A Mighty Fortress (65 page)

Whoever their visitor was rapped again, a bit more loudly. “Yes?” Staynair called, and the door eased open just far enough to admit a human head. The head in question belonged to Father Bryahn Ushyr, his personal secretary and most closely trusted aide.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Your Eminence, but
Seijin
Merlin wonders if he might have a moment of your time?”

Staynair’s snowy eyebrows rose. He sat there for a moment, then slipped a bookmark into the volume in his lap and closed it.

“Of course, Bryahn. Ask the
seijin
to come in, please.”

“Certainly, Your Eminence,” Ushyr murmured, and his head disappeared once more.

The door opened again—wider—a few seconds later, and Merlin Athrawes stepped through it. Staynair was surprised to see him for several reasons. For one thing, he’d understood Merlin would be remaining in Maikelberg for at least another day or so. For another, he was a little perplexed as to why Merlin might have come to see him in person rather than simply using their coms, since the
seijin
’s SNARCs must have told him Staynair was alone in his chamber, which meant no one would have noticed him talking to himself.

“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Your Eminence,” Merlin said as Ushyr closed the door once more behind him.

“You’re always welcome,” Staynair replied with a smile. “All the same, I must admit I’m a little surprised by your visit.”

“I’m sure you are.” Merlin smiled back, but then the smile faded. “I’ve just come from a meeting with Cayleb, Sharleyan, and Nahrmahn, though. Well,” he corrected himself, “I’ve just come by way of a bath and a clean uniform.”

“What sort of meeting?”

“There’ve been some . . . unexpected developments in Manchyr.” Stay-nair’s eyes narrowed as Merlin’s voice turned unexpectedly grim. “In fact, one reason I’m here is to ask you to join the three of them to discuss those developments. They wanted to wait until after you’d had breakfast. For several reasons.”

“Should I assume the ‘unexpected developments’ in question are less than happy ones?” Staynair asked quietly.

“I’m afraid so. And, frankly, I’m also afraid they’re going to have some implications for your own visit.”

“I see.” Staynair laid his book aside and started to climb out of his comfortable armchair.

“Just a moment, Your Eminence. Please.”

The archbishop’s eyebrows rose once more as Merlin gestured for him to remain seated. He settled back, cocking his head to one side.

“Yes?” he invited. “I said that
one
reason I’d come was to extend their invitation,” Merlin said. “I have another one, though. One I really need to discuss with
you
before I bring the matter to their attention.”

“This has something to do with what’s happened in Manchyr?”

“No, Your Eminence. Or, not directly, at any rate. It has to do with a discussion you had with Baron Wave Thunder before you departed for Emerald.”

“I beg your pardon?” Staynair blinked, and Merlin gave him an off- center smile.

“Before you left Tellesberg, Your Eminence, you arranged for Father Bryahn to deliver several cases of documents to the Baron. Documents which had been sent to you from Zion... by way of Madame Dynnys.”

Staynair stiffened. For a moment, simple surprise—and shock—held him motionless in his chair, his eyes widening in astonishment. Then his normally gentle face darkened. The eyes which had gone wide narrowed, and his entire body seemed to quiver as a bolt of outrage went through him.

“Merlin—!”
he began in a hard, angry voice. “Please, Your Eminence!” Merlin said quickly, raising one hand in a pacific gesture. “I have no intention of violating your confidence in any way!”

“You already have!” Staynair was as furious as Merlin had ever seen him. “I realize the entire ‘Church of God Awaiting’ is only a farce, and not a good one,” he said sharply, “but you know perfectly well that I still take my priestly responsibilities seriously! And you obviously
also
know Madame Dynnys came to me under the seal of the confessional!”

“Yes, I do,” Merlin agreed, keeping his own voice deliberately calm. “And I became aware of it only because Owl gave me the information in a routine data dump. I’m sorry to say it hadn’t occurred to me—then—to put in place a filter which would respect the privacy and confidentiality of your pastoral discussions with individual members of the Church. Since that incident, I have.”

Staynair glared at him, and Merlin looked back levelly. “You’re perfectly welcome to check with Owl about that, Your Eminence,” he said very quietly.

A tense, brittle silence hovered for a moment. Then Staynair’s nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply.

“That won’t be necessary.” His voice was as quiet as Merlin’s had been. “Your word is more than good enough for me,
Seijin
Merlin. It always has been.”

“Thank you,” Merlin said sincerely. “I must assume, however,” Staynair continued with the air of a man deliberately stepping back from a brink, “that there’s a reason you brought your... awareness of this particular situation to my attention?”

“There is.”

Merlin crossed to the window and stood gazing out into the snow. He said nothing more for several seconds, then turned his head to look at the archbishop.

“Your Eminence, I became aware of the existence of Mistress Ahnzhelyk’s files purely by chance, and I understand exactly why Madame Dynnys wants to protect her identity—and her—from accidental betrayal. What I don’t know, because of those filters I had Owl put in place since your original conversation with her, is whether or not Madame Dynnys ever did tell you the identities of those within the Temple who have been working with Ahnzhelyk?”

Staynair considered the question for a moment, then shrugged. “No, she hasn’t.”

“I’m not really surprised.” Merlin turned back to the window. “However, ever since I became aware of your conversation, I’ve been... keeping an eye on Mistress Ahnzhelyk.”

“What?” Alarm tinged Staynair’s tone. “I thought you said—”

“What I’ve said,” Merlin interrupted, never looking away from the window, “is that I don’t dare operate the SNARCs or their remotes
inside
the Temple proper.” He shrugged. “I still don’t have any idea what all those power sources under the Temple are. Obviously, quite a lot of them have to be associated with the Temple’s environmental ser vices and the automated remotes that keep all its ‘mystic’ features up and running. I think there’s more than would be needed just for that, though, and I’m not going to risk tripping any close- in sensors. But Ahnzhelyk’s town house is far enough from the Temple that I can keep an eye on it. Cautiously, of course. In fact,” he looked back at the archbishop with a strange, flickering little smile, “I’ve actually been to Zion, you know.”

“You’ve
been
to Zion?” Staynair couldn’t quite hide his surprise, and Merlin chuckled.

“That was before I’d been able to tell any of you the truth. Tell me, didn’t you ever wonder exactly how Archbishop Erayk came to take that extremely convenient tumble on Ahnzhelyk’s steps?”

Staynair’s eyes widened once more, and Merlin nodded. “Wasn’t that just a bit risky?” the archbishop asked after a moment. “From what you’ve said, I’d have thought it would constitute a considerable risk of detection.”

“It did,” Merlin agreed. “Unfortunately, it was the only way I could think of to head off his pastoral visit, and we needed the time.”

“That’s true enough,” Staynair acknowledged feelingly, and Merlin shrugged.

“At any rate, as I say, I’ve been keeping my eye on her. And, to be honest, I’m getting more and more concerned about her safety.”

“Concerned? Why? What’s happening?” Staynair asked quickly. “I’m not entirely certain,” Merlin admitted, “but she’s been making some unusual contacts. And she’s been doing some other... peculiar things. Among other things, she’s got several groups of people hidden away in different places scattered across Zion. I haven’t been able to identify most of them, but I do know who at least some of them are.”

“Who?” Staynair asked when he paused. “They’re family groups. I’m sure of that much. And unless I’m badly mistaken, they’re the families of senior churchmen. Vicars and archbishops.”

Brown eyes met eyes of sapphire, and Staynair’s chamber was very, very quiet for several breaths.

“Those ‘reformers’ of Adorai’s,” Staynair said, then, very softly. “That’s what I think—what I’m afraid of.” Merlin shook his head. “The more I’ve seen of Ahnzhelyk, the more I’ve come to admire her. That’s a
very
capable lady, Your Eminence, and I’m sure she’s prepared her own escape route, even though I haven’t managed to catch her at it. That’s probably a good sign, not a bad one; if Owl and I haven’t stumbled across any clues, it seems unlikely the Inquisition would have. On the other hand, there’s no way to be sure of that, especially since I don’t dare insert remotes directly into the Temple. And however good her arrangements may be, the sheer number of people she’s trying to get out is going to work against her. I’m sure Clyntahn and Rayno are already trying to figure out where quite a few of those people have gotten to, and if there’s one thing Inquisitors are good at, it’s finding people.”

“I see.”

Staynair leaned back in his chair, his eyes worried, one hand playing with the pectoral scepter of his office. He sat that way for several seconds, then looked back up at Merlin.

“Exactly where are you heading, Merlin?”

“To Zion, I think,” Merlin replied.

This time, Staynair’s eyes didn’t even flicker. He clearly didn’t like where this seemed to be bound, but it was equally clear he wasn’t surprised.

“How?” he asked simply. “What I have in mind isn’t really all that complicated. A bit risky, perhaps, but not complicated.”

“You fill me with dread,” Staynair said dryly, and Merlin chuckled. “Actually, what started me thinking about it was something Sharleyan said earlier this morning. She and Cayleb are planning on sending me to Corisande with you to keep an eye on you. As she pointed out to Cayleb, we can stay in communication now wherever I am, and it would actually make sense for Cayleb to send his personal armsman to protect the Archbishop of Charis. But if they can send me to Corisande and stay in touch, then I could send myself to Zion without dropping out of contact, as well.”

“And just go strolling around the city? In your Imperial Guard uniform, no doubt?”

“Not quite.” Merlin smiled slightly. “In fact, I can reconfigure my PICA, Your Eminence. There are limits to the amount of change I can crank in on things like height, but I can alter the color of my hair, the color of my eyes, my complexion.” He shrugged. “Trust me, I’m a true master of disguise. Or perhaps I should say
mistress
.”

Staynair nodded. He’d seen file imagery of Nimue Alban now, and he had to admit that no one would ever have recognized her in Merlin Athrawes. There was an obvious—and certainly understandable—“family resemblance” between them, but Merlin was unmistakably a
man
.

“I won’t pretend getting me and all the electronics tucked away inside me—not to mention my power plant—that close to the Temple doesn’t make me nervous,” Merlin continued, “but no one who sees or meets me is going to associate me with Merlin Athrawes. Not even if they later
meet
Merlin.”

“All right, I can see that,” Staynair conceded. “Well, while I’m admitting things, I suppose I should also admit I’ll be pretty much playing things by ear once I get there.” Merlin shrugged. “It can’t be any other way. But I’ll have several advantages Ahnzhelyk
doesn’t
have, and I can always explain that I’m another
seijin
— a friend of
Seijin
Merlin’s who’s rallied around to help him out, for example. That should help account for some of those ‘advantages’ if I have to call on them in front of witnesses.”

“And just exactly where is ‘
Seijin
Merlin’ going to be while all of this is going on?” Staynair shook his head. “You’re going to have to be gone at least several days—more probably for five- days.”

“That’s one of the reasons I came to see you,” Merlin said. “I think we can probably cover at least a short absence on my part by using the stories about
seijins
. According to at least some of the tales, they need to ‘withdraw from the world’ to meditate from time to time.
Seijin
Merlin, on the other hand, has been continually ‘on- duty’ ever since he first arrived in Charis. No doubt he’s long overdue for that sort of withdrawal. Call it a ‘spiritual retreat.’ Given the fact that Cayleb and Sharleyan want to send me to Corisande with you, and that all they’re going to be doing themselves for the immediate future is to stay parked here in the palace with oodles of guardsmen to keep an eye on them for me, I think we could get away with explaining to anyone who asks that I’m taking this opportunity for the aforesaid spiritual retreat before you and I depart.”

“I imagine we could do that,” Staynair agreed slowly, his eyes thoughtful. “The problem is that we have to convince Cayleb and Sharleyan to go along with all this.” Merlin’s lips twitched in something halfway between a smile and a grimace. “I don’t think either of them’s going to be happy with the notion, but I’m not about to set out on something like this without keeping them fully informed. We just, ah, had a little conversation about exactly that point, as a matter of fact.” His expression turned into a true smile for a moment, then smoothed. “However, I can’t tell them where I want to go and why without telling them about Ahnzhelyk, Your Eminence. And I can’t do that if it would violate your confidence and the sanctity of the confessional.”