eye.
'Enter,' he responded to Bechter's appeal.
The sergeant peered into shadows. He had heard something. 'The lifeguard is assembling. Colonel Ghort should be here in time to join us. Apropos my earlier caution, Morcant Farfog is with Colonel Ghort's party.'
It took Hecht a moment. 'Bishop of Strang?'
'Archbishop, now. Head of the Society in the End of Connec. Convinced that he's the most powerful churchman after Sublime. I heard he may have one eye on the Patriarchy.'
'You're kidding.'
'Competence is seldom the leading qualification for succession.'
'But…'
'Not to worry, Captain-General. He wouldn't get the votes.'
Plnkus Ghort did not look well. 'Exhaustion,' he explained. Barely putting one foot in front of the other as he climbed the hill with Hecht. 'That Raymone Garete is a stubborn bastard. Then I got Doneto barking in one ear and that pile of monkey shit Farfog howling in the other. That prick don't know how lucky he is to be alive.'
'That could be more true than you realize.'
'Eh?'
'The Brotherhood doesn't love him, either. Sooner or later, they'll butt heads. If Sublime doesn't rein them in.'
'Man, you wrecked this place. It'll take years to fix these walls.'
'How's your bombardment?'
'There's gotta be sorcery involved. Or something. We keep pounding away. And the rocks keep bouncing off.'
'There must be a way.'
'Starvation.'
'What about mining?'
'Working on it. From half a dozen directions. Antieux is built on the hardest damned limestone I've ever seen. We'll get there eventually. If our bosses are patient enough.'
'Principate Doneto hasn't been any help?'
'Debatable. He's ferocious about tearing the place apart. But he never did anything useful. If he's really some heavyweight sorcerer, he does a damned good job of hiding it.'
'Makes you wonder, doesn't it?'
'Uhm?'
'If he really is. You hear it all the time, he's one of the great bull sorcerers in the Collegium. But he never does anything.' That fight under the hippodrome might be an exception. Though that had not been public and there should have been no survivors.
'Is he behind his own rumors?'
Hecht shrugged. 'We're here.' At the keep of the Counts of Castreresone. Madouc led them to a large, poorly lighted room where several dozen locals waited nervously. Hecht's most trusted soldiers lined the walls.
'The vultures didn't take long to gather.' Black-robed Society brothers were much in evidence.
Hecht said, 'Bechter, clear those crows out. This isn't religious business.'
Ghort whispered, 'Be careful. They have Sublime convinced that religious law trumps civil and martial law.'
Hecht understood. The Church meant to follow his hammer strokes by insinuating its agents into every facet of Connecten life, intent on making everything subservient to the Brothen establishment. Soon enough, the Captain-General would have to be replaced with someone less competent but more ideologically dependable.
Bechter went to work with enthusiasm.
'Hope you see what I'm seeing,' Ghort said.
'Which would be?'
'How much the Brotherhood resents the Society.'
'Useful to know, down the road.'
'I'm thinking so.'
Ignoring the protesting Society brothers, Hecht assumed the role of Captain-General. 'Let's have some order. Pay attention.'
Silence. The Castreresonese were intensely interested in the victorious general's comments.
Hecht presented Sublime's directives, which had not changed. He presented a list of heretics and enumerated steps to be taken to suppress, convert, or evict Unbelievers. Their properties were forfeit to the Church. The city was expected to raise funds for repairs to its defenses and public works. Leading men were to be fined for their obdurate behavior.
Those fines would fall into Hecht's war chest.
Once Castreresone was settled he would move against Khaurene.
Castreresone, not Duke Tormond's home city, was the key to control of the Connec, in Hecht's estimation. He owned the key, now.
He took the seat reserved for the ruling count. His officers introduced locals of standing, starting with the consuls, the manager-senators who handled the daily business of city government. Castreresone retained many of the appurtenances of its youth as a city-state. With layers of feudal law and obligation laid on over the centuries.
The eight senators present were eager to please. Three more were absent, all on the Society's wanted list. Hechi asked. One supposedly died in the fighting. One had suffered a stroke. And one had fled the city.
Heeht picked names at random. 'You three will speak for them to the Society.'
The magnates were introduced next. They were the rich men of Castreresone. Many belonged to the urban nobility disdained by traditional nobility because they were more interested in commerce than warfare.
Another round in the ancient contest between city and country.
The Captain-General found a total lack of defiance in the defeated. The excesses in the towns and villages had beet useful. Once the introductions had been made and the oaths of fealty administered, Hecht made a brief speech. He would forgive the sins of the past. In return, he expected thos oaths to be fulfilled absolutely. Rebellion would be dealt with harshly.
The Captain-General went through the motions, tired. But he studied the Castreresonese closely.
He did not identify a single potential troublemaker.
Titus Consent approached, grim as he weaved between Hecht's lifeguards. He whispered, 'Bad news from Hagan Brokke.'
'I'll finish as soon as I can.'
Now that he had seen the human face of the city there was little more he wanted to do. Plans for the occupation had been made long since.
He what?' Hecht asked.
'In the vernacular, he got his ass kicked,' Consent said. 'He slid out of Mohela ande Larges, as directed. He made a show of threatening Khaurene again, then headed east. And ran into Isabeth's mercenaries. An encounter engagement. Which escalated. Both sides seeing an opportunity that wasn't really there. Brokke had the advantage till the Navayans arrived.'
Hecht said nothing. There was no point. Things happened. There were no guarantees. Genius was not infallible. And… things happened. Finally, 'How bad?'
'Not sure yet. Pretty bad. But he didn't lose his prisoners.'
'Good. Torturing them will make me feel better about losing those men.'
'You're in a fine mood.'
'I don't take misfortune well. As you see. And I want to go home. I haven't seen Anna or the kids in half a year.'
'You are unique in your exaggerated pain, sir. Why is Colonel Ghort blessing us with his company?'
'I'm not sure. It must have to do with Principate Doneto and Morcant Farfog. But he isn't as forthcoming as he once was.'
