Page 34

Topi gestured to another, larger house off the bridge and indicated that was where Lady Chaliko and her father lived. I wasn’t surprised to see the Kennelmaster so close, although it wasn’t clear whether he was watching them or they were watching him.

Pito stepped up to the door, knocking twice and opening it without invitation. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of illness. The Kennelmaster wheezed, and Topi crouched near the bed.

“Kennelmaster? The emperor is here to see you,” she said, raising her hand and touching his shoulder.

The Kennelmaster raised his hand, batting her away. “I can see that.”

His voice was gravelly, and Topi stood. “We will let you have some privacy.”

The twins closed the door behind them, and I listened, hearing their footsteps move away from the door, but not across the bridge.

“So, Emperor Tallu.” The Kennelmaster coughed, turning onto his side and gasping until he caught his breath. He tried to push himself to sitting, but ended up back on his elbow. “I have reached the end of my usefulness to you.”

“You have been training the Bemishu twins,” Tallu said. “That is more than useful to me.”

His voice was cold, but there was something strange in it as well. He had to have seen so many people die, but something about this one caught him. He seemed unable to look away from the Kennelmaster’s limp form.

“They will make excellent spies. Excellent Dogs,” the Kennelmaster said. He swallowed, and I found a cup of water on the table in his room. I came close, the scent of sickness heavier the closer I got.

I eased my hand under his head. His hair was greasy, his skin cold to the touch. Carefully, I moved his head up high enough that he was able to take a small sip of water.

Easing him down, I tried to see the man he had once been. He had once been the largest threat to my success. Even later, when he wanted to be my ally, he had been a threat. Now, he was a corpse in the bed, too stubborn to give in to the afterlife.

“We are going to war with Kacha. Airón has already wiped out half of his army. Do you have any advice for us?”

“Saxu says that Kacha is not the man he was. Still, in the palace he was never stupid. He is observant and quick. He changes his plans so easily”—another racking cough interrupted him—“because he does not have a single plan. He has a dozen, maybe more. If I was able to figure out your secret, he will as well.”

“And what secret is that?” Tallu said. He was only three feet away, but suddenly he seemed very distant.

“I know where you were getting your information. I could never tell anyone. They would think me mad. But I heard you talking to them. The dead that walk the halls of the palace. Do they follow you everywhere?” The Kennelmaster’s eyes were fierce, and he pushed himself back up, glaring at Tallu. “I will tell them all. I will tell everyone. I will tell Kacha.”

He was gasping, the angle bad for a wound that had never fully healed. Blood collected in the corner of his lips.

“I will spill all your secrets! I will show the Imperium that you are unfit to be emperor,” the Kennelmaster said. The blood dripped down, droplets falling from his chin to his filthy shirt.

“You want me to kill you,” Tallu said quietly.

“You or your assassin prince,” the Kennelmaster said. “I don’t care who. I thought it was the cruelest fate to be killed by an emperor I had spent my whole life serving. Now I know there is a crueler one.”

The Kennelmaster relaxed back on the bed, closing his eyes. I looked at Tallu, at the frown lines on his forehead. It was clear he didn’t believe the Kennelmaster was going to say anything to anyone. It was a feint by a master swordsman.

“Tell us more,” I said. “If you are about to die, everything you know dies with you. Any hope we have of surviving on your knowledge will be gone.”

“As though this one ever needed my knowledge,” the Kennelmaster grumbled. “Watch Saxu. He has served three emperors. I do not doubt that he could serve a fourth. Commander Rede is loyal to Saxu more than he is the Imperium or the promise. Asahi will not hesitate to kill his father, but if you ask him to do so, your new Kennelmaster will begin to doubt you.”

“And Bemishu?” I asked.

“That man has seen something in the desert. There is a reason he keeps throwing himself at the Ariphadeus, no matter how many men he loses, no matter how much money he spends. He doesn’t care about the Imperium or about the war with you. If he is not with Kacha now, they were only allies out of convenience. He wanted something that was in the capital city or the Mountainside Palace, and Kacha was the only way to acquire it.” The Kennelmaster trailed off, opening his eyes and fixing them on me. “The new Kennelmaster has the rest of my knowledge. The only thing he lacks is experience.”

“You truly wish to die?” I asked.

“I have served the Imperium with honor. I served my emperors with honor. My only regret is having so little time with the most worthy of them.” The Kennelmaster exhaled, his breath smelling foul.

Turning only my head, I looked at Tallu, his face still unmoved. He inhaled slightly, exhaling a longer breath. Then he nodded.

I pulled out a knife, holding it up for the Kennelmaster to see. His eyes went bright for one moment, then he closed them, tilting his chin up.

I sliced my blade across his throat quickly, pushing down on his chest as his body twitched and his eyes snapped back open, the automatic response of years of training as he tried to fight me off.