The Veiled Throne, page 95
Widi emerged from behind the barricade. “Ah, it’s you!”
“Master Diwi!” said a surprised Giphi. “Why are you dressed like a soldier as well? Has Magistrate Zuda pressed his clerks into traffic inspection duty?”
Widi laughed awkwardly. “Er—”
Arona, also dressed as a soldier, stepped out from behind the barricade. “Circuit Intendant Suti asked that we investigate potential corruption in the army. So we’re embedding ourselves in the garrison as they perform their duties around the city.”
“Exactly,” said Widi, nodding vigorously. Then he approached Giphi and winked. “The things we have to do while the bosses drink tea and take naps, eh?”
Giphi took note of the furtive glances between the three soldiers. But at Diwi’s ingratiating wink, he relaxed. Most likely, he guessed that the three low-level officials had set up an unauthorized checkpoint to extort bribes from passing merchants. While Empress Jia paid the Imperial bureaucracy well and the layers of mutual monitoring by the College of Advocates and the system of circuit intendants prevented most corruption, low-level members of the bureaucrats’ private staffs, like Diwi the clerk and Circuit Intendant Suti’s maid and bodyguard, probably would scheme to make some extra cash by abusing their power.
If reported to Magistrate Zuda, all three would be in big trouble. But Tiphan Huto was in a hurry and didn’t want more delays. Giphi went back to his master and explained the situation.
“You say they work for the circuit intendant?”
Giphi nodded. “I know that clerk, Diwi, well.”
Tiphan looked thoughtful for a moment. “Pay whatever toll these three clowns demand so we can be on our way.”
Giphi went back and discreetly held out the money purse. But to his surprise, Widi refused to take it. “We have to inspect the carriage. Not that we don’t trust Master Huto, but orders are orders.”
Giphi was about to argue more when Tiphan Huto climbed out of the carriage. “Let them inspect.”
Widi climbed into the carriage and began to look around. He wrinkled his nose at a strong stench. The odor evidently came from several covered buckets in the back of the carriage.
“What are in these?” Widi asked.
“Just some… unclean things,” said Tiphan, standing next to the carriage and looking in. “I have a sick child at home, and I wanted to get rid of the vomit and excrement somewhere outside the city to avoid contaminating the water supply.”
“That’s very civic-minded of you,” said Widi. He climbed deeper into the carriage, toward the covered buckets.
“Wait!” cried out Tiphan Huto. “You don’t want to open those!” He clambered into the carriage after Widi.
Widi pulled the cover off one of the buckets.
The overwhelming odor made him gag, but in that moment he also realized what he was smelling—it was a stench he had encountered thrice before: in the cellar of the Treasure Chest, beyond a sealed door; in an alley near the Splendid Urn, the day after everyone fell sick; and at the Temple of Fithowéo, where the monks kept a few of the god’s pawi.
He was smelling the urine of wolves.
“That’s it!” he cried out. “We have the proof!”
At that moment, Tiphan Huto also exploded into motion. He pushed Widi aside, grabbed one of the buckets and a ladle, and scrambled out of the carriage. Before anyone could react, he tossed ladlefuls of the foul liquid toward the other two soldiers. When Widi climbed out after Tiphan, Tiphan treated him to the same fragrant shower.
Arona screamed, Widi gagged, and Mota cursed. Taken by surprise, all three were drenched in the fetid liquid. They hurried to wipe their noses and mouths with their sleeves to avoid having to swallow any of the urine.
The makeup also came off their faces.
“Just as I thought,” said Tiphan Huto coldly. “Who are you? I’ve seen at least one of you working for Widow Wasu.”
The conversation between Giphi and Widi earlier had aroused his suspicion. The story they told of being embedded with the garrison, which happened to be setting up checkpoints around the city, made no sense at all. If Magistrate Zuda, spooked by the disappearing craftspeople, really were setting up security checkpoints, Tiphan would have heard something about it. Also, there was something unnatural about the way the three kept looking at one another. He had been on guard the whole time.
“We do work for Widow Wasu,” said Widi, realizing there was no longer any point to keeping up the pretense. “And now we know everything about your little plot against the Splendid Urn. Not only will the judges for the competition force you to forfeit, but Magistrate Zuda will also enjoy hearing about all the ways you’ve endangered public health.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Tiphan.
“Using predator pee is how you were able to drive all the rats in the neighborhood into a frenzy around the Splendid Urn,” said Widi. “We used animals in dinner service tonight at the Splendid Urn for two reasons. One is because they’re cute and add to the atmosphere, but the other is to act as bait. We figured that once you heard about our success, you’d try to sabotage it. Of all the tricks you’ve used, panicking animals with wolf urine is the easiest to replicate, and we’ve caught you red-handed.”
“You have no proof for anything,” said Tiphan. “A bucket of pee? Maybe I used it to keep the Treasure Chest rat-free.”
“That’s not all the evidence we have,” said Widi. “The raye gang who empty the night soil from your toilets will tell Magistrate Zuda that they had to get rid of buckets of dog shit from your premises on the day when the feral dogs disturbed the customers at the Splendid Urn. You caught the dogs and kept them there.”
Tiphan flinched but he said nothing.
“The doctors on Coconut Lane will also testify that on the night when the parasol tree in front of the Splendid Urn was covered by caterpillars, they had to treat several workers from the Treasure Chest for caterpillar rashes, the exact same rash that the workers we hired to get rid of caterpillars contracted.”
Tiphan continued to look defiant.
“All of this, added together, will be enough to convince the magistrate that there’s probable cause to search the Treasure Chest. Who knows what they’ll find there?”
Tiphan’s face ran through a range of emotions: shock, embarrassment, fear, and then, a nasty grin.
“You’ve clearly been doing a lot of work to entrap me. But this is all circumstantial, and competition is no crime. In competition, people get hurt and businesses get shuttered. Why would the magistrate be interested?”
“Not when the competition is unfair,” said Widi. “Prime Minister Cogo Yelu’s pronouncements are clear. Even though competition among businesses is encouraged, techniques that rely on fraud or deceit, or threaten the public health, are against the law. I think you’ll have a fine time trying to explain all this to Magistrate Zuda.”
“Ah, you’ve clearly seen too many folk plays about paid litigators. But you’ve forgotten one thing: No convicted felon can testify against a gentleman of good reputation.”
“We’re not felons,” said Arona, looking perplexed.
“Oh, but you will be, when I report to Magistrate Zuda that you’ve been impersonating Imperial officials and members of the city garrison.”
Arona, Widi, and Mota looked at one another, dismayed. Tiphan was right. They had indeed been caught doing something much worse in the eyes of officialdom.
“I’m sorry,” whispered Arona to Widi and Mota. “I shouldn’t have been lazy about the disguises.”
Mota sighed and said nothing.
“The best thing, it seems,” said Widi to Tiphan, “is for both of us to head back the way we came. You won’t bother the Urn tonight, and we won’t go to the magistrate.”
Tiphan laughed. “You have a deal. But even with your little circus performance, I’m sure the Treasure Chest will come out on top.”
As Tiphan’s carriage clattered away, Arona made sure that Mota wasn’t within hearing and turned to Widi, whispering, “Maybe it’s time for us to invoke our secret weapon. You know, her.”
Widi shook his head. “Not yet. We’ll save her for another occasion. Remember where we ultimately want to go.”
* * *
As the night wore on, the chefs de partie at the Treasure Chest achieved a temporary truce in their contest for territory and dominance. But the dishes were still coming out slower than expected.
The waitstaff’s efforts at entertaining the hungry diners flagged, as there were only so many rounds of sparrow tiles you could play and so many stories that you could tell before growling stomachs could no longer be ignored.
Servants from some of the more prominent families ran into the restaurant and discreetly whispered into the ears of their masters and mistresses. Soon, diners were getting up and demanding the bill.
“Why be in such a hurry?” asked Giphi, his habitual ingratiating smile even more cloying than usual. He did try to stand a little farther away from the customers than usual. Though he had changed his outfit from head to toe, he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that the scent of wolf urine spilled onto his robe lingered on his person.
“Err… I’m told that there are marvels at the Splendid Urn that I should see before they finish for the night.”
Tiphan gritted his teeth. Still, he was confident of victory because the judges on the list he had obtained from Séca’s servant were being taken care of. He even made sure they got free extra portions, taking from the food meant for the other patrons.
By the time the evening came to an end, the crowd outside both restaurants had grown tenfold. The streets and nearby park lots were packed. Carriages from all over Ginpen streamed to and fro between the two competitors to take in the handsome waitstaff and the opulence of the Treasure Chest as well as the ingenious mechanical contrivances that allowed a tiny staff to serve a full house at the Splendid Urn.
As diners finished at the Treasure Chest, Lady Cophy and Lolo went around to hand out small boxes filled with pebbles of different colors. Over at the Splendid Urn, on the other hand, Séca and Pimié decided to ask Lodan to distribute the voting pebbles with the magical carts. The diners were delighted to have another chance at seeing the cute animals parade around on their vehicles.
“When you leave, you’ll see Lolo with a jar by the door,” said Lady Cophy. “Drop in a red pebble if you think the service tonight was top-rate, a white one if you think it was lacking, and a blue one if you think it was just all right. Patrons who already left will be deemed to have deposited a white pebble.”
After watching patrons dropping pebbles into Lolo’s jar for a while, Tiphan Huto could no longer hold himself back. He went up to Lolo and whispered, “How will you and Séca tell the winner?”
Lolo looked at him, a smirk on her face. “Why, Master Huto, we’re going to get together, sort the pebbles in each jar by color, and then count them.”
“Are the pebbles given to the judges marked in some way? Is that how you’ll tell the votes that matter apart from the votes that don’t?”
Lolo looked at him, her grin growing wider. “All the votes matter, Master Huto. Whatever gave you the idea that we were only going to count some of the votes? The secret to this round’s panel is that all the patrons are judges.”
“But… but… but I got that list from Séca’s servant—” Tiphan couldn’t help himself. His face grew red at the thought that he might have been fooled.
“A list? Do you mean the list with ‘Judges’ at the top?”
Tiphan just stared at her.
“That is a list of people Séca and I want to talk to about starting a dining club next month. We are going to call it ‘The Judges.’ ”
“A… a dining club?”
“Yes! Would you like to join? Since this restaurant competition is such a success, we’re thinking of making it a regular thing in Ginpen. You do have to pay a membership fee—”
Tiphan turned and left in a huff without hearing the end of her speech, much less the peals of her laughter. The notion that he had been bested on the business battlefield by an indigo-house girl was absolutely intolerable.
* * *
The Splendid Urn’s victory in the second round was overwhelming. Whereas its jar looked like it was full of ripe monkeyberries, the Treasure Chest’s jar looked like it was filled with lotus seeds.
Tiphan Huto fell sick from the humiliation. When he finally managed to get out of bed a few days later, he proposed the subject for the third and decisive round of the competition, something that no Best Restaurant in Ginpen could be without: entertainment.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE THE SEA OF TEARS
THE SALT FLATS SOUTH OF THE SEA OF TEARS, UKYU-GONDÉ: THE TWELFTH MONTH IN THE EIGHTH YEAR AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF PRINCESS THÉRA FROM DARA FOR UKYU-GONDé (SEVENTEEN MONTHS UNTIL THE LYUCU MUST LAUNCH THEIR NEW INVASION FLEET TO DARA).
The two garinafins flew through the night. By the time the sun rose, the land below them was pure white, as though covered by snow.
They were in the wasteland south of the Sea of Tears. It was said that the great salt lake had once been far bigger in extent, and as it shrank, the retreating water left behind a salt-encrusted landscape in which few things grew.
Sataari and Razutana guided the two garinafins to land near a small hill, though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Razutana’s mount guided the pilot rather than the other way around. In the lee of the hill, once an island in the salt lake, they released the children from their netting.
The two adults coaxed the garinafins under a shallow overhang so that they couldn’t be spotted from the air. Then they directed the children to gather the sparse, feathery tumble fern, the only vegetation hardy enough to subsist in the salty soil, as garinafin feed.
Normally, in the scrublands, garinafins could graze on just about any cactus and bush, no matter how adorned with protective thorns, by singeing off the barbs with fire breath, but there was literally nothing here for them except salt and the wispy fern that provided little nourishment. They would not be able to last long in this wasteland, but there wasn’t much the refugees could do about the situation.
Tanto worked alongside the other children, but his heart was full of rage and confusion. He went up to Razutana.
“Can I ask you a question?”
The scholar paused. “Of course.”
“Did Toof and Radia really mean to let us go?”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Razutana looked thoughtful. “They had to find a way to get us away from Cudyu’s main forces before helping us escape. This maximizes our chances to get far away before the Lyucu come after us.”
“I don’t mean that! I mean… why did they change their minds?”
“They didn’t change their minds. This was their plan all along.” The scholar sighed. “It’s incredibly risky. If their plot is discovered, they’ll surely be killed.”
“But… but then why did they betray us to Cudyu in the first place?”
Razutana looked at him and softened his tone. “To save your parents.”
“What?”
“Look at all of us,” said Razutana, sweeping his arm around. “Sataari and I are useless in a fight, and the rest of you are children. If we had escaped with your parents and their fighters, we’d be nothing but burdens slowing them down and consuming their supplies.”
Tanto wanted to protest, but he knew that Razutana was right.
“The princess, your mother, is a great leader,” said Razutana. He paused and sighed again. “But she lacks your grandfather’s ability to be ruthless when necessary. She would never have left any of us behind, and that would have meant certain death for all. Toof and Radia had no choice but to take us away from her.”
Tanto wanted to find some way, any way, to allow himself to continue to hate the two. “They killed Vara!”
“It was an accident. I was closest to the struggle on Ratopé, and I heard Toof yell for Vara to yield. ‘We have a plan,’ he said. But she kept fighting and there was no time to explain.”
“But… they also told Cudyu to have us sacrificed to the gods!”
“It was a gamble they had to make. They needed to keep you alive without revealing your identity. Your granduncle Volyu often said that Cudyu was suspicious by nature. He wouldn’t have trusted two Lyucu captives who had lived with the Agon and the Dara for so long. If Toof and Radia had begged him to keep you alive, he would have naturally suspected a plot and decided that the safer thing was to have you killed. By advocating that you be killed immediately, on the other hand, Toof and Radia pushed Cudyu into thinking that it was more prudent to keep you alive, at least for a while, until he figured out who you were.”
“Why couldn’t they have just told us their plan ahead of time?”
“Because if you knew, you wouldn’t have been able to convincingly show your hatred for them in front of the Lyucu pékyu. This was the only way to get you to play your part, to assuage Cudyu’s doubts.”
Tanto was silent with shame. He thought of himself as a brave fighter like his father and a great leader like his mother. To be treated as a burden, a mere child who had to be left behind and deceived into doing the right thing… he didn’t have the words for how he felt.
“Staying alive right now is the best thing you can do to help your parents,” said Razutana gently.
Tanto nodded, but he vowed to do more to change their fate as soon as he found a chance. He was a pékyu-taasa of the Agon people, and he would not be denied the chance to prove his mettle.
* * *
Two large rivers fed into the Sea of Tears. One, the Blood River, began in the hills just north of Lurodia Tanta and flowed northwest into the southern shore of the giant salt lake. The river was so named for its reddish water, which had to be left to settle and then filtered before it could be drunk. The color was likely the result of the ochre silt in the hills.
