'As most people have. I just want a voice on the scene, Master. To remind the Raults.'
'Of course.' Brother Candle suspected the brothers Rault were celebrating their coup still. Finding a prospective husband who did not flee as soon as he met the bride. And one of superior status at that.
'I hope you'll behave while I'm gone.'
'I'll be no more disrespectful to my Duke than his other vassals are.'
'Scary thought.' Brother Candle wanted to caution Raymone against further irritating the Brothen Church but knew his breath would go to waste if he did.
That evening, during his meditations, Brother Candle wondered what great forces were moving him. Why did Providence want him back in that unhappy land on the verges of the Connec?
He was, he feared, being made over into a sort of historical apparition, something like a supernatural eyewitness to the last days of the Connecten idyll.
8. Long Winter, Short Spring
Piper Hecht was enjoying a rare evening with Anna and the kids. And Pinkus Ghort, who had brought a couple of newly discovered vintages that he wanted to share. Not uninvited. Ghort being as near a friend as Hecht had- though he did get on well with his staff. But his staff were all married men disinclined to spend their free time with the people they saw all day every day at work. Nor was it appropriate for the Captain-General of All the Patriarchal Armies to become too familiar with men he expected to send into harm's way.
Pella showed off how much he had learned since entering Anna's house. He could read now, slowly. And was all excited about it. For someone of his class literacy was akin to magic.
Anna and Pinkus played chess while Pella stumbled through his reading. Hecht looked over the boy's shoulder. Vali looked over Pella's other shoulder. She was all polished and dressed like a doll. Her own doing. She was impatient with Pella's pace.
Hecht asked, 'Can you do better?' And chuckled. Vali was in complete control. You could not trick her into talking. Though she did, occasionally, relay messages through Pella. Hecht now believed she was just a clever chit who had created the perfect legend to weasel herself out of a terrible situation. A stubborn pretense to muteness saved her having to explain.
Ghort moved a piece, said, 'Kid already reads twice as better than I do. Maybe he's gonna jump back in time and be the Pella that wrote that damned play.'
Anna asked, 'You sure that's what you want to do?' But only after Pinkus took his finger off his piece.
Ghort protested, 'I don't see anything.'
Hecht said, 'She's trying to rattle your confidence.'
'I don't have no confidence to rattle. I seen what she done to you. You ever beat her?'
'No. I can't even beat Vali.' In fact, Vali was the superior player. She thought far ahead and easily developed long-range strategies. 'Pella, I'm impressed. You're learning faster than I did. Would you put more wood on the fire?'
Pella was cooperative in all things. He knew when he had it good. It had been a hard winter on Brothe's streets.
Anna did nothing dramatic in response to Ghort's move.
He sighed, asked, 'Anna, our raids got your neighbors pissed off yet?'
Anna replied, 'They haven't tried to burn me out.'
The City Regiment made regular sweeps through the quarter. What was left of the force.
Anna went on, 'They like having me here. You looking out for me gets them looked out for, too.'
Pinkus Ghort now referred to his command as the City Platoon, though five hundred men remained on his payroll. Hecht kept cherry-picking the best for his expanding Patriarchal force. He was trying to create a unified command for all the Patriarchal garrisons.
Sublime was amenable-according to Principate Doneto. Sublime was optimistic now that he had his arrangement with Anne of Menand. He was positioning himself for a future of his own design. He would need an effective, efficient military. He expected to be able to afford the best.
Hecht noted that little of Anne's money had reached Brothe yet. Delivery arrangements remained confused.
Hecht asked, 'Did you come up with anything? Ever?'
'Nothing useful to me. But we've got two or three Principates underfoot all the time. Having more fun than we were.'
Anna said, 'I heard you arrested some people.'
'Sure. There's always bad people dumb enough to tell you their real names. With the Man in Black standing right behind you.'
The Man in Black, the public executioner, was not missing many meals for lack of work. Folks who behaved badly were being hunted vigorously.
Ghort's men wanted to seem useful.
Ghort moved a piece. Anna wasted no time. 'Check.'
Ghort tipped his king. 'I know when I'm outclassed. What do you figure is going on, Pipe? Besides me getting my ass whipped again, here.'
'Where? When? Who?'
'All good questions, Pipe. I mean here, in Brothe. Ain't all these riots something less than spontaneous?'
'You think? My gut says you can thank Ferris Renfrow. But I'm not sure we ought to trust my gut.'
'Uhm. I can think of a couple people who'd get more out of civil unrest here.'
'That Duke out there in the Connec?'
'Absolutely.'
'Not his style. He'll just wait for Sublime to die.'
Anna asked, 'Is that why they call him the Great Vacillator?'
'It is. I'd look at Immaculate first.'
'No. Not Immaculate,' Ghort said. 'But maybe somebody in Viscesment who thinks that's the way Immaculate would want it if only he had enough goddamn sense. And don't write off the Connec just because of Duke Tormond. He ain't hardly in charge out there no more. That Count Raymone in Antieux, the one that squashed Haiden Backe, he's getting tough with them Society monks Sublime keeps sending.'
Hecht scowled. Pinkus had better intelligence than he did. 'I don't like the sound of that. Sublime might want me to go protect them. And won't believe me when I tell him I can't do it.'
Anna asked, 'What makes you think the riots are being provoked?'
Ghort said, 'They're always drunk. Somebody keeps filling them up with wine, then giving them reasons to be mad. The wine costs money. The bullshit is cheaper than air.'
'You can't claim they don't already have reasons, can you?'
'Sure, I can. They didn't need to come here without no prospects. Don't nobody here owe them nothing.'
'You and Piper came here with no more prospects.'
Which was true in Ghort's case. 'We didn't expect nobody to give us nothing, though.'
Anna rose. 'Pella. Vali. Go get dinner started.' She made little use of hired help, now. There were too many secrets around. 'You may be rounding up a few bad men, Pinkus, but people are still worried about mystery men and night stalkers who chop out people's livers.'
'There hasn't been another killing.'
'Not the point. There will be. And you know it. You're catching common criminals. The real evil is laughing at you.'
Hecht interjected, 'That's hardly kind. Even Principate Delari says Pinkus is working miracles with half a kit of flawed tools. A remedy for that might be on the way, Pinkus, but I can't tell you about it yet. We have to get Sublime's go-ahead.'
Anna snapped, 'And Delari has been doing so good? He may be the great bull ape of the Collegium, but I
