same sort of power as we do, but they have other methods which work just as well.”
“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
“You remember when you were fighting with the rebellion? I saw you coerce those young hot-heads any number of times and you didn’t know anything about the Harshini power you had access to. Tarja convinced three hundred rebels to attack a full Company of Defenders in Testra with nothing more than rhetoric. Every mother who cajoles her child into eating stewed turnips is using coercion.”
“What’s your point, Brak?”
“The point is that you could bully the heathens into fighting because, deep down, they wanted to. Every rebel who attacked Testra at Tarja’s behest secretly dreamt of victory. Even the child who eventually succumbs to the stewed turnips has hunger giving him a push. Coercing people to act against their will, is an entirely different matter. You have to get past their natural inclinations and then force them to move in a different direction. You are robbing them of any vestige of free will, and free will is something that runs so deep in the human soul it’s like trying to get the Glass River to flow backwards.”
“You think I don’t have the power to do it?” she asked, sounding rather alarmed. “The Karien priests can do it.”
“R’shiel, you could level a mountain if the mood took you. Your power is not the issue. As for the Kariens priests, their ability is an abomination. Remember that Xaphista was a demon once. During their initiation ceremony they drink his blood. And it’s not some slaughtered animal’s blood they’re drinking either, it really is Xaphista’s. The blood links them to their god in the same way we’re linked to our demons. Through that link they can call on his strength to weave the coercion.”
“But the link must be pretty tenuous,” she said. “Where did they get the power to coerce a whole army?”
“Individually they’re weak, but as a group they can be devastating.”
“You’re not worried I’ll start worshipping the Overlord, are you?” she asked with a grin.
Brak could have slapped her for being so flippant. She wasn’t listening at all. “It’s what will happen to these people afterwards, that worries me. If you coerce them into believing Joyhinia wishes to retire in favour of Mahina, then that’s exactly what they’ll do. But tomorrow, or the week after, or a year from now, when you’re not around to suppress their natural feelings, they will begin to wonder why. They’ll know they’ve been tricked. Mahina’s reign is likely to be even shorter than the last time. One dissenting voice will turn into two, which will turn into ten which will turn into an avalanche.”
“I’ve already told you, we’ll send the most likely dissenters away...”
He shook his head in exasperation. “It won’t matter. You have no way of knowing who is susceptible and who isn’t. The ones you think most likely to object may take to the coercion like it was mother’s milk. But there will be others, people you don’t even suspect, for whom the coercion will last less than a day. There will be nearly a thousand Sisters in that Hall, R’shiel. You can’t watch them all.”
“Then we’ll do something to keep them quiet. It only has to last long enough for Mahina to issue the orders sending the rest of the Defenders to the front. She can resign after that and they can hold another election —”
“Do what?” Brak cut in.
“I don’t know,” she snapped. “Maybe if they all got sick, or something...”
“You mean you’d create an epidemic just to keep the Sisters occupied?”
“I suppose. Nothing serious, just something that keeps them close to the garderobes for a few days.”
“I see. And when this epidemic spreads to the general population, as it will, what of the young, too weak to fight it? The old, too frail to withstand it? Are you ready to kill innocent people to keep your coercion from falling apart?”
“Then what do you suggest we do? We have to get the rest of the Defenders to the border!”
“Fine. Have Joyhinia issue the order. Have her resign, too, if you must, but the more complex the coercion, the more chance there is of it blowing up in your face.”
“But we need Mahina in charge.”
“Then put her in charge, but let her take control herself. If you impose an artificial control, the results could be catastrophic. Trust her to know what she’s doing. She got caught out once. I don’t think she’ll be so foolish this time.”
“What are you suggesting? That we get through the Gathering and then walk away?”
“Actually, I was thinking of running, not walking. One of the hallmarks of maturity for a Harshini is knowing when
“I’m not Harshini. Not completely.”
“You’re not completely human, either, but that’s no excuse for acting like an idiot. Consequences, R’shiel. I ask you again. Are you prepared for the consequences?”
She was silent for a moment, considering her answer carefully.
“The consequences of not acting are liable to be worse,” she said finally.
“You don’t know that for certain.”
“No,” she agreed, then she sighed. “Alright, I’ll grant you that letting Mahina establish control in her own right is probably safer than imposing it artificially. But I will have to coerce them into accepting her appointment at the Gathering.”
“And then we leave?”
“I suppose.”
“Good. I’ll be waiting outside the Hall with our horses. It’s too damned dangerous for you here R’shiel.”
“Dangerous? Compared to what? The border, where there’s a war going on?” She smiled wearily at him. “Show me how it’s done, Brak. We’re running out of time.”
Brak silently admitted defeat. He had done all he could to deter her, short of refusing her the knowledge outright. But she had felt it once before, the night before the battle. If he did not instruct her properly, he knew that she would simply try to copy what the Kariens priests had done, and the result might be disastrous.
The irony was, using simple human tactics, she was coercing him into showing her something he thought far too dangerous for her to learn. At least she had agreed to leave, once the deed was done. Brak couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had a feeling of impending danger and it had been growing steadily stronger ever since he had entered the Citadel.
He wished the Citadel was easier to read, easier to understand. He could feel its anxiety and it was making him very nervous.
Chapter 43
Loclon waited until almost sundown before finally accepting that R’shiel and her half-breed companion were not going to appear. Cold, wet and thoroughly disgusted, he made his way to the Blue Bull tavern to meet with Garanus and report his lack of success.
Loclon had thought the tavern an odd choice for a meeting place. It was far too public for his liking, and a Karien priest would stand out like a red-coated Defender in a snowstorm. Garanus had shrugged off his concerns. He had private rooms available, he said, and had paid the tavern keeper well to ensure her silence. Besides, it was Founder’s Day and the Citadel was full of strangers. A few more would barely rate a mention.
The rain had dwindled to a light drizzle about an hour after the First Sister arrived and had completely stopped an hour or so after that. Not wishing to be seen defying Garet Warner’s orders, he had paid an urchin to watch Francil’s Hall, and another to keep an eye on the Main Gate. It had proved a waste of good coin. Nobody even remotely fitting R’shiel’s description had entered the Citadel since the parade. She had either arrived early, or the priest was wrong.
Tavern Street was still crowded when he arrived, the revellers determined to get full value from the public holiday, particularly now the rain had stopped, although the air was bitterly cold and many of the party-goers stood hugging the small fires that lined the street. He pushed through them impatiently into the crowded taproom of the
