“Why are you so cheerful?” Anton asked. “Is it because so many people are going to die?”

  Kelsey pouted. “You can’t cheer me up with the deaths of thousands. Not when they’re so far off and uncertain. No, I’m happy because things are progressing!”

  She gestured as expansively as she could in the cramped confines of the carriage, which wasn’t very.

  “The war is starting, the guns are gonna get their chance to shine, but most importantly, the gods are starting to make their moves.”

  “Is that really a good thing?” Suliel asked. “Do you think the gods are going to be positively disposed to you?”

  “Dunno!” Kelsey said gaily. “But up ’til now they’ve been hands-off. Makes trying to figure out what their motives are like watching a play behind a curtain. A silent play.”

  “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of such a thing,” Suliel said, amused.

  “It’s difficult, is the point. Now that they’ve got skin in the game, I can figure out what their factions are from how they act.”

  “If you say so,” Anton said. “But you’ve never been interested in talking to priests before.”

  “Ah, well, going to talk to a priest would be a waste of time. What matters here is that a priest was sent to talk to me.”

  “So, you’re going to go on that quest, then?” Suliel asked.

  “Absolutely. Getting into Bures any time soon will be a pain, though. Do you know anywhere else we can find a head priest?”

  “Not in Zamarra,” Suliel mused. “Their presence has been greatly reduced in this kingdom for some time.”

  “Why?” Aris asked sleepily. She was leaning against Anton as she slowly drifted off with the rocking of the carriage.

  “If I had to guess,” Suliel said, “It has something to do with the fact that Voice Sehra was accompanying Queen Syrelle.”

  “Ooh, politics,” Kelsey said. “Which I hate, but I’m in it now, so I guess I’d better pay attention.”

  Sitting next to Kelsey, Suliel was unable to give her a proper glare, but she sent some side-eye the dungeon’s way.

  “If the church knew about Queen Syrelle, then they knew that the King was false all this time.”

  “Oooh, interesting. And they didn’t say anything?”

  “The Church of Giann advises rulers; they don’t topple them,” Suleil stated. “But if they were advising a king they knew to be false… would their advice not be to step down?”

  “They might be smart enough to know that they wouldn’t leave the room alive if they let on that they knew,” Kelsey pointed out. “Which puts them in a bit of a bind.”

  “But the K—Kalond has been searching for the Queen this whole time, hasn’t he?” Anton asked. “If he’s been getting reports, they would surely have mentioned a priest travelling with her.”

  “So then, the church would have had to play dumb,” Kelsey speculated. “Claim they hadn’t heard from this guy; he’s been reported dead.”

  “But Kalond knows he’s still alive,” Suliel pointed out.

  “Yeah, but unless he can produce the guy, they can still claim ignorance,” Kelsey said. “Maybe Sehra cut them off to give them plausible deniability.”

  “Kalond won’t be convinced so easily,” Suliel said. “Even if he can’t prove anything, he wouldn’t trust them afterwards. Which explains why they have less influence nowadays.”

  “That’s a nice bit of reasoning,” Kelsey said.

  Suliel scowled. “It’s not just the King that they have withdrawn from, however. They’ve pulled back their priests all over the kingdom. Father trained me as well as he could, but I could have used an advisor. I still could.”

  “You’ve done really well without one,” Anton said. “I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”

  Suliel looked down, embarrassed, but Anton could tell that she was pleased by the compliment.

  “I just… did what I could,” she said in a small voice. Then she whipped around to glare at Kelsey.

  “There’s no need for crudity,” she snapped.

  “Never a need, but it’s always appreciated,” Kelsey said with an unrepentant grin. “So, is there a way to get into Bures while there’s a war on? Can your princess friend smuggle us in?”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “I doubt it,” Suliel said. “She must already be on thin ice for her association with a rebel baron. Sneaking him into the capital would be the last straw.”

  “What about other churches?” Aris asked.

  “Most of them would have their high priest in the capital,” Suliel said.

  “Or we could go outside the country?” Kelsey suggested.

  “Not a good time right now to leave our barony undefended,” Suliel said.

  “Speak for yourself, I’m not going anywhere,” Kelsey said.

  “I’m not sure where the high priest of the kabimen god is, but they will be somewhere along the coast,” Suliel suggested.

  “I get along fine with the kabimen, but I don’t think I’m ready to stand in as their hero,” Anton put in.

  “Yeah, it’s important that you share values with the god in question, and who really knows what the kabimen values are? Always clacking away,” Kelsey muttered darkly.

  “They speak Tiatian just fine,” Anton protested. “What are you talking about?”

  “They’re not sending us their best, I can tell you that!” Kelsey broke off and shook her head. “Sorry, just channelling some dark energy there. What about… the God of Thieves?”

  “Anyn?” Suliel asked. “I wouldn’t know where to start looking. And exactly what values does Anton share with him, anyway?”

  “He’s stolen a lot of slaves,” Kelsey pointed out. “He’s gotta love that.”

  “Freed, Kelsey, not stolen,” Anton insisted.

  Kelsey frowned. “I picked the wrong time for this argument. I should have waited for Soraya to be here. Never mind then. God of Death?”

  “Istin isn’t about killing,” Suliel explained. “Not that many people worship him, but everybody finds themselves before him eventually. I don’t know if he has a church in Zamarra at all. And I think she might take exception to you, Kelsey.”

  “What? I’m all about death. A necropolis, even.”

  “I don’t know the doctrine, but you turn death into a mockery of life,” Suliel said. “That doesn’t sound like the sort of thing she would approve of.”

  “How narrow-minded,” Kelsey said, pouting. “One of the war gods, then?”

  “Butin is the one who holds sway in Zamarra, and we already contacted him,” Suliel said. “We’re still expecting a delegation to pick up that body, so we might be able to send a request?”

  “That book said there were three, though?” Kelsey said.

  “There might be more,” Suliel replied. “They tend to be recognised on a kingdom-by-kingdom basis. Ormrad is worshipped in the Confederacy, while Turrak is honoured in the Elitran Empire. I think Butin is recognised all the way east, to the Tiatian Empire, but I’m not sure who holds sway there.”

  “I guess having their own war god makes it convenient when countries go to war,” Kelsey mused. “What’s he going to do for this civil war, then?”

  “Urge both sides to fight with honour,” Suliel said dryly. “And side with whomever wins.”

  “I can respect that,” Kelsey said. “You think you could be the Hero for a God of War, Anton?”

  “I’d rather fight monsters than humans,” Anton said. “I’m not looking forward to my first war.”

  “Well, that’s no attitude to take!” Kelsey scolded. “You did fine against all those Elitrans.”

  “I never said I was bad at it,” Anton demurred. “I just wish I didn’t have to do it. If values are what count, I don’t think I’m a good fit. Ask me again, after the war.”

  “By then we’ll either be dead, or able to walk into Bures with no problems,” Kelsey said, with far too much levity in her tone. “And I may have burned my bridges with the God of Reincarnation, so I hope it’s the second.”

  “That would be—” Suliel started, but she was interrupted by a call from outside.

  “My Lord,” the driver called. “There’s a disturbance up ahead.”

  Anton didn’t bother calling for a halt. He just disentangled himself from Aris and slipped out the carriage door. Moving at the speed of horses, even with the boost that the driver gave them, held no terrors for him. In the unlikely event that he slipped, he was certain he would take no damage from falling at this speed.

  With a quick twist and a half-jump, Anton was perched on the roof of the carriage and could look over the driver's head. A column of soldiers in the duke’s livery was crossing the road.

  “Stop and wait for them to go past,” Anton told the driver. “We’re not in any hurry.” That wasn’t entirely true. Anton was eager to get back home, but not so eager that he’d try to use his privilege against the purposes of the Duke.

  The driver looked at him and nodded. He put up a fist to signal the carriages behind and eased off on the horses, letting the carriage slow to a natural halt.

  Anton slipped back inside before the carriage stopped moving. “Soldiers in the way,” he told the ladies. “We’ll wait for them to pass.”

  “Heading to the front already?” Kelsey asked.

  “No,” Anton said. “Heading west.”

  “Not every barony in Tarazin was part of the Circle,” Suliel explained. “Some of them were judged unable to keep a secret, and others had demonstrated their loyalty to Kalond.”

  “Some of the unaware barons got to swear to the new Queen at the Duke’s Court,” Anton said. Kelsey had been there when this was discussed, but he knew she hadn’t been paying attention. “But not all of them. And some of them might not want to.”

  “So those troops are going to…”

  “Re-align the loyalties of the hold-out baronies,” Suliel said.

  “Huh. And so the first battles in the defence of Tarazin will be fought against some of the baronies in Tarazin.” Kelsey grinned. “How delightfully ironic.”

  “I don’t like wars,” Anton muttered. He looked outside at the now stationary countryside.

  “I wonder,” Kelsey mused. “Within the baronies, are there, like, knights that go against their lord? And in those knights’ retinue, would some soldiers hold the opposite loyalty?”

  “Probably,” Suliel said sourly. “At least a few.”

  “Squire against soldier against knight against baron,” Kelsey said dreamily. “An endless hierarchy of dissent. Although I suppose it has to stop somewhere. Even if a man is conflicted about who to follow, he’s not going to fight himself. Still, it makes for an amazing fractal of defiance.”

  “I don’t know what a fractal is, but it sounds horrible,” Anton said.

  “Oh, but fractals are the most beautiful things of all!” Kelsey protested. “The paths of veins in the body, the shape of the scars left by lightning, the branching splinters you get by shattering bone… so many beautiful things!”

  “Those are all horrible things, Kelsey,” Anton said.

  “You just don’t understand art,” Kelsey insisted. “When we get back, I’ll tie one of my revenants down and show you—wait.”

  “You don’t have to finish that,” Anton said firmly. “Whatever you have planned, it’s not going to happen.”

  “Ah, yeah, it might have to wait for a bit,” Kelsey agreed. “Four delvers just showed up in my entryway. Not the usual suspects.”

  “Who are they?” Anton asked.

  “Wizards,” Kelsey replied. “All of them twenty-plus.”

  “That’s a violation of protocol,” Suliel complained. “They’re not allowed to enter without our permission.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think these guys are playing by the rules,” Kelsey said ruefully. “I hope your patrols are okay, because these guys are playing for keeps.”

  trying to overlook the murder.

  don't do that.