The Light of Heaven

answered before she even recognised its nature herself.

'I miss him,' she said softly. And she felt that the Lord of All had somehow responded that He knew and that He understood and that Gabriella shouldn't be ashamed.

Crowe appeared beside her.

'I'm sorry, you know.' He said.

Gabriella nodded. 'I know. We'd made the Pact, Erak and me.'

Crowe looked blank. 'Pact? You mean like a marriage Binding?'

'More or less. Whatever branch of Faith the faithful work in it is the duty of each couple to produce one child between them.'

'One?'

Gabriella nodded. 'One only. One to carry on God's work and spread His word.'

'Wouldn't a whole brood do that more?'

'More would distract from God's work.'

'Too much pleasure, eh?'

'You mock my grief! What do you know about grief, anyway?'

'If you think I haven't lost a loved one before, you're wrong. You don't grow up in my business without that happening a few times.'

'Why are you still here?' she asked at last.

'There are two things nobody should do alone. Nobody should die alone and nobody should grieve alone.'

DeBarres came over and Crowe nodded to him before leaving the Knight and Preceptor in private.

'I don't know what to say. 'I'm sorry' is just nowhere near enough. Nowhere near.' DeBarres said, putting a hand on Gabriella's shoulder.

'Seeing you helps.'

DeBarres hesitated. 'This Travis Crowe… Who is he?'

Gabriella held her tongue. Crowe. Crowe the heretic. Crowe the immoral. Crowe the murder and corruptor. Crowe the man who knew such a high figure in the Brotherhood.

'He's a mercenary who helped with the defence of Solnos.'

'Good man?'

'Professional. Good fighter.'

'Then he has the thanks of the Order. Now…'

She looked at DeBarres sadly. 'No rest for the… Well, anyway. I have a lead on Goran Kell. Sandor Feyn.'

'Feyn? DeBarres was either shocked or impressed, but Gabriella wasn't sure which it was. A mixture, perhaps. 'One of the legends, Gabriella, equal in notoriety to Kell. We've wanted to bring him down for years.'

'I remembered his name. Apparently he's in Turnitia. Crowe and I will be following that up in the morning.'

'Do you need any reinforcements?'

'I don't think so.'

'If you insist. Excellent work, as always.' He straightened out a crick in his back. 'What about Kell?'

'We'll have to deal with the goblins first to get near him. I know where I can probably find a map to his more precise location. I'll be fetching that after I've visited Feyn. Also, Feyn apparently has been in contact with Kell. If he still has a contact, I'd prefer that contact to stop before we get near Kell.'

'Good thinking. The Lord go with you.'

A few days later, after a long and painful ride northwards, Gabriella was wearing nondescript black and grey armour. Some of it, including the cloak, had belonged to Kannis' fallen man. Beside her, Crowe wore the same colours as they rode westward through the southern end of the Anclas territories. Gabriella scowled, her nose wrinkling as the stench of rotten fish rolled from the Turnitia docks as they entered the city.

They dismounted outside a tavern squeezed between two ship owner's offices. The ruffians lounging outside let them through without a word, as soon as Crowe said: 'It's raining blood out here.'

Gabriella tried to keep her emotions in check. As the equivalent of an Eminence in the Brotherhood of the Divine Path, Sandor Feyn had been responsible for more heresy than she could possibly imagine. A great urge to step forward and cut him down where he stood was barely tempered by a sense of satisfaction at having tracked him down and tricked her way into his confidence. The Faith had been looking for him for years. Now she was standing right in front of him. At heart, only the thought of the information he could supply was saving him right now.

'So,' Sandor Feyn said, eyeing Gabriella appreciatively as she sat before him, 'who's she?'

Crowe looked casually at Gabriella. 'Who, the skirt? She's just a Knight of the Swords Of Dawn who's walked right through all your security by the clever scheme of not wearing a big sign over her chest.'

Gabriella couldn't believe her ears, and stiffened, ready to spring for the window.

Feyn laughed at the obvious absurdity of the answer and Crowe joined in.

'You want anything, just ask Erno at the bar.' Feyn said, before leading Crowe to a back room.

'So, who is the girlie then?' Feyn said once they were in private. 'Really, I mean. And is she for sale?'

Crowe grinned. 'She's a Knight of the Swords who just walked in — '

'You did that joke already.'

'Not everything I say is carefully calculated to make you laugh.'

'Eh?'

'She really is a Knight of the Swords,' Crowe said. 'I wasn't joking.' 'What…' Feyn managed hoarsely. 'What in the name of a demon's balls did you bring her here for?'

'Oh, well, I know how much you enjoy having a pretty face around.'

'And you also know how much I hate having to bury a pretty face. Which I'll now have to do!' Feyn glanced towards the door, looking as if he expected a troop of soldiers to kick it down at any second. 'How much does she know about me?'

'Pretty much everything. If I was you I'd be pretty bloody worried right now, mate.'

'If you — ' Feyn rose, kicking away the table and drawing a dagger.

Crowe punched him in the face and easily wrested the dagger away.

'Yeah, I'm quaking. Is this really how you do business here? Maybe there's something in this religion stuff after all, because, frankly, it's a miracle you're not dead.' He slipped the dagger into his sleeve and shoved Feyn back into his chair, then set the table upright again. 'I brought her here because you and her both have a common purpose.'

'We worship the same God, if that's what you mean, but, believe me — '

Crowe shook his head. 'I meant an immediate practical purpose, Sandor. You and she both know that Goran Kell's man didn't pull off that shot at Ludwig Rhodon. She and Kell both want to know who did and who actually hired him.'

Sandor Feyn was silent for a moment, glaring at Crowe. 'Go on.'

'She's the one who caught the bloke who took the shot. You can put names to most of the faces in this part of the world.'

'But I didn't see — '

'I told you, she caught him.'

Feyn suddenly took on a queasy green pallor. 'Oh no, tell me she hasn't brought the head?'

'I wish. That'd be easy. The face is in her head, though. All you need to do is get her to remember it right and draw it.'

'Draw it?'

'She's good.' Crowe promised.

'All right. We'll try it, but you know I can't let her walk out of here and go looking for Kell. She's not leaving this tavern alive.'

'That's between you and her. None of my business.'