definitely not somebody anyone here wants playing the wicked mother-in-law. Katrin would be the best match for Regard.”
The moment he said that he started to worry. He saw the identical fear take root in Algres Drear.
Katrin Ege was close to Serenity. Jaime of Castauriga was not. Jaime remained an adamant supporter of Peter of Navaya, who made no secret of what Serenity could do with his Connecten ambitions. There would be armed confrontation this summer. Anne of Menand had to scramble to hang on to allies who were not inclined to face the victor of Los Naves de los Fantas and the hardened troops of the Direcian Reconquest.
The Empress could not divorce Jaime. But no especially clever Church lawyer would be needed to develop an annulment action. Katrin’s pregnancy problems could be laid off on Jaime’s whoring and consorting with the Night.
Drear nearly moaned. “If Katrin’s crowd think of that, they’ll be at her day and night. Her loving Jaime will become irrelevant. They’ll argue the good of the Empire. No Ege can resist that.”
“You’re right. The religious angle could make her spite her emotional attachment, too. She really does believe the souls of her subjects are her responsibility.”
“Just keep her fixated on the Holy Lands. Feed that obsession and starve the rest.”
“Of course. Don’t mention any of this to anybody. Those people have proven that they can get up to plenty of mischief on their own.”
Drear nodded.
Hecht continued, “I know you don’t want to accuse anybody. But how about suggesting a few people that I should keep an eye on?”
Captain Drear’s conscience proved more flexible than he pretended. He produced a generously annotated list. “Some of these won’t be deeply involved. Others you’d expect. And some might surprise us if it came time to take a stand.”
Hecht read. Drear’s penmanship was obsessively precise. And his rating of suspects definitely did include surprises.
Drear said, “I should get back. I don’t like leaving her unguarded.”
The Princess Apparent was not, of course, unguarded. She just was not guarded by Algres Drear.
“All right. Thank you. Real food for thought, this. One thing. Don’t take it all on yourself. The weight could break you. Then what good will you be? If you can’t trust anybody else, holler at me.”
The men locked gazes. Drear nodded. “I will.” He left.
Titus knocked.
“Come. You heard?”
“Not all, but enough.”
“Here’s his list. You’ll find some surprises. Maybe with personal meaning to our Braunsknecht friend. Watch as many as you can. Carefully. If Drear isn’t making it up, go ahead and make it obvious that we’re watching. That’ll start them complaining. But it should make the weaker ones run scared. I want to see Sedlakova, Rhuk, and Prosek as soon as they can come in together.”
After three tries the Commander of the Righteous caught the Empress feeling well enough to attend a demonstration in support of an idea he had presented and she had given a supportive nod but not final approval. “The actual show will take only a few minutes, Your Grace. But it does have to be seen to be understood.”
So the Empress, her sister, and a handful of functionaries joined him on a cavalry training field two miles north of the city wall. Katrin was not in a good mood. Captain Ephrian, commanding her guards, insisted her disposition was its sunniest since the funeral.
She left her sedan demanding, “Why couldn’t you show me this in Franz-Benneroust Plaza?”
“The danger, Your Grace. You’ll understand in a minute.”
“I hired you. I suppose I have to trust you. So do it! While I’m still well enough to care.” She began to needle Helspeth.
Hecht left the review stand. Rhuk and Prosek awaited him. Titus Consent joined them. Consent murmured, “I keep reminding myself that I didn’t believe her when she told us she was pregnant.”
“Meaning?”
“That now she might really be badly sick.”
“I thought that was obvious. She’s been going downhill since the baby came.”
“Not quite true, boss.”
Hecht had been about to give the order to fire. He lowered his right hand. “Explain.”
“Near as my guys can tell, she made a turn for the better when we started dogging the folks on Drear’s list. I consider that suggestive.”
“She’s had help getting sick?”
“That would be my guess.”
Hecht pretended to study the field. He had detailed twelve falcons and four heavier pieces for the demonstration. They stood in line abreast. The falcons pointed toward a hundred rude scarecrows made up to look like advancing infantrymen, at ranges up to a hundred yards. Clej Sedlakova and Buhle Smolens had found enough junk armor to partially equip each scarecrow.
Amongst the scarecrows there were bales of straw.
Two larger targets had been prepared, too. Both were derelict stone buildings proved up for the occasion.
Hecht gave the signal. The falcons popped off in succession, left to right.
Most of the scarecrows went down. Several nearer straw bales scattered downrange.
Rhuk and Prosek let the smoke clear, then fired the four squat, almost bowl-shaped weapons they called mortars. Each spoke with a deep rumble. Sixty-pound stones arced through the air, easy for the eye to follow. Three of four landed on the lesser stone structure, demolishing it.
The smoke cleared off again. Kait Rhuk lighted a powder train laid to be obvious to the observer. Sparkle and smoke raced toward the larger stone structure.
A corner and one side came apart. The sound arrived a second later, like a kick in the stomach. Smaller debris fell within yards of the reviewing stand.
Hecht went over. “Your Grace, if you will, I’d like you to examine the weapons and what they did to their targets, close-up.”
The Empress’s entire party seemed dumbfounded. That would be because of the noise and smoke. An effect that did not remain intimidating long, he knew.
Katrin nodded. “I’m impressed, so far.” She rose, refusing help, and made her way slowly to the firing line. Drago Prosek, flustered, explained the two types of falcon, muzzle-charged and fast fire, and the mortars. “Which we called that because they kind of look like an apothecary’s mortar.”
Hecht guided Katrin to the target area. “We used stones in the falcon loads today. Pebbles are free. In battle we’d want to use metal shot because it’s more effective.”
The old armor had not stood up to the stone shot, out to about eighty yards.
Katrin said, “Archers could do as much damage, couldn’t they? And they’d be cheaper.”
“Cheaper, perhaps. But trained soldiers aren’t at great risk from archers. Falcon shot, though, will rip right through shields and hauberks. And you need to take into account that these weapons are already obsolete where we’re headed. Krulik and Sneigon are making them bigger and more reliable and are manufacturing better firepowder. And they’re letting Indala order as many as he can afford.”
Katrin made her way slowly back to the fast fire falcons, cast to Kait Rhuk’s design. “I don’t believe your Krulik and Sneigon have anything like this. Do they?”
“No, Your Grace. Kait?”
Rhuk showed the Empress how the preloaded pots went into a breech in the rear of the tube. Turned a few inches, a protruding knob moved into a slot and held the pot in place. A touchhole in the pot needed charging with a dram of firepowder. A falcon supported by a dozen pots and an experienced crew could fire four or five times as fast as the crew of a front-loading weapon.
The Empress was appropriately impressed. But Rhuk held Hecht back when Katrin decided to move on. “Don’t try to sell her on the fast firers. I’m not going to have any more made.”
