Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  “Is it in the mountains half way between the Gap and the Swamp?” asked Bianca, as Hulagu grinned. When Nokaj nodded with a worried expression, she grinned as well. “That is Mousehole where we all live. It is obvious that Theodora’s spell is working well. Do not be concerned with what happens there, it is the moving spots that you cannot see into that will be of concern.”

  As part of her acceptance, and for the entertainment that all of us try to do, Bianca shows her ability with her knives, just as others show off their skills. She sings the songs of the tents that she has learnt from Anahita and Kãhina, and dances with the other women, stopping only to tend to the babies.

  She need not have bothered with the last. They are currently lying happy in a large basket that otherwise contained a litter of wolf pups too young to keep up with the moving tribe on their own and the whole squirming pile is being overseen by their mother as well as by Bianca.

  Hulagu

  11th September

  They left in the morning. Bianca is hugged by Togotak and Sparetha, her new father and mother, and her many sisters and cousins. She now has a small bag hanging around her neck, as well as her crucifix and several strings of beads. Our mother has a new necklace as well, one of green jade that matches her eyes.

  Still no-one among the Khitan has talked to the other Mice. We are waved away and head north again on the carpet. My sister has tears in her eyes as we go.

  “That may be the oddest experience that I have ever had,” said Theodora. “I suppose that one of you can explain it all?” she asked.

  Bianca and Hulagu looked at each other. Hulagu began: “The tribes rarely have much to do with the city dwellers. Anyone having much to do with outsiders has to undergo purification afterwards. The people of your husband’s land do much the same, I believe. If there are Khitan in a group, then they will talk only with the Khitan.”

  Theodora went to speak, but he held up his hand. “Bianca is now Khitan, so she is treated as would any other person of the tents of another totem who was visiting our clan. The children are as well.” He continued: “by doing this, they are not made unclean. Ask Rani about this when you get home. As I said, her people are much the same.” Her husband can explain if she wants more. I have said enough on that.

  Christopher

  We are flying high. In the distance, I can see the hills of the Dwarves. As they approached the monastery, Father Christopher pointed below. There, also headed towards Greensin and seemingly unaware of us above them is a patrol of the Basilica Anthropoi. “That may even be Praetor Michael again. Are we ourselves this time?”

  “Indeed,” she replied. “I am a Princess, and you are the head priest of my village. I am sure that you will have no problem getting us an audience this time either.” She is bringing us down.

  Christopher made sure that his helmet was off and his face could be seen. Then, from above and behind he called out: “Praetor Michael, turn around. We bring greetings.”

  The men below turned, and one member of the patrol started grabbing for his bow, but Michael waved him down. “Who are you and what do you want?” he asked.

  “Praetor Michael, you know me. I once was Brother Christopher, but I am now Father Christopher. I was sent on a mission to the east over a year ago. I am now returned, and I need to see the Metropolitan. Is he at his house or is he at the monastery?”

  The officer looked hard at Christopher as the carpet came closer. “It is you. For a moment I thought that you were someone else in that armour. I believe he is at his house, Father. Who are these people and what do they do here?”

  “That is for the Metropolitan to say in his own good time.” That should be cryptic enough. “Just allow me to say that they are important.” With a wave at the Praetor, he nudged Theodora and she headed the carpet in the direction that Christopher pointed. Behind them, the patrol sped up after them. “Was that too much like Astrid?” The rest of those on the carpet laughed and smiled.

  Theodora

  They landed over a bowshot from the Metropolitan’s house. It is a very large house. For the barbarians it is almost a palace. She then noted the number of people moving around it. Of course, she thought, it is just like the palace in Ardlark. It is not just a house for one man and his servants it is also offices and no doubt there are many people who live and work there. Father Christopher walks up and talks to the guards. Now he is waving for us to join him.

  The Metropolitan greeted them warmly and, after they received his blessing, he ushered them inside a large room, calling for refreshments as he did so. “I presume the Khitan woman with blue eyes is the famous Presbytera Bianca that succeeded in turning my monk into a priest,” he said. Bianca blushed and nodded.

  “A year ago, I sent two priests off on a mission. I was about to send others in search of you. I believe that you may have just beaten Praetor Michael here. Tell me what has happened. I presume these other women will be explained.” He waved towards Tabitha and Danelis who sat quietly and in awe of such a high priest.

  This time it was Father Christopher who gave the explanations. Hulagu, Danelis and Tabitha were introduced and the women’s purpose with them made clear.

  At the conclusion, the Metropolitan spoke: “I am sure that you ladies will have no difficulty in finding suitable spouses. I take it they will be your ostensible reason to travel around the hamlets?” Christopher nodded.

  “Are all of your ladies as beautiful as these two?” Everyone nodded. “Then you have my blessing. I will let you go and you can search here first and start on the settlements tomorrow.” To Christopher he added: “You seem to have grown greatly since I sent you away. You are doing better than I hoped.”

  “There is another matter. I am not sure if you want to deal with it or leave it to us. We didn’t mention, but some slavers appeared at Mousehole while we were at Dwarvenholme. They had two young women with them and a child…about a year ago…can you remember an isolated farmstead to the south of here being attacked and the people being killed? They were a farmer named Beman and his family.”

  The Metropolitan thought for a moment before picking up a small bell from the table beside him and ringing it. In a little while a small earnest-looking middle-aged man came in. “Andronicus,” said the Metropolitan, “did we have a disappearance of a family noted about a year ago? There were…” he turns to me.

  “A husband and wife, three sons and a daughter, a family called Beman.” The Metropolitan turned back to his secretary.

  “Yes, Your Eminence. They had a new farm just north of the edge of the woods. The Khitan…” he looks at Hulagu and Bianca. Hulagu waved to show no offence is taken. Bianca just looks blankly at him. “…were blamed for taking them as slaves. Their farmstead was sacked, and all the valuables taken, as well as all the livestock.”

  “It was not the Khitan,” said Father Christopher. “The girl was taken as a slave and sold to a couple of men from the Brotherhood and has ended up with us at Mousehole. She will be staying with us now that we have found out that her family are dead. Her parents and the brothers were killed by two of your people to enable the girl to be abducted quietly.

  “I don’t know what has happened to the bodies or to their flocks. The question is, do you wish us to deal with this, or do you wish to do so yourselves. We have their names and where they were found by the slavers.”

  That has set the Metropolitan thinking. “I think that this is our business to arrest and try them, you may send someone who knows the details if you wish, and we will get you to testify against them in open court. Do you have means of getting confessions from them?”

  “We have two, Your Eminence. Presbytera Bianca can use physical means if it becomes necessary, but I also have a spell that is very effective and does not stress her conscience as much. I am willing to place it at your disposal. I think that it will be best if we might all accompany your men if you do not mind. I
am not sure that I want us to be separated for too long when we do not know yet who can be trusted.”

  “That is fine,” said the Metropolitan, “and I appreciate your help with an appropriate conjuration. We have many priests here, but few mages of any power in the area. More correctly, in many respects, we have very few mages of power.” He smiled. “Now that this is all sorted out, once you have it all cleared up, where do you go after here?”

  “When we finish here we will go to Dwarvenholme and dispel the pentagrams there. After that we go to Darkreach, for family reasons as much as any other, and then we will begin the more dangerous legs of our task. We may have to go to Wolfneck. There, we have to arrest one of its ship owners and question him, regardless of what the rest of the village want. After that, we are undecided as to whether to try Haven, or Freehold or the Caliphate. The Brotherhood will possibly be our last and greatest challenge.”

  “I will give you a letter for Father Simon at Wolfneck when you need it. That should help you. The Brotherhood will be a great challenge indeed,” replied the Metropolitan. “Traders tell me that they prepare for war and have grown mighty. The villages of the north coast seek our aid and talk to the Khitan.

  “Freehold will be bad enough, and Christopher, you will either have to not go, or will have to travel in disguise. For some reason, they kidnapped Father Theophilus from Glengate, which is far from them, when he was touring the assarts around the main village. Before any knew of this they took him back to their land, and then burnt him as a heretic.

  “They also prepare for war, whether with the Brotherhood, or the Khitan, or the villages of the south coast, none know, nor can we find out. They have gained much wealth lately to increase their armies, none know from where, but there are rumours of many sorts.”

  “We may know the answer to their wealth,” said Father Christopher. When we took Dwarvenholme, we brought to our valley a whole library. Much of it is concerned with travel and several books talk of other lands. We already knew of one of these, that which lies to the north of the Land.

  “Some distance to the west of Freehold is another land that is possibly as big as this. It is likely that they have found this and have built it up as a part of their Kingdom. Depending on how long they have been there, they may have twice as many people in their Kingdom as those that we know about here…or perhaps even more. This will mean that, at need, they may be able to double the size of their armies.

  “I do not think that these Masters would have control of any nation, except perhaps the Brotherhood, but they may have people that they have corrupted giving advice to the rulers. Beware of anything you hear from there.”

  “I thank you for that,” said the Metropolitan, “and before you go, I think that I will give you letters for the Metropolitans of Darkreach. While all of this matter of the world is significant, in the long run the state of souls is of more importance. We need to see if they are still in Communion with us.” He holds up a hand to stop me.

  “I know my daughter that you feel that you are; but there are many subtle flaws that can enter theology that make a great difference. Even something such as to whether they are still iconodule or even faintly iconoclast is important and has led to strife in the past. I am heartened that Father Christopher tells me that you seem to use all of the same prayers, creeds and rituals, but that still leaves some room for error. I need to be sure.”

  With that they took their leave and headed off with Father Christopher to the Basilica to make his first search of this area. I am relieved that he has found nothing in town and now we can go to the house we have been given to stay in. It has been a long day.

  Danelis and Tabitha have many eyes following them, even those of the patrol, which is now waiting outside the Metropolitan’s house. I admit that they are both pretty and would tempt me if I were not a happily married woman. It is funny that, instead of moving like the hunter that Astrid is training her to be, Tabitha’s walk has developed a distinct sway as she moves, and men follow her as she passes with their eyes.

  As for Bianca, even with her babies in their slings, she is moving through the town more like Ayesha does than like a simple animal tender. Most amusingly our simple priest stands in full armour with his hand resting on his mace-head looking more like one of the Basilica Anthropoi than the many other priests around us.

  Theodora

  12th September

  Praetor Michael’s patrol had moved out the next day, headed south and the next morning after that the Mice caught up with them. “How do you want to do this?”

  “We will ride up and arrest this one, and then we will go down the road and do the same for his friend,” said Michael.

  “What happens if he sees you coming and is reluctant to come?” asked Theodora. Michael shrugged. “Let the Presbytera Bianca go first,” she suggested. “She is trained for this.”

  Bianca looks surprised, but she is. Ayesha and Basil have both been taking time with her, Ayesha showing her how to stalk and kill, and Basil how to stalk and subdue. This is not a village, but she would at least be moving among buildings soon.

  Bianca handed Christopher the children and hopped off the carpet. See, she unconsciously mimics Basil with moving her shortswords in and out of their sheaths once she was on the ground. Michael still looks dubious.

  “I will do nothing until you arrive, or they notice you,” Bianca said to Michael. She gives Christopher a kiss and heads off before either can object.

  Tabitha hopped off the carpet as well. “I guess then that it is time to see if I have learnt from my training,” she said. She looked at Michael: “My teacher has been showing me how to stalk with a spear through the woods. It will be I who will go through the woods near you and try and cut off any attempt to escape.”

  “I guess that means that I am the archer,” Danelis said as she strung her bow and moved away from the patrol.

  I am so proud of my girls. They have learnt to be themselves. Christopher gave a chuckle and addressed Michael, who is still looking surprised. “Do not worry. We men often feel that way in our village. Now off you go. I am here if I am needed for any cures. Does anyone have allergies to any potions?” The patrol all shake their heads and Michael signals them forward.

  I will keep station behind them. “Hulagu, prepare a single person spell of sleeping and be ready to throw it.” Hulagu started scrabbling to get his small book of incantations from his pouch. Good, he is already thinking over what he should do and say.

  Our precautions are unnecessary. We have taken the man unawares and he is easily arrested. That is where it stops being simple. He has a wife and children and Bianca is left trying to deal with them until Father Christopher could take over.

  This is certainly new to him. How does he tell the woman and children that he knows what their husband and father has done? How does he explain to the woman that he is going to be executed? All he can really do is tell her to come to the Metropolitan’s Court at the end of the week and it will all be explained. It isn’t very good as an explanation, but none of us have any idea what else to say. We take him away bound and gagged and on a led horse.

  The next man is not so easily taken. He lives alone and must have heard something or sensed something. He is only captured when he tries to escape out the back of his hut and meets Bianca waiting there. She has put a blade to his throat, and another further down, as he came around a corner and held him until Michael’s men came and secured him. He is also tied, gagged and put on a horse. The two men sit and glare at each other. At least he is a single man. At the next assart that we encounter, Michael tells the neighbours to look after the animals that are left behind and to spread the word as to what is happening.

  “Do you realise that any of these buildings, anywhere through this area, could have one of the Master’s pentagrams in it?” Christopher asked Theodora as they flew back to Greensin itself.

  He
is right…but “However, look below. Most of these settlements are very small, little more than assarts, and it would be hard to hide something. I think that it is only in a place where there are more buildings, and many that have more rooms, that you will find anything…of course, that is just a guess, but that is all we can do.”

  Theodora

  17th September

  In the next five days, they had told no-one away from the men’s home area what was happening with them and they had also tried to fend off any rumours that came to their ears. In the meantime, they had looked at two more hamlets and it was time for the trial.

  As we have been travelling around the area, I tell the tale of Mousehole while Christopher searches for any sign of the Masters’ work. Danelis and Tabitha provided a distraction for most of the males and Bianca’s babies and her story serve for the rest.

  Now that it is the trial day, we have finally started talking to people about what is about to happen, but by now we have created an almost festive atmosphere. I gave some money to Andronicus and there is food and refreshment provided, but not enough refreshment for the onlookers to get drunk or unruly on, but enough to make them favourably disposed.

  The Basilica Anthropoi are here to keep order, and my Mice that are not a part of what is happening stand armed and ready as well. Despite our caution, until we have finished searching the area, we cannot tell if the Masters have agents in the crowd with instructions to cause trouble and we have to be prepared in case they do.

  The prisoners were brought out. They had been kept apart and both were now gagged. I agree with the Metropolitan. If we need to enchant one it will be the married man. He is already looking at his family and his children, who are sitting guarded near the front, and he is crying.

  The Metropolitan came out onto the porch of his house with Father Christopher and Abbot Theophilus. Andronicus is already there at a table, ready to take notes and the rest of us are waiting. The Metropolitan blessed the crowd and began. “I am Basil Tornikes, Metropolitan of the North and senior Metropolitan of the Church Universal west of the Great Range. I am also the temporal ruler here in Greensin in the name of God.”