Fire Angels

Chapter 15 Part 1 Rumours of Fire Angels

Since the last part was so short I have put in another part.  I hope my readers are enjoying the story. 

Thank you very much for reading.   

The Klementari's revelations caused a sensation. In the council meeting the following day, Ren Daniel put forward a motion that we urge the Duke to go south as quickly as possible.

"Why?" cried Lord Uttrello. "His Grace is doing the best he can on that matter. But negotiations must be resolved with the Patriarch before we can turn south. Unless you want North and Middle Moria to fall into the hands of the Church."

"Better that then the hands of the necromancers," cried Ren Daniel. I had not thought him to be the kind of man who became passionate, but then mages are very passionate about necromancy. Faces all round the council table looked angry.

"The Duke is secure in the fortress of Lammerquais. I say we petition him to divide the army in half. The Gallians can defend middle Moria and we Morians can go south with the Klementari."

"You place a lot of faith in people whom even you would have chased from your door a month ago, Monsieur Daniel. If the Patriarch decides to outflank the Duke and move back into Middle Moria, what is this half an army going to do then? Dividing them will only make us twice as weak. And there is a strong chance half an army will be beaten in the south too. We have good intelligence that says that the Hierarch's army is strong and well forewarned. In the last few weeks they have been joined by several troops of Soprian mercenaries and they are tough. Then there is this report of Fire Angels."

"Fire Angels," I cried. "You know about the Fire Angels?"

I rarely said anything in the council, so fearful was I of saying the wrong thing, but this was too much.

"Yes!" said Lord Uttrello surprised into politeness for once. "Hierarch Jarraz is able to call on several of these creatures. He uses them against heretics. They are creatures of fire who take the shape of angels," he added, remembering this time to be snide.

"But those things are demonic". I cried, overwhelmed by the Duke's deceit. "How long has the Duke known about them?"

Lord Uttrello's disdainful face brought me back to my senses, but instead of cowing me, it sparked me to anger.

"And don't look at me as if I don't know," I cried "I've fought both demons and fire angel's and the one has the scent of the other."

"Here we have from your own lips proof of the necromancy in the south," cried Ren Daniel. "Necromancy which you seem to have known about. Why was this council not told earlier? Why has nothing been done?"

"Because nothing can be done till the problem with the Patriarch has been resolved," shouted Lord Uttrello. "I for one do not propose to bother the Duke with foolish plans that he has no doubt already considered. Now if we may turn to the issue of Frederic Gaulthier's petition."

By then however the council chamber so charged with anger on one side or another that Lord Uttrello was forced to call for a vote. All the Gallian mages voted with us, even Garthan Redona. The ordinary Gallians however, voted with Lord Uttrello and the motion was defeated. At this Ren Daniel swore and strode from the room and I followed him shortly afterwards for I was too upset to listen to more foolish wrangling about a merchants petition over damage done to sweetmeat stall by drunken soldiers.

My faith in the Duke's sincerity was badly shaken by events, which surprised me since I had not thought I'd had any. The Duke had lied so comprehensively and convincingly... Or had he? I had a shivery feeling I had been horribly out-maneuvered over this matter. I should have spoken to the Duke myself over Sanctuary. Then I could at least have been sure about whether he knew or not. I had let my fear of him dissuade me from doing so and now I would never know. I was a coward. It was as simple as that.

Briefly I contemplated giving up this whole Duke thing and going to live with Silva. But that would be just running away. I must keep trying and do better this time. The problem was I was not sure what form better should take. I could not go south by myself.

Instead I found myself battering Lucien's ears with my anxieties.

He laughed, which aggravated me so much I snapped, "It's no laughing matter, thank you very much."

"No, no. I'm sorry," he said contritely. "It's just that I have been having the same conversation with my father this morning. For such a political animal, he's so naive sometimes. He really seems to have thought that the Duke would be open about his knowledge of Sanctuary. Apparently he didn't realize that all this silence gave the Duke the perfect opportunity to fain ignorance. And do you know, I almost think that Father believed the Duke did care about this necromancer in the south."

"What do you mean?" I cried. "He does! He must!"

"Duke Leon Saar cares only about the crown of Moria," said Lucien. "All his heart is in that. And it is the Patriarch who stands in his way, not this necromancer. I have no doubt he'll leave the south until he's solved this problem of the Patriarch."

And he left me standing there hoping desperately that he was wrong; because what other alternatives did we have if he wasn't.

Later that day Ren Daniel came to me.

"I have been getting up a petition," he said. "Thank God we are so informal here. I shall easily find the opportunity to present this to the Duke. I think I shall be able to get the signature of most of the mages here. Even some of the Gallians may be prepared to sign it. Necromancy is like fire on lamp-oil even to them."

As I signed the petition it occurred to me that Lord Sercel might have even greater chances of bringing the petition to the Duke's notice.

"I've already asked him and he refused," said Ren Daniel "Though with regret. Humph. He's a political animal that one and will not put himself on the wrong side of the Duke."

Ren Daniel did not get the opportunity to present his petition however. That evening at a public banquet, the Duke spoke of the plan to split the army and go south. He said it was a good plan and one he had been considering, but any plan at this point was premature. The Gallian army had been in Lammerquais less than two weeks and there had been little time to train and equip the southern troops. Some hotheads might advocate sending raw and ill equipped troops into battle but he was not so callous. We must wait a few more weeks before the army was in good order. Until then he was doing he very best to reach some kind of agreement or even alliance with the Patriarch so that this dangerous plan of dividing the army need not even be considered. His prayers went out to all southern Morians and their families for all the danger they were facing. We owed it to them to do our best to liberate the south and not ruin our chances by embarking on hasty plans or sending too small an army.

This clever speech, delivered as it was with an air of grave concern did much to calm the outrage that was being felt and to assuage consciences uneasy about the discovery that the necromancy, that people had thought was just a political ploy, was indeed very real.

"The problem is that Duke Leon has a very real point about not splitting up the army," said Lady Julia. "It's a dangerous plan. But oh those poor people in the south. Ren Symon has told me something of Sanctuary. Sweet Tansa only knows what the fate of the poor prisoners there has been. Why did you not tell me what you knew of it?" She asked me in a hurt tone

"Lord Sercel told me not to talk of it," I told her, "And I thought you knew already."

I hoped she did not hear the guilt in my voice for I knew that the reason I had told her nothing had been shyness and by the time I knew her well enough, I had already realized that she had no power over decisions made about the invasion of Moria.

The Dukes' speech did nothing to assuage my guilt. I was more than ever aware of my political failings.

"I am hopeless at this," I told Shad.

"Do not go feeling bad. I too was persuaded to keep quiet about what I knew. I still think it has not hurt. In a sense the Duke is right. The southerners are not really ready to go south. I just wish it did not all take so much time."

"I wish there was something useful I could do."

"I'll show you something, if you like," said Shad. "I've been meaning to ask you all this week."

The following morning he took me down to the training ground with him and within the first hour he