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

packhorse toiled up the final incline. No magical flying powers, then, or he certainly would have used them, and no particular desire to make himself appear a griffin or a cockatrice in order to impress me.
    When my guards challenged him, he looked up calmly. "I am Brother Melchior, least of my Order, capellanus and spiritual advisor to Count Caloran if, God willing, he wishes to receive me."
    One thing leading soldiers into battle quickly teaches is the ability to recognize reluctance. This priest, I realized with a start, was in spite of his calm words as reluctant to be at Peyrefixade as I was to have him. Yet there was a determination there too, something that would have been courage in a soldier: a readiness to press forward no matter what the opposition if the cause was right.
    "Enter, then, Father Melchior," I said, stepping out from the shadow of the gate, watching for his reaction to my scar.
    The duke had not deigned to notice it. Melchior's eyes went very wide for a second, then he dropped his head hurriedly to urge his steed up the final incline.
    Surprise, I thought, a surprise that went well beyond seeing a man with an old burn. It was as though he had just made an unexpected connection with something else. Was there some prophecy in his Order about the Last Days arriving when a scarred count ruled at Peyrefixade?
    Then I hope they don't arrive quite yet, I thought with an inner smile, before I had a chance to enjoy my castle properly.
    "I am glad to have a priest here, Father," I said as he dismounted. "I'll want divine office sung in the chapel at dawn every morning."
    "Of course. And I will start by conducting a service immediately. This has not been done here since the countess's death. And I wish to know at once if there are any sick or dying in the castle who wish to confess their sins, or any others who would profit from God's word."
    Good man, I thought, one who knew his business and went straight to it. I considered him critically a moment as he helped the grooms remove his luggage from the packhorse. With none of the urbanity or veneer of one who had spent his life in society, he had a face that was very easy to read. Yet I did not feel that I understood at all what was going on in his mind that gave rise to the expressions I recognized. His was not a soldier's face, but one with complicated thoughts beneath the surface, connected in ways I did not yet grasp. Clearly he would be worth closer study.
    "I want to attend your first service," I said. "If you will wait for a few minutes while I finish some other business, we can go to the chapel together and also discuss your duties a little more." He nodded and trailed after Bruno and me as we returned to the kitchens, while the grooms took his baggage away.
    "I like this priest more than I expected," I muttered to Bruno in Allemann. "The duke may have chosen himself a good spy."
    I had spent much of the morning going through the cook's accounts with him, a process made much more complicated by the very elaborate tally system he had devised to keep track of what was on hand, what he had bought, and what he had used. The records for the spices alone comprised several sheets of parchment closely covered with lines, crosses, circles, and little wiggles. "I still don't see, my lord, how I could have used so much pepper the last few months," he said, looking up from the pages with a frown. "But we slaughtered the pigs almost immediately after the countess's death, and I was so distracted that I must have used most of it up in the processing without even noticing."
    "All right," I said, wishing again for a lady to do this. My job should be the castle's defenses and the county's justice, not the staffs diet. "You say we have enough meat, enough flour, enough vegetables, and enough wine. The seneschal says we need candles and cloth and leather, so
    I'll have him buy enough spices when he's in town to last us until the prices come down a bit in the spring."
    I was