44 Two Days (2/2)
”Don't spill the soup.” Elya scowled, waving her spoon under Suri's nose threateningly. ”Tell me what's going on in the guard.”
”Guard is clean.” Suri growled, pushing Elya's hand away. ”Khanbikeh chases shadows.”
”Something is stopping information from reaching the highest levels. How can the guard be clean?”
”Why must problem be in guard?”
”Why were we not aware of the 'mind benders'?” Elya countered, raising her spoon as if she'd scored a touch in a spar.
”The People avoid Stardust. It burns the Blood.” Suri made an odd cutting motion with her own utensil, a referees signal to cancel an awarded point. Elya struggled to parse the woman's statement. It wasn't like Suri was being cryptic on purpose but she refused to improve her grasp of the Imperial tongue, claiming what she already knew was enough. It made understanding complex subjects far more difficult than they should be.
”You're implying users of the drug are involved?”
”Suri implies nothing.” She declared vehemently. ”Khanbikeh searches for motive among guard. Guard remains same, yet information has reached Khan.”
”What changed?” Elya whispered, understanding Suri's meaning. ”If the traffickers were able to hide for so long it stands to reason, they could continue to do so. At least, the sudden revelation of their activities shouldn't have so great an impact. It's like we uncovered everything about their actions overnight.”
Suri nodded, slurping soup noisily and smacking her lips in delight. ”Yet no idea of who they are. Why do shadows come to light? Ancient saying among the People: 'Arrow flies straight. World bends path.'”
”I don't see how that applies.”
”Khanbikeh fails to see how world changes understanding. Khanbikeh searches for failure amongst her own. Why do enemies succeed? Why do enemies hide it? Why Khan only sees it now?”
”If this were a battlefield and someone laid something so obvious in front of me, then I would…” Elya trailed off, eyes widening at the conclusion she reached.
”Trap.” Suri confirmed, gnawing on a slice of bread. ”Bait.”
”But a trap for what? They've spent so much effort to build this… enterprise… yet they're willing to throw it away.” It made no sense. Even rough calculations of the volume of Stardust, indicated the traffickers would, in a month generate profit equivalent to the revenue Konstanz generated in a year.
Suri shrugged. ”Leader unknown. Motive unknown. Outcome is Khan's focus.”
Elya cursed under her breath, partial realisation dawning. Their enemies wanted to do something and were willing to draw their attention to their own lucrative drug trade simply as a distraction. Unfortunately, she had no idea what It was they hoped to achieve.
”Take time Khanbikeh. Eat first. Gain strength.” As if to emphasise her point, Suri lifted the bowl of soup to her lips, taking a deep drink.
Sighing, Elya took a few deep breaths to empty her mind and turned to savour her meal. If anything, her time in the military taught her to live in the moment. Constant fear of danger could cripple a person.
”So tell me, what was Nikolai like in the army?” She leaned back and relaxed, listening to Suri celebrate her fiancée's antics.If he'd been one of her Knights, she may have had to drag him for discipline.
A lot of discipline.
Two days remained before Nikolai moved.
It would have to be enough.