Page 81 of A Trade of Blood

“What do you mean, sir?” I asked.

“Oh, well—conditioning someone with the web is not a terriblyexactmethod,” Tauri said. “The field cats get a very, very simple command put in their tiny brains—Bring me these red beans.Very simple!”

“So?” asked Fotia.

“So hanging yourself is actually pretty tricky, yes?” said Tauri. “There’s ropes, knots, beams, chairs. And more, the web only trains creatures to do repeatable actions—but hanging yourself is something you can only doonce!”

“Quite right,” said Ana. She turned again to Fotia. “Can you make inquiries for us on this, dearie?”

Fotia pulled a face at that last word—there was no one less grandmotherly than Ana—but nodded. “I can. I know the servants well. I bridge the gap, I suppose, between family and labor, and can try to learn more about Sagma’s last days.”

“Then do so,” Ana said. She tilted her head, listening. “I believe you might have a visitor for now, girl. Someone very large has arrived downstairs and is talking quietly but firmly with the porter. By the timbre of his voice, I suspect it is your Grandfather Trikao. Go see to him.”

“And what of Commander Tauri and me, ma’am?” I asked.

“Rest,” she said. “Both of you. I am considering a difficult task for you, but I am unsure how it could be done.”

“Done technically,” said Tauri, “or quickly, or…”

“Or without getting you two massacred by the entire fucking town in a fit of outrage,” said Ana. She smiled primly. “So. Give me a moment to put a plan together, please.”

Chapter 21

I walked downstairs to findFotia comforting a beleaguered Trikao Armenta in the entrance of the Green Drover. Though Trikao had seemed exhausted before, he now looked like he’d aged half a century since I’d last seen him, so furious and formidable before the doors of Aimafall. Now his eyes were sunken, his skin looked like paper, and he swayed slightly where he stood.

Tauri stopped at the bottom of the stairs, watching the two of them with a lingering look of dislike. He gave me a nod and said, “I can do no more thinking after such a day, Kol. I shall go to the Orbiis offices here to bed down with the rest of my folk. I bid you good evening. Though a bit of advice…”

“Yes, sir?”

“I suggest you keep your company carefully.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Take from it what you feel.” Then he wandered down the stairs and out the door.

I watched the closed door for a moment, then approached Trikao and Fotia.

“Is what Fotia says true?” Trikao asked me. “Ippeas is not being accused of a crime?”

“No, sir,” I said. “We do not think it was he who set the Burav mansion alight. But we do think someone meant him harm and will try again. We keep him in the jails only for his safety.”

Trikao let out an unsteady sigh of relief. “I have been in a panic all day…I’ve flown about the country, reassuring our allies that this was so, but did not truly know it! I wish to see him now. Can that be done?”

“Of course,” I said. “I’ll accompany you both to the jails now.”

I walked with Trikao and Fotia across the lanes of Lacanthim, but found that such a simple journey was now anything but. People knew Trikao by sight, and many hissed and jeered at him, accusing him of wishing the Buravs harm. In but a few blocks, the old man’s very presence caused no less than three minor brawls.

“All unravels,” he murmured softly. “All unravels about us…”

“Grandfather,” said Fotia. “Please.”

As we approached the jail, he raised a hand to her. “You should see to him first, my dear. He…he is often much happier after he has visited with you. Myself, he has less love for.”

“That isn’t so,” said Fotia.

He smiled sadly at her. “I am his father. I know what is true and what is not. I shall wait outside and let your brother keep me company. He is a…” He paused as if searching for a compliment, and chose “…a very stable presence.”

Fotia shot me a look and mouthed—Take care of him!—and slipped indoors.