Arrows of Promise (Kingmakers Book 2) (31 page)

“Aye, lass,” he agreed with a feral smile. “I have the same
feeling.”

Edvard’s invitations to the two priests were enough to
convince them, and Troi sent word late in the evening that they had arrived and
were shown directly to the temple. It was too late for any social call so they
all waited until the next morning before going out to meet their newest members
of Estole.

Riana and Ash had to row over from the settlement but they
timed it well and everyone met up at the doors.

During the course of his duties, Broden had passed by the
temple more times than he could count. The building was made of light grey
granite, soaring up four stories, each level slightly smaller than the one
below it, to where it almost formed a spire at the top. The doors were a light
oak, thrown open now in spite of the cold, with burning braziers on either side
that promised warmth. As they walked inside, Broden noticed there were new mats
on the floors, arrayed in a half-circle around each deity’s statue. All of the
statues shone with a recent polish and had candles burning on either side of
them, illuminating them fully. Dead ahead was the altar, barring entry to the
back of the temple, where the consecration and ordinance rooms were.

In front of the altar stood Graff, who was bestowing a
blessing on a sickly and fussing child. The mother looked beside herself but
thankful. With the blessing bestowed, the mother gave Graff a heartfelt thanks
and turned. She spied the group waiting nearby, specifically Ashlynn, and made
a beeline for her. “Sheriff.”

“Mistress Kate,” Ashlynn greeted back although her eyes were
fixated on the child straddling his mother’s hip. “What’s wrong with young
Parker, here?”

“It’s those refuse heaps near our bakery, that’s what’s
wrong,” Kate responded, mouth in a flat line. “The stench can fell a man, it’s
so horrid, and it’s hard on his lungs. He keeps getting one infection after
another. I can’t keep him well.”

Ashlynn’s eyes fell closed in a fatalistic manner. “Again?
They’re full
again
?”

“Oh, over the brim and out into the street, as usual.
Sheriff, please, do something,” the mother pleaded. “It’s not just Parker it’s
affecting, but our business as well. The smell of bread baking is half of what
sells our wares.”

The smell of garbage would completely deter customers as
well. Broden did see her point.

“I’ll handle it immediately after I’m done here,” Ashlynn
promised. “And Broden will gladly shoot the next person we catch improperly
dumping their garbage.”

Broden grinned at Kate. “I would at that. Lass, if ye do me
the favor of taking names? Surely ye see who be doing this.”

“We all know the offenders,” Kate assured him darkly. “If I
give you a list, can you do something?”

“We can,” Ashlynn assured her. “In fact, we’d be glad to.
I’ve given people enough warnings and I’ve been far too patient about this.
We’ll do something to punish them starting today.”

Satisfied, Kate bobbed them both a curtsey. “Then I’ll have
that list ready for you by the time you get to our bakery. Thank you.”

“See to your son first,” Ashlynn encouraged her. “This might
take a little while.”

“Thank you,” Kate repeated with a smile, then hitched her
son up on her hip a little more and headed for the door.

Edvard held out a hand. “Priest Graff. How are you?”

“Very glad reinforcements have arrived,” Graff responded
with a tired grin. “There are some very interesting problems in this country.”

The group gave a heartfelt groan.

“But then, you know that already,” Graff continued,
chuckling, “as I’m speaking to the problem solvers. May I help you with
something?”

“We actually came to meet the new priests,” Edvard
responded, looking about. There were a few people around but no one else in the
robes of a priest. “I don’t see them?”

“No, they’re not here,” Graff confirmed. “I’m afraid they
hit the ground running. We’ve had some problems this morning and they’re
already out in the city helping the people.”

“Ahh.” Edvard looked only slightly disappointed by this.
“Well, I am sorry I missed them, but I’m glad they’re so dedicated that they’re
already helping my people. Tell them that if possible, they can come and have
dinner at the castle. All of you should come, I should say.”

Graff gave a nod of consent. “We will be pleased to. If we
can find a free evening, that is; it’s been a challenge just to find time to
eat these days.”

Broden grimaced. That was the truth.

“One thing, sire.” Graff openly hesitated before asking, “I
now have enough manpower to do a coronation ceremony, if you’d like?”

Coronation ceremony? Broden blinked. True, Edvard had not
had a proper one, he had just declared himself king and had been done with it.
But doing a proper one would strengthen his stance in the eyes of the other
countries. Not Iysh, certainly, but it might help with everyone else.

Edvard looked wistful. “That would be nice.”

Ashlynn raised a finger. “I believe that three deities at
least have to be represented in order to do a ceremony for a government
official. That’s the same for kings? I see. So our new priests are of different
sects. Which ones?”

“Lugh and Macha,” Graff supplied.

Lugh, the god of light and death and Macha, the god of
battle and sovereignty. Actually, if Broden had to pick just two sects to be
represented in Estole, those were the two that he would favor. Right now, it
was the blessings of those two gods that they needed the most.

“Oh, that’s good,” Ash declared. “That’s exactly what we
need. I’m glad you thought to invite them, Priest Graff.”

“I’m very glad they heeded the call,” Graff replied. “Well,
King Edvard, I will sit down with the other two and figure out exactly what
needs to be done. We might need to do a little research as none of us have done
a coronation ceremony before. It was just a thought that occurred to me when I
knew that the two of them were coming.”

“It was a good one,” Edvard acknowledged. “And by all means,
take your time. There’s no rush on this.”

“Still, I don’t think we need to go very elaborate?” Ashlynn
looked at everyone as she said this, gauging their reactions. “For one thing,
we don’t have the time for elaborate ceremonies. For another, aside from the
immediate family and the provosts, there’s not many that need to attend.”

“A good point,” Edvard nodded to her. “Priest Graff, make
sure that you take that into account while planning things out and doing your
research. Also, the next two weeks are completely packed, but if you schedule
for after that, I promise you I will make the time.”

“Duly noted, sire.”

“Well.” Edvard clapped his hands together. “Not much more we
can do here. Back to work, everyone. Priest Graff, my invitation to dinner
stands, so just come when you’re available.”

“I will, sire. Thank you.”

Broden and Ashlynn went to take care of certain idiots that
did not know how to properly throw things away, so they were late for the
second war council session that Edvard had called for. They slipped quietly
into the room in the middle of Edvard saying, “—not entirely sold that this
idea will work either. But I think that if we recruit the people that are
dissatisfied with Zelman, then we will strengthen our stance and weaken his.
That in and of itself is worth exploring.”

“I can’t disagree there,” Zorich admitted grudgingly. The
man looked frankly torn about this plan.

Broden slipped into a seat between Ashlynn and Riana and
leaned over enough to whisper to his daughter, “What be we talking about?”

“Edvard wants to invite some of the young lords and ladies
that be cut off by Zelman’s new Binding here and see if he can no’ win them
over,” she whispered back. “He thinks that with enough of them, it may weaken
Zelman enough that he can no’ afford to field an army.”

Ross was ignoring the whispering from the other side of the
table and saying, “If I remember correctly, Zelman has to have a certain
majority on his side to legally be able to send out an army.”

Tierone supplied, “He must either have a fifty percent vote
of affirmation from his lords, or a thirty percent affirmation from the lords
and the complete backing of his cabinet. One of the two.”

“So if we really can win enough families over…” Towan sat
back, staring up at the ceiling, eyes narrowed as he thought it through. “Do
you think that the new Binding has upset enough of them to give us a foothold?”

“It did it enough to send one of my worst childhood rivals
straight into my arms,” Edvard pointed out dryly. “I think that’s a pretty good
indication. I don’t think we’ll have an automatic fifty percent of them fall on
our side, no. But I do believe that some political maneuvering might buy us
some time, if nothing else.”

“That’s worst case scenario,” Captain Bragdon observed.
“Best case scenario, Zelman does something else equally stupid to try to stop
us and gives us even more leverage to work with.”

Edvard beamed at him. “Exactly.”

“I think,” Ash drawled, “the only reason why we’re hesitant
to go with this plan is because of its source.”

The whole room grimaced and not one person denied it.
Gwydion Argent was a well-known dandy whose sole purpose in life was to be
better dressed than his peers. That he had come up with a good, sound plan had
them all properly befuddled. 

“He’s right,” Haney admitted ruefully, glancing at Ash. “To
make matters worse, we’ll have to trust Argent to be our middleman. We
certainly can’t contact anyone directly without tipping our hand to Zelman.
Argent can.”

Ashlynn groaned next to him. Broden tilted his head toward
her. “Lass,” he said in an undertone, “would the others at court take this man
seriously enough to go with the offer?”

“Maybe,” she responded slowly, and there was not much
confidence behind the word. “But if he can just convince one or two, then we’ll
have three middlemen talking to people, and it’ll spread like a wave from
there. The vital part of the plan will be him succeeding with just a few.”

Seeing how most people regarded Argent, that might take a
miracle. Broden made a note to send a fervent prayer to the gods about this
later.

“Alright.” Edvard gave his council an expression of
satisfaction. “I think that this plan is the best we’ve come up with so far, so
let’s act on it. I’ll discuss the particulars with Argent myself. Now, while
we’re all here, I have some other news to announce. I spoke with Priest Graff
this morning and he informs me that we have two new priests, one of the Order
of Macha, the other of the Order of Lugh.”

There were some happy sounds at this, and the King of Estole
shared their smiles. “Yes, I’m quite pleased as well. At least one of our
problems is now solved as I think three priests can handle the workload of a
small country. Now, because we have a priest from three different gods, Priest
Graff tells me he has enough people to perform a coronation ceremony.”

Everyone perked up. Even Tierone looked intrigued by this
idea. “It would improve your standing with the other countries, to have an open
blessing by the gods. Can we do this soon?”

“We have a lot to do in the next few weeks but I think we
can do it very soon. Also, if possible, I’d like to have a few noblemen from
Iysh here to witness it. A living witness is always more powerful than
hearsay.”

“Truly.” Tierone started ticking things off on his fingers,
mouthing something that was not audible to the rest of the table. “Hmm, it’s
true, we do have a lot scheduled for the next two weeks. But after that, I
think there’s a day or two that’s clear.”

“One of those days needs to be blocked out and kept free so
we can do the ceremony.”

“The third day of that week?” Troi offered. “I believe no
one has serious commitments that day.”

Broden blinked at the man, awed that he could keep
everyone’s schedules in his head like that. Even if he was the Master of Spies,
did his brain not get tired of remembering all of that?

Edvard looked around the table, confirming this, but no one
corrected Troi’s statement, so he rubbed his hands in a happy gesture of
anticipation. “Third day it is. Troi, notify Priest Graff if you will. We’ll
make the necessary arrangements on our end. Now, while we’re convened, anything
else to discuss?”

Amber raised a hand. “I do have something to run past you,
sire, but it doesn’t need to concern everyone.”

“Noted, we’ll talk after this. Anything that does require
all of our input? No? Then session dismissed.” Edvard knocked his knuckles
against the table’s surface before pointing at Ashlynn and waving her over.

Ashlynn, curious, went to him. “Yes?”

“I leave it to you to make sure all the girls are properly
dressed.”

She lit up. “Are you officially telling me to go shopping?”

“I’m also officially telling you to not bankrupt me,” he
warned her, although there was a twinkle in his eye that belied the words. “Our
economy has recovered but not that much. So be frugal.”