'Be as blunt as you like,' Thalric told him. 'If it helps, I agree with you.' Only he didn't agree, merely wanted to. It was clear to him, he who had made a career out of finding his feet in foreign cities, that there were parts of Khanaphes still being kept hidden from him. There were too many inconsistencies all around him. If only, though… because, if Khanaphes was just some misbegotten hole of peasants and primitives, then it could not in any way be important. And if it was not important, then it could not really matter what he did here, since nothing was at stake. After all, my purpose – my true purpose – in coming here was to escape the Empress, if only for a little while.
There was a crash of breaking pottery below, and he took it as his cue. 'I'll see how Osgan is managing.'
Vollen's expression showed just what he thought of Osgan, but he nodded.
I was a traitor for such a short time, he thought as he descended the stairs. Why do I miss it so much? Prisoner and fugitive, beaten, hunted. Such times, he thought drily, but there was a nub of truth there. His life as Regent was no garden, after all, and it had not even honesty to recommend it. It had been different when he had been a traitor.
What was Che to him? He realized that she was the closest thing to an old comrade he had.
He wondered if Cheerwell Maker would want to talk over old times. 'So tell me what happened here,' Che said.
Petri Coggen stared at her, wide-eyed, then her gaze slid over towards the servants who were carefully setting down Che's meagre baggage. The other academics crowded about them as well, so that Che felt a sudden surge of claustrophobia.
'Out, everyone out,' she said. 'Let me talk to Miss Coggen alone. You all go… pick your rooms or something.'
Mannerly Gorget was first out the door, his future comfort very much in mind, and the rest began to follow him.
Berjek went last, frowning. 'Are you sure…?' he enquired. 'If there's something amiss here we all should know it.'
'Master Gripshod…' Che began, and saw the servants visibly flinch. She gritted her teeth. 'Berjek, please,' she continued, 'I don't think an extra pair of hands is going to help, here.' With a tilt of her head she tried to indicate Petri Coggen, who now sat on the bed, looking dishevelled, shaking and red-eyed, hugging her knees.
Berjek pursed his lips in irritation, but nodded and made his exit. Che waited for the servants to go too, but they continued patiently unpacking.
'Sorry, could you leave us alone for a moment.' She had to say it twice before they registered that she was actually talking to them. Their expressions were those of frozen surprise, as though a chair had just spoken to them. Servants, or slaves? Che wondered. She remembered her brief sight of the Spiderlands, on the way to Solarno. There had been slaves everywhere, yet they had been invisible, for that was the custom: it was considered bad manners even to look at them. 'I'm sorry,' she addressed the servants again. There were three of them – two young women and a middle-aged man, all as bald as the rest of the locals – wearing simple white tunics that hung off one shoulder.
'Where I come from, we are not used to such hospitality,' Che explained carefully. 'Please would you leave us for a little while.'
Blank-faced, they filed from the room, and Che closed the door after them. From recent experience she thought instantly, Have I locked myself in now? But there was no catch on the door, only a loop of cord and a hook. The sight of such Inapt measures was absurdly thrilling to her. This is it. I've found it. There can be no mistake.
'They're still listening,' Petri Coggen said in a whisper.
Che opened the door again, quickly, but no eavesdropping servants were revealed. The nearest one, dusting a display of pottery down the hall, could have heard them only if they shouted.
'No one's listening.'
'They're always listening,' Petri insisted.
Che closed the door and took a deep breath. 'How long since you slept, if I might ask?'
'Four days. I… If I sleep, they might…' The woman shuddered. 'I don't want to sleep.'
'Where's Master – where's Kadro?' I need to break myself of that habit as quickly as possible.
'He's disappeared!' Petri almost wailed, surely loud enough for any servants outside to hear whether they wanted to or not. 'He was investigating the city… he had found something, their great secret. He told me as much, and then, and then… gone. Just vanished.'
'What was this secret?'
'He didn't tell me that, just that he was so close – that he knew where to go.'
Che took a chair and sat down across from her. 'What sort of investigations was he making? Where did he go?'
'He went everywhere – at night, mostly. You know how Fly-kinden can see in the dark. He would copy down inscriptions from the oldest buildings. He went into the desert once, too, to see some ruins out there. Or he would go out beyond the gates to the Marsh Alcaia – the black market. He was always asking questions, piecing things together.'
Che put a hand up to stop her. 'It sounds… forgive me for saying this, but it sounds as though Kadro was fond of dangerous places.'
'He knew what he was doing!' Petri snapped back, then put a hand over her mouth, horrified. 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' she said after a moment.
'But did you tell our hosts that he was missing?' Che pressed her. 'Did they look for him?'
'They know!' Petri insisted. 'They did it. They took him, because he found out something. They made him vanish.'
But can you prove it? Looking at this shaking woman, Che knew the answer already. In this state, Petri Coggen was of no use to anyone.
'You think I'm mad, don't you?' Petri visibly sagged. 'You don't believe me.'
Che studied her and saw haggard exhaustion, hysteria, but not madness. 'Something has clearly happened to Kadro, so I will need to meet the local leaders. I'll ask them about him and see how they react. How would I get an audience with the Masters of Khanaphes – or will they send for me?'
Petri laughed out loud, a wretched and unexpected sound. 'You can't,' she said bitterly. 'You can't. And if they send for you…' She laughed again from pure despair. 'Kadro wanted to meet the Masters, after we came here. Everyone talks about them. They have ceremonies, to give them thanks. But whoever sees the Masters? Kadro thought they were a myth. He thought that was the whole secret…'
'But who runs the city?'
'You've already met him.' She stifled another strained laugh. 'Ethmet.'
'What, that…?'
'That nice old man? That was what you were going to say, weren't you?' Petri chewed at her lip, which was already ragged from it. 'The First Minister rules Khanaphes. He says he's only a servant of the Masters, and that the Ministers know everything, see everything. There are palaces and halls in which the Ministers are supposed to serve the Masters, but Kadro was sure they were empty. It's Ethmet, telling everyone the lie.'
'I can see why it might be dangerous to find out the truth of that,' Che said slowly. 'Although I can't see how you could really keep that fact secret from a whole city.'
Petri collapsed back on the bed with a groan. 'You won't let them take me?' she pleaded.
'Nothing's going to happen to you, now that we're here,' Che assured her. 'You're not alone any more.' She saw Petri's shoulders shake, realized that the woman was barely stifling an outburst of sobs. Whatever the truth, something happened here. On the heels of that came a more selfish thought: I hope she recovers soon. We need to learn what she knows. Che was ashamed of it but that made it no less true. She went to the door as quietly as she could, prompted by the sudden, irrational feeling that there was a servant there, silent and listening, just a moment before. That way madness lies, she decided.