A Shout for the Dead by James Barclay Read Free Book Online

You will take the blame whether you like it or not. Be careful. All of you.'
    Jhered rose and smiled unconvincingly.
    'Go and speak to Yuran. Get your own account of this. Get the Echelon working on it. The trouble is, I don't really know what it means. Is it a theory that has no application or something else? Yuran was sure there was real weapon potential in it. I have to know if he's right. I have to know if we need to be gearing up for a war we do not want and may not be able to repel. I have to know what the legions might face.'
    There was a prolonged silence following Jhered's departure. The void inside Mirron felt like grief. It wasn't hard to look forward and see the collapse of all that they had been building.
    'So, he's alive, then,' said Ossacer.
    'We have to be strong,' said Arducius. 'Don't let him obsess us or change us.'
    'How can we possibly do that?' said Mirron. 'He's already got to the Exchequer.'
    'I mean, the work of the Academy must go on. We have to believe in the ethos of the Ascendancy and never deviate from the education of our new Ascendants and of the wider public. But we have a blight on us now and we have to counter it.'
    'That's all lovely talk Ardu, and I look forward to hearing you repeat it to the Advocate and the Echelon. But what are we actually going to do?' said Mirron.
    'It's quite simple,' said Ossacer. 'I don't see the point of investigating whether Gorian can do what is rumoured. All we have to do is track him down to wherever he is hiding and when we do, kill him.'
    'This is nothing more than opportunism. And you will regret it.'
    Herine Del Aglios, Advocate of the Estorean Conquord, stood up from her recliner and walked to the open balcony. Estorr sparkled in the cool sunlight. The air was fresh, scented with dawn rain and drenched in the taste of the new season. But Herine's heart remained set in dusas ice.
    'We regret the necessity, not the decision itself.'
    Herine turned back and stared hard at Ambassador Tharin of Dornos. He had grown very old in the years since the Tsardon had all but torn the Conquord apart. His huge eyebrows were completely white now and his face had sagged alarmingly, giving him the look of an ageing bloodhound. Liver spots covered his hands and he was unsteady on his feet. His toga, slashed with Dornosean lilac, covered a body that was withering quickly.
    Yet he was still proud and authoritative in his dealings. Herine had watched his position regarding Dornos and the Conquord harden. She had seen it from a number of her territories. Tharin, though, had played his hand with the assured timing of a master. Bahkir, under marshal law for four years now and with an Estorean consul sitting in the palace at Sungmai, should have watched him.
    'That statement makes no sense, Tharin.' Herine sighed. 'You have waited until we are committed to the pacification of Atreska to take your disastrous course of action. Presumably, you feel we will ever be too weak to enforce our will on Dornos in the future. You will find that you are mistaken. Though perhaps you will be safe in the embrace of God by that time.'
    Herine stopped herself from scoffing at the expression of hurt on the man's face.
    'Herine, please. We are friends.'
    'Were. Be happy I am not having you tried for treason. Diplomats have many rights not granted to the common citizen. Sometimes I regret the passing of certain of my more inclusive laws.'
    'I've been trying to tell you for years how badly we have been struggling. Yet still Jhered or his lackeys come every season with their criminal demands for levies, both men and money. We cannot, we will not, sustain it.' Tharin coughed. His whole body shuddered with the effort. A little blood flecked his lips.
    Tharin wiped his mouth with a cloth. Herine signalled a servant to pour him some water. She looked away from the ambassador again, seeking to compose herself. She caught her reflection in a mirror glass hanging above an ornate, leaf-carved fire mantle.
    Her