Fire Angels

Chapter 20 Part 2 The Surrender of Beenac

The army arrived at Beenac just after midday on the fifth day. It was another sultry day. The overcast sky was the dull color of metal above us, though the hot air offered little promise of rain.

The Hierarch's fortress rose like a tall spike out of the flat green plain of the Roussel River. The town which huddled on one side of it was like something built by ghosts and the silence of the plain was so great we could hear the shutters banging in the wind. All afternoon I was aware of that deep silence behind the hubbub of the army.

However Beenac's emptiness made it possible to send patrols under cover of the town to the very walls of the fortress. Though Symon reported that there were people in the fortress and Hierarch Jarraz's residential flag fluttered from the central tower, there was no sign that those within were preparing for a siege. The houses at the fortress walls had not been destroyed and it was decided that even though this might be some kind of trap, we should attack from this side where our troops would have some kind of cover.

The attack was to begin the following morning, so we spent that afternoon digging trenches on the western side of the fortress away from the town to prevent anyone escaping from that side and to provide some cover if we were attacked on our left flank from the Red Mountains. Near Lammerquais they had been almost impassible, but here they were little more than low hills, with the Destroyer's lair at Ruinac a mere couple of days ride beyond them.

Then, around mid-afternoon the gates of the fortress opened and a small group of riders came out, everyone of them bearing the green flags of peace. Though a muttering arose from among the troops when they saw Burning Light priests among the company, the flag was respected.

The party had come to surrender the fortress to Lady Julia.

"Has everyone gone to Sanctuary?" asked Lady Julia. By now our horror over the fate of the people in the wasteland had settled into a kind of grey acceptance of inevitability.

From his fresh face, I judged the young priest who led the party to be even younger than me. His responsibilities sat heavily on his stiff young back. He was a true believer however.

"Aye Lady," he said. "The Wasteland has been promised to the Holy Ones. We shall cleanse it with our righteousness and build Tansa's Holy City on Earth there. The Holy Ones have no further need for the places of evil, where the past continues to taint us with its sin."

"And the non-Holy?" said the Patriarch suavely. "Where are they?"

If the boy was daunted at speaking with the Patriarch, he did not show it. Perhaps he did not care. The Patriarch and the Orthodox Church were highly compromised in the eyes of the true Burning Light believer. This was part of the reason the Patriarch had finally turned against them.

"There were none left," the boy priest replied calmly. "They have been cleansed with fire and labor. They went to prepare our way many months ago when the Hand of God found and condemned them. Already they have made a starting place for us and hopefully they have seen the error of their ways."

"Then why have you stayed behind?" asked Julia.

"Hierarch Jarraz is too ill to be moved."

"Hierarch Jarraz is there in the fortress?" cried Lady Julia. "Then I shall go this minute and speak with him."

"He cannot speak Lady. He has been seized by Holy visions. He has not known anyone for this month or more. It is a blessed state, but hard upon his earthly shell."

"He is mad in other words and they've abandoned him," snapped Lady Julia.

A mulish look came into the boy's face. The Patriarch touched Lady Julia arm warningly. "Indeed Hierarch Jarraz is most blessed," he said. "Mother Karana speaks to him, doesn't she?"