Four and Twenty Blackbirds

Another startled glance from Tal made her nod. 'This isn't the first time I have suspected a Priest-Mage of wrongdoing,' she told him with brutal frankness. 'The only difference is that all the other times I at least had actual suspects. Now I have only the—what did you call it?—the signature?'

'The signature,' he confirmed. 'The methods and the victims change, the settings change, but the signature stays the same. There are some very basic needs being addressed here. A great anger is being fed, and I suspect there is some—' He hesitated.

'Sexual link?' she asked shrewdly. By now he was over being shocked or surprised by anything she would say, and nodded.Probably due to the fact that I suggested it could be a Priest. 'If itis a member or former member of the Brotherhood, that would not be a surprise. Sometimes the appearance of chastity is used as a disguise rather than being part of a vocation. Sometimes it is used as an escape. Sometimes it is a symptom of a great illness of the spirit, rather than being embraced joyfully.'

He nodded, his face very sober. 'Domination, manipulation, and control; that's what drives these murders, for certain. Maybe revenge.'

'With the ultimate control being, of course, the control of the victim's life and death.' She nodded her understanding. 'Not one constable in a hundred thousand would have reasoned that out. I do not think my confidence is misplaced.'

She would have said more, possibly embarrassing the man, but Kayne returned at that moment. 'Your belongings are in your quarters, as are your uniforms and your first-quarter pay, Inquisitor Rufen,' she said as she came in the door. 'Your mules are in the stables, and you will have just enough time to clean yourself and change into a uniform before dinner, where you will have an opportunity to meet the rest of the Abbey Guards. And by the time you are ready for dinner, your papers will also be ready and I will bring them to your quarters.' She beamed at both of them, and Ardis rewarded her.

'Well done, Kayne, very well and efficiently done, and thank you.' She stood up, and Tal Rufen did likewise, again making the genuflection when she extended her hand. 'That will be the last time you need salute me in that fashion, unless we are in the presence of others, Inquisitor,' she told him. 'I do not stand on formality in private with my associates.'

He stood up, and gave her a half salute. 'Thank you, High Bishop,' he said, with more feeling than he had yet shown under any circumstance. 'Thank you for—'

He was at a loss for words, but she already knew what he would have said if he could have. 'Thankyou for competence and courage,' she replied. 'Thank you for being ethical, even at a cost. Both of you. Those traits are too rare, and should be cherished. Now, if you would?'

Kayne took the hint, and so did he. The new Inquisitor followed her secretary out the door, and she resumed her chair, wondering what box of troubles she had just opened even as she turned her eyes towards her page.

Chapter Five

Ardis could no more have settled down to a book now than she could have renounced the miter and gone back to being a simple Priest. She rose from her desk, but rather than pace as she might have done when she was younger, she turned with a soft sigh of heavy woolen robes and went directly to the small altar in the corner of her office. She genuflected, then knelt there, and clasped her hands on the rail before her.

Put your body in the attitude of meditation, and your spirit will follow.That was the precept, and she had generally found it to be a true one. This time was no exception; as she stared at the Eternal Flame upon the altar, she found her mind slipping into the proper state where she could examine what she had just done without any emotion intruding. Now she played Justiciar for her own actions, answerable to her own conscience and the will of God.

Had she been too hasty in coming to a decision? Had she been so desperate for a way to shift the burden of Gwydain's request from her shoulders to someone else's that she had grasped at the first opportunity to be shed of that responsibility that presented itself?

The answer to the second question wasno. Decidedly not. Murder was a dreadful thing, Tal Rufen was accustomed to solving dreadful crimes, and hewanted —in fact already had assumed—that burden. If he was forever after this night unable to solve these murders and stop the fiend responsible, he should be honored for that. That he had not been aware of the murders of Gypsies and Free Bards meant nothing; there was no point in launching a belated second investigation when Tal Rufen was already well along on his. All she had done was to make it possible for him to continue the work he was already doing—and it just so happened that her problem and his were the same.

I would make a very poor constable, just as I would make a very poor carpenter. Rather than solving this set of crimes—or building a house—it is far better that I give those whose business it is all of the means at my disposal to do what they are suited for. What was the point of having authority if you did not delegate it appropriately? What was the point of having rank if you did not exercise it in order to smooth the way for someone accomplishing something important?

No, she was not shirking her responsibility. If Tal Rufen got himself into trouble with Captain Fenris or Duke Arden she would bear the brunt of the blame. Not that this was likely, but she had known when she ordered Kayne to write up those papers that she would be answerable not only to the secular authorities, but to the Conclave of