'That would've been my plea if I'd gotten caught. I know how much you love those guys.'
'Uhm?'
'I overheard Doneto talking to his sister's son, Palo. Palo is an aide to the Patriarch.'
'The suspense is killing me, Pinkus.'
'I doubt it. But here it is, just in case, on account of your ass is too big to haul around if you drop dead on me. That regiment of Imperial cavalry showing up right on time wasn't no coincidence.'
'No! You don't say.'
'I mean, they weren't headed for Alameddine, after all. They were headed for Brothe from the start. Sublime cut some kind of deal with Hansel. Which explains why I saw Ferris Renfrew sneaking around a while back.'
'Our friend the interrogator from Plemenza?'
'The very one. Bo spotted him. On the Embankment, not far from Krois. Bo lost him there. When I heard about Sublime making a deal I knew why. He headed into the Patriarch's hideout.'
'I believe you. But I don't understand. Why would the Patriarch and the Emperor get together?'
'Sublime? Because he'd get soldiers. Two ways. Imperial allies on the front end and his own men freed from having to guard against Imperial incursions on the back side.'
'What's in it for Hansel?'
'Good question, Pipe.'
'What can Sublime give him that he can't get anywhere else?'
'More good questions. And we'll see them all answered. If we're clever enough to stay alive long enough.'
'Hey, Pipe! Cap'n Ghort!' Just Plain Joe called. He and Pig Iron were dawdling along ahead of Else and Ghort.
Ghort asked, 'What you got, Joe?'
'Crossing the Blendine Bridge.'
'Oh. Hey! It's that embassy from the Connec. They want to cut a deal with Sublime, too. I wouldn't want to be Immaculate today. All my pals are fixing to dump me on the shit pile of history.'
Two of Sublime's biggest distractions were about to become something else entirely. Meaning the Patriarch might get to preach his crusade to the Holy Lands after all.
Else needed to visit Gledius Stewpo.
Better yet, he needed to visit Anna Mozilla. There was genuine comfort to be found with the widow.
25. Brothe, with the Connecten Embassy
The Mother City awed Brother Candle despite his inclination to remain unimpressed by things of the world. But time lay so much more thickly and obviously on Brothe than elsewhere.
Khaurene and Castreresone were ancient, too, though they had worn different names when Brothen conquerors arrived in the Connec.
Any stroll down a Brothen street provided reminders of the glory that was. Conquerors still remembered had walked these cobblestones. Triumphant armies had paraded along these boulevards. Today the streets carried folk who did not understand that the glory days were gone. Though Brother Candle suspected that for most ancient Brothens the glory had been of little moment. Then and now, what interested the poor would be food and shelter.
They would not be remembered. That honor was reserved for the man who whipped them to the work of empire, who extorted the taxes that financed monuments and legions. Yet, always, the Brothen rabble lived better than the poor of lesser cities. That was a simple, cruel truth, whether or not it suited Brother Candle's ideology.
'What troubles you now, Brother?'
'I was considering the plight of the poor.' He looked round to see where the group had gotten while he was preoccupied.
They had reached that scenic overlook used to view the Teragi, its bridges, island fortresses, all the neighboring structures, and the monuments of the Memorium, sprawled in dirty golden splendor.
'Amazing,' Brother Candle said.
Michael Carhart remarked, 'I've been here before. Twice. I'm still impressed.'
Local spectators stared. Brothens were used to segregation of faiths.
Michael Carhart said, 'We're here at the perfect time of day, in perfect weather. The lighting …'
A far rumble interrupted. A cloud of dust rose against the afternoon sunlight, golden brown. Someone said, 'A building just collapsed.'
Gently sarcastic, someone remarked, 'That would be in one of the areas they told us to avoid because of the fighting.'
The struggle with the pirates was winding down.
Brother Candle had seen some captives earlier. They had not been sound enough to understand what was happening. They were hungry and afraid and relieved that it was all over. Brother Candle wondered how they would fare at the hands of the Brotherhood of War.
The Brotherhood was extremely interested in acquiring information about those who had instigated the Calziran adventure. Which was not yet ended. Raids continued along the eastern coast.
The Connecten clerics settled down to watch the afternoon light play amongst the edifices and monuments. Squinting, Brother Candle could just make out soldiers guarding the wrecked ships across the river, valuable as salvage.
Michael Carhart sighed. 'I wonder how it's going?' While they roamed idly and gawked at wonders of old renown, Duke Tormond and Queen Isabeth were in audience with the Patriarch. Everyone expected that to go badly. Tormond was too wishy-washy. Isabeth was an unknown. She was just fourteen when she went off to Navaya to be Peter's queen.
Brother Candle said, 'Let me become a prophet in my own time. The Queen of Navaya will be more naive than the Duke of Khaurene. Who will become confused and deliver his patrimony to Sublime because that's easier than standing fast and doing the right thing.'
'Look there,' one of his companions said. 'More Patriarchal troops.'
Thirty soldiers were crossing the bridge nearest Krois. Sublime was pulling his garrisons in. Prematurely, if he was preparing for a Calziran expedition. It was a huge risk, counting on Johannes Blackboots not to leap at the nakedness of the Patriarchal States.
They knew immediately when Tormond and Isabeth ended their audience. The Duke's party were in plain sight crossing over from Krois to the south bank of the Teragi.
The Duke and his sister and those closest to them were guests of the Cologni family, in a Cologni satellite citadel, the Palazo Bracco. The Palazo Bracco was the seat of Flouroceno Cologni, the Cologni family Principal. The Principal, however, had moved to a suite in the Chiaro Palace when the pirates arrived. Most of the Principatйs had treated themselves to luxurious security when the enemies of God appeared.
Flouroceno Cologni enjoyed showing off. He was doing so by housing the Connecten embassy. Overall, though, he was a nonentity who, if remembered at all, would lay a claim on history only because he did host Duke Tormond during his unhappy visit to the Mother City.
Members of the embassy began to gather in the central court of the Palazo Bracco. The Duke waited until no one else could crowd in. To his credit, he did feed everyone. On Sublime. 'Eat up! We're Sublime's friends, now.'
Brother Candle took advantage of the feast, served in every-man-for-himself fashion from tables along the courtyard wall. The horror show lasted for hours. During which Bishop LeCroes cornered Brother Candle. LeCroes, having internalized an admirable quantity of Firaldian wine, had developed a grand despair because he expected the Duke to abandon Immaculate.
'We don't know that,' Bromer Candle protested. “Tormond is a man of principle. One principle the Dukes of
