'He could have stayed there all through the war with no one noticing,' says Hanama.
'Lucky we flushed him out,' says Makri. 'You think the city might give the Association of Gentlewomen some sort of reward?'
'We can hardly let it be known in public,' says Hanama. 'We were breaking a condemned woman out of jail at the time.'
'It does make everything more awkward,' agrees Lisutaris. 'I should report this to the War Council immediately, but—'
She breaks off. Once the authorities know that an Orcish Sorcerer was hiding in the secret villa, they'll mount a full investigation, which will, of course, lead to the discovery of the Association's criminal enterprise.
'We have some major hiding sorcery to do,' says Lisutaris to Tirini Snake Smiter. 'We might be able to cover things up. Let them know about the Sorcerer without giving ourselves away. Tirini, are you listening?'
Tirini is slumbering gently on the couch. Lisutaris notices for the first time that her associates are somewhat the worse for wear.
'We were celebrating,' explains Makri.
'Quite normal after arduous combat,' adds Hanama.
'Appalling behaviour,' I say.
'Thraxas,' says Lisutaris. After the last war ended you were listed among the dead because no one could find you for a week. It wasn't till they started clearing the rubble and they dragged you protesting out of the Three Dragons' beer cellar that anyone realised you were still alive.'
I shrug this off.
'That was a real war. Not a minor skirmish with one hostile Sorcerer. I needed to recuperate.'
Lisutaris gets busy adding her considerable powers to the hiding spells already protecting us from discovery. Makri drifts off to sleep with a thazis stick still burning in her hand. Hanama removes it from her fingers and smokes the rest of it herself before also closing her eyes. Herminis yawns, and asks Lisutaris if it's safe for her to remain here.
'For now, yes. Providing Thraxas doesn't object.'
'I object.'
'He's fine with it,' says Lisutaris. 'Because he knows I'm about to do him a favour.'
'What favour?'
Lisutaris has completed the hiding spell. My office is now shielded securely from the prying eyes of Old Hasius the Brilliant, Lanius Suncatcher and any other nosy government Sorcerer. Not the first time my office has had to be protected in this way, I reflect.
'What's the favour?'
'That Sorcerer has been interfering with all sorcery in Turai. Very subtly. Too subtle to detect at the time. But now he's dead, I can feel a difference, I'm grateful for your help. Perhaps I might be able to find something new on the case you're investigating.'
Lisutaris takes a small phial from a pocket in her robe. Kuriya. I hand her a saucer and she pours in enough to make a small picture. She waves her hand over the saucer. I study the results. It's a lot clearer than before. Rittius, Kalius and Bevarius can be seen in the corridor as before. After they've departed, Lodius appears, next to a trolley of food. He picks up a pastry and puts it back on the trolley. I haven't seen that before. It doesn't look good. Another Senator appears, someone I don't recognise. Lodius talks to him for a while. Slightly furtively, it seems, though it's hard to be sure. The image fades.
'Wait,' says Lisutaris. 'There's a little more.'
As we watch, Consul Kalius reappears in the corridor. I haven't seen that before either. The same Senator who was talking to Lodius now meets the Consul and they confer. After this the pictures fade.
Any help?' asks the Mistress of the Sky.
'Maybe. A few things for me to think about.'
Who was that Senator? Why were Lodius and Kalius talking to him? And why has neither of them mentioned it before? Now I've seen Consul Kalius hanging around in the corridor next to the food trolleys. And Kalius's assistant Bevarius hired a man to kill me, if I can believe Kerinox, which I think I can. Everything points towards the Consul's office. That's going to be awkward for me.
Lisutaris wishes to remain here for the night. I leave them to it, and retire to my bedroom. As I leave, the Mistress of the Sky is rolling a stick of thazis from her own superior supply, and staring deeply into the fire, considering the matter of the Ores, and the rescue of Herminis, neither of which is over yet.
Chapter Eighteen
It's exactly a year since Deputy Consul Cicerius made me a Tribune. Today is my last day in office. Having spent the year using the powers of the tribunate as little as possible, I decide to go out in style. It's time to throw some official weight around. I want to speak with Consul Kalius and his assistant Bevarius, and I'm not about to be put off.
'Tribune Thraxas to see Consul Kalius.'
The guard at the gate tries to brush me off.
'Do you have an appointment?'
'Didn't you hear me?' I bark. 'I said Tribune Thraxas. As in Tribune of the People. As in a man with the power to have you arrested for interfering in official business if you don't open the gate this instant.'
I sweep my way imperiously past guards, clerks, minor officials and state Sorcerers on my way to Kalius's inner sanctum, stopping for nothing except a plateful of spicy yams. Once more they're excellent, and a credit to Erisox's talents. Outside the final door I'm confronted by an official in a toga.
'The Consul is busy.'
'Then unbusy him. This is Tribunes' business.'
He wants to resist. Unfortunately he knows the law.
'You may see the Consul after he has finished his business with Coranus—'
'Can't wait,' I say, and force my way past.
Kalius is startled as I march into his office, as is Coranus the Grinder. The Sorceror, legendary for both his power and his bad temper, leaps to his feet in agitation.
'Who dares—'
I hold up my hand.
'I do. Thraxas. Tribune. With some questions for the Consul that can't wait.'
'Do you realise the importance of this meeting?' roars Kalius.
'No. But you can get right back to it after you answer some questions about who you were talking to at the food trolley right before Galwinius was murdered.'
Kalius's face turns red with fury. He orders me out of his office. A waste of time. I inform him that I've just seen some better sorcerous pictures of events.
'So unless you want me to go forth and blab to the Senate, you'd better come up with some answers.'
Coranus is looking wryly amused. He's never been that much of a friend of the city's hierarchy and doesn't seem to mind seeing the Consul discomfited. He rises gracefully. He's pale-skinned, with sandy hair, not a tall or imposing man. There's little about his looks to suggest the great power he wields.
'Perhaps I should leave you, Consul. I have an appointment to see Lisutaris, Mistress of the Sky. I'm sorry I have not been able to help you in the matter of Herminis. Perhaps the Mistress of the Sky will be able to pierce the gloom which surrounds the affair.'
Apparently the Consul has just been discussing the escape from prison of the Senator's wife, in which I am now deeply implicated. For a moment I expect the powerful Coranus to denounce me on the spot. Was there something in the way he mentioned Iisutaris's name? Are they suspicious already?
Coranus pauses at the door. I wait to be denounced.
'Be sure to pass on my message to Prince Dees-Akan that he is a fool of the highest order to remove Lisutaris from the War Council.'
The Consul nods stiffly. If he passes on the message I doubt he'll use those exact words. Coranus looks at me quite affably before sauntering out. I think I made a good impression. The door closes. Kalius turns to me.
'You will regret this. When you were made Tribune there was never any intention that you should interfere in the governing of Turai.'