‘She could have just let them take us.’
‘No – too much chance we might’ve escaped on the road. This way she’d know for sure we were dead. It’s her, Falcio. She’s the one who killed Tremondi. If it wasn’t for the aeltheca she hit us with, we’d be able to identify her. But it’s likely that she kept hidden from us as long as necessary to make sure any partial recollection we might have had would be well and truly gone by the time we saw her.’
I had nothing to counter with. Everything Kest said made perfect sense. We’d probably convicted men on lesser proof – Saints know the Dukes would have convicted us on less. But we were supposed to be different. We were supposed to be better.
‘It’s all right, Falcio,’ Kest said quietly. ‘I know you can’t do it. I’m not asking you to.’
‘Do what? Commit murder?’
‘Set things right. But I’ll do it. I can do this by myself, when the time is right, when we can be sure. But for the sake of our friendship, don’t try to stop me when it happens.’
I stared at him. ‘What kind of friendship will we have then?’
‘The same kind we had before we became Greatcoats. I know you loved the King, Falcio. I did too. But they killed him. They can’t kill his dream, too.’
No, I thought as I pushed my horse forward, they can’t. We’re doing that ourselves.
Half an hour later I signalled a stop to the carriage. A group of men in black uniforms were surrounding a large mansion. They had pikes in hand and were blocking the windows and doors with great slabs of stone that were arriving on ox-carts. There was also a wagon filled with casks.
I motioned to Feltock to come forward and asked, ‘Do you have any idea what’s going on?’
‘You’ve seen what a war looks like, haven’t you?’ said the captain.
I ignored him and dismounted. I walked over to the man driving the wagon with the casks. Two of his fellows stood in front of me with short-swords in hand, but I called out to him, ‘What’s going on here?’
‘What do you think is going on, man? Come midnight it’ll be the first day of Ganath Kalila, so keep to your own affairs if you don’t want to find yourself on the wrong side.’
That was strange. It almost sounded as if the man had said ‘Ganath Kalila’. But of course that couldn’t be possible, because if it turned out we were here during Ganath Kalila I would simply have to concede that at this very moment a thousand virgin brides were cursing my name …
‘Sorry,’ I said to the man, ‘I think I misunderstood. I thought you might have said—’
The two men with short-swords pushed me back.
Feltock came after me and Kest followed, a hand on the grip of his own sword.
‘What’d he say?’ Feltock asked.
‘Ganath Kalila,’ I replied. ‘The Blood Week. We’ve come here just when the Duke has called the Blood Week.’
‘What in the five hells for fools is that? Try and remember that I haven’t been to this city before, boy, and this’ll go faster.’
‘Ganath Kalila is a tradition in Rijou,’ I told him. ‘The Duke’s father brought it back with him from his travels in the East, from Avares. They call it the Blood Week because for seven days there are no rules except one: what you can’t hold, you don’t own.’
An old soldier sees a lot of insanity and violence in a long career, but this took Feltock aback. ‘How is that supposed to work? The man with the biggest army takes what he wants? It’d be mayhem.’
‘The Duke likes mayhem,’ I replied.
‘Not necessarily,’ Kest said. ‘I’ve read about the politics of this, and it’s actually quite complex. A series of alliances and patronages ensure that most people fall under the protection of someone above them, who has protection from someone else above them, who—’
‘Eventually has protection from the Duke. So he gets to shake a few more pieces out of his flock, is that right?’
‘Only sometimes the Duke makes it known who he doesn’t plan on protecting, you understand?’
Feltock did. ‘So hunting season has arrived in Rijou for a few poor buggers.’
‘These buggers don’t look that poor,’ I said, looking at the mansion. It was elegant in the Rijou style, but it also looked well fortified. They probably had bows and maybe even pistols. But the men surrounding the building wore armour and they were beginning to roll the carts with the stone blocks up to the doors and windows.
‘I don’t understand the point of the blocks,’ Kest said.
‘Fire,’ Feltock said. ‘They’re going to smoke them out.’
‘Or burn them alive,’ I said.
‘Or perhaps they’re going to build them a nice guesthouse here in the street,’ a jovial voice called out from behind us. Shiballe eased his way out of the carriage, followed by Valiana. They were taking sips from tiny cups containing some kind of bubbling liquid.
‘Feltock,’ she said, ‘I don’t want to disappoint my Saint-blessed father, the Duke. This reunion must happen tonight.’
Kest and I looked at each other. She must be here for her confirmation, legitimising her lineage: so that meant she was exactly eighteen. If she really was the offspring of two Ducal rulers, then nineteen years ago Jillard, Duke of Rijou, must have been secretly – and briefly – married to Patriana, Duchess of Hervor – and then he must have divorced her almost immediately, because he married his current wife shortly after. It was possible, but an odd thing to do: to sire a child and then immediately go and marry someone else. I suppose it did make a twisted kind of sense if what they really wanted was to raise a royal-blooded Princess in secret – but that conspiracy had to be planned long before Paelis took the throne, during Greggor’s reign, and it didn’t make sense because the Dukes had never had any complaints with Greggor. He had let them run as wild as they pleased on their own lands.
‘Aye, your Highness,’ Feltock said. ‘No point in sitting here watching these people shoot at each other all evening.’
‘Oh, I hardly think there will be much shooting,’ Shiballe said, smiling amiably.
‘Why not?’ Kest asked.
‘The Tiarren family guard aren’t in the city, you see.’
‘The Tiarren family?’ I looked at Kest. ‘Amongst the lesser nobility, Lord Tiarren was counted one of the King’s closest allies.’
‘Really?’ Shiballe said casually. ‘How interesting. I believe the Duke ordered Lord Tiarren to send his men off to deal with a dispute on the border. His wife has been quite vocal on local politics in Rijou in her husband’s absence.’ The fat little man smiled up at the house. ‘I do believe someone is about to learn a harsh lesson.’ He glanced at the darkening sky. ‘Oh, in about two hours.’
‘So no one can start fighting until midnight?’ Feltock asked.
‘That’s right, not until Ganath Kalila begins,’ he said with a sly smile.
Feltock pointed at the men unloading blocks on the sidewalk in front of the house. ‘Then what are they doing?’
‘Silly man. There’s no harm in getting ready now, is there? So long as no one fires a shot or strikes a blow.’
I looked up at one of the open windows. A woman in her late thirties was looking out, the crossbow in her hand dangling helplessly. She must be Lady Tiarren. Children were arrayed behind her, and I could see them pulling at her robes.
‘You’re telling me she and her children and her servants have to stay there watching these men begin blocking their exits and readying the fire intended to burn them all alive?’ The Tiarrens had been allies of the King. What if they knew the location of the King’s Charoites? What if one of the jewels was in the house even now? I stepped towards the men setting the blocks.