Page 17 of Shadow Throne King
I put together pieces quickly. The Kennelmaster’s Dogs used electro magic, and their loyalty to each other bordered on familial. More than familial, given how close Sagam and Asahi were, how close Boro and Toji had been.
“Do you buy your Dogs?” I asked.
“No,” the Kennelmaster said. “Being an Emperor’s Dog is a special position. One must work to be a Dog, and only the most dedicated slave wants to work so hard for a master who owns him.”
I thought again about the difference between Sagam and Asahi. Asahi had wanted to leave, felt as though he could. But Sagam not only had nowhere else to go but felt as though he had worked too hard to give it all up. Even if the Kennelmaster had never purchased a Dog, there were other ways to be a slave.
Who was Sagam supporting with his pay that he felt trapped in a role that left him without the opportunity to live freely with his lover?
We went over a sloping hill in silence, the crest revealing a town in the valley beneath. The mountain on the other side was caved in, the whole thing nearly gone. The evidence of mining was so extreme that for a moment, I wondered whether I was seeing things. Perhaps an earthquake had cleaved the mountain in two, but that was just as impossible as the evidence I could see with my own eyes.
“Was that because of the war?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
“Trade with Krustau has been strained for years.” Tallu looked out one of the gaps between the slats that covered the cart. “We couldn’t risk relying on them for the ore we needed. However, we have no stone magic in us. The ability to sing metal free of the stone around it isn’t ours.”
“The wars have been just as hard on the Imperium as they have everywhere else. Armies and warfare have an endless appetite for supplies and raw materials.” Lerolian poked his head into the cart from where he sat in the front with the driver. “Ask Tallu how many of its own citizens the Imperium killed in the mining here before they started importing elven slaves from Tavornai.”
Tallu didn’t glance at Lerolian, and I realized that I had automatically looked at him. How good was Tallu that he didn’t evenlookanymore when a blood mage spoke with him? And even still, the Kennelmaster had caught on to him.
“We’ll stop here.” The Kennelmaster gestured to the town. The main road glanced off the town, touching just enough that the massive transports carrying the mining ore to the processing facilities had room to load. “If we need to change any of the horses, they’ll have them here, and we can’t know if we’ll have any others on the road.”
The inn at the edge of town was large enough to be a common stopping place for anyone traveling to or from the mine. When the driver pulled into the yard, stable hands immediately came out, rushing to help with the horses. The bustle easily covered Tallu and me slipping out of the back of the cart, both of us exiting with our hoods pulled up.
We made our way in, the Kennelmaster paying with a few coins for a private room. The innkeeper didn’t seem surprised at the request, merely showing us to a smaller room off the main one, the door sliding shut even as it didn’t muffle the noise of the main dining room.
Tallu took the chair at the head of the small rectangular table, and with a slow movement, he drew back his hood. No one tried to stop him, although I couldn’t help the spike of anxiety that pinched my stomach. What if the innkeeper came back at the wrong moment? With his hood back, he straightened, tilting his head to examine the room. The moue of his mouth was the only indication of his feelings, and I could feel the palpable relief that ricocheted through the Dogs.
He might be dressed as a merchant, but he was still the emperor.
I took a seat next to him, adjusting my pack in my lap. Peeking inside, I saw the dragon still sleeping, her wheezing snore barely audible. Tallu reached out just briefly and pulled my hood back far enough that he could see my face. I felt the skim of his leather gloves at my temple like fire. He raised an eyebrow, and I closed the pack again.
Three of the Dogs arrayed themselves around the room—two near the door, one under the window. Two more Dogs joined us, and I recognized Asahi first, Sagam shutting the door behind them. Asahi was pale and sweating, but on his feet. He nodded at me first before speaking to the space between Tallu and the Kennelmaster.
“There is a representative of General Bemishu here.” He flicked his eyes toward me, the merest glance before he turned back to Tallu. “The locals are about to hang her.”
Five
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Topi Bemishu,” Sagam said.
I immediately understood. We were south enough that it made sense Bemishu would try to send out emissaries. If he could gain access to the mine, if he could control it, then he would have an advantage General Kacha did not. Even if he didn’t have any of the manufacturing facilities, if the mine was his, General Bemishu would be able to stymie Tallu’s ability to make new war machines.
Tallu’s fingers twitched, an aborted movement that drew my attention to him, and in his eyes, I saw the larger problem Tallu had clearly already begun to worry about. If Bemishu had any records of the airship, he could use the metal from the mines to build one. Most of the men constructing it had gone down with the ship, and Tallu had burned the plans left behind, but Bemishu might have prototypes or early records he could make sense of.
“She was trying to gain followers for her father?” I asked.
“That’s what they say. All she’s trying right now is to keep her neck from getting stretched,” Sagam said, his lips pulled to the side in an unhappy grimace.
“What do you mean?” Tallu asked.
“The townsfolk caught her when she tried to bribe the mine overseer over to her father’s side. He didn’t take it well, as loyal as he is to the emperor. They’re ready to string her up,” Asahi answered, his expression tightening for a moment before smoothing out. “She won’t be a problem for much longer.”
The smart move would be to let it be. Someone in his right mind would ignore it. Yorîmu had trained me to make even harder decisions than that. There was no reason to risk myself, riskTallufor a woman who was actively working against us.
I stood. “Take me to her.”
There was an awkward pause, and Asahi’s eyebrows went up for a split second before he controlled his expression, clearly forgetting briefly that though he served his emperor still he wore no mask now. Sagam glanced at Tallu, and I broke in. “You do not need to consult him.Iam telling you. Take me to her.”