New Horizons (Part 7 of the Ignaius-Saga)

The Feeble God

When everyone had arrived, the captain of the House Guard spoke up to give the status of things.

"Things have been mostly controlled by now," he began. "The attackers have been pushed back. Most seem to be dead or have fled, though we did a handful of prisoners from those who did not die from their wounds. The city guard and many from the royal army are working tirelessly to put out all the remaining fires in the city, as well as keeping an eye out for any remaining madmen. We have no idea at present what the death tole might be. We will have to wait for all of the bodies to be gathered from the streets or burned buildings. The city has not been destroyed, but this attack will prove devastating on all fronts. There were even several ships burned in the harbor."

Beside her mother, Elina sat seething. She was glaring at the king something fierce, and it seemed to be taking all of her self-control not to start shouting at him. She had insisted on coming to the meeting, pointing out that she was an adult and currently the closest thing to an heir House Costell had. She would not be swayed.

As soon as they had a picture of the situation, Ayt-Airy addressed Tanier: "Your Majesty, where is Lord Variel?"

It was obvious that she was asking the one question that everyone wanted to ask and that needed to be asked, before they could talk about anything else.

"In my room," the king replied. "He is not dealing with all of this well."

He was very much aware how he was loosing ground, he could almost see it. He had to do something to not get even more into a defensive position.

"I have talked to him and pointed out to him that his role in this is critical, but he is exhausted from the day and needs rest right now. We will not be able to handle this without his cooperation and this requires him to be mentally stable, something that he is not right now. It hit him quite hard what atrocities these people committed and that they seem to suffer from the misconception that he may condone any of this."

Before anyone else could say a word, Elina spoke. Her voice shook with barely-controlled anger. "I heard the witness accounts. Those madmen wanted him. They did all of this to get to Variel, and I see we toss him to these insane wolves and save all the rest of the innocent people of our land that they intend to murder in his name!"

"Elina..." It was Vis who spoke. He was standing back with some of the other military leaders, arms folded. There was a tone of warning in his voice, and he had a rare sobriety about him.

"No one asked you, uncle!" she snapped. "You're only speaking up for him because you're fucking him, too! He's just one weak little boy, and yet the king will continue to protect and hide him away while these murderous lunatics keep slaughtering his people!"

"Lady Elina," the king addressed her, "you can be assured that, if throwing him to them would have done anything to stop the madness, I would have done so myself." His voice was harsh and he had a no nonsense approach that would make almost anyone at least consider that this was really what he would have done.

"But would it have done anything to stop the fires? Anything to convince them that they are operating under a grave misconception? Throwing him to the wolves could have prevented the attack on the castle, but not anything else. Quite possible it would even have spurred them on in a desire to lay the whole world into ashes to celebrate their god's return. Maybe it would have saved the life of one or the other of the brave men who defended us, but we would have lost our most powerful tool to influence them. Yes, he is a weak little boy at the moment. But your attacks don't do anything to forge him into the tool we need to deal with this cult."

He used this to slightly change topic: "Do we have any substantial information, if these men were outsiders, or if we already have a local presence to deal with?"

He looked around, but mostly at those people who could possibly provide an answer.

Elina sat there with clenched jaw and fists. She wanted to keep arguing, but he had just moved on and now someone else was talking.

"It is difficult to know for certain, Your Majesty," one of the officers answered. "So many of them were burned beyond recognition, but we found people who appeared to be from the north, while others looked more local."

This time, it was Vis who spoke. "The Disciples of Ignaius have been spreading, but they have always been quiet and secretive about it. I never imagined they would ever do something so open without their god leading them. I can only imagine that their desire was to get his attention, to draw him to them. Of course, you cannot know the mind of a madman. We can speculate, and we can attempt to interrogate those few who did not self-immolate before capture."

"Actually I intend to negotiate with them," the king answered. "Of course, you can ask, if it is the right approach when faced with a group that seems to act completely irrational, but what we lack most is any insight in to who they are and what they want and time is running out. As soon as the situation in the city is calming down a little, I want public announcements made that I offer safe conduct for a group of up to 10 people to represent them at a meeting to be held at Palewind Castle tomorrow or whatvere the next day after the announcements will be. They are to arrive at the gates at noon. Anyone else coming closer to the castle than 100 yards will be shot. Mylady, I have to apologize for bringing those fanatics to your home, but I consider this the safest otion, but I you may be able to suggest a better alternative."

Ayt-Airy seemed to be in doubt, looking at some of her commanders, but when none of them voiced an objection, she replied: "I am concerned about the safety, but more about the viability of your plan. What do you hope to gain?"

"Insight and time. And in the given situation this is something."

"Fine then," she agreed, obviously not fully convinced yet.

"So you're going to negotiate with madmen. I'm sure that will go wonderfully." Without another word, Elina stood and marched from the room, brushing past all the guards and other important attendants. She also made sure to slam the door on her way out, a final punctuation to her mood.

Vis sighed and shook his head, then straightened up. "I will wait, then. Let us hope their demands are not too unreasonable..."

Tanier watched Elina leave and sighed as she slammed the door. He almost missed Visorro-Kior's contribution. Almost.

"Wait with what?" he asked.

"On the interrogation," Vis clarified. "...Not that I'm at all hesitant about putting the pressure on those bastards..." His fingers curled around his forearms slightly, but it was the only sign of frustration he showed.

For at least a second Tanier was taken aback.

"They are not my prisoners, but yours. But I would appreciate it, if your interrogations would be just that at this point: interrogations. Violence is not the best available way to produce useful informations. But probably you know this quite well."

He was not sure, why he was so strongly irritated by the fact that Visorro-Kior seemed to be an expert in even more areas than he had expected. He tried to control the irritation that he felt, but didn't completely succeed.

"Is this settled for now? Do we have a plan?" He looked around, no one objected, some nodded. "Good! This meeting is closed."

The meeting began to disperse, and Vis left with the others as well. He appeared to have calmed down, but not to the level he was normally at.