The fog had climbed the hill. It was as thick as ever Aaron had seen it.
Drizzle fell through it. The air was cold for the time of year. He could notstop shaking.
He glanced back at his home, wondered if he would see it again. He movedcloser to Laella.
General Cado was waiting when Colonel Bruda brought in his catch. FiveDartars. A Qushmarrahan family. One prisoner. Two of his own men the Dartarshad mistaken for kidnappers. And a lot of bodies. "Is this the lot?" "Not allthe Dartars. I have their leader, though." "Good. Release those soldiers sothey can get to their ship." Cado had his own guards on hand.
"I left two guarding the house. They'll need to be relieved." "We'll take careof it. I've sent for Fa'tad, Sullo and his witch, and Colonel bel-Abek. Anyoneelse you need?"
"A physician. And Rose. Rose was watching the child-stealing gang. They splitup when they set out to do tonight's job. My men followed members of the gangwhen they lost Rose, figuring they would find him again. They walked into theaction and got mistaken for gang members. Luckily only one got killed."
Cado scanned the disparate collection of corpses and frightened people, summoned an aide, rattled orders, then returned to Colonel Bruda. "Have youlearned anything useful?"
"My man Taglio has command of both the Qushmarrahan and Dartar dialects. Fromwhat he saw and heard the family thinks the Living did the kidnapping. TheDartars think we did."
"Us? Why?"
Bruda shrugged. They aren't talking."
Cado looked at the cluster of Dartars, all young and tattered, all scared anddefiant. "You feel it, too, Bruda? That there's something very dark slitheringaround just out of sight?"
"Assuming Rose told the truth, I have to keep wondering who killed Generalbel-Karba. Somebody that daring has to be somebody convinced he can handle anyreprisals. Anyone that strong, belonging neither to them nor to us, is someonewe have to worry about. We have troubles enough without adding anothercomplication."
Cado's staff physician came in and went to the injured woman without having tobe told.
"Did you send men to look for bel-Karba's body?"
"Yes. We should hear from them in the morning."
"What about the child? His parents look ordinary. Anything unusual about him?"
"No. I talked to the father extensively. He didn't want to speak up becausehe's afraid of the Living, but he did let slip a few things. He was in thesame unit as Colonel bel-Abek during the war."
"Significant connection?"
"I don't think so. I get the impression he has no use for bel-Abek. Theconnection between them is their wives. They've been friends since childhood.
I can't see any reason why anyone would want to twist the arms of eitherparent of tonight's victim. He's a carpenter. Her relatives are all sistersmarried to nobodies. And that old woman who's trying to die from a kick in thestomach."
Sullo and his witch arrived. The civil governor was irked at having his reposedisturbed yet was pleased that his political enemy felt the need to includehim in what was afoot. Cado wondered if he would behave like a spoiled childif he learned that he had been summoned only because the military governorwanted to use his witch.
He had Bruda explain to them, then explain again when Colonel bel-Abek and hiswife arrived, guarded by a dozen soldiers. He watched the interplay, or lackthereof, between the bereaved mothers. Bel-Abek's wife, a drab thing he'dnever before seen, seemed to be melting from shame. The other woman ignoredher existence.
Colonel bel-Abek asked, "Can I talk to Taglio?" He seemed excited.
"Are you on to something?"
"I think the kidnapping may have interrupted a meeting of the ruling councilof the Living. The man who headed the movement lived right there on CharStreet. I learned that just today."
A man came in to report his inability to make contact with Rose. He had left a message. Cado thanked him and dismissed him. "Go on, Colonel."
Puffing up, bel-Abek said. "He was murdered last night. Whoever he was."
"Hanno bel-Karba," Bruda said.
"Sir?"
"General Hanno bel-Karba was the mastermind of the Living. We knew who hadbeen killed, but not where or when."
Cado saw Fa'tad, alone, looking like a great black crow, standing in ashadowed doorway, listening, studying everyone. Cado listened with only halfan ear as bel-Abek reported what he had learned about the leading men of theLiving. Fa'tad would be interesting tonight. He'd always held a grudge againstHerod because of the assassination of Hanno bel-Karba.
He saw he had been noticed. He came across the room like he was some greatlord and they his house servants. He stopped in front of Cado. "I'm here," hesaid in Herodian without a trace of accent.
"Did you overhear enough to understand the situation? Or should Colonel Brudabrief you?"
"I'd better hear it all."
While Bruda told it yet again Cado visited Sullo and asked if he would havehis witch see what she could do for the old woman. The physician looked likehe did not have much hope.
He stepped back to Bruda and Fa'tad as Bruda finished. Bruda said, "I want tosend a squad to that house. They'll be too late to catch anybody but theymight find something useful."
"Go ahead. Fa'tad, why would your men think these child-stealings a Herodianscheme?"
Fa'tad looked him in the eye for five seconds, then said, "Yoseh, come here," in the Dartar dialect.
Yoseh was sitting two feet from Tamisa, not looking at her, she not looking athim, yet he felt they were somehow in closer communion than ever they had beenon Char Street. He was frightened. So was she. All that gobbling in Herodiandid not help.
Then Fa'tad came and he was three times as frightened as before.
Fa'tad chattered with Cado awhile. Then, like a hammer blow to the heart, hesaid, "Yoseh, come here."
Panicky, he looked at Nogah and Medjhah. No help there. They just nodded.
He rose stiffly, went to stand at Fa'tad's left hand. He looked down at theshine atop Cado's head and wondered that these hairless runts had been able toconquer everyone who stood against them.
Fa'tad said, "Yoseh, tell the General everything you know about the man you caught in the alley the other day."
"The child-stealer? Everything?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
"But I don't have any Herodian."
"He'll understand you."
Yoseh closed his eyes, took a deep breath, told it all, right up to the momentthe man had gotten away from him and Aaron with Arif. When he finished andopened his eyes he saw that the General's sidekick had returned. The twoHerodians exchanged glances. Cado said, "Rose."
"Has to be Rose," the other said, in Dartar dialect. "That explains why he'sbeen such a mystery. He isn't our man at all. But whose is he?"
"We talked of an unknown dark force earlier," Cado said.
"That will be all, Yoseh," Fa'tad said. "Thank you. You did well."
Yoseh retreated hastily.
Cado watched the Dartar boy go. He was angry with himself. Plainly, Rose hadbeen using and manipulating him all along. Possibly he had been doing the samewith the Living. He had made no secret of the fact that he was a member. Themassacre of the Moretians almost certainly was his fault. The alacrity withwhich the Living had moved meant he had access to people in the movement atthe same level as he had had here in Government House.
"Colonel Bruda, send men to that place where we make contact with Rose. Havethem arrest everyone they find there."
"Yes sir."
Cado told Fa'tad, "This man Rose has played me for a fool, as he played othersfor me in my service." Who did Rose serve? Neither Sullo nor Fa'tad, for sure.
The Living seemed just remotely possible, though no one in the movement wouldhave authorized him to give up some of the information he had turned over.
A free agent? Absurd. It offended any sense of the natural order. No one mancould have the arrogance to believe he could step between Herod and the Livingand play them against one another for his own purposes.