the one who came home. The one who inherited even though he was the third son.”
“The Holy Lands are a harsh mistress. They devour all who come there. Are you involved with the Special Office? The Witchfinders in particular?”
“No. We don’t see that kind back home. There used to be a Brotherhood chapter house outside Salpeno. You’d see a few of them in the city. But they pulled out before Charlve the Dim died. Cherault, one of Anne’s clever villains, had a scheme for confiscating their assets. They found out. They left with all their wealth. Cherault contracted a wasting disease. It causes him a lot of pain. He’ll be a long time dying.”
“Are the two connected?”
Madouc was very attentive. And contemplative.
“Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that mechanically. Bad people don’t get what they’ve got coming. And good people die young.”
“And all we can do is trust that it’s part of God’s plan. Yes. You have children? On either side of the blanket?”
The Viscount glowered. “I insist on knowing what this is about.”
“Sit. Viscount. You don’t insist on anything. I’m a lowlife hiresword with no noble blood and no honor, even if I do command the Patriarch’s armies and embarrass his enemies regularly. How can you count on a man like that not to drop you off a bridge, or have you strangled and burned to deny your hope of resurrection? Or any of the other wicked things a man like me might do?”
“You’d lose your ransom.”
“Hardly a problem. The Count of Antieux will buy all the Arnhander prisoners I’m willing to wholesale. He wants to send their pickled heads to your sweet King Anne. Or he could sell them into slavery across the Mother Sea. He talks about that when he’s feeling particularly vengeful.”
Viscount Dumaine had turned pale. But he did not disgrace himself.
“He’s a mad dog, Count Raymone. If you Arnhanders insist on plundering the Connec, Raymone will make you pay in barrels of blood. But I don’t want to talk about that. I’m interested in a girl child named Vali Dumaine. About thirteen. Possibly younger. Found as a captive in a Sonsan brothel. She claimed she was being used as leverage to force her father to do something. Everyone who can answer to the truth or falsehood of the claim is dead. I look into it when I get the chance. This was a chance. You and your sister are the only Dumaines I’ve ever identified.”
“I can’t solve your mystery. Sorry.”
Hecht wished the Ninth Unknown was making a nuisance of himself, still. He could help with this. The Viscount was being truthful, in the main, but something not quite right was happening, too.
Might be interesting to have him stripped, to see if he didn’t have some little hidden tattoo.
Hecht asked, “You haven’t gone on crusade? Never been to the Holy Lands yourself?”
Dumaine eyed him several seconds before making a decision. “I went with my father.” That would be a matter of record, hard to hide. “I was a child. Eight when we left. Twelve when we came home. I pray God never again requires my presence in the east. Hell can’t be worse than the Holy Lands in summer. Or winter. Or any season in between.”
Hecht nodded. Some westerners felt that way. Others liked the Holy Lands well enough to stay. There were generations of crusaders, now, who had been born in the east and who offended their western cousins by having adopted local clothing and customs.
“I felt the same about Firaldia when I first came down. The summers were too hot and they never seemed to end. And snow was a rare treat instead of the natural state of the world.”
“I hear that’s changing.”
“It is. Definitely. People in the Chiaro Palace have been tracking the changes. They’re dramatic. With worse to come.”
Once Dumaine left, Hecht brought in Titus Consent. “There’s something not right about that man. Keep an eye on him. Have him be the last we let go home. Have you seen Bechter?”
Sergeant Bechter had been scarce of late.
“He’s still sick. They say he tries to get up and come in every day. Most mornings his body won’t cooperate. He’s old.”
“I miss having him underfoot.”
“If he could, he’d be there.”
“Is he getting good care?”
“He should be shipped back to the Castella. Let him live out his last years with his brothers.”
“He asked? You haven’t sent him?”
“I’ve asked him. He wants to stay here. Says this is where he belongs, now.”
“The old coot is too stubborn for his own good.”
“Lot of that going on around the heart of this army.”
Hecht refused the bait. “You checked up on Pella?”
“He’s having the time of his life. He’s decided that firepowder artillery will be his career. Rhuk says he has interesting ideas.”
“That’ll change. I just want to know that he’s all right. Don’t want to fuss in his life like I’m his mother.”
“He’s fine, Piper. But, really, he could use a little more interference in his life. He’s too raw for the independence you give him.”
Anna would agree. “All right. Create a training program for falconeers. Put him in. Keep him close and busy.” That should sound good to the boy. And needed only last till Bronte Doneto fully assumed the Patriarchal throne.
Hecht asked, “What future do you see for your boys, Titus?”
“These days, maybe the priesthood.”
“Security.”
“Yeah. Only, I’m afraid the opportunity won’t be there when they’re old enough. The monasteries are full of freeloaders now.”
Titus might be pulling his leg. It was hard to tell. “There’re always careers in military staff work.”
“But how many? Assuming I’d let my sons get into this insanity?”
Hecht frowned.
“You still don’t realize what you’ve done, do you?”
Hecht felt, too frequently, that he had no idea. He raised an eyebrow in invitation.
“There hasn’t been anything like the Patriarchal force since the Old Empire. Not in the west. In the Eastern Empire they have professional soldiers, enlisted and officers alike. Here, since the fall, there’s been no need. We mainly fight our neighbors, on the smallest scale. And a fear of standing forces, plus contempt for mercenaries, is the standard. The warrior class is especially hard on men who fight for pay. Except when they go into pay after their forty days themselves. But they’d argue that that’s a different animal.”
Why did Titus want to remind him of the obvious? Oh. Because he really was changing the shape of thought about professional soldiery.
Titus went on, “All of which is about to be undone.”
“Indeed?”
“Pinkus Ghort isn’t Piper Hecht.”
“Piper Hecht won’t be out of work.”
“So you’ll sign on with the Grail Empress.”
“I don’t see any alternative.” Whenever he considered retirement, as he threatened so often, a disappointed Helspeth Ege wormed into his thoughts and, like a song getting stuck, would not go away. “For a while. But don’t count on me actually invading the Holy Lands.”
“How would No? and the boys fit in Alten Weinberg?”
“I don’t know. It’s cosmopolitan. People from all over the Empire live there. I didn’t see much prejudice. But it’s bound to exist.” And in some minds Titus would always be a Deve, whatever religion he pursued. “I hear so much about the Holy Lands from pilgrims and returned crusaders, I know I don’t want to go there.”
Titus gave him an odd look but kept his thoughts to himself. He was fully invested in Piper Hecht’s imaginary past. If Piper Hecht fell, Titus Consent would follow.
