Tyrant’s Blood. Fiona McIntosh

safe, though?’

      The man frowned, slightly bemused. ‘I wasn’t here for the overthrow—I was just three moons too young as Loethar only allowed men who were two decades and older to march—but I hear it was a bloody one. I accept that those memories do not easily fade.’ He gave a small bow that touched Kirin’s heart. ‘But our emperor does not want a massacre. We should not be feared as murderers.’

      ‘He did a pretty good job of it ten anni ago.’

      The man nodded and sighed. ‘War is ugly. But now he wants everyone to be loyal to the empire and to get on.’

      Kirin felt his own treachery quicken his pulse. This man riding next to him was either terribly naive or one of the most sincere people he was likely to meet. If only he knew that the companion he was talking so freely and openly with was part of a long-held plot to tear down the very empire he admired so much.

      ‘If he wants that he should not treat these innocents as prisoners.’

      The warrior frowned. ‘Do they look like prisoners?’

      Kirin looked over at the eight or so people he counted chatting amiably in the carts. One was telling a tall tale, it appeared, and even the soldiers riding alongside were joining in the laughter.

      ‘No, but they’re not free, are they?’

      The man shrugged. ‘What is freedom? Are you free?’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘Well, do you answer to someone?’

      ‘We all answer to someone.’

      ‘Then none of us is free.’

      Kirin’s eyes narrowed. ‘Let me say it another way. I didn’t want to join this caravan but against my will I am being forced. To me that is not the choice of someone with freedom. These people would presumably not choose to be moved.’

      ‘On the contrary,’ his companion said, ‘they all volunteered to move into another compass.’

      Kirin blinked, surprised. ‘Why?’

      ‘I guess the emperor wants to put their skills to good use in another part of the Set.’

      Kirin didn’t think Loethar would relinquish control of anyone possessing magic but he let it pass. Whether or not these Vested had volunteered did not solve the dilemma of him and Lily being absorbed into this group, or him being dragged further from Clovis’s trail.

      ‘We do keep a record of the Vested, of course,’ the soldier added.

      ‘Oh?’

      ‘It’s a new method but very effective, transportable, and knowledgeable.’

      ‘Knowledgeable?’ Kirin queried. ‘How can a list be discerning?’ He watched the man’s brow crease in puzzlement at this word. ‘Er, how can a list think?’

      ‘Ah, I see. It doesn’t have to. It’s not a list.’