Turning the Storm (27 page)

Biagio glanced at Domenico, who raised one eyebrow silently.

“And you fight against the Circle,” Biagio said.

“And the Fedeli.”

“Of course.” Biagio looked down, a faint smile on his face. “Where exactly is it that you intend to lead my students, assuming any wish to follow you?”

“To the wasteland, initially,” I said. “Then—” I hesitated, then plunged ahead. “You are familiar, I'm sure, with some of the Old Way music. You may also know that there are dances that go with the songs. A musician playing for dancers can channel the energy of the dance, and use it to turn back magefire. With that power, we can do battle with the Circle and win.”

Biagio and Domenico exchanged glances. “So that's
what they meant when they said that your faith was stronger than magefire,” Domenico said. “We'd heard some odd stories about what happened at Montefalco.”

“And rumors that more musicians were wanted,” Biagio said.

“Already?” I kept my face impassive as my stomach lurched. How quickly would the Circle respond to this rumor?

“So you don't believe that it's the Redentore God placing Her hand of protection over Her followers?” Domenico said. “You just think it's a different sort of magic?”

I turned to look at my old teacher. His expression was as impassive as mine, and I wasn't sure whether his tone concealed hope, contempt, or fear. “I don't think you have to be Redentore to make this work,” I said. “And I think Mira came here to hide because she suspected this was possible.”

Domenico lowered his eyes.

“You realize, I'm sure, that even if I do not assemble the students and faculty to let you speak to them, you have already accomplished your mission,” Biagio said, his tone bitter. “I have no doubt that the nature of your visit has already spread through the conservatory, and some will follow you. Perhaps I should simply ask you to leave now, and let the eager ones go as they will.”

“I'd prefer that you let me speak to a few people first,” I said. “I'm sure the Emperor would prefer that as well.”

“I'm sure you're right,” Biagio said. “And I'm sure that our old friends Father Cassio and Mother Galeria, of the Fedeli, would prefer otherwise. And the man who rode in last spring, what was his name? Liemo?”

“He'd prefer otherwise as well,” I said. “You're right. Actually, I'm sure that all three would be most
pleased if you took the initiative to offer both of us poisoned wine.”

“Or better still, took you both prisoner,” Domenico said. “They'd probably be especially happy to get you alive.”

I looked at Domenico, and realized that he was almost starting to smile. “Absolutely,” I said. “But they'd settle for our heads in a sack. I'm sure you'd both be richly rewarded. For as long as the Circle and the Fedeli's rule lasted.”

Biagio rolled his eyes. “I'm not going to give you poisoned wine—as if you'd drink anything I offered, now that the suggestion's been made. Not that I keep poison on hand to rid myself of uninvited guests in any case.”

“If you did,” I said, “you could have offered some to Cassio and Galeria.”

“Quite right,” he said. “At any rate, according to what you'd like us to believe, they'll be in no position soon to reward my faithfulness to the Lady.”

“The Lupi and the Emperor stand together,” I said. “Everyone in the Empire knows the truth about magefire, and now we have a way to defend ourselves against it. How long do you think they'll stand against us?”

“And in the meantime?”

“In the meantime, as soon as they hear that we're recruiting musicians, I imagine that they'll send some guardsmen to escort anyone they find here to comfortable new quarters in Cuore. If you bring our heads in a sack to offer them, they may trust
you
enough to allow you the liberty of the city.”

“So we have the Lupi to thank for being in this position,” Biagio said. “Is that correct?”

“I'd say that you have the Circle and the Fedeli to thank, actually. It was the Circle who destroyed much
of Verdia; it was the Fedeli who spilled Bella's blood in the conservatory's courtyard.”

Biagio lowered his eyes, and I saw that his hand shook as he lifted his cup of tea. I leaned forward and lowered my voice.

“I believe that we will win this war—the Lupi and the Emperor together. It's possible that I'm wrong about this, though; I can't say I know what the spring will bring. The one thing that is certain is that if you stand with us, you stand
against
the Fedeli. Since you can't know for certain which is the preferable side to be on, you might as well stand
against
the people who cut Bella's throat.”

Dean Biagio looked up at me, and I saw a glimmer I couldn't identify in his eye. “Thank you,” he said. “If you and your companion will step outside for a few moments, Domenico and I would like to discuss this in private.”

Nolasco, the trumpet teacher, had waited outside the Dean's study; he escorted us to a small sitting room a short distance down the corridor. I wondered if he had listened in on the conversation; he had been Bella's teacher, after all, and I rather thought that he would not be a friend of the Fedeli. His face was rigid, though, and I wasn't sure. I also caught another glimpse of Flavia, loitering outside the Dean's study. This time, she met my eyes, and I saw her face light up with recognition just as Nolasco ushered us into the sitting room and closed the door.

“Do you think the Dean's going to let us recruit?” Giovanni asked as soon as we were alone.

“Yes,” I said. “But he may do it by allowing me some time ‘alone’ to ‘visit’ my old friends. I'll take whatever he offers, frankly. I just hope he hurries.”

We didn't have to wait long. Dean Biagio swung open the door a few minutes later. “We are the Emperor's loyal subjects,” he said, inclining his head. “In what way can we best serve him?”

“Assemble the students and staff,” I said. “I'd like to speak to everyone at once.”

∗    ∗    ∗

The chapel bell tolled, summoning students and teachers to an unscheduled service. The chapel was perhaps not the best location to recruit people to rebel against the Lady, but it was designed to accommodate all the students and teachers at once. As I faced my strangest audience yet, the girl students were on my right, the boys on my left; the teachers lined the walls and sat in the back. I scanned the aisle seats for Celia, but she must not have arrived soon enough to grab one of the “good spots.” The students were breathless and bewildered; some of the younger students looked as if they'd been crying.

“Don't be afraid,” I said. “I am not your enemy.”
Great
, I thought as soon as the words were out of my mouth.
That would sure have made me feel better, back when I was a student
. “I am Generale Eliana of the Lupi, servant of Emperor Travan, but many of you probably remember me as simply Eliana, violin student, and friend of Bella.”

I could hear someone's breath catch at the sound of Bella's name. I looked around the room. “Yes, you remember Bella, don't you? Probably better than you remember me. I heard once that she was one of the brightest students the conservatory had ever seen. On festival days when we played games to test our memory for obscure tunes and bits of musical lore, Bella would
win every game until Nolasco made her sit down to give others a chance. She was kind, daring, fiercely loyal to her friends and what she believed to be the truth. And the Fedeli murdered her—cut her throat before our eyes, and forced us to continue dancing while she choked to death on her own blood.”

In the front row, there was a girl I didn't know—she looked maybe a year or two younger than me, but old enough to have been in the courtyard that night. She had wrapped her arms around herself as I spoke and was trying to hold back her tears.

“We couldn't allow ourselves to cry that night,” I said. “We couldn't allow ourselves to be angry, because we feared the Fedeli so much, and because we believed that they were an undefeatable, all-powerful enemy.
But they're not
. The Emperor has turned his back on them and joined the Lupi in the wasteland. We have joined forces against the Circle and the Fedeli, and we have a way to win, even against magefire. But we need
your
help.”

I licked my lips and looked cautiously toward the teachers at the back of the room. Nolasco, Bella's old teacher, stared at the floor, his face hidden. Domenico's eyes were on me, his face solemn and half shadowed.

“You've
all
played Old Way music—songs from the Redentori rituals. After leaving the conservatory, I learned that there were dances that went with the songs. And when I faced mages from the Circle in Montefalco, I discovered that those songs have
power
.” I raised my voice. “By the power of God, and the power of the music, I saw magefire extinguished like a candle plunged into cold water. Without magefire, the Circle is powerless. Without the Circle, the Fedeli are powerless. If you join with me, we can restore the Emperor to true power.
If you join with me, we will see that the Fedeli never murder another Bella.”

“And if we don't?” someone called.

“I leave this afternoon,” I said. “And I want only willing volunteers. If you choose to stay, though, you should probably realize that word is getting out that the Lupi are recruiting musicians. The Circle and Fedeli don't yet know why, but they will act quickly to round up musicians from the conservatories. Your prison, should they find you here, will be a reasonably comfortable one, but you will be their prisoners, nonetheless.”

The girl in the front row was openly sobbing now, and other students had gone very pale. The fear in the room was palpable as they realized that the one choice that most of them probably wanted to make—
stay here, and let the world do what it will
—was not an option. I leaned forward and spoke gently. “If you do not want to join me, but you do not wish to be a prisoner, you can also simply leave and return to your home. Very soon, the Circle will be far too busy to seek out and round up every minstrel and former conservatory student in Verdia, no matter how much they'd like to.” I raised my voice again. “But I hope that you will choose to join us. On one side, the Circle and Fedeli stand against Verdia—for it was the Circle's magery that drained the lands and caused the famine. On the other side, the Lupi and Emperor stand together. Join us, and serve the Emperor. Join us, and find out how it feels to
really
play the music you've always played in secret.”

I straightened up. “We leave in two hours. If you wish to join us, meet us at the front gate with your instruments.” I gestured to Giovanni, and he followed me out of the hall.

“How many do you think will come?” Giovanni asked.

I sighed. “I don't honestly know,” I said. “It's funny, because I was pretty good at predicting how many of the prisoners at the camps we liberated would join the Lupi, but here I have no idea. I like to think that if I were still a student, I'd be off packing my bag right now, but I don't know that I would.”

“You would,” Giovanni said.

I sent Giovanni to the kitchen to negotiate for food— we'd need to feed our volunteers on the trip through the wasteland and back to the Lupi camp. Then I went to the north practice hall, where I used to meet with Mira, Bella, Giula, Flavia, and Celia to play the Old Way music. It was even colder and draftier than I remembered. In the slivers of daylight that came in through the cracks in the walls, I studied the one fresco that still remained. I had always thought it was Gaius with the Lady's Gift: it showed a frightened man clasping a tiny gleam of light to his breast. Looking at it now, I realized that it had probably been left intact because others assumed the same thing, but it wasn't Gaius.
Aral Chedvah
, I realized. The Archangel Gabriele, thief of God's holy Light. “Gabriele stole a fragment of God's holy Light,” I remember Lucia saying, “and placed it in the womb of a pure young woman. And so she conceived a child, a son, and she named him Gèsu.”

This was a church
, I realized. A
Redentore church
. I had never even seen Mass celebrated indoors, except for the secret Redentori in Cuore. It was hard to believe that Redentori once had actual churches, and I felt the need to do something to acknowledge that I was on holy ground. I crossed myself, finally, and whispered a prayer in the Old Tongue. I wondered if Mira
had known, if that was the real reason she'd liked coming here.

“Eliana?”

The whisper came from the doorway. I turned: Flavia. She came inside hesitantly, as if she didn't really know how to treat me, this strange firebrand who claimed to be her friend. I realized that I didn't really know what to do, either—would Flavia even want me to hug her? I had been gone a long time … I hadn't even said a proper good-bye when I left that day, nearly choking on my grief and anger.

“I'm so glad you came to see me,” I started to say, but Flavia was speaking at the same time. “—glad you came back,” she said, and then laughed awkwardly. “Sorry,” she said. “Finish what you were saying.”

“I just said that I was glad you came to see me,” I said. “On my way here, I was picturing myself talking to you and Celia alone, not making a speech to the whole school.”

“It was a good speech,” Flavia said.

“I've had a lot of practice giving speeches,” I said, and then immediately felt like I'd said the wrong thing.

Flavia turned a little red and said, “Yeah, we've heard rumors. Songs.”

“They're probably all lies.”

“Except for the parts about you giving speeches.”

“Right,” I said. I sounded like a pompous priest; I wished we could just start this whole conversation over. “Those might be true.”

“
Eliana
.” Another voice from the door. I turned to see Celia coming in at a full run; she threw herself into my arms with a shriek of delight. “You came
back
! You
hadn't
forgotten about us. You came back to ask us to
join
you!” She clasped my arms in her hands.
“You can't even imagine how many times Flavia and I have wished we went with you when you left, like Giula did. We'd have left a hundred times if we'd thought we'd have done you the slightest bit of good— and if we'd known where to find you.”