Blood and Iron: The Book of the Black Earth (Part One) (18 page)

They walked through the plan again. She knew her role. She just hoped Emanon would be able to pull off his end of the arrangement. Once the details were ironed out, she asked him, “Are you sure about tomorrow night? We could still call it off.”

He smiled, showing his missing incisor. “What? And miss a chance to tweak Her Dreadness's nose? No, we'll go through with it. And we'll rescue this friend of Jirom's if we can. What do you think of him?”

Alyra had been thinking of Horace. “Hmm? Who?”

He nodded toward the dark passage behind her. “Jirom.”

“I'm not sure what to think,” she replied, choosing her words carefully. “Have you ever been to Haran?”

“No. Why?”

“They have a tradition there called the
hudda
where men try to jump on the back of a captured lion and ride it like a horse. I hope you know what you're doing with this one.”

Emanon chuckled as he loaded the ingots back into the satchel. “Jirom might be as strong as a lion, but I'm not stupid enough to try riding on his back. We're allies united against a common enemy.”

“I hope so. Emanon…”

“Yeah?”

Alyra hesitated. She was tempted to tell him about the queen's conversation with Lord Astaptah. She wanted another person's perspective and maybe some advice about how she should handle this information. She'd already reported it to her handlers in the network, but so far no new orders had come down. She started to say something but then changed her mind.

He has enough to deal with, and I don't want him doing anything foolish.

“Nothing,” she said. “Just good luck tomorrow.”

“Don't worry. We know what we're doing.”

Alyra followed Emanon back down the narrow cave tunnel. She was dreading the trip back to the city. But even worse, she dreaded what might happen tomorrow night. She had never wavered in her duty, but now so many doubts lingered in her mind. Was the prize worth the cost? She would have to find out.

The afternoon heat formed a gray haze over the city. Sunlight glinted off the murky green waters of the inner harbor far below, and small boats moved along the waterfront where busy pedestrians hurried through the maze of twisting clay streets. Rimesh sipped from the glass of iced lime juice in his hand as he gazed out the window of the temple's receiving chamber. His eyes strayed to the heart of the city where, in flagrant defiance of tradition, the royal palace rose higher than the temple by a good thirty cubits. He turned away from the window. “Tell me again about the storm.”

The younger priest rubbed his hands together in a washing motion. “As I said, Menarch, we were crossing the desert when a chaos storm arrived. Lords Isiratu and Ubar exited the carriage to confront the storm. Then—”

Rimesh held up his pointer finger. “A moment, Brother Nasir.”

No matter how many times he heard accounts of
zoanii
, he was always struck by their natural arrogance. The other thing that struck him was the danger of allowing persons of such power to roam free. At the Order academy, initiates who could not obey without hesitation were terminated from the program and sent into the next world on pyres of burning prayers. “When you say they went out to confront the storm, what exactly do you mean?”

“They both got out and faced the storm on foot. They didn't do anything that I could see, nor did I expect to. I have no talent for the Sight, Menarch. I was passed over by the Order while still a novice and placed in a small temple in Gahem—”

“Carry on with your account, Brother.”

“Ah, yes. Forgive me. As I said, they stood there facing the storm, but the winds kept getting stronger. Lord Isiratu staggered as if he had been struck a blow, and Lord Ubar turned to help him. There was so much sand flying that I could not see them well, but it appeared as if Lord Isiratu had given up.”

Rimesh stepped onto the soft woven carpet that covered the center of the floor and set his glass down on a lacquered table. “What happened next?”

“There was a shout from the slaves at the rear of the caravan. It was quite horrible, even in the midst of the storm. Then the winds just died away.”

“The storm left?”

“Yes, Menarch. The clouds vanished and the holy light of heaven shone down on us again.”

A cough echoed through the chamber as the high priest of the Sun Cult in Erugash leaned forward in his chair. Kadamun et'Hittsura-Amur was quite old but was still a man of vitality and keen intellect. He cleared his throat. “Who was responsible, my son?”

“The savage,” Nasir said. “A westerner captured by one of Lord Isiratu's vassals. He reported being shipwrecked on the—”

“An outlander?” Rimesh had to fight to keep his tone even.

“Yes, Menarch. It was a miracle.”

“A miracle? I view it as quite the opposite. The power of the Gods in the hands of a savage is surely the work of the evil ones.”

Of course. This new information fit the reports he'd received before coming to Erugash. Temple soldiers found dead at their posts with no apparent wounds. Two priests of Amur disappeared. Rumors of clandestine meetings. And now the arrival of this outlander. It all pointed to a foul corruption infecting this city.

Nasir bowed and placed a hand over his heart. “Of course. I spoke without thinking.”

“Quite understandable under the circumstances,” High Priest Kadamun said with a smile.

Rimesh frowned at this interruption and tried to get the young priest to focus. “What did Lord Isiratu say to this savage after the storm?”

“Very little. Only that we were going to Erugash following Lord Mulcibar's arrival.”

The high priest muttered something that sounded like “meddling relic,” but Rimesh ignored it. “Anything else?”

“No, Menarch.” Nasir took to dry-washing his hands again. “I believe Lord Isiratu would have preferred to just be rid of the savage, yet he had no choice but to answer the queen's summons.”

“I see. Thank you. You have been very helpful.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much, Menarch! And may I say it's been an honor meeting you. I've heard so much about your early days at—”

Rimesh gestured and a pair of guards entered. “May the light of Amur shine upon you, Brother.”

Nasir took a step toward the door. “And you as well.” He bowed twice, once to Rimesh and once to the high priest. “Ah, Menarch?”

Rimesh allowed his eyebrows to rise to show his dwindling patience. “Yes?”

“The savage, sir. He did not bleed.”

“Explain yourself.”

“He did not display any signs of the immaculata after dispelling the chaos storm. Not a single cut or bruise. Lord Ubar took to calling him…” Nasir cleared his throat. “
Inganaz
.”

“Thank you, Brother.”

Nasir bowed again and left with the guards. Rimesh held his smile until the door closed. Then he sat in the vacant chair opposite his superior. “I recommend that the brother be sent to a silent cloister for a year, Your Luminance. The sooner, the better.”

The high priest's brows came together in a bushy line of ivory-white hair. “Brother Nasir understands the virtue of discretion. He'll be returning to Sekhatun with Lord Ubar. And please call me Kadamun. It is rare to have such a distinguished guest from the capital.”

Rimesh leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He could feel the excess energy coiled inside him, wanting release. Back in the capital, he trained daily with sword and shield, a holdover from his formal education, but since arriving in Erugash he hadn't found the time for a workout. “I am but a humble servant of the Light, Brother Kadamun. And I will trust you regarding Brother Nasir's…discretion. I would not wish my confidence betrayed by a wayward whisper in the wrong ear.”

The high priest gestured to the window and the spire of the palace that marred their view of the heavens. “Byleth is impulsive and flagrantly disobedient, but she is no fool. She'll soon know you talked to Nasir, if she doesn't already.”

Rimesh tilted his head slightly.

Kadamun chuckled. “Erugash may be far from the bright center of the empire, but you'll soon learn that this city's politics are every bit as sharp as the games played in Ceasa. What do you make of this ‘he who does not bleed’ tale?”

Rimesh flicked an invisible speck of lint from his sleeve. “Further evidence that this savage is a servant of darkness. And Queen Byleth has taken him to her bosom, in clear defiance of temple law.”

Kadamun just sat there, looking off into the distance, until Rimesh cleared his throat. “Your Luminance?”

The high priest shook as if rousing himself from a bad dream. “I've led this temple for nearly thirty years, and in that time I've seen many changes. Famine, plague, epidemics of rats. You know, for a time during the old king's reign I thought we would be cast out of the city. Yet those days seem calm compared to what we face now. Byleth is not like her father. King Rathammon was headstrong and difficult to control even before his rebellion, but his daughter is as unpredictable as a serpent, and ten times deadlier than her father.”

“So what will she do?”

“Much of that depends on the advice she receives from Lord Mulcibar. As I said, she is unpredictable. Yet the High Vizier was a staunch supporter of her father and he has the queen's ear. If he counsels her to break ties with the temple, it may be the excuse she's been seeking.”

“But by the terms of the armistice—”

Kadamun waved the liver-spotted fingers of his right hand like he was batting away an annoying insect. “The armistice is only as powerful as the will to enforce it, and Ceasa is far away with its eyes cast to the East. What? You think we don't hear the rumors? The empire dreams of new conquests, but it risks ignoring the two asps under its foot.”

“Two asps? Does Her Majesty have a twin?”

“The slaves, Menarch. They are uneasy.”

“Slaves are always uneasy.”

The high priest held up a finger as if lecturing a novice. “When the servant is discontented, the master sleeps lightly.”

Rimesh let out a deep breath through his nostrils, already tired of this man. “If there are agitators, the Order knows how to handle them.”

“Yes, I suppose it does. But with vital resources spent securing our colonies and staving off foreign incursions, domestic matters have gone unattended. I send instructions to the Order Chapter House, but they are ignored. Inquiries are answered with silence. I took your arrival as a sign that my complaints have been heard.”

“I wish it were that simple, but I have been sent here to investigate certain rumors of heresy. Not to bring some rebel slaves in line.”

The high priest worked his mouth like he was chewing his gums. “You are, I presume, referring to a—”

“A forbidden cult operating within the city, with the queen's compliance if not her outright collaboration.
That
is what I am referring to.”

“Well, I never gave much credit to the rumors, personally.”

Rimesh studied the high priest's eyes, which were rheumy and jaundiced within the sagging folds of his face. “Why is that?”

“Because it is preposterous. For that to be true, I would have to be a fool or…” His eyes narrowed to mere slits. “Or complicit. Is that what you're driving at, Menarch? Have you been sent to investigate heresy, or to replace a doddering old man?”

Rimesh reached into the pocket sewn into the lining of his robe and pulled out a silver tube. Its ends were sealed with golden wax and impressed with the Primarch's personal sigil. He extended it to Kadamun, who took it with a shaking hand. Rimesh waited as the high priest opened the tube and spilled out the rolled papyrus inside.

Kadamun's lips moved as he read the message. When he lowered it, his face was pinched with anger. “This gives you authority over all temple matters in Erugash. Is this how the Primarch replaces me? With a fiat delivered by the hands of my successor? Will you see me killed, too, or shall I be carted off to some abbey in the desert to live out my last years?”

“There's no call for dramatics, Your Luminance. I am not here to replace you.” He put his fingers together in a steeple. “But I will use every ounce of that sanction to root out this evil. And I will crush any obstacle that gets in my way. I trust I am making myself clear.”

“Quite. Yet there is little I can tell you on the matter. Yes, there are
rumors, but I served in the temples at Yuldir and Epur in my younger days, and there are
always
rumors of one kind or another. As high priest, I have endeavored to rein in Her Majesty's more unbecoming vices, and been moderately successful, if I may say so. But a cult to the Old Ones here in Erugash? No, I cannot conceive of it.”

Rimesh stood up. “That is why the Primarch sent me. You will make all of your staff available to me. You will also pass along that my instructions are not to be countermanded by anyone, under any circumstances, save by the direct order of His Primacy.”

The high priest rose slowly to his feet. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes. This savage in the queen's possession.”

“What of him?”

“I want you to issue a decree declaring him a blasphemer and an enemy of the empire. He is to be remanded to the temple at once for investigation.”

The high priest's eyebrows climbed his forehead. “That will cause some problems, Menarch. The foreigner—”

“He's an abomination before the eyes of Amur and all of heaven!” Rimesh took a breath to calm himself. “Forgive me, Your Luminance. I know that you revere the sacred
zoana
as much as I do. Its divinity cannot be permitted to exist within a savage such as this. It is an affront to both our lord and our empire.”

“Of course. Yet Byleth is still queen of Erugash, regardless of the armistice. Unless you intend to seize the palace by force, issuing such a decree will do no good.”

Rimesh scratched his chin to give the slightest impression that he was considering just such a course of action. “In that case, I withdraw my suggestion.”

The relief that passed across the old priest's face would have been comical if it wasn't so pathetic. Yet he bowed with grace. “As you wish.”

When the high priest exited the room, Rimesh went back to the window. The day was getting hotter. The sun's rays struck the palace, reflecting off its golden summit. He had prepared his entire adult life for this assignment, groomed with years of schooling and then sent into the field as a chaplain in the imperial legions. All for this moment. If he could tie Queen Byleth to the
worship of the Dark Ones, the people would rise up and he could reverse four hundred years of temple abuse at the hands of the
zoanii
.

He looked down to the people in the streets, so far below they looked like insects crawling through a warren of tunnels.

I do this for all of us, so that we may be free.