'In the Lord of All? Always did, like a good soldier. It's just you God-botherers I don't believe in.'
Preceptor DeBarres was the first to look away from Freedom. All across the valley, little groups of people were picking themselves up and beginning to walk or ride away.
He walked towards Gabriella and Crowe.
'Gabriella?' She looked round, and he saw the beatific smile that he knew he was wearing too. 'We should get back.'
'Back?'
'To the Order's encampment, to start with. Out of this valley, eventually. I'm sure you two could do with some food and a change of clothes, if nothing else.'
Gabriella blinked. 'Yes, I suppose…'
'Now that you mention it,' Crowe said, 'I do feel a bit peckish. And I could murder a drink.'
As they mounted up and cantered towards the Order's camp, DeBarres leaned in close to Gabriella. 'There's something you need to know. I think others knew what would happen at Freedom.'
'What others?'
'Eminence Kesar.' He caught her gaze with his, and she could see that he was aware of the severity of what he had just said. She didn't quite nod, but briefly lowered her eyes in a way that implied a nod. 'I won't pretend to know what it means,' he went on, 'and I suggest that you don't either.'
'I'm not the pretending type,' she said. 'I'll leave that to Crowe.'
A few weeks later, Eminences Rodrigo Kesar, Jan Voivode and Ludwig Rhodon were sat round a large table, going over scrolls of each others' reports on the events in Pontaine and at Freedom Point.
'Remarkable,' Voivode was saying. 'If only I could have been there, to see the Lord's clear light.'
'It was,' Kesar agreed.
'So, the assassination attempt on you, Ludwig, has been well avenged by Sister DeZantez and many people saved from the machinations of Kell and the Brotherhood. An excellent outcome. It's nice to have a victory to declare, after the lunacy of that business with Munch.'
Rhodon looked unsure. 'And yet many of those people who were saved from the Lord's power were almost certainly sinners and heretics. A minority, perhaps, but the numbers are unclear. What is clear,' he went on slowly, 'is that Sister DeZantez has shown… questionable judgement, at best.'
'You question her judgement?'
'I would go so far as to describe her actions as apostasy.'
Voivode slammed his hand on the tabletop as he rose angrily. 'Eminence! That suggestion is beneath you! Sister DeZantez has always been one of my most devout knights. You insult Preceptor DeBarres and myself by suggesting that one of our students has in any way — '
Rodrigo Kesar watched the eyes of the two other Eminences. Voivode's eyes were filled with righteous passion and Kesar didn't think that could be faked. Not by Voivode, at any rate. He prided himself that he might have been able to pull off such a performance but, then, he had been portraying a public face for so long that he had almost forgotten how not to do it. Ludwig Rhodon, on the other hand, looked pained. Whether that pain was due to his wound, the thought of a betrayal by DeZantez, or some other issue, Kesar couldn't tell. Not yet.
'Eminences,' he said quietly. 'I have met Sister DeZantez on several occasions and found her an admirable Knight and an admirable Enlightened One. However, I have also met her friend Travis Crowe and he is certainly a man of, at best, dubious character and morality.'
'He is a known associate of the Brotherhood,' Rhodon insisted. 'A gambler, smuggler of hard liquors, and worse. What possible reason could there be for an association between the two of them?
'DeZantez was also seen in the company of Sandor Feyn, a known Brotherhood figurehead.'
'Whom she executed quite properly,' Voivode snapped.
'And why was she trying to hunt down Feyn in the first place?' Rhodon asked. 'It wasn't part of her duties. She was supposed to hunt Kell. And don't give me any nonsense about the list of proscribed men. Kell was a bigger target.'
'It was at my suggestion,' Kesar interrupted mildly. That shut both of the other Eminences up. 'I find it troubles me when there is such a division between members of the Faith; especially between two such esteemed Eminences. It seems to me that there are questions which must be asked, when such an upset as this arises. Purely,' he added, with a nod to Voivode, 'to clear up any misunderstandings which may have arisen due to the confusion of recent times.'
'Is this the Anointed Lord's opinion as well?' Voivode asked.
'I would never presume to speak for her when not specifically authorised to do so, upon a specific matter.'
'Of course.'
The light that was funnelled down to the Anointed Lord's audience chamber was fading by the time Kesar entered. Katherine Makennon was already waiting for him, her long dress and woven hair as radiant as the room itself. 'I overhead the debate,' she said. 'Most interesting. Is there anything to Rhodon's concerns about this Sister DeZantez?'
'Probably not, but anything is possible.'
'Taking an arrow is a very affecting thing, I suppose,' she reflected, 'especially when one can't then take personal revenge on the man who did it. It's possible he simply resents her having cheated him out of such revenge.'
'The odds would favour that interpretation, yes.'
'I've never played the odds, Rodrigo, you know that. You made the right call. Let's keep an eye on everyone who was involved with this matter: DeZantez, Rhodon, DeBarres, everyone.'
'As your will, so mote it be,' Kesar agreed. He backed out of the room, leaving Makennon to her devotions.
Epilogue
Gabriella had finally accepted the duty to tend the church in Solnos until a new Enlightened One could arrive, but it was obvious to Crowe that she didn't intend to stay long. She spent most of the first day after they arrived by Erak's grave.
Crowe found her there when he came to say goodbye. If he never saw another member of the Faith or the Brotherhood again, he'd be very happy. With one exception. 'I'm sorry about…'
'You said that before. At the time.'
'I thought you might be more willing to believe it this time, Dez,' he said. 'And also, I'm going.'
'I thought you might.'
'Church isn't my kind of place. Sooner or later the new Enlightened One will get the roasting gibbets working again, and… I've got loads of sins still unaccounted for.'
'You could confess them to me.'
'No, I couldn't. Not to you.' He sighed. 'I know you think you'd be doing me a favour, but sometimes I just don't want to be a burden. Seriously.' He gestured towards the church's stable. 'I don't suppose you could spare a horse?' He was already eyeing a strawberry roan that looked right for him.
'No, I couldn't.'
'Pity.' He threw a saddle onto the horse, and mounted up. 'What can I say? I am a horse thief, among other things.' He galloped off down the street, half hoping she'd pursue him, but also glad she didn't.
'You'll be paying for that someday, Sinner!' he heard her call. She didn't sound particularly convinced.
Gabriella watched him go, feeling a momentary pang of regret. She went back into the church and knelt before the altar. Closing her eyes, she prayed for strength and wisdom.
Though she concentrated on her prayer, and on envisioning Erak swooping in the clouds of Kerberos, she kept having to bat away an annoying thought. It nagged her and worried her like a terrier with a rat and wouldn't let go.
