Drakenfeld

Questions and Waiting

The veterans took it in turns to watch Lacanta, though I respected her right to privacy – she said it was indecent for a woman of her position to be stared at by such men and she was right. So Leana handily volunteered to spend the night in Lacanta’s room, watching over her. We cleared her room of her possessions and anything that could be used as a weapon. A dagger was found beneath her pillow.

Nearby I noted another three books on Destos, one of which was a more detailed piece of travel writing, though much like the one I had seen in her room in Optryx. Was one of these the object removed from her room, leaving a mark in the dust? Concealed in another book was yet another piece of paper, with more clear and obvious script than the paper I’d originally found, but it was updated and much easier to follow. This time there was no doubting it was a map.

Without Leana present I was careful to use the apothecary’s herbs I’d brought with me. The tisane certainly calmed my mind enough for me to have faith in herbs for a night – it made a change from having faith in gods so that they did not punish me. On deeper reflection, Polla might have agreed. The herbs might not always work, either, but since I had been taking them regularly I had not experienced anything notable in my sleep. The world was full of uncertainties but, thankfully, for the first time in a long while my seizures were the least of my concerns.

Sleep came easily. It was peaceful and deep, the best for weeks. I woke up refreshed and saw everything with a heightened sense of clarity.

After an initial debate between myself and Callimar, we decided to wait a couple of days in the villa with Lacanta while our agents did their work. If there had been regular contact between the property and the king’s men, then our soldiers would intercept any carriages or horses travelling to the property. At first it seemed strange that Lacanta had brought such a small entourage with her, but perhaps she had wanted as few people as possible knowing the plan.

The men with her, it transpired, were all eunuchs. We only found out when one of them stripped himself naked before Callimar’s men and pleaded with them not to hurt him. A lot of people who find themselves in captivity tended to do that when they had run out of options and become desperate.

We permitted Lacanta to walk in the gardens, both inside the property and out, with an armed escort. There was no reason to be needlessly cruel while waiting for her sentencing. Whenever she did, however, I decided to accompany her. Sometimes people would tell me strange things when they were more relaxed and sanguine about their fate. Her talent for conversation, when she opened up to me, was beguiling. It was obvious she was far more well read than myself, so before the beautifully serene view I merely let her talk more so that I might learn one or two things about the gods and the stars.

The conversation turned again to my father’s involvement, and she asked me how I could so easily bring shame upon my family.

I reminded her that it was not I who brought the shame in the first place, and that I forgave him.

‘Polla, I’m sure, will see that my emotion is kept out of such decisions when the time comes. Besides, given there is shame in my family, it only seems fair to correct that. Polla would approve. I hope.’

‘What is so special about your goddess that makes you regard her so highly?’

‘Nothing, I suppose, which is exactly why she is special. She encourages me to cast light into dark places, to investigate matters in the physical plane as best as I can, to the best of my abilities and to the benefit of Vispasia. She enables me to think on my own, to question everything. We respect our gods and goddesses like we would our own parents, but Polla seems to be a goddess whose advice is constantly effective. Her scriptures are practical, not judgemental; her priests and priestesses full of useful advice.’

‘She sounds far more pleasant that Trymus. His priests seem more concerned with perpetuating his own glorious myths and moral absolutes than with advice.’

‘You spoke of shame on my family,’ I said, ‘but do you have no shame about your sexual unions with your own brother?’

I expected her to say nothing, to look away, but instead she began to justify her actions. ‘We shared a mother and a father – it hardly seems much of a bother to share a bed as well.’

‘The gods disapprove,’ I replied. ‘The laws of nature disapprove. But, more importantly, the laws of Vispasia also disapprove.’

‘Laws and gods… they do not understand matters of love. Our union was one of deep affection, full of tender and caring gestures. How many marriages in the city can claim such enjoyment? Not that many, I’ll wager. How many women can claim to be so happy? Again, far too few. We have always been close, Licintius and I. The first time we slept together, it felt so perfectly natural – the most natural thing in the world, in fact. We merely had to create the pretence that it was not going on.’

‘I could never connect your very austere room, and the fact that no one could actually claim to have been sleeping with you, with the reports that you flirted with everyone around you, and led a rather wild social life. It simply made no sense.’

‘Well, now you know,’ Lacanta said.

‘It’s such a shame that an innocent priestess had to lose her life over it. So many people have ended up dead because of your actions.’

‘Who else?’ she asked, quite surprised.

‘You realize General Maxant is dead?’

‘No… No, I didn’t. What happened?’

She could have been lying about her ignorance, but I told her anyway – that he was murdered, that it was staged to look like suicide. I admit to still not knowing why Maxant died. My suspicions were that the king had silenced his general for knowing too much, but there was no proof of this.

Lacanta told me that she did not know Maxant well enough, but he seemed an honest if somewhat dull person. ‘Hardly a man one could have a meaningful conversation with,’ she said. Lacanta received little contact from Tryum and knew nothing of what was going on there. I tried to question what the arrangement was between her and her brother, how often they might meet up, but she was not forthcoming on the details.

In the end the clouds began to move in, bringing in a gentle, sideways rain that I first mistook for sea spray. Our conversation had, for the moment, reached an end. Together we headed inside.