Arc 6: Chapter 10: The Second Day
“You must convince him to stop this.”
I sighed without slowing my pace. “You know he won’t. Besides, why don’t you do it? You and the steward have been his councilors for years.”
The Royal Clericon, whose real name was Candice Fletcher, struggled to keep pace with me. She wasn’t a young woman, nor in the best health.
“Would you stop!?” She insisted.
Suppressing a growl, I did and wheeled on her. Pale and silver haired, the Emperor’s scribe was an almost ghostly woman in her gold-trimmed white habit and silky veil, though the glint of anger in her eyes made her seem more solid.
“You and I shouldn’t even be seen talking,” I told her sternly. Not least of all because I’m not certain you’re not a traitor, I added to myself. I was dressed as the Headsman then, on my way back from delivering a report to the royal box. The brief errand cost me time, and I needed to get my tourney armor on and get down to the field for first muster. The sun was less than hour risen, and already the stands were filling.
I was tired. My injury and half a night spent trying to calm a terrified, demon-possessed vampire had taken their toll. Catrin had slipped back into her shadows before sunrise, leaving me a scant few hours for troubled sleep. I worried for her.
“We’ve tried. But he heeds your warnings, Ser Alken. You personally knew the man responsible for planning this tournament.”
I folded my arms, uncomfortable with the mention of Lias. “What of it?”
Steel crept into Sister Candice’s eyes. “The phenomenon we expected to emerge during this festival is occurring far faster and more fiercely than our projections indicated. This… ritual is old magic, pagan magic. I already advised the Emperor against it, but he insisted it is necessary. And I fear…”
“Fear what?” I asked, somewhat mollified by the worry in the old scribe’s eyes as she trailed off.