Read Online Moontide 02 - The Scarlet Tides by David Hair - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: David Hair
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rasping. ‘Gyle wasn’t there. The man was an Inquisitor of Pallas. We werequestioning Solinde when he appeared. He slew di Kestria and Solinde before I could neutralise him.’
Elena doesn’t speak like that. She doesn’t use words like ‘neutralise’. And she doesn’t call Lorenzo ‘di Kestria’: they were
lovers,
for Kore’s sake!
Gyle ground his teeth.
Rutt and I need to talk again.
Cera stepped into the ensuing silence as the men around the table shared uncomfortable glances. ‘Really, gentlemen, I don’t want to talk about this, and there is much else we must focus on.’
Well done, girl.
Cera led them away into less sensitive topics: the treasury (depleted but improving), the Harkun issue (awaiting word from Harshal ali-Assam), and the military (drilling, recruiting, morale and numbers up as they prepared to march on Hytel). Rutt–Elena kept his mouth shut, thankfully.
Inevitably the talk turned to the shihad. ‘There is massive movement of refugees from Dhassa and the Hebb Valley,’ Comte Inveglio reported. ‘Our traders report that the roads are choked. The common people are trying to run to wherever they think the Crusaders will not go. Rich men are carrying all they own in huge caravans while the poor walk empty-handed from the fields. Whole families are displaced, and it will get worse. Many are seeking refuge here in Javon. The gates of the Krak are under siege.’
‘We should open those gates,’ Godspeaker Acmed interjected. ‘It is our duty to the shihad.’
‘Our duty is to our own people,’ Seir Luca Conti growled. ‘Besides, we can’t feed a million Dhassans.’
‘The treasury could not afford it,’ chorused Pita Rosco and Luigi Ginovisi, in rare agreement.
‘We have a duty as human beings to aid them,’ Acmed maintained, sticking out his bearded chin belligerently.
To Gyle’s surprise the drui Prato weighed in on the Godspeaker’s side. ‘They are desperate, my lady,’ he said, addressing Cera directly. ‘Homeless, penniless, lambs to the slaughter unless we aid them. How can we look away and call ourselves children of God? Of any God,’ he added with a nod to the Godspeaker.
Gyle listened impatiently as the discussion was sidetracked onto this question, one he’d not anticipated.
I don’t give a fuck whether you feed the bloody refugees or not. You’d be crazy to let them in, and Francis Dorobon will let them starve once he gains power anyway: Move on!
Eventually Cera decided that she would send a messenger to Sultan Salim of Kesh – her prospective husband – and ask for advice.
May as well play that card while you still hold it
, Gyle thought wryly.
Anyway, get to the real issue …
Cera guided the discussion to the matter he was waiting for: the march on Hytel. ‘As you know, gentlemen, earlier this year we came to agreement that we would join the shihad, on our own terms. Salim agreed. In return for my hand in marriage once the Moontide is over, he allowed us to choose our actions, rather than place our armies at his disposal to fight the Rondians.’ The men all nodded, mostly unhappily, for only Acmed was Amteh, and the rest profoundly disliked the idea of their Princessa marrying the Sultan of Kesh, for any number of reasons. ‘We agreed that the target of our shihad will initially be Hytel. It is the home of the Rondian sympathisers: our enemies, the Gorgio.’
Gyle nodded to himself. The remnants of the Gorgio were now shut in Hytel under siege, their once powerful army severely reduced by the attrition of Jhafi raiders during a disastrous retreat north last year after Elena had turned the tables on them. Gyle had been among the Gorgio recently. The only reason Alfredo Gorgio hadn’t surrendered was that the Dorobon were expected to accompany the Third Crusade and attempt to seize Javon once more.
‘Our intelligence tells us that the Gorgio are preparing for the Dorobon to return,’ Cera told the meeting. ‘We have some detail of where and
Elena doesn’t speak like that. She doesn’t use words like ‘neutralise’. And she doesn’t call Lorenzo ‘di Kestria’: they were
lovers,
for Kore’s sake!
Gyle ground his teeth.
Rutt and I need to talk again.
Cera stepped into the ensuing silence as the men around the table shared uncomfortable glances. ‘Really, gentlemen, I don’t want to talk about this, and there is much else we must focus on.’
Well done, girl.
Cera led them away into less sensitive topics: the treasury (depleted but improving), the Harkun issue (awaiting word from Harshal ali-Assam), and the military (drilling, recruiting, morale and numbers up as they prepared to march on Hytel). Rutt–Elena kept his mouth shut, thankfully.
Inevitably the talk turned to the shihad. ‘There is massive movement of refugees from Dhassa and the Hebb Valley,’ Comte Inveglio reported. ‘Our traders report that the roads are choked. The common people are trying to run to wherever they think the Crusaders will not go. Rich men are carrying all they own in huge caravans while the poor walk empty-handed from the fields. Whole families are displaced, and it will get worse. Many are seeking refuge here in Javon. The gates of the Krak are under siege.’
‘We should open those gates,’ Godspeaker Acmed interjected. ‘It is our duty to the shihad.’
‘Our duty is to our own people,’ Seir Luca Conti growled. ‘Besides, we can’t feed a million Dhassans.’
‘The treasury could not afford it,’ chorused Pita Rosco and Luigi Ginovisi, in rare agreement.
‘We have a duty as human beings to aid them,’ Acmed maintained, sticking out his bearded chin belligerently.
To Gyle’s surprise the drui Prato weighed in on the Godspeaker’s side. ‘They are desperate, my lady,’ he said, addressing Cera directly. ‘Homeless, penniless, lambs to the slaughter unless we aid them. How can we look away and call ourselves children of God? Of any God,’ he added with a nod to the Godspeaker.
Gyle listened impatiently as the discussion was sidetracked onto this question, one he’d not anticipated.
I don’t give a fuck whether you feed the bloody refugees or not. You’d be crazy to let them in, and Francis Dorobon will let them starve once he gains power anyway: Move on!
Eventually Cera decided that she would send a messenger to Sultan Salim of Kesh – her prospective husband – and ask for advice.
May as well play that card while you still hold it
, Gyle thought wryly.
Anyway, get to the real issue …
Cera guided the discussion to the matter he was waiting for: the march on Hytel. ‘As you know, gentlemen, earlier this year we came to agreement that we would join the shihad, on our own terms. Salim agreed. In return for my hand in marriage once the Moontide is over, he allowed us to choose our actions, rather than place our armies at his disposal to fight the Rondians.’ The men all nodded, mostly unhappily, for only Acmed was Amteh, and the rest profoundly disliked the idea of their Princessa marrying the Sultan of Kesh, for any number of reasons. ‘We agreed that the target of our shihad will initially be Hytel. It is the home of the Rondian sympathisers: our enemies, the Gorgio.’
Gyle nodded to himself. The remnants of the Gorgio were now shut in Hytel under siege, their once powerful army severely reduced by the attrition of Jhafi raiders during a disastrous retreat north last year after Elena had turned the tables on them. Gyle had been among the Gorgio recently. The only reason Alfredo Gorgio hadn’t surrendered was that the Dorobon were expected to accompany the Third Crusade and attempt to seize Javon once more.
‘Our intelligence tells us that the Gorgio are preparing for the Dorobon to return,’ Cera told the meeting. ‘We have some detail of where and
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