John Carr - Siege of Tarr-Hostigos

Rylla nodded and the temperature cooled. "Good point. I was the recipient of several of Tortha's 'talks' myself. I notice he's refrained from giving Kalvan any of his patented advice."

Verkan laughed. "And who says an old dog can't learn new tricks? Besides, Kalvan and Rylla wouldn't be so angry if they didn't care for each other; we ought to know something about that! Kalvan's already growing bored with his stay at the University and I can tell he misses Rylla and little Demia. He'll rationalize his way back into her arms within another ten-day; after all, Fourth Level Europo-Americans are experts at self-rationalization."

Dalla frowned and picked up her redstone pipe, which was a twin of the one Rylla smoked. "I know Rylla really misses Kalvan and has been in a miserable mood ever since he left. She can't understand why he's so squeamish."

"Kalvan was raised on a Subsector where the shibboleths are Social Security, the Public Good and Welfare. Being force-fed eighteen years of Calvinist guilt might have something to do with it, too. Remember Kalvan's father was a minister, and to hear our researcher tell it, of the fire-and-brimstone variety. I think Kalvan and Rylla will find a way to get back together; after all, we did-even if it took twenty years and a revolution on an Akor-Neb Second Level time-line to do it. A fracas inspired by my lovely wife, I might add."

Verkan was pleased to note the smile that broke on Dallas face.

"Besides," he continued, "they're about to get some help from Styphon's House. Nothing brings a couple closer than a good fight with a determined enemy they both loathe. As I understand it from the Study Team in Balph, Grand Master Soton and Archpriest Roxthar are cooking up a massive invasion force for the coming campaign season-all the soldiers Styphon's gold can buy. They've even got a pretty able commander, if they'll let him actually command the army, in Captain-General Phidestros. He's the general who took the Beshtan castle, Tarr-Veblos, right under Rylla and Phrames' noses."

"That's something else that Kalvan won't let Rylla forget. Vall, he actually had the gall to tell Rylla that the loss of the castle was her fault!"

"Well, of course. It was. If Rylla hadn't pulled most of the Royal Army into eastern Harphax, Phrames wouldn't have had to pull his army off the border to cover her retreat. Then Tarr-Veblos would have had its full complement of soldiers, and Phidestros would still be licking his wounds instead of being hailed as the Great Captain throughout Hos-Harphax and the other Kingdoms."

Dalla shook her head. "If Prince Phrames would have kept his troops where they belonged inside of Beshta, instead of acting paternal, to 'protect' Rylla, Phidestros would have never taken that castle. Rylla never needed his 'protection'. Male-bonding-it knows no limits when it comes to excuse making."

"Enough! Let's make a peace treaty before we have our own war. Besides, Kalvan and Rylla will have reasons enough to end their feud when Styphon's House flexes its muscles. Next year is going to be a doozy, as Kalvan calls it."

"What can we do to help?"

"Stay out of it. We've got enough problems on Home Time-Line. I don't want to give the University Study Team any excuse to blame us for Paratemporal Contamination."

"Are you telling me there's nothing you can do to help our friends, Rylla and Kalvan?" Dalla asked hotly, her green eyes flashing.

Dalla's green Paratime uniform did a lot to highlight those eyes, but Verkan decided that this was not the time to mention that fact. While Dalla was the most competent person he could think of to serve as his Special Assistant, there were times when it would be nice to separate the marriage and the job. This was one of those times.

"I can't think of a way to help without breaking the Paratime Code. That would bring the roof, the rafters and the attic down on our heads. The Opposition Party is unhappy over the re-opening of the Wizard Traders case. They're using my involvement in Kalvan's Time-Line as an excuse to poke into our personal affairs." Verkan didn't bother to bring up the too familiar charge of nepotism in regards to Dalla's appointment to the position of Special Assistant, the second most powerful post in the Paratime Police force.

"On top of that the Dhergabar University Kalvan Study-Team is blaming us for Paratemporal Contamination because of the help we've already given Kalvan, while, on the other hand, chastising us for incompetence for not preventing the Phaxosi attack on the Foundry Team. The charges won't wash, of course, but they do put the spotlight on what we are doing in Hostigos. Now, thanks to Danthor Dras' book-Gunpowder Theocracy- and his genius for self-promotion, we not only have the general public interested in what we're doing, we also have the League to Eliminate Theocracies to contend with."

Dalla made a face like she just caught a bad odor. "Just a bunch of crackpots. They'll go away in a few years, if we ignore them long enough."

"I disagree, Dalla. In a rational society like ours religious movements are viewed with both fear and fascination. To the average First Level Citizen, religious zealots are either insane or are privy to something the rest of us don't know. Both possibilities scare the average citizen. The majority opinion is that they should be cured or, at the least, the panderers put out of business. Can you imagine the nightmare the Paratime Police would have to contend with if we had to put every major religion and two-bit theocracy out of business-just on Fourth Level alone? We don't have the manpower and the ammunition to do it on Styphon's House Subsector, much less the billions upon billions of other time-lines we'd have to contend with."

"How could anyone take such a proposal seriously?"

"Study your history. On First Level alone, where religion has been outlawed since the Mystic Rebellion eight thousand years ago, we have had three major outbreaks of religious contagion. The last one cost us half a million lives."

Dalla winced. "I should have remembered. One of my grandfathers was a ringleader of the One God For All Levels Movement. He had to be mind-wiped by the Bureau of Psychological Hygiene. When we were kids, my brother was terrified of being re-adjusted like grandfather."

"It probably wouldn't have been a bad thing," Verkan said, waiting for the inevitable explosion as Dalla defended Hadron Tharn, her younger brother.

She just looked down at the floor. "Vall, what scares me is how much I used to share many of Tharn's views. He still hasn't forgiven me for selling out to the Management Party and their pet stooge, Police Chief Verkan Vall."

Hadron Tharn had been one of several reasons their first companionate marriage had ended so quickly-and bitterly. But Tharn was wrong; Verkan hadn't been the one who had changed Dalla's perceptions. It had been her own realization of how bankrupt her younger brother and the Opposition Party's ideas were that had brought her around to Verkan's point of view. Unfortunately her brother's prejudices were cast in collapsed-nickel and impervious to contrary evidence.

"As long as there are people ready to exploit movements, like the League to Eliminate Theocracies, we have to take them seriously. And the last thing we need is to have observers looking over our shoulder on Kalvan's Time-Line! It's bad enough we've got to deal with the University Study-Team."

"Still, there must be some way we can help Rylla and Kalvan before they're tortured by one of Roxthar's Holy Investigators."

"Aren't you serving dinner before it's been cooked? Kalvan's pulled himself out of some tight places before. Maybe he can do it again. But he's going to have to do it by himself. I've got to make it clear to him on our next visit that there won't be much help from King Theovacar. At least as Verkan the Trader, I can bring him a few more pack trains of arms and provisions."