The Education of Brother Thaddius and other tales of DemonWars (The DemonWars Saga) (14 page)

“It is both,” Diamanda admitted. “I was raised an Abellican, and have come to see the truth of the word. I am no child – nearer to thirty than twenty – and even had I not been raised in the convent of St.-Mere-Abelle, I would have sought entry.”

“As a nun?”

“I always wished for more. To serve at St. Gwendolyn as a full sister. Pagonel’s offer rang as sweet music to me.”

“And you have danced well in that song,” Braumin replied. He held forth a small pouch for Diamanda, then emptied it into her hand, revealing a small cat’s eye set in a circlet, a soul stone, and a tiger’s paw. “I expect you will find good use for the first, I hope you will not need the second, and I trust that you will use the third only when necessary,” he said with a warm smile. He glanced around at the others in reflection, then turned back and offered a fourth stone, a malachite. “Dance to make St. Gwendolyn smile,” he whispered.

The woman seemed as if she could hardly draw breath as she stood staring at the stones.

Braumin stepped up to her and hugged her tightly. “Be well,” he whispered, and he moved along to the next in line.

“Your grace in that exhibition brought hushed whispers to every Abbot and Master watching,” he said to Victoria, the Disciple of St. Gwendolyn, the battlefield dancer. “St. Gwendolyn reborn,” Master Arri said to me.

“Too kind, Father Abbot,” Victoria replied, lowering her eyes respectfully and humbly, though humility surely did not come easily to this one.

And why should it, Braumin thought? She was powerful and full of grace, and strikingly beautiful with her fiery hair and shining eyes. Her every movement spoke of confidence. By Braumin’s estimation, Victoria could dominate the Court of King Midalis – every eye would be upon her, the ladies with contempt, no doubt, and the men with lust.

“How does one such as Victoria come into a convent?” he asked her.

“Is there a better place to be, other than an abbey?” she replied. “And now I am here.”

“A nobleman’s court?”

Victoria snorted as if the thought was absurd.

“Her beauty distracts you, my friend,” Pagonel said to Braumin, and the Father Abbot turned on him in surprise. “And indeed, it will serve her well in her role in battle. You will find few among your Church more dedicated than Sister Victoria Dellacourt.”

Braumin conceded the point with an apologetic nod, but halfway through it, his eyes widened
with recognition. “Dellacourt?” he asked.

“Master Francis was my uncle, though I never knew him,” Victoria answered. “Through his actions in the end, he became the pride of my family. His name is spoken of reverently.”

The Father Abbot smiled warmly. “We will speak at length of him when you return,” he promised. “I knew him well.”

“And hated him profoundly,” Victoria said, and Braumin stepped back as if slapped. “I know the story, Father Abbot.”

Braumin nodded, for he could not deny the truth of her words. Certainly Brother Francis Dellacourt was no friend to Braumin Herde in their days together at St.-Mere-Abelle. Francis served Markwart, dutifully, and was allied with Marcalo De’Unnero. Francis had played no small role in damning Master Jojonah to the flames.

“Do you believe in redemption?” the Father Abbot asked Sister Victoria.

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “If I did not, I would not wear my surname openly.”

“So do I,” Braumin agreed. “When you return, we will speak at length. I will tell you some things about your uncle you do not know, I am sure. He was led astray by Markwart, but he was not an evil man, and I can prove it.”

Braumin smiled again as he remembered one particular encounter with Francis, when the meddlesome young monk had barged in on one of the secret sessions Master Jojonah held for Braumin and the others. Francis had not turned them in to the hateful Markwart!

Braumin brought forth another small pouch from his pack, and from it pulled a small lodestone and another cat’s eye circlet. “Brother Thaddius will instruct you in the use of the lodestone,” he explained. “It is more than a bullet, and will aid you in bringing your sword to bear, and in turning aside the sword of your enemy.”

“Thank you, Father Abbot,” she said reverently, taking the stones and setting the circlet about her head.

“And this,” Braumin added. He drew a slender sword from his sack and pulled it free of its sheepskin sheath. It was not a broad sword, surely, but long and thin, with an open groove running half its length up the center of the blade. The pommel and crosspiece were thin and graceful, dull steel used sparingly, and the hilt wrapped in blue leather, and seemingly nothing remarkable. But how the blade gleamed, even in the meager candlelight of the room!

Victoria’s eyes lit up when she took the weapon, no doubt in surprise of the lightness of the blade. Even with the open blood channel, it weighed no more than a long dagger.

“Silverel,” the Father Abbot explained. “A gift from the Touel’alfar many centuries past, so say our records, and after meeting Belli’mar Juraviel, I know those old records to be true.”

“It seems so…light,” Victoria remarked.

“It is stronger than our finest steel,” Braumin assured her. “You’ll not break that blade.”

Victoria looked to Pagonel, who seemed as surprised as she.

Braumin gave her a great hug, one she returned tenfold, and then moved to stand before the last of the sisters.

“Saint Belfour laughed from the grave to see the look on Brother Markus’s face when he slammed into you and was repelled as surely as if he had run into a stone wall,” he said with a grin. “I know that I laughed, and with delight. It defies logic and reason!”

“She is connected to her her line of life energy,” Pagonel interjected. “Greatly so. And she has trained hard and well.”

“Indeed,” Braumin agreed. “And so for you…”

“I am not skilled with the stones, Father Abbot,” she said. “Less so than Sister Victoria, even!”

“So Brother Thaddius has complained to me,” the Father Abbot admitted.

Victoria and Elysant rolled their eyes and looked at each other, and Braumin could only imagine the grief Thaddius had given to these two!

Braumin pulled a cloak from his sack, which then seemed empty as he set it down on the floor at his feet. He shook the cloak out and turned it to show Elysant a pair of small diamonds set about the collar.

“Put it on,” he instructed.

She swung it about her shoulders.

“This was fashioned for the bodyguard of a long dead King of Honce-the-Bear,” he explained, “and only returned to the Church when Marcalo De’Unnero, then Bishop of Palmaris, began confiscating those magical items circulating among the nobles and merchants. Feel its power, young sister, and bring it forth.”

Elysant closed her eyes and concentrated, and a moment later, her image seemed to blur a bit, as if shadows had gathered about her.

Braumin looked to Pagonel. “A more difficult target,” he explained, and the mystic nodded.

“But I cannot call forth the power of the sacred stones,” a confused Elysant remarked.

“You need not with such an item,” the Father Abbot explained. “Which is why the Church frowned upon creating them for those not of the Order. And this,” he said, bending low and retrieving one last item from the sack, which was not empty after all, “is among the most precious ever made in this abbey.”

He brought forth a small coffer, and opened it reverently before the woman, who gasped, as did the others. For within the coffer on black silk sat a leather bracer, set with a large and beautiful dolomite, and surrounded by five others.

“It was made for a queen in the fifth century, because she was beloved and ever sickly. But alas, she died before it was finished, and so it has remained, locked away, in the lower chambers of St.-Mere-Abelle these four hundred years.”

He glanced again at the mystic. “Pagonel feared that for all of your hard work, he simply did not have enough time to properly toughen you against the blows you will surely face.”

He picked up the bracer and dropped the coffer, then took Elysant’s right arm and tied the item about her wrist.

The small woman’s jaw dropped open. She felt the magic, apparently, and to the others, she seemed sturdier somehow.

“Saint Belfour had such sacred dolomite sewn into his robes,” he explained.

“It is a precious gift,” Sister Elysant said, her voice barely a whisper, so overwhelmed was she. “I cannot…”

“Keep it well,” said Braumin. He hugged her tightly, then stepped back. “All of you,” he said. “These gifts I entrust to you. Let them remind you of the importance of this journey you are soon to take. I do not give them lightly!”

The three women nodded solemnly, and Braumin knew that they understood the weight of the responsibility he had put upon tem, and the trust he had shown in them.

He was taking a great chance here, he knew. If this group, this
legionem in primo
, was waylaid and defeated on the road, then his doubters and enemies in the Church would be bolstered greatly, and so his hopes for Reformation could fast dissipate.

But he believed in Pagonel.

And, he knew in looking at these disciples of the saints, he believed in these extraordinary young sisters.

*****

The meetings the next day between the members of the Church leadership had begun quietly, but as those who opposed Father Abbot Braumin came to believe that they were under no threat of retribution, the discussions became more and more contentious.

Braumin listened more than he spoke, and realized as the arguments raged that his proposed changes would only hold if they brought very positive results in short order.

He nodded through every point raised by those supporting him, and opposing him. He was no dictator here, and given the disruption to every abbey and chapel, now was the time for the brothers to air their every concern and let their opinions be known.

In the back of his mind, through every shout and growling response, Father Abbot Braumin reminded himself that the pile of red chips, for a man who had not even attained the rank of Abbot, was substantial, and that he was the Father Abbot of all the Abellican Church, not just those who had supported his ascension.

He grew concerned, however, when he looked over at Master Arri and Sister Mary Ann. He had thought to take care of that messy business initially, before the two sides had dug in their respective heels, but then had reconsidered. He glanced over at Arri then, and offered a reassuring nod, for he understood that now the animosity was palpable, and that many of his allies would support him regarding the two monks from St. Gwendolyn-by-the-Sea even if they disagreed.

“My brethren,” Braumin called, and he banged the heavy gavel down upon the wood, demanding the attention of all. When the room quieted, he continued, “Particularly since we are considering the matter of so many sisters entering the Order, perhaps we should now discuss the
disposition of the one abbey where such was not uncommon. To begin the matter, and since St. Gwendolyn is emptied of her brothers and sisters, I nominate Master Arri to the rank of Abbot.”

“Perhaps we should adjudicate the matter of Sister Mary Ann first,” Dusibol remarked – Abbot Dusibol, who had been promoted that very morning.

“Arri is the obvious choice,” Braumin countered. “He has never held any mark against him, is well known among the supporters of Avelyn, and would seem to be the only remaining Master, if not the only remaining monk, other than Sister Mary Ann, of the abbey! Do you intend to oppose the nomination, Abbot?”

Abbot Dusibol held up his hands in surrender and gave a slight shake of his head. He would not oppose the nomination, were it now or the next day, Braumin knew. None would. But to promote Arri before the decisions were brought upon the wayward sister would afford the man tremendous influence in that trial.

And so a fourth Abbot joined the ranks of Braumin Herde, Haney, and Dusibol soon after, and a fifth followed closely, when, to Braumin’s dismay, the contingent from St. Honce selected Ohwan, a man who had been the choice of Marcalo De’Unnero! Father Abbot Braumin would have fought that choice, except that the large contingent from St. Honce had been united on the choice, and were not without allies from the other abbeys and chapels, particularly the myriad chapels from southern Honce-the-Bear, all closely connected to the great city of Ursal.

Braumin Herde wasn’t surprised, but the easy ascent of Ohwan served as a poignant reminder to the Father Abbot that those who believed in the vision of De’Unnero had not all died that fateful day in the fight at St.-Mere-Abelle. Now the Father Abbot would have a man who had been loyal to De’Unnero serving as Abbot of the second most important abbey of the Church, just down the lane from the palace of King Midalis in the largest and most important city, Ursal.

“So what of my abbey, Father Abbot?” Abbot Arri asked a short while later. “Will you grant me a force to go and reclaim it?”

“The group is on the way,” Braumin replied. “The three sisters you witnessed in battle last night, along with one of our most promising brothers. They will return to us the information we need to properly reclaim St. Gwendolyn.”

“I would begin rebuilding my abbey now, from this place, if I may,” said Arri, and Braumin nodded.

He looked to Mars, who held his breath. He had renounced De’Unnero to the Father Abbot, though Braumin wasn’t convinced. Still, considering what had just happened regarding St. Honce…

“I would bring my brother back to St. Gwendolyn,” Arri suggested. “Master Mars.”

Father Abbot Braumin looked around, and the most disconcerted look he saw coming back at him was from his dear friend Viscenti (who, like Braumin, was far from convinced of Mars’s loyalty to this current incarnation of the Church).

“I ask, too, that we four Abbots retire to private quarters to determine the disposition of Sister Mary Ann,” said Arri.

“No!” someone called from the back. “It is a matter for all of us!”

Many arguments erupted immediately at that, but above them came the demand of Abbot Arri, “This would be a matter for my abbey alone, were it properly staffed. As it is not, I would ask for a quiet place of reason and justice, among the Abbots alone. It is my right.”