Count Scar - SA by C. Dale Brittain, Robert A. Bouchard Read Free Book Online Page A

morning after the accident and summoned a parish priest from the local village to perform the offices for his wife instead. Brother Nuage did manage to get close very briefly to the place from which she fell, just after her body had been discovered, and believes he did detect a hint of recent magic there. The late countess's consort did not permit any member of our Order to enter Peyrefixade after that, so there could be no confirmation. But now, with the arrival of this new Count Caloran and your entry into his service, you shall have ample opportunity to investigate the matter on the spot. Of course it is far too late to find any trace of magical activities where the countess fell, but you can be alert for any sign that someone may be working magic now."
    He paused to open a box and took out a little sheaf of parchment scraps bound together with an old bit of thong. When he handed them to me, I saw that they were pages salvaged from old books and scraped free of the original writing, standard material for recording informal notes. "Brother Nuage has been staying at our priory in the duke's city ever since he left Peyrefixade. This is the account he wrote concerning everything he saw or surmised during the last part of his time at the castle. It may aid you. Remember, however, your first order of business must be to impress this Count Caloran with your diligence and loyalty as his priest and advisor. His arrival represents a new chance for our Order to regain the good-will and patronage of Peyrefixade. It will be up to you to guide his thoughts in that direction—and to defend him from any magical attacks such as the one that may have killed the countess."
    My spirits were low once more as I left Provost Balaam's office. I was not merely being sent forth from my peaceful life of prayer and my magic studies in the House of the Order to take up once again a post out in the world I had rejected, this time in the service of some hardened northern soldier I had never met. I was also charged with looking into a matter that might involve the most sinister sort of magic—with nothing to guide my efforts but months'-old rumors and a few impressions of the brother who had been the last capellanus at Peyrefixade. I would be responsible for the well-being of all the souls at the castle too, including this Count Galoran's—and in addition to his soul's safety, that of his physical person. Stepping into the courtyard, I waved to the novice holding the reins of my packhorse and of my mount to wait a little longer. Then I turned and went into the church to offer a final prayer for strength and resolution.

    Chapter Three ~ Caloran

    Chapter Three ~ Caloran
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    1
    Two days after the duke's visit, the triple note of the horn again announced someone riding up from the valley. Busy with the cook and his accounts, I sent Bruno, who shuffled back a minute later to tell me a priest on horseback was coming up the steep road.
    "I had better go meet him myself, but I'll be back," I told the cook. "This will be the Kapelanner the duke promised to send us." As Bruno and I headed toward the gate I said, for his ear alone,
    "Probably the duke expects him to spy on us for him. And he as good as told me he has another spy in the castle already, someone he trusts completely. Maybe they're to spy on each other as well."
    I chuckled. "This is as good as being back in the imperial court."
    I was very interested in meeting this magic-working member of the Order of the Three Kings. Nothing beyond faint rumor of such a thing had ever made it north; I gathered from what the duke had told me that the Order had been formed only after my own grandfather had left to marry my archduchess grandmother on the borders of the Empire. I persisted in thinking there must be something heretical about it, except that the duke clearly believed in this Order and just as clearly detested the heretical Perfected Ones.
    The priest appeared perfectly ordinary as his mare and