No. Evil was not right. Gherig was more like the Night. Neither good nor evil, except as one chose to behold it. Gherig simply was powerful and predatory. And, evidently, was these days in the hands of a master suited to it.
“Not important to us,” Hecht said. “We have troubles of our own. In the Connec.”
“Letter from Sedlakova came this morning. They’re having real trouble cornering Rook. Who gets a little stronger and smarter each time they take out some other revenant.”
“How did they get him the first time? Are there records?”
“You mean the Old Brothens?”
“Yes. Find out how they pinned him long enough to bind him.”
“The ancients exploited the nature of the god they meant to confine.”
“Research it. I’m going home. Which, this once, I’m not looking forward to. Anna and I are going to have a row about Pella going with us when we go out again.”
There was little reason to remain in Brothe. Bellicose’s ascension was not being disputed. The loud grumbling was all about his not yet having selected a more clement reign name. Hecht only needed the new Patriarch’s confirmation before he returned to the Connec.
“I’ll be glad to get out of here. What’re you going to do with the Braunsknecht?”
“Drear?”
“Him.”
“Take him back to Viscesment and put him in charge of the Imperial pullout.”
“And me?”
“Drag you back and make you work. You’ve had your holiday.”
Smolens snorted derisively.
Hecht said, “We don’t need to be here. Good guys and bad, they’re doing what they’re told.”
“Only because they’ve seen the new guy and he looks like death on a kabob skewer. They figure he won’t last a year.”
Hecht had seen Bellicose, briefly, and agreed. But the Ninth Unknown thought the man might not be beyond help. “He might surprise them.”
“I hope he does. I liked working with him in Viscesment.” Smolens shifted footing dramatically. “We really do need to maintain a presence here. A lobby with the Collegium and an inspectorate to ride herd on Krulik and Sneigon. Those bastards will sell weapons to anybody with money.”
“I’ll leave Rhuk. Like Prosek, he keeps coming up with marvelous ideas. Being here, he’ll have the chance to try them right away. I’ll get him the tools he’ll need to handle those people if they don’t behave.”
Smolens put his feet up. “I think, was I Krulik or Sneigon, I’d have seen this coming. I’d be setting up a manufactory somewhere secret. Maybe several.”
“Worth thinking about.” Hecht decided to mention it to Cloven Februaren. The old man would find the potential for mischief invigorating.
The relaxed state of the Mother City was evidenced by the size of Hecht’s escort. Just four lifeguards accompanied him to Anna Mozilla’s house. And no one in the streets paid attention.
Which made Madouc especially nervous. Naturally.
It had been some time since someone had tried to get the Captain-General.
Hecht surprised Anna and broke Pella’s heart by not arguing when the subject of the boy going back to the field came up. He told Pella, “I want you to study with the Gray Friars at Holy Founders. To learn the things you need know to do what Titus does.”
Anna was startled. “Is there something wrong with Titus? No? hasn’t said anything.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Titus that a visit home wouldn’t cure. I’m thinking about Pella, not the army.” Said with a meaningful look.
The children did not know the extent of the connection with Muniero Delari and Cloven Februaren. Those were just nice but weird old men who had them round to visit. Who gave them small but expensive presents.
“Which reminds me. Heris was here today. The Principat? wants us to come for a late dinner. A coach will call.”
“An invitation with muscle behind it.”
“She said the old man wants a last visit before you leave.”
“Really?” His plans remained vague. He wanted to see more of Pinkus Ghort. He wanted to sit down with the man who had been a monster. He wanted to get a real feel for the political tides in the Collegium and city.
“Have you decided when you’ll go?” Anna asked.
“No. I had a message from Sedlakova today. They’re having trouble. The squatters from Grolsach keep getting underfoot. Count Raymone can’t seem to sort them out.”
“Not to mention problems with Arnhander incursions,” Principat? Delari said when Count Raymone Garete came up during dinner. “Small bands, so far. A few straw knights and poorly equipped foot soldiers following some righteously indignant veteran of the Society adopted by Anne of Menand when Boniface VII dissolved the order.”
“There’ll be trouble from that direction?”
“Grandfather thinks so. Maybe as soon as news of the Interregnum reaches Salpeno.”
Legally, Bellicose had to wait out twenty-six statutory days of mourning before he became fully infallible.
Hecht said, “I got messages off as soon as Boniface went. Arnhand won’t catch anyone by surprise. Where is your grandfather?”
“He’ll be here later. He finally went to Grumbrag. From there he was going on to someplace called Guretha.”
“A second opinion would be useful.”
“Second?”
Turking and Felske came and went with the courses. Mrs. Creedon appeared in the doorway twice, possibly hoping for a compliment. Hecht paid no attention. He barely noted that everyone but the old man was keeping quiet.
Heris finished eating and went to the kitchen.
Cloven Februaren ambled in and settled at Heris’s place, pounded the table with the pommel of his knife. Delari said, “Gracious of you to make yourself presentable before you joined us, Grandfather.”
Februaren was filthy. And stank. The children, though they enjoyed the old man most of the time, edged away.
“Too hungry. Hungry work I’ve been doing. Couldn’t find your brother, Piper. I think somebody was working you. The rest we’ll talk about in the quiet room. Food!”
Everyone exchanged glances.
“What?”
Heris returned with the coffee service. Turking and Felske came armed with sweets. Mrs. Creedon beamed from the kitchen doorway. Heris poured coffee for Hecht first. “Happy fortieth,” she told him. Then everyone congratulated him on having reached forty.
He could say nothing. He dared say nothing. He had had no notion of when his birthday was, nor even, for sure, his exact age. He supposed Heris must have worked it out. He could not ask.
“I don’t know what to say. I’ve never had a birthday, or a name day.” Which was true despite his dissembling.
Heris said, “I wanted to invite some of your friends, too. Colonel Ghort and that man with the animals. And some others. But Grandfather gets nervous about having strangers in the house.”
Principat? Delari said, “The times are trying. Outrageous paranoia is the only rational response.”
Piper Hecht watched his children enjoy their first encounter with coffee. Two out of three rolled up their lips. Vali, though, nodded. None of them had a problem attacking the sweets.
Before he took his cup up to the quiet room Hecht had a few quiet words for Mrs. Creedon.
“Visited a city called Guretha,” Cloven Februaren said. “Lots of dead people there. Mostly not Gurethan. The city will have to be abandoned, anyway. Unless the climate turns. It can barely support itself. Importing grain. But the Shallow Sea has fallen so far that soon it’ll be impossible for the grain ships to get there.”
Hecht told what he had heard of Guretha from Addam Hauf.
“Accurate enough. They have better communications through the Eastern Empire.”
“Or sorcerers paying closer attention,” Delari opined.
“That, too. From Guretha I went to several other places on the edge of the ice. It’s the same everywhere. Desperate savages and something not human. The monster is the one from Ferris Renfrow’s drawing. At Guretha the Grail Knights lured it into the castle gateway and killed it with a blast of godshot. The falcons were Krulik and Sneigon products. Meaning they got there awfully fast. The charges were from the same generation that killed the worm on the bank of the Dechear. The falconeers were Deves contracted to the Grail Knights.