Seven

Zakalwe reaches the canyon city of Solotol, sheds his combat suit, and takes in the terrain. He rents the top two floors of the Excelsior Hotel, negotiates perks, and thoroughly checks the suites for surveillance and escape routes. Diziet Sma calls, revealing a prime bait: most of a famed poet’s lost wax tablets hidden in an abbey wall—treasures tied to Beychae’s university.

That night Zakalwe maps the hotel exterior and muses on Culture pragmatism and his martial niche. In the morning, Sma confirms Beychae is buried in an underground library annexe with extra security. Zakalwe verifies his Vanguard access with lawyer Kiaplor, orders funds to the hotel, and begins “causing a fuss,” starting with plans to buy a whole street.

Zakalwe stages a lavish street carnival: free drugs, food, drink, music, political-joke banners, and even volleys of paper money. From a high window he spots a well-dressed man and woman traversing the festivities without engaging; he records them and then departs.

When Zakalwe’s car pulls away, the pair follows. He orders speed, then executes a prepared evasion: entering a riverside building, taking an old funicular, and swapping cars mid-slope before exiting via a ladder to return to the hotel on foot, having shaken the tail.

Elsewhere, in a stark modern room as snow falls, the man and woman confer while a grey-haired, scarred masseur works on the woman. They analyze Zakalwe’s sudden Vanguard-fueled extravagance, infer a purpose connected to Beychae, and debate responses—contact, deportation, or assassination—ultimately resolving to send a note and, failing that, attempt to kill him and speak only if he survives.