Book 1 - The Tyranny of the Night by Glen Cook Read Free Book Online

suspect of heretical
sympathies—had my men whipped when they tried to execute their duties."
    Bishop Serifs hoped to divert Doneto from questions about the disposition of
properties that he had seized.
    The legate did not visit the matter. "You explained to the Duke that by defying
the Patriarch he risks his immortal soul?"
    "Of course. And he told me he isn't defying the Patriarch, he's protecting the
Connec from the predations of Firaldian thieves. He may be another who questions
His Holiness's right to speak for God."
    "I'm wondering if a strain of that hasn't insinuated itself here." Accusation
edged the legate's voice. His disdainful expression made it clear that he did
not approve of the way Serifs lived. Nor did he care about the obstacles life
and a stubborn land placed in the Bishop's path.
    Results. Sublime was interested only in results.
    "I have an idea," Serifs said, congratulating himself on his own cunning. "Go
into Antieux yourself and see how things really are. Disguise yourself as a
merchant. Visit low places. Listen to what's being said when no one thinks
Brothe is listening. Then we'll formulate a strategy based on your new
appreciation of the Connecten reality."
    The Bishop restrained a smile. The legate was exasperated. Again, Brothe cared
only about results.
    I To his surprise, Doneto agreed. "You may have a point I'll
    come back tomorrow. After that there'll be no more excuses."
    "Absolutely."
    Serifs watched the legate go. The door was not yet fully closed when he snapped
his fingers at the shadows to his left.
    Armand, pretty Armand, came forth, licking his lips. No words had to be
exchanged. Serifs slid down in his seat. Armand crawled up under his robe. In a
moment the Bishop felt soft lips nursing and gentle fingers stroking. He closed
his eyes and tried to fathom why Sublime was so determined to impose Brothe's
control on the End of Connec.
    It had to be the revenues. There could be no other answer. Sublime needed money to stave off the Grail Emperor while he sent crusaders to
recapture the Wells of Ihrian and to liberate Calzir. The revenues were the only
possible answer.
    The Connec was the richest land claimed by the Church. It had been two centuries
since war had stained it, back when Duke Tormond's ancestor Volsard recaptured
Terliaga from Meridian, a Praman kingdom of Direcia and former seat of the
western Kaifate. After that triumph the Reconquest proceeded inexorably. A third
of Direcia was back in the hands of Chaldareans of the Episcopal rite. Given
the ambitions of kings like Peter of Navaya, the entire region would be
reclaimed. Then the Reconquest would move on to reclaim the southern shore of the
Mother Sea.
    All that, Serifs thought dreamily, was Sublime's goal.
    The Bishop slipped a hand under his robe to tease Armand's hair, to encourage
him in his efforts.
    6. Al-Qarn, in Dreanger of the Kaifate of al-Minphet
    From the north al-Qarn appeared to stand in the deep desert. Its strange, dirty
bistre wall rose from the bitter earth left by Gordimer's paranoia. The barren,
unoccupied ground was the same color as the wall. It was a breeding place of
flies. Garbage and night soils ended up there every morning. No human habitation, not even a nomad's tent for a night, was allowed within a
mile of the wall.
    Years ago an astrologer told Gordimer he would be brought low by an enemy from
the north. The Lion had taken that to mean an army.
    The astrologer could not be faulted. There was no other direction whence such an
army could come. For six hundred miles westward the coastal cities owed
allegiance to the Kaif of al-Minphet and were content. The nomad tribes of the
desert and mountains sometimes acted up, but they were a threat to one another,
not to Gordimer or the Kaifate.
    South of Dreanger the many petty kingdoms all acknowledged the Kaif—despite the
fact that the majority were some variety of Chaldarean who refused to accept the
Brothen