Mistress of the Catacombs by Drake David Read Free Book Online Page A

that's left for me."
    He nodded, putting an end to the apology. "Now," he said crisply, fully King of the Isles in tone and manner, "tell me about Tisamur and Moon Wisdom."
    "The Inspector of Temple Lands has only three Assessors under him...," Sharina said. She'd taken notes during the interview, but she didn't need to look at them. "For some reason he decided to send one to Tisamur."
    "His wife has property there," Liane murmured. "Well, perhaps that's fortunate."
    "I talked to the Assessor, Kidwal bos-Kidrian," Sharina said. "I believe she's a trustworthy witness."
    Kidwal was a young woman from the minor nobility; smart, well-educated, and very plain. It'd seemed to Sharina that the barely-suppressed anger in Kidwal's presentation was more a reaction to life in general than at her difficulty in getting anybody to take action on her present report.
    "She says that the regular temples on Tisamur, at least those within several days' journey from Donelle—" the island's capital "—are either deserted or 've been surrendered to Moon Wisdom. Most of the priests and temple functionaries have joined the new cult, though a few have gone into lay businesses or are living on their personal wealth."
    "Moon Wisdom confiscated temple lands?" Garric said, frowning. "Is the... who is the ruler, a count? Is he behind this?"
    "A Council of Elders governs Tisamur," Liane said. She touched her desk but didn't need to open it to withdraw a reference. "Wealthy individuals; all of them landholders, though many depend on trade for most of their income."
    "Moon Wisdom is the government now," Sharina said. "It's not imposed by force, it seems to be what people want. Lady Kidwal says she wasn't attacked even though she'd arrived openly without concealing her, well, duties. But those she questioned were derisive."
    Sharina paused to recall the assessor's precise wording, letting her eyes follow the barn swallows darting above the water. She could see several mud nests plastered to the underside of the three-arched bridge crossing the artificial stream. Most of the meandering channel was narrow enough to step across, but the architect had provided a lotus-fringed pool so that the bridge didn't look absurd.
    "She said," Sharina continued, "that one former Elder told her, 'Whoever saw the Lady, except as a statue being pulled by purse-snatchers in priestly robes? But I've seen our Gods and so have many others.' And everyone listening nodded agreement."
    "Did he say what these Gods looked like?" Garric asked, pressing the knuckles of his fists together. Liane looked particularly intent also. Sharina guessed they'd learned more from the vanished Hordred than they'd had time to pass on to her.
    "No," Sharina said. "Kidwal asked a number of citizens, in Donelle and also outside the city. That was the only question that seemed to disturb them."
    Sharina cleared her throat. "There's one thing more," she said. "Kidwal was permitted to go where she pleased—not into the temple during services, but apart from that. She could talk to anyone, and she doesn't think she was watched or followed. She says very clearly that she wasn't threatened in any way."
    "Go on," Garric said. His expression was still but not calm. When Garric was in this—mood? But it was more than a mood—he seemed less like the brother she'd grown up with than he did a great cat, waiting for prey to come a few steps closer.
    "Despite all that," Sharina said, "Lady Kidwal was frightened. Frightened enough to convince her chief to get her an appointment with me."
    She swallowed. "Frightened enough to frighten me, Garric," she concluded.
    Garric stood and braced his hands against one of the cross-beams supporting the pergola's roof. He bunched the muscles of his shoulders and thighs, straining upward to work the stiffness out of them. Echeus, waiting across the stream, turned toward the group in the pergola for the first time. He didn't get to his feet yet.
    "Hordred frightened me as well,