Domes of Fire by David Eddings

kind of overall decision on his own. He’ll have to consult with his

counterparts in other cities in the empire.’

‘That shouldn’t take more than a year or so,’ Sparhawk noted drily.

‘Hardly,’ Stragen disagreed. ‘Thieves move much more rapidly than honest

men. Kondrak’s going to send out word of what we’re trying to accomplish.

He’ll put ‘ it in the best possible light, so there’s a very good chance

that ‘the thieves of all the kingdoms in the empire will co-operate.’

‘How will we know their decision?’ Tynian asked him. ‘I’ll make courtesy

calls each time we come to a fair-‘.

sized city,’ Stragen shrugged. ‘Sooner or later I’ll get an official reply.

It shouldn’t take all that long. We’ll certainly have a final decision by

the time we reach Matherion.’ He looked speculatively at Ehlana. ‘Your

Majesty’s learned a great deal about the subterranean government in the

past few years,’ he noted. ‘Do you suppose we could put that information on

the level of a state secret? We’re perfectly willing to co-operate and even

assist on occasion, but we’d be much happier if the other monarchs of the

world didn’t know too much about the way we operate. Some crusader might

decide to smash the secret government, and that would inconvenience us a

bit.’

‘What’s it worth to you, Milord Stragen?’ she teased him. His eyes grew

very serious. ‘It’s a decision you’ll have to make for yourself, Ehlana,’

he told her, cutting across rank and customary courtesies. ‘I’ve tried to

assist you whenever I could because I’m genuinely fond of you. If you make

a little conversational slip, though, and other monarchs find out things

they shouldn’t know, I won’t be able to do that any more.’

‘You’d abandon me, Milord Stragen?’

‘Never, my Queen, but my colleagues would have me killed, and I wouldn’t

really be of much use to you in that condition, now would I?

Archimandrite Morsel was a large, impressive man with piercing black eyes

and an imposing black beard. It was a forceful beard, an assertive beard, a

beard impossible to overlook, and the Archimandrite used it like a

battering ram. It preceded him by a yard wherever he went. It bristled when

he was irritated – which was often and in damp weather it knotted up into

snarls like half a mile of cheap fishing line. The beard waggled when

Morsel talked, emphasising points all on its own. Patriarch Emban was

absolutely fascinated by the Archimandrite’s beard. ‘It’s like talking to

an animated hedge,’ he observed to Sparhawk as the two of them walked

through the corridors of ‘the palace toward a private audience with the

Astellian ecclesiast. ‘Are there any topics I should avoid, your Grace?’

Sparhawk asked. ‘i’m not familiar with the Church of Astel, and I don’t

want to start any theological debates.’

‘Our disagreements with the Astels are in the field of Church government,

Sparhawk. Our purely theological differences are very minor. We have a

secular clergy, but their Church is monastically organised. Our priests are

just priests, theirs are also monks. I’ll grant you that it’s a fine

distinction, but it’s a distinction nonetheless. They also have many, many

more priests and monks than we do – probably about a tenth of the

population.’

‘That many?’

‘Oh, yes. Every noble mansion in Astel has its own private chapel and its

own priest, and the prieSt ‘assists’ in making decisions.’

‘Where do they find so many men willing to enter the priesthood?’

‘From the ranks of the serfs. Being a clergyman has its drawbacks, but

it’s better than being a serf.’

‘I suppose the Church would be preferable.’

‘Much. Morsel will respect you, because you’re a member of a religious

order. Oh, incidentally, since you’re the interim preceptor of the Pandion

Knights, you’re technically a patriarch. Don’t be surprised if he addresses

you as ‘your Grace.’ They were admitted into Morsel’s chambers by a

long-bearded monk. Sparhawk had noticed that all Astellian clergymen wore

beards. The room was small and panelled in dark wood. The carpet was a deep

maroon, and the heavy drapes at the windows were black. There were books

and scrolls and dog-eared sheets of parchment everywhere. ‘Ah, Emban,’

Morsel said. ‘What have you been up tO? ”Mischief, Morsel. I’ve been out

proselytising among the heathens.’

‘Really? Where did you find any here? I thought most heathens lived in the

Basilica in Chyrellos. Sit down, gentlemen. I’ll send for some wine and we

can debate theologY.’

‘you’ve met Sparhawk?’ Emban asked as they all took chairs before an open

window where the breeze billowed the black drapes. ‘Briefly,’ Morsel

replied. ‘How are you today, your Highness?’ well. And you, your Grace?’

‘Curious, more than anything. Why are we engaging in private

consultations?’

‘We’re all clergymen, your Grace,’ Emban pointed out. ‘Sparhawk wears a

cassock made of steel most of the time, but he is of the clergy. We’ve come

to discuss something that probably concerns you as much as it does us. I

think I know you well enough to know that you’ve got a practical side

that’s not going to get sidetracked by the fact that you think we genuflect

wrong.’

‘What’s this?’ Sparhawk asked. ‘We kneel on our right knee,’ Emban

shrugged. ‘These poor, benighted heathens kneel on the left.’

‘Shocking,’ Sparhawk murmured. ‘Do you think we should come here in force

and compel them to do it right?’

‘You see?’ Emban said to the Archimandrite. ‘That’s

exactly what I was talking about. You should fall to your knees and thank

God that you’re not saddled with Church Knights, Morsel. I think most of

them secretly worship Styric Gods.’

‘Only the Younger Gods, your Grace,’ Sparhawk said mildly. ‘We’ve had our

differences with the Elder Gods.’

‘He says it so casually,’ Morsel shuddered. ‘if you think we’ve exhausted

the conversational potential of genuflectory variation, Emban, why don’t

you get to the point?’

‘This is in strictest confidence, your Grace, but our mission here to

Tamuli’s not entirely what it seems. It was Queen Ehlana’s idea, of course.

She’s not the sort to go anywhere just because somebody tells her to – but

all of this elaborate fol-de-rol was just a subterfuge to hide our real

purpose, which was to put Sparhawk on the Daresian Continent. The world’s

coming apart at the seams, so we’ve decided to let him fix it.’

‘I thought that was God’s job.’

‘God’s busy just now, and He’s got complete confidence in Sparhawk. All

sorts of Gods feel that way about him, I understand.’ Morsel’s eyes

widened, and his beard bristled. ‘Relax, Morsel,’ Emban told him. ‘We of

the Church are not required to believe in other Gods. All we’have to do is

make a few allowances for their speculative existence.’

‘Oh, that’s different. If this is speculation, I suppose it’s all right.’

‘There’s one thing that isn’t speculation, your Grace,’ Sparhawk said.

‘You’ve got trouble here in Astel.’

‘You’ve noticed. Your Highness is very perceptive.’

‘You may not have been advised, since the Tamuls are trying to keep it on

a low key, but very similar things are afoot in many other Daresian

kingdoms, and we’re beginning to encounter the same sort of problem in

Eosia.’

‘I think the Tamuls sometimes keep secrets just for the fun of it,’ Morsel

grunted. ‘I have a friend who says the same thing about our Eosian Church,’

Sparhawk said cautiously. They had not yet fully explored the

Archimandrite’s political opinions. A wrong word or two here would not only

preclude any possibility of obtaining his help, but might even compromise

their mission. ‘Knowledge is power,’ Emban said rather sententiously, ‘and

only a fool shares power if he doesn’t have to. Let me be blunt, Morsel.

What’s your opinion of the Tamuls?’

‘I don’t like them.’ Morsel’s response was to the point. ‘They’re

heathens, they’re members of an alien race, and you can’t tell what they’re

thinking.’

‘Sparhawk’s heart sank. ‘I have to admit, though, that when they absorbed

Astel into their empire, it was the best thing that ever happened to us.

Whether we like them or not is beside the point. Their passion for order

and stability has averted war time and time again in my own lifetime. There

have been other empires in ages past, and their time of ascendancy was a

time of unmitigated horror and suffering. I think we’ll candidly have to

admit that the Tamuls are history’s finest imperialists. They don’t

interfere with local customs or religions. They don’t disrupt the social

structure, and they function through the established governments. Their

taxes, however much we complain about them, are really minimal. They build

good roads and encourage trade. Aside from that, they generally leave ‘us

alone. About all they really insist upon is that we don’t go to war with

each other. I can live with that – although some of my predecessors felt

dreadfully abused because the Tamuls wouldn’t let them convert their

neighbours by the sword.’ Sparhawk breathed a little easier. ‘But I’m

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *