Drakenfeld

Politics

We talked a little more about love, something that Veron and I both admitted was a distant memory. People did not marry for love in Detrata, not unless it was coincidence or the gods smiling upon them. Marriage was to bind families and their businesses, to bring stability where there was none. A happy, loving union could develop from time to time, of course, but generally with luck a good partnership could be formed and a strong bond forged between families. It was, Veron confessed, how he and his own wife had been paired up.

Deciding to change the topic I asked for more details about Lacanta’s dealings with the Senate. Veron mentioned again the king’s desire to influence senators, and that Lacanta was his only effective method of persuading others.

This bold, political Lacanta was the one who everyone knew, but it couldn’t have been the whole picture. Next I intended to explore the Senate, just in case Lacanta’s actions there had caused bitterness to rise up against her. Could she have delved too far into the dealings of others to warrant being killed?

‘Lacanta’s murder,’ I continued, ‘has so far taken me to the lowest regions of Tryum, but that doesn’t feel right. Most murders tend to happen between people who know each other, people of the same class – such as political rivals. Unless Lacanta regularly cavorted with the poor, I feel I’ve been looking in the wrong place. My investigation ought to focus up-city.’

Veron nodded and gave my words some consideration. Somewhere in the far distance I heard a group of people singing.

‘What were your dealings with her?’

‘Oh very subtle,’ Veron said.

‘I’m curious, senator,’ I replied, in good humour. ‘I have little idea who she actually was as a person.’

‘We rarely spoke, if it means much. As I say, I’m not one for tensions. I float around from faction to faction, not committing, not protesting too much. It makes for an easy life. She had little interest in me, since I almost always sided with Licintius. Say what you will about him – and others do – he speaks a lot of sense. For a king he has the common touch.’

‘What do those in the Senate think of her?’

‘Some people called her Licintius’ witch,’ Veron confessed. ‘Not in the same way as Divran being a witch. More metaphorical. Senators are tricky individuals – forming allegiances or groups, but always to further a cause. Sometimes that may even be a good thing, but at other times it can be disastrous. There are those who seek agrarian reform, those against it. I’ve hinted that there are some who would like Detrata to free itself from the laws of the Vispasian Royal Union – laws, as a Sun Chamber officer, you help to enforce – so that we might return to the old days of the Detratan Empire. Some even wish us to turn into a republic, without a king. And some who speak on behalf of certain religious cults, or who represent the interests of bankers. There are as many factions as there are senators.’

‘How did Lacanta fit into this?’ I asked, wondering if he’d provide a similar story to the one that Maxant had told me. ‘Can you give an example?’

‘There was a bill recently, from Licintius, concerning the resettlement of Maxant’s veterans from his campaign in Mauland. A goodwill gesture, and a thank-you from the Senate for the military’s work in enriching Detrata. To you and me that all sounds very reasonable, of course, but a strong faction in the Senate said there was simply not enough land to go around anyway . . . and so on. They suggested that the policy was to do with the king looking to help out his old friend – all the usual excuses, most of which are based on emotion rather than fact. The bill was ready to collapse. What’s particularly strange is that these senators are the very ones who love the military – they were doing it just to spite Licintius.’

‘And Lacanta changed things.’

‘Absolutely. Lacanta worked her powers on some of the key opponents of the bill, and before any of us knew what was going on the bill had managed to pass through the vote. I didn’t think it would, but it did – and I was glad it had done so. Despite my demeanour, I like to think I have some faith in the democratic process, and abhor such seedy influence in the Senate. That’s why many of the senators call her the witch – because it seems like magic had been used by her to control people. Some are convinced that it is genuine witchcraft, too – it’s not merely a word to be used as insult.’

‘Have you seen anything to suggest there were darker forces at work?’ I asked. ‘I keep on hearing about such matters, but I find it hard to believe, despite all I’ve seen over the past few years. When I grew up, the only dark art I could remember was the trade in curses. Some of them even worked too.’

‘There is talk – there’s always talk – but I’ve not seen anything. Well, at least not until the day she was found murdered. If anything could be an act of summoned ghosts, then her murder could be evidence of that. I tell you what, Drakenfeld – I would not like to mess in the affairs of such entities.’

I finished my cup of wine and regarded the night sky. The stars were out, clear and sharp, and there was a pleasant tang of woodsmoke in the air. Closing my eyes, it seemed like I’d never left the city.

‘Veron, can I trust you?’

After a long pause he replied, ‘No, probably not.’ Veron chuckled, acutely aware of his own self-depreciation.

‘Then you’re the most honest politician I’ve met.’

‘But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.’

And it seemed, beneath the layers of the suave politician and the man who was faintly disappointed with life, I could at least believe that. ‘Could you give me the names of specific senators to interview?’

‘Plenty,’ he replied, ‘but it depends on what you’re hoping to discover.’

‘Who were those closest to Lacanta? Who could she bend around her finger, who was she sleeping with? I don’t care if I have to speak to every member of the Senate and it takes me months.’

‘I’ll write down some names for you before I leave,’ Veron said. ‘Be careful you don’t interfere too far – senators are powerful people. Not quite as powerful as the king, mind you, but we still wield a lot of influence.’

‘I’m sure they will all be aware that if I was killed, that would be the second Sun Chamber officer to die within a month. With two officers out of action so soon, I have no idea what the Sun Chamber might do.’

‘Are they really that sensitive, the Sun Chamber?’

‘Absolutely,’ I replied seriously. ‘We have to write a weekly report – if nothing is heard of us for a month or so, officials would flood Tryum to find out what was going on. So if someone in the Senate tried to get rid of me, we’d come back in droves.’

‘Such power,’ Veron remarked. ‘Such administration. Has your father’s death not created more of a fuss back at your headquarters in Free State?’

‘No, it was declared as natural causes. The priests and pontiffs, and the Pollan physicians, did not suggest otherwise. Just as well really, as the Sun Chamber gets nervous easily, and I would not like to see them so upset.’

After another cup of wine, which we drank in a pleasant, companionable silence, Veron bid me farewell and left me with his list of names. With a good amount of alcohol inside him, he shambled back through the evening streets a relatively happy man. I headed indoors, whereupon Bellona handed me a scroll of messages and another tube, apologizing for not handing them to me earlier.

When Bellona left for her sleeping quarters, I headed into the study and opened up the scroll. Bellona had written the note and I marvelled at how neat and precise her handwriting was. It was heartening to know she had received a good education and I wondered if my father had helped her in any way, perhaps to give her more of a chance, or to aid him in matters of administration. In that moment it occurred to me how little I knew about the woman.

The messages largely consisted of more people asking for help. The owner of a local gem store claimed he had been robbed and wondered if it was possible for me, instead of the cohorts, to investigate the matter.

A priest had tried to speak with me, apparently for the second time. He said he would visit me again. What could a holy man want with me? Since it could have been a matter of a spiritual nature, I made sure to inform Bellona to take a full message from him should he call again, lest the gods get angry with me.

A clerk’s daughter had gone missing late last night and not come home in the morning; and three youths had been spotted harassing a senator and the official in question wondered if I might be able to do something about it.

I shook my head despairingly. Any other month and I would perhaps be in a position to try to help these people, but these were rather trivial matters and I could not afford to lend my time to them. These were issues for the cohorts.

Finally I inspected the tube, which was sealed in wax and stamped with the emblem of the Sun Chamber. I opened it up with a knife and was relieved to see a letter in response to mine. The roads around Detrata were in a good state and a reliable messenger could travel for dozens of miles in a day without much trouble. My initial correspondence had been with the Sun Chamber station at the Three Nations border post, situated where the territories of Detrata, Theran to the east and Maristan to the south all meet, and which is at the other end of the country from Tryum.

The reply had come from a senior official, who acknowledged the importance of my case, approved of my summary and my intentions, and asked whether or not I would like military assistance to be brought closer to the borders, given that the case dealt with the senatorial classes. I exhaled deeply and stared into the distance, contemplating my options.

In no mind to answer such matters, I decided to lay down my head and get some much-needed rest.