Really? Odd indeed.
The group was the same council Tormond always assembled. Sir Eardale seemed as tired as his Duke.
Michael Carhart was a renowned Devedian religious scholar. Bishop Clayto was the senior Brothen Episcopal in Khaurene.
Brother Candle’s friend Bishop LeCroes’s allegiance went to Viscesment. LeCroes liked Sublime better than Clayto did. Bishop Clayto viewed the Brothen Patriarch with open contempt.
Tember Sirht had replaced his father, Tember Remak, as spokesman for the Dainshaukin. Hanak el-Mira represented the Connec’s small surviving Praman population, on the Terliagan Littoral. Brother Candle recalled el-Mira from the Calziran Crusade. Terliagan slingers had been an important part of the Connecten contingent. El-Mira was younger than Brock Rault but belonged to a proud old family. Only in recent years had his people become active participants in the broader Connecten civilization.
Since Isabeth’s marriage to Peter of Navaya, in fact. Though committed to a relentless reconquest of Praman Direcia, Peter won numerous friends and allies among the Pramans. He did not destroy their religious places nor force his own beliefs on them, being content to let time and the superiority of the Chaldarean vision hasten the false religion into yesterday’s dust. Peter’s most devoted allies were the Pramans of Platadura, a city-state of traders. Platadura’s fleets engaged in continuous, bitter, and often deadly competition with those of the Firaldian mercantile republics, Aparion, Dateon, and Sonsa.
An unknown Praman accompanied Hanak el-Mira. Brother Candle thought his dress looked Plataduran. No one introduced him. Duke Tormond was in what was, for him, a hasty mood.
The Arnhander, Father Rinpochè, was there, too, in the background, alone, shunned. He seemed frightened, unhappy, lonely, and out of his depth. Brother Candle judged him a lute with just one string.
More would be too much for his circumscribed intellect.
Brother Candle concentrated on Tormond. The Duke was involved in a visible struggle to retain control of himself.
More than one man inside, he had said.
Was it possible that Tormond’s problems might not be of his own making? The hair loss, the distraction, the odd cast of his skin, suggested poison. Or truly wicked sorcery.
But, who? Someone right here, right now, if Sir Eardale was right. Someone who saw the Duke as an obstacle, not an enemy. Duke Tormond had no enemies. By doing nothing he offended no one. Not to the point where they sneaked around dripping dark ichors into his wine or gruel.
Anne of Menand could contort her conscience enough to order a murder. But someone would have to do the dirty work.
Brother Candle studied Bishop Clayto. Not long ago he had been Father Clayto, assigned to the worst parish in Khaurene because he would not keep quiet about Sublime’s bad behavior. Now, he was a bishop, in good odor with Brothe. At a time when the Brothen Episcopal sees of the Connec received nothing but scoundrels.
Clayto met his speculating eye, raised an eyebrow.
Maybe not. They had been chaplains together during the Calziran Crusade. Father Clayto had trouble clinging to his faith but Brother Candle never saw any indication that he had the moral agility to justify great wickedness.
And yet, he had been made bishop.
The Duke said, “Let’s get started.” He gestured at Brother Candle, then Count Raymone, and such Connecten nobility as lurked round the fringes, hoping to vent complaints.
Counting pages and serving folk, more than fifty people stopped doing anything but breathe.
Brother Candle continued to survey the gathering. The fate of the Connec would be decided by people in this crowd. They would keep it alive. Or let it die. It was time for the Great Vacillator, despite all, to do what he had been born to do.
Brother Candle chuckled suddenly.
Tormond had managed to create this situation in spite of conspiracies simmering around him. Possibly even despite malevolent espionage by the Instrumentalities of the Night.
The Duke said, “Seuir Brock Rault. Tell us what happened at Caron ande Lette.”
The youngster looked to Count Raymone, to his siblings, to Brother Candle, for reassurance, then grasped his nerve by the throat and told it.
“Well done,” Brother Candle whispered when Rault finished. “Exactly as it happened.”
Duke Tormond nodded, still focused, the businesslike personality firmly in charge. “Count Raymone?”
The Count told his tale, somewhat less humble in admiring his own role, but without fabricating.
“Sir Eardale?” the Duke said. “A comment?” Tormond having some trouble, now.
“What I find interesting is that before the villain’s feet were dry we received news from Brothe that Morcant Farfog has been appointed Chief Inquestor of the Patriarchal Office for the Suppression of False Dogma and Heretical Doctrine. With a new order of monks being created to support the office.”
Brother Candle was not surprised to hear it. “Farfog’s first job will be to root out heresy and dogmatic diversion in the Connec.”
Count Raymone could not restrain himself. “I recall this being tried before. Eight thousand people died.
Because of the meddling of one man who didn’t have the right.”
Bishop Clayto said, “Complain to Immaculate. He’ll cover you.”
Count Raymone glared. “The men responsible …” He controlled his emotions. Brother Candle nodded approval. Raymone Garete was maturing.
Sir Eardale continued. “Our options aren’t broad. Our mission to the Mother City, a while back, in effect recognized the Brothen Patriarch as legitimate.”
Bishop LeCroes opined, “Treat that with a respect equaling what Sublime has shown our contribution to his war on Calzir.”
“Grumbling won’t change the man. And he now has a Captain-General who’s building a real Patriarchal army. The man seems to be competent.”
“And he pays for men and arms with what?”
Sir Eardale said, “Just a minute. Perit. Bring our other guests.”
One of the pages departed. Murmurs started but did not last. The page returned quickly.
Dunn said, “I’ll let these gentlemen answer that.” He indicated two men who entered behind the page, Perit. “Tell these people what you told me earlier.”
“Yes, sir,” the elder newcomer said, amused. Brother Candle thought the pair looked a little frail for the hardships of travel. Though they could have come to Khaurene by boat, up the Vierses from Tramaine.
Sir Eardale said, “Gade and Aude Learner. On behalf of King Brill of Santerin.” Dunn’s tone was neutral.
Brill’s father had been the winner in the succession war that caused his exile. “They aren’t official ambassadors, just men with a message.”
One Learner took a seat. The other leaned on the back of a tall chair that had seen generations of service. “Our holdings are in Argony, near the Pail of Arnhand. We have cousins over there. They keep us posted. What’s been happening since the Black Mountain Massacre is scary.”
Learner had his audience’s full attention. “Anne has widened her web, nursing the anger of those who lost men. The fact that they asked for it doesn’t matter.”
Brother Candle stepped in. “Why has King Brill sent you?” And felt dim immediately. Any problem Arnhand suffered benefited Santerin.
“We have our own troubles with Arnhand. The more troubles they have, the better. Especially now, when the Crown is ineffectual and the strongest voice in the kingdom belongs to a whore.”
That was extreme. Anne was of high birth. She just had a huge appetite for pleasures of the flesh. And for power. She wanted her son Regard, by King Charlve, to succeed him despite the boy’s illegitimacy.
“And Anne’s problem lies at the heart of what you’re here to tell us?”
Both outlanders started.
“When you’re my age you’ll read minds, too.”
The talking Learner grinned. He had a decade on Brother Candle. “Yes. Anne has pulled
most of the key folk of Salpeno into her camp by telling them she’s building a war chest to raise armies to punish the Connec. She’s making all manner of secret deals. Now she thinks she’s invulnerable. She’s raised enough.”
He had his audience enrapt. Even the serving staff.
Nothing said here would stay secret longer than it took these people to get home to their families. Even the churchmen would gossip.
“Enough?” Sir Eardale demanded. “Get to it, man. Never mind the drama.”
“Enough money to buy the Patriarch, sir. Not to raise the army that she’s been promising.”
That caused a stir, of course, but more of confusion than consternation.
“Please expand,” Sir Eardale ordered. “Again, dispensing with the drama.” A whip crack edged his voice, the soldier in the old knight blazing through.
“Yes, sir. Sublime has huge money troubles. Anne has problems getting her claws on Arnhand’s throne.
Should Charlve die.” Anne had two sons by Charlve the Dim, Regard and Anselin. Only Regard interested her. “She’s also raising money by selling royal treasures. Altogether it’s enough to see that Sublime will discover Charlve’s marriage to Queen Alisor not to be valid because he’s actually been married to Anne for two decades. Making Regard and Anselin legitimate and placing them at the head of the succession. With enough money extra to put together a small army.”
Terrible news, Brother Candle thought. Unless Anne’s obsessions had led her to pick Arnhand’s fiscal bones so clean that there was no way Arnhand could sustain more than a brief incursion into the Connec.
But now, perhaps, the Brothen Patriarchy could afford an invasion of its own.
Clever, clever Sublime, Brother Candle thought. Exploiting the Arnhander woman’s avarice. Probably leaving her onvinced that she had gotten the better of the deal.
Only the Brothen Patriarchy stood to profit from a crusade against the Maysalean Heresy.
Brother Candle shook his head sadly. He had prophesied disaster for years. Circumstance had beaten him down every time. But now everything was falling into place for the Adversary. At last.
“Is it true? The rumor about the Queen of Arnhand?” Kedle Archimbault asked. No. Kedle Richeut, now.
Brother Candle was staying with the Archimbault family, essentially in hiding from those who haunted Metrelieux. He used all the resources of the Maysalean community to collect information about everyone close to the Duke. Those who did the scut work in Metrelieux were especially useful. People full of themselves generally failed to notice the worker bees.
“What rumor is that?” Brother Candle asked.
‘That she’s bribed the Brothen apostate … I’m sorry.”
“No need. If you’ve heard that, news got out faster than usual.” Brother Candle stated the facts as he knew them, feeling no need to keep any secrets.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Raulet Archimbault said. “I’ve invited the members of our circle in tonight.”
“Not at all. An evening of talk and debate with your circle is what I need. They’re intelligent people, open to the old ways. The ways of Aaron and Eis and the others.” And they might turn up a few useful facts.
“Good. Though we’ll be serious and practical for a while.”
“Raulet?”
“We have worldly matters to discuss. We’re having trouble refurbishing the works on the Reindau Spine.”
“That would be?”
“The height overlooking Lake Trauen. Almost vertical, with a knife edge top. The stoneworks up there date from the bad times after the fall of the Old Empire. We’re refurbishing them and laying in stores.
Because someday the Adversary will make himself known in the End of Connec.”
“I don’t know the place but I understand what you’re doing.”
“Students everywhere have been getting ready since Black Mountain Massacre.”
“When did Student come into use here?” Brother Candle asked. The usage was common in the dualist communities of the Grail Empire and the Lowland Duchies north of Arnhand, but not among the Connec’s Maysaleans.
Raulet said, “I don’t know. A year ago I wouldn’t have understood that a believer who isn’t yet Perfect could be considered a student. Now everybody knows.”
“So. What’s the trouble with your illegal fortification?”
“The cold. And ice. Everything is covered with ice up there. It’s almost impossible to get there without falling and breaking something.”
“Then don’t go.”
Raulet would have no congress with common sense. He shook his head, sorrowing at the Perfect Master’s uninformed attitude.
“Ice?”
“The rain all turns to ice up there. When it does melt it drains down into places where it’ll freeze and be more treacherous. Even the cisterns freeze over.”
“They say the whole world is getting colder.”
“Yeah. I don’t remember it being nearly so cold when I was a kid.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. Except don’t attract the Duke’s attention. He has strong opinions about people who build their own forts.”
Raulet sneered. “He may have strong opinions but it’d be ten years before he actually got around to actually doing anything. By then he’ll be back for another go round the Wheel of Life.”
The Learners’ news swept across the End of Connec as swiftly as ever bad news does.
The Counts of Robuchon and Doy repudiated their oaths to the Dukes of Khaurene. They shifted their allegiances to Tramaine and Arnhand, respectively. Which allowed them to continue being enemies while aligning themselves with strong, decisive protectors. Jancar, Herve, Carbonel, andTerliaga formally took their allegiances southward, to Peter of Navaya, sheltering under the skirts of the day’s strongest sovereign. A king not the least cowed by Sublime V.
Respect for Duke Tormond continued to wane. More local leaders hired more mercenaries, most of them Grolsachers. Which meant more refugees coming into the Connec in hopes of finding similar work.
Neighbor fought neighbor. It became increasingly difficult to sustain the armed bands. Their to and fro destroyed resources. Travel grew ever more dangerous. Mercenaries who had not been paid indulged in fits of banditry. Then people who had lost everything fled to the wilds and became brigands themselves.
In the very shadow and embrace of the Instrumentalities of the Night.
Those who could afford to recruited more mercenaries to guard what they had. While mercenaries who did not get paid not only robbed travelers, they turned on their employers and ate them alive.
The Chief Inquestor of the Patriarchal Office for the Suppression of Sacrilege and Heresy began to filter operatives of the Society for the Protection of the Faith into the eastern Connec. Many were retired members of the Brotherhood of War, come over from their island of Staklirhod. They were hard men accustomed to employing harsh methods.
Brother Galon Breul and a team twelve strong, confident of the righteousness of their cause, established themselves in Antieux while Count Raymone Garete continued to dally at court in Khaurene.
5. The Mother City: Sublime’s Revenge
Hecht left the children with Anna Mozilla. Vali had not spoken yet. To an adult. She had Pella wrapped around her finger.
Anna was not pleased. “I don’t know anything about children. Except that they’re loud and dirty.” She kept house obsessively.
“They’re people. Just not as polished as you. Treat them like people. Pella’s been through the survival wars. He’s probably more grown up than you.”
Not the best thing to say. But Anna had a knack for getting what he intended to say. Which saved a few blowups.
“What do I do with them?”
“Clean them up. Get some decent clothes on them. Put them to work around here. Pella will go stay with Pinkus as soon as he gets it worked out with Principatè Doneto.”
Anna’s look made it plain she considered Ghort a long shot. “When
will you tell me the whole story?”
“Soon as I get back. I hope. I missed you.”
“You missed me? You have things to occupy you?” As near as ever she came to lamenting her lot.
“It was a long, mostly unpleasant journey.” He would not share the more gruesome details. Like most warriors, he spared the innocent the worst.
Principatè Doneto said, “As usual, you two have managed to avoid getting fired. By the expedient of having produced useful results. My cousin was thrilled to hear that Immaculate is desperate enough to try assassins.”
Ghort asked, “How thrilled was he to hear about what happened to Haiden Backe?”
“Not at all. As you must know. He’s summoned Bishop Morcant. We’ll have to suffer Morcant’s version of events before we’re allowed to reach conclusions.”
Meaning, Hecht supposed, that the conclusions had been concluded already and history would be hammered and polished till it fit. Because Sublime would want the official version to be one that served his purposes.
It was not a situation Hecht liked. Nor did Ghort. But their scruples would not be consulted.
Ghort had a miserable habit of spouting what he thought. “Easy to see where this is headed. That godsdamned thief will tell the world his victim is the villain because he had the effrontery to defend himself.” He did not make clear whether he meant the Bishop of Strang or the Patriarch.
Doneto assumed the latter. “You may express that opinion with me, Colonel Ghort, but don’t let me hear you say anything where people outside the family might hear.”
“Heh? Why the hell? Is there anybody out there who doesn’t know what kind of a dick he is?” So he did mean the Patriarch.
Anna Mozilla was psychic. Principatè Bronte Doneto did not opt to find room for Pella in his household.
“Why did you see Doneto before you came to family?” Principatè Delari asked Hecht. He asked similarly uncomfortable questions often. “I was disappointed, Piper.”
“I went there first because Doneto is the man who can deflect the Holy Father’s displeasure from Ghort and me. He won’t gain any advantage from what I reported. Nor did Pinkus give him everything that he could have.”