But dignity must be maintained.
There were still many questions that needed answering and over the following painfully slow hours of darkness I decided to try my luck seeking explanations from the king. Tiredness might have brought out a side of him that wished to tell the truth.
‘I was impressed by the way you staged Maxant’s death,’ I began. ‘Quite the masterpiece – poisoning him like that, arranging it to look as if he had killed himself. I know how you did it, I just don’t understand why you did it.’
‘You’ve worked out this much already,’ the king sneered. ‘Are you sure you cannot work out the rest?’
‘I have my theories,’ I said. ‘That you had Maxant killed by some skilled assassin because he had done your dirty work and knew too much for your comfort. Perhaps you did the job yourself, if you could manage to escape the palace – you managed to sneak down to see those actors often enough. He was the one, after all, who probably killed the priestess in the temple – on your behalf. You could have had an argument with him; perhaps you never told him why he had to kill the priestess until then. I can imagine all sorts of scenes between the king and his favourite general.’
‘Vispasia is better off with him dead. He would have wanted to lead his soldiers across to Maristan if he had the chance. You come here making your theories, but you have no idea about the tide I was holding back. With Maxant among them, those in the Senate would willingly revive the Empire. They’d want us to invade any nearby nation in a heartbeat. I was keeping Detrata in the Union.’
‘Forgive me for thinking you not the most trustworthy person in the building. So are you admitting you killed him?’
Licintius shrugged off the question.
‘Somehow,’ I continued, ‘you managed to get poison into his food or drink, and he threw it up over himself, didn’t he?’
‘Unreliable things, poisons,’ Licintius said. ‘Who can say how he ended up consuming such a nasty substance?’
‘I know he killed Drullus, too, but I don’t know why that poor actor had to be caught up in all of this.’
‘Young Drullus had played his final role.’
I tried to work it out for myself from those few words. ‘I think I get it now. He was a mouthy disturbance to make people think he had something to do with Lacanta’s death. You hired him to do that, to be a clever distraction for whoever investigated the matter, to attract attention down-city. One last role to act.’
‘He was a delightful actor, but then I knew sooner or later you might find him. Could he keep a secret? I didn’t want to find out. How did you ascertain that Maxant killed him?’
I explained about the fresh henbane leaf Maxant had somehow brought with him to the city. ‘And, of course, I only found that out because Maxant himself had been killed. So many deaths, Licintius. You’ve caused so much pain.’
‘Ah, but my hands did not kill the priestess or Drullus. And you are forgetting one rather valuable thing. There is no law against a king ensuring that people are removed if they pose a threat to him,’ Licintius muttered. ‘That is our privilege. We are immune to common murder laws, as anyone could be a threat to us. Who are you to argue whom I find to be a threat or otherwise?’
The sun was about to break free of the rooftops when shouting could be heard, repeated constantly: ‘Lacanta is alive. Your king has deceived you! Lacanta is alive. Your king has deceived you!’
The voice sounded a little frailer than I had hoped, possibly after having repeated the message a thousand times throughout the city. I could imagine Lacanta in her caged carriage being hauled through the streets for everyone to see. It would have been a deeply embarrassing and humbling moment for her. Now that it had all ended, I felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion wash over me.
Licintius was asleep in his chair; Leana stood behind him with her blade.
‘I’ll go out and see what’s going on,’ I said. ‘Will you be OK?’
Leana nodded.
‘Try not to kill him.’
‘You would not mind if I did,’ she replied. ‘No, I suppose this time I wouldn’t.’
When my name was called loudly from the corridors I ran towards the source. Sun Legion soldiers rushed in. The gates of the city had been opened before dawn and our forces marched into the city. Only a hundred people had died in the confusion: many of Tryum’s own soldiers had been bought off, but a few others foolishly followed the king’s word rather than coin.
After the initial position had been secured, hundreds of soldiers filed in and escorted Lacanta’s rolling cage through the streets as the news was called out. Apparently people gaped in awe: this was the first time many of them had even seen the king’s sister, who was all the more famous since her staged death.
Lacanta and her eunuchs were paraded like the spoils of war through the city to Optryx. She remained outside the residence while soldiers began searching the premises – and that was what brought them here, to me.
I told them we had Licintius; they told us that Callimar and all his men had been found dead.
Poor Callimar had done so much to help me. Was it wrong of me to feel a little relieved at the fact that their knowledge of my seizures had died with them?
The whole process continued at breathtaking speed. Commissioner Tibus came personally to address the king and placed him under arrest. I’ll never forget seeing his expression falter just the once at the acknowledgement of what might happen to him.
While our military personnel filled the residence, Licintius was taken to a safe room where he could be placed on suicide watch until his trial. A message went out to every senator of Tryum that by Vispasian, not Detratan, powers, an emergency session of the Senate would start within the hour. Attendance was mandatory.
However, what Licintius had told me was already starting to haunt me. If he wasn’t bluffing and he was removed from control of the nation – with a warmongering senate taking control – just what would that mean for Vispasia? What if Detrata without Licintius then wanted to pull out of the Union, the very thing that the Sun Chamber worked so hard to bind together with its law? Ultimately, in some roundabout way, I could be responsible for that. The thought did not sit well with me.
Bad Memories
Many of the Sun Legion’s forces and auxiliaries were present in the upper city, maintaining order surrounding Lacanta’s carriage. There had been one crazed attempt at freeing her from a fanatic, but he had been killed on the spot and disposed of without further comment. No one else tried after that, though thousands wanted to see her in the carriage.
I gave my statement to the men and women of the Senate, the enormous domed building situated in the heart of Regallum. Veron was sitting in the front row, and made a brief wave before he maintained his serious countenance. Several rows of benches extended back behind him, each filled with senators.
It seemed strange to repeat all that I’d done in front of the gaze of Licintius and Lacanta, both bound and heavily guarded. Her expression was empty, her shoulders were stooped, and her skin grubby from travel across the country. In her simple dress she must have felt humbled, having previously been someone used to looking more glamorous in front of the senatorial class.
So I told my story, from the locked temple through to Maxant’s body on the beach. My father’s role as an accomplice was discussed, much to the surprise of those gathered there. After about half an hour, Tibus took over again and proceeded with the prosecution. Knowing that the spectacle could go on for hours – for this was just as much a theatrical production as a legal debate – I decided to leave, barely caring what would happen to Lacanta and Licintius.