The Road to Hell

Chapter Eight

December 13

Andrin listened with rapt attention during the afternoon gathering of the Privy Council. Technically it wasn’t a formal meeting since neither Emperor Zindel nor a councilors’ quorum was present, but the working session was vitally important. And her father would be receiving a detailed report of everything they uncovered.

Privy Voice Ulantha Jastyr, formerly the Assistant Privy Voice, sat in the corner making a human record of everything said. She was surrounded by physical reports and notices Andrin vaguely recognized as the routine work of the Privy Voice’s aide. Alazon Yanamar’s resignation was for public consumption, not reality, and Andrin knew her father intended to have the exceptional Talent back in formal service once Darcel Kinlafia was elected. But Jastyr was an excellent Voice in her own right, and Andrin appreciated having one person on the Privy Council who was closer to her age than her father’s.

Andrin added to her very long list of things to accomplish someday, a mental note to find a way to see Jastyr was rewarded for her term as Privy Voice with more than just a thank you and a resumption of her former duties as Alazon Yanamar’s aide and protege. In fact, she supposed it was time she began assembling her own staff-that was another thing Janaki would have been doing if she hadn’t been thrust into his rightful place-and one member of that staff ought to be a Voice of her own.…

The papers and notes Jastyr was shuffling through at the moment had nothing at all to do with Crown Prince Howan Fai Goutin or any of the other Uromathian marriage candidates, however. The Privy Voice was managing all the other reports and notices that had been forwarded to her father’s attention relating to the war, the administration of the empire, and the minutia of coordinating a multi-universe unification.

The other council members focused on the detailed discovery and analysis of marriageable candidates, freeing Jastyr to limit her involvement to making a perfect mental record of the proceedings, and Andrin was deeply thankful for the Privy Voice’s ability to multitask. Having heard her recall before, Andrin had no doubt at all Jastyr would be able to provide the Emperor with a perfect recitation of everything they discussed when she briefed him at the end of the day. But even more important than updating Zindel, Jastyr kept the secret. No one else could be allowed to know they were working on a way around Emperor Chava’s demand until the moment they announced the wedding and Jastyr was playing her part flawlessly. Voices working with the media and serving other royals knew Alazon Yanamar’s mind intimately, but Jastyr was new. The change in Privy Voices would certainly help Darcel’s chances of securing a seat in the new Imperial House of Talents, but perhaps even more importantly, it also protected the secret. Even Voicecasters who might have realized Alazon was hiding something in one of the countless interviews and Voice briefings expected of her position were unlikely to detect those same nuances in Jastyr’s Voice. Not until they’d had longer to become accustomed to Hearing her, at any rate.

First Councilor Taje, at the end of the table opposite Andrin, checked off the agenda items and called on Brithum Dulan to handle the presentation on prospective consorts.

“Your Highness.” Councilor Dulan nodded to her. “I think we have some useful information to present today. We’ve had men investigating every candidate Uromathian prince in Tajvana and a few more who didn’t come for the Conclave. I’ll remind everyone that while every member of the Imperial Guard is loyal, none of the men testifying about their investigations know why they were assigned the task.”

The first councilor and the few other council members in the room acknowledged the warning amicably. Andrin-who suspected the real reason he’d mentioned the point had more to do with her presence than with the councilors who’d been working with him since the beginning of the effort-thanked him politely and they began the day’s work.

The subject of the day was the Eniath Crown Prince: Howan Fai Goutin, his family, his background, his connections to Emperor Chava Busar, and perhaps most critically, the detailed minutia of their claim that his qualifications met the terms of the Unification Treaty.

That final piece was easiest to confirm. Everything Darcel Kinlafia and Alazon Yanamar had pointed out about the treaty and Howan Fai was absolutely accurate. The terms of the original treaty called for a Princess of Uromathia to wed the Crown Prince of Ternathia. With Janaki dead, Chava had accepted the modification of Prince of Uromathia and Crown Princess. And as Darcel had pointed out, even though the implication had been Prince of the Uromathian Empire-which could be interpreted only as Chava’s sons-the treaty itself said only Prince of Uromathia…and Uromathia was a continent, not simply a single empire which happened to be located upon it. Howan Fai was a prince, and Howan Fai was Uromathian. All that remained was to ensure he was also a good candidate for consort.

At a nod from the first councilor, Dulan ushered in the first of his men.

Tolleran chan Lofti, a tall, well-muscled man with the extreme physical fitness common in the Imperial Guard, reported with sheepish detail his recent investigation of the eligible Uromathian prince.

“So you said you think the Eniath Crown Prince recognized you this morning even with the disguise change?” Taje asked.

“I don’t think so, My Lord,” chan Lofti replied. “I know so. He made me, and it could’ve gotten quite awkward if I hadn’t seen the look he passed to Munn Lii, his guard, and used the back exit instead of the front. In fairness, he didn’t guess who was actually having him followed. He seems to have assumed I was a Bergahl hireling, or possibly someone working for Emperor Chava. I’d barely started writing up the report when Munn Lii stopped by headquarters to ask if we’d had warning of any threats against Conclave members from Chava’s supporters.”

Andrin blanched. “Emperor Chava knows?”

“Knows what?” chan Lofti looked genuinely confused, then quickly amended his question. “My apologies, Your Highness. But I work outside the Palace most of the time and I certainly don’t want to know any more than I need to.”

Andrin swallowed her questions and let Taje answer the man.

“We’ll take the rest of your report now, I think,” the first councilor said smoothly. “If we need to call you back for more questions later, we’ll do so.”

“Of course, First Councilor.” chan Lofti took a moment to regather his thoughts and then continued. “There was an Order thug at a cafe playing lookout for some kind of strong arm antics on Gem Street. Either the Prince or the merchant, possibly both, associated me with that operation.”

“My actual backup, Dorelle chan Whalen, was posing as City Watch for the morning, so he got a full report from the jewelry merchant. It seems the young Prince talked the merchant into reporting me in spite of the man’s obvious fear of the Order. He gave a pretty good description, too. If I were a criminal, I wouldn’t be able to work in Tajvana again.”

“Is that some sort of Talent?” Taje asked.

“Hard to say. In the merchant, definitely not. In the Prince, maybe. But I think, no. I suspect Prince Howan Fai is simply more observant than usual and something’s happened to put him enough on edge that he’s paying attention to the crowd even when his mind is wandering.”

“Oh?” Andrin leaned in.

“Dorelle said-and he wrote it up in the report if you want his exact words, Your Highness-he said the merchant thought the Prince was quite taken with a princess and had trouble making a selection. It could just have been a storekeeper talking up his wares, but there’d be no reason for the man to add that to the telling.”

Andrin listened with rapt attention.

“He could have been buying for a girlfriend back on Eniath or even a fiance,” the Privy Voice suggested, glancing up from her stack of paperwork with a concerned glance at Andrin.

The crown princess sat back, disturbed at this new thought. Could her perfect solution be the ruin of Howan Fai’s life? His father was a close ally of her father, and with the importance of the Sharona Unification on the line, Howan Fai could be forced to give up a previously formed attachment to become her unwilling groom.

Chan Lofti actually laughed. “I hardly think so. He bought a broach for his mother. The search of his apartments while he was out revealed only letters to his father about the Conclave. And out with his friends last night he was teased mercilessly for not having a prospect for future Queen of Eniath.”

“You searched his rooms?” Andrin paled trying to imagine explaining the breech of privacy to the sweet man she’d danced with. “Is that normal?” Were my mother’s rooms searched before she married my father? She didn’t ask it out loud, but the Privy Council members understood the underlying question. Chan Lofti, of course, didn’t, but some of the eager delight at the success of his search methods faded in the investigator’s eyes as her tone registered.

“Pardon, Your Highness, I wouldn’t know about normal. My orders were to conduct a thorough, a very thorough, check of this Prince for reliability and security risks.”

“Those were, indeed, Armsman chan Lofti’s instructions, Your Highness,” Councilor Dulan put in. “If the Prince was being controlled by Uromathia, we needed to know.”

“And by every check we’ve been able to apply,” the first councilor added, “Prince Howan Fai and the rest of the Eniath royal family are exactly as they present themselves: capable rulers of a small historically Uromathian nation fully independent of Emperor Chava’s control.”

Andrin thought she should have found that reassuring. She did, but she also didn’t. The man she’d begun to think of as her prince was eligible, but he might not be truly interested. Perhaps Howan Fai was just like the others at the ball, entranced by her title.

But no, he’d seemed to like her personally too. And Finena had liked him. The falcon didn’t warm even to trained falconers very easily, so Andrin counted several points in his favor for charming her feathered companion.

“I see,” she said wishing it were safe to talk to Howan Fai directly, “I suppose there’s really no way to find out if he has some ugly secrets and really enjoys torturing puppies or, or, really anything.”

Chan Lofti bowed deeply to her. “I can assure you, Your Highness, that he doesn’t.”

Andrin looked at him, her eyes unconvinced, and the Guardsman glanced at Dulan. The Internal Affairs Councilor looked back for a moment, then at the First Councilor. He raised one eyebrow and, after the briefest of hesitations, Taje nodded.

“Your Highness,” Dulan said carefully, “you’re probably aware the Imperial Guard possesses Talents about which the world in general knows little or nothing. Exactly what all of those Talents are is known only to the Emperor or Empress. Not even I know all of them. In this instance, however, I assure you that you can take Armsman chan Lofti’s word for it.”

Andrin looked back at chan Lofti, who smiled slightly.

“When I ask questions, I can get people to reveal quite a bit about themselves, Your Highness,” he said.

“I mentioned his conversation with his friends, Your Highness. My cover was as, ah, a server in one of the local restaurants-” for some reason, Andrin had the impression he’d chosen his words with some care “-which gave me an opportunity to speak to all of them. One of them was Prince Yertahla of Rylliath, and I can tell you that, unlike Prince Howan Fai, he’s a complete fool. Of course, he’s also only eighteen at the moment. In a few years, he might grow out of it, but he might not, either.”

“Thank you, chan Lofti.” Andrin scanned the table to see if anyone else had more questions for this member of the Imperial Guard. No one did.

“I think that will be all for now.” Councilor Dulan dismissed the man, and chan Lofti bowed himself out.

“And,” Dulan put in after a slight pause allowed the door to close firmly, “since the Conclave meeting is in only five days, the Council has formally recommended against your choosing Prince Yertahla, Your Highness.”

“What about Howan Fai?” Andrin asked.

Councilor Dulan said, “I’d welcome him into the Guard.” That was high praise indeed, but it wasn’t enough.

“And as Consort?” Andrin asked. “With all honor for the fine work the Imperial Guard does, I don’t need a protector. I need a Prince. Is he strong enough for this?”

“I believe he is, Your Highness,” Dulan replied. “He’s had some hard times in the past. Eniath’s struggle to remain independent from Uromathia hasn’t been easy on the Fai family, but I judge Howan Fai’s emerged from it all stronger rather than broken.”

“That’s good. That’s really good. But, can he handle being Consort? I’m-” Andrin blushed. “At least I think I’m trying to be rational about this. He’s really amazing, I mean, I like him. But I can’t make this choice just based on what I want. I have to choose a man who will be good for Sharona. The Gods know Janaki was expected to make a political marriage to help Ternathia, but now the stakes are so much higher. I can’t see, and I don’t mean Glimpses, though I’ve gotten niggles of warnings from that too, but I can’t see if this choice will ultimately work out.

“I can imagine Howan Fai as an emperor consort, but that shouldn’t be for years and years. Father will have plenty of time to train us both, I hope. It’s just that I’m coming to this late, too. Do you think he can learn? Sharona is so much bigger and more complicated than the single island of Eniath.”

Councilor Yamen coughed to gain her attention. The small birdlike woman specialized in accounts, finances, and banking concerns and provided the Privy Council with her insights on all things financial.

“While it’s true Eniath is small and has no physical holdings beyond the home universe, Your Highness, the people were originally nomads, with their range to the east of the Arau Mountains extending to the northern Uromathian coast. At one point Eniathian nomads ranged fairly far south as well. But in old history, several of Howan Fai’s many times great grandfathers kept his people free during the Uromath Unification Wars by giving up contested land. One branch of the Eniathians even moved entirely onto their boats when they had to abandon the Uromathian coastline. The Uromathian Empire formed without them, but they kept their independence, and if Eniath’s physical holdings now aren’t much larger than a postal stamp, their traders, merchants, and bankers are among the canniest anywhere. And, for that matter, as a people of travellers they’re quite literally everywhere. There are a few strongholds in the steppes and another couple on some northern islands, but the people of Eniath are still very nomadic at heart.”

“Oh yes, I remember learning about that.” Andrin replied.

Most of what her tutors had taught her about Uromathia had focused on the Uromathian Empire and its current conflicts with Ternathia, but there’d been a few asides about how the handful of Uromathian kingdoms currently separate from the Empire had come to be. Now she searched her memory for the details of the long eastern Uromathian coast, where the ocean’s shallows were filled with floating fisheries and boat cities built by the fishing families who fed the Uromathian Empire.

“I’m sorry, Shamir, but I think I’ve scrambled some of my history lessons. Does Eniath control the Uromathian fishing industry?”

“Absolutely not,” Councilor Yamen replied for the first councilor. “The Uromathian Empire has a strong coastal-based fishing industry independent from Eniath. Some Eniathians do run traditional fish farms and transport their catches widely, but most Eniathian industry is in trade and banking. They’ve been able to maintain their independence from the Empire for so long largely because of their keen observation and involvement in the Sharona-wide economy. For the last eighty years, that’s translated into an equally deep involvement in inter-multiverse affairs and commerce, as well. I think we’ll find the heir to the Eniathian Crown to be a quick study at inter-universal politics.”

“There is one rather significant concern,” Councilor Dulan said. “Eniath is prosperous, but not excessively so. For that matter, some of the larger cities of the Uromathian Empire proper could probably match the wealth of the entire kingdom, or come very close to it, at any rate. That means the Eniathian royal house simply can’t afford the sort of security Ternathia can. I assess Prince Howan Fai’s personal guard to be both loyal and exceptionally competent. If the Prince hadn’t spotted our investigators himself, I expect the guard would have recognized the tails even with the frequent personnel changes.

“But even the best single guard is weak security. The prince must sleep, and the guard must sleep. That means the prince is vulnerable, if Chava should even begin to suspect what we have in mind. For that matter, his father’s security is almost equally weak, and Chava wouldn’t hesitate to use threats to the king to sway the prince. At the moment, they’re staying in the guest wing with many of the other Conclave attendees, and we can’t move their quarters or secure their persons without drawing exactly the sort of attention we’re trying to avoid.”

“Our best choice is to keep it secret.” Yamen agreed.

“But what about Howan Fai?” Andrin asked. “He has to be consulted.”

“No, Your Highness,” said Dulan. “I’m sorry for the bluntness, but that is exactly wrong. He has to not be consulted. For his safety, for his family’s safety, and for the good of Sharona, Prince Howan Fai Goutin can’t know he’s been selected until he’s pledging his troth to you in front of the Conclave. He wouldn’t thank you for risking his family’s health and safety for any advance messages either.”

“If he had a Voice with him or even just a Flicker as an attendant,” Jastyr mused thoughtfully, before adding, “but he doesn’t. So there’s no secure way to send Howan Fai anything.”

“Princes don’t have it any easier than princesses, do they?” Andrin said sadly. Jastyr gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement, but Taje raised an eyebrow and Dulan looked at her inquiringly. “Howan Fai will marry me because he’s a prince and that’s what princes do,” she explained. “Even Chava’s sons would do the same if their Emperor ordered it.”

“Of course they would, Your Highness, but the marriage afterwards is what will make all the difference,” Taje said.

“I’d rather not need to have Imperial Guardsmen defend you from your own consort, Your Highness,” Dulan added. “So please don’t suggest choosing any of Chava’s boys.”

“So they really are as bad as I’ve heard?” she asked.

“Probably worse than you’ve heard, Highness.” Yalen said, “There are certain details unlikely to be repeated for a young lady’s ears. Certain things I wish hadn’t needed to be said to my ears either.”

“Likewise.” Taje and Dulan agreed.

“Your Highness!” Jastyr pushed her papers aside and glared at Andrin with an expression the crown princess was not used to seeing on councilor’s faces. The Privy Voice was angry and very clearly not engaged in any secondary Voicelinks at this particular moment. “Your Highness cannot be implying you feel sorry for the Crown Prince of Eniath who’s looking like he’s about to make the match of a lifetime!”

The rest of the council looked thunderstruck. They’d only been listening to what she’d said. Jastyr, mostly silent and listening hard in the moments between her other commitments, had been alert to all the things the crown princess wasn’t saying.

“But he doesn’t even get asked!” Andrin tried to explain. “My parents had their marriage arranged, but father sent flowers every Vothday for a full year before the wedding and had a full garden planted at Hawkwing as a gift for my mother.”

“Wasn’t Empress Varena allergic to half the plants in that garden?” Yamen asked, confused.

“Yes, but that’s not the point,” protested Andrin.

“Your Highness,” Jastyr continued severely, “Whichever prince you choose, you’re going to have to trust him.”

“Trust? This isn’t about trust. I’m just trying to find a way to be polite, or chivalrous, or something.” Feeling every bit as young as her seventeen years, Andrin tried to find the words to explain her problem to the councilors.

Shamir Taje gently laid the list of names flat on the table in front of them and angled the single paper in front of Andrin.

“Your Highness,” he said softly, “Is there any man on this list better qualified to one day serve as Emperor Consort of Sharona than Howan Fai Goutin?”

“No.” Andrin bit her lip. “But my Uromathian is still not very good. He speaks some Ternathian, but this could go very, very poorly.”

“You’ll study. He’ll study.” Yamen shook her head, baffled. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I don’t want him to be forced into this.” Andrin tried again to explain.

“Any prince who’d feel forced by this honor, doesn’t deserve you.” Taje’s eye’s narrowed with quiet anger at the implication anyone would reject his princess.

“You’re my partisans.” Andrin couldn’t help but smile, but it was a thin faint smile.

“Your Highness,” Dulan said, “beside that fact, with which I very much agree, I do believe Prince Howan is already quite taken with you.”

“No.” Yamen lifted warning finger at the change in Andrin’s face. “Your Highness, don’t think it. There’s nothing wrong with having the special Talents thoroughly check him out. This wasn’t any torture chamber session. This prince, and every other we could reasonably consider, has simply had the most thorough background check we could arrange. If they’d known the position they were being considered for-believe us Your Highness! — the ones worth half the gold in their crowns would have volunteered to undergo far more than that.”

“The reality is, Your Highness,” Dulan continued, “that Howan Fai likes you. He might even love you, but this early in a relationship I’d call it deep affection instead. He knows the marital constraints you face and he’s a decent man, so he would never over the ordinary course of things even arrange to put himself back in your presence. In his mind, you’re meant for a higher marriage. But I have every confidence that he’ll be in all ways delighted when he learns he can not only marry you, but in a sense, save you from Emperor Chava by doing so.

“You’ve given him his very own romantic victory, and all he needs to do is say, ‘yes’ at the right moment.”

Andrin took a few moments to compose herself. It wasn’t every day the succession of an empire was decided, and she wanted to get it right. As Crown Princess and not yet Empress, she wasn’t really entitled to the “royal we” just yet, but under the circumstances-

“First Councilor, Privy Voice, Councilors Yamen and Dulan, thank you for your recommendations and advice on Our Imperial Marriage. With due consideration of all candidates, We have made Our decision and are ready to so inform the Conclave.”

Taje leaned forward and squeezed her hand. Andrin looked back at her friend and mentor, finally confident.