Page 111 of The Lost Future of Pepperharrow

If Arinori hadn’t been killed, Thaniel would never have realised that anything was wrong at Mori’s end; he wouldn’t have realised he was missing, not just absent. He would have had no reason to ignore Mori’s message in Aokigahara; he would never have gone back to Yoruji, the one place he shouldn’t have been, where Tanaka had seen him in time to produce a body for Kuroda to show the Duke. He’d been trapped inside the legation on murder charges, in that miserable freezing guest room, instead of negotiating with the protesters like he should have been.

There wasn’t meant to be any emergency here. No one was meant to be dead on the lawn. It was supposed to be safe.

In one disgusting moment, he realised he didn’t feel so panicked and so guilty only because a valiant human being had died. It was because Mori was going to be angry. It was the way he’d felt when he’d got into fights at school and been dragged into the headmaster’s office by the collar. Raw shame, and nothing about it pure or good. It was fear of the cane.

Someone threw a brick. One of the windows smashed, spectacularly. Mrs Vaulker bent forward over Six. He’d never thought he would like her. A cheer went up outside and someone kicked at the front door, an incredible bang that made the solid oak groan. A sake bottle with a lit fuse soared in through the broken window. It smashed over the floor and spilled fire across the boards. One of the junior diplomats wrenched down a long curtain to smother it and smoke poured up. It formed ghosts, none clear enough to make out. Someone pushed a gun into his hands and Willis half helped and half lifted him onto the table beside Mrs Vaulker, who nodded.

There was a thump outside that made them both jump, and then a perfect quiet. The protesters stopped hooting. There was no more laughing, only a crackle where a pile of old pine needles was still burning. It was by the last window, where the Christmas tree had sat until last week waiting for the gardener’s boy to get round to taking it away. In the torchlight, Thaniel saw that some of the protesters were hurrying away from something before he saw what had made them run.

It was a phalanx of knights. They had stopped just in view, about twenty yards away from the corner of the building. Silhouettes in the lamplight around the tents stopped still.

‘Those are soldiers,’ Mrs Vaulker said, puzzled.

‘That’s not army uniform,’ someone else said.

Thaniel leaned against the boards. They were carrying a red banner, and though their armour was dark, there was an insignia band on the sleeves. A triangle of dots and a horizontal slash, black on red.

Some of the protesters saw what was about to happen and ran. The soldiers’ method of clearing everyone was to set the tents on fire. They went through slowly, like reapers at a moonlit harvest. A few of the younger men tried to fight and got a sword hilt in the teeth for it.

The juniors whooped and cheered. Even Mrs Vaulker relaxed. Four soldiers broke away from the others, flanking a fifth man. They came to the dining-room door and Thaniel eased down to help unblock it, with Vaulker and Pringle. When they opened it, Mori stepped through, and then turned back to bow to the man who must have been the captain. The man looked over Thaniel, Vaulker, and Pringle as though he would rather leave Mori alone on the veldt with only some especially stupid giraffes for help, but he bowed back and turned away.

Thaniel kept his hands behind his back. Mori was studying him, unreadable. He might only have been so tired he had closed in on himself, but Thaniel didn’t think so. Thaniel could only hold his eyes for half a second before he had to look down.

‘Baron Mori,’ Vaulker said, sounding as though he was about to say something awkward and not entirely apologetic.

‘Secretary,’ Mori said. Like always after any length of time away, his voice was unexpected. It was lower and stronger, and more gold. He raked Vaulker with too intense a scrutiny, and Vaulker looked flustered. Mori hadn’t bothered to mask what he thought, which hung quite clear between them even unilluminated by electricity or icing sugar. ‘You’ve let things get out of hand here.’

‘These are – your men, are they?’ Vaulker faltered.

‘They are retainers from my house. I’ve borrowed them from the Duke of Choshu. Thank you for taking me in, that was very kind.’

‘Of course,’ Vaulker said again, and begged Thaniel for help with his eyes. ‘You’re welcome to stay.’

Six had come across nearly straightaway, but she had kept quiet. She pulled Mori’s sleeve now and then smiled when he lifted her straight up.

‘How are you?’ he said gently.

Vaulker looked like he wanted to die.

Six clamped both arms around him and spoke mainly into his shoulder. ‘Mrs Vaulker keeps fluffing up my hair. Dad says we’re good tea trolls but I think I would be justified in being a man-eating troll in the case of Mrs Vaulker.’

He tipped her back. ‘I don’t suppose that means you know where the tea is?’

She nodded and made a small noise to be put down on the floor again. ‘I’ll show you.’

‘I’m – afraid the staff fled earlier,’ Vaulker said helplessly as Six led the way to the kitchen.

Mori glanced at Thaniel once but ignored him otherwise. And then there was a general easing. The junior diplomats had been watching. It was like a classroom that had almost reached the point of riot, and then gone right back to normal with the return of the schoolmaster. Vaulker seemed suddenly no more authoritative than the fussy prefect from the front row.

Out in the garden, everything was dying down. The Duke’s men were combing back through the camp again, looking through piles of canvas to make sure there was no one left hiding. The burnt banners whirled ash into the snow. It was starting to freckle the windows.

Vaulker caught Thaniel’s arm. ‘Steepleton … if you could … perhaps not tell Mr Mori how badly we all behaved here, I’d be grateful.’

Thaniel looked down at his own arm until Vaulker let go. ‘It’s Baron, not mister. So when he asks me what happened, I should lie?’

‘Well, if you would.’

‘No,’ Thaniel said, as neutrally as he could. ‘I’m going to find something to eat; would you like anything?’