that cause such cruel, festering wounds.'
Hecht glanced over at Titus, who was about to swing aboard the mount that Ghort had presented him. Consent shrugged. 'I've been with you, boss. I'll get on it as soon at Noe lets me think about work again.'
'What about Principate Delari?' Hecht asked as he settled into a saddle. 'He didn't show up when I presented the trophies to the Patriarch in the Closed Ground. I saw the boy, Armand. But not the old man.'
'Delari and his pet aren't together anymore. I don't know why. They say the boy is playing night games with the new Patriarch, now.'
Surprised, Hecht diverted himself by saying, 'I heard that Principate Delari's town house fell into a sinkhole. Because of some kind of confrontation down in the catacombs.'
'That's crap. One corner of the place did collapse. But it wasn't because of anything like what happened with the hippodrome. Delari must be preoccupied with something. He hardly ever shows himself.'
Mounted, Hecht walked his horse slowly in the direction of Anna Mozilla's house. Allowing Madouc and his lifeguards to keep up. He felt mild despair about the attention his passing caused.
'Things have really changed here, Pipe. But they've stayed the same, too.'
'Good to know, Pinkus. But try to be a little less clever. What does that mean?'
'Never mind me, Pipe. I'm a walking cliche factory.'
'That doesn't take us to any point, either.'
'You are a hard, cruel man, Piper Hecht.'
'The tasteful constraints of my faith won't let me say what you are, though it features the stern of a horse with tail upraised for the drop.'
Ghort laughed. Then he got busy talking about everything he thought Hecht ought to know about the current situation in the Mother City. A situation unlikely to spark conflagrations of optimism.
The refugees just kept coming. There was nothing for them to do.
Ghort chattered all the way across town, from the Teragi right down to the street outside Anna Mozilla's house. He went right on chattering at Titus Consent when the Captain-General broke away. Hecht was grateful for Ghort's effort. The man had told him more than he had thought.
Vali and Pella were in the open doorway to Anna's house, Pella practically jumping up and down. They had known he was coming. They had been out scouting. Hecht had seen them dashing through the crowds, speeding ahead with news that he was coming.
Vali stepped in front of Pella and gave Hecht a huge hug, startling him totally. She did not say anything, though.
Pella had plenty to say for both of them. Questions. Reports. Brags about how he was doing with his studies.
Forcing a word in edgewise, Hecht asked Madouc to see Titus safely home, then told Pella, 'You've grown about a foot. And Vali, too.' Vali looked like she was starting to bud. He was thrilled to see the changes.
Pella continued to jabber. Vali was more restrained but did keep the fingers of her left hand touching his arm. 'Anna! Anna Mozilla! Are you in there? Can you come rescue me from these wild monkeys?'
He was nervous about this. How had Anna dealt with their separation? Would she invite him in?
Anna came to the doorway because he had not been able to push past the children. His worries were unfounded. She was pleased to see him. Her embrace enveloped him, swamping him with hungry promise. But she said, 'You smell like you haven't had a bath for a year.'
'And I was just up at the Chiaro Palace. Why didn't I use the baths when I had the chance?'
'I refuse to say what I'm thinking. Pella! Calm down. Your father will be here. Piper. The other one, Lila, is too scared to come out.'
'It's all right. I remember being the same way when my father came home from the marshes. You don't know how long it'll last. And you don't know if there'll be a next time. The Sheard are cruel and cunning.'
Anna gave him the oddest look, as though wondering if he had started believing his own made-up back story.
No. But the children needed to believe it. Children talked.
Anna led him to the kitchen. She had bathwater heating.
The precursors of a meal were cooking. Vali and Pella worked on that, Pella never easing up on the chatter. When his questions interested Anna, too, Hecht responded.
She asked few questions herself. But, 'We heard a rumor about a giant worm attacking you beside the Dechear River.'
'Sort of true. Whatever you heard would've been exaggerated. We destroyed it. Hardly anyone got hurt.'
She gave him a hard look. 'Principate Delari was there, too. Wasn't he?'
'He was,' Hecht admitted. 'I wonder if he exaggerated.' Hecht had no answer.
By the time he was clean he was so warm and relaxed he was inclined to head for bed. 'Oh, how marvelous it will be to fall asleep with no worries to keep me up. Knowing there won't be interruptions all night.'
Anna said, 'I don't know about that.'
Pella and Vali snickered.
Anna said, 'Pella, set the table. Vali, keep an eye on the sauce. She planned the meal, Piper. I'm just a consultant.'
'But I saw her out…'
'A working consultant. It's her project. And Lila's.'
Hecht got the message. Though he never saw Bit's daughter.
As he settled in to work on the capon and sides, Hecht said, 'Blessed Eis and Aaron, it feels good to be clean and wearing fresh clothing.'
'Which, I see, hangs loosely. You lost weight.'
'That happens. So now I'll get busy putting it back on.'
'Aren't you forgetting something?'
'Hunh?'
'Prayer?'
'Oh. Got out of the habit out there. The only priests were Brotherhood of War types. Pella, unless Vali wants to do it, you go ahead.'
Vali smirked. Pella managed a rather imaginative grace. Following the lead of his literary namesake, Hecht supposed.
Later, before the inevitable adult encounters, Anna whispered, 'Vali is talking now. To Pella. To Lila all the time when she thinks I'm not listening. To me sometimes, when she's excited. She'll slip up with you, too. She feels secure enough, now. Did you find anything out over there?'
Piper Hecht had no worries about Vali Dumaine. But, 'Nothing. No famous child disappeared anytime in the last few years. Titus's people found relatives of the Erika Xan who supposedly brought Vali to the sporting house in Sonsa. They knew nothing except that Erika Xan disappeared years ago.'
His worries had faded mainly because Vali was getting older.
In the wee, paranoid dark hours in the camp, awash in the pervasive enmity of the Night, he had come to fear that Vali might be a planted living artifact. Like Osa Stile.
Anna Mozilla soon distracted him from all outside concerns.
21. Alten Weinberg: Hard News
Tension in the Imperial capital escalated daily. The Princess Apparent did not share it. She had no cock in the fight. Nor was she near the center.
The Empress had sent numerous knights and nobles to support King Peter against the Almanohides. All had volunteered. Most backed the Empress in her romance with Brothe. Her stay-behind supporters were afraid that those who were displeased by that romance might take advantage.
Katrin was frantic with fear for Jaime of Castauriga, who had summoned his full feudal levy to assist King Peter. Katrin had seen Jaime just once but had talked herself into an obsessive romantic love that set courtiers
