“Well, Kentario being alive means that Ryu must be alive, doesn’t it?” Reo said, before Kentario could answer. Given the conditions of Kentario’s contract as Ryu’s bodyguard, it was a reasonable conclusion…
“Unless he’s come to avenge Ryu’s death before he falls on his sword,” the other guard in the room pointed out, sounding none too calm about the idea.
Kentario took the time to appreciate the woman’s logic. By the Amagarda code of honour, if Ryu had been murdered, he would be well within his rights to avenge his death before seeking Odin’s embrace in the next world. And obscuring the truth of Ryu’s exact fate worked in his favour for the moment; it gave him just a little more rope to play with, since Maro couldn’t quite know the truth, however much he might try to guess what was going on.
Kentario stepped up close to Maro. He was taller, and he put that height to good use. But Maro held his ground, and Kentario couldn’t help but feel a faint admiration for that refusal to back down. “I’m not telling youshituntil I find out what the hell is going on here.”
“That’s exactly what we’re trying to work out,” Maro said, making an effort to sound reasonable. “I’m interviewing the staff, one by one. No one has been allowed to leave the palace grounds, and they won’t be until I get to the bottom of this. I swear to you, I will not rest until I find out how the rebels got inside the palace.”
“Well, I would think there’s one very simple explanation to that particular mystery,” Kentario said. “Seeing asevery singleentrance and exit is monitored by a member of the Royal Guard, and the Guard have a well-known reputation for loyalty to a certainCaptain.”
Maro recoiled in shock, his reaction so flawless that even Kentario had to wonder for a moment whether it was genuine. “You thinkI’mresponsible for this? You think I would…murderthe king and queen?”
“What I know is that armed rebels managed to get into the very heart of the palace, they killed the reigning monarchs, and then set about finding the heir to the throne so they could murder him as well.” He phrased it carefully, so as not to give away whether or not that attempt at murder had succeeded. “Right now, the very best case scenario is that the Captain of the Royal Guard monumentally failed to do his job last night. Worst case scenario… You tell me.”
Maro’s face grew pale at the denouncement. “I will admit that I have failed in my duty to protect the palace. But that failure was not accompanied byanyform of betrayal on my part. Once this mess is sorted out, I will be resigning from my position here, but onlyafterI find the bastards who did this and see that they spend the rest of their lives behind bars.”
“Then we’d better get to work. What do you know so far?” Kentario was far from assured that Maro was telling the truth, but butting heads with him would only get him so far. He’d come here seeking information, after all, and the quickest way to get it was likely to be to help him sort through the rest of the staff and rubble. Then, at the end of it all, if the evidence didn’t stack up, he could always make good on his threat to garrotte the man.
“So far, nothing of interest. I’ve interviewed the guards, the butlers and most of the housekeeping staff. I’ve still got to get through the kitchen staff and the groundskeepers. And then, of course, there’s the visiting dignitaries. I thought I’d leave them until last, and hopefully we’ll have some sensible information by then. We risk a serious diplomatic conflict if we jump right into accusing any of them of treason against Galandeen.”
“A fair plan,” Kentario agreed. “But maybe I should start with you.” He gestured to the seat the housekeeper had vacated, a stern glare all it took to get Maro to sit down. Then he nodded to the other two guards, sending them swiftly out of the room.
“So tell me,” he said, not bothering to sit down. He was far too restless to stay still at the moment. “What happened last night? Where were you when you first heard about the attack? Start right from the beginning.”
“I was in the main hall with the king and queen. Arctesia was refusing to assist with the refugees from Biermarg, and King Sou had asked me to stick around in case things got heated.”
“And did they get heated?”
“There was some vigorous debate,” Maro said. “A few arguments, some raised voices, but nothing went as far as any threats of violence. Logically, it would make little sense for the Arctesians to have caused this, regardless of how upset they were with the meeting. If they wanted to retaliate, they’d have waited until they left the palace, if for no other reason then ensuring their own safety.”
“And then what?”
“I heard shouting in the hallway. I left the hall and found a handful of guards already fighting the Nalmagians. I joined the fight, but there were too many of them. They broke through the door into the hall. I tried to get to the king, but one of them shot me in the leg.” He gestured to the bloody bandage wrapped around the wound on his leg. “Danag was trying to protect the king. But they just kept coming. They shot Danag, then Sou and Elise. I just…” He took a deep breath, his eyes flickering as he sorted through the chaotic flood of memories. “I wrapped my belt around my leg to slow the blood, then I took four of my guards and headed for the residential wing. I wanted to get to Ryu, to protect him. But the Nalmagians were way ahead of us. They’d barricaded the door from the main wing, and then they started a fire in the hallway from the staff quarters. We couldn’t get through from inside the palace, so we headed out into the gardens. I wanted to try to get inside from the western side. But by that point, they were everywhere. I told the guards to head for the royal apartment, but I couldn’t get any closer myself. We got trapped in a gun fight near the central fountain. Then I heard screams from the cottages in the gardens. The noble families that live there… they’ve got children. They were completely defenceless. From that point on, I was just trying to save as many lives as possible.”
“So you abandoned Ryu, deciding it was just too hard to try and save him?”
“No! Because I knew you’d already returned to your apartment. You would have been the closest one available to protect him. So I just… I was just praying that you’d be able to do what we couldn’t.” His expression softened a touch. “You’re the best damn soldier in the entire Guard. For the Goddess’s sake, Kentario, tell me you succeeded?”
It was tempting to tell him the truth, that Ryu was alive, that Kentario had indeed proved himself to be the better man… But that was a card he wasn’t quite willing to play yet. “So what happened next?” he asked instead.
Maro sighed, his head drooping as he was once again denied an answer. “We just kept fighting them until we’d cut enough of them down to thin the ranks. The guards managed to arrest whoever was left, but they’re refusing to talk. Their code of honour is just as strong as ours. They will not betray their country or their tribesmen.”
“And none of the staff you’ve interviewed so far know anything?”
“Nothing. They were all as surprised as we were. And some of them are now in shock. Nine members of staff have been killed, and plenty of those who are left saw them die. People’s memories are mixed up, they can’t remember simple details, and they end up contradicting themselves halfway through their account. From a cynical perspective, you might argue that means they’re hiding something, but we both also know that that’s a well-known side effect of traumatic events.”
Kentario didn’t bother arguing the point just at the moment. In any case, if he needed to re-interview everyone, they were all still here, not allowed to go home until they’d found the culprits.
But then another detail occurred to Kentario. “You said no one’s been allowed to leave. But what about that fleet of ambulances ferrying people to the hospital?”
“Critical injuries had to be treated,” Maro conceded. “But I’ve kept records of everyone who left, and the police have sent officers to stand guard at the hospital. In an ideal world, I’d like to think that the Nalmagians wouldn’t injure their own inside men, but nothing’s guaranteed.”
Silently, Kentario had to admire the man’s thoroughness. The arrangements he’d made and the actions he’d taken were very much what Kentario himself would have done, had their roles been reversed.
“Fine,” he said, once he’d turned the situation over in his mind. “Then let’s get those housekeepers back in here and finish finding out what they know.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
