House of Aldermen, Triah
THE CONSULAR’S OFFICES CONSISTED of three large adjoining rooms: an anteroom, where Karina’s secretary sat; a meeting room overlooking Trinacrya Square, filled by a blackbark desk and lined with paintings of previous Consulars; and the smallest of the three, the Consular’s windowless study.
It was to this last room that Karina brought Carrieri. Bookshelves and scroll shelves lined the room, which was furnished with comfortable stuffed chairs and a long couch.
“The others—”
“Will arrive shortly.” Karina made for the liquor table. She poured herself a glass of brandy, and raised another to Carrieri questioningly.
Carrieri shook his head. He’d normally make a comment about it being a bit early in the day for that sort of thing, but given the circumstances, he couldn’t blame her. It was four days since the Eye had fallen, and the assembly was making slow progress in deciding how to house the displaced, where to treat the wounded and how to even start the clean-up operation. Even with a strong Consular like Karina running things, the senators were quick to argue and slow to make decisions.
In short time the study’s population increased by three: Kosarin Lothgarde, Venerato of the Citadel, along with his second, Sirana Aqilla, and the Essera herself, Arcana Blackwood. Together with Carrieri and Karina, they were the five most powerful people in Triah—perhaps the five most powerful people on the Sfaera.
The five most powerful people on the Sfaera, after Danica Winter Cordier.
“The trebuchet?” Karina asked.
“Still dismantled,” Carrieri said. “We monitor it at all times of the day and night.” It was the first question she asked every day since the attack, and for good reason. But the tiellans did not seem interested in rebuilding the war machines.
“What of the Rodenese fleet?” Karina asked.
“The blockade continues, but they have yet to mount an offensive.”
“Why? The Eye is down. Their main deterrent is gone. With the tiellans inland and them at sea, they could overwhelm us from both sides.”
Carrieri shook his head in frustration. “I cannot say for certain.” This question had plagued him the past few days. The respite was welcome, but could not last. This had to be the eye of a storm; the Rodenese navy had not come all this way to blockade Triah, not when the city was at its most vulnerable.
“You have no idea why they hold back? Not even a guess?”
“I have guesses, of course, but—”
“Guesses are all we have right now, Grand Marshal. Tell me yours.”
Carrieri pursed his lips. “The most likely scenario is that the alliance between the tiellans and the Rodenese has broken down. Rodenese prejudice runs deep; and if the tiellans hate us, who live alongside them, they must hate the Rodenese even more, who drove them out with pogroms and death.”
“Good.”
“Don’t take comfort from my words,” Carrieri warned. “They’re just conjecture, and must be taken as such. We cannot assume anything about either enemy at our gates.”
“I understand that, Riccan. And while I agree with you, time does not. Send messages to both parties. See if either will meet with us.”
Those words brought splutters from the rest of the group, but Carrieri nodded. It was the inevitable conclusion. When outmatched and outflanked, negotiation was the only recourse.
“Yes, Consular,” Carrieri said, with a small bow.
“Essera Blackwood,” Karina said, pouring herself another glass of brandy, “we are honored by your presence. Would you give us a report on the numbers?”
“The death toll has risen to twelve hundred people,” Blackwood replied. “We are still finding bodies in the rubble.” In public, the Essera was all pomp and majesty, but here, she was all business. “We found a particularly large group of corpses beneath the rubble this morning. We think a lot of them were trying to escape down the stairwell of the Eye at the time of the attack.”
“How many injured?”
“Over three thousand,” Blackwood said, “and there are reports of a nasty cough going around. Our priestesses think it might have something to do with all the dust and debris people near the Eye inhaled when it collapsed, and over the following hours.”
“How are your priestesses handling those numbers? Do you have enough people?”
“We could never have enough for something like this,” Blackwood said, her voice calm with patience that Carrieri could not fathom. “Hundreds of priestesses have been recalled from outside the city to help with the recovery effort, but many of them will not arrive for days, perhaps weeks, and in the meantime we are stretched very thin.”
“What of these Odenite priestesses?”
“Disciples,” Blackwood corrected. “They continue to help where they can, but there are only nine of them and…”
“What?” Karina prompted.
“And they are being met with some opposition.”
Carrieri sat up in his chair. “Why would they meet opposition? Who would oppose them? They’ve saved dozens of people, if the reports are to be believed.”
“Hundreds, actually,” Blackwood said. “But… some rumors began, early yesterday morning as far as we can tell, that the Odenites are in league with the tiellans.”
“In league with the tiellans?” Karina angled a look at Carrieri. “Is there any truth to this?”
Carrieri shook his head—he had heard of no such connection—but it was Lothgarde who responded.
“There may indeed be some truth to it, Consular. There is an ex-Nazaniin, of sorts, with the Odenites,” Lothgarde said. “He is married—or at least he was, at one point in time—to Winter Cordier.”
Carrieri bristled. “Why weren’t we told about this?”
“The Nazaniin deserter was our business,” Lothgarde said, “we saw no need to bring him up. We only discovered his connection to the tiellan leader recently.”
Carrieri imagined the Venerato was using the term “recently” rather loosely.
“But what has that to do with these disciples?” Karina asked. “All these women have done is go about healing the people of our city.”
“The rumors,” Blackwood said, clearing her throat, “say that the Odenites and tiellans planned the attack together, so that the Odenites could then show their power and gain the favor of the people. People are refusing the Odenites’ help because they claim not to buy the ruse.”
“They think the Odenites planned the attack?” Karina asked, her voice rising with incredulity.
“The theory is not completely unfounded,” Lothgarde said.
Carrieri stared at Lothgarde accusingly. One thing was certain: The people wouldn’t know about the Odenites’ connection to the tiellans—unless that information had been leaked.
The question was, why?