“I’ve never seen a coin like this. What’s this image on it? It looks to be a grand structure of some sort.”
“Oh it is, m’lord,” she hissed. “It’s the spawn of salvation and doom, of wizards and magic: the Palace of the Prophets.”
“Never heard of it. What is this Palace of the Prophets?”
The old woman smiled a private smile. “Ask your sorceress, m’lord.” She turned again to leave.
Brogan shot to his feet. “No one gave you permission to leave, you toothless old hag!”
She peered back over her shoulder. “It’s the liver, m’lord.”
Brogan leaned forward on his knuckles. “What?”
“I’ve a taste for raw liver, m’lord. I believe that’s what makes the teeth fall out, over time.”
Just then, Galtero appeared, squeezing past the woman and girl as they went through the doorway. He saluted with fingertips to bowed forehead. “Lord General, I have a report.”
“Yes, yes, in a moment.”
“But—”
Brogan held up a silencing finger to Galtero as he turned to Lunetta. “Well?”
“Every word true, Lord General. She be like a water bug, skimming the surface of the water, touching only the tips of her feet to it, but everything she said be true. She knows much more than she tells, but what she tells be true.”
Brogan waggled his hand impatiently for Ettore to come forward. The man stiffened to attention before the table as his crimson cape swished around his legs. “Lord General?”
Brogan’s eyes narrowed. “I think we may have a baneling on our hands. How would you like to prove yourself worthy of the cape you wear?”
“Yes, Lord General, very much.”
“Before she gets out of the building, take her into custody. She be under suspicion of being a baneling.”
“What of the girl, Lord General?”
“Weren’t you watching, Ettore? She will no doubt prove to be the baneling’s familiar. Besides, we don’t want her out in the street crying out that her ‘grandmamma’ is being held by the Blood of the Fold. The other, the cook, would be missed, and that could bring troublemakers down around us, but this pair won’t be missed from the street. They be ours, now.”
“Yes, Lord General. I will see to it at once.”
“I will want to question her as soon as possible. The girl, too.” Brogan held up a cautionary finger. “They had better be ready to answer truthfully any question I ask.”
Ettore’s youthful face bent into a gruesome grin. “They will confess when you come to them, Lord General. By the Creator, they will be ready to confess.”
“Very good, lad, now be off, before they gain the street.”
As Ettore dashed through the door, Galtero stepped impatiently forward, but waited silently before the table.
Brogan sank down into the chair, his voice distant. “Galtero, you did your usual, thorough, good job; the witnesses you brought me proved up to my standards.”
Tobias Brogan slid the silver coin aside, unfastened the leather straps on the case, and dumped his trophies into a pile on the table. With tender care he spread them out, touching the once living flesh. Each was a desiccated nipple—the left nipple, the one closest to the baneling’s evil heart—with enough skin to include the tattooed name. They represented only a fraction of the banelings he had uncovered: the most important of the important; the most vile of the Keeper’s fiends.
As he replaced the booty one at a time, he read the name of each baneling he had put to the torch. He remembered each chase, and capture, and inquisition. Flames of anger flared up at remembering the unholy crimes to which each had finally confessed. He remembered justice being done each time.
But he had yet to win the prize of prizes: the Mother Confessor.
“Galtero,” he said in a soft, stony voice, “I have her trail. Get the men together. We will leave at once.”
“I think you had better hear what I have to say, first, Lord General.”
Chapter 11
“It be the D’Harans, Lord General.”
After replacing the last of his trophies, Brogan flipped the lid shut on his case and looked up into Galtero’s dark eyes. “What about the D’Harans?”
“Early today, I knew something be afoot when they started gathering. That be what had the people in such turmoil.”
“Gathering?”
Galtero nodded. “Around the Confessors’ Palace, Lord General. At midafternoon they all started chanting.”
Astonished, Tobias leaned toward his colonel. “Chanting? Do you remember their words?”
Galtero hooked a thumb behind his weapons belt. “It went on for two full hours; it would be hard to forget it after hearing it that many times. The D’Harans bowed down, forehead to the ground, and all chanted the same words: ‘Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we be sheltered. In your wisdom we be humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives be yours.’ ”
Brogan tapped a finger on the table. “And all the D’Harans did this? How many are there?”
“Every one of them, Lord General, and there be more than we thought. They filled the square outside the palace, overflowed into the parks and plazas, and then the streets all around. You could not walk among them, they be packed in so tight, as if all wanted to be as close to the Confessors’ Palace as they could get. To my count, there be near to two hundred thousand in the city, with most gathered around the palace. While it went on, the people be in a near panic, not knowing what be happening.
“I rode out into the country, and there were a great many more who did not come into the city. They, too, wherever they be, bowed forehead to the ground and chanted along with their brothers in the city. I rode hard, to cover as much ground as possible and see all I could, and I did not see even one D’Haran who not be bowed down chanting. You could hear their voices from the hills and passes around the city. None paid any heed to us as we scouted.”
Brogan closed his mouth. “Then he must be here, this Master Rahl.”
Galtero shifted his weight to his other foot. “He be here, Lord General. While the D’Harans chanted, the whole time they chanted, he stood atop the steps of the grand entrance and watched. Every man was bowed to him, as if he be the Creator Himself.”
Brogan’s mouth twisted in disgust. “I always suspected the D’Harans were heathens. Imagine, praying to a mere man. What happened then?”
Galtero looked tired; he had been riding hard all day, “When it ended, they all leaped into the air, cheering and whooping for a good long time, as if they had just been delivered from the Keeper’s grasp. I was able to ride two miles around the back of the crowd while the shouting and acclaim went on. Finally, the men made way as two bodies were carried into the square, and all went silent. A pyre was thrown up and set ablaze. The whole time, until the bodies were ash and the ash at last taken to be buried, this Master Rahl stood on the steps and watched.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”
Galtero shook his head. “The men were packed tight together, and I feared to force my way closer lest they set upon me for interrupting their ceremony.”
Brogan rubbed his case with the side of a thumb as he stared off in thought. “Of course. I wouldn’t expect you to throw your life away just to try to see what the man looks like.”
Galtero hesitated a moment. “You will see him yourself soon enough, Lord General. You have been invited to the palace.”
Brogan looked up. “I don’t have time for pleasantries. We must be off after the Mother Confessor.”
Galtero drew a paper from his pocket and handed it over. “I returned just as a big group of D’Haran soldiers were about to enter our palace. I stopped them and asked what they wanted, and they gave me this.”
Brogan unfolded the paper, and read the hasty scrawl. Lord Rahl invites all dignitaries, diplomats, and officials of all lands to the Confessors’ Palace, at once. He crumbled the
paper in his fist. “I don’t take audiences, I give them. And, as I said, I don’t have time for pleasantries.”
Galtero lifted a thumb toward the street. “I reasoned as much, and told the soldiers who gave it to me that I would pass the invitation along, but that we be busy with other matters, and I didn’t know if anyone from the Nicobarese Palace would have time to attend.
“He said that Lord Rahl wanted everyone there, and we had better find the time.”
Brogan waved off the threat. “No one is going to cause trouble, here in Aydindril, because we don’t attend a social affair to meet a new tribal leader.”
“Lord General, Kings Row be shoulder to shoulder with D’Haran soldiers. Every palace on the Row be surrounded, along with city administration buildings. The man who gave me the paper said he be here to ‘escort’ us to the Confessors’ Palace. He said that if we are not out there soon, they would come in and get us. He had ten thousand troops standing behind him, watching me, as he said it.
“These men are not shopkeepers and farmers playing at being soldier for a few months; these be professional warriors, and they look very determined.
“I have faith in the Blood of the Fold to go against these men, if we could get to our main force, but we brought only a fist of the Fold with us into the city. Five hundred are not near enough men to fight our way out. We would not make it twenty yards before every one of us would be cut down.”
Brogan glanced at Lunetta, standing against the wall. She was stroking and smoothing her colored patches, not paying any attention to the discussion. They might have only five hundred men in the city, but they also had Lunetta.
He didn’t know what this Lord Rahl’s game was, but it didn’t really matter; D’Hara was aligned with, and took orders from, the Imperial Order. It was probably just an attempt to put himself in higher standing within the Order. There were always those who wanted power, but didn’t want to concern themselves with the moral imperative that went along with it.
“Very well. It will be dark soon, anyway. We will go to this ceremony, smile at the new Master Rahl, drink his wine, eat his food, and make him welcome. At dawn we leave Aydindril to the Imperial Order and be off after the Mother Confessor.” He gestured to his sister. “Lunetta, come with us.”
“And how will you find her?” Lunetta scratched her arm. “The Mother Confessor, Lord General, how will you find her?”
Tobias pushed his chair back and stood. “She be to the southwest. We have more than enough men to search. We will find her.”
“Really?” Lunetta still displayed a streak of insolence from having used her power. “Tell me how you will know her.”
“She be the Mother Confessor! How could we not know her, you stupid streganicha!”
One brow arched as her feral gaze rose to meet his eyes. “The Mother Confessor be dead. How can you see a dead person walking?”
“She not be dead. The cook knows the truth of that; you said so yourself. The Mother Confessor be alive, and we will have her.”
“If what the old woman say be true, and a death spell was cast, then what would be its purpose? Tell Lunetta.”
Tobias frowned. “To make people think she was killed so she could escape.”
Lunetta smiled a sly smile. “And why is it they did not see her escape? For the same reason you will not find her.”
“Stop talking your magic jabber and tell me what you be talking about.”
“Lord General, if there be such a thing as a death spell, and it be used on the Mother Confessor, then it would only make sense that the magic would hide her identity. It would explain how she escaped; no one recognized her because of the magic around her. For the same reason, you will not recognize her either.”
“Can you break it, break the spell?” Tobias stammered.
Lunetta chuckled. “Lord General, I never heard of such magic before. I know nothing about it.”
Tobias realized his sister was right. “You know about magic. Tell me how we can know her.”
Lunetta shook her head. “Lord General, I do not know how to see the strands of a wizard’s web that was cast for the express purpose of hiding. I tell you only what would make sense, and that be that if such a spell were used to hide her, then we, too, would not recognize her.”
He lifted a finger toward her. “You have magic. You know a way to show us the truth.”
“Lord General, the old woman said that only a wizard could cast a death spell. If a wizard cast such a web, then to unravel it we must be able to see the strands of his web. I do not know how to see the truth through the magic’s deception.”
Tobias rubbed his chin as he thought it over. “See through the deception. But how?”
“A moth be caught in a spider’s web because he cannot see the strands. We be caught in this web, the same as those who saw her beheading, because we cannot see its strands. I do not know how we can.”
“Wizard,” he murmured to himself. He gestured to the silver coin on the table. “When I asked her if there be a wizard here in Aydindril, she showed me that coin with a building on it.”
“The Palace of the Prophets.”
The name brought his head up. “Yes, that be what she called it. She said to ask you what it be. How do you know of it? Where did you hear about this Palace of the Prophets?”
Lunetta shrank back into herself and looked away. “Just after you be born. Mamma told me about it. It be a place where sorceresses—”
“Streganicha,” he corrected.
She paused a moment. “It be a place where streganicha train men to be wizards.”
“Then it be a house of evil.” She stood stooped and stiff as he looked down at the coin. “What would mamma know about such an evil place?”
“Mamma be dead, Tobias, leave her be,” she whispered.
He shot her a withering scowl. “We will talk about this later.” He straightened his sash of rank and ordered his silver-embroidered gray coat before picking up his crimson cape. “The old woman must have meant that there be a wizard in Aydindril who was trained at this house of evil.” He redirected his attention to Galtero. “Fortunately, Ettore is holding her for further questioning. That old woman has a lot more to tell us; I can feel it in my bones.”
Galtero nodded. “We better be off for the Confessors’ Palace, Lord General.”
Brogan flung his cape over his shoulders. “We will stop to see Ettore on our way out.”
A fire had been well stoked and was roaring when the three of them entered the small room to check on Ettore and his two charges. Ettore was stripped to the waist, his lean muscles coated with a sheen of sweat. Several razors gleamed from their place atop the mantle, along with an assortment of sharpened spikes. The ends of iron rods were fanned out across the hearth. Their other ends glowed orange in the flames.
The old woman cowered in the far corner, and put a protective arm around the girl, who hid her face in the brown blanket.
“Has she given you any trouble?” Brogan asked.
Ettore flashed his familiar grin. “Her arrogant attitude vanished as soon as she found out we don’t suffer insolence. That be the way with banelings; they give way when faced with the Creator’s might.”
“The three of us have to go out for a while. The rest of the fist will remain here at the palace, in case you need assistance.” Brogan glanced to the iron rods glowing in the fire. “When I get back I want her confession. I don’t care about the girl, but the old woman had better still be alive and anxious to give it.”
Ettore touched his fingers to his forehead as he bowed. “By the Creator, it shall be as you command, Lord General. She will confess all the crimes she has performed for the Keeper.”
“Good. I have more questions, and I will have the answers.”
“I’ll answer no more of your questions,” the old woman said.
Ettore curled his lip as he scowled over his shoulder. The old woman shrank back farther into the dark corner. “You’ll break that oath before t
his night be over, you old hag. You’ll be begging to answer questions when you see what I do to your little evil one. You get to watch her go first, so you can think about what be coming when it be your turn.”
The little girl squealed and burrowed deeper into the old woman’s blanket.
Lunetta stared at the pair in the corner as she slowly scratched her arm. “Do you wish me to stay and attend Ettore, Lord General? I think it be best if I did.”
“No. I want you to come with me tonight,” He glanced up at Galtero. “You did well, bringing me this one.”
Galtero shook his head. “I never would have noticed her, had she not tried to sell me honey cakes. Something about her made me suspicious.”
Brogan shrugged. “That be the way with banelings; they be drawn to the Blood of the Fold like moths to a flame. They be bold because they have faith in their evil master.” He glanced again to the woman cringing in the corner. “But they all lose their spines when facing justice from the Blood of the Fold. This one will be a small trophy, but the Creator will be served by it.”
Chapter 12
“Stop it,” Tobias growled. “People will think you have fleas.”
On a wide street lined with majestic maple trees to each side, their bare thicket of branches laced together overhead, dignitaries and officials from different lands stepped from fancy coaches to meander the remaining distance to the Confessors’ Palace. D’Haran troops stood like banks at the edge of the trickling river of arriving guests.
“I cannot help it, Lord General,” Lunetta complained as she scratched. “Ever since we arrived in Aydindril my arms be itching. I have never felt it like this before.”
People joining the flow stared openly at Lunetta. Her tattered rags made her stand out like a leper at a coronation. She seemed oblivious of the mocking stares. More likely, she thought them looks of admiration. She had, on any number of occasions, begged off donning any of the fine dresses Tobias offered her, saying that none were the match of her pretties. Since they seemed to keep her mind occupied, and off the Keeper’s taint, he never went so far as to insist she wear something else, and besides, he thought it blasphemy to make one touched by evil look appealing.
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