Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  “As you shuffle think about what lies ahead, not just for you, but for the whole of Mousehole. Those who have been here for some time, and those who have arrived more recently.”

  Lakshmi picked up the parchment cards and began to shuffle them. Despite her normal deftness she nearly dropped them twice. Eventually, she put them down in front of Rani and quickly moved back beside Harald, who gave her a quick kiss and a hug with his arm, which he left around her for comfort as Rani prepared to look at the cards.

  “Normally, when a reading is done, you use more cards than I will use tonight and you take a lot more time. In the last two readings that I have done however, because of the restrictions that have been placed on true sight I have only used four, and possibly because they were so important, their meaning was obvious.”

  “We will see what happens this time. It may well be that we have only completed a part of our destiny. I do know that some have said this very loudly.” I mean you when I say ‘very’. She looked meaningfully at Astrid. Damn, she just smiles at me.

  Rani laid out the four cards without doing anything to them and paused for some time before turning them over in order. The first card turned showed nine goblets standing on each other with water cascading down from the top one to the bottom three. There was some writing on the card. On one side of the card was a person kneeling and seemingly petitioning a ruler—a man in a throne with a crown on his head. “The nine of cups.”

  She turned the next card. On each side of the card was a man arrayed for war, one of whom held a woman, who stood between them, by the arm. Also between them, but below them, as if a part of the contest, was a sheath of three swords. “The three of swords.”

  She turned the third card. Again, it bore some writing and two figures, but this time the figures were a man and a woman. The woman had a club in her hand, while the man bore a drop spindle. Between them was a sheaf of four rods and around them were words in the same script as the last card. “It is the four of staves.”

  She turned the last card. It was upside down and showed the two moons with only part of each one lit up in a crescent. Beneath the moons were two women. One played a sitar while the other danced. Behind the women was a rural scene with a woman archer shooting at a stag. “The moons—reversed.”

  She closed her eyes and held her hands, face down over the cards. Now to divine what the cards mean in the context we find ourselves in. She emptied her mind of her own thoughts, holding the cards in the sight of her third eye.

  As she spoke, as it had in Evilhalt, her voice became slightly more detached. “The first card stands in the position of the enquirer, the person who is asking the question. In this case it is we the Mice, the people of Mousehole. The card is the nine of cups and the writing is in Old Speech and says success.”

  “In this position it signifies a place or people of a new beginning, and with difficulties overcome as well as, possibly, a favourable agreement. This card describes all of the persons in this room, in one way or the other; some have one meaning attached to them, others two and indeed some have all three.”

  “The second card stands for the history and influences, those things that hang over the question, often without the knowledge of the person who asks. Here we see the three of swords. It is a card of conflict and, in most readings means that there is strife between two mighty forces for possession of something or of someone. On the card two warriors lie in dispute over a woman.”

  “We know that some of us have been given destinies. We know that evil was in this village and the source of it lay in Dwarvenholme. We thought that those destinies were done, and we were possibly finished with them. I believe that what this card tells us is that the battle is far greater than what we have known before. Perhaps it is just one battle that is a part of a larger and more extensive war and, indeed, is merely a tiny part of the whole.”

  She paused. “The third card is what should be done. In some ways it is a contradiction. It is the four of staves. This is a card of peace. The words say ‘love’ and ‘pleasure’ and ‘respite’. It is a card that says to do little but attend to our own affairs, to take some time away from the battle. Perhaps it is best said that we should not seek trouble, but that we should tend to our own interests as best we can for a while. It will only be temporary, but we should look after ourselves and care only for those around us for a while.”

  “The last card is upside down, which is called reversed. The card itself is the major card of The Moons and in itself is a card of significance for all women. Reversed, this card will usually mean that there will be the light of dawn with clarity becoming apparent. It means a new hope for the querants and particularly for the women among them.”

  Rani lowered her hands, and opened her eyes and looked around at the onlookers. “I am surprised,” she said. “Unlike my last reading, which counselled urgent action to bring people to justice, these cards tell us something very different.” She pointed at each card as she spoke.

  “We have here a new beginning in our valley. For all of us, in one way or another, the past is put behind us and we are new people. Around us rages a vast conflict of which we have seen only a tiny glimpse. I would venture to say, from what I feel, that we are caught in the eternal battle of good and evil and, for some reason that I cannot discern, have been thrust into an important role.”

  “We should, however, now take some time out from our battle for ourselves and our partners and our children. There will be birth and growth to be experienced and enjoyed. We should enjoy calm before our next move, perhaps, a greater battle, the nature of which shall become apparent as we do what we feel we have to do.”

  “It is an odd reading, but very clear in its meaning. I can only say that I very much look forward to what the good Father has to add to this tomorrow.”

  She looked around the room. “Again, I thank you all for coming. We will hear from Father Christopher in the morning…and then we have some unpleasant business to transact as well. Sleep well and think on what you have seen.” She gathered her cards and wrapped them in their cloth before placing them in her belt and leaving to tell Theodora what had transpired.

  Rani

  14th Primus

  Mass is very well attended this morning. Our chief priest has made special mention of the fact that today was the feast day of Saint Hilary, the patron of lawyers, and that we have matters to consider later today concerning judgement. He sought the intercession of his Saint to assist us in making a wise decision. I admit to a rare prayer to Ganesh on the same subject.

  When Father Christopher had finished the service, he moved to behind the tall table with a box on it that he was using as a lectern and looked around. “It is now time for me to see if I can add anything to what the Princess said last night. I will again use only the older books, partly because that is what I used before, and partly in deference to those who do not use the Gospels.” He looked around the room. “However, first I will ask all of you who can in conscience do so, to kneel in prayer and I will ask for guidance to be given us.”

  After the prayer was finished, he closed his eyes and reached in front of himself for Bianca’s Old Testament. His hands found it and allowed it to fall open on the table, after which he placed his finger somewhere in it at random. When he had it placed, he opened his eyes and looked down.

  “I am reading,” he said, as he looked up again, “from Isaiah, the thirtieth Chapter and the eighteenth verse.” His eyes return to where his finger lies on the page: “‘And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgement, therefore blessed are they that wait for him.’ Amen.”

  He is looking up from his reading and directly at where I sit beside him. “I believe that once again, as we did in Evilhalt and earlier here, we have a concurrence of opinion between our two sets of guidance. God has cle
arly guided us and we are instructed to wait and that judgement will come in time.” He is turning to the others now.

  “Like the Princess, I am puzzled by this and what can come from it, but what I have just read seems to be quite clear and in agreement with what we heard last night.” He bowed his head silently for a moment before he gave a short prayer of thanks, followed by the benediction and urging everyone to move off to have breakfast. I need to think and pray as well. There is no doubt on what we must do, but why? What are we preparing for?

  Chapter XXXII

  Rani

  14th Primus

  How do we question and try the prisoners? They are going to die. From what the girls have told me, I know that. However, before they die, it is essential that we find out what the prisoners know. This ‘time of waiting’ we are having is also a time of renewal and rest and regrouping. Surely a part of that is gaining information to help us stay safe and for seeing what comes to us.

  It is a time to reflect on what lies ahead and to think. We already have the rough location of one of the Masters’ pentagrams, somewhere on the docks in Pavitra Phāṭaka, and Conrad, who used it, is now dead, but the device is still there and could have others using it. If we can locate the users, then we can get other names as well.

  These men probably know who one of the Masters’ people was…Astrid’s former betrothed in Wolfneck. What we need to know is how far the whole network spreads. There has to be at least one contact in the Brotherhood, possibly one in Darkreach and there could be several in Freehold.

  Bianca has said that the bandits had placed men with her caravan by getting a friend to poison some of the guards. That should mean that there is at least one agent in Toppuddle, at least temporarily, and somehow, they knew of the old book that was on the caravan. That would mean that they had at least one person in a position to find that out.

  There may even be more there, seeing what Theodora told me about what the Metropolitan said about Freehold preparing for war. Is there someone also working in the Caliphate? Ahmed and his carpet had apparently visited there regularly, but it is possible that may have been for his own reasons. We have no idea. What is more there is almost certainly at least one in the Swamp. Conrad had not known where, but it seems inevitable.

  Each of these areas presents its own problems. Can I even go back to Haven now? The Brotherhood will kill most of our people on sight as devil worshippers. Ayesha may have difficulty in the Caliphate, as will most of our women.

  Freehold will be as harsh on Father Christopher as the Brotherhood will be, and I am reluctant to go anywhere without our healer. He has kept us alive, at great cost and risk to himself. In Wolfneck, the man we seek probably has the backing of the community and Astrid will not necessarily have that.

  Apart from visits to the Metropolitan at Greensin, ironically possibly the only safe place for us to actually start will be Darkreach. Who would have thought that everything that I have been taught about that place is now overturned, and it will be possibly the one place we can venture with some degree of security, that is if we can find any shelter at all outside our valley.

  I can put it off no longer. I discussed what to do with Bianca and Astrid and their partners last night. Bianca had told me what she thought about why the questioning had become easier as time went by and the time has come, with Ruth having the children in their classes now, to put everything into place.

  She sighed and dressed and got Theodora to do the same and sent Valeria to get the rest of the players ready for their little play. I hope that those who will unwittingly be both the audience and also the key players will take the lines that they are supposed to use and react to the planted cues properly. Is this what rulers really do? Is it all really a play and a bluff?

  The prisoners had been shackled and gagged and were brought by the farmer Giles and Hulagu, two of the largest of the men, to the hall. They are staring wildly about them. Basil, by far the smallest of the three, led them and he makes it obvious that he is in charge of them all.

  The three village men are all dressed in black leather and look as close to being in uniform as we can make them. We sit on the largest chairs up at the front wearing our Court garb. Beside my Princess is Aziz, dressed in his leather kilt and with his huge heavy scimitar unsheathed and laid across his crossed arms.

  Beside me is Bianca, dressed like the men in black leather, but with most of her knives strapped on the outside of her clothes for a change and looking very menacing. She has Verily behind her dressed all in brown leather, as we cannot put her in black, but she also has her knives strapped on visibly. She looks like an assistant. Father Christopher stands beside Bianca in his vestments.

  Most of the rest of the village stood around in a ring with a gap in the centre. They had been told to dress in as warlike a fashion as they could. It is an utter failure for little pregnant Parminder and tiny Bilqĩs is not much better. She looks more like an angry Gnome than anything else. At least she has chosen to dress and look like a mage and the slavers will not know that the wands she has strapped to her are just empty sticks at present.

  Rani looked to the side. Bryony and Goditha hold Make fast between them so that she can see what happens. Both look alert to the likelihood of her doing something stupid.

  The men were forced to their knees in front of the Princesses. “I am the Princess Rani Rai and this is my partner, Princess Theodora. If you look at her, you will see that she is from Darkreach, indeed, that she is from the Imperial line. I believe that you have already talked with Astrid. Between you stands Astrid’s husband. He is an officer in Hrothnog’s pay.”

  “Before we start, I should in conscience tell you that your lives are already forfeit…not for being slavers as such, but for being slavers who sold children for sex. We have followed Darkreach in this area by making such a sale a capital crime, wherever and whenever it was done.”

  “Your lives are also forfeit for what you have done to some of the women here when you have been selling people to the bandits that ruled here before us, their rape and maltreatment. The only thing that is in question for us now, is for us to decide exactly how you are going to die. I think we will largely leave that question in your own hands and let you, to a degree, decide your own fate.”

  She paused and looked around at the women and drew a breath. “I believe that Astrid has told you how others have died at our hands. This,” and she pointed, “is the Presbytera Bianca. She is the one who Astrid told you about.” Bianca smiled sweetly at the men and started, as if unconsciously, slipping one of her knives in and out of its sheath just a little way. Their eyes widened a bit at that. She looks so innocent.

  “We have decided that the first one of you who talks, the one who tells us who gave you orders, who gave you messages, who gave you shelter and anything else you know…the one who satisfies the person who is asking you questions first, that one will die quickly. The other will be handed to the ladies, some of whom you know intimately, to do with as they will.”

  “Previously, we have been rushed for time and we have made them finish an execution with the fall of the dark. Now we have far more time available to us, and we may let them take more time, perhaps even a week or more.”

  The men are straining at their gags, twisting and staring wildly at the women behind them. The women are beginning to look both wild and happy at the same time. Some of the women have the faces of feral beasts instead of their own…quite scary.

  “If neither of you is willing to talk when you are first asked, then the Presbytera will have to talk seriously to you, before you get to leave this plane. As well, then I will not say who will go quickly and who will go slowly. You will pass away from this world only as the ladies behind you allow you to. Nod if you understand me.”

  The men are both nodding. Sweat is standing out on one man’s brow and his gaze is fixed on Verily. Rani turned her head. She has a knif
e in her hand and blowing the man kisses and then making cutting gestures with her hands as she points to his groin…not nice.

  Rani looked at the men’s attendants. “Take them out now and keep them separate. Record exactly what they say, and the first man to have his recorder back here with a full confession will win a speedy death.” She nodded, and the men were hauled to their feet and carted off.

  I can see from his groin that one of them has already wet himself in his fear. Bianca silently followed one, and Verily the other to remind them of the next step if they did not talk.

  Rani waited until they were gone. “Thank you all for coming like this. I think that we will see them back soon, so you can either wait or you can go and get some rest, or you can even go and watch them confess. You will not miss anything here as we will make sure to call for you when they come back.” She stopped talking. Let them work out whether to go or stay…now the next part. “We would like to see Make and Maria next.”

  Several of the women were hurrying out of the room, possibly to cheer on the questioning. While that was happening, Make was brought forward, while Maria came up by herself. Rani turned to Theodora. “Well, that seemed to work well.”

  Theodora nodded. “I was taught that a brave man dies only once, but a coward dies a thousand deaths. These men are surely evil men, and I think that evil people have some flaw inside them that will make them weak and, at heart, cowards…that is if you can find the right thing to break them. I think that we have found that thing.”

  Make is now standing nervously in front of us. She is wondering on her fate. Rani looked at her. She is trembling and looks ready to collapse, she keeps stealing glances at Theodora and at Aziz. “Someone bring the silly girl something to sit on.” Valeria quickly brought a stool and the girl collapsed on to it.