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"I couldn't guess the reasoning. Maybe the ring did what it was supposed to do way back when and is still around because nobody remembers it long enough to melt it down."
"That fits. The Principate thinks it goes back to antiquity, even before the Agean Empire. But he couldn't guess why it was made."
Bruglioni had been turning the ring over and over. Now he slipped it onto a finger. "Uncle Divino didn't know. Didn't remember he had it till it was gone."
"I'm really pressed for time. I just wanted to do right after I found out I'd been wrong and really did have the ring. And I wanted to see for myself that everything was going good here."
"Still better than before you came here. Gervase prods me when I backslide. He shows me the youngsters coming up. That reminds me what might be – if I don't pay attention. I'm sorry I shoehorned him into Divino's seat. He isn't around enough, now." He shrugged. "Gervase is the best we have."
Hecht offered to shake hands. Bruglioni passed. It was not a current custom. He told Hecht, "Good luck in the Co
"I mean to try."
Paludan let out a startled squawk soon after Hecht left him.
That old man was going to get himself into something he could not handle, someday.
Principal Delari was in a dark mood. "You're late."
Hecht said, "Your grandfather played one practical joke too many. We almost didn't make it out of the Bruglioni place."
Februaren managed to look sheepish. For a moment.
Hecht joined Heris. She was looking down at the giant map of the world. "There've been changes." Heris was grubbier than usual.
"The ice line?"
"That." That was obvious. "But some more subtle things, too."
"There's the sea levels rising in the Negrine and those two lesser seas farther east. More snowfall to the north means more meltwater during the spring and summer."
"You're well informed."
"Grandfather has been sneaking me in here all year. To learn the Construct. Hoping I'll be able to work it someday. Now he wants to crash train you, too."
"What? We don't have an ounce of talent for sorcery between us."
"He claims it doesn't matter. The sorcery is in the engine. You just have to know how to tell it what to do. Februaren is a true master. He doesn't even have to talk to it. Maybe he'll teach us. Grandfather isn't good at getting ideas across."
"If Februaren can stop pinching bottoms and tugging ears. How did you get here? Bribe the guards?" The only women allowed in the Chiaro Palace were nuns of the Bettine Order. And those nuns down there, updating the map.
"I come in underground."
That explained the dust and grime. "Wow. You have more guts than I do. I've only been down a few times. I won't go again unless I have to."
"Grandfather told me. But it's tame, now. He's made sure. The old man helped."
Hecht sighed. "I don't know how he gets around and gets all those things done."
"The Construct." Heris gestured at the map. "He's a virtuoso."
"That's how he skips all the walking in between?"
"Yes. He's the only one who can do it today. The wells of power are too weak and too many revenants are competing for what power there is. Your work in the Co
While they talked Cloven Februaren sparked around the vast chamber, looking over the shoulders of people working on the Construct. He restrained his urge to startle.
Principate Delari did the same, using ladders and catwalks.
Heris said, "If the wells come back strong, you and me, we should be able to do what the old man does. If we study hard enough and want it bad enough."
Heris wanted it badly enough. But her motives might not be pure.
"What?" Heris asked. "I didn't hear the joke."
"Thinking of motivation and purity. In this city. In this palace."
"That would be a joke, wouldn't it?"
Six weeks more passed before Boniface gave the order that sent Patriarchal forces into the field. Piper Hecht spent five hours each day beneath the Chiaro Palace. He did not believe he was doing any learning. Delari and Februaren disagreed. "You're becoming attuned," Februaren insisted. "Eventually, we'll be able to communicate from afar. I can watch you from afar already. I won't have to tag along quite so much. So. Go on out to the wild country, where the people talk fu
Four days before leaving for the wild country Hecht received a request that he visit the Penital, a direct appeal from the Imperial legate himself. With assurances that no misdirection was involved.
Rumors that the Imperial nuptials had grown shaky abounded. Hecht supposed the legate wanted to set the record straight.
He supposed right.
The legate told him, "The wedding has been postponed again. Because of complications with King Jaime's recovery from his wounds. He was less ready to travel than he believed. He collapsed as his party neared Khaurene."
"Is he trying to elude the commitment?"
"Not at all. He's too eager. Her Majesty will contact you as soon as we set a new date." The legate smiled at some private joke.
"My appreciation, My Lord." Hecht left the Penital bemused yet again by the Empress's evident interest. Why?
The legate had shrugged and shaken his head when asked the question direct.
The Patriarchal army approached the Dechear River with twenty-four hundred men, all Boniface VII would approve for the campaign. The Patriarch believed a larger force might spark a Co
"Rider coming in," Clej Sedlakova a
Hecht spotted the man. He wore Braunsknecht dress. "Good guess." Despite Empress Katrin's rapprochement with the Brothen Church, a small band of Braunsknechts still guarded Bellicose.
The man drew closer. He picked up shadows from among the outriders. Hecht observed, "We've seen this one before." He urged his mount farther from the road, where the troops were heading down to the Dechear in no particular hurry. Sedlakova, Smolens, Consent, and several others stayed with Hecht.
"Algres Drear," Consent said. "That's what he called himself when he came to borrow Drago Prosek."
Drear approached carefully, though his caution was of no value. "Captain-General. I bring dispatches."
"Captain Drear. I thought you attended to Princess Helspeth's safety."
"Once upon a time. In another life. Before I let her get away with going into the field against the Remayne Pass monster. Where the chit embarrassed the heroes of the Empire by actually slaying the dragon. I got rusticated. I'm being rehabilitated, now. Allowed to work my way back. As commander of the six-man company protecting someone the Empress would rather not protect. But we have to observe Imperial tradition."
"I see. Dispatches?"
Drear produced a fat, wheat-colored leather courier's case. "Long-winded, I'm sure. But the gist will be, Bellicose and Boniface have a deal. Bellicose will end the Viscesment Patriarchy. He'll succeed Boniface in Brothe. Once he's gone, there'll be just one Patriarchy."