Chương 30: Interlude: Other People's Business

Captain Adriana Serrati had hired Dast to collect the wages owed to her company of soldiers. They had been standing in the courtyard of the Ferroli house for some time before the paymaster came out to meet them. Adriana's people had served aboard the merchant ships bound for Kreta, under the Ferroli's contract to protect them. Her brother had commanded the soldiers on one of those ships.

He had brought it home after their encounter with the Corcyran pirates, but the failure of the escort had cost the Ferroli their contract. Now they were withholding the soldiers' pay while they decided who was to blame. This was Adriana's third visit. On the first she had been told to return with proof of what was owed and sent away with a sneer. On the second she had brought the agreement and the rolls recording her men's service, and this time she was ejected with steel.

Then she had hired Advocate Verin Dast, and here they were. Dast had hoped the records would be enough to obtain payment. The paymaster barely glanced at them before explaining that there would be another delay, at the same time gesturing to the two gate-guards to join them. Behind him, a servant carried a basket of oranges through the open door, each fruit wrapped separately in paper.

"How long?" Adriana asked.

"Until the inquiry into the escort's conduct is complete," the Ferroli paymaster answered.

"My men served through the end of their contract. You have the rolls."

"I do. But there are questions about the conduct of your officers."

"What—" Adriana exclaimed, but Dast put out a hand to stop her outburst. Turning back to the paymaster, he paused for a moment to consider his argument. The two guards had joined them, and were too close for comfort.

"Have those questions been put to the officers?" Dast asked.

"The captain has brought the records you requested. If you need anything further from her, please tell us what it is." The paymaster glanced towards the open door behind him. Somewhere inside, a woman laughed, followed by the clatter of something being dropped. Then the paymaster looked at the guard-captain and was about to speak when Dast spoke again.

"This will be our last time here," he said. Adriana tensed at his side before he completed his words.

"The next time we meet will be in front of a magistrate. Or iudex." Dast could see the paymaster's jaw muscles tighten, and a shadow crossed his eyes before he relented. He reached inside a pocket and fished out a folded, nearly crumpled sheet of paper.

"I have been authorised to release twelve florins today." He held out the sheet.

"If the captain signs this acknowledgment." Adriana reached for it, but Dast took it first. Twelve florins was less than half of what was owed. Still, it was money she could pay her people while they pursued the rest. He read down past the names and dates. Near the bottom, the acknowledgment of payment became something else: an admission that her officers had withdrawn from the escort without orders.

"Captain, do not sign this yet." He turned the paper so she could read it.

"They want you to acknowledge that your officers abandoned their duty. Signing would give them an admission they could use against your brother in the inquiry." Adriana looked over his shoulder, and he put his finger beneath the line.

"My brother was promised twenty soldiers for that ship," she said.

"You sent him six. Six, and then you tell him to stand against pirates. My brother nearly did not come back, and he is still battling infections."

"The circumstances remain under consideration."

"We will acknowledge the twelve florins," Dast said.

"We will not acknowledge misconduct. Please remove that passage and state that the payment is against the wages still owing."

"I would have to ask permission to alter it."

"Then please do. We can wait." The paymaster hesitated, then took back the paper. Dast waited while the man went inside. Across the courtyard, another servant was rolling up a length of carpet. He had to bend it around a stone basin, and dirty water dripped from its end.

"My brother has been asking to give his account since he came home," Adriana said quietly.

"Nobody has sent for him. He lies there in the sick-bed, waiting. Asking, every day. He thinks they will clear him when they hear what happened."

"Tell him to write it down while he remembers it," Dast said.

"While his thoughts are clear. I can bring a second advocate as witness. And get the names of anyone who can support him. I would like to speak to him before he is called." She nodded, still watching the doorway. The paymaster returned with a shorter receipt and the same twelve florins. This one recorded only the payment. Dast read it twice, and Adriana signed. The rest, they were informed, would have to wait. Outside the house she stood counting the money into separate parts in her hand.

"Two to you."

"One today," he said and regretted it immediately, sending a thought to wherever Marek and Corso were, hoping they would return with at least enough for him to pay rent this month.

"The other when we get the balance." She gave him a considering look, then closed her hand around the rest.

"I have a meeting about another commission," she said.

"Will you come? I would like you to hear the terms before I agree to anything." Dast agreed quickly. The Serrati had supplied soldiers to whoever needed protection in Varenza since Adriana's father's time. They escorted caravans, guarded warehouses and served as personal guards to the rich and powerful. Establishing a relationship with Adriana Serrati beyond the current dispute over payment could prove very advantageous.

They left the palace hills by a narrow street where the mist still clung to the shaded sides of the houses. Adriana explained the offer as they walked. Her sister had married a Valcerra, and her brother-in-law had approached her on behalf of his relative, Lucia. There was work for three people, perhaps four, with payment before they left the city.

"He called it recovery work," she said.

"But he also said we would be following two men, and that we must stay out of sight until they finished whatever they were doing. I don't know whether we are supposed to recover property or take the men themselves."

"Did he give you their names?"

"No. Lucia wants to discuss that herself." Dast glanced at her.

"Before you promise to supply anyone, we need to know exactly what she expects them to do."

"That is why I would like you there. My brother-in-law thinks I should be grateful for the offer. He won't be the one taking people out on it."

At the Valcerra house they were shown into a room overlooking a small garden. Most of the beds had been cleared for winter, but a man was still digging beside a wall, lifting the soil carefully around the roots of a young citrus tree. A maid led them through the old house to a small library room at the northern side of the house, its windows facing the beginning ascent of the street heading up into the palace hills. Lucia Valcerra stood at a table with an older man.

He was reading from a letter, holding it well away from his eyes and squinting.

"The Bellandi promised your father another three years in that warehouse," the older man said.

"He paid for the roof because he expected to stay. They cannot now ask us to bid for it against everyone else."

"The letter says they would consider us first when the lease expired. I know what Father understood, but this is what they put in writing." The man lowered the letter as he noticed their visitors. He greeted Adriana, folded the paper and put it inside his coat. Lucia asked him to wait outside, and he left through a door at the far end of the room.

"My uncle," she explained.

"He managed the warehouse with my father. Forgive us; we were not expecting you quite yet." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. She was perhaps forty, dressed in a dark wool gown with the sleeves pinned back from her wrists.

"I asked Master Dast to come," Adriana said.

"He has been helping me with the Ferroli wages, and I would like him to look over the agreement." Lucia paused.

"Dast…" she said, thinking. Then, "You represented Marek Vale at the hearing over the Bellandi chamber?"

"I did," Dast said.

"Adriana mentioned two men, and now you ask me this. Does this commission concern him?"

"Yes. He is one of the men I want found."

"I still represent him," he said.

"I am also a member of his company. I cannot advise Adriana on an agreement to pursue him." Lucia sat down slowly and neither of them spoke until Adriana broke the silence.

"Then I am glad I brought him. I was told this was recovery work for the Bellandi. Are you asking me to apprehend his client?"

"No. I want you to find him and report where he goes. Your brother-in-law should not have called it recovery work."

"The objects from the chamber are sealed in the court's keeping," Dast said.

"Marek is not carrying them away. Their ownership has yet to be decided and there is nothing to recover."

"I understand that. The Bellandi asked our family to make inquiries about the discovery. They wanted to know how he knew where to break into their foundations." Lucia rested her forearms on the table. She was addressing him now, and seemed to be choosing her words more carefully.

"We handle business for them. When they need someone asked a question, they sometimes send us. That is how this began." Dast thought of the letter her uncle had been reading. The Valcerra needed the Bellandi to renew their warehouse lease. They would have reasons to make themselves useful.

"And?" he asked.

"We heard that Vale and his companion had registered an adventuring company. There was an argument in the Collegium, apparently, and people talked about it afterwards." She waited, but Dast gave her no confirmation.

"Your client has spent his working life at the Misericordia. He finds a concealed chamber containing valuable relics, and within days he is setting out as an adventurer. I think he may know where to find something else." There it was. Dast had been expecting another attempt to strengthen the Bellandi's claim to the objects already found. Lucia took a paper from the table and offered it to Adriana.

"Twenty florins in advance for three days' work. You would keep the payment even if you failed to find them. This letter authorises Orsenti to pay once you have signed the agreement. You can have them confirm it before deciding." Adriana passed him the letter. Dast read the payment terms, then looked back at Lucia.

"Your family is guaranteeing the twenty florins?"

"Yes. Orsenti will pay the captain when she signs. Any repayment is our responsibility." Dast had assumed the Bellandi were financing the search. He could not tell whether they had promised to reimburse Lucia, but she was willing to put her own family's money behind it. He returned the letter to Adriana.

"I want to take this away and consider it," Adriana said. Lucia nodded.

"The offer is open until tomorrow evening. After that I must either engage someone else or abandon the inquiry." Adriana stood, and Dast rose with her. He wanted to object to the whole arrangement, but Lucia had been careful to ask only for information. His objection would tell her something about his concern for Marek without giving her any reason to stop.

Outside, Adriana stopped to let a cart pass, then took out the letter again.

"Twenty florins would keep four people together who will otherwise be gone by the end of the week," she said.

"One has already been offered a place with a caravan. If he leaves, I lose someone I have served with for six years." Dast wanted to ask her to refuse. He had recovered twelve florins for her that morning, and now his involvement with Marek was complicating another offer of work.

"I won't accept it," she said at last.

"Lucia has explained what she wants us to do, but not what happens afterwards. If she uses our report to send someone else after these men, my people could be blamed for helping rob them." She folded the letter.

"I will tell my brother-in-law. You should warn Vale. And…" She stopped, and rubbed the side of her chin.

"I would like to meet with him, if that is possible?" Dast's first instinct was to refuse. Marek and Corso's ventures required a veil of secrecy that was already worn ragged and thin. But when he thought deeper about it, he realized that what they needed was to replace that veil with armoured steel, and Adriana might very well be in a position to provide some of that mettle.

"I think that will be possible to arrange," he answered.

"But honestly, I do not know when they will return. I will send for you when the time is good." She nodded, and they continued in silence. They parted at the next crossing. Dast bought bread on his way back to the office, where he had asked Sister Amalia to meet him. He wanted to hear what she had learned about the boy who brought the mask.

Sister Amalia was waiting beside the glovemaker's shop when he returned. She stood to one side of the doorway, allowing people to pass on the narrow pavement. A woman carrying a basket paused to speak to her as Dast approached. Amalia listened, touched the woman's arm, and answered something too softly for him to hear. The woman nodded and went on.

"Sister," he said.

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting. Please, come in."

"I have not been here long. I received your note at the Misericordia." He led her through the doorway and down the stairs, giving her the standard warning to keep close to the wall. At the landing he fetched the key from its brick and unlocked his office, yet again wondering if now might be the time to upgrade his office security. By the time he had put his papers down, she had taken in the room and chosen the chair with the sound seat.

"Marek told me you had been helping them," she said. Dast looked up at her, wondering whether she too had come to ask something of him.

"I know they left this morning," she added.

"Yes. I suggested they stay away for a day or two."

"So Isabetta told me. I went back to see her." Amalia glanced at the papers on his desk.

"I think that was sensible." He indicated the client chair and pulled it back for her, and she sat. He sat down opposite her.

"What do you know?" he asked her, and she recounted the same story Marek had shared. He was still hesitant to bring her into his confidence, but Marek had done so himself, and even instructed him that Amalia was to be kept fully informed.

"I have learned something since they left," he said.

"A household called the Valcerra is trying to hire people to follow them. Lucia Valcerra told me the Bellandi asked her family to investigate how Marek found the chamber. Now she thinks he may be on his way to another discovery." Amalia looked at him for a moment before answering.

"Do you think she is connected to the people I heard questioning Sinon?"

"I do not know, but I don't think so. The Bellandi are curious about the chamber, yes, but I did not hear mention of a mask." Amalia drew her chair closer to the desk.

"Then I will keep asking about the boy who brought it in. I have made some progress there."

"Have you found him?"

"Not yet, but one of the Sisters thinks she can identify him."

"What did you tell her?" Dast asked. Amalia shook her head.

"I spoke nothing of Marek or the mask. Only that a young boy visited the Misericordia, and that he looked poorly. I am going back to see her when the children return to the dormitory." She settled her hands in her lap. They were rougher than he had expected, with small cuts around the fingers.

"I asked Nello about the guard who brought the mask," she said.

"He was still there when they arrived. The boy came with him."

"Did Nello know him?"

"No. But he remembered the boy clearly. He had been scared, and the guard treated him roughly, pulling him about in a cloak that was too large. At one point he nearly pulled it off the boy, and Nello noticed the Almonry mark inside the collar." Dast looked a question at the Sister.

"The Almonry lends clothing to the children," she provided.

"Some of it comes back. Some does not. We sew a little strip inside the neck so we know our own. It means we can take it back when a child needs a larger one, and give it to somebody smaller."

"Go on."

"As I said. One of the Sisters remembered lending a boy a cloak. It might be the one we are looking for."

"And if the boy and the mask came together…"

"Yes. The Sister who keeps that dormitory is expecting my visit tonight." Dast picked up his pen again, mostly to keep his fingers engaged. There was little detail, little that was firm. Still, it was considerably more than he had possessed that morning. Above them, something heavy was dragged across the floor. Amalia looked up. He had long since stopped noticing it, except when the movement shook dust from the ceiling onto his work.

"The shop upstairs," he explained.

"He brings the display inside when he thinks it will rain." She glanced towards the coat she had left over the back of her chair. He noticed then how tired she was, and how much of her day she had spent walking between places on Marek's behalf.

"Try to get some rest, Sister. Before tonight. When you have spoken to him," he said, "come back. Whatever he says. Even if it turns out he is the wrong boy."

"I will." She rose, and he stood with her.

"Master Dast." She had reached the door before turning back.

"I told Marek what I heard because I thought he was in danger. I have not changed my mind about that."

"I am arranging to have a message waiting when he returns," Dast said.

"He needs to know about this before he plans another expedition. He must know as soon as he steps back inside the city. And with the Valcerra contract… Too much is happening. Marek is too naive, as I expect you know, having worked with him for so long." She just nodded, a small wistful smile on her lips, then opened the door herself and climbed the steps. He listened until the stairs stopped creaking. Then he returned to his desk and tried to look over other cases that might bring in some florins.

Finding none, he was considering going up to the Statio piazza to fish for clients when he heard more creaking from the stairs. Adriana came down the stairs carrying a small bag. Pulling out a chair, she fetched out a piece of cheese that she handed to Dast.

"My sister sent that. I went to speak to her husband about Lucia's offer. Lucia has already asked my brother-in-law to find someone else. He wanted to know whether I would recommend a man who served with us outside Montevetrano."

"To lead the party?"

"No. He knows old masonry. He spent two seasons with an adventuring company, examining ruins before they started digging. He can tell them whether an old wall is likely to stand if they open a hole in it, and sometimes what sort of building they have found."

"And Lucia asked for that experience?"

"My brother-in-law did. I asked whether he also wanted someone who could follow a trail." Dast had understood why Lucia wanted someone to follow Marek. Now she was also seeking someone who could examine old masonry. The arrangement was beginning to resemble an expedition in its own right.

"And your response?" he asked.

"I haven't recommended anyone. I told him I needed to think about it. But I cannot prevent him from asking elsewhere."

"I would be grateful if you told me whether he engages someone. And… I need to warn Marek that he may have people following him." He looked up at Adriana.

"Apologies, I know I learned of this only through you, but I need to warn him." Adriana rested her hands on the table.

"It is no matter. I want you to warn him. I can tell you what I hear. I still need work for my people, though. I came home with twelve florins today, and the men are getting ready to leave us. They are good men. They gave us two days, and then... Dast, you have no idea how hard it is to find solid soldiers." He rubbed his eyes.

"I may have a solution for you, but I need those two days. And I need someone to wait at Serravalle and give Marek a message when he comes back. Could you arrange that?" She nodded, and he gave her the details, and then she left. Dast leaned back in his chair and broke off a piece of bread and a piece of cheese, thinking about all the moving parts in this enterprise.