“Well done.”
“But she won’t cooperate in the endeavor.”
“That would be a problem.”
“Yes.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Think about it.”
“I’ve tried that with Aliera.”
“Not much luck?”
“She isn’t subject to what passes for logical thought in most people.”
He nodded. “I’ll see what I can come up with. Have you learned anything?”
“The Empress was hit with some sort of disaster that reflects badly on her.”
“With whom?”
“Knowing the Empress, probably history. She’s never seemed to care much about public opinion.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Not very. Not yet.”
“You think it might be Tirma?”
“Maybe. Hard to say, since this is the first I’ve ever heard of Tirma.”
“Oh. That’s right, you’ve been out of the city, haven’t you?”
“Yes. I only heard about Aliera’s arrest by a fluke.”
“Tirma is a village in the far northwest. There was some unrest there, and a request for Imperial troops. No one knows what happened, but some peasants were slaughtered.”
“Innocent ones?”
“Some say.”
“I’ll bet Kelly has a lot to say on the subject.”
“Who?”
“Never mind. How does arresting Aliera help? A distraction?”
“Maybe.”
He looked like he was thinking, so I let him alone. After a minute or two he said, “The bigger question is, how does Aliera think it helps?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Assuming all our speculations are right.”
“We have to find out for sure.”
“You’re telling me that’s my job.”
“I’m saying I expect your help.”
I grunted. “I guess that’s fair.”
He nodded.
I suppose I could have told him that the Jhereg already knew I was back in town, and it wouldn’t be safe for me to go sniffing around places. But then what? I mean, it had to be done.
“Sure, Boss. But do you have to be the one to do it?”
“Seems like.”
“Why?”
“No one else is.”
“Right, Boss. Why?”
“Oh.”
“. . .and until then, I’m not going to be able to—”
“Sorry, I was distracted. Start over?”
He gave me an odd look. “I was saying that I need something I can take to a Justicer.”
“What do you mean, take to a Justicer?”
“I mean sending a Petition of Release, or make a case for Dishonorable Prosecution.”
“Dishonorable Prosecution? They have that?”
“It’s in the books.”
“How many times has it been brought?”
“Successfully?”
“At all.”
“Twenty-seven.”
“Successfully?”
“Never.”
“You’d bring that against the Empress?”
“Against the Empire, but, in effect, yes.”
“Forget it. Aliera will never permit it.”
He nodded as if he’d come to the same conclusion. “Probably true, but I want to have it there anyway.”
“Whatever you think,” I said.
“What I think is that this is very odd.”
“Seems like it to me, too. The Empress prosecuting a friend isn’t—”
“No, that’s not what’s odd; Emperors do what they have to do, and being a friend to an Emperor sometimes means losing your head. It’s always been like that.”
“All right, then. What’s odd?”
“The law they’re prosecuting her with. It isn’t intended to be used against high nobles whose House is near the top of the Cycle.”
“Ah, you’ll have to explain that.”
“What’s to explain?”
“Some laws apply to high nobles, and some not?”
“How else?”
“Um. I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.”
“To prosecute a noble under the Code, you have to get a majority vote of the princes. The princes aren’t going to vote against a noble when the House is powerful without a more compelling case than this is.”
“So this is a waste of time?”
“No, no—you misunderstand. That’s under the Code. This is an Imperial Edict, which means the Empress and the High Justicer make the decision. That’s why they can get a conviction.”
“Well then, what’s—”
“But using the Edicts against a noble, at a time when you couldn’t get a conviction, is going to raise quite a stink among the princes. The High Justicer has to know that, and so does the Empress.”
“Would they let that interfere with justice?”
“Are you being funny?”
“Yes.”
“Eh. I guess it was a little funny at that. But, you know, there is making the law, and enforcing the law, and interpreting the law, and they all mix up together, and it’s people who do those things, and the people all mix up together. You can’t separate them.”
“It’d be interesting to try.”
He waved it aside. “The point is, this will create lots of bad feelings among those who matter. And bad feelings are bad statesmanship, and the Empress isn’t known for bad statesmanship.”
“Um. Okay, I think I get the idea. What’s your conclusion?”
“My conclusion is that I want to know what’s going on. I’ll look at it from my end, you look at it from yours.”
“All right.”
“Do you know how you’re going to start?”
“Of course not.”
He nodded like he’d have been surprised to get any other answer. “Are you open to suggestions?”
“Sure.”
“Stay away from the Empress.”
“That part is easy. I don’t have that much call to see her, you know. But that only tells me what not to do.”
“I’m sure we can find more things for you not to do if we put our minds to it.”
“See, Boss? He does have a sense of humor.”
“Such as it is.” Aloud, I said, “You need something that will provide a legal angle for Aliera.”
He nodded.
“Yeah, well, I know about as much about the law as you know about—that is, I don’t know much about the law.”
“You don’t need to. Find out why they’re prosecuting Aliera, and be able to prove it.”
“Prove it. What does that mean, exactly?”
“Find people who saw or heard things, and will swear to it beneath the Orb.”
“Oh, and where would I—oh.”
“Right. But stay away from the Empress.”
“Great. And what will you be doing?”
“Same as you, only to different people. And I’ll be reviewing the laws, and looking through decisions and case histories. You aren’t going to be too useful for that part.”
“I imagine not.” I stood and headed out.
Let me explain again something I’ve already mentioned: The way an assassin operates involves picking a time and a place, setting up whatever is necessary (which usually means making sure you have a good edge on your knife), and striking. If for some reason things go wrong—like, say, the guy gets suspicious about the handwriting of a note—then you go back and start over. All of which means that no one was going to be making a move on me for a day at least. Which means I should have been able to relax as I left the waiting room and headed toward the Palace.
Yeah, well, you try it sometime and see how relaxed you are.
Loiosh was pretty tense too, either because he sensed that I was, or because he knew what was going on. It’s pretty crazy, that feeling of walking through a big, wide corridor, your boots echoing, almost no one in sight, thinking you’re safe, but feeling anything but. I stopped just inside the door to cross the wide pavement to the Iorich Wing, and let Loiosh and Rocza explore carefully. The trees that dotted the pavement were too thin for anyone to hide behind, but I studied them anyway.