The Destiny of the Dead (The Song of the Tears Book 3) (44 page)

‘Is that all?’ said Yulla.

‘We also require ships to convey the army swiftly to Fadd,
so we can strike at the heart of the empire – Jal-Nish’s palace of
Morrelune.’

‘Coin I can provide,’ said Yulla. ‘I am no longer wealthy,
but the type of campaign you propose – small and fast – is within
my capacity. Ships also. I only have two in Roros at the moment, but trusted
allies could supply the rest. My protection is yours, of course, while you
remain in Roros. The army is another matter. What did you have in mind?’

She was looking at Nish again.

‘As – as Flydd said, I plan to show myself publicly,
announce my intention to overthrow my father and call for volunteers. I
–’

‘No, no and no,’ she cried. ‘There can be no appearances, no
public announcements, no recruitment of volunteers.’

‘But –’ began Nish.

‘Surely I don’t need to explain it to
him
?’ said Yulla.

‘He would not hear it from me,’ said Flydd.

‘Show yourself publicly and the seneschal of Roros will move
against you with overwhelming force – he’s already planned his attack for
the moment you appear. Merely saying that you plan to overthrow the God-Emperor
is sedition and you will be shot on sight by anonymous assassins.’

‘The seneschal wouldn’t dare,’ said Nish weakly.

‘He would not have while your father was around, but your
announcement in Taranta changed everything,’ said Yulla. ‘Clearly, Jal-Nish is
no longer the all-powerful God-Emperor he once was. The sharks can taste blood
in the water, and they’re already circling. Besides, if you call for
volunteers, half of those who come forward will be in the pay of the empire,
and after taking you, they’ll come for me.’

‘Then what can I do?’ cried Nish. Realising that he sounded
like a petulant child, and that Persia was taking in everything he said and
judging him on it, he went on more calmly. ‘I must have an army, but how am I
to raise one?’

‘
You
can’t, but I
could put a small corps together,’ said Yulla. ‘I have several hundred men on
my wage rolls, all former soldiers from Crandor’s army during the war. Men
rejected for Jal-Nish’s forces because of their loyalty to me.’

‘And you’ve kept them on all this time?’ said Nish, looking
at her through new eyes.

‘Any leader who demands loyalty of her troops must show the
same loyalty to them, in good times and in bad. And I have influential friends
who also have their own private corps. We could muster an army of two thousand,
given a little time.’

‘I can’t take the empire with such a small force,’ Nish said
quietly.

‘Didn’t you just defeat ten thousand men with a few
hundred?’

‘With a great deal of aid from the Range of Ruin, and from
nature.’

‘If you want my aid you’ll find a way, because two thousand
is all I can bring you, and even if I had more, there would not be the ships to
carry them south. Well?’

‘If that is an offer,’ said Flydd, ‘we’ll take it.’

Two thousand men, Nish thought, shaking his head. How can I
attack the might of the empire with so few?

‘Not so fast,’ said Yulla. ‘What are you offering me?’

‘The governorship of Crandor.’

‘I would expect no less. What else?’ She leaned forward
greedily, her jowls quivering.

‘Restoration of the monopolies the God-Emperor took from
you, plus restitution for the unfair taxes imposed on you to destroy your
wealth.’

‘Agreed,’ said Yulla at once. ‘With compound interest, of
course.’

‘Come now,’ said Flydd evenly, but in the tone that
signified he was not going to negotiate. ‘I’m not going to bankrupt the empire
for you.’

‘My losses have been very high. And this campaign will cost
me a fortune.’

‘You’ve reduced your outlays enormously since you lost the
governorship, so you’re not nearly as badly off as you maintain.’

‘I’ll have to call in a host of favours; and reward those
who aid me.’

‘With what I’ve offered, you can easily afford it.’ Flydd
folded his arms.

She picked up the hand lens, studied her crystal cluster for
a minute or two, then said, ‘I’ll concede the point. Go on.’

‘A seat on the God-Emp–’ Flydd glanced at Nish, saw
his scowl and amended, ‘on the advisory council set up in the event of Nish’s
victory.’

‘A
permanent
seat.’

‘Agreed,’ said Flydd, then added, ‘as long as you remain of
sound mind and body, and are capable of occupying that seat and doing your
duty.’

After hesitating fractionally, Yulla agreed. ‘However, all
such offers are contingent on your success, which is far from guaranteed. What
can you offer me now?’

‘
Now?
’ said Flydd,
frowning.

‘If the plot is discovered, I lose everything and so does my
family. I must have a down-payment.’

‘I’ve been on the run since the war, Yulla. My resources are
meagre.’

‘I wasn’t thinking of coin. I’ll accept the God-Emperor’s
air-sled.’

‘That piece of junk!’ cried Nish.

‘There’s no flying craft like it in the empire. And with
such a vehicle …’

‘I gave you a thapter once,’ mused Flydd. He looked at her
sideways. ‘It was a mighty gift.’

‘And I repaid you twice over in aid. Besides, I only had it
for a few months, for it failed when the nodes were destroyed.’

‘As did every thapter and construct; my gift was made in
good faith, and given in good order.’

Yulla frowned, turned her crystals over and studied them
from the other side, holding them as if they were the most precious of nature’s
blooms. ‘I will accept the air-sled as your down-payment. An adviser tells me
that it has … potential.’

‘Oh?’ said Flydd sharply, but she did not elaborate, and he
added, ‘Very well. But if you can get it going again, I may need to call upon
it to prosecute the war.’

‘I agree that you may
ask
for it. Where did you hide it?’

‘It’s lying at the bottom of Cockle Cove, near the abandoned
watch-tower. I should warn you, it was failing in flight, a problem with the
mechanism …’

She’ll reject the offer, Nish thought gloomily, and we’ll
have to start again.

‘Nothing that my adviser can’t fix, I’m sure.’ Yulla raised
her voice a little. ‘Mel, would you come here for a minute?’

The old man laid down his paper and rose from the chair,
only it wasn’t a man. It was a short, plump woman of nearly sixty years, with
thin grey hair and a small bald patch. She was dressed in patched, shabby and
rather grubby shirt and trousers, but as soon as she turned those keen eyes on
him, Nish knew her, though he had not seen her for thirteen years. And so did
Flydd.

‘Mechanician M’lainte,’ they exclaimed together.

‘Just M’lainte,’ she said, smiling broadly as she shook
Flydd’s hand, then Nish’s. ‘The old titles were thrown out with the rubbish of
the war, and good riddance.’

M’lainte had been a genius with any kind of mechanical
device, especially those powered by the Art, and she had designed and built the
first air-floater from a rude sketch Nish had given to Flydd. Nish had
subsequently flown it, and drifted in it, halfway across Lauralin, but M’lainte
had remained in the south and he had never seen her again.

‘You can talk about old times later,’ said Yulla. ‘M’lainte,
can you repair the air-sled’s mechanism? Since it’s the only craft of its kind
in existence, it is beyond price.’

‘I imagine so,’ said M’lainte. ‘I believe I understand how
it works, and even if some of the parts are broken, they can be replaced. If
you can make available a suitable vessel I’ll raise it tomorrow night –
assuming the seas are calm.’

Yulla nodded and turned back to Flydd. ‘Then I’ll accept it
as down-payment. Are we agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ said Flydd.

Nish echoed him, feeling as though he’d been railroaded,
though he could not see what else he could have done.

‘Persia?’ said Yulla. ‘Would you come over so we can seal
the agreement?’

Persia carried the tray across and poured a lime-coloured
liquor into three glasses until they were full to the brim. ‘Each of you will
drink one third of your liquor and pass your glass to your right. When the
glasses have returned to their original holders, empty, the agreement is sealed
– and cannot be broken without the consent of all parties.’

She handed drinks to Yulla, Flydd and Nish.

They raised their glasses and sipped. The liquor was thick
and sweet, with the aromatic flavour of lime zest, and very strong. After
taking a third, Nish passed it to the right, to Yulla, accepted Flydd’s glass
in turn, and shortly the agreement had been sealed.

‘It’s done,’ he said, feeling the burden that had weighed
him down lifting just a little. There was a long way to go, and they would
probably fail, but at least they had a plan.

 
THIRTY

Afterwards Persia led them downstairs into a reception
room at the rear of the mansion overlooking the sea. ‘If you would wait here,’
she said, ‘I’ll make the necessary arrangements.’

‘What arrangements?’ Nish said, but she had already gone.

They sat down. The windows had many small panes and through
them he could see all the way to the horizon. The sky was clear and the
crescent moon touched the crests of the waves with red and silver. It was a
beautiful sight, yet he could not enjoy it. How could he take on the empire
with two thousand men?

Nish was not looking forward to the long voyage south,
either. The sea was not his element and, on the one time he had sailed, the
ship had been wrecked in a storm and most of the people aboard had drowned. He
and Flydd had been marooned on a miserably cold island for weeks, living on
worms and grubs, and, though it had been many years ago, he could still remember
the taste of them, going down and coming up.

‘I gather you’re not entirely happy with this strategy,’
said Flydd.

‘I feel as though it’s been forced on me, and that you’ve
negotiated all my choices away.’

‘If you had a better plan, you should have mentioned it
earlier.’

‘Everything is moving too fast. I like to think things
through.’

‘There isn’t time. No matter how careful we were on the way
from Taranta, the air-sled could have been seen, and if the seneschal of Roros
should guess we’re here, he’ll bring in so many wisp-watchers and scriers that
not even Yulla will be able to hide us.’

Nish shivered, his hopes dwindling. ‘Did you have to agree
to all her outrageous demands? Reparation
and
restitution
? She’s robbing us blind.’

‘Of course she is, but I don’t have time to look for a
better ally, and if I did, I doubt I could find one. Yulla has many qualities
and we can’t do without her.’

‘But a seat on the council! Why concede that?’

‘She would not have agreed without it. Wealth can be lost
far more quickly than it was gained, and it’s hard to hold onto it without
power. A position on the advisory council guarantees Yulla that power. Besides,
she was an excellent governor of Crandor and she will be invaluable on any such
council.’

‘You might have asked me first.’ It sounded petulant, though
Nish had not intended it that way.

‘Is that what this is all about?’ snapped Flydd. ‘You don’t
even know her, Nish. As scrutator I negotiated with Yulla, and dozens like her,
for more than a decade. I can read her; I know what she’ll accept and what she
won’t. I gave her nothing we could not afford, and no more than the minimum she
would accept to help us.’

‘Even so,’ said Nish, ‘you could have told me this on the
way.’

‘I didn’t know she was alive until I got here.’

‘But you had this plan in mind, or one like it. You’re
manipulating me, Flydd, the way Vivimord did,
and my father
. You don’t feel like my old friend any more, and you
haven’t since taking renewal. You’re acting like an arrogant scrutator, moving
around lifeless pieces on a game board.’

Flydd opened his mouth to speak, evidently thought better of
it and stalked to the furthest window, his chest rising and falling.

Nish watched his rigid back for a while, then sighed and
leaned back in his seat. Flydd was using him, of course he was, but did he have
any choice? Nish’s irritation began to fade as he realised that Flydd was right
and that this plan was the only one with any hope of success.

Even so, he missed their comradeship of old, which had
largely vanished on renewal, and perhaps that was what this was all about. Nish
felt alone now, so desperately alone and helpless.

He closed his eyes. He was always tired these days, and he
ached all over. You’re not a young man any more, he told himself. You’re
approaching middle age, you’ve done too much and you can’t keep it up. But he
had to; there was still so far to go.

Persia came in. ‘Nish, if you would come this way, I’ll show
you to your room.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ said Flydd, swinging around.

‘Nish will be staying here until we’re ready to sail. Since
he was a hero of the war and is the God-Emperor’s son, everyone knows his face,
and Yulla can’t allow him to be recognised.’

‘But my gear,’ said Nish, ‘the militia –’

‘M’lainte’s crew will collect your gear, and the militia,
when she raises the air-sled tomorrow night. If you need anything else, it will
be provided.’

‘What if I have to go outside?’

‘If it’s absolutely necessary I will accompany you, and you
will be disguised. From now on I will be your bodyguard –’

‘You!’ Nish exclaimed, for she was neither tall nor muscular
but, indeed, exceedingly feminine.

She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. ‘I have been
Yulla’s bodyguard for almost seven years, and I assure you I’m very good at
it.’