Page 7 of The Warrior Priest (After the Rift #1)
The gate opened and a carriage slowly emerged, escorted on foot by a brawny man in his fifties dressed in a priest’s tunic.
If I didn’t know it was Master Tomaj, I would have assumed he was just another brother.
He was talking to a passenger inside the carriage.
From where I stood, I couldn’t see whether there was an escutcheon painted on the door, but I heard the master call the occupant “Your Eminence.” It must be the high priest of Glancia.
“I must go,” Rhys muttered before striding off to join them.
I slipped further behind the tree trunk, peering around it to watch.
Amid the rumble of the wheels and clip-clop of hooves of a passing horse and cart, I heard Rhys tell the master and high priest he had news.
The high priest stepped out of the carriage and the three men moved away so neither the coachman nor the guard at the gate could listen in.
As the only one of the three who knew I was still in the vicinity, Rhys must trust me deeply to allow me to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Neither man asked Rhys how he’d come by the information. Both expressed concern over its existence, but not surprise.
“We need to speak to the king,” Master Tomaj said. “Your Eminence, he listens to you. He’ll retract the document if you advise him to.”
“It’s too late to retract it,” Rhys said. “It already bears the royal seal.”
“Brother Rhys is right,” came the thinner voice of the high priest. “It’s too late. The governor has the power he has coveted since gaining office. It’s only a matter of time before he wields it.”
“I suspect he’ll target thieves first,” Master Tomaj said. “He seems set on eradicating theft altogether without fixing the poverty at its root.”
“I believe you are right, Tomaj. I have it on good authority that the governor wishes to push through a change to the sentencing of convicted thieves. He wants them put to death and all their belongings confiscated, as well as the property of their family members.”
I was no longer a thief, but the thought chilled me to the bone. A death sentence for stealing a loaf of bread to feed a family was horrifically cruel.
“Even worse,” the high priest went on, “the governor wants anyone who makes an accusation of rape to be held accountable if the rapist is found innocent. They’ll be ordered to pay an exorbitant fine to the man they accused.
Since the magistrate is the governor’s puppet, and it’s near impossible to prove rape anyway, no woman will dare come forward. ”
“Why?” Rhys exploded. “Why target the victims like that?”
“I believe it’s in response to the rumors about his deputy. Apparently a woman accused him of rape. The governor is protecting his own.”
Master Tomaj muttered something under his breath. In a louder voice, he added, “I thought he was a decent man when he first took office. I can’t believe I read him so poorly.”
“You weren’t the only one,” the high priest said wryly. “He was good at first. Then after he lost his niece in the fire…he changed.”
I could have told them he hadn’t changed. He’d simply begun to show his true self where before he’d hidden it behind a mask of civility.
“Something must be done to stop him,” the high priest went on. “Do either of you have suggestions?”
“I defer to you both on that score,” Rhys said.
“No, Brother. You are the second now. You must make the tough decisions alongside your master.”
Rhys drew in a deep breath. “Very well. I propose we involve the dukes and lords. They don’t want to see all the power of Tilting in the hands of one man any more than we do.”
“They don’t care about Tilting. Their interests lie in affairs of the kingdom, not its city.”
“The affairs of Tilting are the affairs of Glancia,” Rhys countered.
The high priest paused before saying, “You have good insights and instincts, Brother. This is why you were chosen. But I know the two dukes well, and they will not care if Tilting becomes the playground of a despot as long as he leaves matters of the kingdom to them. If they see the governor removing undesirables from the city then they won’t care how he gets rid of them.
You credit them with too much sense and feeling. ”
“His Eminence is right,” Master Tomaj added. “With affairs of the kingdom so perilously close to boiling over, the only people who care about Tilting matters are its residents. If we want to save its people then we must be prepared to protect them with whatever means are at our disposal.”
“You’re proposing we go to war against the governor’s men?” Rhys sounded incredulous.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” the high priest said.
“We need to exert our power, Your Eminence,” Master Tomaj said. “The governor must be reminded that he cannot do as he pleases. Give me the word and I will flex our muscle and intimidate him into behaving.”
“None of the religious orders can intervene in local matters, especially the warrior priests. We must remain impartial.”
Frustration tightened the grizzled features on Master Tomaj’s face. He seemed keen to resolve the matter quickly using the means at his disposal, namely an elite fighting force primed for battle.
“If we’re not using brute force to stop him, diplomacy is what we have left,” Rhys said.
Neither of the other two commented.
“Isn’t it?” Rhys pressed.
“We’ll think on it,” the high priest said. He reentered the carriage and bade Rhys and Master Tomaj good day before instructing his driver to continue.
I continued to watch as Rhys and the master reentered the temple complex via the gate. I should have been watching the carriage instead. I didn’t pay it any attention until it stopped near me.
“You there,” came the high priest’s voice. “Don’t move, lad. I want to speak to you.”
I glanced at the gate, now firmly closed.
“Brother Rhys won’t mind if I speak to you,” the high priest said as he joined me at the tree. “I know he employs you as a spy. Master Tomaj knows, too. Who do you think approved the payment for your services?”
It was hardly a surprise to me that the master knew, although it was curious that the high priest did. Did he also know I was the governor’s niece?
No, he mustn’t. He called me lad just now, and it sounded like he believed the story of the governor’s lost niece earlier. Rhys had kept both facts a secret.
The high priest studied me down his nose. “Your name is Jac, is it not?”
It was the first time I’d seen the high priest up close.
He was older than the master, with white hair and a neatly trimmed white beard.
His rotund middle strained his cloth of gold belt so much that I worried the clasp in the shape of a sun would pop off at any moment.
Either he liked eating sludge or he dined on heartier fare up at the high temple.
As Glancia’s most senior priest who oversaw every order in the kingdom and answered only to the Supreme Holiness in the Vytill city of Fahl, he must need to host dignitaries from time to time.
Still, if I were a priest or priestess, I’d be annoyed that he didn’t suffer deprivation alongside me.
“It is. Your Eminence,” I added, remembering my manners.
The high priest glanced back the way he’d come, as if judging the distance and whether I could have overheard their conversation or not. Then he turned back to me. His next words proved his thoughts went in a different direction altogether. “Brother Rhys speaks highly of you.”
“He does?”
“He claims you have a memory like a trap, and a knack for discovering even the most intimate of secrets. To hear him, you’d think he was a proud older brother.
” The high priest showed no sign of humor or irony, so I was even more certain that he didn’t know I was a woman.
“I assume it was you who discovered a certain document that’s of interest to Tilting.
” When I didn’t respond, he smiled. “Discreet, too. I can see why Brother Rhys admires your capabilities. It’s as if you were born for the role of spy. ”
Still, I said nothing. What did he want from me?
The high priest stepped closer. “I have a task for you, Jac.”
“I only do as Rhys asks.”
“I admire your loyalty, but as this involves Brother Rhys, I thought you would make an exception.”
“Then I definitely don’t want to be involved. Good day, Your Eminence.” I walked off.
“He’s in love with a woman who will ruin his life.”
My breath caught in my chest. I hadn’t realized I’d stopped until the high priest stood in front of me again.
“I see you want to protect Brother Rhys as much as I do. You are indeed a good friend.”
“Why do you think he’s in love?” I asked carefully.
“I know him well and I can tell. There has been a change in him these last years.”
“Years?” I echoed numbly.
“It has been gradual and subtle, but I’ve noticed it.
Lately, it has become more obvious. Ever since Master Tomaj marked Brother Rhys for promotion, I’ve kept a close eye on him and I can see the signs.
Brother Rhys has matured, and he rightly deserves the promotion.
He’ll be master one day, when the time comes. ”
“As you say, that’s maturity. It’s not necessarily because he loves.”
“He is in love. I’m quite sure of it. Whether he realizes or not…” The high priest shrugged. “The woman is no good for him.”
“Why not? She might be exactly what he needs. Besides, shouldn’t Rhys be allowed to decide who is good for him or not?”
My vehemence seemed to catch him by surprise. “I wasn’t expecting such a fierce response, but I applaud it. It goes to prove you are precisely the person for this task. Once you discover how unsuitable this woman is for him?—”
“I won’t spy on him.” I turned away.
He caught my elbow. His fingernails dug through my doublet into my arm. “I’m not asking you to. I want you to spy on her .”
My pulse sounded loud as it pounded through my veins. “Who?” The word was a mere puff of breath, expelled before I could stop it.
“Her name is Giselle.”
I swallowed. Breathed. Giselle . Not me.
“He has told you about her?” the high priest asked, frowning.
I shook my head.
“You look shocked, lad.”
I hadn’t expected to hear a name. I’d expected him to ask me to find the girl Rhys had fallen in love with, because the high priest didn’t yet know who she was. I’d expected to learn that it was someone he met with occasionally in the house that once belonged to his father. I had hoped it was me.
The numbness faded away, replaced with a dull ache. Rhys wasn’t in love with me. Why would he be?
“Giselle and Rhys used to be lovers.” The high priest didn’t seem at all shocked that a priest of Merdu’s Guards had broken his vow of celibacy.
It confirmed my thought that indiscretions were overlooked as long as the priests were discreet.
“He was saddened when she left Tilting years ago. I heard a rumor that she has recently returned, which would explain Rhys’s odd behavior lately, but I want to know if it’s true.
If she is back, I want to know her plans for Rhys.
” He removed a small coin pouch from the pocket of his robe. “Will you do that, Jac?”
“Rhys’s relationships are none of my business, or yours.”
He withdrew two ells and held them up for me to take. “I want to protect Rhys. Giselle isn’t the type to settle down with one man. She’ll break his heart again, I’m sure of it. He doesn’t deserve that.”
No. He did not. “I’ll find out if she’s back in Tilting,” I said. “But that’s all. What you do with the information is your business.” And what I did with it was mine.
“Good lad. She may be difficult to find. Giselle is…elusive. She used to live above the Cat and Mouse tavern, so I suggest you start there.” He held out the coins. “There’ll be more when you report back.”
I took the money. Not because I needed it, but because it would look less suspicious. I didn’t want the high priest, or anyone, realizing I wanted to know more about Giselle for my own benefit.