A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 4

now.'
    'Come the morning,' Bugg said, 'I will pay a visit to
Selush – her wardrobe, while somewhat abysmal in taste, is
nonetheless extensive.'
    'Want my blanket?' Tehol asked her.
    'Gods below, Master, you're almost leering.'
    'Don't be insane, Bugg. I was making light. Ha ha, we're
trapped in a dearth of attire. Ha ha. After all, what if that
had been a child's tunic?'
    In a deadpan voice, Janath said, 'What if it had.'
    'Errant's blessing,' Tehol said with a loud sigh, 'these
summer nights are hot, aren't they?'
    'I know one hen that would agree with you,' Bugg noted,
walking back to the hatch, from which a column of smoke
was now rising.
    'Tehol Beddict,' said Janath, 'I am glad you are here.'
    'You are?' both Bugg and Tehol asked.
    She nodded, not meeting their eyes. 'I was going mad –
I thought I had already done so. Yathvanar – he beat me,
he raped me . . . and told me of his undying love all the
while. So, Tehol, you are as his opposite – harmless in your
infatuation. You remind me of better days.' She was silent
for a long moment. 'Better days.'
    Bugg and Tehol exchanged a look, then the manservant
made his way down the ladder. From above he heard Tehol
say, 'Janath, are you not impressed with what I have done
with my extensive education?'
    'It is a very fine roof, Tehol Beddict.'
    Nodding to himself, Bugg went in search of roasted
chicken through clouds of acrid smoke. Surrounded on all
sides by mindless clucking. Abyss take me, I might as well be in a temple . . .
    The morning sun pushed through the slats on the shutters,
stretching ribbons of light across the long, heavy table
dominating the council room. Wiping his hands with a
cloth, Rautos Hivanar entered and moved to stand behind
his chair at one end of the table. He set the cloth down and
studied the arrayed faces turned towards him – and saw in
more than one expressions of taut fear and anxiety.
    'My friends, welcome. Two matters on the agenda. We
will first address the one that I suspect is foremost in your
minds at the moment. We have reached a state of crisis –
the dearth of hard coin, of silver, of gold, of cut gems and
indeed of copper bars, is now acute. Someone is actively
sabotaging our empire's economy—'
    'We knew this was coming,' interrupted Uster Taran. 'Yet
what measures were taken by the Consign? As far as I can
see, none. Rautos Hivanar, as much on the minds of those
assembled here is the question of your continued position
as Master.'
    'I see. Very well, present to me your list of concerns in
that regard.'
    Uster's craggy face reddened. 'List? Concerns? Errant
take us, Rautos, have you not even set the Patriotists
on the trail of this mad creature? Or creatures? Could
this not be an effort from the outside – from one of
the border kingdoms – to destabilize us prior to invasion?
News of this Bolkando Conspiracy should have—'
    'A moment, please. One issue at a time, Uster. The
Patriotists are indeed pursuing an investigation, without
result to date. A general announcement to that effect,
while potentially alleviating your anxieties, would have
been, in my judgement, equally likely to trigger panic.
Accordingly, I chose to keep the matter private. My own
inquiries, in the meantime, have led me to eliminate
external sources to this financial assault. The source, my
friends, is here in Letheras—'
    'Then why haven't we caught the bastard?' demanded
Druz Thennict, his head seeming to bob atop its long, thin
neck.
    'The trails are most cleverly obscured, good Druz,' said
Rautos. 'Quite simply, we are at war with a genius.'
    From the far end of the table, Horul Rinnesict snorted,
then said, 'Why not just mint more coins and take the
pressure off?'
    'We could,' Rautos replied, 'although it would not be
easy. There is a fixed yield from the Imperial Mines and it
is, of necessity, modest. And, unfortunately, rather inflexible.
Beyond that concern, you might ask yourself: what
would I do then, were I this saboteur? A sudden influx of
new coin? If you sought to create chaos in the economy,
what would you do?'
    'Release my hoard,' Barrakta Ilk said in a growl, 'setting
off runaway inflation. We'd be drowning in worthless coin.'
    Rautos Hivanar nodded. 'It is my belief that our saboteur
cannot hide much longer. He or she will need to become
overt. The key will lie in observing which enterprise is the
first to topple, for it is there that his or her trail will become
readily discernible.'
    'At which point,' said Barrakta, 'the