“What do you want?”
“I meant to bring you up to date on the Commander’s adventures. But the Bastard seems to have brought the news already.”
“If by that you mean Ferris Renfrow, yes. He just left. From what he said, you must be Cloven Februaren, the so-called Ninth Unknown.”
“That’ll save a lot of palaver. Outline what he told you. I’ll fill in what he left out.”
Would Renfrow keep her in the dark? Yes. Almost certainly. Even close allies were not honest all the time. She hit the highlights. And understood by the old man’s amusement that there had been points ignored or passed over lightly. “So what did he leave out?”
“Not much that you really need to know. Just little things, like the fact that he worked for me a long time ago. And just how successful we were in a world that our religious leaders promise us doesn’t exist.”
“So how successful were you?”
“Extremely. Though the whole truth remains to be seen. I’ll reserve some facts myself. Ignorance could save you a lot of grief someday. In any event, we don’t want you distracted when the news about your sister gets here. But take heart. Piper Hecht and the Righteous won’t be far behind.”
He turned sideways.
Time resumed.
“Captain Drear. I want to see the Graf fon Rhejm or one of his brothers. Go.” She turned to Lady va Kelgerberg. The sooner dealt with the sooner that misery would end.
* * *
Captain Drear found three of Katrin’s uncles. All three responded to the Princess Apparent. Helspeth told them, “Thank you for coming so quickly. I barely dared hope that any of you would.”
The Graf fon Rhejm inclined his head slightly. “The fact of the request made it clear that it was important.”
Albert fon Rhejm reminded Helspeth of her father. He was not a big man, unlike the other two, who were built in the long, lean, blond mode of their niece, Katrin.
“I apologize because I have no quiet room. I picked a bad time to find out that they were all compromised. But what I have to tell you will be common knowledge soon enough.” The youngest brother, Friedl, must have come twenty years after Hildegrun. He had a touch of that same appeal that drew her to the Commander of the Righteous. He also had a wife and was faithful.
“And that would be?”
“I’ll preface by saying this comes from Ferris Renfrow. He recommended that I let you know immediately. He has unusual means of acquiring information.”
“So rumor would suggest. So?”
“It’s hard to just throw out. He says Katrin is dead. For reasons no one understands she went galloping along the bank of the Teragi, in Brothe, fell in, and drowned. And that’s all he told me.”
Katrin’s uncles said nothing. The younger two eventually turned to the Graf fon Rhejm, who choked out, “God has a black sense of humor indeed, to take the daughter that way after what He let happen to her mother. You have no other details?”
“No. But she must have been upset about something if she was out galloping. That was one of the ways she coped.”
“It was. She must have been. Though agitation had become her natural state. She had begun to suffer bouts of insanity. There’s a congenital inclination in the family.” He bowed his head as though to pray. Helspeth did not interrupt.
After some moments the Graf looked up. “Her end could be a blessing for the Empire. For some of us the disease persists for decades. The damage she could have done is inestimable.”
Helspeth noted moisture on one of the Graf’s cheeks. His brothers were doing their best to remain hard and silent. She said, “We’ll get the full story when the Righteous arrive. Several witnessed the actual event, I understand. And several drowned trying to get Katrin out of the river.”
“Helspeth, I’m grateful that you took time to tell us all this. Katrin wouldn’t have done anything of the sort.”
The middle brother, Rodolf, who had said nothing yet, mumbled, “This explains why the Braunsknects are all stirred up.”
Helspeth admitted, “It does. They don’t know why, yet. They’ll find out when everyone else does. But they will have key points already secured.”
The Graf fon Rhejm thanked her again. He and his brothers departed, the Graf pausing at the door. He considered her enigmatically.
She hoped she had done the right thing.
It would not do to make enemies of those men.
11. Antieux: Deathwives
Two days after Bernardin’s return to Antieux a troop of forty lances left the city with orders to travel fast, far, and light. Still, with equerries, serjents, and servants, and with every man sharing the workload, the party really consisted of a hundred souls and three hundred animals.
Everyone had to ride. Everyone had to bring food, tents, and equipment. Warhorses, usually asked to do no more than amble along till fighting time, ended up carrying supplies.
Brother Candle watched from above the city gate. He marveled at what these fighting men considered light. Nothing like the horse soldiers of the east, though he had heard that those riders often had vast trains of camels in trail.
The Perfect was troubled. Those men were in dire awe of their captain. Even the animals might be a little intimidated.
Countess Socia had given Kedle Richeut command, then had disdained all dissenting arguments. Nor had she been reluctant to be heavy-handed with anyone who tried to thwart her.
There had been surprisingly few attempts at that.
* * *
Kedle’s reputation had grown since events in Khaurene. And Socia had been around Antieux long enough to have made an abiding impression. No one forgot her massacre of those men at Suralert Ford, all privileged by birth or status in the Church.
Most folk of Antieux had been satisfied with Count Raymone’s rule. The Countess promised more of the same, possibly more intensely.
But…! A woman commanding warriors? However fierce a woman? That was legendary stuff. It did not happen in modern times.
Against that argument Socia named Queen Isabeth herself, Anne of Menand, and Empress Katrin and her sister Helspeth. Both daughters of Johannes Blackboots had seen combat during the Calziran Crusade, when they were younger than Kedle Richeut. Then there was the Countess of Antieux herself. Socia Rault had been handling weapons against armed foes since she was sixteen. And she was sending Kedle Richeut out only because she could not yet sit a saddle herself.
The Countess was who she was and Count Raymone’s judgment was trusted. Socia’s wishes were accepted by the nobles and magnates.
Antieux would ignore the unnatural arrangement as long as Socia and Kedle produced results.
Brother Candle watched the riders head into the dewy sunrise and blamed the moisture on his cheeks on the morning damp. He was sad. Kedle was walking away from her life to do this thing.
Kedle meant almost as much to him as Socia did. He had known her since she was in diapers. She was the only surviving child of two good friends. He had brought Raulet and Madam Archimbault to the Good God before Kedle was born.
Raulet and his wife were distraught. They had not been able to bring themselves to watch Kedle ride away, armed, surrounded by a hundred crude men. Her hunger for bloody action pained them deeply.
Pacifism was ingrained in the Maysalean Heresy. Although the Good God insisted that evil be resisted by all means, including use of arms, most Seekers would not fight. Brother Candle himself never raised a hand in anger. Kedle not only embraced violence, she abandoned her children to follow its call.
* * *
The time between Bernardin’s return and the departure of Kedle’s expedition was full for Brother Candle. He spent a lot of time with Raulet and his wife, reminding them to remain strong for the sake of the grandchildren. He had to endure, in silence, Socia’s robust pogrom against all things Brothen Episcopal, including public execution of eleven members of the Society for the Suppression of Sacrilege and Heresy. She imprisoned forty-three suspected agents of the Brothen Church, then ordered the expulsion of Episcopal priests known to have been honestly active before Count Raymone’s misadventure.