The Crimson League (The Herezoth Trilogy) (51 page)

“I remember, all right. I said I didn’t care about fairness, you’d been drawing for an hour already. Mother tanned my hide.”

Kora laughed. “She would. A response like that!”

They talked until Zacry fell asleep, leaning against his sister, around four-thirty. Not wanting to rouse him, Kora stayed where she was, lost in thought for another hour or so, just glad to hold her brother. At the tweets of the first birds and the lightening of the sky, she woke Zacry with a whisper.

“Is it dawn?” he asked, and rubbed his eye, then grimaced as he stretched his leg.

“Laskenay will be out any minute.”

So Laskenay was. With a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, Kora told Zacry goodbye, and he and Laskenay were off. Lanokas appeared a moment later. “You holding together?” he asked.

“I am. I didn’t think I would be, but I am, because I know that he will.”

“Thanks to you, he’ll be just fine.”

* * *

Kora kept busy the week after Zacry left, preparing to accost the general. The work was draining, and monotonous, but it carried one advantage: she was far too occupied to let herself miss her brother. Neslan and Lanokas took turns, endless turns, playing Argint in mock-interviews, so that Kora felt sure she could respond with poise and sincerity to any insult, any protestation. The second night, so Bennie said, Kora started arguing with the man in her sleep, and still, hour after hour, day after day of debating with the nobles passed, until the moment came to actually debate with Zalski’s new general.

“Don’t be nervous,” Neslan told her before she went off to Yangerton. “If he refuses, he refuses. It won’t be because you could have made a better case. Just get yourself out of there in one piece.”

The day was slow at City Hall, as slow as Kora’s soundless progress through the building. She stopped twice to let people pass her on the stairs, but neither man, both soldiers, came close to bumping her or suspecting she was there. She made one wrong turn but corrected it with ease, and then found herself outside Argint’s office. He was in; she could hear him rifling through papers. When she convinced herself he was alone, she rapped once, briskly, on the door, and cancelled her invisibility as the knob turned.

“I wasn’t expecting you until….”

Argint’s voice stopped cold as he laid eyes on Kora. With a jerk he pulled her inside, then slid two chain bolts in place behind them. Only then did he find his lost speech, his eyes studying his guest.

“You should know you can’t use magic here. Zalski secured this office.”

“Precisely for this reason, I suppose. Don’t worry, I don’t need magic, I haven’t come to threaten you.”

“So why have you come?”

“To appeal to your sense of decency.” Kora took in the room with a rapid, sweeping glance. She found nothing unexpected: the wooden desk with its front piece that spanned three feet, the cot Zalski once had commented on, two short stools, and three or four boxes stacked neatly against the wall.

“Let me rephrase. What exactly do you want?”

“Your help,” she said. “Your support, in setting things right and putting Rexson on the throne while there’s still some measure of a royal family to restore.”

Argint chuckled to himself, shaking his head. “You’re desperate.”

“I’m not desperate. I’m determined to see t
his done, and in the right way:
the safest, most direct way possible. That involves you. With you on our side, our victory involves fewer deaths, surely you realize that? I’m speaking of Zalski’s men, of
your
men. If you ordered them to surrender, they’d surrender. They would live. Like I said, you’re a decent man. You broke no oaths. You didn’t conspire against the king. You were loyal to him, and loyal to the army. Now you lead the army. What you say, they do.”

The general insisted, “You’re desperate, Porteg. It’s over for you. You secured your brother’s safety, and now you’re scrambling to save your neck. I can’t say I blame you. I’d be doing the same thing. Your brother first, though…. Your priorities are straight, I’ll say that for you.”

“In case you’re curious, I convinced my brother to attend Zalski’s school. And he will, if it opens, but I’m not here to save myself. If turning myself in would somehow keep Zalski from my family, I’d do it in a heartbeat. The man’s infringed more than enough already on my brother’s life. I
will
find a way to keep Zacry away from him. You can help me. If you choose not to, well, I’ll have to try something else.”

Argint’s eyes had not left her since she entered. The same as in their previous meeting, he seemed unsure what to make of her, whether to trust her or to disregard her pleas, to hear her out or to toss her out the door. “How did you know where to find me?” he asked. “Was it that chain?”

“It was the chain.”

“So you’ve been here before.”

“In a manner of speaking. Only once.”

“When, exactly?”

“When Zalski offered you the post of general. Please try to understand, I know that chain might make it seem there are some surface similarities between him and me. But there are fundamental differences. I didn’t seek out the power that chain gave me. You may or may not believe me, and I can’t go into details, I won’t, it would compromise other people, but I didn’t want that magic, and I didn’t abuse it. I used it to gather information, intelligence, for the defense of myself and my friends, nothing more.”

“You should be more careful, Porteg. You just revealed you have no spies among my ranks.”

“With all due respect, I never said that.”

“If this magic was so distasteful, you would only have used it if you had no other access to the Palace. So either you’re telling boldfaced falsehoods, or the League has no spies. Which is it?”

“We have no spies.”

“Again you prove my point: y
ou’re desperate. I imagine the prince put all his hope in the spy that fell.”

“Does that really matter?” said Kora.

“Desperate causes don’t appeal to me as a general rule.”

Kora decided to backtrack. “I saw this place once, using the chain. We were hoping at the time to save Fontferry’s mayor.”

“Yes,” said Argint. “Yes, if you were here when you say, you’d know that operation.”

“I knew about it before then. That’s why I made sure to eavesdrop. I wish there had been another way, but I don’t apologize for trying to protect Jonson Peare. In fact, if I still can do something to save the man, I will. If that costs me your aid, so be it. My hope is that Zalski will let the plot go.”

Argint began to pace the room. “I understand what you’re saying. The chain made you uneasy. What I don’t understand is how that makes you different from Zalski.”

“That’s because Zalski’s never told you why he wants the
Librette Oscure
, am I right? Why he’s actively pursuing it, and has been for over a year. Why he restrained himself from killing Bendelof Esper. He doesn’t want you to know. Well, you should know. You should know what you’re supporting.”

Kora explained about the mindstone, about Zalski’s aims. Argint listened as he walked back and forth, avoiding her gaze, staring at the floor. “Nothing I’ve ever done comes close to that kind of invasion. Of violation. There are some things a human just doesn’t have the warrant…. The man you answer to actively seeks that power, for crowd control. Crowd control, General, to scare the masses.”

“It’s a moot point,” said Argint. Kora’s eyes grew wide, and he explained, “He’ll never find the book. Your lot will make sure the spell stays hidden if you accomplish nothing else. Zalski’s aims are disturbing, to be sure, but he won’t fulfill them, and even assuming he might, I’ve never been one to…. How does the expression go? To bite the hand that feeds me? Respect deserves respect. Trust earns trust. I don’t betray those who treat me kindly.”

Kora stared at him, disgusted. She had no response for this. Neither she, nor Lanokas, nor Neslan had suspected the General could disregard Zalski’s evil after seeing its full force. “I thought you were different,” she muttered. “I thought you were….”

“I support the side fate pulled me in line with. That’s no different from you, Porteg. No different from you, I won’t have you invade my office to look down your nose at me. We’re finished here.” He stepped toward the door, but before he could open it, the bells on top the building chimed the hour. One, two….

Argint stopped dead. “My meeting with Zalski.” Kora’s stomach fell somewhere to the region of her knees. Footsteps were approaching down the corridor.

“
Trasporte,
” she whispered. “
Trasporte, Despareska….”

Nothing happened.

“Behind the desk,” Argint hissed. He tugged her toward the only space where she could possibly hide herself; the cot was raised, the floor beneath exposed. “Behind the desk, and don’t move. Don’t even breathe.”

Kora rolled beneath the desk, to the spot where a chair would normally be tucked. She lay on her side, scrunched in a ball, her back against the wooden slab that served as the furniture’s front. Her booming heart would give her away, she was sure of it. To be trapped like game, like a rabbit, after all she had been through; when she had planned just an hour ago to transport out as a last resort…. Her blood went cold. A sharp knock sounded on the door, and Kora screwed her eyes as Argint let in Zalski.

“Punctual to the minute, as always.” To Kora’s relief, the General sounded perfectly in control. Her blood began to thaw, until a recognizable voice responded.

“How comes the transition?”

Even if he finds you, Zacry’s safe. Nothing else matters. Zacry’s safe.

Kora’s eyes were still pressed shut. What if Zalski spoke something damning, revealed sensitive information, so sensitive that Kora must not live to pass it on? Would Argint reveal her? Pretend to discover her, as though she had entered without his knowledge? He could do that. He had the wits. Or would he wait until Zalski left, and then dispatch her? She had never felt so helpless, not even in Galisan’s warehouse, when Menikas stopped her rushing back to headquarters. Not even when she had failed to save Sedder.

Argint said, “The transition’s on schedule. I’d say that right now, Crabe handles eighty percent of my old duties.”

“That much?” said Zalski. “He’s that competent?”

“That’s why I chose him to replace me. He’s more than competent. He’ll head Yangerton operations as well as any. I’m in the process of training him to update the city registry, he’ll need to do that next year.”

“And he’ll listen to orders?”

“Orders from you or myself, delegated through his Captain, yes. Take a seat, Zalski.”

The scrape of two stools across the floor made Kora shiver. However, neither man placed himself behind the desk.

“How do I put this?” said Zalski. “How certain are you of Crabe’s character?”

Argint said, “An important issue, that. One I take seriously. I don’t need to remind you how shocked I was when Wilhem Horn proved a fraud. I worked with him more than once. He was pleasant enough, and diligent, I would never have suspected.”

“So you investigated Crabe?”

“To the letter of the law and in excess of it. I had him followed for five days straight. Read his correspondence. Searched his home.”

Zalski said, “And you’re certain of his character?”

“Completely.”

“I did the same with Wilhem, Argint.”

“I’m convinced Crabe’s loyal, I can say no more than that. If you want him to speak with Malzin, I’ll arrange it. That’s the only further test I can imagine.”

Zalski’s voice was cold. “Arrange it. I won’t have another spy infiltrate my ranks.”

“You paid your sister back three fold for Wilhem, don’t forget that.”

“Yes, losing their headquarters was a blow, not to mention the Carder woman. As for Miss Esper, I should have paid her as she deserved. I should have killed them all. They’re flies, damn flies. One doesn’t ignore a fly.”

“One swats it.”

“Grombach said I should swat them.”

“Alten Grombach was impulsive. You were right to question him.”

“And wrong not to follow his advice. I could have broken them, picked them off one by one, pair by pair, as they returned. Where are they now? Have you turned up any leads?”

“Nothing here, which is hardly surprising. They had no place in Yangerton left to go. I’ll keep retracing my steps, of course. It’s so unlikely they’ll return here they just may try it, to throw us off.”

“Malzin’s searches have come up empty,” said Zalski. “She’s about to move on to….”

“Her men are capable, Sire. I know, I was one of them for years. They’ll find what remains of the League, they’ll just need time. When they reach the right location….”

Silence. Kora would have given
anything to see Zalski’s face. W
hy had Argint interrupted him, did he wonder? Did he suspect the actual cause? She took Argint’s advice to her literally, holding her breath until the sorcerer spoke again. “No doubt of that,” he said. “No doubt.”

Argint asked, “What precisely did you wish to discuss? Besides Crabe?”