Ardent

by Florian Armas

  “We can jail them in the Grote until things become clear.” Drusila massaged her chin, as usual when she was to take a difficult decision. “It has not been used for almost a hundred years, but we can make it habitable again in two or three days. There is no way to escape from there without help from outside, and we will set guards.” She glanced at us one by one, until everyone nodded in agreement. “I hate to say this, but until we know more about this Maletera we should keep Dochia in confinement.”

  “You are enjoying this,” I grinned. “It’s one thing to be cautious, and another to try to divert our eyes from your failures.”

  “Receiving a Passing...” Drusila half-stepped back. “Did it help you against the Maletera?”

  “Ada received a Passing from their First Light, and the Serpentists knew it, yet they still tried to use the Maletera on her.”

  “So, she escaped the stone’s power too,” Derena said thoughtfully.

  “She escaped because I killed the Assassin forcing the stone in her hand. But she is the strongest Wanderer alive, so we can guess that she would have escaped anyway. Yet, she did not try later to use the Maletera to test her power; she destroyed it. The Silvanian High Council agreed with her and witnessed the destruction. Everything is described here.” I gave Drusila the letter from the Silvanian Wanderers. “I hope that Drusila will not ask for the Silvanian Wanderers to be confined too.”

  “I am responsible for Frankis,” Drusila said coldly.

  “This is Ana’s writing. I know it well.” Derena’s finger tapped the letter in front of her; she was in charge of our correspondence with the Wanderers in all the other kingdoms. “Ana must be the First Light of Silvania, now.” She glanced at me and I nodded. “The other letter was written by Ada, indeed. I see no reason to mistrust Dochia.”

  “Well,” Drusila shrugged.

  “In these circumstances, Splendra should be stripped of her position,” Sybille said.

  “Temporarily,” Drusila countered.

  “Temporarily, until she repent the Serpentists,” Sybille agreed. “Olmia should enter the High Council.”

  “What we will do when Splendra recovers?” Drusila protested, her eyes avoiding me. “As Dochia said, she did not betray us.”

  “We revert, when we are sure that she recovered, but it looks that we don’t know how to find that out,” Sybille stared at her. “The same for Dochia; she should enter the Inner Council.”

  “Because of those papers,” Drusila pointed at the letters, “I agreed that Dochia should not be consigned in the Hive, but until we know more about what happened, it would be prudent to suspend her temporarily from the council.”

  “Let’s hope there are no links between your prudence and my request that you answer for hiding things from the council and agreeing with the Circle to set that useless Bucur up as the new candidate King, even when you knew well who won all the battles in Severin.”

  “Bucur’s nomination was approved in the Inner Council,” Derena said. “No, he did not command the army, but he was a wing commander. And other things counted more.”

  I did not think Derena so weak. “His ability to cheat, probably. Yes, you can climb the hierarchy that way,” I shrugged.

  “Bucur was endorsed by both the Dukes of Tolosa and Peyris, and they will help him. An alliance will help Bucur to take the throne. This is something that we lacked in the past. And Codrin will be the Spatar until he leaves for Arenia. Everything was agreed with him.”

  “May I see that agreement?” I asked.

  “She was there when he agreed.” Derena gestured at Drusila.

  “The Circle will write a Spatar agreement in the next Conclave,” Drusila said. “With Codrin in place and the Dukes’ help, there is a good chance that this time Frankis will have a new King.”

  “Codrin will not be a part of this. You know that well, Drusilla. Let’s hope,” I said, “that Duke Stefan’s bastard grandson and Drusila’s niece will save the kingdom.”

  “What do you mean?” Sybille asked.

  “Aron is Duke Stefan’s bastard, and Baldowin is poised to be the next Duke of Tolosa, after his elder brother died in suspicious circumstances. Baldowin’s daughter is Drusila’s niece. The candidate Queen, Saliné is just bait. In a year or two she will lose the position of Queen to Drusila’s niece. We all know that the Queen is changeable.”

  “Is that true?” Sybille asked Drusila.

  “What counts is the Dukes’ agreement. Other things are less relevant,” Drusila said.

  “Those irrelevant things made Drusila hide what happened,” I said.

  “That should not be the case,” Laure, the Sixth Light, said. “The agreement will be made at the Summer Solstice, won’t it? We still have time to approve this in the High Council.”

  “Is that the case?” I glanced at Derena and Drusila.

  “Things were discussed earlier this year,” Drusila said evasively.

  “The Conclave gathered in the first week of the year, and decided Bucur’s nomination. You are still trying to hide behind words.”

  “Any agreement with the Circle should have been approved in the High Council,” Sybille said.

  “There is no explicit Rule stating that,” Drusila smiled at her. “It was decided in the Inner Council to announce the nomination after the Summer Council. We are wasting time on unimportant things. The Inner Council will make a Judgment regarding the suspension of Splendra and Dochia from the Inner Council. Olmia and Chloe will be temporarily promoted in the High Council.”

  Chloe is on your side. “Do you agree with this?” I asked Derena.

  “I know you will be disappointed, but it’s the most prudent solution, and you will still keep your guards.”

  “Sybille should enter the Inner Council,” I said, and Derena nodded.

  “This must be approved in a Conclave,” Sybille said.

  “For three months, we can function without an approval from the Conclave. We all know that this is temporary, so we will gather it in three months, when we may know more about the Serpentists’ menace,” Drusila replied. “Do you agree?” she asked Derena, who agreed silently to postpone everything and keep me out. “The decision to nominate Bucur was approved in the Inner Council and it is binding.” Drusila stared at me. “We expect you to act accordingly.”

  “I wish you good luck with him and your niece. I will leave for Litvonia to warn them that Salvina is now a Serpentist. I hope that they will trust me more than my own sisters.” I stood up and walked away. A hand blocked the door when I tried to close it behind me.

  “Let’s have a walk together,” Derena smiled. “I know you are disappointed,” she repeated, “but you would have acted the same way. Preservation of the order is paramount. I trust that you are not a Serpentist, and I understand that you are playing a dangerous game, but we may have the same situation again with a less strong Wanderer. We’ve established a rule now. If other Hives will agree, we will make it a Rule.”

  “And you have established another rule: to take important decisions in secret. This would not have happened under Valera.”

  “Each new First Light changes some rules. It has happened in the past; it will happen again. Drusila is our First Light. Whatever her motivation, she negotiated the King’s nomination with the Circle; something that Valera was not able to do.”

  “Valera stood up against a wrong decision, and she was proved right. You agreed with a wrong one, just to pretend that we count for something in the game. For Drusila, the welfare of her family counts more than the Wanderers. Severin was my responsibility, and I know it better. We need Codrin to overcome the Fracture, and you are making him an enemy. Whatever motivation you had, mark my words: we’ve lost ten more years for Frankis, and we may lose more than Frankis; the other contender for the Seer is Baraki, who may be already a Serpentist. Drusila played me now, because she still hopes to be the Seer. It will not happen; she is too weak. As she did with me now, Drusila will try to sideline Codrin too, for some
cheap gains. Now, please excuse me; I have a long journey to prepare.”

  “Dochia, it’s not what you think,” Derena grabbed my arm.

  “You really don’t want to know what I am thinking now.” I pulled my arm from her and walked away.

  Back in my room, I leaned on my hands, over the sill. Through the open window, a gentle breeze cooled my face.

  How long I will be away? Two, three months? Codrin may be in danger, and Saliné too, but the Serpentists are more important. If they are able to take over the Wanderers, everything is lost. I will give Varia letters for Codrin and Jara. Matei should deliver them. And I have to ask Sybille to be our liaison with Codrin.

  Part 3

  Chapter 15 – Codrin

  By a curious coincidence, the Circle’s embassy found me in Cleuny, where I had spent less than a week, before the Summer Solstice. It was Pintea who broke the news in the house, early in the morning.

  “Coleus is coming.” He burst through the door of my council room, which was at the same time office, library and archive, and whatever else I needed and did not have enough space for. At least it was a large room, thirty feet square. A functional thing; there was nothing I could brag about its beauty. “There are two more Sages with him. Itinerant Sages, he called them. One’s name is Aurelian, and the other Vicinus. And six guards.”

  “Aurelian,” Calin frowned.

  “A charming man, from what you’ve told me,” I grinned.

  “I’ve never heard good news from his mouth.” Calin massaged his chin and looked like a frightened child, ready to burst.

  “Codrin, it would be better if Aurelian did not see us here.” Mara glanced at me, putting her hand on Calin’s shoulder. “Aurelian never comes for small things; he is their Primus Itinerant. He is powerful, and there are rumors that sometimes he overrides even the Master Sage. Itinerants are elected for life, and he was nominated more than twenty years ago, when he was only nineteen. He has been Primus for seven years already. That says something about his capacity. It says nothing about his character; his lack of character, to be more precise. As I told you, I informed one helper of the Circle that I am your Secretary, and the news will move slowly up their hierarchy. Let Aurelian hear it from his own channels, and keep the Circle in the dark about Father.”

  “They could guess about Calin.”

  “They may, but guessing is not knowledge, and it buys us time. You are a Knight now, a strong one, but don’t underestimate the Circle. They have many hidden eyes and hands.”

  “I never underestimate an enemy, Mara. If you feel the need, then hide in the small house out back. Pintea, find Vlad and send him here. I am afraid to face Aurelian and company alone.” I smiled thinly, both Mara and Calin seemed to be uneasy. “One more thing,” I stopped Pintea. “Their guards are not allowed inside.”

  “They may not come in then,” Mara warned me.

  “Let them leave, then,” I shrugged. They will not turn away after such a long road.

  None of the Sages left, and there was nothing I could read on their faces when Vlad ushered them inside without guards. The first thing they assessed was my council room. The table was old and notched by many scratches, but there were enough sturdy aged chairs for them. The thing that most marked it as a council room was the large map on the wall behind my chair. It was even better than the one Mohor had. I nodded to Vlad, and he left us alone.

  “I know that map,” Aurelian said, after Coleus made the introductions.

  “An inheritance from your old friend Mehadin.” In Orhei, Calin told me that Aurelian had visited Mehadin several times the year before, to prepare the war. The war he planned for this year, I almost smiled.

  “These maps are rare. The now defunct Royal Cartography printed a hundred of them forty-nine years ago. Only twenty two survived the vicissitudes of our times. There were some rare books too, in the library,” he said with some mild expectation in his voice. “Eustace’s Cantas and Solen’s My Geography, among others. The first one is three hundred years old. I know that it may not mean much to someone accustomed with the richness of the Arenian Royal Library.”

  “They are here. Be my guest if you want to read them.”

  “It was a noble thing to save them. I wonder if Mehadin’s archive was saved too, there were many important papers that historians would like to read.”

  You think we play the Sage Met the Fool. Which paper did you not want me to read? The most important things from Mehadin’s archive were just behind him, comfortably hidden in three large boxes. “Unfortunately, your other friend, Aron, burned the thing down. The archive was not something necessary for him; he only wanted the money in the Visterie.”

  “An unfortunate thing, indeed.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “You are now a stakeholder of Frankis’s future,” Coleus said. “Your request for the Spatar nomination was transmitted to the Council of the Circle and was seen very favorably.”

  I did not ask for it. I have to be careful of his hypnotic voice...

  “In unanimity, we decided to stamp an agreement in the Conclave we will have next year, together with the Wanderers. Until then, we will ask Bucur to nominate you Spatar of the Kingdom, and the Master Sage will do the same thing. In fact, the Master Sage has already agreed to it.”

  “And the Conclave will gather again in the first week of the next year.”

  “This year was an exception,” Coleus said quickly. “The next Conclave will gather at the Summer Solstice as usual.”

  You are playing me. “What about Vio?”

  “As we discussed in Valeni, a marriage contract will be written, and she will become your fiancée.”

  “Then she will pass under my jurisdiction.” You don’t really want this, do you?

  “It’s quite hard to separate such a young girl from her mother.” Coleus’s voice changed subtly, becoming tender and slightly worried, but he gave me a crooked smile.

  Dichotomy... What will happen to Jara’s children if you bastards are able to kill her and Cernat? “That’s something I will deal with. I just need an agreement with the Circle.”

  “We can have such agreement, in three months from now, when our Council meets again, at the beginning of autumn,” Aurelian said, and I thought I saw Coleus frowning slightly.

  Your Council meets once a month… “I suppose that you brought all the agreements mentioned here.”

  “Of course.” With a swift move, Coleus proffered me a rolled paper.

  I broke the Circle’s seal, and read in silence. Empty promises… You just want me to win some battles for your Phantom King. Used and discarded. ”What plans has the Circle for this summer?”

  “As in the past, we will work for the new Frankis Kingdom,” Aurelian said.

  “And there are no plans for the so-called King and Spatar.”

  “We may have a hot midsummer in ... your area. We will tell you in due time if there is something to tell.” Aurelian stood up, followed by Coleus and the other one, Vicinus, who had not opened his mouth – maybe because he was the youngest; about twenty years old or so.

  There was no shaking of hands or even a salute, and I was as bothered by the lack of politesse as they were. They left in silence, and I escorted them until Vlad took care of their departure.

  They offered no warranties, but wanted me to know that war is coming and I have to play the Spatar. Play I will, but on my own rules. “Vlad, we leave tomorrow morning,” I said when he returned, as I watched, through my window, the Sages and their guards riding away. “We need to find an army.” I laughed at his mute question, many thoughts still swirling in my mind.

  “Valer will bring you fifty mercenaries; Damian will bring ten soldiers from Sara and Laurent another ten. But that’s almost an army. Who else will answer your call?”

  “The Mountes.”

  “That big man … Bolduk?”

  “Boldur. He is a chieftain, and the Mountes are tough soldiers. They usually don’t agree to be me
rcenaries, but they have a debt to me, and I pledged to help them recover the part of their land grabbed by Orban. War for war. Send Pintea to bring Mara and Calin back here.”

  “What letters would Aurelian not like me to read from Mehadin’s collection?” I asked Calin when they returned.

  “Aron’s letters, the correspondence with Orban preparing the war, and mostly three letters the Circle wrote to Mehadin.”

  With some effort, I avoided a harsh reaction to this last, and I saw Mara’s eyes widening. You did not know either. “I don’t remember anything about those letters from the Circle.”

  “They were not in the main archive; they were between my papers. I just remembered them when you asked. The most … interesting would be the one requesting Mehadin to fulfill the Black Warrant written for Cernat. He was supposed to be killed at the end of the victorious war on Mohor. The war they planned for this year. The other two letters are much older, and if there were others before I became Secretary of Mehadia, I don’t know about them.”

  “I would have liked to learn about those letters earlier.”

  “I apologize, but I forgot about them. The main thing was to inform you about the Black Warrants on Jara and Cernat. Mehadin’s death made that letter obsolete.”

  “The Circle moved to fulfill the Black Warrants. For them, the thing will become obsolete only when the warrant is fulfilled. Why only Cernat?”

  “It may be that another person was charged to kill Jara, or the Circle wanted to play cat and mouse with her. I don’t know.”

  “Mara, how much money do we have? And how much will enter our purse this year?” As for any other Knight or less powerful Seigneur, Mara played my Vistier too.

  “Some four thousand, seven hundred and fifty galbeni. Your revenues will be around three hundred galbeni this year, and it may grow to four hundred next year. Your general expenses for running Cleuny are close to three hundred per year. I will have a better understanding in autumn. Are you in a hurry to spend your money? I would be quite good at that,” she laughed.