Chris Pierson - Divine Hammer

“Whose idea was this?” he asked.

“Mine, Holiness.”

Cathan started, looking to his left as Wentha stepped forward. Her smile had always been the most beautiful thing about her, and as she walked across the plaza, Cathan thought it was lovelier than ever. Her face aglow, she knelt before the Kingpriest. He looked down at her, his own expression unreadable.

“Lady Wentha,” said Beldinas softly. “This was not necessary.”

“Pardon, Holiness,” she replied, “but neither was curing me of the plague-nor giving my brother back his life. Yet you did both. If I built a thousand statues, it would not be the tiniest grain of what I owe you.”

He looked at her, long and hard, then, smiling, he bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “Your love,” he said, “is payment enough.”

Extending a beringed hand, he helped Wentha rise.

The knights in the Kingpriest’s entourage were not the only ones to attend the tournament. Others were already there, and dozens more arrived as the days passed. The Yule festival came and went, and still they poured into the city, riding through the gates or sailing into the harbor aboard ships whose sails bore the blazing crest of the Divine Hammer. As the new year drew near, their numbers swelled to the hundreds. There were those who did not belong to the knighthood, too: sturdy warriors from Taol, masked swordsmen from Dravinaar, fighters from every other province in the empire. For a week and more, Lattakay became a place of laughter, shouts and ringing steel as fighters sparred and trained beneath the gaze of the glittering statue.

The court, meanwhile, moved into the cathedral, a broad-buttressed building of white stone and gold, draped with flowering ivy and looming at the highest point in the city.

Revered Son Suvin gladly ceded his place, standing alongside Quarath, Adsem, and Farenne while the Lightbringer sat upon his throne, dispensing mercy upon the people of Lattakay. Day after day the sick, the wounded, and the crippled came. He welcomed each, his touch gentle as he beseeched Paladine’s help. His healing light flared, again and again, driving out disease, pain, and sorrow. The Lattakayans, normally so reserved, laughed and sang as they left the temple, their suffering forgotten. Soon a crowd of adorers filled the square before the temple, as they had in Istar.

Meanwhile, Cathan moved into his sister’s manor, a sprawling estate on the edge of the cliff, not far from the plaza. The manor, a sprawling mass whose elegant style was more Istar than Lattakay, had thirty rooms-bedchambers and parlors and sunlit atria that sometimes caught a glint of crimson or azure fire from the direction of the harbor. Its outbuildings alone housed more than twenty servants and guardsmen. Wentha’s gardens were terraced, five levels cut into the chalky cliff face. The trees and bushes were a riot of color-winter cherries in rosy bloom, violet dusk-blossoms heavy with golden pollen, and more kinds of roses than Cathan could count. He spent many hours there and in the manor’s solarium and baths, talking with Wentha. At first they were like strangers, so much time had passed, but after a few days they were brother and sister again. They were both adults now, and things between them would never be as they once were, but Cathan swore he would never again be away from her for so long.

To his joy, he met her children for the first time. Tancred, now twelve, was the most like her, fair of hair and skin, with the same gentleness in his face. At seven, raven-haired Rath had the dark complexion and laughing voice of a Seldjuki-the very image of his dead father, Wentha vowed sadly. When he first saw Cathan’s eyes, he yelped in terror, and the nursemaid had to take him away.

For most in Lattakay the days passed quickly as the tournament drew near. For one, however, time grew leaden, the hours stretching until they never seemed to end. Leciane do Cirica attended the Kingpriest’s court and slept in a room at Wentha’s manor, but there was little in either place to interest her. She passed some of the time in study and spoke daily with Vincil using her enchanted mirror. His face grew grim when she described the statue in the harbor.

“They call it Udenso,” she told him. “It means ‘gigantic.’ ”

“I know the church tongue,” Vincil replied, and shook his head. “These people never would have built a statue that large to Paladine.”

Leciane thought about that, rubbing her temples.

“The threat we have discussed … the signs grow stronger now,” he told her in a low tone, “but we still can’t discover its source. I fear that you are in danger.” Vincil ran a hand over his scalp. “I’m sorry, Leciane.”

“If it’s here in Lattakay, maybe I can find something out.”

He raised his eyebrows but didn’t answer.

“I’ll be careful. I promise.”

“Very well,” he said after a moment of deliberation. “Just don’t do anything foolish, Leciane. I mean it.”

She smiled. “Now, Vincil. You know me.”

“Yes,” he said with a sigh. “I suppose I do.”

At last, the eve of the new year arrived. Wentha’s manor was like a freshly kicked anthill. Suddenly there were three times as many servants bustling about, hanging garlands of roses and cleaning everything in sight. There was food everywhere-almond sweets, fragrant bread, sharp cheese, olives, and every kind of fruit imaginable. Wine appeared-great jugs of it, and huge, golden bowls for mixing it with water. Out in the gardens jugglers practiced their acts, and musicians tuned their instruments. There was even a Karthayan alchemist, busily setting up fireworks. The servants shouted at the entertainers. The children shouted at each other. Wentha shouted at everyone. Out in the harbor beyond the garden wall, the Udenso’ s piercing blue eyes looked out over everything.

Leciane ignored it all, as near as she could manage, poring over her spellbooks in the shelter of her room. Everyone gladly left her alone. She made one foray out of her chamber while the sun was up to steal several blue candles from the larder. The rest of the time she read, practiced, and prepared. Finally, as the sky outside turned purple with dusk, she felt the satisfying feeling of everything fitting together in her mind, as a broken vase might do if it could leap from the floor back up to the table and be whole again. The spell was ready.

The list of guests at the banquet that night was long and prestigious. The Kingpriest of course, and his court; Lord Tavarre and the other leaders of the knights; Revered Son Suvin and Lattakay’s most important priests and nobles. No one spoke to Leciane. Few dared look at her. Even Sir Cathan, who was supposed to be her protector, shunned her in favor of his sister and her children.

That was all right. She had more important things to think about.

The feast was impressive, with courses beyond counting. Shrimp and pepper stew. Tarts of duck and mushroom. Giant boar hunted and slain by Lord Tavarre himself in the hills north of the city and cooked slowly with garlic and sea salt. The liver of a wyvern, marinated in moragnac brandy. Wine, wine, wine. Leciane nibbled, too distracted to concentrate on food. She imagined-or was it imagination? — danger was near.

Finally the meal broke up, and the minstrels played while folk moved out into the terraced gardens. Leciane slipped away. Watching to make sure no one followed, she climbed the villa’s steps to her room, where the blue candles stood ready. Shutting the door, she shoved the furniture aside to clear a spot on the tiled floor. She set the candles alight-then stopped, catching her breath as she heard the sound of laughter outside.

She paced to the window, looking down into the garden. Lord Tavarre was dueling a harlequin with long loaves of bread in place of swords, and-to the delight of the children-was letting himself get thrashed mightily. She smiled, watching the foolery, then closed the shutters. The less likely those below were to see or hear what she was doing, the greater chance she had of succeeding. Back among the candles, she eased down again.