O’Higgins warmed a little to her. I could see Father Bronz’s thinking in all this—a female knight who hated Zeis. Perfect.
Too perfect, I decided instantly. Something smelled wrong about this. Very wrong. It seemed all too convenient, all too pat. I felt uneasily that somebody was setting me up, and that somebody had to be Father Bronz.
Ever since I’d escaped from Zeis and found him, he had been in total charge of my life, a charge he seemed willing and eager to accept. As much as anything the Cal Tremon who sat in the council here was by now a product of Bronz’s own machinations, as was this whole carefully orchestrated exercise. What the hell was his game, anyway?
I’d done what checking I could given my limited contacts with others on this world, and they’d all borne out the image of a roving Master, a priest not merely deposed but defrocked by his church, who had been around as long as everybody could remember. And yet it was that last that bothered me. Nobody ever remembered the priest saying a service or a mass or whatever it was they did, nor carrying out any real priest-type functions at all. I certainly had never seen him do so, nor did we have anything but his word as to his life Outside, his background and reason for being here.
Still, if he were with Boss Tiel and Kreegan and that bunch, why had he gone to so much trouble over me? Why not just turn me in and get on with it? If he was someone high up on- the social scale masquerading as a lowly priest, why make certain I reached the Institute and received the best training and experience possible on Lilith? If he had his own ambitions I would be a threat to him, if not at this point then some time in the future.
But if indeed he was what he said he was, what were his motives? A staunch defender of the system on Lilith, he nonetheless was using its greatest threat, the witches, to put into power a man who hated that system, mainly me.
. I looked around at their faces as they earnestly discussed the coming campaign. I paid only slight attention to what they were saying, as, ironically, I was the least important person at this council of war in terms of the outcome, although of course I would fight. O’Higgins, the possibly Lord-class psychopath with the power to amplify, combine, and direct Warden power at will. Rognival, who wanted revenge for her earlier loss and her territory back. Bronz…
In thinking of him I’d once used the term Machiavellian. If I remembered my studies at all, that ancient mind was never the leader himself but merely an advisor—an advisor who was the real ruler while his prince took all the heat and did all the dirty work. Was I perhaps his prince-designate? Or were all three of us somehow in that category? With patience and almost diabolical cleverness, could he perhaps dream of controlling the whole sector indirectly through its rulers, then, perhaps with O’Higgins’ discoveries, going on to take the whole planet? What could even a Marek Kreegan do about it? He would only strike at princes, never at the wandering priest and advisor.
It was a good plan, perhaps a brilliant one. I told myself that if I survived all this and attained the knighthood, I wouldn’t be quite the pawn in his game that he counted on.
The council broke up in seemingly good spirits, having arrived at a plan that looked pretty good—at least in theory. We would see how well it worked out when human beings faced down each other.
Returning to the hut where Ti and I were spending our time until the dawn of battle, I was surprised not to find her there. She had little interest in or understanding of the battle strategy, and the witches were only mildly communicative, but she’d certainly gone somewhere and all I could do was wait.
It was close to dark when she returned, looking a little haggard and worried. “What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned. “Where have you been?”
“Spying,” she sighed and sank down.
“Huh? How’s that?”
She nodded. “I don’t like these women,” she told me. “There’s something creepy about ’em.” She looked up at me, concerned. “When is the battle?”
“Three days from now,” I told her. “At dawn.”
She shook her head. “This O’Higgins may’ve been nice an’ all, but she’s real crazy, Cal. I went over an’ got real close to one group havin’ a meeting of some kind. They never saw me, don’t worry. Anyways, I had to listen real hard, but I heard most of it.” She shivered.
I frowned. “What did you hear that upset you so much?”
She leaned forward, whispering as low as she could. “They ain’t gonna keep to their side, Cal. Once they win, they’re gonna kill you and Father Bronz. They’ll give that lady knight whatever she wants to keep her off their backs for a while, but they mean to take Zeis for themselves. They were talkin’ about the beginnin’ of the purge. What’s a purge, Cal ?”
I told her.
She nodded. “That’s kinda what I thought. The purge of Lilith, they said. Near as I can make out, it means they’re gonna kill all the men in Zeis and turn it into a witch’s keep.”
I had the sinking feeling I’d known most of this all along. I just hadn’t wanted to admit it. “Don’t worry.” I tried to console her with a confidence I didn’t feel. “Father Bronz and I aren’t going to allow ourselves to get cornered like that. And that old witch couldn’t do it, anyway. Marek Kreegan and the other top bosses would close in before she could get started.”
Ti shook her head violently from side to side. “You think so, but they know that, too. They’re nuts, not stupid. They say O’Higgins is already more powerful than Lord Kreegan, and with the power juice—potion of Satan, they called it—stronger than any army that could come against them. They say she’s so strong she’s already stabilized two laster guns or something like that from Outside.”
Laster guns… “Laser pistols?” I prompted, sounding a little weak despite my false front.
She nodded. “Yeah. That’s it. Oh, Cal, what’re we gonna do?”
All I knew to do at that moment was hold her tight and hug her and try and make her worry fade just a little. But sometime in the next two days I would have to have a long talk with Father Bronz.
The priest frowned. “She can stabilize laser pistols, huh? Then she is as strong as Kreegan. That poses a problem.” We were far outside the witch’s camp, officially in the danger zone but out of it as far as our current needs went.
“That’s not the half of it,” I told him. “On a world like Lilith, a simple small stungun would make you a king. A pawn could knock off a Lord if there was the element of surprise. I know / could, and this world’s full of expert killers.”
Bronz nodded thoughtfully. “It’s a little late to change our game plan, and Fm not sure she would allow it to be changed now. Still, we’re not without resources.” His eyes brightened a bit and a ghost of a smile came to his lips. “I have to say that I am not totally shocked or surprised by any of this. I anticipated something like it, and I planned for it.”
Instead of cheering me, his comment worried me a little more. “Just who are you, Bronz? What’s your game in all this?”
He sighed. “Cal, you have no reason to believe me, but several to trust me. I could have killed you at any time, particularly in the early days when you were ignorant and helpless. I didn’t. I helped you and Ti, too, —as much as it was in my power to do so. Will you concede that?”
I nodded, not quite conceding the point.
“Then I must ask you to trust me until the battle’s done,” he went on. “You must stay as far away from O’Higgins as possible. She’s the only person that one of your power has to fear. Wait. When it’s all over, all worked out, you’ll know everything, I promise. Know and understand everything, and profit by it.”