Part 29 (1/2)
One husk twitched. Its limbs moved randomly. Slowly, grotesquely, it rose.
The more bold and curious of the crowd, who had waited to see what would happen also left for town. Even a few soldiers decided they had seen enough.
”Ask,” said the dead man.
Ragnarson repeated his questions. He received similar answers. This one had had orders. He had tried to carry them out.
He collapsed into the pile.
Another spoke. He was a leader of Nine. He believed there were eight more Nines preparing Ravelin.
”Preparing Kavelin for what?”
”What is to come.”
”s.h.i.+nsan?”
The Unborn replied, ”Perhaps. He didn't know.”
”Uhm. Scour the kingdom for the rest of these... .Whatever they are.”
The three collapsed.
The Unborn whipped away so rapidly the air shrieked.
”Grab them,” Ragnarson ordered. ”Throw them in the dungeons.”
He worried. Their organization had the earmarks of a cult like the Harish, or Merthrgul, being used politically. He didn't recognize it, though he had traveled the east in his youth.
”Derel. Gjerdrum. You're educated. That tell you anything?”
Both shook their heads.
”We keep getting information, but we're not learning anything. Nothing fits together.””If that thing really is going to help,” Valther said, ”I'd say we've taken the initiative. It should free us of a.s.sa.s.sins.”
Ragnarson smiled thinly. ”And save you some work, eh?”
”That too. It dredges up all those people, I'll have time to concentrate on my real job. Keeping tabs on home-grown troublemakers.”
”How's Mist?”
”Be like new in a week.” Softly, ”I'd hoped she wouldn't get involved. Guess our enem-ies don't see it my way.”
”O s.h.i.+ng owes her.”
”I know. n.o.body ever believes a wizard has retired. We'd better be careful,” he added. ”When they realize they're doomed, they might try to do as much damage as they can.”
He was right. Before week's end Ragnarson had lost Thorn Altenkirk, who commanded the Royal Damhorsters, the regiment garrisoning Kavelin's six westernmost provinces, plus three of his strongest supporters in the Thing, his Minister of Finance, the Chairman of Council in Sdelmayr, and a dozen lesser officials and officers who would be missed.
There were unsuccessful attacks on most of his major followers. His friend Kildragon, who commanded the Midlands Light in the military zone immediately behind Altenkirk's, established a record by surviving four attacks. The bright side was that the enemy wasn't overly selective. They went for Ragnarson's opponents too. For anyone important.
Many of the a.s.sa.s.sins taken were native Kaveliner hirelings.
Terrorism declined as the Unborn marched foreigner after foreigner into imprisonment. He captured sixty-three. A handful escaped to neighboring states.
Radeachar followed. When its actions couldn't be traced, it amused itself by tormenting them as a cat might.
Kavelin soon became more peaceful than at any time in living memory. When Radeachar patrolled the nights, even the most blackhearted men behaved. A half dozen swift bringings-to-justice of notorious criminals convinced their lesser brethren that retribution was absolute, inevitable, and final.
It was a peaceful time, a quiet time, but not satisfying. Beneath the surface lay the knowledge that it was just a respite. Ragnarson strove valiantly to order his shaken hierarchy and prepare for the next round. He trained troops relentlessly, ordered the state for war, yet pressed the people to extend themselves in the pursuits of peacetime, trying by sheer will to make Kavelin strong militarily and economically.
Then Michael Trebilc.o.c.k came home.
TWENTY: The Dragon Emperor
s.h.i.+nsan had no recognized capital. Hadn't had since the murder of Tuan Hoa.The Princes Thaumaturge had refused to rest their heads on the same pillows twice, Life itself had depended on baffling the brother's a.s.sa.s.sins and night-sendings.
The mind of s.h.i.+nsan's empire rested wherever the imperial banner flew.
Venerable Huang Tain const.i.tuted its intellectual center. The primary temples and universities cl.u.s.tered there.
Chin favored Huang Tain. ”There's plenty of s.p.a.ce,” he argued. ”Half the temples are abandoned.”They had been in the city a month, recuperating from the flight homeward. ”I'm not comfortable here,” O s.h.i.+ng replied. ”I grew up on the border.” He couldn't define it precisely. Too refined and domesticated? Close. He was a barbarian prince amongst natty, slick priests and professors. And Huang Tain was much too far west....
Lang, Wu, Tran, Feng, and others shared his discomfort. These westerners weren't their kind of people.
While touring Tuan Hoa's palace and gardens-now a museum and park-O s.h.i.+ng paused near one of the numerous orators...o...b..ting the goldfish ponds.
”Chin, I can't follow the dialect. Did he call the Tervola 'b.a.s.t.a.r.d offspring of a mating of the dark side of humanity and Truth pervertedI ?”.
”Yes, Lord.”
”But....”
”He's harmless.” Chin whispered to a city official accompanying them. ”Let him rave, Lord. We control the Power.”
”They dare not challenge that,” said Feng. A sardonic laugh haunted his mask momentarily.
”They call themselves slaves-and enjoy more freedom than scholars anywhere else,”
Chin observed. ”Even in h.e.l.lin Daimiel thinkers are more restrained.”
”Complete freedom,” said Wu. ”Except to change anything.”
Both O s.h.i.+ng and Chin wondered at his tone.
The official whispered to Chin, who then announced, ”This's Kin Kuo-Lin. A history teacher.”