L. E.Modesitt - Imager’s Intrigue

“That means the supply of the stronger weed is limited,” I mused.

“They can charge more in L’Excelsis,” Diestra said dryly. “It’s a question of golds.”

“Can you find out if any other city is getting the fresh weed?” I asked.

“You have an idea?”

“I have several,” I temporized. “More information might help.”

“There is one other matter,” offered Diestra.

I tried not to stiffen. Whenever Mama Diestra brought up something, it was important.

“Several Pharsi families in Solis, Kherseilles, Estisle, and Westisle have had their eldest sons killed over the past month. The men were all married and had children.” She looked to me.

“Do you have any idea how many?”

“We know of fourteen.”

“I haven’t heard about that. It sounds like the killers don’t understand Pharsi ways. Someone who’s not Pharsi is trying to make trouble.”

“That’s what we think, but…it hasn’t happened here.”

“Because I’m a Patrol Captain?”

“Can you think of another reason?” countered Diestra.

“The Collegium and the Council are here.”

“There are smaller collegia in both Estisle and Westisle,” Betara said.

“Every city you named is a port,” I pointed out. “L’Excelsis isn’t.”

Betara and Diestra exchanged glances. Clearly, they hadn’t thought about that. I hadn’t either. The idea had just popped into my head.

“Do you know if any of the families have businesses or factorages that supply the Navy? Or deal with grain?”

“We’ll have to see.” Diestra picked up the deck of plaques and shuffled them, then began to lay out a pattern of cards on the felt surface of the table.

The three of us rose and left the chamber.

“I need to check on dinner.” Betara hurried down the stairs ahead of Seliora and me.

As we walked down the last few steps and then moved from the staircase to the main hall, Odelia appeared. “You were talking about elveweed with Grandmama?”

“We were,” I said. “There seems to be a stronger version that’s causing deaths.”

“Can’t you do something about it, Rhenn?”

I could sense a tightness behind her words.

“I’ve suggested to the taudischefs in my district that they warn people against using it.”

“Suggested? Warned?”

Seliora shot a glance at Odelia that I wouldn’t have wanted to receive.

Odelia ignored it and stared at me.

“Odelia…I have slightly fewer than four hundred patrollers assigned to Third District. Third District comprises roughly four square milles. It’s the eastern quarter of the old city of L’Excelsis, plus the newer areas to the north. If the blocks were regular, and they’re not, but it’s close enough to calculate that there are somewhere over 1,000 blocks in Third District. At any one time, I have no more than 150 patrollers on the streets. That’s one patroller for every seven or eight blocks. Now, we know we don’t have to patrol some areas heavily, and we don’t. But even in the taudis, which is heavily patrolled, especially in the late afternoon and evening, we can’t do better than having a patroller for every third or fourth block on average at any one time. I have managed to keep the dealers out of Third District, but I can’t catch all their runners, and runners are a penny a score. We brought in two this afternoon, one dead.”

“With all that explaining, I’m surprised you have time to catch anyone.” Her tone was scathing.

“We catch people because the people come to us and tell us, and because the taudischefs let me know things. We also catch people because we vary patrol times and routes, so that common criminals don’t know when a patroller might be around. We also catch people because many aren’t too bright. The elveweed dealers are not common. They’re traders in illegal goods, and those who survive are anything but stupid. That’s why they don’t get anywhere near me, and I can’t patrol everyone else’s districts, either practically or legally.” I paused, then asked, “What do you suggest that I do, Odelia?”

“Stop the trade. It kills people.”

“How? I can find the taudis-kids the dealers use as runners. I can put them in work houses or send them to the Navy as coal loaders. And if I catch them twice, they can die after working themselves to death on the road gangs before they’re thirty. And the day after I send each one away, there’s another one in his place. The dealers haven’t even entered Third District in years. These days, we’ve got fewer elvers and no dealers there, but your family and I can’t build paper mills and woodworks in every taudis in L’Excelsis, and there aren’t enough imagers around to do what I do-and even if there were, the people in the city wouldn’t accept that many imagers in the Civic Patrol.”

“My…how eloquent you are. It doesn’t change things. People still die, and more are dying.”

“Odelia,” I said slowly, deliberately, “I know Kolasyn’s brother is an elver. I know you’re both worried. But he’s the one who chooses to smoke it. No one put a blade to his throat and told him to.”

“People shouldn’t be tempted like that. Not by something that changes the way they think after smoking it once or twice.”

I really wanted to tell Odelia that she couldn’t save Haerasyn from himself. “The world is filled with temptations that lead to great danger, Odelia. Neither you nor I can prevent even a small fraction of them. You and Kolasyn do what you can. I do what I can.”

“That’s easy for you to say…”

“Odelia.” Seliora’s voice cut like an ice knife.

The redhead closed her mouth, but I could sense the rage, and that angered me. Odelia wanted to blame everyone except Haerasyn.

“Don’t ever do that again.” I could feel my own cold steel fury slam into Odelia, for all that I did not raise my voice or move.

Odelia stepped back involuntarily, shrinking away, even though she was nearly my height. “I’m sorry. I’m very sorry.” She backed away, then ran up the stairs.

Seliora smiled sadly at me and shook her head. “We’ll talk later.”

I understood, and we walked back to rejoin the group gathered near the pianoforte.

Dinner was delicious, and, in the Pharsi tradition, no one talked about business or about troubles, but about the good things in life. Odelia’s place at the table was empty, and poor Kolasyn just looked bewildered.

Sometime after eighth glass, Bhenyt went out and hailed a hack for us, as he often did, and we left.

“Odelia thinks you can do anything, and that you didn’t really want to help Haerasyn,” Seliora offered in the darkness of the cab as we headed down the Boulevard D’Ouest.

“I may be a powerful imager, but that doesn’t mean I can save people from their own weaknesses and stupidity. I have enough trouble trying not to do stupid things myself.”

“She won’t ever approach you again,” Seliora said. “She’ll avoid you for months. It could be longer.”

“I tried to be polite, but when she looked at you like that…”

“Every bit of you that is the Pharsi heritage that your mother denies came forward. It joined with the part that is imager, and for that moment, dearest, you were truly terrible. Odelia is strong, but no one could have stood against that.”

“You could have.”

She shook her head. “Why do you think Iryela begged you to be a friend?”

“She asked…”

“For a High Holder, what she did was equivalent to groveling. It was bearable to her because she knew you respected her, and because you saved her life, but she knows you could destroy everything she has. She saw what Odelia just saw. Grandmama sensed that in you from the beginning. Why do you think you’ve been able to turn Third District around.”