Jarvit

Jarvit Ch5 p1

Chapter Five

People filled the Great House of Listening for the annual ritual that ushered in the time of the Contemptible. As she gazed at the upturned faces in front of her Tiatra remembered how she had shivered her way through the Contemptible’s cold days in her remote Hall of Listening.

Her Devotees had kept the fires well banked but she had never seemed to get warm there. Here, further south, in the great capital of Simmon, it was not the cold that caused her to shiver. As soon as she had followed Ciara out onto the dais she had spotted the sneering features of Lord D’Braggatio in the front row of the nobles present.

The ceremony commenced with removing the image of the Sprightly from the Hall. She was glad to see him go this time. He had played her a merry trick this season, having her leave her home and enter the Great House as hand maiden to a mock Hearer. But the season of the Sprightly had passed and Ciara had performed her role well.

Tiatra noticed some of the other nobles who sat near to D’Braggatio. There were his smiling supporters and behind them the sadder faces of those who upheld the Will of the Worthy.

Several of them had conferred with the Interpreter and Ciara at frequent intervals. There had been a tense meeting just yesterday.

            ‘Interpreter, D’Braggatio’s political position has grown stronger. The Lords Harte and Stutley have now also disappeared. It is put about that they have returned to their estates but we cannot believe that. They opposed him openly and have vanished. Now there are only a few of us left.’ Eorl Kenwal spoke with urgency. ‘Since his marriage to the silent lady his dark powers seem also to have grown. With stealth it has spread its roots under those we once regarded as friends and like a mighty bramble, entangles all who come near. The voices of reason and experience are being silenced. Those who should lead are divided and fearful.’ There was no mistaking the concern in the young man’s voice. Tiatra stood to one side in the room as befitted a handmaiden. Ariena and Ciara sat around the table and listened to the concerns of the three Lords who entered into the Great House in a furtive manner after dark.

            ‘As was done to ourselves when I first came to this Hall,’ Ariena’s tone was wistful. ‘It is how he works. He undermines people, perverts them and then destroys them. Taking their power and position at the same time.’

            ‘What can we few do? Help us Interpreter. Has not the Worthy given any words of guidance on this yet?’ The three men looked hopefully towards Ciara, who sadly shook her head. The three men looked at each other in despair. Pulling hard on handfuls of his hair, Eorl Kenwal said in a low voice.

            ‘We are lost.’

            ‘Surely the rule of Lordship will not be broken?’ Tiatra interrupted. Eorl Kenwal looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.

            ‘Broken, no. Eroded yes. All that our forefathers fought for; the overthrow of a  corrupt regime; the creation of the code of Lordship and the oaths of honour. All of this is being worn away without a hand raised. To be replaced by what? D’Braggatio. A single archimage of immense and yet still growing powers. Why will the Worthy not help us?’

            ‘Where were you when the Great House needed help? When D’Braggatio smote us with his then much weaker powers? Not one member of the Lordship aided us then when our Hearer was taken from us.’ snapped Tiatra.

            ‘Alas I was too young. My elders, my poor father included, felt they should not meddle in your house. They believed that the Will of the Worthy would prevail. They did not see that D’Braggatio would succeed. They even believed his whispered lies about the Great House. I regret they did not see he was hand in hand with the Contemptible. My father was killed along with others and so we are where we are.’ He hung his head, then sighed and pushed himself up from the table. His companions rose with him.