David Mcintee - The Light of Heaven

"I noticed that about you." Her voice was tiny and distant, as if she wasn't really there.

"I know you don't want to believe what that bugger said about your Eminence, and maybe you shouldn't, because maybe it was a load of turds, but you have to accept that he said it and that maybe he believed it."

"That's not what troubles me. What troubles me, is I already thought of it, remember? Except I hoped I was lying to Kell when I said it." Tears began to streak down her cheeks. "Am I supposed to accept even the possibility another Eminence was behind the attempt on Rhodon's life?"

"It wouldn't be the first time some bloke with ideas above his station made it look like he or his mates were under threat. False flag, mercenaries call it."

Gabriella shook her head. "But a public assassination attempt, it makes no sense. If the assassin is a too good — or too bad — a shot… If Kalten didn't have decent Healers in the castle, Eminence Rhodon would be with the Lord of All on Kerberos."

A delegation of men and women began edging towards Crowe and Gabriella as the sun moved behind the Glass Mountain.

"You have to lead us!" one girl insisted. "Those soldiers aren't going to just let us return home. They'll think we're sinners, they think we're heretics. I mean… what do you think?"

"Do I know what they think? Is that what you're asking?" Gabriella mocked. "I know what they think because I am them; don't you understand that? I'm an Enlightened Sister of the Order of the Swords of Dawn. Those men and women out there are my comrades and my friends."

The girl paled, but stood her ground.

"If you try to fight them," Gabriella went on, "you will die. And I will be one of those killing you."

Crowe pulled her aside. "Dez… Gabriella, they have a point."

"I am not going to fight against the Order!" Gabriella snarled.

"You have to."

"Never!"

"They're going to get a lot of innocent people killed. Including us, Dez, don't forget that. There's more than just Brotherhood thickheads in here. There are their sisters, wives, friends, people who don't even know they've got a cuckoo in the nest. If the troops out there don't let us away from Freedom Point then they — and we — will all burn! Not just the Brotherhood followers who deserve it." She looked away. "All right, love, I can see that this isn't quite sinking in. Let me put it this way: Does the Faith make mistakes?"

"We're none of us perfect, I suppose."

"Kurt Stoll."

"What?"

"Kurt Stoll. The Enlightened One you roasted back at Solnos."

"I know who Stoll was. What's he got to do with anything?"

"He was an Enlightened One of the Final Faith, right? But he made mistakes, didn't he?"

"That's putting it mildly."

"So… If you could have got to him before he went bad — let's say you saw him go into the Golden Huntress for his first whore or his first meeting with Warrigan when he got daubed with the linked circles — would you have run in and stopped him?"

"Of course!" Preventing the fall of a Enlightened One would be a moment of great honour, and great service to the Lord. "I'd try reasoning with him and if that didn't work, I'd outright order him to get the hell out."

"And if that didn't work?"

"I'd deck him."

"That's my girl! Decking your own priests… I knew there was a reason I liked you enough not to kill you."

"It would be better that than seeing him burn," she said frostily.

"A lot of these people were conned by Goran Kell, Karel Scarra and others like them. By Kell, Dez. These are all people conned by the Brotherhood. Most of them probably think they were driven to it by the Faith, but you and I know that isn't true. The Faith is just something convenient to blame when you get caught out trying to put one over on how things are supposed to work. I mean, what's the punishment for singing a Brotherhood hymn in the street in Turnitia?"

"A hefty fine, maybe a few nights in the cells. Five or ten lashes if you're really far gone."

"It's a lot less than burning. Yet who told these people they'd go to the roasting gibbets for the slightest thing, or be castrated for whoring, if the Faith caught them breaking Makennon's rules? It sure as buggery wasn't you, was it? No, pet, it was the Brotherhood. Nice way to recruit new blood, not to mention new gold for the coffers; tell people your rivals will cut them up and burn them but that you'll look after them for a fee."

"You make it sound like a protection racket."

"Isn't it just, though? Protection for the soul."

"Protecting souls is my job."

"Then do it! There are sinners here, right enough but there are also victims of Brotherhood propaganda who need protecting from their — "

"Mistakes."

"Yeah, Dez. Their mistakes. And Kell's plans."

Gabriella stood on top of the gatehouse, put a spyglass to her eye and surveyed the Order's positions in the valley beyond. The twenty Knights had excellent support from the mercenary companies they had brought along, but Gabriella wasn't too worried about them. People could always bribe mercenaries, if it came to it. Then again, these were bands with old contracts with the Final Faith.

"Any thoughts?" Crowe asked, next to her.

"Preceptor DeBarres is on form, going by the dispositions. We're not going to fight our way out of here, even if I wanted to."

"At least it'd be a better death than burning. And some might have a chance."

"Come on, Crowe, you're a soldier. You know you can't just shove a sword in a serving wench's hand and expect her to take on experienced warriors. Especially not the Order of the Swords of Dawn."

"We can't leave them to it."

"Look, let's be blunt about this. These are ordinary people. Farmers, merchants, innkeepers, beggars… They're not soldiers and you know they can't be made into soldiers in a matter of hours."

"Believe me, Dez, I've noticed. Even Kell knew it would take years."

"Good. I'm glad you accept that, not that it matters, because even if it was possible, I wouldn't do it. I'm a Knight of the Swords. Those are my people out there."

"Your people are going to be trying to kill you, first chance they get."

"They're going to be trying to kill people around me."

"A battlefield's a confusing place, Dez."

"I know."

"In the heat of the battle, I promise you, they won't be able to tell you apart from this lot."

"Then I'm glad I have a better idea."

"Fighting our way through the Order's lines is not an option," Gabriella announced to the gathered people of Freedom. "But that does not mean we can't break through."

"How?" a man asked. "If we don't fight — "

"If you want to rely on force of arms, you go right ahead and give my regards to the Lord of All when you see him. You're not warriors. What we need to be relying on is speed and surprise. We'll lure the Swords' cavalry to a point where I can meet them for parlay. I'll be dressed like them, in a manner they'll recognise. While we negotiate with them, they'll not be covering the western pass anything like as strongly as they are now. At that point, you will break out there. Do not try to make for the archway and out through the sinkhole. It's a bottleneck. But by taking to the smaller canyons to the west and scattering up the slopes, they won't be able to follow you. That's your best hope to make it out."

"What… What should we do after that?" A woman said.

"Repent." Gabriella said simply. "If you were brought here by a friend or family member, then tell what they did to our Confessors. If you are truly repentant, and not a follower of the Divine Path, you will be welcomed back into the Final Faith."

"What about those of us who don't want to be part of the Final Faith."

"Then hide. Because our Confessors will find you and your souls will be cleansed of your unrepented sins, by fire."