Teornis shook his head, looking genuinely regretful. ‘There is one other little duty you may have to shoulder, if things proceed to their worst. I’d rather not impose it on you, and I swear I’ll do what I can to find any other way, but I shall be honest with you in this. You may have to kill him.’
She said nothing, and kept her expression as still as she could.
‘Inelegant, I know,’ he said, apparently in the belief that he was mirroring her thoughts.
I told Stenwold it would not come to that, she reflected. To simply eliminate an opponent is graceless, for the Aristoi, until they have ripped everything else from him. But, of course, how better to demonstrate that a man has nothing left, than to have his death come by the hand of the one closest to him? Oh, yes, that would be elegance indeed.
‘I would rather not have you break cover in such a gauche manner,’ Teornis drawled. ‘However, certain circumstances may require it, so I give you fair warning. Stenwold Maker is not the only one who might need to fear violence at our negotiations.’
‘Stenwold wouldn’t-’
‘Oh, surely he himself wouldn’t,’ Teornis agreed, ‘but I want your blade at his throat if anyone in his party would.’ Seeing her expression he smiled again. ‘I understand how you must feel about this, my dear, but you perhaps have been living amongst their kind for too long. You have forgotten your true self. When your shell of Beetle-ness has been cast aside, you shall emerge as the pure Spider, I assure you, and such thoughts will no longer trouble you.’
Helmess returned home later than he had planned, delayed by unwelcome business. Honory Bellowern had summoned him peremptorily to another meeting at Helmess’s other townhouse. This time the Imperial Beetle’s manner had been shorn of the sly, his usual cunning almost submerged by the great tide of good fortune that had swept him up.
‘Well now, are you ready to receive the benefits of a friend of the Empire? They may be yours sooner than you think,’ Honory had declared, the moment they were alone together.
‘You mean this business with the Spiderlands,’ had been Helmess’s reply, sounding as disdainful as he could manage. In truth he suspected that the rift between Stenwold and the Aldanrael was far more of a boon to his own plans than to anything the Empire might be seeking, but he kept that well and truly to himself.
‘We require another favour, Master Broiler,’ Bellowern had told him, predictably enough. ‘We’d like you to fan the flames, if you would. Rattle some swords towards the Spiderlands. Go shake Stenwold Maker’s hand and call him a true patriot.’
Helmess’s sour smile had not needed much feigning. ‘I’ve started on the path.’
‘Your initiative has been noted,’ had come Bellowern’s patronizing response. ‘I’ve not had orders back, of course, but I anticipate that, once the sails are in sight of the harbour, there will be an army ready to march to repatriate Myna and the other so-called Alliance cities back into the Empire. The bleeding hearts of Collegium will be too busy fighting for their much-vaunted freedom to object. After that, Helleron, then the Lowlands, frankly. By year’s end we’ll be investing Sarn with a couple of full armies, and you and I will be dining in the Amphiophos, under the black and gold. How’s that sound to you?’
Helmess’s smile had been broad and genuine, though the thought behind it had been, Oh you have no idea just how many players there are in this game, Master Bellowern. The black and gold might receive a little surprise, if it comes down the coast again. ‘Just let me know what you wish me to do,’ he had invited, before setting off home to meet his next unwitting tool.
Danaen strode into Helmess’s parlour displaying all the confidence in the world, but these Mantis-kinden were not as inscrutable as they thought they were. If she had been a Spider or a Moth, then Helmess would have had no window onto her soul. In her expression, though, he registered naked curiosity. She would not be well educated about Collegiate politics, but no doubt she had heard that Helmess and Stenwold were not best of friends.
He had sent Elytrya away, during this interview, since it would not do to be seen with anything resembling a Spider-kinden at his side.
Danaen folded her arms, looking contemptuous, and Helmess thought, Five centuries ago, and your kind might have been justified in that expression. Nowadays you’re just a joke in bad taste, but perhaps I will get the chance to laugh at you, after all.
‘I asked to see you because I know you have the ear of Master Stenwold Maker, and he so seldom listens to me,’ Helmess began mildly. The Mantis woman just stared back at him impudently, but he assumed the demeanour of a concerned, perhaps slightly ineffectual Beetle statesman, as he knew she must view him, and continued. ‘We were all extremely surprised when he told us about the Spider situation,’ he continued. ‘After all, it was his people who brought Teornis and the Aldanrael family into the war with the Vekken, and with the Empire too.’ He watched her carefully, from behind his avuncular exterior. There was no suggestion that she had heard the rumours – in fact the extremely accurate rumours – that he had been collaborating with Imperial agents. But, of course, Mantis-kinden wouldn’t deign to listen to Beetle gossip, and how I shall now exploit that. ‘A lot of us are worried about how Master Maker will handle this.’
Her scowl of derision deepened: no doubt she took him for the peace-making kind. Helmess let her believe so for a moment, then said, ‘Many of us in the Assembly fear that after all this, after the blood that has already been shed, Maker will simply roll over and get back into bed with the Spiders as though nothing has ever happened.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘That makes no sense. Why would he even tell you, then? Would any of you fat Beetles even have known, had he not opened your eyes?’
‘Well, perhaps not.’ Helmess picked his words with care. ‘But, then, Master Maker has achieved his current rank amongst us by taking us into wars. That has been the subject of our many disagreements, and I am less certain about his means of taking us out of them. He has become known as a… compromising man. You know of the Vekken siege a few years back, yes?’
He received a curt nod.
‘Well, you must know that Maker is even cosying up to the Vekken these days.’
And she did know – he saw it in her eyes – and he had planted his seed of doubt. She said nothing, but her posture was now different, less stand-offish, more receptive.
‘So, he’s got us into another fight. Well, if what he says about the Spiders is true, then perhaps that’s fair enough. What I’m worried about, what many of us are worried about, is that now he’s made himself the centre of attention all over again, he’ll just make some deal with Teornis and then hush the whole thing up.’ Helmess steepled his plump fingers. ‘And what will that solve? Really, I mean, what? Will it stop them taking advantage of us? I really rather doubt it. I’m not too proud to admit that the Spiders are a clever lot. I’d not want to talk terms with one of them. You never know what you might be agreeing to.’
She nodded, just a little, and he thought, Prejudice is such a wonderful thing.
‘Your people, of course, you know the Spiders. When I heard that you and yours were involved, well, that offered a spark of hope, I can tell you. I was hoping that Maker would just put your talents to their best use: a strong, solid strike against the Spider-kinden, to show them we’re not to be toyed with. Nothing seems to have happened, though, since Maker made his big announcement. Some of us are getting worried that he’s going to go soft on us again.’
She cocked her head to one side, watching him narrowly. ‘What are you saying?’
‘Would you kill the Spider lord, if you had the chance?’
‘Of course.’ She did not pause for a moment.
‘But I’d guess Maker doesn’t want that, or he’d have given you the order already. After all, Teornis is right here in the city.’ And how that must gall her. She must almost be able to smell him from twenty streets away. Yes, look, there go her hands to her weapon hilts, just at the thought…
‘He’s… thinking,’ was all Danaen’s voice said, though her body language betrayed a great deal more.
‘Oh, well, thinking is always a wise precaution.’ Helmess made a great show of holding his hands up in despair. ‘Tell me, please, are my fears justified? Is he going to meet with them?’
‘He might. That’s what he’s thinking about,’ said the Mantis. She had come here wearing a full suit of distrust, but he was easing her out of it piece by piece. ‘But he has found no meeting place he can be sure of.’ Her expression shifted to a sneer. ‘If not for that, no doubt he’d be meeting with them already.’
‘Then perhaps that’s what he should do,’ Helmess said frankly. Danaen was frowning, caught off guard, but
