Devices and Desires by K. J. Parker Read Free Book Online Page B

“Your pension, Ziani, from the Guild. You’re a condemned man, an enemy of the state.”
    “Yes, but they haven’t done anything wrong.” The worm was running up his spine now.
    “Neither have you, but that doesn’t mean…” Falier dried up for a moment. “It’s the law, Ziani,” he said. “They don’t get the
     pension. Look, obviously I’ll do what I can, and the lads at the factory, I’m sure they’ll want to help. But —”
    “What do you mean, it’s the law? I never heard of anything like that.”
    “I’m sorry,” Falier replied, “but it’s true. I checked. It’s terrible, really wicked if you ask me. I don’t know how they
     can be so cruel.”
    “But hang on a moment.” Ziani tried to rally his scattered thoughts, but they wouldn’t come when he called. “Falier, what
     are they going to do? What’re they going to live on, for God’s sake?”
    Falier looked grave. “Ariessa says she’ll try and get work,” he said. “But that’s not going to be easy; not for the widow
     of —” He stopped. “I don’t think I ought to have told you,” he said. “Dying with something like this on your mind. But I was
     thinking.”
    Ziani looked up. He knew that tone of voice. “What? There’s something I can do, isn’t there?”
    “You could make a deal,” he said.
    That made no sense at all. “How? I don’t understand.”
    “You could ask to see the investigator. There’s still time. You could say, if they let Ariessa keep your pension, you’ll tell
     them who your accomplices are.”
    Accomplices. He knew what the word meant, but it made no sense in this context. “No I can’t,” he said. “There weren’t any.
     I didn’t tell anybody about it, even, it was just me.”
    “They don’t know that.” Falier paused for a moment, then went on: “It’s politics, you see, Ziani. People they don’t like,
     people they’d love an excuse to get rid of. And it wouldn’t take much imagination to figure out who they’d be likely to be.
     If you said the right names, they’d be prepared to listen. In return for a signed deposition —”
    “I couldn’t do that,” Ziani said. “They’d be killed, it’d be murder.”
    “I know.” Falier frowned a little. “But Ariessa, and Moritsa —”
    Ziani was silent for a moment. It’d be murder; fine. He could regret it for the rest of his life. But if it meant his wife
     and daughter would get his pension, what did a few murders matter? Besides, the men he’d be murdering would all be high officials
     in the Guild.… The thought of revenge had never even crossed his mind before.
    “You think they’d go for that?”
    “It’s got to be worth a try,” Falier said. “Face it, Ziani, what else can you do for them, in here, in the time you’ve got
     left?”
    He considered the idea. A few minutes ago, he’d been clinging to the thought that it didn’t matter, any of it. He’d practically
     erased himself, every trace, from the world. But leaving behind something like this — poverty, misery, destitution — was quite
     different. The only thing that mattered was Ariessa and Moritsa; if it meant they’d be all right, he would cheerfully burn
     down the world.
    “What’s the plan?” he said.
    Falier smiled. “Leave it to me,” he said. “I can get in to see the secretary of the expediencies committee —”
    “How?”
    “I got in here, didn’t I? Obviously there’s not a lot of time. I’d better go.”
    “All right.”
    Falier moved to the door, paused. “It’s the right thing to do, Ziani,” he said. “This whole thing’s a bloody mess, but at
     least there’s still something you can do. That’s got to be good.”
    “I suppose.”
    “I’ll be back in an hour.” Falier knocked on the door; it opened and he left. Remarkable, Ziani thought; I’ve known Falier
     most of my life and I never knew he had magic powers. Always thought he was just ordinary, like me. But he can walk through
     doors, and I