Lord of the Silent Kingdom

Then there's the world few touch but which most are sure exists. That's the world of secret powers and secret masters. The silent kingdom. The silent kingdom shapes the raucous world without revealing itself. Just as surely as do the Instrumentalities of the Night, though with more direction and purpose. The silent kingdom hides in the secret spaces between mankind and the Night.'

Hecht asked, 'This is a common belief amongst men of talent?'

Delari peered at him intently, sniffing after the thought behind the question.

'Some of us have a foot in the world between. Knowing about it only because we've been shown. Others, like our Special Office brethren, are too ideological to contribute.'

'And get shown for no obvious reason? Because of the murky motives of those already inside?'

The curtain had been opened enough for one day. The Principate changed topic. 'Has the girl spoken yet?'

'Uh.. Vali?'

'Yes.'

'Not where any adult can hear. She talks to Pella. Occasionally. Sometimes Pella deigns to tell us what's on her mind. Mainly, she's worried about what's going to happen to her. You find out anything about her?'

'No. There is a Vali Dumaine but she's Countess of Bleus. The wife of the Count who got into it with Anne of Menand. They don't have children. She's twenty-nine. Rumor says evil sorcery keeps her from conceiving. It also says Anne means to buy the Archbishop of Salpeno with the Dumaine honors.'

'She's giving everything away.'

'She's a determined woman.'

'With everything to gain. I see that.'

Hecht could not understand how one harlot could become so influential.

Delari mused, 'She must be quite something in private.'

'Curious?'

'Intellectually. I'd like to meet her.'

'Uhm. But you can't hazard even a guess about where my Vali fits?'

'Beyond stipulating that circumstantial evidence suggests that she does, no.'

'But if the Brotherhood of War was interested… Sir! I just had an unpleasant thought. A connection I didn't see before.'

'Yes?'

The old man reminded Hecht of the pensioner instructors at the Vibrant Spring School, waiting for him to state a conclusion he had had trouble reaching.

'Sir, the people holding Vali were conspiring with the Special Office. Who sent me to the House of the Ten Galleons in the first place.'

'So you've just realized that they must know where the girl is?'

'I'm a little dim sometimes, sir. I'm a fighting soldier, remember.'

'Can you take it another step? Or two?'

'Sir?'

'Have they decided that it's better for Vali to be with you, out of sight, safe from people whose loyalties are commercial? Did they set you up to spirit the girl out of Sonsa?'

'I couldn't guess, sir. My thinking tends to be more linear.'

'I understand. It's one of your charms. Quite possibly the main reason that Bronte Doneto recommended you to his cousin. You're a sharp blade that looks like it can be used

with little danger of cutting both ways.'

Hecht wished Gordimer the Lion believed that. 'Maybe. But he also thinks he can manipulate me if he wants.'

Delari grunted. 'There's still another possibility, Piper. And it seems the most obvious and likely to me.'

'Sir?'

'Did the girl just make up a story to win help getting out of an awful situation? Creating fictitious personal histories isn't exactly unheard of, Piper.'

'Uh… I'll ask Pella about that.'

'Good. Do. There's nothing new here. Just more of the same, worsening at a frightening rate. Will all the water in all the seas end up part of the ice? Will even Firaldia go under?'

Hecht thought Firaldia would drown in refugees first.

The great map did show that there would be no quick, direct confrontation over Clearenza. The passes to the heart of the Grail Empire were closed. A courier might make his way out of the continental heartland, but no armed force ould make the transit for months yet.

Hecht asked, 'Do we know where Lothar and his sisters are?' Johannes Blackboots had preferred the Imperial cities of Firaldia, Plemenza in particular. He liked to stay close enough to tweak Sublime's nose when the mood took him.

'Hogwasser. In Lothar's case.'

'Sir?'

'Sorry. Bad joke. Hochwasser. Means 'high water, literally, but generally translates as 'flood. The name goes back to antiquity. When it was called something else that meant the same thing.'

Imperial times. Today it served as the headquarters for Hecht knew a little about Hochwasser because he claimed to have passed through during his journey south from Duarnenia. It was a military city, of sorts, and had been since old Imperial times. Today it served as the headquarters of the Grail Emperor's lifeguard, the Braunsknechts.

The concept of even that limited a standing force found little favor among the Imperial nobility. Anything that strengthened the Emperor necessarily weakened the noble class.

Delari said, 'Lothar is at Hochwasser. Katrin is either there or at Grumbrag. There's some doubt about Helspeth.' The Principal gestured at the grand map. 'Don't let that lull you. If Lothar decides something needs doing he has people here who can make our lives miserable. Follow me.'

Hecht did so, down to the main floor, passing monks and nuns engrossed in their work. One of the latter appeared to be extremely gravid.

Principate Delari approached a heavy wooden door. Ancient, bound in spell-wrought iron, it looked capable of withstanding assault from barbarian or Night. A shelf in the stone to its right bore several old-time brass lanterns of the sort once carried by Imperial night couriers. They even had an Imperial seal on the adjustable shutter that controlled the amount of light emitted. Delari chose one, checked its fuel level, lighted it from a candle at the end of the shelf. Tallow spills showed that a candle burned there all the time.

'Open the door, Piper.'

The door was not locked, latched, or barred. Hecht pulled. It opened.

Cold, damp air greeted him. It smelled of raw sewage and very old death.

'The catacombs?'

'Exactly.' Delari nodded. 'They're real. Take a lantern yourself. Never come down here without one.'

'I don't want to be down here at all. Not if half the stories are true.'

'They aren't. But the reality can be worse. The light from these lanterns repels things of the Night.'

Hecht sorted through the lanterns. They all seemed fully fueled. He took the heaviest on the theory that it would last the longest. He lighted it, tried to look ready. If go he must.

Delari chuckled. 'Remember, down here, as in the world above, the worst monsters go on two legs and have mothers who love them.'

Why would we want to be down here?'

'Sometimes a man needs to move around without being seen.' That sounded too pat. 'What about your mother?'

The Principate had moved into the tunnel, which was lined in stone set without mortar, using an Old Brothen technique. The question caught Hecht off guard. 'Sir?'

'I was curious about your mother.'

Hecht temporized, trying to recall anything he had told anyone about the woman. 'I expect she'd agree with most mothers. Piper is a good boy. He didn't mean any harm. He couldn't possibly do anything bad. I didn't know