Glen Cook - The Tyranny of the Night

Big changes were under way in the End of Connec. That was plain before Brother Candle cleared Sheavenalle's waterfront. He saw armed men in leather armor, never alone, going in and out of low places. They spoke harsh foreign dialects.

They were employed by the wealthy families who were the real powers in a city that owed fealty directly to the Dukes of Khaurene.

Duke Tormond's vacillation, his perceived weakness, his failure to stand up for his people and the legitimate Patriarch when bullied by Brothe, had begun to yield their fall of poisonous fruit. Those hotheaded nobles and knights who had taken part in the Black Mountain Massacre, those they inspired, and the wealthy bourgeoisie, had been hiring thugs to protect themselves — initially from the predations of the Brothen Church. But, once they had armed men available, they succumbed to the temptation to settle old scores.

Duke Tormond possessed neither the means nor the will to suppress these abuses of law, ducal rights, and the ancient peace. Not while the horrors could still be smothered in the nest. Bishop Richenau was the worst offender. He had recruited three hundred toughs during Count Raymone's absence. He insisted he needed them to punish the enemies of the Church.

Mathe Richenau was only modestly less corrupt than his predecessor. And at one time had counted himself amongst Anne of Menand's lovers.

However much Count Raymone had matured while on crusade, so had he been hardened and his confidence in himself been tempered. He returned to Antieux one afternoon in early summer. Next morning, as the sun cleared the hilltops beyond the Job to the east, he and his veterans attacked the manor house formerly occupied by Bishop Serifs, now the residence of Bishop Richenau. Outnumbered, nevertheless they routed the Bishop's bullies with great slaughter. They then fired the manor house to flush Richenau. Following a ten-minute trial the Bishop was reunited with his god by being buried alive, head down, with his desperately pumping legs exposed.

Count Raymone had not matured to the point where he understood that these kinds of messages are never understood by those for whom they are intended.

Count Raymone ordered all confiscated properties returned to their rightful owners and all Brothen Episcopal priests turned out of Antieux. Some suffered cruelly. Nobody cared. Raymone turned on those who had conspired in, collaborated with, and profited from Bishop Richenau's corruption.

Brother Candle had just settled into the baker Scarre's home when Khaurene began to buzz with rumors about events in Antieux.

The Perfect Master wept.

The time of despair, which he had foreseen two years earlier, was about to claim the End of Connec, worse than ever he had imagined.

Once he regained his equanimity Brother Candle took up the task begun in St. Jeules ande Neuis, two years ago.

The Seekers After Light, and their neighbors, must prepare for the onslaught of darkness.

Else flung himself into an exhausted sprawl on Anna Mozilla's bed. Why had he walked all the way to her place when he could have taken himself to the Castella dollas Pontellas? Where he could be wrapt in the sweet arms of sleep already?

Redfearn Bechter lacked something that Anna Mozilla did not.

"Well?" she asked. When he did not respond, she said, "I can see it was rough. Give me a hint. Did you see the Patriarch?"

"I did."

"So what's he like? Up close."

"Not what you'd expect. Shorter than he seems from a distance. He looks like a shopkeeper. Who drinks a lot And eats too much food overspiced with garlic. And doesn't seem interested in the workaday chores of his office. There'll be a lot of corruption around his court."

"That's not hot news, sweetheart. Corruption's been the hallmark of the Patriarchy for eight hundred years. You're messing with me. Tell me."

"I got the job. I'm the new Captain-General of the Patriarchal armies. Pinkus is thrilled. Bronte Doneto and Paludan Bruglioni are thrilled. The Sayags and the Arniena are excited. Principatй Delari is ecstatic. I'm the only one who has reservations."

"That's because you think too much. Take a nap. I'll cook something special. We'll celebrate."

Else did not listen. "I've gotten too important. Too many people will be looking at me too closely. People from Duarnenia won't remember me."

Anna kissed him on the forehead. "You think too much. So real Duarnenians won't know you. Every adventurer in Brothe lies about his past. Nobody cares as long as you don't screw up here."

True. But that did not temper his unease. "And I'm worried about Principatй Delari. He's way too interested in me." That disturbed him the most. He could not work out why Delari wanted to be his patron.

"So maybe he wants to replace his little boy with a real man."

"No! It's more of what was going on with Grade Drocker, there at the end. Only more so. People have noticed. They're beginning to wonder."

"You just can't stand it when things go well, can you?"

Else let a silence grow before he replied, "They aren't going that well."

"Uh-oh. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Yes. The Patriarch only needed two minutes to appoint me Captain-General. Then he wanted to talk about the End of Connec. Endlessly."

"He's not still? …"

"He is."

"People are still screaming for him to pay off his loans from the Calziran Crusade."

"That may be all that keeps him from doing what he wants. The fools who live in the Connec have given him all the excuse he needs. They murdered the Bishop of Antieux."

"That's the second one." Anna joked, "Antieux must be a very corrupting place."

Else recalled the city. "No. The problem is the men Sublime sends there. They're corrupt already. Hoping to get rich. The local count came back from Calzir and found Richenau trying to steal anything that survived our visit two years ago. So he killed him. I hear Richenau was just as ugly in his last post."

"Then this count did the world a favor."

"No doubt. But the bishop was an old crony of Honario Benedocto. With ties to the Arnhander court. Which means Arnhand will want to punish the Connec. And the more so because this count engineered the Black Mountain Massacre."

"So Sublime hopes."

Else was surprised by her tone. "I expect." He could not focus. But he did not want to fall asleep.

"Would he appoint this felon because of his character? Counting on this fire-breathing count to serve up an excuse for a crusade?"

Sleepily, Else said, "I hadn't thought of that. He could do it." His eyelids had lead weights riding them.

Anna said, "Go ahead and nap. I'll fix something.”

He heard no more.

Anna poked Else.hard. "Wake up!"

Else sprang up, momentarily disoriented and confused and on the verge of panic.

"What?"

"You were moaning and talking. Even yelling."

"I was having a dream."

"Must've been ugly."

"Uh… I don't know. For sure. It had to do with when I was little. My mother… my sister…" He did not admit that he had been having these bad dreams occasionally since witnessing the destruction of those Instrumentalities beneath the wall of al-Khazen.

Nor were the nightmares unique. Others who had been there were suffering similar night troubles. Gledius Stewpo had committed suicide.

He hoped time would work its cure and the awful, agonizing memories would subside into the darkness where they had lain quiescent for decades.

He did not want those memories back. Not for a moment. There was too much pain back in the deepest depths of the past. Much better to square up to the future, work to exhaustion, and forget all that.

"Are you all right now?"

"I'm fine. I don't know why my mind started throwing this stuff up. Not much scares me. This does."