The Regents' mouths hung open as they stared at the man who'd just told them their Chancellor was dead. I looked sideways at Mahalelel. He ground his teeth with an awful sort of scowl on his face. He wished he had thought of my plan first. He was always in my shadow. Always a few steps behind.
"Show me the bodies," I said to the message bearer.
"Who are you?"
"I am your new Chancellor."
I followed the messenger down a narrow, round passage and through the kitchens to a large nickel-plated door. Mahalelel and the other regents treaded along behind me like a herd of cattle who'd just seen a butcher's shop for the first time. The floor and edges of the door were covered in the rendered remains of hog carcass. How horrifying it would be if anyone important discovered I was chancellor of such a nasty, worthless corner of the world.
The messenger pulled the handle. Frozen air billowed out. I stepped inside, and my nose hairs instantly turned to ice. I pulled my barathea silk cloak around me as tightly as I could. The Regents folded their arms tight and huddled together as they followed. We walked past row upon row of hanging carcasses. There must have been more than forty, 200 pound hogs hanging by their hind legs, waiting to have their hair burned off before being sliced into bacon and ham and tenderloin. The dullgloom was bleak. I am not fond of inanimance, at least when the creatures are not stuffed by a proper taxidermist or cooked. Particularly not a whole pack of slaughtered pigs.
In the far corner of the icebox hung eight thinner shapes of various lengths. Like the pigs, they dangled upside-down by their feet. The shapes made me wonder: when men are frozen alive, do they die first or do they fall asleep before they die?
I turned the longest shape so its face could be seen. "Mahalelel, would you please identify this man for me?"
"You know well who it is."
"The Chancellor?"
"You murdered—"
I wagged my finger at him. "Whether they were murdered or not does not really matter at this point, does it? In the matter of the Chancellor and his sons, the agreement which the Regency just unanimously endorsed clearly states..." I unrolled the contract to read it verbatim. "'As of today, if the Chancellor or any of his seven children are murdered, our agreement will be considered completely null and void.' Everything that happened before 12:01am today is immaterial. I am, therefore, the Chancellor of El Qir."
I tried to ignore the shorter bodies hanging at the end of the row. I didn't like to see children mixed up in these kinds of affairs. Stooping, I pulled at the Chancellor's Lictor Ring, wiggling it back and forth on his frozen knuckle. I breathed on it a few times to warm it up and then placed it on my left thumb. The man's robes would be even more difficult to remove since he was completely stiff. I turned to the Regent standing nearest me. "Would you mind giving me a hand with this?"
He nodded dumbly.
"Better yet, you better pull them off for me." I stepped back as three Regents stripped the man, working the thick garment off one arm at a time. They helped me pull the stiff robes around my shoulders. I turned the old chancellor so his face was directed away from me, pushed past the gawking Regents, who I thought at that moment rather resembled hanging hogs, and made my way back into the kitchens. I passed a standing mirror and stopped to inspect my appearance. The brown color of the fabric was not flattering in the least, but the ring shimmered in a beam of sunlight. It looked as fine on my thumb as nearly any ring I had ever owned.
I caught Mahalelel staring at me. "I always thought gold looked delicious against my ebony skin."
He strode past me without looking again, passing into the judgment room along with the others. I took one last glance at myself in the mirror, watching over my shoulder at how the fabric swayed behind me, then followed the Regents in. I climbed the stairs to the raised throne. It, gratefully, was made of gold plated wood, not the reprehensible velvet on the rest of the Regents' chairs. The frosted Chancellor's robes draped heavy around my shoulders. And the Lictor Ring shimmered even more brightly now that we were out of the freezer. As soon as possible, I would have the fabric cleaned, but I was willing to endure wearing an expired man's dressings for a short while, if only to see the look on Mahalelel's face.
"Animus attentus," I said. "There is a matter we must attend to immediately."
The room exploded into commotion like the market streets of Carnis.
I held up my hands. "Silence!"
They obeyed.
Feeling rather embarrassed for losing my temper, I continued, "We are not getting off to a very good start, are we?" Adrenaline pumped through my veins. The hunt for Evan Burl was picking up speed. "When you woke this morning, you had no idea that today would be the day you are called to turn from your pathetic lives of self-indulgence and live a life of higher purpose. Allow me to reveal that purpose to you now."
Pulling something smooth from my pocket, I flipped it onto the table. It clicked across the surface, coming to a stop in front of Mahalelel. The Regents leaned forward, craning their necks to see.
An azul diamond.
"This city is situated on top of a mine, far below the city's streets, which I have been operating for some time. Thursday morning, the first day of Winterend Festival, my servants will break through to the surface—"
"If such a mine exists, it belongs to the city."
I frowned. "As your new Chancellor, I will steward it well."
"You've gone too far Cevo," Mahalelel said. "The people won't stand for this."
I stared at him, my fingers curling into a fist while I considered whether or not to send him into the dirt. A razor thin line cut across his throat. He fell off his chair, gurgling for air—
No, no. That is only in my head. Father would not approve. Mahalelel is still alive. I have to maintain control; I need him for my plan to work.
"You are not giving me enough credit," I said slowly. "I can be rather convincing, when I need to be."
"You're already the richest man in the city. Why bring this trouble upon yourself?"
I leaned forward. "The diamonds in that mine will help me find someone. If we do not find him soon, everything you love will be ripped away from you. You will stand as witnesses to the end of this world."
"Who?" Mahalelel said, "Who could be so dangerous?"