Priest of GallowsPeter McLean

War for the Rose Throne Book III

Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Also by Peter McLean

Dedication

Map

Dramatis Personae

Part One

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Part Two

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Acknowledgements

About the Author

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by

Jo Fletcher Books

an imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK company

Copyright © 2021 Peter McLean

The moral right of Peter McLean to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

EBOOK ISBN 978 1 52941 132 4

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

www.quercusbooks.co.uk

Also by Peter McLean

War for the Rose Throne

Priest of Bones

Priest of Lies

For Diane,

my world.

‘Si vis pacem, para bellum.’

‘If you would have peace, then prepare for war.’

– Vegetius

Dramatis Personae

The Piety Family

Tomas Piety: Interim governor of Ellinburg and a Queen’s Man. Formerly a gangster and army priest. Your narrator.

Ailsa Piety: His estranged wife, and a Queen’s Man.

Billy Piety: A lad of perhaps fifteen years, strong in the cunning and touched by Our Lady. Their adopted son.

Jochan Piety: Younger brother to Tomas, and a very disturbed man.

Hanne Piety: Wife to Jochan and mother of his infant daughter.

Enaid Piety: Their loving aunt. Grand matriarch of the Pious Men, and Bloody Anne’s second.

The Pious Men

Bloody Anne: Head of the Pious Men, and Tomas’ most loyal friend.

Fat Luka: Head of propaganda, master of listeners, agent of the Queen’s Men.

Mika: Underboss of the Stink.

Black Billy: Mika’s second in the Stink.

Florence Cooper: Underboss of the Wheels, and head of the Flower Girls.

Jutta: Florence’s second in the Wheels.

Brak: Aunt Enaid’s man, despite being a third her age.

Simple Sam: A slow lad but a faithful one.

Hari: Tavern keeper of the Tanner’s Arms.

Cutter, also known as Yoseph: A former Sacred Blade of Messia with a grievously scarred face. Lover to Jochan.

Emil: A veteran, and a hired man.

Oliver: A hired blade but a trusted one.

Various other ruffians and hired men whose names are not recorded here.

Notable People in Ellinburg

Governor Schulz: A career bureaucrat from Dannsburg. Someone who understands how things work.

Rosie: Boss of the Chandler’s Narrow girls, and an agent of the Queen’s Men. Bloody Anne’s woman.

Old Kurt: A cunning man, rouser of rabbles and causer of trouble.

Mina: A young lass with the cunning. Billy Piety’s woman, young though they are.

Salo: A steward.

Notable People in Dannsburg

Her Majesty the Queen: Ruling monarch of the country.

The Princess Crown Royal: A girl of twelve years, heir to the throne.

His Royal Highness Prince Wilhelm, the Prince Consort: Husband to the queen, father of the Princess Crown Royal.

Lady Lan Delanov: A Lady-in-Waiting.

Dieter Vogel: The Lord Chief Judiciar, and Provost Marshal of the Queen’s Men.

First Councillor Aleksander Lan Letskov: Presiding head of the governing council.

Councillor Hristokov: A member of the governing council with some unpleasant hobbies.

Councillor Markova: A member of the governing council with connections.

Councillor Lan Drashkov: A member of the governing council who thinks a lot of himself.

Mr Grachyev: A gangster, or so he believes.

Iagin: Mr Grachyev’s second, and a Queen’s Man.

Ilse: A Queen’s Man of special talents.

Konrad: A Queen’s Man from Drathburg.

Sabine: A Queen’s Man from Varnburg.

Leonov: An underboss, extremely good with a crossbow.

Brandt: The head of Ailsa’s household guard.

Mr and Mrs Shapoor: Ailsa’s parents.

Lady Lan Yetrov: A very rich widow who is greatly in Tomas’ debt.

Arch High Priest Rantanen: Highest priest of the Grand High Temple of All Gods. The holiest man in the land.

Major Bakrylov: A war hero, from a certain point of view, with connections to the Queen’s Men.

Baron Lan Drunov: An unwise and unfortunate man.

Nikolai Reiter: Archmagus of the house of magicians.

Doctor Almanov: A physician.

Edric Nyman: A tutor.

Sister Galina: A nun.

Beast: A slave.

Part One

Chapter 1

One murder can change the fate of a nation.

I had been governor of Ellinburg for less than four months when it happened. It was a warm spring evening, and I was relaxing in the private drawing room of the governor’s hall, a glass of brandy in my hand and a book open in my lap. Billy and Mina were sitting under the window together, playing some game of cat’s cradle between them. I watched them over my glass, watched the entwining of the cords between their fingers, and I could see in the looks they shared with each other just how fierce their young love was. I knew how strongly Billy felt for her.

We had almost come to blood over it back in the winter, after all.

After I had crushed the strike at the factory, Mina had come to me herself to confess what she had done. That was brave of her, I’d had to allow, but it didn’t change the facts of the thing. I remembered how the rebellious workers had known we were coming when they shouldn’t have done, and how Old Kurt hadn’t been there when he should have been. He had known we were coming because someone had told him, and that someone was Mina.

Mina, who was a cunning woman even Billy looked up to.

She’s very strong.

Mina, who couldn’t do magic without spewing obscenities that would have curled the hair of the lowest conscript soldier.

Mina, who Old Kurt had once taken in when she was a little orphan girl on the unforgiving streets of Ellinburg.

That was

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