The Robin And The Kestrel

Th' girls spoil 'im rotten.'

Robin returned his grin. 'So now what do we owe you?' she asked.

He named a price she considered quite reasonable; she slid the coins over to him, and he pocketed them neatly. 'That includes safe-passage through th' Warren,' he said, as an afterthought. 'It'll be 'rranged 'fore ye reach th' door. That means most won't mess with ye. Some will, but th' rest'll leave ye be, 'cause if they mess w' ye, an' I find out 'bout it, well, I got friends in here now.' He looked about his establishment, and sighed pensively. 'Got so used to it, when time comes I can go back t' runnin' a real tavern again_well, I might not.'

And on that odd note, they left him, and made their way back through the Warren's noisome streets completely unmolested. As promised.

CHAPTER TWELVE

There was one truism that Kestrel had always found held up, no matter what happened. Crisis might come and go, war, tempest, disaster_but people still needed to eat and sleep, and somehow, business continued as usual

And if they were to go on with their ruse, no matter how they felt about the situation, they had to act as if they were exactly what they appeared to be; simple traders. The next day was a repetition of the first; getting up with the dawn in time to be in the square before Prime, selling God-Stars, listening to another of Padrik's sermons, and trailing into the Cathedral to watch more of Padrik's fake miracles.

This time, with Robin's demonstrations firmly in mind, Jonny was able to catch some of the trickery. He also noticed that many of the same people showed up to be 'healed' today as had yesterday_only today they were suffering from entirely new ailments! He had quite some time to study them as they lined up for their 'miracles.' There was definitely a similarity of features among them, as if they were all related.

Or are members of the same Gypsy Clan?

There were no demon-possessions today; evidently Padrik saved his more spectacular tricks to ensure that they didn't lose their impact, and didn't perform them every day. He did produce alms, and heal three cripples, two blind men, a deaf woman, five cases of gout, a woman with palsy, a man with 'a withered arm,' and a man with running sores on his leg. Today evidently was the big day for 'miraculous messages' from angels; he 'struck' three different Priests with rays of light, one red, one gold, and one white. They took turns relating messages from departed relatives to the grieving survivors. The one thing these people all had in common were tales of misfortune and woe, and they came seeking answers from those who presumably now had access to all of the wisdom of God.

Kestrel should not have been surprised at the answers, but he was. A great many of these spurious messages claimed that the misfortune that had brought the relatives here to consult with Padrik was due to inheriting 'tainted money' and urged the survivors to take what they had inherited and donate it to the Church. Padrik took the occasion to preach an extemporaneous sermon on the subject of the evil magic practiced by nonhumans, and how it tainted even the lives and the goods of those who dealt with them.

'Only by giving selflessly can the taint be washed away,' he told the hushed congregation. 'Only the Church has the power to cleanse and heal.'

And although a scant handful of those who had come to Padrik seeking an answer frowned or looked bewildered and walked away, several dozen more began to weep with hysteria and rushed forward to the waiting Priests. Presumably the Priests were quite prepared to help them with the arrangements for transferring their inheritance into the hands of the Church....

This time the angelic messages were very detailed, relating the circumstances of the person's life and death. Enough detail was included to bring gasps from those grieving relatives they were directed to, people the Priests identified by name. But Jonny had been watching and listening to what was going on in the crowd waiting for Prime Service while he had sold their Stars. His feigned muteness had fooled Padrik's corps of Priests into thinking he was deaf and probably feeble-minded; they had been out among the customers, questioning those who had bought the red and blue Stars for 'help in adversity.' They had worn ordinary clothing rather than the robes of their order, but something about the way they had spoken had alerted Jonny to the fact that these were no common folk. He had made note of faces_and lo! Here they were, in white robes like Padrik's, though not as elaborate.

So it was no word from 'angels' that gave the three Priests 'touched by the Hand of God' such detailed information on postulants_it was clever work beforetime by their fellow clergymen.

It was quite enough to make him sick, to see all these innocent people defrauded. And how could a man who was supposed to be protecting their souls, who was supposed to be giving them good counsel, be preying on them this way?

He left the Cathedral as disturbed as Robin had been angry the previous day. They returned to their wagon in silence; while she went back to her sales, he took refuge from his confused feelings by taking inventory of the Stars they had left, both the wall-Stars and the miniatures.