Industry & Intrigue (45 page)

“
I’ll allow them to have it.”
She started to protest but he s
topped her. “No, it’s only fair. They need
to feel secure while they are here. After what happened can you
blame them?”

She shook her head.
“No I can’t, Your
Imperial Majesty.”

“
I know, i
t’s a disturbing thought to
allow Galrian soldiers in the town and on our soil, but if we want
to rebuild trust with them we don’t have a choice. Relax, Siobhan.
It’s a hundred or so soldiers, nothing my Imperial Guard and the
Rampart garrison can’t handle. If they truly wanted to cause
trouble, they would have tried to bring a lot more across the
border, I think.”

Siobhan pulled out the
piece of paper she
had been looking at regularly since they had arrived. It was the
list of demands from the Galrians that they had requested Alkos
meet if they could not produce the assassin of Rossiv along with
clear evidence.

Lawre
nce stood up and walked over to her.
“I would think you know every word on that to heart by
now.”

She looked up at him with tired
eyes. “I do, Your Imperial Majesty. I don’t know why I keep looking
at it. I can’t hel
p but feel the Galrians want war. To put forth a set of
demands as outrageous as this, they have to know we’ll reject
it.”

Lawrence took
it from her hands.
“I think you need to stop worrying about it. It’s filing your head
with paranoia. I’m no diplomat, but couldn’t it be that they made
such an outrageous list on purpose. They know it will be rejected,
but they’ll trade down with us until they get what they actually
want.”

Siobhan smiled. He hadn’t
noticed before, her face lit up
when she smiled, making her look much more
beautiful. It reminded him of Clara.

No
, damn it
.
I have to forget about that and focus on
diplomacy. Thinking about her will do me no good. That door is
closed.

In spite of his best
efforts
though, on the train journey and for most of his time here,
he could not stop himself from recalling his last night in Alkos.
The one benefit to the preparations was that it had kept his mind
occupied enough to not think about her.

Siob
han frowned. He must have let the
emotion show on his face. She pursed her lips, as if she was unsure
whether to say anything.

“
Your Imperial
Ma
jesty, is
everything alright?” Her concern for him had outweighed her sense
of decorum. He didn’t mind though, he preferred dealing with
ministers he could talk to comfortably instead of stuffy
bureaucrats like Kao and Blake.

He tolerated them for their
experience and capabilities, but he’d prefer if they were more
personable.
Marawn Kao was usually abrasive. The drakon was the most
conservative member of the cabinet and Lawrence suspected he wasn’t
happy about all the new blood he had brought in under his rule. He
relaxed his face, hoping whatever she had seen was gone. “I’m fine,
it’s nothing important.”

There was a heavy knock on the
door. “Enter
,” said Lawrence. The large wooden door made a groaning
sound and Lawrence winced. It was unbalanced, he would have to get
someone to fix that. He didn’t want the uncomforting screech
ringing in his ears every time the door moved.

Senior Imperial Intelligence
operative, Kate Galbraith entered.
The woman had the darkest hair Lawrence
had ever seen, like the color of the night sky. She kept it short
and straight. She was wearing dark blue pants and a black jacket.
Not standard clothing for a woman to usually wear, but Lawrence
didn’t care. Some women hated dresses while others loved
them.

She walked over towards the two
of them, without saying a word and placed several folded pieces of
paper on the table in front of
Siobhan. The intelligence agent had been
assigned to Lawrence by Director Talmach before he left Alkos City.
She was Lawrence’s link to the wider world. She was in the Foreign
Section of Imperial Intelligence and had operatives giving her
reports from as far away as Weicarus. She brought him relevant spy
reports and diplomatic telegrams.

Siobhan, knowing the drill,
picked up the top piece of paper and read it. It was a telegram
from the capital and conta
ined a response from the Zefey embassy. She
cleared her throat. “It looks like Ze Feros is supporting Galria.
‘The crime committed against the government of Galria requires
action and the Caliphate of Ze Feros offers its full support in the
demands made to Alkos. However Taliquay does not wish for war and
implores both sides to negotiate until a fair settlement for
justice can be resolved.’”

“
Look at the next
one
,” said
Kate.

Siobhan picked it up and opened
it
and her
eyes widened. “This is a letter sent from Taliquay to Urdov. How in
the hells did you get this?”

“
You know I can’t answer
that
,”
replied the other woman.

“
What does it say?” asked
Lawrence.

“
Ze Feros has given Galria an
essential ‘blank
check’ guarantee, regardless of the outcome of
negotiations,” said Siobhan. “They are ready to join them in war
against us.”

Lawrence grabbed the paper and
read it for himself. It was true, t
he Caliph of Ze Feros had given an
alliance and guarantee of support to Galria.

“
They’ll commit the
larger
portion of their forces against Tal Feros. They know that
if they declare war on us, Tal Feros would be obligated to honor
the defensive alliance they have with us. They can’t resist staying
out of war with their traditional enemies involved,” said
Kate.

“
By the
Creator
,”
uttered Siobhan. “A war like that could easily pull in West Maceon
and the Yarali Cities. Not to mention what Silund will do, pick a
side or play us against each other.”

“
Then this meeting
is even more
critical,” said Lawrence. His face had developed a determined look.
He would not let the entire continent descend into
bloodshed.

“
Are you considering meeting
their demands, Your Imperial Majesty?” asked Siobhan, her voice
containing shock at the mere suggestion.

“
I don’t know
,” replied Lawrence. He sighed,
“I just don’t know.”

“
You can’t
,” she stressed. “They want to
send investigators with free reign throughout the empire to search
for the assassin; they want to have control over the entirety of
the southern border and the ability to conduct searches of our
forts. It’s too much.”

Lawrence gave her a hard look.
Realizing she had gone too far, she bit down on her lip and was
quiet. It was no way to talk the Emperor of Alkos, but he could
understand her feelings on the matter.

“
I’m truly sorry, Your
Imperial Majesty. That was out of place.”

“
I think it would be best if the
two of you left me alone for a time.”

They both nodded. As Kate was
leaving
,
Lawrence asked, “Could you have the serving boy bring wine. All of
this has made me thirsty.”

She nodded.
“And one more thing,” he said.
“I want a new update from Director Talmach before the end of the
day. The security of the empire and the fate of the continent now
rests on his agents finding that assassin as quickly as
possible.”

Chapter 44

When they finally docked at
Longhaven, Fiona was relieved.
Kendrick was clearly not fit for sea
travel. He had spent the entire trip wailing, moaning and vomiting.
She had been ready to hit him. Now that they were off the ship and
standing on the rough, wooden docks, his mood had improved
considerably. For all of his investigation and forensic skill, he
was as soft as a Silund noblewoman when it came to sea
voyages.

She stepped off the ship
and
gave the
docks a quick survey. They were in far better condition than she
expected. Ships were moving in and out efficiently and the harbor
staff were readily available. The walkways in between were clean
and free of vagrants. From the tales she had heard about Longhaven,
she expected the docks would be shoddy and rundown, tarcaine
addicts hanging around, hoping to score from a ship carrying the
illicit drug.

“
Cleaner than you expected?”
asked Kendrick
, coming up behind her. He was hauling a large bag and
getting a feel for its weight. She had said he was foolish for
bringing so much, but he stubbornly insisted he would need it.
Fiona was far more utilitarian in her supplies. She relied on her
instincts and her 1705 Culsyth Buffalo .357 revolver.

“
Uh-huh
,” she said, nodding, still looking
around in surprise.

“
I
t makes sense if you know how the true
powers behind the city operate,” explained Kendrick. “So much of
their revenue is based on shipping that it’s in their interest to
make sure it runs smoothly. A lot of money is poured into making
sure the trade shipping runs like a well-oiled machine. The docks
in Longhaven are said to have the lowest level of crime in the
city.”

“
Visible
crime
, I’m
sure,” scoffed Fiona. “I have no doubt the harbor master and his
men are paid handsomely to look the other way when it comes to
smuggling.” Kendrick did not have a response to that. As they
walked through the docks they were barely noticed. Longhaven was
home to all manner of folk, both legitimate and criminal, and Fiona
suspected that city residents had learned to not ask
questions.

At the top of the stairs
f
rom the
docks, she finally took her first look at Longhaven proper. This
was more what she had been expecting. The houses here were old, but
well-maintained. The roads and sidewalks were a different matter,
however.

Pot
-holes were dotted around randomly,
street urchins ran between the crowds; a few were begging for
money, others were sitting idly against the walls of ramshackle
buildings. She saw one group of slightly cleaner looking children.
An older one, who looked to be in charge, was lying back on a set
of stairs; the others stood around, as if guarding him.

She saw
a scruffy man hand coins to one
of the youngsters and the leader let out a loud whistle. Another
youngster came running out from the alley and put something in the
man’s hand before disappearing again. The first boy went to the
oldest and passed him the coins, which he then pocketed in a
satchel attached to his waist.

“
Children selling
drugs
,” said
Fiona, shock clear in her voice.

Kendrick explained it. “Children can’t be
prosecuted as easily, and they get lighter sentences. The drug
lords of Longhaven have been at this game for a long time. They
know all the ways to bend the system and get as much leeway as they
can. When that isn’t enough, they’ll resort to bribery and
intimidation. I know it’s hard to watch but this isn’t why we’re
here. We can’t fix an entire city.”

“
The Imperial government
could
,”
argued Fiona.

“
Ha! And what do you
think they can do?
Send in the troops and occupy the city? Even if they found the
political will to do that, what would it accomplish?”

He was right, but Fiona didn’t
like his tone and
that wasn’t what she meant.

“
I wasn’t suggesting for them to
send in the a
rmy you idiot. But they could increase funding to the city
watch and the presence of the Custodian Service. Or-” She stopped
herself from saying it, realizing it was stupid.

“
Or cut off the drugs at their
source. Is that what you were going to say?
” he asked. “We both know the elves
are as unhappy we are about their precious holy tarcaine being used
by heretics. They try to stop the flow as much as we do. Hells they
do it better, since in Ze Feros it’s a religious crime to possess
tarcaine outside of a church or in the presence of a Kartec priest.
They punish it far more harshly and even they can’t stop
it.”

He n
udged her in the arm “Let’s focus on
what we came here to do. Where do we need to go again?”

“
Ninety-two
Fishbone Lane,” she replied,
finally looking away from the child drug dealers. “It’s about five
blocks down Shark Quay here.” She pointed to the street running
parallel to the docks. It curved around to the left, following the
waterfront. “We turn on to Fishbone and then walk four hundred
meters.”

As they walked, Fiona took in
more of t
he
city. Shark Quay was in better condition than the previous street
and was dotted with inns and cafes.

The own
ers must keep the riffraff away from
their establishments
.

She also saw
s
everal
brothels, obvious by the skimpily dressed girls displaying
themselves at the entrances. Prostitution was legal in Alkos,
though it was strictly regulated, usually having to remain within
certain limits of a city and could not heavily advertise its
presence.