“That was it,” said Miljin. “Anyways, Apoths figured that it wasn’t worth it. Not when they had folks like me who were easier and cheaper to make and maintain. But the Hazas…Rumor had it that the Hazas employed a twitch or two. Ones that looked like ordinary folk but could be called upon at a moment’s notice, when the Hazas had a problem.”
“A problem,” I echoed. “You mean…when the Hazas needed someone dead.”
“One way of putting it,” he said.
“You’re saying…You’re truly saying the Hazas use some kind of immensely altered assassins?” I said. “All across the Empire?”
“It’s a rumor,” he said. “The Iudex could never find evidence of it. So a rumor it stayed.” He shot a glance at Ana. “But I also heard there was a series of killings in the Sazi lands a few months back. Folk found with holes drilled in their heads. Folk on the wrong end of the Hazas. No one could figure who could have done the deed and vanished in such a fashion…except, maybe, a twitch.”
I glanced at Ana as well. Her face stayed turned to the sky, and she said nothing.
“And…that’s what you wanted to train me for, ma’am?” I said. “In case I meet this twitch?”
“You meet a twitch, there’s no training I can offer that’d save you, even if we had months and years to do it,” said Miljin. “They were supposed to be unbeatable in combat—for about a minute a day, mind. After that, their muscles wore out and they had to recover.” He shrugged. “If you last that long, maybe you can stand a chance. But my best advice is stay the hell away from them—if a twitch really is here.”
“And I suspect one is,” said Ana. “For there are many people the Hazas would likely want dead here in Talagray. Namely, anyone who could link them with the deaths of Blas and the ten Engineers, and the breach.”
“Like Aristan,” I said. “But what about Suberek?”
“Well, there I have conjecture,” said Ana. “But pretty solid conjecture. My guess is—when Fayazi Haza took over after her father, she panicked. First thing she did was try to get rid of the evidence. That meant burning her father’s corpse—but also getting rid of all the stained fernpaper. She ordered new panels from Suberek, then replaced all the ones in the bath house. But then the prime sons of the clan sent in the heavy to take over and clean up—the twitch. The twitch identified Suberek as a link, so they promptly took care of him.”
I listened to this, thinking. “So…where is this twitch? And what does he look like?”
“No one knows,” said Miljin. “It could look like any regular fella. They don’t appear augmented at all, really.”
Then my skin went cold. “Wait. Could the twitch have been in the halls of the Hazas while I was there?”
Ana shrugged. “It’s entirely possible.”
“And…you knew, ma’am? You knew I was going to be in the company of an assassin? And you didn’t warn me?”
“If I’d warned you,” said Ana, “you’d have acted paranoid, like any reasonable soul would. And that could have put you in real peril—if the twitch was there. Which I am not yet convinced of.” She turned her face east. “They could be here, in Talagray, masquerading as an Iyalet officer. Or perhaps a simple miller, like Suberek. We do not yet know. I’d hoped to give you an advantage, Din, should you cross paths with such a being—but perhaps simply knowing what you can do can help.”
* * *
—
“AS LURID AS all this shit is,” said Miljin, “I’m most interested in one bit you mentioned, ma’am…namely, that we’re close to catching Jolgalgan. Which is, frankly, news to me.”
“Oh, but we are,” sighed Ana. She returned to parsing through the papers before her. “I just have one last bit of information to figure out…”
I eyed the papers. “And you’ll find it in lists of Legionnaires augmented for strength, ma’am?”
“Naturally. Have neither of you arrived at it? Captain Miljin here ought to know, at least,” she said, grinning. “Being as it was his damned interview that tipped me off. Don’t you recall?”
Miljin stared at her blankly. “No…？”
“When you went to the medikkers’ bay and did your interrogations,” she said, “you were told the dead Captain Kilem Terez had been worried someone very unusual had been following him.”