Was er-Rashal as uncomfortable with him as Gordimer was? Gordimer issued orders. Er-Rashal instigated them. Gordimer would not be interested in mummies. But he would not be heartbroken if a potential rival failed while trying to bring in a collection of old bones.

"Captain Hecht?"

"Your Grace? I'm sorry." Principal Divino had closed in on Else. "That map is trying to tell me something. But I'm not hearing what it has to say. It's something bone obvious."

"Nobody else is spewing ideas like a holiday firework."

"Of course, Your Grace. If it was obvious everybody would see it."

“Tell me what you see. When you see it. And what you think. Because I don't see this new situation benefitting the Bruglioni. Or anyone underwriting the city regiment."

"I disagree. Nobody's contributing anything but money. It isn't like an actual member of one of the Five Families might actually find himself face-to-face with the actual possibility of actually getting hurt."

"Your cynicism is worthy of a born Brothen, Captain Hecht. But."

"Your Grace?'

"Are we in a bad way? Regarding Sublime's grand adventure?”

"I can't give you the answer you lust after in your heart of hearts. We're at the mercy of what the top people decide. The Unbelievers have behaved stupidly. They should've conserved their forces. They should've turned back and let Calzir fend for itself."

Principate Doneto eyed Else uncertainly. "Explain."

"The Lucidians and Dreangereans wasted a big part of their naval power. They wanted to be able to challenge the western fleets. Or that of the Eastern Empire. Worse than them losing their ships, though, is them losing their best soldiers and sailors when we have a Patriarch who wants another Crusade."

"I guess I don't have a military mind. All I see is how those troops will make it tougher for us in Calzir."

"Of course. That's their mission. But we'll destroy them, ships and men. The time and treasure invested in them will have been wasted. They won't be there when the crusaders arrive. Unless Sublime or Hansel make some boneheaded decisions of their own."

There was a stir. Principate Doneto said, "Excuse me. I have to go. The Patriarch is here."

Sublime did make a surprise appearance. He contributed nothing. He went away twenty minutes later. Else was disappointed. For years he had heard the Patriarch built up as a great horned and hoofed demon. This was a half-bald, squinty, pinch-mouthed pudgeball who looked more like a dull shopkeeper than a powerful, lunatic religious warlord. He did not seem able to understand what was going on here.

Well, he had been a compromise candidate. Which was why the Church could not now afford his overseas ambitions.

Later, Principatй Divino Bruglioni insisted that what the Patriarch showed publicly was a persona meant to disarm those who did not know him.

Else fixed the man's appearance in mind. Perhaps Honario Benedocto, like Rodrigo Cologni, slipped away to appraise the tenders of the Adversary in person, in disguise. The bodyguards would give him away.

He had no idea why the idea seemed obvious to him but no one else. Everything was right there, in the great map. Everything you needed to know to destroy Calzir and those good soldiers sent to defend that barren realm.

Else asked around. Hardly anyone could name the Mafti al-Araj el-Arak, or any prince or warlord of Calzir. The few who had visited it said Calzir was a realm of chaos, mostly small states run by petty warlords. Much like the Chaldarean stretches of Firaldia.

LYING WITH ANNA TRAPPED IN HIS ARMS, SATED, ELSE WHISpered, "You put new charms and fetishes on the doors and windows."

"Something kept trying to get in. The charm maker didn't believe it could happen here. But she took my money."

"Can't happen in Brothe?"

"Exactly."

"They're fools."

"You'd think it doesn't get dark at night."

"Are the charms any good?"

"I picked a woman with good references."

"Who doesn't take her clients' fears seriously."

"I wasn't born yesterday. Sonsa was no den of virtue, darling."

"Good."

"You think it's because of you? Does somebody want to spy on me in order to spy on you?"

He could not assure her otherwise.

"Oh, my! The serpent is still alive." She reached back and squeezed him. "Well, woman's work is never done. But I'll tame the monster yet."

Else had known just one woman before Anna Mozilla. His wife. She submitted. She endured because that was her lot and duty. She did not become involved.

Anna was always involved, absolutely and completely. Frequently more so than he was. She claimed, "I would've made a great whore. If I could do it with men I don't know. Because I'd go twenty times a day if you could keep up."

Else protested, "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"You were never that young, mister. Quit talking. Start doing."

ELSE SUPPOSED THAT FERRIS RENFROW WOULD WATCH THE widow Mozilla, who had led her neighbors to believe that she was an immigrant from Aparion. Which they thought a lie. They thought she hailed from farther north, somewhere in the southern marches of the Grail Empire. It was at Anna's house that Else always shed those who followed him. Or left them afraid that he had.

He went nowhere that night. Nowhere that Anna Mozilla did not take him.

He began his rounds immediately after returning to the Bruglioni citadel. After dealing with several minor annoyances, he snapped, "You have to figure these things out for yourself, Mr. Phone. I won't be here to think for you forever."

Madam Ristoti would not be cowed. "Mr. Hecht. What about my request for more help? I have too many mouths to fill and too few hands to do the filling."

"You're allowed three new people. You know what you need. You hire them. Don't thank me. Thank my Deve accountant. He can talk Paludan into anything. Paludan thinks numbers are magic. You also get a sixty percent increase in your purchasing budget. So serve something besides turnip stew." I

Madam Ristoti grinned. "They liked that, did they?"

"Exactly as much as you expected."

"A rare show of sympathy, then."

"Sympathy had nothing to do with it. Uncle Divino told Paludan that he was going to lose staff if he fed them that slop. The city is getting ready to go to war. There are alternate opportunities for the working classes."

"There you are, sir."

"Polo. I wondered how long it would take."

"Sir?" Pblo did not understand that his allegiance to Principatй Bruglioni was obvious.

"It's all right," Else said.

"Uh… Paludan wants to see you. He isn't happy. But I don't think it's your fault."

"Guess we'd better see what he wants, then."

The citadel had changed. Cleaning was nearly complete. Cosmetic restoration was well underway. Halls that had been gloomy and barren of human enterprise swarmed with rustic Bruglioni returnees.

Polo led the way to Paludan's personal suite. He whispered, "His mistress might be there. Pretend not to see her."

"He has a mistress?" Else had discounted the rumors because he thought there would have been more talk if they were true.

"Everybody gets a mistress once he reaches a certain station. It's one of the ornaments of status. The higher your status, the finer your mistress. When you get real big, you have two mistresses. The Patriarch has three! They've given him four or five children. But the cognoscenti think he prefers boys."

"Aren't priests supposed to be celibate?"

"That's a rule that'll be honored only in the breech until the Carillon of Judgment."

"Really? Where do the women come from?" Why did Rodrigo Cologni not take himself a few mistresses? He would be alive today.