“Similarly,” Rainey said as Dayne left. “Today’s the day I agreed to help Phillen with his mother’s release.”
“Be well,” Sister Alana said.
“And you.” She went to the door, passing Minox. She stopped and touched his shoulder. “We’re going to get all these bastards. For Corrie.”
“And your husband,” he said. “And every other victim of this sickness.”
She patted his shoulder one more time and left.
Sister Alana still looked troubled, examining Dayne’s letter.
“A problem, Sister?”
She looked up at him, and put on a smile that he read as insincere. “I was just thinking about one of the young girls in the cloister here. She’s—she’s subject to violent spells. And I was thinking I should pray for her. I’ll pray for you as well.”
She left, and Minox wondered about the strange combination of honesty and deceit in what she had just told him. But her offer of her prayers for him was legitimate.
That gave him some small amount of solace. The days ahead were filled with uncertainty, especially about himself. Any aid he could receive, he would gladly take. But he feared the blackness that had consumed his hand was only the beginning, and he would succumb to it completely sooner or later.
The best he could hope for, in the long run, was to take this city’s banes with him as he went down.
Epilogue
“SIT DOWN, PHILLEN. You’re going to wear through your boots.”
Satrine needed the boy to calm down; he was a mess. Not that sitting would make it any better. He’d spent the first few minutes since they had been called down for the Quarrygate carriage arrival sitting on the bench, but the whole time he sat, his leg was trembling. Foot hitting the ground like a jackrabbit. After a few minutes of fidgeting, he got up and started pacing.
“She’ll probably stab me,” Phillen said. “I bet you, she’ll have a knife.”
“She won’t have a knife,” Satrine said.
“She’ll have made one,” Phillen said. Then he shook his head. “No, no. Far too industrious. She’d do something lazy.”
“She’s not going to hurt you.”
“Maybe not here, not in front of you,” Phillen said. “Not with witnesses.”
“Probably not.”
“But I’m going to have to take her home. She’ll smother me when I sleep, you know.”
“Your mother is not going to murder you,” Satrine said. She gave him a slight smile. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I mean, really, thank you for being here. It really—I don’t have anyone else to . . .”
“Phillen,” she said softly. “You need anything, I’ve got you. You’ve had my back when no one else except Well—” She choked on that for a moment. She had to maintain the illusion of her squabble with Minox, even in front of Phillen. “You had my back,” she said again. “You have a place to stay, place to bring her, right?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Ain’t much, but rent is paid for now.”
“All right,” Satrine said. “If you don’t want to be alone with her for a bit, I’ll—”
“I couldn’t ask you that,” he said. “You’ve got people to get to.”
“At this point, you’re definitely one of my people,” she said. For a moment, he smiled hesitantly.
Then the sergeant interrupted. “Number 89211, Berana Hace. Released to the custody of Phillen Hace and Inspector Satrine Rainey.”
“Berana?” Satrine asked, taken aback. “Your mother’s name is Berana—”
“Well, isn’t this wonderful?” The voice, a razor-scrape gravel of scorn, hit Satrine in the pit of her stomach.
Phillen’s eyes were already full of tears and fright, looking to the sergeant and the doorway. Satrine followed his gaze and saw her.
The hair was grayer, the body stockier, the face lined and weathered, but Satrine knew exactly who she was looking at. Her voice left her; there was nothing she could say. Despite her desire to scream and howl, nothing came from her throat.
“Both my useless children are here,” Mother said. “And saints help me, both of them are blasted, rotten sticks.”
Appendix
The Druth Parliament
The government of Druthal is a Parliamentary Monarchy. Druthal is reigned over by the king, who is determined by the rules of succession from the royal line, and whose coronation is approved by the Parliament and the Church of Druthal. The king is both the head of state and the head of church. The current king, Maradaine XVIII, was crowned in 1213. He is the thirteenth king in the current royal line: The Line of Maradaine, the longest in Druth history, which began with Maradaine VII in 938.
Despite his position as head of state and church, the Druth King is actually quite limited in power. His authority is limited to acting as executive over the High Council, whose role is to implement policy as decided by the Parliament. He can issue edicts to the Parliament and the High Court, but neither body is obliged to obey him. The Druth Throne is far more of a symbol of power, and the true authority of the king is dependent on the love of the people.
The Parliament was originally conceived during the Reunification of 1009, and first convened in 1015. It is composed of one hundred Druth citizens, ten from each archduchy. The ten archduchies are Maradaine, Patyma, Sauriya, Acora, Oblune, Monim, Yinara, Kesta, Linjar, and Scaloi. Members of the Parliament (“Chair”) are elected within their archduchy, and they must be citizens and residents of that archduchy. They also must neither possess nor have reasonable claim to any noble title. Every Chair serves a five-year term.
There is a Parliamentary election every year, in which each archduchy votes on two of their ten parliamentary chairs, in rotation. Over the course of five years, all ten chairs from each archduchy have stood for election. Elections are open to many candidates—often over twenty on the official ballot—and the two candidates with the most votes claim the chairs. If circumstances have opened an additional chair (the death or resignation of a chair who would not be up for election, for example), the third-ranking candidate claims that chair.
Within the Parliament, there are essentially six Party Affiliations:
The Traditionalists (Dishers), whose primary platform is supporting the rights and authority of the noble class, which includes giving nobility greater freedoms for implementing taxes and policies within their own regions.
The Loyalists (Crownies) support the leadership and authority of the throne, and work on policies that further the King’s agenda.
The Free Commerce Party (Minties) supports trade and business, including policies of minimizing taxes and tariffs to facilitate the growth of the merchant class.
The Ecclesials (Books) support the church, and are often former members of the clergy. Their platform is one of enabling moral guidance and personal responsibility.
The Functionalists (Frikes) have a platform of effective governance, focusing on policies that work and accomplish real goals over furthering specific partisan agendas.
The Populists (Salties) represent the common man, beyond the interests of the nobility, throne, church, or merchant class. This is the smallest party in the Parliament.
The current parliament is controlled by a Ruling Coalition of the Loyalists, Functionalists, and Free Commercialists. The Traditionalists and Ecclesials are united in a Coalition of Opposition. The Populists do not form a Coalition with either group, but frequently vote with the Ruling Coalition. But with recent assassinations of members of Parliament, and the elections of 1215 bringing in new members, the balance of the Parliament is poised to shift.
About the Author
Marshall Ryan Maresca's work has appeared in Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction and Rick Klaw's anthology Rayguns Over Texas. His novels The Thorn of Dentonhill, A Murder of Mages, Th
e Holver Alley Crew, and The Way of the Shield each begin their own fantasy series, all set in the port city of Maradaine.
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A Parliament of Bodies Page 38