The Autumn Republic

Adamat pushed the thought away. Ricard had let Fell completely into his confidence. If she wanted to kill him, she could have done so any number of ways. She could have killed or destroyed him several times over in the last few months. Unless she had something more long-term in mind…

“Ricard.”

“Yes?”

“Can Claremonte really win?”

“What? Of course not. He’s a foreigner. He destroyed historic public property. The man is a menace.”

“Seriously, Ricard.”

Ricard returned to his pacing, wine in one hand and cigar in the other. He paused on the opposite side of the room and drained the rest of the glass in one long draught.

This wasn’t going anywhere. Adamat turned to Fell, who had slipped into a chair along the back wall of the suite. She had one foot tucked under her and the opposite knee pulled up to her chest-no mean feat in a black tailored suit. “Can Claremonte win?” he asked her.

She glanced at Ricard, then said, “He has a good chance. He has managed to gain a remarkable amount of support in just the last few weeks-much of it had already been arranged through intermediaries.”

“Lord Vetas?” Adamat asked, the very name making his skin crawl.

“Some,” Fell admitted. “That’s what he’d been in town doing, after all. Paving the way for Claremonte. When we took Vetas, we got a list of names of people he’d bribed, cajoled, and threatened into backing Claremonte. Some of them we’ve been able to turn. Others are still in his pocket.”

“But it’s worse than we thought.”

“Much worse,” Fell said. “Several of the prominent gunsmiths have backed him and-coincidentally-the Brudania-Gurla Trading Company has signed countless new contracts for Hrusch rifles. Dozens of big merchants are campaigning for him and will not even see our people. We think they fear the Trading Company and the power they have over shipping. His public approval is high because of his perceived protection of the city.”

“I saw that in the newspaper the other day,” Adamat said. “He claims that the Kez haven’t dared attack the city ever since his army arrived. No word about Field Marshal Tamas or the Adran army.”

“Of course,” Ricard said. “This is politics, after all.”

Adamat let out a disbelieving sigh. “He could win… and a foreigner would hold the highest position in our country. You realize that Tamas would never let that happen.”

“He can’t stop it.”

“Have you met Tamas? He would storm the city and kill Claremonte himself. I don’t see how we could dissuade him.”

“This will be the first election in the history of Adro,” Fell said. “If Tamas disrupts that, he will destroy everything we’ve worked for.”

Ricard said, “We’ll have to deal with that when we come to it. In the meantime, we still have a murderer at large.”

“You’re worried he’ll try again?” Adamat asked. “You’ve certainly tightened security.”

“Of course I am. I don’t have hearing in one ear because of whoever planted that bomb, and several of my top union bosses are dead or injured. They’ll try again, or I’m a shoemaker.” Ricard gave Adamat a fraught look, and Adamat realized how incredibly desperate his friend had become. He put on his airs, but the attempt on his life had shaken him deeply. And he was really worried that Claremonte would win the election.

“We have another problem,” Ricard said quietly.

“Another?” Adamat tried not to sound too tired. He failed.

Ricard hesitated a moment.

“Go on,” Adamat said. “Tell me.”

“Charlemund has escaped.”

“Excuse me?” The former Arch-Diocel of Adro was not only a traitor but a formidable killer. “I thought he was in a coma.”

“He was,” Fell said. “We think that Taniel Two-shot’s savage Bone-eye put him in that coma in order to bring Taniel back. Some kind of magical exchange. Whatever it was, it wore off. We had Charlemund hidden, tied down. His body was guarded at all times. He escaped and disappeared without a trace. We still haven’t figured out how.”

“Sweet Kresimir,” Adamat swore.

“He got away about three weeks ago,” Ricard said. “Cut his ropes and knocked out his guards and just walked off. We’ve had people quietly combing the city for him ever since.”

“No sign of him?”

“None at all. Like he vanished into thin air.”

Adamat nodded tiredly. “I’ll keep my ear to the ground. I’m going to go down to the ruins of your headquarters. They’re still sealed off, correct?”

“Yes,” Fell said. “We asked the police to keep everyone out, and we have one or two of our own men down there keeping an eye out.”

“Good. I’m going to see if the police missed anything. Do you think I could borrow you for a couple of hours, Fell?”

Fell looked to Ricard, who nodded. “Go ahead. I hope you can find something.”

“As do I.”

“Thanks for your help,” Ricard said. “You don’t know how much it means to me to have someone I can trust doing the footwork. I would send Fell out, but she’s running my whole campaign. This investigation could take months.”

“You sure you can spare her at all?”

“For a few hours. We need to find out who did this.”