Page 56 of Vilest Things
“I suppose you’d like to use the computer.” Yilas stands where she is. Maybe if she doesn’t offer, she’ll never have to see whatever it is on that disk, and Matiyu’s problems will simply dissolve into thin air.
“I didn’t smuggle surveillance footage out of the palace for fun and games, that’s for sure.”
Barely suppressing a sigh, Yilas nods and waves him to the back room, where their computer is. She has a feeling she’s not going to like this.
“You couldn’t tell your superiors about this?”
“Well, Yilas”—Matiyu puts the disk into the system unit slot—“my superior is a Weisanna who oversees the section of the south wing that I help keep watch over. When I clocked in this morning and ran a glimpse over my cameras…”
He navigates to a folder that pops up on the desktop. It takes some loading, but the file is local, so there’s no buffering when the computer system pulls it open on a video player. Matiyu thins his lips. He starts the footage.
The first notable observation is the dead guard lying in the middle of the room. His neck has turned at an unnatural angle. A vase has shattered beside him, fallen off a dining table. Yilas doesn’t recognize the room itself, but the Palace of Union was built similarly to the Palace of Heavens. The table is particularly long, so it is likely one of the main dining rooms that the nobles use to take meals. In an hour or so, the cooks will be bringing food into the room, and then this body will be discovered.
“Heavens,” Yilas breathes. “Matiyu, youhaveto report this to your superior.”
“Has it not occurred to you yet what the problem is?” Matiyu stabs a finger at the screen. “Thatismy superior!”
Oh. Oh, dear.“Okay,” Yilas says slowly. “Who is your superior’s superior?”
Matiyu shakes his head. “When the Weisannas rearranged security within the twin cities, the palace was affected too. They had to rid any chance there would be another treasonous captain of the guard, so most of the Weisannas stand equal now. They all report to the king.”
“Find an equal, then. Someone who knows what to do.”
“I’mscared,” Matiyu hisses. “It’s only rumors, but I’ve been catching bits and pieces from the Weisannas these last few days about attacks around the palace. They’re never going to tell us the truth if there’s something wrong.”
Yilas laces her fingers in front of her. She stares at the image on the screen. It’s still playing, though nothing is happening. Matiyu has pasted over a few minutes. Perhaps by now the body has already been discovered.
“What do you want me to do?” Yilas asks. “Get the message to Calla, have her running back to protect the palace? She carries a cellular phone, but I don’t know if I’d reach her from inside San-Er.”
Chami pokes her head into the back room then. She’s frowning, concerned by the conversation. “Also, Calla said her traveling phone was forextremeemergencies.”
“Thisisan extreme emergency,” Matiyu insists. “Look.” He clicks on a second file he dragged onto the disk. The video player pulls open the infirmary. Yilas doesn’t know what she’s looking at. With the way Chami draws closer and scrunches her nose, she can’t tell either.
“At the back,” Matiyu prompts, “six beds have pulled the sheets over their occupants. Dead bodies.”
“To be fair,” Chami says, “two of the bodies are likely Leida Miliu.”
“Meowr,” Mao Mao agrees from her feet.
“When there are more people around and it’s safer, I’m going to go backinto the palace and obtain footage that traces how they all died,” Matiyu says. “Because I’m willing to bet they’re guards, and something is happening to wipe them out.”
The screen is starting to hurt Yilas’s eyes. She shifts back. Extends her hands for Mao Mao and picks up the cat after he hurries over to her.
“I don’t understand—you want to warn Calla about guards dying in the palace?”
“It doesn’t really make sense, anyhow,” Chami adds. “The palace may have loosened its entry since August took power, but employees and approved visitors still need to input their identity number at the turnstiles. Every entrance remains watched. If guards are dying, then someone authorized to enter the palace is doing it.”
Matiyu goes quiet, thinking. Her brother doesn’t often follow beats of logic: he prefers to hit a conclusion first andthengo back to connect the pieces. It’s great when it comes to solving problems at school and finishing his tests fast. Not so great when he’s claiming there’s a conspiracy unfolding at the heart of their capital.
“Look, I don’t know how it’s happening,” Matiyu decides, hitting eject for the disk. “Butsomeoneneeds to know that there might be a coup coming. What else could this be leading toward? What happens when there are no guards left?”
Anyone who wants to enter the palace can march right in.
“Exactly,” Matiyu says to Yilas’s expression, though she has spoken nothing aloud. “Get word to Calla as quickly as you can. I’ll go get the rest of the footage, but I’m sleeping here from now on.”
CHAPTER 19
For two days on the road, they encounter only peace and quiet through Talin’s provinces.
