Page 108 of A Drop of Corruption

“I see,” said Ana. She bowed her head. “So we’ve nothing, for the moment. Nothing save a dead girl, who has left not a trace of a trail to her killer.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Then Ana sat up and brightly said, “Well! What about your negotiations with the Yarrow court, Prificto?”

“What of them?” said Kardas.

“Well, I worry they might be influencing Pyktis’s actions. Is it possible he knows of them?”

“I can’t imagine there is much to know. We have been stalled for weeks now. Though we continue to advocate for the adoption of Yarrow, and the fulfillment of our ancient contracts, there is little progress to spy upon. I thought this situation was known to you, Dolabra.”

“Hm!” said Ana. She smiled politely. “But I must admit, sir…I no longer think what you say is true.”

Kardas narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that while you and the court have been all too content to tell everyone you’ve donenothinghere,” said Ana, “in secret, I believe there has been another set of negotiations going on. One even Signum Gorthaus did not know of.”

Kardas’s features remained fixed in an expression of charismatic confusion, yet he stayed silent.

“What do you mean, Dolabra?” asked Thelenai softly.

“I propose, ma’am, that the Treasury knows much more than they let on,” said Ana. “For example—youknewabout this project to extract the titan’s marrow, didn’t you, sir?”

Kardas said nothing.

“I think you also knew that Thelenai’s people had succeeded in this feat,” continued Ana. “And if that was so, well…obviously, the Empire doesn’t reallyneedto be in Yarrow at all anymore, do we? With the marrow secured, we could develop many methods of creating all the titan’s blood we need, deep in the safety of the inner rings. No more Shroud, no more canals, no more barges.” She scratched her chin. “So…you weren’t negotiating the final imperialadoptionof the realm of Yarrow, were you? You were secretly negotiating ourwithdrawalfrom this place.”

There was a stunned silence.

“Wh-what?” said Malo. She gazed at Kardas in outrage. “You werewhat?”

“Is this so, Prificto?” demanded Thelenai.

Kardas glanced around the room at us, then sighed so deeply he seemed to deflate. “Yes. Fine! Yes, I confess, it is so.”

“You pursued thiswithoutinforming we Apoths?” Thelenai asked.

“Again, yes,” said Kardas heavily.

“But you’d…you’d truly leave?” asked Malo. “The Empire would justleaveus here? Why?”

“Oh, for a very simple reason!” said Kardas bitterly. “It is because the folk of Yarrow do notwantus here! They do notwantto be part of the Empire. And if that is so, then there is no cause for us to stay!”

For a moment we all reeled in shock; save, of course, for Ana, who patiently waited for us to catch up.

“We’regiving up,sir?” I said, astounded, for never had I heard of such an imperial retreat. “We’re abandoning the adoption of this realm?”

“We are, Signum Kol,” said Kardas. “There are many throughoutthe Empire who assumed we’d simply take the realm, if negotiations stalled. But that is…well, it’s simply not what wedoanymore!”

“Why not?” demanded Malo. “Does the Empire no longer behave as an empire?”

“No!” said Kardas. “We don’t! Wecan’t! Because while the Empire is prosperous, it is alsobrittle.We hold back the leviathans, yet our populations decline. And our dwindling people are satisfied and stationary. They do notwantto seize other lands, for there is hardly a need for such a thing! It is not like we’d derive much wealth or security from the mere act of conquering! Our people know this and are unwilling to devote money and lives to dabble in such vanities. Even if we didn’t have the marrow, we were always going to delay the adoption!”

“How so?” asked Ana, suddenly interested.

Kardas shrugged feebly. “Extend the deadline for a decade. Maybe two. Dump another trove of gold on the High City. Buy time, quite literally. It would be a fraction of the cost of sending the Legion here and trying to hold it! Yet better still would be to simply walk away—which we could do, if we had the marrow. For then we’d no longer need the Shroud, or Yarrowdale itself, or any of these delicate things that cost so much to defend.”

“And thenaukari?” asked Malo, her voice deadly soft. “What of them? Would you leave them to their fates, after promising to end such an evil practice?”

The prificto shifted uncomfortably. “If I could banish all the evils of the world, child, know I would do it. But it is not our purpose to wade into the affairs of other cultures and scold them into decency.”