"Where are you going?"
Hasso considered for a moment, then gave a cruel smile. "I'm going to get the other half." He nudged his horse into a gallop, in the direction that Kell had gone. Sarkos and a few others drew swords, clearly intending to pursue him.
"Hold," Scarra said. He was tempted to let them kill Hasso, but after a few seconds' thought realised that Kell would do the job for him. Why risk the safety of the men he had left? It wasn't as if the mercenaries knew the details of his plans. "Kell will pay him off, one way or the other."
Sarkos sheathed his blade. "True enough."
If it was possible for an albino to appear pale Eminence Ludwig Rhodon was getting there. His skin was almost as transparent as melting ice. Rodrigo Kesar stood by the window as he watched the Healers conferring in whispers.
"Well?" Kesar finally asked.
"Eminence," the one closest to him began nervously. "We have been discussing the Eminence's situation, and — "
"I was listening. Will Eminence Rhodon survive?"
"Yes, Eminence," the Healer managed. "That is to say… With help, he should survive."
"Should. Not 'will'?"
"That is the… the unpleasant truth, Eminence."
Kesar nodded. "So be it. Certainty has its virtues, Healer, but not at the expense of the truth. If Eminence Rhodon does not survive, it will be a great loss, but at least I won't have to have you executed for breaking a promise."
It had been a long day for Gabriella and Erak, retelling their stories to various Confessors, and to their superiors in the Swords. They still wore their full armour, and had had no opportunity to eat anything since returning to the castle.
The Swords and the city guard had made several more arrests, and the Confessors were being kept as busy as the Duke's Inquisitors, but it had become increasingly clear that there were no other suspects as likely to be the assassin as Gabriella's late prisoner. His body had been returned to the castle, and the head was being shown to both guards and arrested suspects in the hope that someone would recognise him.
As the sun drifted behind Kerberos, Gabriella and Erak finally returned to the barracks and found three men waiting in the refectory. One was Eminence Kesar, the second was the Duke, and the last was Preceptor DeBarres.
"I don't know what you do to the Brotherhood, or Ogur, or anybody else," DeBarres rasped gruffly, "but you certainly scare the crap out of me." He and the two knights laughed together. "Good work. People will remember this day for the right reasons more than the wrong ones. Quick and decisive action from the Swords. They'll remember that."
"And not an assassination," The Eminence added. He stretched out a hand for them to kiss his signet ring. "Since Eminence Rhodon survives."
"Thanks be to the Lord of All." Gabriella said in a hushed voice. Erak repeated it after her.
"Thanks be to the Lord of All," Kesar echoed, "and to Healers, and to the incompetence of assassins." He turned to the Duke. "These are the two who caught the assassin, your grace."
"And made him talk?" Freihurr vom Kalten asked.
Gabriella looked, almost imperceptibly, to DeBarres and Eminence Kesar. Kesar nodded and Gabriella answered. "A little, your grace. He mentioned the Brotherhood, before he died."
Freihurr cocked an eyebrow. "Died?"
"He was trying to kill Sister DeZantez at the time," Erak pointed out.
"Nevertheless," Freihurr went on, "dead men tell no tales, and — "
"And we would have preferred him to be a little more chatty, your Grace," Gabriella agreed. "But, knowing the Brotherhood was involved, we can start looking at their members in the area."
"Do we know who they are?"
"We have a list of their senior figures," Kesar said, "extracted from various sources during the hearing of Confessions. Unfortunately, knowing a few names, which in all probability are aliases, doesn't guarantee finding the person. Nevertheless, DeBarres' men already have a wish-list of people we should like to speak to in general, and this event merely makes the desire more… urgent."
As the sun moved behind Kerberos and the world turned dull and grey Goran Kell turned his mount on to the game trail, and began to thread his way through the foliage. Once the trade road had vanished into the murk, Kell and his followers dismounted, and led their horses deeper into the woods.
Kell knew there were men out here and was on alert, trying to judge how long it would be before they reached them. He was still shocked when a hand suddenly reached across him to grab one shoulder and the icy tip of a short sword pricked his throat.
"It's raining blood," a voice said.
Kell coughed, trying to lubricate his throat. He hoped he was only imagining the sensation of blood slipping down his collar. "But… But the sun will be dry and bright." He sounded more hopeful, and less confident, than he intended.
The blade and the grip vanished and a shadowy figure reached past him to take the horse's reins. "You're early, sir."
"It's an extra day's pay to you and your men, Chaga." He didn't mind that his faithful soldier had threatened him. It was his duty, after all, to be sure that Kell wasn't an impostor disguised by magical or other means.
"It certainly is. Where are we going, sir?"
"Turnitia first, I think. And I want no interruptions from the Swords of Dawn."
Chaga grinned, showing missing teeth. "That goes without saying, sir."
The bath-house was a stone-walled chamber attached to the castle's largest tower. The water was heated by fires in the next room, before flowing down and into the wooden tubs. Gabriella handed her armour for cleaning and put the rest of her clothes into a large basket for the castle's staff to take for laundry later.
The water was refreshing, and Gabriella ducked under the surface, shaking her head to get any trace of the day's exertions out of her hair. She still felt tense, and wished it was so easy to wash away what had happened to Eminence Rhodon. His wound wouldn't disappear with warm water and soap.
A surge of water brought her back to herself and back to the surface. Erak was just settling in opposite.
"It's been a long day," he said, enjoying the soothing effect of the hot water.
"For everybody. Half the Order will probably be joining us any minute."
"Not unless they bring a battering ram, Gabe." He grinned, passing her a large iron key. "I thought you wouldn't want to be disturbed."
"I've been disturbed enough for one day," she admitted. "That man I caught… He was a maniac. Possessed, maybe."
"Then there's a well-fed demon in the pits."
She nodded. "Erak, do you think that that man was the same one who shot Eminence Rhodon?"
Erak slid round to sit next to her and leaned his head on her shoulder.
"You've nothing to be guilty or ashamed about. Unlike the rest of us."
"What have you got to be ashamed about?"
"You must be joking, Gabe. A whole troop of the Swords couldn't protect our own Eminences?"
"A determined assassin who doesn't care for his own life will always get through."
"Next time try to sound like you believe that."
"Don't you?"
Erak was silent for a moment. "The Lord of All is on our side. He doesn't look the other way but he demands that we're worthy of him. And we weren't."
Gabriella shook her head. "Somehow I don't think the Eminences will agree, nor will the Anointed Lord."
Hasso, formerly of the Red Daggers, wasn't stupid. Goran Kell was a warrior, unlike Scarra, and wouldn't think twice about killing him. Again, Hasso was confident of his own fighting ability, but he knew that he would be outnumbered if he tried to take on Kell's bodyguards. He didn't particularly believe that Kell had ran off with half the money, and knew he would only get himself into a fight against impossible odds if he went after Kell.