The Blood Knight - J. Gregory Keyes [10]
“Apologies,” Neil told the swordsman. “Persnimo. I am overwrought and jumped to conclusions.”
Cazio relaxed a bit and nodded.
“Holter White,” Neil asked, “do these invisible men leave tracks?”
“Yah.”
“Then let’s kill those fellows over there and find our queen.”
Their attackers had left more than two groups of defenders in their path, that became clear.
Another few hundred pereci from where they found the knight, they ran into another bunch, though these were fewer in number. They didn’t last long, but Aspar warned them to expect more up ahead.
Cazio was reminded of the nursery tale about a boy, lost in the forest, who came upon a grand triva. The triva turned out to be the home of a three-headed ogre who caught the boy and planned to eat him. Instead, the ogre’s daughter took a liking to him and helped him escape.
Together they fled, pursued by the father, who was faster and soon caught up to them. The girl had her own tricks, though. She threw a comb behind them, and it became a hedge through which the ogre was forced to tear. She flung down a wineskin, which became a river…
“What are you thinking about?”
Cazio realized with a start that the priest was only a few paces away. Stephen spoke Vitellian, and though he sounded very old-fashioned, it was a relief to be able to talk without so much thinking.
“Combs and hedges, wineskins and rivers,” he said mysteriously.
Stephen quirked a smile. “So we’re the ogre?”
Cazio blinked. He’d thought he was being mysterious.
“You think too quickly,” he commented wryly.
“I walked the faneway of Saint Decmanus,” Stephen replied. “I can’t help it—the saint blessed me.” He stopped and smiled. “I’ll bet your version of the story is different from the one I know. Does the boy’s brother kill the ogre in the end?”
“No, he leads it to a church, and the attish sacritor slays it by ringing the clock three times.”
“Oh, now that’s very interesting,” Stephen said, and he seemed to mean it.
“If you insist,” Cazio granted. “In any event, yes, we’re all turned around. It’s the ogre we’re pursuing, and he’s the one leaving obstacles. But I wonder why.
“Up until now they’ve been trying to kill Anne. The knights who pursued us never made any effort to capture her alive. But if these melcheos had wanted to kill her, they could have done it easily, when they caught me napping.” He gingerly touched the wound on his head.
“At least you saw him for a second,” Stephen said. “I didn’t even catch a glimpse of the one who took Austra. Really, it’s not your fault.”
“Of course it is,” Cazio insisted, waving away the absolution. “I was with her—and I’ll get her back. And if they’ve harmed her, I’ll kill every last one of the purcapercators.
“But that still doesn’t answer my question. Why didn’t they just murder her?”
“There could be any number of reasons,” Stephen said. “The priests back in Dunmrogh wanted her blood for a ritual sacrifice—”
“Yes, but that was only because they needed a woman of noble birth, and the one they had was killed. Besides, we stopped that business.”
“It might not be the same business. We prevented the enemy once, but there are many more cursed faneways in this forest, and I’m willing to bet that there are more renegades trying to awaken them. Each faneway is particular, with its own gift—or curse. Maybe they need the blood of a princess again.”
“The men in Dunmrogh were mostly churchmen and knights from Hansa. I’ve seen neither in this group we’re facing now.”
Stephen shrugged. “But we’ve fought foes like this before, before we met you. There were monks involved then, too, and men without any identifiable standard or nation. Even Sefry.”
“Then the enemy isn’t the Church?”
“We don’t know who the enemy is, ultimately,” Stephen admitted. “The Hanzish knights and churchmen at Dunmrogh had the same dark goals as the men Aspar and Winna and I fought before—not far from here, in fact. We think they’re all taking their commands from the praifec in Crotheny, Marché Hespero. But for all we know, he’s taking his orders from someone else altogether.”
“What do they