Page 79 of The Tainted Cup

“Correct,” said Uhad. “Manyof the upstanding members of the Iyalets were present at the Haza affair, not just us. And attendance is not uncommon. The gentry hold many events. Officers can decline some, but not all—and especially not those of the Hazas.”

“Specifics!” snapped Ana. “How many people came to this party? And during what times?”

“A hundred people or more,” said Kalista. “And it lasted hours.”

“Yet these Engineers were not present, of that I am sure,” said Uhad.

“How are you sure?” demanded Ana.

“We’ve been studying these people’s lives for the past days!” said Uhad with a sniff. “I would know if they’d been there!”

“But are you all even aware, Uhad,” she thundered, “of what the dead Engineerslookedlike?”

“I…I remember names!” said Uhad, affronted. “And I always make sure to get them, given my role.”

“And if they gavefalsenames?” said Ana. “What then?”

“What is the nature of your tone here, Ana?” Uhad demanded. “It’s not like you thinkwekilled those Engineers at this party?”

“I’ve no idea what to think!” said Ana. “But are you not cognizant, all of you, that you now seem to bewitnessesto not only the poisoning and murders of ten Engineers, but also the inciting act that caused the greatest calamity of the recent imperial era? Have you notrealizedwhat this means?”

Another long, baleful silence.

“At the very least,” said Ana wearily, “it means we now have to get Commander-Prificto Vashta directly involved.”

Everyone looked shocked, myself included. We had not yet encountered something grave enough to call her in from her duties as seneschal of the canton.

“Why?” said Uhad.

“Because as I said, you are witnesses!” said Ana. “You cannot investigateyourselves! Nor can youquestionyourselves! Especially not if you all are seen to be in pretty good relations with the owners of the house where these people were originally poisoned!” She looked over her shoulder. “Miljin!”

“Yes, ma’am?” he said.

“Go with young Strovi here to tell Vashta we have urgent news. We will need her input to decide how to move further. Move quickly now! We must form a plan of action as fast as we can.”

CHAPTER 24

| | |

COMMANDER-PRIFICTO VASHTA SAT INher chair at the front of the Iudex adjudication chamber, her gray-peppered hair twinkling in the lamplight. I hadn’t seen her since that first night in Daretana, but she looked much as I’d remembered: tall, serious, austere, draped in Legion black, watching us keenly like a scribe-hawk studying a mouse.

But then Ana talked. And talked. And as she did, Vashta seemed to age before my very eyes, so much that her back grew bent and her face appeared to blossom with lines.

Finally Ana finished. A silence stretchedon.

“I see,” said Vashta softly. “Thank you for your report, Immunis.”

No one spoke. The commander-prificto simply sat in her chair, blinking as she tried to process all this.

“This…” Vashta’s eyes searched the seats, then stared out the windows, as if hoping to find someone who could help. “This…this is nothing short,” she proclaimed, “of a fuckingdisaster.”

Her words echoed off the fretvine walls and the wood-paneled seats while Ana, Miljin, and I looked on. This chamber was where the Iudex of the canton determined the sentences of its criminals; and though we had done no wrong, I couldn’t help but feel that all three of us were about to be punished.

“Four quakes,” said Vashta drearily. “Four quakes we’ve recordedrecently, all over the past week. Do you understand what this indicates? A leviathan approaches. It churns its way now through the mud and soil of the sea deeps. It shall attack in the next seven days, perhaps less.”

“Dreadful.” Ana’s head bobbed up and down like a claydove walking about a town square. “Awful.”

“To survive the wet season,” said Vashta, “we need the Engineers to be functional. We needTalagrayto be functional. We need all the complex little behaviors it takes to maintain the walls and the bombards and the Legion to keep on whirring and clunking along. And yet…and yet, you tell me now that not only are we no closer to identifying who killed those ten Engineers, but that almost theentireinvestigation team is now compromised.Because,the poisoning likely took place in a home of one of the most powerful clans in all the Empire! Right as all my investigators were apparently sipping their sotwine nearby!” A horrified pause. “I mean, I…I thought you were tracking the Engineers to some secret meetings, Dolabra, or some such devilry?”