The Sapphire Rose

‘We’d heard about it, yes. We were more or less planning to take steps.’

‘Good. I’ve been off with the army of the King of the Thalesians, and one of my men from back home caught up with me here. When you ride out to take those steps you were talking about, don’t concentrate too much on Lamorkand. The Zemochs are marauding into eastern Pelosia as well. My tribesmen have been gathering ears by the bale. I thought the Knights of the Church ought to know about that.’

‘We’re in your debt, Domi,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Why don’t you show friend Tynian here where you’re camped? We’re a bit involved with the Kings of Eosia at the moment, but just as soon as we can break free, we’ll pay you a call.’

‘I’ll make preparations then, Sir Knight,’ Kring promised. ‘We’ll take salt together and talk of affairs.’

‘Indeed we will, my friend,’ Sparhawk promised.

Tynian followed Kring back down the corridor and Sparhawk and Kalten took Krager back into Nashan’s study.

‘Very well, Krager,’ Patriarch Dolmant said quite firmly. ‘We’ll agree to your terms – provided that you’ll agree to confinement in a monastery until it’s safe to release you.’

‘Of course, Your Grace,’ Krager agreed quickly. ‘I need some rest anyway. Martel’s had me running back and forth across the continent for over a year now. What would you like to hear first?’

‘How did this connection between Otha and the Primate of Cimmura begin?’

Krager leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and swirling his wine glass thoughtfully. ‘As I understand it, it all started shortly after the old Patriarch of Cimmura fell ill and Annias took over his responsibilities in the cathedral there. Up until then, the Primate’s goal appeared to have been largely political. He wanted to marry his doxy off to her brother so that he’d be able to run the kingdom of Elenia. After he got a taste of the kind of power the Church could put into a man’s hands, however, his horizons began to expand. Annias is a realist, and he’s fully aware of the fact that he’s not universally loved.’

‘That may be the understatement of the century,’ Komier muttered.

‘You’ve noticed that, My Lord,’ Krager said dryly. ‘Even Martel despises him, and I can’t for the life of me understand how Arissa can bring herself to crawl into the same bed with him. Anyway, Annias knew that he was going to need help in reaching the Archprelate’s throne. Martel got wind of what he had in mind, and he disguised himself and slipped into Cimmura to talk with him. I’m not sure exactly how, but at some time in the past, Martel had made contact with Otha. He wouldn’t ever really talk about it, but I sort of gather that it was in some way connected with his being expelled from the Pandion order.’

Sparhawk and Vanion exchanged a look. ‘It was,’ Vanion said. ‘Go on.’

‘Annias rejected the notion at first, but Martel can be very convincing when he wants to be, and finally the Primate agreed to at least open negotiations. They found a disreputable Styric who was outcast from his band, and they had a long talk with him. He agreed to act as their emissary to Otha, and in due time, a bargain was struck.’

‘And what was this bargain?’ King Dregos of Arcium asked.

‘I’ll get to that in a bit, Your Majesty,’ Krager promised. ‘If I jump around in this, I might forget details.’ He paused and looked around. ‘I hope you’re all taking note of how co-operative I’m being here. Otha sent some of his people to Elenia to provide assistance to Annias. A great deal of that assistance was in the form of gold. Otha’s got tons of it.’

‘What?’ Ehlana exclaimed. ‘I thought Annias had poisoned my father and me primarily to get his hands on the Elenian treasury in order to finance his drive for the Archprelacy.’

‘I’m not trying to be offensive, Your Majesty,’ Krager said, ‘but the Elenian treasury couldn’t have begun to cover the kind of expenses Annias was incurring. His control of it, however, concealed the real source of his funding. Embezzlement is one thing, but consorting with Otha is quite something else. You and your father were actually poisoned for no other reason than to hide the fact that Annias had an unlimited supply of Otha’s gold. Things went on more or less according to plan. Otha provided money and some occasional Styric magic to help Annias obtain his interim goals. Everything was going along fairly well until Sparhawk came back from Rendor. You’re a very disruptive sort of fellow, Sparhawk.’

‘Thank you,’ Sparhawk replied.

‘I’m sure you know most of the rest of the details, My Lords,’ Krager continued. ‘Ultimately, we all wound up here in Chyrellos, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now, getting back to your question, King Dregos. Otha bargains very hard and he asked a great price from Annias for his aid.’

‘What did Annias have to give him?’ Patriarch Bergsten, the huge Thalesian Churchman, asked.

‘His soul, Your Grace,’ Krager replied with a shudder. ‘Otha insisted that Annias convert to the worship of Azash before he’d provide any magic or any money. Martel witnessed the ceremony, and he told me about it. That was one of my duties, incidentally. Martel gets lonesome from time to time, and he needs somebody to talk to. Martel’s not particularly squeamish, but even he was sickened by the rites that celebrated Annias’s conversion.’

‘Did Martel convert too?’ Sparhawk asked intently.

‘I sort of doubt it, Sparhawk. Martel doesn’t really have any religious convictions. He believes in politics, power and money, not Gods.’

‘Which one of them is really in charge?’ Sephrenia asked. ‘Which one is the leader and which the follower?’

‘Annias thinks he’s the one who’s giving the orders, but frankly, I rather doubt it. All of his contacts with Otha are through Martel, but Martel makes contacts of his own that Annias doesn’t know about. I can’t swear to it, but I think there’s a separate arrangement between Martel and Otha. It’s the sort of thing Martel would do.’

‘There’s something more behind all of this, isn’t there?’ Patriarch Emban asked shrewdly. ‘Otha – and Azash – weren’t really very likely to expend all that money and energy just for the sake of the badly tarnished soul of the Primate of Cimmura, were they?’