Fire Angels

Chapter 17 Part 4 ATTACK!

It was all so much more complicated than she made it sound. I thanked her for her help and went back to the White Tower.

Events concerning Lady Blanche proceeded much as the Klementari predicted. For several days of the following week the Duke and his entourage were in Quainard trying to persuade Lady Blanche to return to Lammerquais, while representatives of the Patriarch, and even once or twice the Patriarch himself, met with her to express concern at her situation and to make heartfelt offers of aid and protection.

Tomas had gone back to Rougelammer which saved me from more scoldings, for while the Duke away, the plotting of the Southerners proceeded apace. Twice I helped Lady Julia slip out of the White Tower unnoticed and accompanied her to a midnight meeting with Lord Quercy at the Klementari encampment. The plot was discussed openly between the Lady and myself now that Blanche was not around to spy on us. At first Lady Julia worried about whether, by taking part in this plot she was simply turning a two-way struggle for Moria into a three-way one. Her anxieties diminished with remarkable swiftness however, and quickly turned into practical plans and calculations.

It was a new Lady Julia I saw these days. I had known her to be a strong, ambitious and determined person, but now I discovered how cool, clever and well-organized she could be as well. I was astonished at how right the role seemed for her. She had the way of making herself liked by the common people where ever she went but, more importantly I saw that the other members of the plot, nobles and army commanders respected her judgment. Of all the candidates for the throne there was no doubt that Lady Julia was the one who had the good of Moria most at heart.

The Klementari, whose ability to gather knowledge was considerable, informed the leaders of the plot that, although there was a fierce barrier of Burning Light and Soprian mercenary troops between us and Beenac, they were a lone vanguard. Behind them, most of Hierarch Jarraz's Burning Light forces had withdrawn to Sanctuary in the wasteland long ago. It was strange to hear of people seeking safety in a place I was certain was filled with necromancy and demons. Would the necromancer treat them as friends or where they only fodder?

If the Klementari had made their intelligence known to the Duke, we might have been able to persuade him to agree to split the army up. They did not however. Once again they were manipulating events to suit themselves. To be fair, there was a general feeling of disenchantment with the Duke among the Morian elements in the army. I doubt if anything could have changed the intention to go south without him now.

Yet how long had the Klementari known of the weakness of the South's defenses. For the first time I found myself looking critically at them. To a mage like myself, the fact that they had let Lady Blanche go free, even when she was obviously colluding with demons was shocking.

"How do you know you can trust the Klementari's reports of what is going on in the south?" I asked Lady Julia. "They may just be tricking us into going, because it serves their purpose.

"I doubted them too when first your brother Karac came to me at the convent and told me that the Wanderers had foreseen that I would be Queen of Moria," said Lady Julia. "But consider for a moment. The Duke will never recognize their right to sovereignty over Ernundra. The best he will offer to them is some kind of tenancy. I on the other hand will give them Ernundra, because I know that in the days of Moria's greatness, one of the pillars upon which that greatness rested was the Klementari living in Ernundra. I am valuable to them and even if they are lying to us, I am certain they would never lead us to destruction. I have been dealing with them for three years now and they have never given me cause to doubt their wisdom."

The Duke must have had some awareness of the unrest for he issued several decrees declaring that those who deserted would be executed for treachery. Ironically the only people hung for desertion had no knowledge of our plot. The Southern members of the army had a sense that something favorable was about to happen and stayed quietly in their barracks.