'Oh! So you're finally going to make the first move? I thought I'd be all gray and you'd be all bald before you… Why are you peeking through the shutters?'
'I was followed.'
'Again? I thought they'd given up on that'
'The Bruglioni have. But now some more serious people are interested. I'll tell you later. Right now, though, I have to get the world out of my head. And you're the woman who can empty my brain.'
Anna had the chicken roasting. She listened while Else filled her in. 'That's hard to believe, Piper.' She was an excellent listener. She did not interrupt. She did not ask stupid questions. She did not let emotion obscure her view of reality. 'They're going to make you a general?'
'I find it hard to believe, too. But I was in the right places at the right times.'
'You had something to do with what happened to that Brotherhood of War sorcerer in Sonsa, didn't you?'
'He killed my friends. He meant to kill me. But he didn't know who I was.'
'Aren't you afraid they'll check your story a little closer?'
“Terrified. But I can't walk away because there's a risk.'
'What about the sorcerer? He doesn't suspect you?'
'I'm sure. There was evidence that the man he was after died in the fighting. He never actually saw me, anyway. So he's even more angry at Deves. I'm more concerned about Ferris Renfrow, the Emperor's spymaster. He thinks he knows who I am. He wants to use that to control me.'
'Maybe you should go away.'
'No. This is what I do. This is what I chose to do. Did your husband have connections with anyone besides my people?'
'What do you mean?'
'Bluntly, that intelligence gatherers sometimes market their harvest to more than one buyer. I'm wondering if he served more than one master.'
Anna eyed him doubtfully. 'Where are you headed?'
'I'm trying to figure out if anyone besides me would know that you were his wife. Other than the people whose tools we are. Our lives could get uncomfortable if anyone tied us together before …' Not good. He had told too many people that he had known Anna elsewhere. Anyone who developed an abiding interest ought to be able to discover Anna's origins.
'He never mentioned working for anyone else. He did what he did for personal reasons. He never explained what those were.'
'I wish I could help you there. But I didn't even know he was gone. I didn't know his name.'
'He was too clever for his own good.'
'I see. Look. I don't know who you pass my information to. I don't want to know. But a lot is happening. The people at the other end need to know. They need to let me know what they want me to do. And I don't want to talk about it anymore. That hen smells ready to eat.'
Gervase asked, 'Did you enjoy yourself, captain?'
'Yes, Mr. Saluda. I did. Including the rare pleasure of a good night's sleep. I have an idea. Suppose we have Dugo and the boys study leadership skills from the bottom up? If they went through the training company they might face life armed with one small clue about what it's like for the people who actually have to do the work and suffer the bloody noses.”
Gervase did not like that idea. But he said nothing negative. He never crossed Else. Else might cause certain documents to fall into the hands of Paludan Bruglioni. Gervase had little faith in his friend's ability to forgive.
Gervase said, 'That Deve you brought in wants to see you. He's in the accounting office. He brought some of his cousins along.'
'Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Gervase. You're a better man than you think.'
Saluda wanted to argue, but realized that by doing so he could only belittle himself.
Else grinned. 'Would you like to be captain of the Bruglioni company in the city regiment?'
'Don't start that stuff with me, Hecht.”
'Stuff? I never took you for a coward, Gervase. Only for spoiled and ignorant.'
'I'm no coward!' No man, however craven in fact, would confess cowardice. Most would fight to keep their terror secret.
'Maybe not. Where is Titus Consent?'
'The accounting office. Going through the business records. And I never had anything to do with any of that.'
'Gervase, you worry too much.'
Titus Consent, the Devedian accountant provided Else by Gledius Stewpo's cohorts, was nineteen years old. And looked younger. And was, without doubt, a dedicated Devedian spy. Numbers were his passion. Though he was married. He had a new son named Sharone he worked into every conversation.
Titus's 'cousins' turned out to be more like uncles. One was Gledius Stewpo. Else had seen the other man before, briefly, in the Devedian underground, but could not recall his name. He was one of those quiet, dark-haired Deves who stayed in the background but wielded immense influence in their councils.
Else took a quick look round to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. 'What's up?'
Stewpo said, 'This seemed like the best way to see you. Now that you're one of the movers and shakers you're up to your ears in Imperial and Collegium toadies all the time.'
'I'm glad you thought of it.'
Stewpo frowned. 'They're watching you?'
'Every minute.'
'Who?'
'Ferris Renfrew. He has it in his head that he knows me. I don't know what his game is. Who he thinks I am is who he wants me to be.'
'This isn't good,' Stewpo said. 'He shouldn't know that I'm here.'
'Does he know you? Are you somebody he wants to know?'
Stewpo shrugged.
'You could be too late already, Uncle. You haven't been staying out of sight. If Renfrow has eyes in the quarter, he knows. Assuming you're somebody who interests him. Would you be?'
'I shouldn't be.'
'So explain what's going on with you and Calzir. Why're your people willing to help Sublime?'
'I'd hoped we wouldn't butt heads over that.'
'We haven't. We won't. I just want to understand why you're changing sides.'
'There's the flaw in your thinking, Sha-lug. My friends and I are on the side we're always on. The Devedian side. This invasion is going to happen. Calzir can't repel it this time. So we'll try to save our people the customary pain and despair by joining the winners before the fighting.'
'The customary pain and despair?'
'In all wars in this end of the world both sides always take the opportunity to punish and plunder their local Deves and Dainshaus.'
'Ah.' That happened in the Realm of Peace as well, despite a religious law enjoining the protection of unbelievers who submitted to God's law. But it happened less frequently there than in the barbarous west.
'I understand.'
Stewpo was surprised. 'Not going to argue?'
'No point. You're right. You have to look out for your own. The problem I have isn't with that, Uncle. While I command the city regiment they won't harm your people.'
'That problem would be?'
'It's a what-if at the moment. I'm concerned that the Brotherhood reinforcements from Runch might include someone who would remember me visiting Staklirhod under a different name.'
