The Sultan's Spy

Chapter 24: Reward

The scratch of pens against paper filled the room, everyone focused on their work. Tariq had been surprised, expecting more chatter as they worked but once they'd all filed into the room the talk had died. He kept his own eyes down on his paper even as he considered his options.

So far he hadn't seen anything of interest in what he'd been scribing. Mostly just a lot of reports on meetings that sounded boring. He understood the importance of discussing the state of farming across the country, the going prices of various goods and how things had changed over the last few years, but it wasn't anything he was actually interested in.

Tariq was focusing on getting information from the other scribes, doing his best to be friendly to all of them. If he could, he would prefer to stay out of their posturing and fighting. Making enemies would just make his job that much harder and he knew better than to expect any more help from Liss or Ajani. And that only if his pride would allow him to ask.

He snorted quietly at the thought, knowing himself too well to believe he'd do more than briefly entertain the notion. Jaris, who sat nearest him, glanced over at the sound. Tariq offered him an apologetic smile as if he'd sneezed, then went back to his work.

This whole pretending to be someone else was harder than he'd thought it would be. He was used to taking on different identities, but he didn't stray far from the few basic kinds of people he was already fairly similar to. He had a great deal more respect for Liss and her ability to be vastly different people.

Tariq repressed a sigh. He'd been doing so well focusing on his work and not thinking about her up until now. She was a delightful distraction but entirely too frustrating at times. Under ordinary circumstances he'd have admired her fierce loyalty, but not when it was so misplaced.

Though he had to grudgingly admit that the Sultan did work harder than he'd thought the man did. The sheer number of meetings he seemed to attend in a day was enough to make him shudder. He wouldn't have been able to handle it even if the meetings had been interesting, and from what he'd seen, very few were.

Not that it changed the fact that the man was cold and didn't bother protecting his own people. Feeling his temper rise, Tariq turned his thoughts away from the Sultan and back to Liss. It'd be impossible to work otherwise.

He really wanted to know where she was now and what she was doing. He hadn't been able to get any kind of hint from what she'd been wearing when they'd met, her clothing fine but not the silk most of the noble women he'd seen wore. He supposed she must have some kind of cover to be in the palace beyond spy, perhaps as the maid or personal companion to one of the high-ranking women here. That he thought would suit her, someone with position but who could go unnoticed.

The sound of the door opening broke through his thoughts, and like gazelles startled from feeding, all of them jerked their heads up to stare. The man who walked through the door was dressed in bright blue, his kaftan made of fine cotton and embroidered with designs in gold over trousers and a shirt of white. His hair was short, his mustache still completely black despite the hint of lines at the corners of his eyes.

The newcomer smiled at them all. "Glad to see you're all hard at work! I don't know what we'd do without you lot making sense of our scribbles."

Tariq glanced around and saw all the other scribes were smiling back at the beaming man, making him frown inwardly while he kept an expression of mild confusion on his face. He didn't have a chance to feel uncomfortable, the man turning his gaze onto him after meeting the eyes of each of the other scribes. "Hello there, you're an unfamiliar face."

Tariq knew what was expected of him. He bobbed his head, doing his best to project a feeling of servility. "I'm Akhtar. My Uncle Shahab told me I should come to the palace for work."

"Ah! Shahab was always a wonderful scribe, very dedicated to his craft. You have large shoes to fill but you seem up to the task," he replied, offering another smile. "Now, the reason I'm here is to ask a favour of all of you, but not without reward."

As the other scribes leaned forward eagerly, the man reached down to the ground just outside the still open door to their room and pulled up a basket with the flare of a conjurer. "I have here some boxes of sweets, one for each of you, as well as invitations to tonight's entertainment which I understand is some of the prettiest dancers to have made it to the palace this year."

While everyone exchanged looks, some wide-eyed, others openly grinning, he continued. "All I need from you all is extra copies of all the taxation meeting notes you have so far. Just the ones from yesterday and today. There's some discussions going on that we may need to make adjustments on the first copies so..." he shrugged helplessly. "I hope the reward will be worth the imposition."

Tariq nodded with the others, doing his best to look as excited as the others at the prospect of pretty dancers. He knew if the other scribes had seen some of the dancers he'd seen, they'd find anything in the palace tame. Not to mention the prettiest dancers never spent long as dancers.

"Ah, Sirhan, there you are!" another voice said, its owner appearing a few moments later. Clean-shaven with his hair left long enough that it brushed the tops of his ears in a curly mass, he was dressed in deep green and pale blue. "Israr is calling you."

Making a mental note of the name, Tariq listened intently to what they were saying while trying to look like he was still overwhelmed by the reward they were being offered. "I was just asking the scribes to make us those extra copies of the tax meetings. And offering them a bonus for it as well."

The other man glanced over the scribes before glowering at Sirhan. "It's their job to make copies, otherwise what use are they?"

"Now, now, Khaliq, people work harder when they're rewarded."

"You're too soft on them."

"And you're too hard."

Khaliq grimaced. "We don't have time for a debate. Israr needs us both, now."

Sirhan nodded before turning to smile at the scribes again. "I'll leave you the sweets and I'll see you tonight. If one of you will deliver all the copies you get done today to Israr or our offices at the end of the day, I'd be grateful. We appreciate your hard work."

As the door closed behind the two men, the other scribes waited a heartbeat before jumping up to each grab a box of sweets. Tariq was slower than the others, thinking everything over as he moved. If he could get close to one of the Grand Vizier's assistants, he might be able to get more information. He thought it would be hard to ingratiate himself with Sirhan, who was an obvious favourite among the scribes, but wasn't sure Khaliq would warm up to anyone.

Still, he thought as he picked up the last box left in the basket. It was an idea worth considering.