A Shout for the Dead (6 page)

Jhered rose and smiled unconvincingly.

'Go and speak to Yuran. Get your own account of this. Get the Echelon working on it. The trouble is, I don't really know what it means. Is it a theory that has no application or something else? Yuran was sure there was real weapon potential in it. I have to know if he's right. I have to know if we need to be gearing up for a war we do not want and may not be able to repel. I have to know what the legions might face.'

There was a prolonged silence following Jhered's departure. The void inside Mirron felt like grief. It wasn't hard to look forward and see the collapse of all that they had been building.

'So, he's alive, then,' said Ossacer.

'We have to be strong,' said Arducius. 'Don't let him obsess us or change us.'

'How can we possibly do that?' said Mirron. 'He's already got to the Exchequer.'

'I mean, the work of the Academy must go on. We have to believe in the ethos of the Ascendancy and never deviate from the education of our new Ascendants and of the wider public. But we have a blight on us now and we have to counter it.'

'That's all lovely talk Ardu, and I look forward to hearing you repeat it to the Advocate and the Echelon. But what are we actually going to
do?'
said Mirron.

'It's quite simple,' said Ossacer. 'I don't see the point of investigating whether Gorian can do what is rumoured. All we have to do is track him down to wherever he is hiding and when we do, kill him.'

'This is nothing more than opportunism. And you will regret it.'

Herine Del Aglios, Advocate of the Estorean Conquord, stood up from her recliner and walked to the open balcony. Estorr sparkled in the cool sunlight. The air was fresh, scented with dawn rain and drenched in the taste of the new season. But Herine's heart remained set in dusas ice.

'We regret the necessity, not the decision itself.'

Herine turned back and stared hard at Ambassador Tharin of Dornos. He had grown very old in the years since the Tsardon had all but torn the Conquord apart. His huge eyebrows were completely white now and his face had sagged alarmingly, giving him the look of an ageing bloodhound. Liver spots covered his hands and he was unsteady on his feet. His toga, slashed with Dornosean lilac, covered a body that was withering quickly.

Yet he was still proud and authoritative in his dealings. Herine had watched his position regarding Dornos and the Conquord harden. She had seen it from a number of her territories. Tharin, though, had played his hand with the assured timing of a master. Bahkir, under marshal law for four years now and with an Estorean consul sitting in the palace at Sungmai, should have watched him.

'That statement makes no sense, Tharin.' Herine sighed. 'You have waited until we are committed to the pacification of Atreska to take your disastrous course of action. Presumably, you feel we will ever be too weak to enforce our will on Dornos in the future. You will find that you are mistaken. Though perhaps you will be safe in the embrace of God by that time.'

Herine stopped herself from scoffing at the expression of hurt on the man's face.

'Herine, please. We are friends.'

'Were. Be happy I am not having you tried for treason. Diplomats have many rights not granted to the common citizen. Sometimes I regret the passing of certain of my more inclusive laws.'

'I've been trying to tell you for years how badly we have been struggling. Yet still Jhered or his lackeys come every season with their criminal demands for levies, both men and money. We cannot, we will not, sustain it.' Tharin coughed. His whole body shuddered with the effort. A little blood flecked his lips.

Tharin wiped his mouth with a cloth. Herine signalled a servant to pour him some water. She looked away from the ambassador again, seeking to compose herself. She caught her reflection in a mirror glass hanging above an ornate, leaf-carved fire mantle.

Her make-up had covered most of the lines on her face but she was always careful to ensure she looked authoritative, ignoring the trend to try and appear as young as possible. That did not befit the Advocate at the age of eighty-two. She was proud of the grey in her hair. Signs of a life spent in the service of her citizens. Nonetheless, Herine still felt vibrant and refused to contemplate old age. She adjusted the circlet of gilded leaves in her hair and ran her finger along her nose, wishing as ever that it had been more sculpted. She smiled to herself before turning back to Tharin; that she should still suffer vanity at her age.

'You know there is a man not two hundred yards from here who could cure you, whatever it is you have. And there will be more like him. Able to save citizens who once had no hope.'

'They represent your greatest weakness, Herine,' said Tharin. 'I would rather die than have one of your Ascendants touch me.'

'You will undoubtedly get your wish,' snapped Herine.

'Don't you see they are the root cause of the Conquord's struggles since the war?'

'I know the job of education is not complete.' Herine retook her seat and stared across the table at Tharin, wondering where she had gone wrong with this man.

'Is that what they tell you? Your advisers and the Ascendants? The sweetened story that nothing is wrong that a little teaching won't cure?'

'You think I don't know the poison that the Order is spreading?' 'And there you sum up the problem you face,' said Tharin. Herine paused and frowned. 'Speak.'

Tharin took a deep breath and composed himself, dabbing at his mouth and his forehead. Sweat was on his brow.

'You are the appointed representative of the Omniscient on this earth. And yet your disdain for your own Chancellor is common knowledge. In pursuit of your Ascendants, you have turned your back on your own religion.'

'Oh!' Herine threw up her hands in exasperation. 'A decade and still you don't understand? The Ascendants are part of the Omniscient, they do his work. They are not a replacement. You know what we have uncovered. You know this strand of our religion existed before it was outlawed by those who feared its capacity to undermine their power. That fear still drives Felice Koroyan. So be it. I no longer recognise the religion the Chancellor claims to follow. It is not mine. I only regret the Senate's refusal to let me remove her.'

'I understand exactly what you think you are doing, Herine. But the ordinary citizen has not seen what you have and you cannot be surprised that they remain scared of this new power they see you supporting. The citizen is confused. He no longer knows if the generations of Omniscient beliefs he has taken to his heart are true. He feels undermined by you, his Advocate, and he fears the violent influence of the Chancellor.

'He cannot trust what he always took to be the truth. You should talk to Felice. She'll tell you. For every citizen who keeps faith with her doctrine or who chooses to turn to the Ascendancy strand, ten revert to the ancient faiths that dominated before the Conquord came. You're breaking the Conquord more effectively than any action Dornos takes ever could.'

'You're attempting to render me responsible for Dornosean treachery? Ridiculous. Refusal to pay levies has nothing to do with religion.'

'No, no,' said Tharin. 'Your refusal to read the accounts has done that. Your confusing signals over the Omniscient are merely cement over the cracks. My people are poor and they are hungry. And they will not pay any more to keep you in wine, Estorr in fresh paint and your legions staffed to wage war. That time has passed. Peace and stability must rule. We want the friendship of the Conquord. We want trade and alliance. We can no longer suffer dominion. It is ruining us.'

Herine laughed. She couldn't help herself.

'You think the Conquord is no longer in danger? God-embrace-me, do you never look beyond your borders? The Omari have not ceased their aggression and Conquord legions stand on your borders keeping them back. The Tsardon have not gone away. Like us, they await a return to full strength. My own son is in Sirrane, trying to forge an alliance that might just save us next time they threaten invasion. You think you will be safe because my flag doesn't fly over the palace of Cabrius? You and your Marshal Defender are deluded if you believe that. Remove yourself from the Conquord and make yourself weak.'

'Not so, Herine. We are only under threat because we are part of the Conquord. The Omari are no threat to those who do not threaten them. We have alliances going back generations which were only broken when your flag began to fly in our lands. There is no other way for Dornos. You cannot force your will upon us any longer. When I return to Cabrius, the Estorean consul and all non-Dornosean legions will be expelled. Our agreement with Omari is already in place.'

Herine rose. 'Then go,' she said. 'And do not look to us for aid when your folly is revealed to you and your people are dying in front of you. You think you're clever, timing this when we are diverted to Atreska and Bahkir. It is indeed a clever piece of work. But flawed. Because as all Atreska now knows, and as you will discover, we always come back for what is ours. And the second time, we are not so flexible with our rule.

'Go home and look to your borders north, south and east. Enemies will come and you will beg me for forgiveness before the end. You will get none. I do not know you, Ambassador Tharin.'

'We must still work together as independent nations,' said Tharin.

'We will do no such thing. Dornos belongs to the Conquord. And any who think our relative weakness permanent is making a grave mistake. It is now that I look to my friends and know those who believe in my vision. This chamber is bereft of them.'

Chapter Five

859th cycle of God, 4th day of
Genasrise

Herine walked towards the Ascendancy Academy with Jhered at her side. She'd ignored the problems too long. She had hoped the citizens would see the good running through the veins of the Ascendants. But the suspicion had lingered. And the mistrust was stoked by the Chancellor, her large army of faithful Readers and Speakers and, of course, the Armour of God.

Felice Koroyan had proved an implacable opponent. Herine had believed that nothing but time would expose her fears for the falsehoods they were. Nothing but numbers of Ascendants growing to maturity and being seeded from all across the Conquord. The process had begun but it would be a long one. And in the intervening period, more of her doubting territories would question their allegiance. Something had to change.

Herine was scared she was losing the battle for the hearts of her citizens.

They walked into the Academy, its hypocaust-fed warmth comforting now the genastro sun had lost its potency. The former halls of the Chancellor of the Omniscient had been quickly converted into a centre of excellence for all that Felice despised. Herine still remembered the moment. Sweet at the time but she had miscalculated the persistency of Koroyan's hate and the groundswell of support that the Chancellor had maintained this past decade.

It wasn't just Dornos or Bahkir. There was discontent everywhere. Even in Estorr, capital of the Conquord. And she needed strength and solidarity right now or her rule might begin to slip.

Jhered directed her along a marbled corridor, recessed and set with busts of Chancellors and heroes of the Omniscient past. It also held a bust of Ardol Kessian at its western end, welcoming all to the

Academy. The most famous recent Father of the Ascendancy, killed by a Chancellor whose faith he followed so unstintingly. A man Herine had never met but whom Jhered had respected enormously.

'Was it folly, do you think, bringing the Ascendancy in here?' asked Herine.

'It was the only place,' said Jhered. 'Not just because they needed the security of the palace complex. You had to make a statement of their place in the eyes of the Omniscient. And you did. It is an enduring shame that so few seem to have listened to you and believed you.'

'Not even my eldest son,' said Herine. 'And it is he who will succeed me.'

Jhered chuckled. He towered above Herine and she had to hurry to keep up with his easy long stride. Here was one man at least who would never question her authority, even if he sometimes disagreed with her methods.

'I wouldn't worry about Roberto. He'll always be a soldier at heart and he worries about their power as a battlefield weapon in the wrong hands. He doesn't know them like we do. He's been away so long. He hasn't seen them grow as we have.'

'So he's going to be very unhappy to hear Gorian is still alive,' said Herine.

Jhered inclined his head. 'It will feed his concern. But he's not stupid. It makes the Academy even more important.'

'Well that depends on your point of view. An investigation of purity or a school of evil.'

'Don't lose heart, Herine. You're the head of this religion. The people will come round.'

'But how long will it take? Another decade, twenty years. Forty? We can't afford these divisions. God-surround-me, they should have closed by now but I actually think they are beginning to widen. Why is that, do you think?'