Else protested, 'I'm not as young as I used to be.'
'You were never that young, mister. Quit talking. Start doing.'
Else supposed that Ferris Renfrow would watch the widow Mozilla, who had led her neighbors to believe that she was an immigrant from Aparion. Which they thought a lie. They thought she hailed from farther north, somewhere in the southern marches of the Grail Empire. It was at Anna's house that Else always shed those who followed him. Or left them afraid that he had.
He went nowhere that night. Nowhere that Anna Mozilla did not take him.
He began his rounds immediately after returning to the Bruglioni citadel. After dealing with several minor annoyances, he snapped, 'You have to figure these things out for yourself, Mr. Phone. I won't be here to think for you forever.'
Madam Ristoti would not be cowed. 'Mr. Hecht. What about my request for more help? I have too many mouths to fill and too few hands to do the filling.'
'You're allowed three new people. You know what you need. You hire them. Don't thank me. Thank my Deve accountant. He can talk Paludan into anything. Paludan thinks numbers are magic. You also get a sixty percent increase in your purchasing budget. So serve something besides turnip stew.' I
Madam Ristoti grinned. 'They liked that, did they?'
'Exactly as much as you expected.'
'A rare show of sympathy, then.'
'Sympathy had nothing to do with it. Uncle Divino told Paludan that he was going to lose staff if he fed them that slop. The city is getting ready to go to war. There are alternate opportunities for the working classes.'
'There you are, sir.'
'Polo. I wondered how long it would take.'
'Sir?' Pblo did not understand that his allegiance to Principatй Bruglioni was obvious.
'It's all right,' Else said.
'Uh… Paludan wants to see you. He isn't happy. But I don't think it's your fault.'
'Guess we'd better see what he wants, then.'
The citadel had changed. Cleaning was nearly complete. Cosmetic restoration was well underway. Halls that had been gloomy and barren of human enterprise swarmed with rustic Bruglioni returnees.
Polo led the way to Paludan's personal suite. He whispered, 'His mistress might be there. Pretend not to see her.'
'He has a mistress?' Else had discounted the rumors because he thought there would have been more talk if they were true.
'Everybody gets a mistress once he reaches a certain station. It's one of the ornaments of status. The higher your status, the finer your mistress. When you get real big, you have two mistresses. The Patriarch has three! They've given him four or five children. But the cognoscenti think he prefers boys.'
'Aren't priests supposed to be celibate?'
'That's a rule that'll be honored only in the breech until the Carillon of Judgment.'
'Really? Where do the women come from?' Why did Rodrigo Cologni not take himself a few mistresses? He would be alive today.
Polo shrugged. 'Wherever a man finds them. Principatй Doneto sleeps with Carmella Dometia, the wife of his man Gondolfo. He's been doing that since Carmella was twelve. He arranged her marriage. He fathered both of her children. He makes sure that Gondolfo's life is good, though Gondolfo spends most of it as the Benedocto factor in the Eastern Empire. Where, no doubt, he has a mistress of his own.'
Polo added, 'And, like soldiers, women also come to Brothe seeking their fortunes.'
'So there's no shortage of exploitable workers, soldiers, or sluts.'
Polo felt no empathy. 'Men sell their muscle. Women sell their sex. If they're beautiful, personable, and can please a man, they'll do well.' He rapped on Paludan's door. 'Polo, sir. With Captain Hecht.' Hearing an invitation that Else did not, Polo opened the door.
If Paludan had a woman with him he had disguised her cleverly. 'Captain Hecht. Thanks for coming.' Like Else had a choice.
Paludan had begun accumulating people skills, despite himself.
'Sir.'
'The sad day has come. The one I wasn't looking forward to but which I can't prevent.'
'Sir?”
'Divino says it's time to move you. So you can concentrate on getting ready for the war. I don't want you to go. That'll leave me out of excuses. Uncle Divino will throw your name in my face every time I let something slide.'
'All I ever did was what you hired me to do.'
'Sure. And it's all turned out for the best'
'I hope so.'
Paludan pulled himself together. What he had to say was difficult. 'We'll miss you, Captain. I never found your presence comfortable but it was always positive. You injected hope and ambition into the family. That was a precious gift. Go to the Collegium confident that I'll behave like a grownup with real responsibilities.'
Else nodded. 'Of course.'
'And thank you for not creating a situation that would’ve cost me my only real friend. You had him in your power.'
Well. Paludan could strike the occasional spark of surprise.
'I did what seemed best. I've enjoyed my stay here. The challenges were tough but not insurmountable.'
'Your new job will present challenges you're better suited to handle.'
'It's the work I was raised and trained to do, sir. Just between us, though, I don't enjoy it. Though I am good at it.'
'You'll make your mark. Here. Take this. A mark of my gratitude for awakening this house.' Paludan handed him a doeskin bag. 'Myself, in particular.'
'Thank you, sir. Though I'm not sure it's deserved.'
Paludan shrugged. 'Be that as it may. Polo! Come here.'
'Sir?'
'Get ready to move. There's a major planning meeting this afternoon. Uncle Divino wants Captain Hecht settled in beforehand.'
Else was not surprised that Polo would accompany him. That colorless little man would be within a stone's throw as long as Piper Hecht was involved with Principatй Bruglioni and the Collegium.
Else considered the doeskin purse while Polo finished loading their possessions. He eased off the drawstrings carefully.
'How much did he give you?' Polo asked.
'There's some of those tiny little gold pieces, like fish scales. And a handful of silver. All of it foreign.'
Polo grinned. 'He didn't change all his stripes, did he?'
Else offered Polo two silver coins and one little gold piece no more substantial than a scale off a carp. Polo made them vanish instantly. He said, 'Paludan doesn't know but I've been working on this since yesterday. That's when the Principatй told me we'd be moving.'
'Which would be where?'
'The Chiaro Palace. Isn't it amazing?' Polo babbled about the Chiaro Palace: vast, rich, labyrinthine, a city curled up inside the Mother City. A holy city well and truly saturated with everything unholy.
Else dug out the one item the purse must have been intended to convey.
That was a plain gold ring. Or, not so plain, he discovered as he turned it in the available light.
Characters were engraved on the ring. They could be seen only when the light struck it at certain angles. When held just right those characters stood out boldly, in black, as though in calligraphy.
