by Ken Scholes
Petronus nodded, grimly. He looked out across the city, and Rudolfo’s eyes followed. A line of horses approached from the north, the south and the west. Rudolfo picked up his sword and stood, holding it outward and down.
Petronus cleared his voice. “Lord Rudolfo of the Ninefold Forest Houses has pledged his Wandering Army to my cause and pledged his fealty to me as the Holy See of the Androfrancine Order. In the absence of the Gray Guard, he holds the Guardianship of the Light.” He paused. “You who war on Rudolfo, war on the light.”
Rudolfo nodded, whistling to his men. They pulled in closer, forming a shield around the Pope after checking the perimeter. Behind him, Rudolfo knew the Marsh King’s army would not be far behind. When they’d heard the proclamation he and the king, Winters, had run out of the tent shouting orders. Her shadow, Hanric, raised the third alarm, and their soldiers-men and women-rallied. Rudolfo rode out first with his Gypsy Scouts, but they’d agreed that the Marsh King’s army would follow after.
Rudolfo watched the rising cloud of ash on his north, west and south. The Marsh King’s shadow arrived next, followed closely by the Queen of Pylos.
She slowed her pale horse to a trot and slipped from the saddle. The silver bow upon her back glistened in the watery afternoon light. “I am for the light,” she said. She glared at Rudolfo.
She’d hoped to be first, he knew. To offer her fealty and seek the Pope’s favor and currency. Pylos was a small nation with a challenged economy.
Rudolfo smiled. “Queen Meirov,” he said. “You are radiant.”
She inclined her head, but her face remained a cold mask. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it as the sounds of shouting approached.
Rudolfo had no difficulty picking out Sethbert’s raised voice, and hUed
“I dispute your claim,” he said in a loud, icy voice.
Petronus fixed his eyes upon him. When he spoke his words rumbled out, but already Rudolfo could hear the magicks fading.
“Lord Sethbert,” Petronus said, “Overseer of the Entrolusian City States. You are the Desolator of Windwir and enemy of the light. Surrender yourself. We’ve lost enough because of your senseless act of genocide. We do not need more bodies in this field of ash.”
Sethbert sneered. “Senseless act of genocide?” He laughed. “I am a patriot of the light.” He leaned in, studying the old man, and Rudolfo gathered his strength, ready to defend his Pope. “By the Gods,” the Overseer said as he looked Petronus over more closely. “It is you.”
“Then you acknowledge me as your Pope?”
Sethbert’s eyes narrowed. “I do not. I simply acknowledge you as Petronus.”
Petronus nodded. “That is enough then.” He looked around the gathering crowd. Rudolfo looked, too. Now the workers were drifting in too, wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the sight of their leader holding court with nobility. “You all have heard him acknowledge that I am Petronus.”
“It does not make you Pope and King,” Sethbert said. “The Order has a Pope, Resolute the First, proclaimed in accordance with the Lines of Succession.”
One of the Gypsy Scouts whistled, and Rudolfo looked up to see Vlad Li Tam approach, his horse sweaty from the hard gallop. Rudolfo watched knowing glances exchanged between Lord Tam and Pope Petronus. “Pope Petronus,” Lord Tam said, inclining his head.
Petronus nodded his acknowledgement. “Lord Tam. We have much to discuss.”
Rudolfo watched Sethbert’s face turn purple with rage. “You should have stayed on your Emerald Coasts, Tam,” Sethbert said. He turned to Petronus. “And you should have stayed dead.” He raised his voice then, as loud as he could. “I dispute the Papacy of Petronus.”
With that, he spun his horse and rode south to his camps. His men fell in behind him.
Rudolfo looked at the faces of those gathered close to the newly proclaimed Pope. The Queen of Pylos looked uncomfortable but resolved. The Marsh King’s shadow stood neaUhadhe r her, his face blank. The boy stood near the Pope, his face a wash of emotion that moved freely between sadness and wonder. The only person in the crowd who looked pleased was Vlad Li Tam.
Rudolfo scowled, puzzling out the expression on the face of the man who would soon be his father by marriage.
It was a look of relief, but Rudolfo did not understand how anyone could feel relief knowing what was to come.
As the first snowflakes of winter fell on the Desolation of Windwir, mingling its cold white with the gray ash of the fallen city, Rudolfo’s mind spun strategies and intrigue.
The War of the Androfrancine Popes, born in a field of bones, was upon them.
Jin Li Tam
Jin Li Tam raced down the hallways of the manor with her pack slung over one shoulder. She paused long enough to knock at Isaak’s door, then opened it. “Are you ready?” she asked.
Isaak looked up from his desk of papers. “I am, Lady.”
“And you have your tools?”
He held up the leather satchel containing the mechoservitor tools. “I do.”
The bird had arrived the day before, and those members of the Wandering Army from the Seventh Forest Manor and the town that surrounded it gathered in the meadow south of town and prepared to ride west. Over the protests of the steward and the captain of the contingent, Jin Li Tam insisted on accompanying them. And because she was going, Isaak went too. She would use the pretense, if Rudolfo challenged her, that the mechoservitors might require repairs after so long in Sethbert’s care.
In two days’ time, she would meet Rudolfo at the western steppes of the Prairie Sea. There, she would slip the first of the powders into his evening brandy and give herself to the task of bearing him an heir. Apprehension fluttered in her stomach.
I should stop this, she thought.
And do what? Dishonor her father and the work of House Li Tam by questioning a will and a strategy that stretched far beyond her understanding? Because of a poisoned boy? Because of an orphaned Gypsy King? It was this strategy and will, both from her father, that shaped a leader for the Named Lands’ first catastrophe. If bearing an heir and settling into the life of a Gypsy King’s wife was her part to play in this, to create a wily and educated child who would one day take the turban-this was not a chore. This was honor.
Isaak fell in behind her, carrying the large satchel.
“Tomorrow night at the soonest,” she said. Coded deeply into the message she’d snatched from the steward’s hands was a note that Rudolfo intended to liberate the metal men from Sethbert’s camp whether or not the invisible Pope gave him leave. His plan was to pass the metal men over to a small contingent that would run them east and north to Isaak’s aid, then return to the front with his Wandering Army.
War is coming, her father’s note had read. She could smell it in the air now, and she sensed the tightening of a hunter’s snare but she could not quite see it.
There were birds from her brothers and sisters, passed along with her father’s approval. The scattered nations of the Emerald Coasts and the pioneer counties of the Divided Isle were teetering on fences. The Androfrancines were woven into the Named Lands-a thread that, when ripped out, unraveled the entire robe. She could read the critical mass as it built throughout, armies being recruited and supplies being stockpiled. They waited simply to be compelled one way or another, and she saw her father’s strategy with this invisible Pope now as well. She would expect some grand event soon in that regard, though she was not certain what. Perhaps a public proclamation.
Her Gypsy Scouts waited for her at the door. She stopped, and Edrys stepped forward. “You’re certain I cannot dissuade you of this notion, Lady Tam?”
She smiled at him. “I assure you that you cannot.”
He nodded. “Very well. We shall accompany you.”
She inclined her head, ever so slightly. “Thank you, Sergeant.”
As they exited the manor into the snow-blanketed courtyard, she felt for the satchel of powders in the pocket of her coat. She took no pleasure in the deception
she must play, but neither did she lament it overmuch. For all she knew, Rudolfo pined for an heir. But her father’s work must be done with discretion. Whatever his strategy ultimately was, it required secrecy and care.
So I will deceive the man I marry.
Of course, she’d always known that if she married, deception would be required of her.
She was her father’s daughter.
Neb
Neb waited near Petronus’s tent. In the last few weeks, the old man had Uhe eigused the tent more and more for work. Eventually, it made more sense for Neb to stay with some of the other young men.
Neb hadn’t expected the response to the proclamation. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but the sudden convergence of three armies upon the new Pope was an alarming outcome. When the crowd broke and all that remained were the Marsh King, Rudolfo and Queen Meirov, Petronus walked away with them while they talked in low voices. Neb returned to the camp, and after a dinner that he’d barely touched, he waited there in the snow.
Finally, the old man arrived. He saw the boy and offered a grim smile. “It had to be done, Neb,” he said.
Neb nodded. “I am sorry for it.”
Petronus pulled open the flap to his tent. “You may be. But it’s unnecessary.” He paused, half in and half out of his tent. “But I do wonder what else you’ve seen in your dreams.”
He couldn’t bring himself to tell him. “Nothing that makes any sense,” he finally said. “You should rest, Excellency.”
Petronus nodded. “Good night, then.”
After the old man slipped into the tent, Neb wandered through the camp.
The workers were snoring in their tents, the small Androfrancine heaters venting steam into the cold air through long brass chimneys. Otherwise, the camp was quiet. With the snow falling now, Neb wasn’t sure how long they could hold out. With Petronus firmly rooted in Windwir, there would be no more supply wagons from Sethbert. But with Petronus proclaimed, they would have access to the funds in House Li Tam’s Androfrancine accounts. The Entrolusian sentries were now simply replaced with Marshfolk or Gypsy Scouts. And he suspected Rudolfo’s Wandering Army was on the march.
Thinking of the Marshfolk brought memories of the girl back to him. He couldn’t push her far from his mind-she invaded regularly.
He’d already felt drawn to her, but the kiss sealed it. He wondered what she was doing now and if he would see her again. She said he would, but Neb took little at face value these days. For instance, this Rudolfo. On the surface he seemed a fop, but up close, Neb saw steel in that man’s eyes. It made him grateful that Petronus had given him the guardianship, and even more grateful that Petronus had put the metal man in the Gypsy King’s care.
Neb wandered past the edges of the camp. The moon was up again, high above now, blue flecked with green. Some days the Moon Wizard’s tower was barely visible, but only when the moon was low and nearby.
Of course the Moon Wizard was a distant memory from thU me"0ee First World. And all of the books containing the legends of his exploits were ash now. Brother Hebda had once shown him a parchment of an early text about the Czarist Lunar Expedition from the world before the time of P’Andro Whym. They had been talking and walking during one of his father’s visits.
“I want to do what you do,” Neb said. He’d not been allowed to touch the parchment, but he’d leaned in close to study it well. “I want find the lost parchments of the Old World.”
A shadow formed on Brother Hebda’s face. “Not all of them should be found,” he mumbled in a low voice.
“Brother Hebda?”
He looked up. “I’m sorry, Neb. I’m a bit distracted tonight. I think we found something that would be better off unfound.”
Neb looked up at him. “What is it?”
Brother Hebda shook his head. “I don’t know. And if I did, I couldn’t tell you. But I have a bad feeling.”
His father had been right.
Neb heard a low, familiar voice.
“Nebios ben Hebda.” He could smell the musky earth smell of her, and without warning he felt warm lips brushing across his cheek. “The Marsh King is very pleased with you,” she said.
He jumped at the kiss. At night, the magicks were virtually impenetrable. “Winters?”
But she was already off and running back into the night.
Vlad Li Tam
Vlad Li Tam smiled and sipped at the kallaberry smoke through the long stem of his pipe. He’d replayed the day’s events again and again and could not be more pleased. When he’d finally left, Rudolfo, Meirov and the Marsh King had been discussing strategy for the night’s work.
Now all he needed to do was wait.
“Obviously my fiftieth son did very well with the ring.”
The aide nodded. “He did, Lord.”
“I have fine, strong children.” He closed his eyes, feeling the smoke lift him. But he wondered if the smoke would lift him past what was coming tonight.
“Your children are legendary, Lord,” the aide said. “There is also word from your thirty-seventh son. He rides with Resolute the First.”
Vlad Li exhaled the smoke. “He’ll arrive to a surprise tomorrow.”
“He has a good source on the Guard,” the aide said. “He will feed us what he can on their movement and strategy.”
Vlad Li Tam pondered this. “Oriv’s contingent of Gray Guard is too small to do much beyond protect him. Still, knowing their location will be useful. And perhaps we’ll glean something from his parley with Sethbert.”
But he wondered how long Oriv would hang on to what small foothold he had now that Petronus had proclaimed himself. Certainly there would be some of the Androfrancine Remnant that remembered Petronus, but the fact that he’d faked his own death thirty years ago would turn some away. It was certainly a challenge to Androfrancine Law. No Pope had ever quit before, let alone gone to such lengths to do so.
But bringing one back from the dead had proven to require equal lengths. Petronus had resisted at every turn. Vlad Li Tam’s betrayal had been quietly arranged. A new ring forged with a bit of the Fargoer’s steel he’d kept for such an occasion along with specifications for the ring that he had found in the Androfrancines’ very own library nearly thirty years ago.
He wasn’t sure how the Marshfolk and Sethbert played into it, but Vlad Li Tam sensed a strategy alongside his own-something that even overlapped his own schemes. Scraps of it drifted to the surface from time to time.
His own part was complex. But this other strategy was as elaborate as a Whymer Maze, he knew that much. And he knew that the Androfrancines had been afraid of something. Their quiet, somber tones as they discussed the need for a strong leader, for a new guardian of the light, set apart from the rest of the world.
He took another pull from his pipe, listening to the crackle of the dried berries as they burned beneath the match his servant held. “We will return to the Emerald Coast tomorrow,” Vlad said.
Already, he knew his iron armada had redeployed, blockading the river and seaports throughout the Entrolusian Delta. Sethbert’s reinforcements would come by foot, and his supply chain would come by land now rather than by water. The lines of war had not been clearly drawn, but at the very least he could see the shape and size of what loomed ahead.
If Rudolfo was as strong as Vlad had made him to be, the war would soon be behind him. The library would be underway. The Order would limp to the shadows and simply die of its wound. His daughter would raise a child that mixed the Gypsy King’s strength with the cunning of the Tam. The light would flickeUht andr but would not go out.
But at what cost?
Vlad Li Tam sighed and sipped his pipe again.
Chapter 24
Rudolfo
Rudolfo crouched at the forest line and felt the magicks take him. Twice now the unseemly task fell to him, and as much as he disliked it, it was necessary and practical if he were to accompany his men on the raid.
As if reading his mind, Gregoric shifted
uncomfortably beside him, and Rudolfo heard the muffled crunch of pine needles. “I wish you’d reconsider, Rudolfo,” the first captain said, voice muffled with the magicks. He’d dropped the title… something he only did when he was speaking more as friend than soldier.
Rudolfo looked at the patch of night where Gregoric crouched. “You’ve known me for how long, Gregoric?”
“All of my life.”
He nodded. “Then you’ve known what I would do since we crafted the strategy for tonight’s work.”
Rudolfo felt a hand on his shoulder. “Aye,” Gregoric said, “I’ve known it. But the world has changed, and so has your role in it.”
Change is the path life takes, Rudolfo thought, remembering the words of P’Andro Whym. “You suggest that for the benefit of the library, I take less risk?”
“Not just the library,” Gregoric said. “All that’s left of the Androfrancines is in your care and in the care of your Ninefold Forest Houses. You’ve also a wife and a people to think of now.” Gregoric paused, and Rudolfo could read the hesitation in his voice. “If you fall,” the first captain said, “this war will be over for us. If you fall, what’s left of the light may go out.”
Rudolfo loosened the twin scout blades in their sheaths at his belt. He preferred his long, narrow sword, but the magicks were better suited for knife-fighting, especially in the close quarters they allowed. “I will not fall, Gregoric,” he said in a low voice.
Rudolfo heard the thunder now, building in the north, and waited. When the Marsh King’s army appeared, moving fast and low across the plains and bathed in the blue green light of the moon, it looked like a black ocean rolling across the land. They rode silently, even Hanric, bearing down?theon the Entrolusian advance camps. Rudolfo stood and stretched. He could feel the magicks in his blood now, itching beneath his skin. He could smell the sweat of the horses behind him, mingled with the scent of ash and snow.
The Entrolusians had expected the attack. They’d leaked word to one of the spies they’d turned and had given him time to get that word to Lysias.