Though Jannia offered to take a turn, it was Farek who reluctantly leaned behind the iron-barred cell in their basement the next time that Sha questioned their prisoner. He felt responsible for everything that happened to Lannon now, so he would endure the sessions as well, like a separate, unharmed companion for their captive. He watched Lord Sha take position, crossing his arms while the bald torturer slid into a chair near Lannon’s slumped shoulders. The wooden box remained closed, for now.
“I have good news,” Sha declared. “Your treasure stash has been found. You told the truth, and for that I will endeavor to spare you any severe torture today. Provided, of course, that you answer a few more simple questions.”
Lannon managed a nod.
Sha cleared his throat. “The man named Harloss has proven hard to track down. We suspect this name is an alias or an assumed name. Where did you meet Harloss? How could we find him?” With only the single brazier to light the area of the prison cell, Sha’s bearded face was cast in shadow.
When Lannon remained quiet, the bald interrogator opened his wooden box and set it on the corner of the single wooden table that occupied the cell. That was enough to get Lannon talking. “We spoke in public—i-in Lo Mallago—which is no good to you. We spoke near a fountain on Kingville Slope. Harloss had guards with him….”
The prisoner wracked his memory while the questioners waited. “Hands!” Lannon exclaimed, his mind calling back to a time months ago. “They had blue hands emblazoned on their coats.”
“That’s quite a bit more useful,” Sha declared, looking at Farek through the shadows. Farek could tell he was masking a proud smile. “But how do we know if this man commands a whole house or only some of the soldiers? What does Harloss look like?”
Lannon raised his shoulders in the only way he could shrug with his hands tied behind the back of the chair. “He’s a normal man, what more am I to say? Raderans all look the same!”
Sha crossed his arms. After a moment, his head shook back and forth. The torturer removed the knives from his wooden box.
“He had brown hair!” Lannon offered, struggling against his ropes out of instinct. “A short beard. A triangular face, I guess, if I had to draw it… oh! He had a gold arm clasp with interlocking chain links etched into it.”
Lord Sha considered the description carefully and then asked, “How did you meet Harloss?”
“At a fountain, as I—” Lannon was cut off by a powerful backhand. He spit and coughed and glared up at his captor.
Towering over the captive, Sha narrowed his question. “How did you first come into contact with him?”
Farek watched as Lannon bowed his head reluctantly. His voice was quiet now, almost too quiet for Farek to hear. “The bartender at the Copper Corsair keeps a list of… men for hire. Harloss set up a meeting with me through him.”
“There—easy, see?” Sha asked, carefully stepping back. Then he looked up from Lannon, distracted by the arrival of a servant. The man, who served House Gallendris, bowed uncomfortably, uncertain where to stand.
Farek hurriedly crossed the room and led the servant out, where they could speak privately. He eased the door to the prison room closed. “What is it?”
“The Mazaar sent me to inform yourself and Lord Sha that a letter has arrived from the capital,” the servant explained. His hushed voice barely filled the narrow stone-walled corridor. “She requests your attendance in her office as soon as time allows.”
Farek thanked the servant and re-entered Lannon’s chamber. After he shut the door, he turned back into the room and looked at Lord Sha. The inquisitor gave him a raised eyebrow. Farek bobbed his head toward the door and pointed at himself and Lord Sha. Sha gave him a nod in reply.
To Lannon, Sha spoke authoritatively, “You have been very cooperative today, so I will allow you rest. Maybe tomorrow we will resume this. And if you have lied once about Harloss, you will bleed again and again.”
As they climbed the steps out of the basement, Farek asked the Master of Insight, “That was a little over the top, don’t you think?”
“Two weeks of recovering may give Lannon thoughts of survival or safety. Even if my assault is only verbal and mental, I think it has an impact,” Sha replied, academically. They started across the Great Hall. Sha still had not asked where they were going. He continued his explanation, “Who knows? If Lannon is telling the truth about Harloss, my work on him may soon be concluded. I am sure your family would like to choose his fate.”
Farek held back a shrug. He was indifferent to Sha’s preferences on the matter. The man had rudely outranked his way into their lives, to solve an issue that had not yet threatened the Matriarchs directly. “Jannia has received a letter from the capital,” he told the lord quietly.
“I haven’t heard anything—I hope all is well.” Sha quickened his pace, as much as his straight-cut black robe would allow.
When they reached Jannia’s offices she put their minds at ease by asking how the questioning had been, instead of informing them of some dire tidings. Sha eagerly replied while Farek crossed the office to fix himself a drink. Jannia styled her workspace for efficiency and busyness, but the drink stand spared no expense for its degree of comfort.
“The prisoner is becoming more forthcoming. However, I look forward to hearing about Harloss from other sources,” Sha told her.
Jannia looked at Farek, who only raised his glass of wine in dry agreement.
“What news have you received from the capital?” Lord Sha asked, anxiously.
“Nothing immediately distressful,” Jannia replied. She lifted a scroll from her desk and began to read from it. “To House Gallendris and Sha, Master of Insight: As you may have heard, the threat from the Great Isle shows no signs of diminishing. Accounts of fleet-building along Copper Cove and the Oshibor Coast are even more concerning than the ongoing sieges of Aloor and Bellasa. Because of the pending threat to the mainland, several factions are entering into talks to form an alliance. We request Lord Sha’s immediate return to Noress-That-Was, to help organize a meeting where we will meet with the Atmos Septi and, by their request, reluctant delegates from Eastpoint. A strategy must be devised for the defence of our homes or to mount an offence against the anarchical armies of the south. Prepare your subservient Houses for war. Signed, Matriarchs Valakono and Haladia.”
Finally, Farek thought, in the silence that followed. Someone is finally reacting. Tarro needed to be stopped and this was the first step—a meeting of nations. He took a long drink of his wine and sat down in one of the chairs near Jannia’s desk. His older sister put the letter down and looked at Lord Sha.
“I will have to set out as instructed. Lannon might as well remain here—there is nothing more to be done with him until we learn the truth about Harloss. I will need to dispatch new messengers to deliver today’s insights to my contacts there.”
“We should put Lannon in a proper dungeon,” Farek suggested.
“I will leave this up to the Mazaar,” Sha said, bowing his crowned head. “I only request Lannon’s life be preserved in case he has lied.”
Jannia gave a stern nod. “He will be incarcerated somewhere else in Soros than our basement.”
Farek was glad to see Sha leave—and Lannon too. After the Master of Insight had withdrawn from the office, Farek took another sip of his wine and then set his glass on Jannia’s desk. They looked at one another for a moment, each thinking about what was to come.
Jannia spoke first. “I don’t like our House being left out on two fronts—both Lo Mallago and this meeting of empires.” She stepped around her desk and crossed toward her liquor cabinet.
“Would we not be invited to attend?” Farek asked.
His sister shrugged. “Usually, I would only be asked to attend if financial transactions were to be made. An alliance of a tactical nature is unlikely to warrant a payoff of some kind.” She took a sip from her own wineglass and then raised a finger from her other hand. “I could make an argument that committing a specific size of fleet or specific troops would require a financial calculation.”
Farek stood up. “I want to attend it,” he said, tapping her desk.
“Oh. Well, you’re not even in charge of the Bank. I am not sure if I could convince them… but I will try,” she offered. “After all, I know that you know more about the inciting event of this war than most of those leaders.”
Farek nodded grimly. He hadn’t mentioned it in a long time, but he had to acknowledge there was a connection.
“I will try,” Jannia repeated. “On the other hand, I thought that you might go to Lo Mallago. If someone needs to bring today’s ‘insights’ to Lord Sha’s connections, it might as well be someone who is already in need of a visit to the continental city.”
Farek did the math quickly. It took a week and a half to cross between Lo Mallago and Soros, but three or four times as long to communicate with Saanazar. If he left soon, he could spend a few weeks in Lo Mallago before any meeting place was decided for the alliance treaty. “I’ll prepare at once, then,” Farek said. “Some of my usual guards—Sievus and Diaren—are still away on their mission. I worry they may have been lost at sea or to the war on the Great Isle.”
“Take a few more from our staff then,” Jannia instructed. “If someone in Lo Mallago does want you dead, we’ll pay top coin for your safety.”
Farek bowed and went to make such preparations. At last, he could stop sitting around and watching Lannon. He only hoped Matek was willing to set sail with him again.