of Naming. Those who use misrepresentation take a grain of what is true and then spin a fabric of deceit from that truth. They magnify the importance of a small truth. They make that small truth large enough to conceal their deceit behind it…”
Quaeryt listened intently, concealing a smile. The old chorister had seen far more than he had ever revealed, and just as clearly, he had been no true supporter of either Phaeryn or Zarxes.
After the benediction, Quaeryt deliberately avoided the chorister, for to have spoken to him at that moment would have lessened the impact of the homily. Instead, he motioned to Nalakyn. The two walked down the rutted path from the anomen toward the brick lane leading back to the scholarium.
“The chorister knew what Phaeryn and Zarxes were doing.” Quaeryt let the words hang.
Nalakyn said nothing for several paces. “I worried about Chardyn more than I did about the Master Scholar. Chardyn had ties to the hill holders, and he was not to be trusted. I thought that Phaeryn kept him so that no one would attack the … scholarium … or because he feared Chardyn. You know that Chardyn’s father was the head of the Khanar’s Guard?”
“I learned that.”
“Most scholars are not men of action. If you had watched the Sansang practices, you would have seen that only a few younger scholars took part. Most of those who did practice were students. The Master Scholar allowed Chardyn to require students to learn some Sansang because they would not be scholars and because it would benefit them to have some training in defending themselves without using forbidden weapons. Most of us were not unhappy when Chardyn vanished.” Nalakyn paused. “You had something to do with that, did you not?”
“Scholar Chardyn vanished because of his own actions, not because of mine,” replied Quaeryt. “There were others who fell afoul of him, I learned later, and their golds and silvers found their way back to the Ecoliae.”
“There were rumors … but there was never any proof. I never saw the Master Scholar or Zarxes do anything untoward.”
“Even with the armories and the tunnels?”
“The tunnels were there for escape. The armories were there for protection. None of us ever took up weapons-except, it appears, for Chardyn, Phaeryn, and Zarxes. Perhaps one or two others, but I do not know who they might be.”
As they walked toward the scholarium, Quaeryt asked questions and listened. He had no doubts that Nalakyn was kind … but the preceptor of students was also credulous and not the strongest of personalities. Yet who else was respected and could set the right tone for reforming the scholarium into what Quaeryt envisioned? Could Yullyd and Nalakyn together manage to keep the school and scholarium operating?
Quaeryt had his doubts … but he also didn’t see any other immediate options.
He faced an even larger problem. While his “visit” to the scholarium and his subsequent inspections and findings had proved, at least to him, that Phaeryn and Zarxes had been linked to the hill holders, why hadn’t Rescalyn done something earlier? Surely, the governor had to have known long before Quaeryt had arrived. In fact, Rescalyn couldn’t have known that Bhayar was going to send Quaeryt to Tilbora. Bhayar himself hadn’t known until Quaeryt had planted the idea.
So why had Rescalyn seized upon the scholars and the Ecoliae so readily? Because it fit in with something he was already planning?
That made an unfortunate kind of sense to Quaeryt-and it also meant that he needed to return and “report” to the governor as soon as possible.
71
On Lundi morning, Quaeryt left the scholarium early enough that he and the two troopers who accompanied him rode through the eastern gates of the Telaryn Palace at half past seventh glass. He had barely reined up in the side courtyard when he saw the form of a ranker being carried on a wooden platform by six men in full uniform. Behind them walked a drummer, playing a slow funereal roll. The ranker had died, presumably in the line of duty, but Quaeryt had received no word about fighting. Besides, anyone who had died in the hills would have been placed on a pyre there, and not at the Telaryn Palace. He glanced to the two rankers beside him.
“Do you know what happened?”
“No, sir.” Both shook their heads.
Quaeryt dismounted, then handed the mare’s reins to the nearer ranker. “I could be several glasses.”
“We’ll be near the officers’ stable, sir.”
“Good.”
The scholar turned and, after another look in the direction of the northern part of the courtyard and the funeral party, headed toward the door to the palace.
The duty squad leader looked up from the table desk. “Scholar, sir?”
“What happened? The funeral party?”
“One of the governor’s messengers got careless yesterday afternoon. He was running an errand. He slipped and went over one of the railings in the palace … fell and hit his head on the stone below.”
“Who was it?”
“Kellear … he was used mostly as a messenger. Nice young man … very pleasant.”
Kellear … Kellear … Quaeryt had heard that name before. He knew he had. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Accidents happen, sir. We wish they didn’t, but they do.”
Quaeryt nodded, still puzzling over where he’d heard the name. From the foyer of the palace, he headed down the main corridor and then up the main stairs to the governor’s study. At the top, he paused. The railing was more than waist-high … and what sort of errand was a ranker running on Solayi, not that the governor couldn’t order it? There was also the fact that no one besides the ranker-and the governor-would likely have been in the area above the stairs.
At that moment, he recalled where he’d heard the name before … and from whose lips. He stiffened, then took a deep breath, before resuming his steps toward the governor’s anteroom, hoping that his deliberate breach of the implied chain of command would yield the results he needed to verify his suspicions.
Undercaptain Caermyt’s mouth opened as Quaeryt walked into the anteroom.
“I’m here to report to the governor,” announced Quaeryt. “Some matters have come up, of which I feel he should be aware.”
“Yes, sir … I’ll tell him that you’re here.” The undercaptain rose and walked to the study door, where he knocked. “Scholar Quaeryt is here to report to you.”
There was a silence, followed by the words “Have him come in.”
Caermyt opened the door and stepped back slightly.
Quaeryt walked to the study, took the door, effectively from Caermyt’s hand, closed it, firmly if quietly, behind him, and entered the chamber. He walked to the desk and inclined his head politely. “Sir.”
“I must say I am surprised to see you here so soon, scholar.” Rescalyn did not rise from behind his table desk.
Behind Rescalyn’s smile, Quaeryt sensed there was another emotion. Whether anger, consternation, or concern, he wasn’t certain, but he’d definitely gotten a reaction by his presence, and now it was time to see if he could provoke the governor into revealing more.
“I assume you read my report about the hidden armory, sir.”
“I did. Surely, you did not ride across Tilbora to question me on what I read?”
“Oh, no, sir. But, after I sent you the first report, I had time to do an even more thorough investigation of the buildings, and I thought you should know immediately of the results.”
“A written report, sent through the princeps, would have been more than sufficient.”
“There were matters I did not believe should have been put to ink. But first, the buildings. There was a second escape tunnel and also a second hidden armory, concealed in the lower-level armory. Unlike the smaller first armory, whose weapons looked older and which had not been used recently, a number of the weapons in the second armory were in excellent condition and bore signs of recent use and sharpening. Then I undertook an inspection of the ledgers of the Ecoliae. The ledgers were kept by the bursar, but many of the sources of funds
