Gabriella awoke to the sound of footsteps. She looked up from the books that she had been studying before she had fallen asleep. "Mother? Crowe?"
She was surprised to see the two scholarly, well muscled, visitors snatching documents off shelves. The one with the braided hair looked up, startled. "Chaga! Stop her!"
The man with the oiled hair hurled a lamp at Gabriella and she ducked. It smashed into a shelf full of scrolls behind her, and they immediately burst into flame. Head down, Gabriella ran at Chaga, the crown of her head punching into his chest, hurling him back against the wall.
He sagged with a grunt, but then tried for an uppercut, forcing Gabriella to jump back. Someone started ringing a bell and people began to appear in bedclothes and blue monastic robes. Marta ran in, saw the fire, and called for buckets of water.
Meanwhile, Chaga hurled a handful of books at Gabriella's head, making her shield herself with both hands. He slid forward immediately, kicking at her ribs. She blocked and grabbed his leg, throwing him across a low table.
He rolled to his feet, drawing a long dagger, and lunged at her. Gabriella flicked out a hand to grab his wrist and turned and pulled, smashing her fist into his elbow as he stumbled past. His blade fell from a numbed hand. She stepped in, cracking him on the side of the head with the point of her elbow, then jerking the elbow back into his nose. He finally went down when the back of her fist crashed across his jaw.
By the time she looked back for the man with the braided hair, he had gone. She would have to find him later. For now, she had more urgent matters to attend to. "What's missing?" She asked her mother as she frantically sorted through scrolls.
"Everything relating to the maps you viewed earlier it seems. Various other random materials as well, burned in the fire, but all subsidiary references to maps with the Glass Mountain are just gone. Stolen."
"Which means somebody either believes the story and wanted a map, or wants to deny it to us. Luckily they're too late." Gabriella tapped the side of her head. "You've already got a scribe with a copy and I've got it in here."
"Which means you're going, of course," Marta said.
"Of course. And I doubt it'll be particularly safe."
"I think I can guarantee that," Crowe agreed.
There were familiar faces waiting for Gabriella when she and Crowe got back to Solnos. Four Knights in full ceremonial colours were on guard, themselves watched with some suspicion by an equal number of troops from two or three mercenary companies, including Kannis' company. Preceptor DeBarres greeted Gabriella with a smile as soon as she walked into the church.
"Gabriella! Thank the Lord you're safe. Eminence Kesar will want to hear your tale."
"He's here?" Gabriella hadn't expected that.
"He's come to pay a visit to the site of an attack on a Faith church. He also brought some funds, for use in paying the mercenary groups which Captain Kannis and I are hiring to defend the area. The scouts report that there are more goblins coming and we will be marshalling a force to meet them."
"Of mercenaries?"
"It's politically safer than risking Lord Aristide — or any other Pontaine Lord — jumping to the wrong conclusion and defending themselves too vigorously against an imaginary Vos invasion." Gabriella couldn't fault that logic. "I'll arrange your meeting with the Eminence."
Within the hour, in the top floor of the largest inn in Solnos, Eminence Rodrigo Kesar poured clear water, scented with droplets squeezed from fruit, into two goblets, and passed one to Gabriella. The water was cold and refreshing.
"It does my heart a great deal of good," Kesar said, "to see you unharmed."
"The Lord of All is with me, Eminence."
"As with all of us, Sister DeZantez." He walked to the window and looked out towards where Crowe was checking over a horse. Beyond him, soldiers-at-arms were clearing debris from the makeshift barricades. "You fought a great battle. A triumph of the Lord's will over those creatures."
"Thank you, Eminence."
"And I was very sorry to hear about Enlightened One Brand. He was an excellent Knight of the Swords, and I fully believe he would have proved an equally valuable and excellent Enlightened One. I'm also aware that you and he had taken the Pledge and would have most likely have been Bound, in time. I can't claim to know how you must be feeling,"
"It's not getting in the way." She said, making sure to keep her features as neutral as possible.
"Of course it is." He shushed her next protest before she could make it. "But it is not something that can or will be held against you. You wouldn't be human if it did not affect you." He fell silent, and she could almost hear the wheels turning in his mind. "Now, this man Travis Crowe. Who is he?"
"He's a mercenary," she said.
"There are enough of them around, that's for sure."
"He's also an informant."
Kesar's expression showed piqued interest. "On what matters?"
"On the Brotherhood and their operations."
"Really?" Kesar pursed his lips as he regarded Crowe. "He is devout?"
"I wish," Gabriella said under her breath.
Kesar lifted a scroll. "I know you feel your true destiny is in the Swords and I'm certain that you will continue to be excellent in that duty, but… But we can't leave this parish without an Enlightened One and I know that you will serve well in that position."
Gabriella stiffened. "Eminence… I would prefer to serve in another position."
"Would you? Yet the Lord has means and manners for all of us."
"It's not unusual for a parish to be missing an Enlightened One for a short period and I believe that you will approve of the duty I seek."
"Really?"
"It's related to a duty you already gave me, Eminence. I have found Goran Kell's hiding place."
Kesar sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers under his nose. "All right," he said at last. "Tell me more."
And she did.
CHAPTER 15
The smell was the strangest thing about this section of the Great Cathedral. Many areas, especially the underground levels, stank in one way or another. Cells used by the Confessors reeked of blood and excrement, while the archives smelled of the must of ancient scrolls and most of the stonework bore a faint air of smoke. The incense that burned throughout the Great Cathedral masked a lot of it, but not always and not everywhere.
Katherine Makennon could have said she hated the stink, but she'd be lying. The sacred oils that were rubbed into her skin every day since her investiture masked most of the atmosphere in which she walked, but she had always found the scent of the corridors comforting. The smell reminded her of home not least because this was her home. This was where she was meant to be.
"A glass mountain," Makennon said curtly. "You can guess what I thought of immediately I heard the phrase."
"Ckeol se-Llrim. The Isle of the Star." The voice had an eerie quality. Its owner stayed in the shadows, walking around the edges of the chamber. "It is not a unique phenomenon."
"It is to humankind."
"Man does not know everything. If they did, no-one would ever send ships in search of the Isle. Any of the isles."
"There are others?"
"Several, daughter of Twilight, but none other within the reach of Man. They are sacred only to the Lord of All."
"As He wishes," Makennon murmured, "so mote it be. And the bridge of light… It's happening now?"
"Yes." The sound was more an exhalation than a word. "As it has so many times before, and as it will so many times again."
"This occasion is the only time that concerns me," Makennon said, satisfied. "All that matters now is that we are ready to respond to the opportunities offered when the Lord does His part."