“But…why would Blas and Haza do any of this in the first place?” continued Ana. “Why would these two men intentionally allow a whole canton to die? What could they gain from such death and destruction? Except, then I recalled…the Hazas’ wealth comes from one very specific source. And that is land.”
“Land?” echoed Vashta quietly.
“Yes, ma’am. Land,” said Ana. “Land, and all that is grown upon it. All the reagents, all the agriculture, all the crops and feedstocks that spring forth from their earth—this is the source of all their riches.” She sniffed. “So…what would happen to the value of their lands if a great chunk of fertile land they did not own suddenly vanished?”
My head began to spin as I listened to all this. Although I’d begun to suspect many murderous things from the Hazas, it hadn’t yet occurred to me that their involvement in such horrors might be motivated by something so simple, so bland, and so awful.
“They did it for money?” I exclaimed. “All for money, ma’am?”
“Quiet, Din!” snapped Ana. “I told you to watch, not to talk!”
“Yes, but…I echo the boy’s comment,” said Vashta faintly. “You…you’re claiming the Hazas perpetrated this abominable scheme…as some kind of land valuation plot, Dolabra? To gain a little money?”
“Not a little,” said Ana. “A lot. An inconceivable amount. The death of Oypat allowed the Hazas to renegotiate countless contracts with the Empire, vastly increasing their wealth and influence—so much so that their wealth came to rival that of the emperor himself. It is, in its own strange way, the largest single land speculation scheme in memory. But if you would like hard numbers,” she said, smiling like a loon, “I highly recommend Summation of the Transfer of Landed Properties, Qabirga Canton, 1100–1120. That’s just one example. It’s all written down right there, in the open. And it’s fascinating reading, too.”
“Speaking of speculation,” cried the engraver, “this is all theorization and daydreams! We had nothing to do with Oypat, nor the increase in values of our lands! I have yet to hear of any evidence for this grand conspiracy beyond a few scribe-hawks our master had sent before his death! You have no real proof that he had any connection with Blas, or his secretary, or any…any illicit payments made to people in these cantons!”
“But I do have proof,” said Ana mildly.
The whole of the room seemed to freeze.
“You…you what?” said the engraver.
“I do have proof. Because I have in my possession a sample of the cure for dappleglass—the very grafts that the Apoths produced ten years ago to save Oypat. The very one you stole.”
* * *
—
A SILENCE SETTLED over the adjudication chamber. An errant cloud shifted in the sky, allowing a spear of dawn light to stab through the window.
“You have what, Dolabra?” said Vashta.
“Well, Immunis Nusis mentioned that those four cantons had seemed so curiously informed about the cure for dappleglass,” Ana said. “But then she mentioned that the cure itself might never have worked—for though they had made twenty vials of grafts, they found that three had degraded to water. Yet I imagined…What if they hadn’t degraded? What if someone had stolen three of the little vials to study and left simple water in their place? And that was what the Hazas did, you see. They bribed or paid their agents to steal the cure, so Commander Blas and his little gang could examine the sample, derive the reagents, and find a way to prevent the cure from ever being used. The solution was simpler than they’d ever dreamed—they found out where the reagents were grown and went to the Preservation Boards. Ironic, for the Preservation Boards exist to protect the folk of the Empire—but in the hands of the wealthy and knowledgeable, they could easily be used as a weapon.”
Ana wheeled to face Fayazi and her Sublimes. “But that’s where things went awry, didn’t they? For if you deal with corrupt people, inevitably they try to exploit you. And that’s what Commander Blas did—for he kept one of those samples. One of three. A third.”
The word sent lightning up my bones yet again. I remembered what I’d overheard Fayazi Haza saying: A third? Third what? What are they to find? What do they seek?
“Blas kept it as blackmail,” Ana continued, “to ensure that the Haza clan never tried to eliminate him. He used it to extort more funds from you, which he and his secretary smuggled to his co-conspirators abroad. And for so long, it was easier to pay him rather than kill him. But then he was killed—not by you, but by Captain Kiz Jolgalgan, who’d discovered what you’d done. And then it became very, very important to find that sample. For if anyone else found it, and figured out what it truly was, then it would prove what you had done.” She turned to me, smiling. “But despite all your searching, Din stumbled across it and picked it up. Very clever, to disguise it as a reagents key.”