The Sultan's Spy

Chapter 22: Lecture

Eliska finished her report with her hands clasped behind her back. Sitting on a padded bench with her feet tucked under herself, her sister Lizina glowered at her. "You should know what I'm going to say."

She sighed. "That it was irresponsible of me to bring a stranger into the palace, to let anyone get that close to my identity and the work we shadows do. If I'd had another choice you know I'd have gone with it."

Her sister's lips thinned. "Under ordinary circumstances I'd have thrown you back into school, had you retrained from the beginning. The only reasons I haven't is because you had the foresight to spell him into not being able to betray you and because he may actually be of some use. Of course, if I ever feel like he's a threat, or even no longer of use, I'll have you or one of the others remove him as a potential danger. Do you understand?"

Eliska nodded. She'd expected nothing less from Lizina, one of the many reasons she hadn't wanted Tariq at the palace. But it was too late now, for both of them. "Perfectly. Has anyone mentioned feeling anyone wrong lately?"

Lizina leaned back into the cushions behind her. "No, no one's felt a blessed thing. If what you've discovered is true, someone should have noticed something. Unless it's someone we don't interact with regularly. A servant, low-level bureaucrat, or someone who spends most of their time out of the palace. And there are too many of those for us to be able to send a shadow by each to see if they can get a read on corruption."

"Has there been any unusual movement in and out? Whoever this is could even have somewhere out of the palace they're conducting most of the...rituals," Eliska said, having difficulty even calling what the blood mage was doing a ritual. "I can't imagine someone repeatedly bringing in people who are never seen again would go unnoticed, not by us or Ajani and his guards."

"We're looking into it. And no, nothing unusual so far. I do ensure we keep a close watch on the comings and goings of the palace. I have been a shadow since before you were born, in case you've forgotten."

"With as much as you have on your plate, simple things could easily be missed so I would rather remind you than have something go undone."

Lizina's eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything for several seconds. "And you're certain there aren't any slavers taking our people?"

Eliska crossed her arms over her chest. "No, I'm not certain. Neither I nor Tariq could find any sign of them, no rumours beyond people disappearing, no one suddenly coming into money, no people being smuggled out, nothing. Unless they're the most tight-lipped crew of slavers to ever exist, ones who don't feel the need to spend the money they get, then I don't think they really exist. You're welcome to investigate the matter yourself though."

"We haven't had any word that would indicate slavers, other than the disappearances. If you're right about the blood mage being behind them, then whoever it is must have some kind of spell to require that many deaths. Or be doing a great number of smaller magics."

"Do we have any books left from the last one?"

Her sister snorted. "No. We burned them all, as is our code. Bad enough if someone else were to find them and follow the path of a blood mage, it'd be an unmitigated disaster if it were one of our shadows. You know the havoc any one shadow could wreak if she were so minded just with the training and usual magics. You could bring down the entire family, if you set your mind to it."

"But I wouldn't, and no shadow I know would either. The family is why we're so well trained, why we don't have to fear being sent to a man who would abuse us, don't have to worry about food or shelter. Without the family, none of us would have anything. And it's the duty of families to support one another."

"Which is the reason our line has lasted so long. One of our ancestors realized that rather than purging the family of rivals upon taking the throne, it would be far more useful to make the rest of the family into loyal allies. Somehow our shadow school grew out of the idea, and now, every Sultan has people he can trust completely, who will work for him rather than against him. Not every ruler has such a luxury."

Eliska shrugged. She didn't much care for other rulers. She'd look into it if she was ever sent to another country, but that happened so rarely she didn't think it would ever be an issue. Not when they were the largest and most peaceful country on the continent. Every so often one of their neighbours might try to take a bite out of them, but every one soon learned how ferociously their people would fight to get their land back. Not that anyone had tried in living memory. But their history was rife with the attempts, and ignoring he patterns of history was a good way to dooming yourself to repeat them.

Lizina sighed heavily and shook her head. "You might as well run along then," she said, waving her hands in the direction of the door behind Eliska. "You have work to do and so do I. I expect regular reports though. You know how much I hate surprises."

"I know. You still haven't forgiven Kasimer for the birthday ball yet, have you?" she asked, her grin wicked.

"Just leave," her sister said, pointing while her other hand had gone to her hip.

Chuckling, Eliska obeyed, scampering out the door of the meeting room that Lizina used most and out into the harem proper. The sun was dyeing the sky in broad strokes of blue, green, yellow, and orange, causing shadows to darken and multiply. Trotting through the mostly empty courtyard, nearly everyone in the family either eating or busying themselves with their suppers. She'd already eaten, knowing that once Lizina had her reporting, she'd accept nothing left than an in-depth description of everything that had happened.

She stopped in the middle of the clear space, just to the side of one of the fountains and looked back up at the sky. With the darkening blue of it, Eliska guessed it was late enough that the scribes might already be eating, maybe even finished. Nodding to herself, she jogged back to her rooms to change into some appropriate clothing before returning to the pavilion.

Eliska imagined Tariq would be impatiently waiting for her if he'd already eaten and probably not terribly happy about his first day. Not that she could blame him. Scribing wasn't fun, glamourous, or even interesting. She grinned. It would certainly do him and his oh-so-certain attitude some good then and she wished him all the luck with it.