Lamentation

Petronus continued. “I wish it every day,” he said, “but I know it’s a net with all manner of holes in it.” He forced a smile to his lips. “The truth of it is that given what I knew then, I made the best decision I could make. If I had stayed, I’d most likely be buried now with the rest of Windwir. And the work I’m now doing is far more important than any other I’ve been called to.”

Jin Li Tam nodded. “I understand.”

Petronus looked at the bird. “I will have Isaak check its memory scrolls and see what can be learned about this matter.” He paused, looking uncomfortable. “Your father and I were good friends once,” he said. “I would like to think that the boy I knew could not cause such darkness in the world.”

Jin Li Tam didn’t answer right away. She thought about Rudolfo-about his family and about his friend Gregoric. And she thought about the countless others her father and his father before him had bent like the course of a river to bring about their strategies in the world. She thought about the children-her brothers and sisters-that had been sacrificed along the way, no doubt in higher numbers than she would ever truly know. “My father,” she said, “is capable of much darkness.”

They sat in silence for a minute.

Finally, she stood. “Thank you for your time, Excellency.”

Later, when she was in her room, she sat on her bed and looked out of the window. Flowers were blossoming as spring took hold. The rains were finally letting up. She thought about Petronus’s words, and then she thought about the baby growing inside of her.

The work I’m now doing is far more important than any other I’ve been called to.

Jin Li Tam rubbed her stomach, and hoped that the light from this present work would outshine the darkness of her past.

Chapter 29

Rudolfo

The Li Tam estate was a flurry of activity when Rudolfo reached its unguarded gate. The large building towered above the palm trees, squatting over a green sea and white-ribboned beaches. Half of the iron armada was docked; the other half lay a†€…t anchor further out in the bay. Rudolfo saw crates, barrels and boxes stacked along the waterfront as servants loaded the ships.

He’d made the trip in six days-a wonder to be sure-and he’d only stopped when necessary. Riding alone and anonymous had its privileges-one of them was the relative ease of finding accommodations along the way. Rudolfo used that time to plan out the confrontation ahead.

But when he arrived to find the gate unattended, the estate’s doors flung open wide and servants and children hauling boxes and crates through the gardens and down to the docks, it gave him pause.

They are preparing to leave. But why? He looked around again. They moved with methodical urgency and occasionally someone would shout out a question or a direction. There was a system, an underlying strategy, to how the work was laid out. And the workers were divided into crews.

Rudolfo singled out a middle-aged man with long red hair. “I am Rudolfo, Lord of the Ninefold Forest Houses and General of the Wandering Army,” he said as he bowed slightly. “I would speak with Lord Vlad Li Tam.”

The middle-aged man nodded. “He is expecting you.” He pointed to the far side of the estate. “Follow the smoke.”

Rudolfo sniffed the air, catching the faintest hint of smoke-and he could see it rising beyond the house. He set out across the garden, the smell growing stronger as he went. As he rounded the corner of the estate’s north wing, he saw the bonfire.

Vlad Li Tam stood by it, feeding it slender, bound volumes from a wheelbarrow. His back was to him, and Rudolfo thought how easy it would be to kill him.

Still, he could not. Because Vlad Li Tam would only put himself in that position if he had weighed it carefully and seen a favorable outcome.

Perhaps death was the favorable outcome he saw.

Rudolfo closed the distance between them as Vlad Li Tam tossed the last book into the fire and turned to the handles of his wheelbarrow.

He looked up. “Lord Rudolfo,” he said. “You’ll forgive me if I continue my work while we talk? I have much left to do.”

Rudolfo nodded.

“Very good,” Vlad Li Tam said. “Follow me then.” He pushed the wheelbarrow down a narrow path lined with bright flowers and through the open doors of his estate. Rudolfo followed him through the side entrance, walking just behind him as Li Tam rolled the wheelbarrow across the thickly carpeted hallway. They turned to the right and‹€ the rig then to the left past walls that were now bare but still showed the outlines of the art that had recently hung there.

“You are leaving?” Rudolfo asked.

Vlad Li Tam looked over his shoulder. “I am.”

They slowed and entered a vast library, its shelves scattered with a few leftovers-common books of little value orphaned on the shelves by hasty hands. “Where will you go?”

Vlad Li Tam shrugged. “I do not know. Away from the Named Lands.” He gave Rudolfo a hard look. “But my personal activities are of no concern to you. The Ninefold Forest Houses has a great deal of work and responsibility ahead.”

They moved past the shelves that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, stopping before one massive bookcase that stood slightly askew. Vlad Li Tam took hold of it with both hands and pulled. It swung open to reveal a room within a room-a smaller library decorated with a large rug, a small table and a single armchair. All but one of the shelves was now empty, and Rudolfo tried to calculate how many trips the man had made to the fire outside. All the books were identical-small, black-bound volumes standing neatly in a row. Vlad Li Tam started at one end, lifting a single volume as if weighing it in his hands.

Rudolfo’s eyes narrowed. “Regardless,” he said, “I am beginning to believe that your personal activities concern me very much.” He paused. “What relationship existed between House Li Tam and the heretic Fontayne?”

Vlad Li Tam balanced the book in the palm of his hand and remained silent for a moment. He carefully placed the book in the wheelbarrow. “Very well,” he said. Then, he straightened and turned to face Rudolfo, smoothing his silk robes. When he spoke, his words were clear and firm. “I sent him to instigate insurrection in the Ninefold Forest Houses and to murder your parents.” Then his voice became quiet. “He was my seventh son.”

Rudolfo’s hands curled around the hilt of his knife. He felt heat rising in his face. “Your son?”

Vlad Li Tam nodded. “I loved him very much.”

The words struck Rudolfo like a blow, and he did not know why. Perhaps it was the way the old man said it. “Why would you do such a thing?”

Vlad Li Tam sighed. “You of all people should understand why. Certainly, you know the First Precept of the Gospel of P’Andro Whym?”

Change is the path life takes. Rudolfo nodded. “Yes.”

“And T’Erys Whym’s First Assertion?”

It was the credo of his Physicians of Penitent Torture. Change can be forced by careful design and thoughtful effort. They carved their Whymer Mazes into the flesh of their patients and hoped, by traveling those labyrinths, to bring about lasting change-true repentance. “You know I am familiar with it.”

“A river can be moved,” Vlad said, “with enough time and pressure.” He turned back to the bookcase and took down another book. “So can a man… or a world.”

Rudolfo drew his knife halfway from its sheath. “You killed my family to effect some kind of change upon me.”

Vlad Li Tam nodded. “I did. But it is about far more than just you. It is about protecting the light.” His eyes were suddenly hot with quiet anger. “I’ve done my part for the light, Rudolfo. I’ve paid my price to its service. If you