"My brother used to go there," the woman admitted. "But I haven't seen him in a couple of months."
This was unusual. In rural communities, few people tended to move around much unless they joined a mercenary band. People grew from their roots and those roots tended to remain planted in the same fields.
"You have no idea at all, where he went?"
"Only what I heard one of his friends say. Then he disappeared as well."
Gabriella gave her a sympathetic look. "Tell me what you've heard."
"He said he was going to his freedom. Somewhere there was no Final Faith."
"Freiport?" Erak said.
"Not according to Joca. He said he was going to a place far from the Final Faith. I think that he said it was south of here."
"Now I know he was dreaming."
The woman looked offended. "He wasn't dreaming. He had a map to where he was going. He called it his map to freedom, and it was definitely south."
"Do you still have a copy of this map or did you ever see it?" The woman hesitated and Gabriella knew her answer. "What did it show?"
"I don't remember many details."
Something that the woman had said did strike a chord with Gabriella, though. She had heard the word 'freedom' used as though it referred to more than just the usual concept once before.
"Did Joca know a man called Scarra? Karel Scarra?" Gabriella asked.
"Not that I know of. If he did, he never mentioned him to me."
"Goran Kell?" The woman shook her head again and Gabriella thought hard. What was that rank that the Brotherhood had given to Kell? "Did he ever mention a Bishop?"
"Yes," the woman said, sounding surprised. "He did once say something about a Bishop getting him his freedom."
Gabriella knew that the woman deserved some punishment for having known about the Brotherhood and their Dreamweed den and not reporting them, but she had clearly suffered enough. She needed the Faith's help to help herself.
"Will you do something for me?" she asked. The woman nodded. "Recite the Prayer of Atonement each day, from the next Tenthday until the one after." The woman nodded again, more gratefully this time and Gabriella knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would do just as she had been told.
The Church of Syrall in the old waggoner's shed had a strange octagonal altar and a portrait of an old man on the wall.
The Church was deserted and had been for some time. A few fragments of rotted scrolls lay in the corners. Gabriella wasn't sure whether to be happy about that, or troubled.
"All gone."
"Could they have been warned that we were coming?"
Gabriella laughed mirthlessly, and used a fingertip to draw a line in the thick dust. "Dust and decay, Erak. Nobody has been in this place in weeks. Not running from us," she said to herself, "but just disappeared into thin air."
"Could it be true, what that woman said?"
Gabriella looked sceptical. "A land to the south bereft of the Faith? I suppose if it was a Brotherhood stronghold, perhaps… But here's a thing. Joca mentioned a Bishop to his sister. A Bishop holds the same rank in the Brotherhood as an Eminence does for us. He would be the highest ranking man in a particular area."
"This area, in Kell's case."
"Exactly. So the Bishop for here is Kell, and Scarra said Kell had gone to Freedom. If it's an actual place, it must be south of here?"
Erak nodded thoughtfully. "We still need to find the Golden Huntress. Even if Kell's not there and its not this Freedom place, there must a link onwards from there."
They walked back to the church. While Erak went through to see how Stoll was getting on with the prisoner and to keep the Enlightened One informed with what they'd learned, Gabriella went into the vestry and looked for the copy of her map to Warrigan's place. There was no sign of it, though she distinctly remembered putting it down on the table before.
"Gabe!" Erak burst into the vestry with a shout. He had drawn his sword, and Gabriella drew hers instinctively, before even asking what the threat was.
"What is it?"
"Where's Stoll?"
"Isn't he with the prisoner?"
"See for yourself."
They went into the cloister where the door of the cell was hanging open. Gabriella looked inside and was shocked to see that it was completely empty. There was no sign of either the prisoner or Stoll. "He must have sobered up quicker than we expected."
"Or was faking it," Erak suggested grimly. "Not every man responds to alcohol the same way."
"He might have taken Stoll. Perhaps as a bargaining chip," And then she was running through the church.
"Enlightened One!" She called out. A couple of altar boys looked round. "Have any of you seen Enlightened One Stoll?"
"He left about half an hour ago," one of the boys said.
"Who was with him?"
The children looked at each other then back at her. "No-one."
"Did he say where he was going?" Erak asked.
"No."
"Damn!" Gabriella ran the length of the church and took the steps down to the plaza in one jump. Erak followed, as she ran round to the stables and threw a saddle onto a horse. "Taken Stoll, my arse, Erak!" She threw a saddle to him.
Erak rushed to his mount. "What do you mean? You think Stoll — "
"Either he let that lad go, or he left him alone and didn't keep an eye on him. Either way, one of them took the map, and is going to Warrigan's cottage."
"Why?"
"The Brotherhood man must have known something that we're not supposed to know and so must Warrigan."
"The location of the Huntress?"
"Could be. Either Stoll must have thought he could get to Warrigan while we were searching the tannery, or the prisoner thought that. Either way, its where we have to go."
"Why would they need the map? They both must know the way."
"To stop us from following so quickly. They won't be expecting me to remember the way."
"And whichever one went there probably got there already"
Gabriella had finished saddling her horse and mounted. "Then we'll find an empty cottage."
Gabriella remembered the way well enough. Her and Erak's horses' hooves bit at the earth as they pounded along the path between Solnos and the escarpment that separated it from the outlying lands of Fayence.
Gabriella felt a mixture of gut-churning dread and blinding anger. How could an Enlightened One have betrayed them? There was a horse tied up outside the cottage when they reached it. Gabriella and Erak dismounted where the cart-track turned towards the building.
"We're in luck," she said. "It looks like our man is still there."
"Or he's dead."
"I hope not," Gabriella said grimly. "There's a lot of questions I'd like to ask him."
She led the way, keeping low. Gabriella had no intention of inviting arrows towards Erak or herself. They rustled through the long grass in a crouch, expecting at any moment to either hear a cry of alarm, or feel the heavy punch of an arrow smashing through ribs.
Neither thing happened and Gabriella rose to press her back against the wall next to the cottage's door.
Cautiously, she pressed her ear to the door and heard Stoll's muffled voice.
"Do you really need that? Brand and DeZantez will be here shortly!"
"You took the maps," a rough voice said.
"A gamble for a little time. DeZantez has been here before. She scouted the whole area. Just grab what you truly need and get out to the Huntress. I've already dealt with one potential leak, but I must implore you — "
Gabriella kicked the door in, drawing one sword as she pushed through into a cramped room filled with stout furniture and the smell of peat-smoke. Stoll and Warrigan spun round. Warrigan was a solidly-built man, who looked like a brawler.
"Sister DeZantez," Stoll gasped. "I was just… questioning Warrigan. I remembered you mentioned he might be of help to us. He's admitted to running the Golden Huntress."
Warrigan
glared and reached towards a sword hanging from a belt on a wooden stand. Erak darted through the back door of the cottage and kicked it away from him.
"Warrigan, you will be returning to Solnos with us, to confess."
"To confess to what? That I run an inn? That's not illegal."
"You don't run an inn any more."
"You want to shut my place down. Why?"
"Because you encourage and profit from sin and immorality."
"Sin and immorality? You mean the enjoyment of simple pleasures of the flesh? Pleasures, I might add, which harm no-one and make life more bearable. God gave us this flesh, you know. And the ability to feel any pleasures it feels. He must have had a reason."
"God gave us the means, the right and the obligation to create and nurture future generations to spread His word and to carry mankind to the point where he can become one with God. Reckless pleasuring for fun is a perversion of that intent and, more practically, a diversion from it."
"Oh," Warrigan drawled sourly, "I see. Yet Makennon gives her blessing to the marriage of Kalten's son when everybody knows the bride has one in the oven already. The happy couple having had their reckless pleasure. And the Faith shows their support for that."
"God created us imperfect, so we would learn and strive to better ourselves. Occasionally individuals make mistakes, but mistakes are a thing to be taught from and to learn from. They're part of the striving to better ourselves. There's a world of difference between erring and simply by being human — which can be forgiven — and systematically urging people to go astray. Exploiting people's weaknesses and mistakes, rather than teaching them how to not make those mistakes."
"You learned that speech in the seminary I suppose?"
"Yes. That doesn't make it untrue."
"And what do you think? If you're allowed to that is."
She smiled. "I think we do people a favour. How embarrassing must it be to be so unattractive that you have to pay for something most people enjoy for free?"
"Enlightened One Stoll gives special dispensation, you know. He takes a cut every time Travis Crowe brings in a wagon of something interesting from Turnitia or Freiport."
"Travis Crowe?"
"He's a smuggler. Allegedly."
"Sounds like an interesting fellow."
"He likes to think so."
"Perhaps I'll ask him about his friends."
"He won't tell you."
Gabriella didn't answer. Instead, she turned to Erak. "Get him out of here."
When Erak pushed Warrigan out of the cottage at sword-point, Gabriella re-sheathed her sword and regarded Stoll for a moment. He edged toward the door and she stopped him, with a hand on his chest.
"Just a moment," she said. "That was brave of you." Gabriella chose her words carefully, not rushing through them. "Good work, Enlightened One. Unfortunately while you were away, the prisoner escaped."
Stoll looked appalled. "Escaped?"
"He must have waited for you to leave, then stopped pretending to be drunk and picked the lock on his cell. He's long gone."
"I see…"
"Now let's get this sinner back to town, and send for a Confessor from the cathedral at Andon."
Outside, Erak had tied Warrigan's hands and put him over his horse's saddle-bow. Stoll mounted his own horse and Gabriella pulled Erak a couple of steps aside.
"Erak," she whispered.
"What about Stoll?"
"Neither of them know we're onto Stoll. Let's keep them separate."
"You're plotting something?"
"The Lord gave us wits to use. It would be wrong to let them lie fallow."
"What now?" Erak asked. He had settled into a pew in Solnos' church. Gabriella was conferring with a Healer, who poured the contents of a paper sachet into a water jug held by an altar girl. The Healer left the church and the girl went through an interior door.
"Now Warrigan sleeps for a couple of hours and wakes very refreshed."
"And talkative?"
"Is Stoll secured?"
"The Healer promises me that the draught we gave him will keep him out for at least a day."
"Good. I wonder whether he released the lad, or…"
"He'll tell a Confessor. We'll send a message to Andon, reporting what we've learned. The goblins said to be on the loose, Stoll's betrayal, all of it. Request a Confessor and a new Enlightened One for the parish."
"I'll take care of that."
Now that they were alone, Erak got to his feet, and hugged her. "My father always said the same thing, you know."
"What thing?"
"That the Lord gave us these wits to use."
"You must remember to pass that one on."
"I have a list." He tapped the side of his head. "In here. Most of it's farming stuff, I'm afraid. Not much use to a young Sword."
"Even a young Sword has to eat."
Warrigan woke feeling more refreshed than he had in years. He had dozed off after the simple meal brought to his cell by a pretty altar girl and was vaguely surprised. He had been convinced his dread would keep him awake all night.
He was even more surprised to find that the sleep had done him good. He felt more awake and alert than he had in days. If he wasn't locked in this poky little room that smelled of stale bread and stale robes, he thought he could probably do more with the day than he ever had. He glared at the cell door and that was when he noticed a piece of parchment lying at the foot of it, sticking out from under the wood. When he reached down with a calloused hand to pick it up, it caught on the door and the door jerked inwards slightly.
He stared at it in disbelief and glanced down at the parchment.
'Get out quickly,' it read, 'the two Swords have been dealt with — Stoll.'
Warrigan tugged experimentally at the door and it juddered open. There was no sign of guards outside. Satisfied, Warrigan wasted no time in following the note's advice. He crept through the empty church as silently as any ghost, and hopped down the steps to the deserted plaza.
Gabriella and Erak watched from a darkened archway as Warrigan hurried along to the inn on the corner of the marketplace and had a hushed conversation with a man on the doorstep. The man disappeared after a moment and soon returned on a pale grey horse. He dismounted and handed the reins to Warrigan.
Warrigan galloped off and Gabriella stepped out to watch him. Already, a dozen soldiers in the tabards of the Swords were materialising silently out of the shadows, leading horses. One handed a set of reins to Gabriella, who mounted immediately. Erak took another. Within a few moments, they were clattering out of Solnos, at just the right distance to keep Warrigan in sight without the sounds of the hooves alerting him to their presence.
Gabriella led the group, while Erak brought up the rear, with the soldiers in between. As they moved out on to the road leading south, Erak was only partly surprised to see another rider off to his right. This one was veering away to the west. Erak galloped up closer to Gabriella and told her what he had seen.
"Might be a rearguard for Warrigan," he suggested. "If he is, they might have a shortcut planned where the rearguard can catch up and tell Warrigan if he's being followed."
"He must have seen us."
"I'll take two men and go after him." Gabriella nodded, and Erak wheeled his mount around. Pointing to two soldiers and beckoning them to come with him, he rode after the other rider. Gabriella and the remaining ten men stayed on Warrigan's trail.
As Erak and his two men gained on the rider heading west, Erak began to think there was something familiar about him. He was dressed in black, with shaved head and a topknot. With a start, Erak realised he matched the picture Gabriella had drawn of the man who had attacked her in the alley.
For a moment he considered sending one of the men back to follow her and tell her that here was a chance for revenge. Better sense quickly prevailed; she had a more important job tonight and he wasn't going to give this bastard a second chance at her life. He spurred his horse onwards, the two soldie
rs keeping pace with him.
Warrigan led them south to a trail that led up to the top of the escarpment, then headed east until he descended into a natural bowl with a small lake at the centre. A stream led past several buildings and a horse corral.
"The Golden Huntress," Gabriella said to her soldiers.
It was a two-storey affair that seemed to have been converted from a sprawling farmhouse. She kept her distance for the moment, observing the den of ill repute. There were only a handful of horses in the corral and from what she could see through the windows of the Huntress, the place didn't look like very full. Perhaps it was simply too early in the day. Drinking, gambling, smoking Dreamweed and whoring were all things most people seemed to do late in the evening.
"Your orders, Enlightened Sister?"
"Let's knock on their door."
Travis Crowe woke with a scream dying in his throat. It was mercifully dark in the room, but he was still blinking the green and purple spots out of his eyes as the whore next to him sat up.
"What's happening?" she asked.
He caught his breath; it was a difficult chase. "Nothing," he said at last. "Just a bad dream."
She reached under the sheets and gripped what she found there. "Couldn't have been that bad. You paid enough for the whole eclipse and there's still a while till sun-time you know."
He stared into the darkness for a moment, concentrating on getting his bearings. "You know all the right things to say to a man, don't you?"
"We learn pretty fast in this business."
Crowe grinned. "So, how much more have I bought?"
The girl leaned on one elbow for a moment, just looking at him.
"Don't go anywhere," she said, rolling off the bed. She disappeared through a door, and reappeared a moment later, with another girl. This one was a little shorter, but just as pretty and just as naked. Good enough for Crowe. "This much," the first girl said.
Crowe leaned back and grinned, certain that this was shaping up to be one of the best days of his life.
Despite all his best efforts, the assassin's horse was outpacing those of Erak and the soldiers. The man didn't seem to have noticed that he was being followed, but his mount wasn't carrying so much weight. The Knight and soldiers were armoured, while the assassin was not and their horses began to tire sooner than his.
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