Evil for Evil (39 page)

"All right," he said. "We'll give it a go. Now, you see, I've been learning from you as well. Build me some prototypes, so I can see, for myself if any of this'll work. Build me a shielded wagon, and a scrap-iron furnace. If I give you full cooperation, how long will you need?"

Ziani took a deep breath, as if this was the moment he hadn't been looking forward to. "I'll need to build the furnace in order to make the material for the wagon," he said. "Ten days?"

"You're serious? Ten days?"

"We don't have much time before the evacuation, you said," Ziani replied. "While I'm making these prototypes, I can be training the men who'll be my foremen once we're doing it for real. Yes, ten days."

"Fine," Valens said, frowning. "Ten days. You'll be wanting to start right away, so don't let me keep you. I'll have Carausius write you a general commission; that'll authorize you to make all the requisitions you want, men and supplies. Good luck."

"Thank you." Ziani stood up to leave. Valens let him get as far as the door, then said, "One other thing."

"Yes."

"I had a rather strange conversation with Jarnac Ducas a while ago," Valens said.

"You know, Miel Ducas' cousin. Presumably you came across him at Civitas Eremiae."

"I know who you mean," Ziani said.

"Thought you might." Valens paused for a moment, leaving Ziani standing in the doorway, his hand on the latch. "Anyway, Jarnac Ducas told me a rather curious story about you." He smiled. "I'm not sure how to phrase this without sounding hopelessly melodramatic. The gist of it was, you're supposed to have cooked up some kind of plot to get Miel Ducas disgraced. Something to do with the Duchess, and a letter."

"Oh, that." Ziani looked at him; it was the way the feeding deer looks up at a slight noise from the hunter; not fear, but more than curiosity. "Well, I can't blame the Ducas for being angry about it, but he only had himself to blame. A man in his position…" He shrugged. "What exactly did he say I'd done?"

"I can't remember, to be honest with you," Valens said smoothly. "I prefer not to listen to personal quarrels, unless they're getting in the way. But I'd be interested to hear what it was actually all about."

Ziani's face closed like a door. "The Duchess lost one of your letters," he said,

"or it was intercepted, or something like that. The Ducas got hold of it, and kept it instead of taking it to Duke Orsea. I assume he was going to blackmail her with it, or else he had some scheme going on for getting rid of Orsea and taking the throne. I think he was always a bit resentful about Orsea marrying the Sirupati heiress; that's the impression I got from what people were saying, anyhow. They were more or less engaged at one time, I understand."

"I see," Valens replied. "And so when you found out about the letter…"

"I wish I hadn't," Ziani said. "The plain fact is, Miel Ducas was a much more competent soldier than Orsea, he'd have made a much better duke. But it wasn't my choice to make; I wasn't even an Eremian citizen, I was Orsea's guest. When I found evidence that pointed to the Ducas plotting against him, I didn't really have any option. Of course," he went on, "there's no hard evidence to prove that the Ducas had anything to do with the city being betrayed to the Mezentines, it's all circumstantial. On the other hand…"

"You think the Ducas handed over the city to your people?" Ziani shook his head. "Really, it's none of my business. Yes, the Ducas seems to be the only man with a strong motive who was actually in a position to do it. That's evidence, but it's not proof. So, if you're asking me if I blame myself for the betrayal of Civitas Eremiae, I'd have to say no. I may have influenced matters to a degree, but at the end of the day I know it wasn't my fault. Why, how do you see it?" Valens smiled wryly. "Well," he said, "naturally I don't like the thought that the man who opened the gates of Civitas Eremiae could be here, in my city, prepared to do the same again or something similar if he feels his personal agenda requires it. Do you think I ought to do something about Miel Ducas?"

"He's not here, though," Ziani replied. "Isn't he still in Eremia, leading the resistance?"

"So he is. Mind you, the resistance has more or less run out of steam now. I've stopped supplying them, they're not a good investment. So, presumably, Miel Ducas will be coming here sooner or later. What do you think I should do with him when he arrives?"

Ziani shook his head. "Not up to me, I'm delighted to say," he said. "I don't think I could do that; make decisions about other people's lives, I mean. You'd have to be so very sure you were doing the right thing, or else how could you live with yourself?"

"Oh, you manage," Valens said casually. "After a while, you get the knack of being able to forget they're people, and you start seeing them as pieces in a game, or components in a machine. I'm not saying it's something to be proud of, but you can train yourself to do it easily enough."

"I'll take your word for it," Ziani said. "It's not something I'd like to find out by experience."

Ziani left the Duke's tower and walked quickly across the yard, as though he was afraid someone would come after him. Valens, he decided, reminded him of what his old supervisor used to say about the vertical mill. The most useful machine in the shop is usually also the most dangerous.

Ten days; had he really said that? Crazy. Even so; if Valens had brought the wedding date forward, as he'd just said, ten days was about all the time he had. He went back to his room. There was a letter waiting for him; an invitation from the Lord Chamberlain to attend the royal wedding. He read it quickly, looking for the important part. There was a timetable; early morning reception, the wedding itself, then the wedding breakfast, another reception, followed by an afternoon's falconry, in honor of the bride and her guests. By implication he was invited to that, too. He smiled.

Enough of that. Just enough time, before collecting his commission from the Chancery, to see to the other chores. He put on his coat and hurried out of the castle, into town.

"I was beginning to wonder about you," the woman said, as he walked through the door into the back room of the Selfless Devotion. "We're supposed to be partners; and then you vanish up to the castle for weeks on end, and I don't hear a word out of you."

"Been busy," Ziani replied, trying not to stare. The dress she was wearing this time was the worst yet; a gushing, flowing mess of crimson velvet that made her look as though she was drowning in blood. "I've got the money," he went on, "or at least, I'll have it for you this evening, without fail."

"That's a big
or at least,"
she grumbled, but he knew he was safe. "Cash?"

"Draft," Ziani replied. "
Royal
draft," he added, as her face tightened, "drawn direct on the Chancery, and no questions asked. My man'll bring it down to you before the ink's dry."

"Whatever." She was doing her best not to be impressed; on balance, succeeding. "That'll save me a trip, then. When he brings me the money, I'll give him the map."

"Fine." Ziani dropped into a chair, trying to look casual, his legs suddenly weak.

"Now, let's talk about quantities."

"Thought you'd say that." She grinned at him, pleased to have read his mind so easily. "Obviously, given the overheads on each caravan, each consignment's got to be big enough to give us our margin; say a minimum of seven tons a time."

"Oh," Ziani said. "I was thinking a minimum often." She gave him a pitying look. "You got any idea how many mules it takes to shift ten tons of salt?"

"Mules," Ziani repeated. "Why mules? Why not carts?" She sighed. "It's not just the run from here to the border," she said. "You'll see when you get the map. You avoid the desert, sure, but you've still got to get across the mountains before you reach the salt pans. Which means carts are out; it's all got to go on mules."

Ziani nodded. "I appreciate that," he said. "But you can take a train of carts up as far as the foothills, can't you?"

"Well, yes. But what good's that?"

Panic over; Ziani breathed out slowly. "Well, couldn't you take the stuff down the mountain on mules and then load it onto carts once you're back on the flat?" She laughed, making her many chins dance. "Shows how much you know about the haulage business. Do that and you'll have to hire one team for the mule-train and another team for the wagons. Double your wage bill for an extra three tons. Not worth it."

"I see," Ziani said, "I hadn't thought of that."

"Obviously. Just as well you've got me to hold your hand for you. No, seven tons is your maximum, each trip. The idea is to get in as many trips as possible while the weather's good. By late autumn you've got the rains in the mountains, the rivers flood, can't be crossed, you're screwed. Ideally you want two mule-teams, one going and one coming back, all the time. But then you run into production difficulties, meaning the bloody idle savages in the mines. Oh, they'll promise you fifteen tons on the nail, swear blind they'll deliver bang on time; but when you get there, it's nine tons if you're lucky, and if you're not, you're stuck out there in the desert waiting for them to get around to doing some work. Honest truth, they don't understand the meaning of time like we do. Today means tomorrow or three weeks or three months, and if you lose your rag and start yelling at them they stare at you like they can't understand what all the fuss is about. Doing business with people like that…" She made a wide gesture with her hands, half compassion, half contempt.

"And then people whine about salt being expensive. Bloody hard way to earn a living, if you ask me."

Ziani grinned. "You'd better not let the Duke catch you talking like that about his future in-laws," he said.

"Out of his tiny mind," the woman replied sadly. "If he knew those people like I do, he'd steer well clear of them, and I don't care what promises they're making. The thought of one of them as duchess; it's just as well his father's not alive to see it, it'd break his heart."

"Really? I'd sort of got the impression he didn't have one." She scowled at him. "That's his son you're thinking of," she said. "Actually, it's her I feel sorry for; the savage woman. Of course, I don't believe all the stuff you hear about him not being the marrying kind, if you follow me, but even so…" Back up the hill, as soon as he could get away. The commission was ready for him, the ink still glistening, the seal still warm.

"That," Carausius said, as he handed it over, "makes you the second most powerful man in the duchy."

Ziani frowned. "I hadn't looked at it in that light," he said.

"Of course," Carausius went on, "you'll be keeping detailed accounts."

"Naturally," Ziani replied, without looking up from the document.

"I strongly suggest you take great care over them," Carausius said. "The Duke instructs me that you're accountable directly to him, which means he'll be going over them himself. In other words, you'll have an auditor who can have your head cut off and stuck up on a pike just by giving the order. You may care to reflect on that before you start writing out drafts."

Ziani looked up and smiled pleasantly. "The sad thing is," he said, "that's the least of my worries."

Daurenja was waiting for him when he reached the room he'd been assigned as an office. The day before, it had been a long-disused tack room, and it still reeked of saddle-soap, wet blankets and mold. "Get this place cleaned up, will you?" he snapped without thinking. Daurenja nodded and said, "Of course."

"Fine." Ziani made himself calm down; he didn't like losing his cool while Daurenja was around. "Now, I want you to take a letter for me to a merchant in the town. She'll give you a letter to bring back. It's essential that you don't leave without it. I don't trust her as far as I can spit; so, polite but firm. All right?" He wrote out the draft. Carausius had given him the appropriate seal, and ten sticks of the special green wax that was reserved for government business. He thought about what the Chancellor had said; second most powerful man in the duchy. Looked at from that perspective, he'd come a long way from the shop floor of the Mezentine ordnance factory. A reasonable man would consider that a great achievement in itself. "When you get back," he said, shaking sand on the address,

"we need to talk about materials."

"You persuaded him, then?"

Ziani nodded. "Worse luck, yes. We've got ten days to build prototypes. The cart and the foundry."

Daurenja's mouth dropped open. "Ten days? He's out of his mind."

"My suggestion," Ziani replied. "We need to get moving. We can't start full-scale work until we've got approval on the prototypes; ten days is as long as I can spare. What are you still doing here, by the way? I asked you to do something for me." Daurenja seemed to vanish instantaneously; not even a blur. Ziani took a deep breath, as though he'd just woken up from an unsettling dream, and reached for a sheet of paper and his calipers. By the time Daurenja came back, he'd finished the design for the drop-valve cupola.

"Did you get it?"