Adversaries Together (42 page)

“
Why did you come after
me?”

“
Because I wanted to beat
you.” Asa’s eyes opened wide as he did nothing to hide his
contempt.

“
All this because you
wanted to beat me? That’s senseless. You don’t even know
me.”

The shadows were long now as the sun had
nearly disappeared over the hills. Dusk was nearly on them and the
air was getting cooler. Roth watch Asa shudder then let out a manic
desperate burst of laughter, “You know, you’re right. I don’t even
know your name.”

“
You went through all this
to get revenge on a nameless man.” Roth shook his head.

“
Don’t get philosophical
with me, rover.” Asa squirmed trying to raise himself up. Colm took
a step forward and leaned the point of the spear into Asa’s
shoulder wound. Asa cried out and cursed Colm; Roth looked back and
waved the boy off.

“
You have no idea what I
could’ve had if it not been for you.” He growled, let his head fall
back on the stone, and closed his eyes.

“
Why don’t you tell me?”
Roth said. Asa rolled his head forward and slowly opened his eyes,
glaring at Roth.

“
What makes you think I’d
do that?”

“Well, Colm here is pretty quiet but I’m
rather certain he’d love to keep you hurting well into the night.”
Colm lowered the pole arm again, this time he sliced Asa’s thigh
still as mute as ever. This time Roth didn’t stop him.

Asa clenched his jaw and grabbed the spear
with is bloodied hand throwing it aside. Colm let it be swatted
away, then casually drew it back and was about to needle Asa again
when Roth raised his hand.

“See what I mean?”

“Alright,” Asa spoke through his grit teeth,
“But first, you tell me who you are.”

Roth’s face was impassive, “I am Avery Roth,
the last Caretaker for the Athingani.”

“A Caretaker?” Asa muttered, “That makes no
sense. There aren’t any Caretakers any longer.”

Roth shrugged lifting Colm’s spear tip and
guided it to Asa’s chest, “Now you.”

The Cathedral of Sulecin,
34
^th
of Mabon

The courtyard’s white gravel paths
crisscrossed regularly dividing the whole area into triangle. Low
hedges girded the paths and kept the grass of the triangles free of
footfall. There wasn’t a single tree in the courtyard and the sun’s
glare off the Grand Cathedral threw a further blinding light upon
it. Pallas walk slowly, his back the Cathedral. Occasionally, he
stopped to gaze into shadows of the surrounding portico.

With the sky void of cloud the high sun
bathed everything in an unrelenting light. Pallas’s black cassock
and biretta drew heat and the cool autumnal wind was just enough to
mitigate it. Still, Pallas found himself wiping his hands on this
red silken maniple to keep them from getting clammy. As he walked
the paths, his mind wandered. He had received Cochrane’s last
update perhaps a week ago. Dated on Mabon Day and telling him he
had arrived in Elvos, the information proved of little worth. He
knew he wasn’t going to be getting regular reports but this one
tidbit had whetted his appetite. Cochrane had to have reached
Lappala by now, but he wouldn’t be able to send off any information
until he got to Wick, Dystos, or Anhra. By then, Pallas thought,
the information should come fast and regular. But would it be soon
enough? He wouldn’t know Cochrane’s status until Winterfinding at
the earliest and that was quite unlikely.

Bloodtangle’s letter had arrived earlier that
morning stating they had just left Bandra for Wick. Everything was
ridiculously behind schedule, and Sinclar was already moving faster
than Pallas had anticipated. He stopped and stood still as he
looked upon the Cathedral. Squinting he tried to make out if anyone
was inside attending to the altar. Unfortunately, the only thing
that came of it was a smear of cloud-like red blurs before his
eyes. The morning’s sermon had hinted at Sinclar’s progress. Such
an emphatic rejoinder on the infallibility of the Patriarch may
have seemed innocuous to the congregants but held a clear message
for those within the Vicegerent’s circle.

Sinclar was conveying he now had enough
chapels under his sway that if a conclave were announced, he would
win. It meant that his scheme was well into its third stage
awaiting the advent of a crisis. That crisis would be a slow
burn—the death of an alm at the hands of mercenaries hired by
Essia, an alm that is revealed to have been a highborn of
Spires—but it would be enough. The ancient Patriarch Arius would be
blindsided, the hawks of the Spires would see their chance, and
Sinclar would use the family tragedy to rally the faithful to him.
Sinclar as Patriarch would guarantee decades of blood. Pallas shook
his head, it couldn’t be allowed.

He resumed his stroll around the courtyard.
No word from his Rikonenese contacts and Bloodtangle had said
nothing of the alm. Pallas bit his lip and fidgeted with the
maniple. Just then, a shadow moved up alongside him.

“
Once again I catch you
deep in thought.” Vander was his usual saccharine self. Pallas
snapped his head to the side looking at Vander as though he were a
stranger. His face soften almost immediately and a slight smile
crept onto his face.

“
It seems that you have
seen better days, brother.” Vander’s right eye was a sickening
mauve and his cheek peppered with ghastly greens and yellows, his
upper lip was split, and although the collar of his alb rode high
on his neck there were hints of bruises there as well.

Vander frown a bit, “Yes, well, unfortunately
I fell prey to some ruffians who hid themselves among the pilgrims
I was ministering to.”

He was obviously lying but Pallas had no
interest in pursuing the point, “Oh, I didn’t realize you were
active among the pilgrims? In fact, I thought most of your time was
spent revising the breviary.”

Vander didn’t rise to the bait but was more
curt than usual, “Part of that mission is the dispersal of our
texts to the faithful.”

Pallas nodded, “Of course, forgive my
ignorance. I take it that the paladins have seen to the
thieves.”

“
Yes,” Vander said distant,
“It’s been taken care of.” As the two came up to the Cathedral,
they fell silent as friars and alms passed shepherding children
along to the academies beyond the courtyard. Once they had passed,
the two turned to follow a pathway back into the
courtyard.

“
Speaking of paladins,”
Vander continued, “We have decided to release the information about
the paladin over the next few days.”

Pallas was surprised, “How exactly?”

“
The justiciars in Bandra
have been longing for a higher profile; the Vicegerent has decided
to grant it to them.”

“
By revealing how they
allowed a Hopeless to be stolen away?”

“
By letting the faithful
know how well the Bandrians applied the Cathedral’s law, and then
how a trusted paladin of the highest esteem was really a heretic
and responsible in the disappearance if not the death of an alm on
her first mission.”

Pallas smirked, “Convenient.”

“
I think you’ll hear in the
coming days that it is decidedly inconvenient for many in the
higher echelons.”

“
Certainly not our dear
Vicegerent.”

“
Oh, he is definitely
aggrieved to have been betrayed, but he will take appropriate steps
to purge the paladins of any further heresy.”

“
A tall order.”

“
He has the utmost
confidence in Canon Stilbon to conduct a thorough investigation
and, if he deems it necessary, the assumption of its
leadership.”

Pallas mulled this over, “Hmm, seems as
though that from now until Imbolc much of the day to day of our
lives will be in upheaval.”

“
Given your days are spent
in quiet contemplation, wouldn’t nearly any event be an upheaval?”
Vander’s grinned.

Pallas stopped, turned to face Vander, and
spoke softly, “Your new coloring does make you appear sinister.
Perhaps you should try to make the most of it before your true
color returns.” With that, he turned on his heel and disappeared
into the portico.

The Ternary Headwaters,
35
^th
of Mabon

They had been riding since early evening the
day before, nearly from the moment Roth had returned to the group
with Colm by his side. The boy had lead them to Silvincian camp
where they had found the horses Lo and Kia, which the troop must
have stolen from Reg, and pilfered the remaining supplies. They had
left the bodies where they had fallen and set the rest of the
encampment aflame. Riding off in the early evening, eight bodies on
five horses. Fery shared a saddle with Declan and Kira with Goshen.
Only Colm looked back as he rode on Lo with Roth, silently praying
for the fire to consume the corpses.

Wynne had done a good job of stitching up
Fery, setting Jena’s nose, and dressing Declan’s wound. However,
all three needed more rest than what Roth was willing to afford
them. Fortunately, the group’s arrival at the headwaters of the
Elmander, Sorrent, and Falkstone meant they could be properly seen
to by the healers at the way station, which was roughly ten leagues
from Havan. The headwaters were a draw for thousands of people from
all the realms of Syr Nebra so there were hundreds of pavilions at
the way station but no large permanent structures. Pilgrims from
the south, from the Lakes, and the Spires came for the hot spring
baths; the Cathedral’s true believers came to hear the teachings of
and see the lifestyles of the Coventar monks; and swarms of minor
merchants and less than reputable traders lingered hoping to get
their assets to the west and north or hire out their barges.

Jena knew the headwaters well and as they
approached the encampment, she moved to take the lead in their tiny
caravan. The group didn’t look nearly as motley as many others
around them but they didn’t quite blend in. Jena made sure that
they rode along the less savory paths avoiding the parishes of the
Cathedral and the views of the wealthy pilgrims who always seemed
to draw the Spires as their guard. The group came to a long grey
canvas pavilion that even among all other innocuous tents looked
unassuming. Jena jumped down from her horse and tossed the reins up
towards Roth who had come up alongside her.

“
Here?” he
asked.

“
As good as any,” Jena said
as she tossed the canvas slit aside and entered.

“
Are we dismounting?”
Goshen asked behind Roth.

“
Not just yet, Jena is
seeing to it.”

“
It’s gonna start raining
soon.” Declan said as he looked around the way station.

“
Wouldn’t be the first time
you’ve spent the night in the mud.” Wynne said moving up to
Roth.

“
Aye,” Declan grunted with
a bit of an edge as he watched Wynne pass him up. He looked over
his shoulder at Fery, “Not too fond of me, is he.”

“He’s angrier with him,” Fery nodded towards
Roth, “than you.”

“
Huh.”

Fery gave Declan a thin grin, “He still
doesn’t quite like you yet though.” Declan smiled and winked at
her.

Wynne pulled up to Roth and smiled at Colm in
his lap, “We need to rest.”

“
I know.” Roth didn’t look
at him but continued to stare at the slit in the canvas waiting for
Jena to re-emerge.

“We need to get them to proper healers.”
Wynne pressed.

“I know that.” Roth nodded and Colm looked
up at him.

“We need to talk.” Impatient, Wynne muttered
as he tried to peer into the pavilion.

Roth turned and gave Wynne a pleading look,
“I am aware of all of these things.”

Jena emerged and gave a bit of a start at
how close Roth and Wynne were to the entrance, “Damn, back off a
bit.”

“
And?” Roth
asked.

“Three down, two over, we have a yurt.”

“The horses?”

Jena pointed down the lane, “Stables.”

Roth looked at Wynne, “We rest; we heal; we
talk.” He tossed backed Jena’s reins, and then dismounted. He
lifted Colm off Lo and held him on his shoulder while giving Wynne
the reins. Roth turned and walked with purpose in the direction
that Jena had said the yurt was.

“Guess that means we tend to the horses.”
Wynne said.

Jena didn’t say anything as she watched Roth
meld into the crowd. She followed his progress by seeing Colm’s
head just above everyone else’s. She sighed, “Yeah, it looks like
it.”

The yurt had a diameter of roughly twelve
feet. It would have been generous for just one alone or even for a
couple, but the eight of them in it gave an air of poverty to
everything. A brazier in the center kept the interior warm as the
light drizzle outside sounded fiercer than it was as it struck the
treated canvas roof. When Roth entered with Colm, both were soaked
to the bone each carrying a bundle that they clenched to their
chests. They stood at the entrance and tried to shake themselves
dry. Roth pulled the shroud over Colm’s bundle off and pointed
toward Wynne across the room.

“
What’s this then?” Colm
handed the bundle over to Wynne.

“
Better bedding, new
clothes.” Roth tossed his bundle to Goshen on the other side of the
room. He looked at the armor that the paladin had shed, “We’ll need
to sell that too.” Goshen nodded.

“
It’s warm enough in here,
but this place is filthy.” Fery muttered.