printing them. Find out who gave them to her, if it was someone from Lady Ki’s patronage. Find out which of her squad members killed that first Rajas in the barracks, or who they let in to do the killing. Find out if she knew it was going to happen.

Vek had tried to explain. I don’t think I can do this anymore. Too many serfs recognize me. A whole crowd saw me take away my last mark.

Op had simply looked at him. So?

I just don’t think it’s smart, I don’t think I’m the best person –

Op had cut him off. It doesn’t matter who knows you’re an interrogator as long as no one says you’re one. And they won’t. Nobody even knows interrogations are being done! So calm down and do your job.

Vek had tried one last time. I know her, she’s my squad leader, I don’t think I can do it –

Even better. You know her, so you’ll know best how to hurt her.

***

“I don’t know!” she cried out.

Vek cleared his throat, reached behind her head to tighten her blindfold, then pitched his voice lower. “Your squad was the one guarding the barracks when that Rajas was killed. One of them did it, or one of them let someone in to do it. Which is it?”

When she hesitated, Vek brought the serf prod crashing down onto her shoulder. He didn’t wince when she staggered under the blow. She had to answer his question. It was a question that needed an answer.

“I asked my squad members,” she moaned. “They told me they hadn’t seen anyone come in. He was probably lying in wait in the barracks before my squad even got into position to patrol.”

“The Rajas say he came in through the serf staircase!”

At that, she almost screamed. “Oh, and you believe the Rajas, do you?”

Vek swallowed. He cleared his throat again. “So you’re saying all they saw was a serf racing out and down the serf staircase?”

“Yes!”

“Why didn’t they stop him then?”

“They didn’t know they were supposed to! They were there to stop Rajas from escaping, not serfs from passing through!”

“You’re lying,” Vek snarled. Holding the serf prod tightly with all four fingers, he brought it down onto her other shoulder. Down she went, knees buckling. The chain connected to her collar through the loop hook wrenched her cuffed hands up above her back. “You were the one passing out the pamphlets to your squad members. Why would you do that if you weren’t trying to sabotage Lady Nari?”

She was gasping, shuddering, sobbing. Vek could see her tears wet the trim of her blindfold. “It’s true that I hate Lady Nari,” she wept. “I’ve hated her for a long time, and if that’s what you want me to admit, I’ll admit it. But I had nothing to do with that Rajas dying, and neither did my squad. You leave my squad alone, they’ve done nothing wrong!”

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Vek’s eyes widened. “You hate Lady Nari?”

He watched as she forced herself back up onto her feet, her entire frame trembling. “Yes. I’ve known her all my life. We grew up together in the same wall nursery. She is nothing but one calculated act after another, all of it designed to terrify people into never crossing her. You want me to confess? I confess it. My squad is innocent. I’m the one who spent my entire life pretending to be as simple as possible, all to avoid her attention as best I could. For decades I’ve kept up this ruse. I’ve seen her do terrible things to those she’s closest to, I’ve seen her destroy those who love her, all, all, to feed her need for control. She is sick, I tell you, she is sick –”

“Shut up,” Vek whispered.

“– so yes, I did pass out those pamphlets, because I am for anything that might bring her down, anything, I tell you! But my squad had nothing to do with it, it was all me, and I don’t regret it for a single second, she deserves it, she deserves every bit of –”

“Shut up!” Vek screamed. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

By the time Vek was done raining down blows on her, she was once more on her knees. Her head was hanging forward, held up only by her collar. Her forehead was bloodied. Vek picked up the cup of breathflower rum he’d been drinking and tossed it into her face.

“Who gave you those pamphlets to pass out?”

She stirred, weakly. “Nobody. I found them lying out in a lounge.”

“You’re lying.”

“It was only me.”

“Give me a name. Or Phatia is coming down here next.”

“No,” she begged. “Leave my squad alone. They’re innocent. They don’t know anything. I did everything, everything, they had nothing to do with it, nothing!”

“A name.”

“Please.”

Vek squatted down onto the floor. He opened his toolkit and put his serf prod back inside. Then he examined the other tools. Scissors, maybe, or the drill? Yes, the drill would work.

“I’ll give you one more chance,” he said, reaching for the drill. “A name. Now.”

***

The kitchen cavern had seen better days. Back when she’d met Sukren in it, it had contained sacks upon sacks of grains, and numerous bags of pulses too. Now the cavern was nearly empty, nothing on top of the tree root that carved the cavern in two, and nothing around it either. A few bags in a pile by the door, that was it.

Lady Nari frowned. She would have to do something about the villages, and soon.

“Lady Nari?”

She turned. Op was at the door, bowing to her.

“I’m impressed,” Lady Nari said to him. “You’ve had less than half a season, with excellent results.”

He bowed to her again. “I have more,” he replied. “As you know, I sent interrogators after every serf Vek and the Promised Daughter encountered on their journey through the Temple and into Stoneset Quinter. When that failed to turn up anything, I next went after every serf Sukren encountered after leaving Lost Technology Castle. I finally found someone: the assassin Petrika reported to us, the one she darted, the one sent after Sukren by Lady Ki.”

“Go on,” Lady Nari said. While interacting with Op was not as enjoyable as say, interacting with Vek, it had its benefits. Op was skilled at what he did. He was able to compartmentalize. She knew he was a kind father and a loving husband, and that the reason he’d joined the Free Serfs was because he hated the Golden Castle for systematically breaking up serf families. Listening to him detail his successes brought her satisfaction. It was like watching the Uprising in action, an Uprising she had instigated, an Uprising she had given birth to.

“Apparently the morning after Petrika darted him, a Xhota woman in a hut by the edge of the urb gave him medical assistance and shelter. The night the Promised Daughter disappeared, about two weeks later, he was still there. He claims that he saw Sukren by the shelterbelt again, this time with the Promised Daughter.”

Now that was interesting.

“Cursed territory?” she mused out loud. “That’s where Petrika told him to go the first time. Do you think Sukren went back with the Promised Daughter on his own?”

“It’s highly likely that’s exactly what he did.”

Very interesting… Sukren turned traitor… she hadn’t considered that…

“Unfortunately, at that point, my interrogator was expelled from the Xhota quinter. The Xhota have banned all non-Xhota serfs from both their urb and their castle, making it difficult to continue operations inside their borders. However, I found a way to contact a still-loyal Xhota agent of yours. I’ll have him follow up on what my interrogator uncovered.”

Very very interesting…

“One last thing, Lady Nari. My interrogator told me that she wasn’t the first to question this assassin. He even admitted to having been questioned before. He wasn’t sure by whom, as he’d been first abducted, then blindfolded during the questioning. But one thing is clear. We aren’t the only ones looking for the Promised Daughter. And we aren’t the only ones to know Sukren took her over the shelterbelt.”

And here, all this time, Lady Nari had been furious at the thought of someone else taking Sukren from her… when it had been Sukren all along…

“Excellent work,” Lady Nari said aloud. “Anything you need, don’t hesitate to tell me. What you’re doing is my highest priority.”