The Broken Pieces(27)

“Enough,” he said, loud enough to startle them all. “Forgive me, all of you, but this bickering solves nothing, and it never will. Whether or not this offer is real, we must show haste. Karak is friend to no one here, and the temple’s treachery to such an ardent supporter like Sebastian should prove that. Arthur, if what he says is true, your rule over the North is in far greater jeopardy than it ever was before. And if Karak’s army joins Sebastian instead, they will be a force that could crush us without need of walls or gates. The best thing we can do is to get to your brother’s castle and hear this offer from his own lips.”

“You won’t,” Gregane said. “He’ll be dead by then. I know it, as did milord.”

“If any priest kills my brother, I’ll hang their heads for all to see for a hundred years,” Arthur said. “But tell me, paladin, what happens if we rush into an ambush in our haste?”

Jerico shrugged.

“Then we’ll have a fight on our hands. Has that frightened you before?”

Kevin stepped between Jerico and Arthur, and he spoke low, and hurried.

“Do not listen to his folly,” the bannerman insisted. “He just wants to enlist us into his own conflict with Karak’s temple. Your brother is grasping for straws to save his life. This is his last trick. Do not fall for it!”

Arthur breathed in deep, and Jerico sensed he’d come to his decision. He prayed it’d be a good one.

“No matter what the truth is, dallying here does not help us. We’ll wait for no more lords to join us, and march flat out toward the Castle of the Yellow Rose.” He turned toward Kaide. “As for my brother’s life, I will hear from his own mouth the reasons for his aggression and betrayal. Removing him from power, and stripping him of all his lands, should be more than you ever hoped to accomplish when you first started this foolish conflict.”

“Do not cheat me a death,” Kaide said, his voice cold. “I will have vengeance, whether you try to stop me or not.”

“I do not take kindly to threats, even from close allies.”

“Not a threat. A damn fact.”

Kaide stormed out, shoving the flap of the tent out of his way. Jerico wanted to go after him, but the man wanted none of the comfort he had to offer. He wanted revenge, not forgiveness. He wanted death, not life.

“What of Sir Gregane?” Jerico asked.

“Will you carry a message for me back to my brother?” Arthur asked him. Gregane bowed low.

“So long as he lives, I will deliver it.”

Arthur’s cheek twitched at the statement. Jerico didn’t know if he thought it a lie or not, but either way the idea of the priesthood killing Sebastian angered him greatly.

“Tell him I will hear his offer from his own lips, not from a scroll lacking the stamp of his ring. I give no promises, not to his life, not to anything. All I promise is to come with an open mind, and hear out his plea.”

“As you wish,” Gregane said.

“Kevin, if you could get him a fresh horse, and something to eat or drink if he so desires.”

Kevin gave an elaborate bow.

“As milord requests,” he said pleasantly enough, but a twinkle in his eye showed it was anything but. With the two of them gone, Jerico was left alone with Arthur. He stepped close, thinking how he could try to press the lord to act more firmly against the priests, but instead it was Arthur who approached, his voice rising as he talked.

“I hope you appreciate all I have done for you,” he said.

“Me?” Jerico asked, baffled.

“I want no war with Karak’s temple, not if I am to have any hope of ruling the North. And no matter how dangerous you claim they are, I have eyes to see, and what I saw at the end of Gregane’s siege was Karak’s followers saving my castle, and my life. Yet from the word of my enemy alone, you’d have me declare war against the entire temple, riding off to prevent the most ludicrous of possibilities. No temple will ever own the King’s lands. No priest will ever rule as a lord. The King would never allow it, nor a single knight of the North.”

“If you believed this, then why did you not say so?” Jerico asked, feeling stung by the complete lack of faith in his deciphering of events.

“Because you are the one who inspires my men more than anything I’ve ever seen before. I still hear them talking of your stand at the gates of my castle, of how you held the line at Green Gulch. Many think you’ll walk right up to the Castle of the Yellow Rose and beat down its doors with your mace and shield. I would not ruin that now, not unless you give me no choice. We’ll move cautiously, and give no hint as to our stance toward Karak’s priests. If they want my brother removed from power, I see no reason not to accept their help.”