I sat there for a few minutes, and then the priest joined me. As soon as he got close, I could tell he was Fae.
“Is there anything I can help you with, my daughter?”
“I seek peace.” It was the first segment of the password.
“Peace comes to those who work for it,” he answered.
“Not to those who pray for it?” I asked, turning toward him.
“Not to those who wage war and say they are praying for peace,” he said, his eyes hard.
“I was inside the burrow today and saw the Heart,” I began. Quickly, I told him what I had observed, and finished by saying, “We need to revise our plans. It is not going to be quick or easy to steal the gem.”
He nodded. “I shall pass all this along. I’ll also try to find out when they plan to corrupt the ley lines next. I think you’re right; we need to know how they do that.”
Chapter 18
The following day was my team’s turn to recast the wards around the factory complex. We rose at four o’clock, and the witches in my command lined up for Scarpa and me to inspect them. Then we marched at a trot to Stonehenge and entered the underground. The two factory areas appeared to be in full operation, as far as I could tell.
When we reached the room with the Heart, I noted that only one Knight chaplain and four lower-ranking guards were present. So, there were times when the Heart was only lightly defended, but I didn’t know how long those times lasted.
We formed our circle with Chevalier Scarpa as the focal point and me as second. My youngest team member, Rosa Garcia, was left out. Scarpa chanted the incantation and sketched the runes that she had taught me the evening before, and the circle pulled life energy from the grass and trees growing in the open air far above us. I personally considered that silly, since there was an abundance of ley line energy flowing through the room, but for some reason the Knights always used witches to cast wards.
When we finished bolstering that ward, we retreated outside and reinforced the ward the Knights had cast around Stonehenge. Then we trotted back to our compound and had breakfast.
I wanted to ask why they went through that ritual but didn’t. The wards had been fine when we arrived, and I couldn’t see any reason why they should degrade from one day to the next. I had been gone from my apartment for a month once, and the ward I set hadn’t degraded at all.
Maybe the ritual was the point in itself.
After breakfast, Scarpa took me to Old Sarum on the northern outskirts of the city and showed me the Knights’ facilities there, including where to find all the administrative offices I might need to visit for one reason or another. Whereas Salisbury Cathedral had become the central headquarters for the Universal Church in England, Old Sarum was where the Knights’ top officers were stationed.
I learned that a commander and at least three seneschals were stationed there. That was almost the equivalent of the command structure in place in the United States.
Then we went around to Durrington Walls. We arrived back at our compound for lunch, and I finally had a chance to spend some time getting to know the Knights on my team. I spent the rest of the afternoon interviewing each of them separately.
By the end of my first week, I was both cheered and disappointed. Cheered because the people in my circle proved to be of average intelligence, average power, and below-average ambition. I didn’t have to worry about any of them sniffing me out and causing problems. Disappointed because I really had expected better of the Knights. None of the witches on my team would have reached the rank of cannon fodder in the Hunters’ Guild. And in spite of their Church affiliation, none of them were even especially pious.
I did manage to impress Scarpa with my dedication, and she seemed pleased with how quickly I picked up the lessons she gave me. I really didn’t have much to do most of the time, and learning more witch magic was something I wanted to do.
By the end of my second week, though, I was more than ready to get away from my circle and Scarpa, and take the three days leave I was due. Even though I could go only as far as Salisbury, I could at least get a beer in a pub, and with any luck, I might be able to see Oriel and maybe sneak off somewhere with him for a while.
One thing I had to be careful of was that my entire circle took leave at the same time. The people under my command would probably be frequenting the same pubs I did and be walking the same streets. I didn’t want to bring any suspicion down on either Oriel or myself.
A bus stopped at our compound right after breakfast each day and came again just before dinner. It stopped at Amesbury and Sarum before arriving in Salisbury. I was cautioned that missing it would lead to a long walk home, but a couple of my team confided that it wasn’t that hard to hitchhike home, especially for a pretty girl.
I didn’t ask Scarpa for her opinion of that idea.
The bus let me off at the market square. I hadn’t had much of a chance to see the city on my previous sojourn, but I was immediately captivated. The colorful medieval character of the town was charming, and shops selling everything from jewelry to crafts, clothing, and household goods lined the streets. I bought some chocolate in a shop with a Stonehenge-shaped fudge replica in the window and wandered down the street taking in the sights.
It took me a couple of hours of aimless wandering before I arrived at the wall around the cathedral. I had been told the wall was new and that a lot of construction was going on inside the wall where once the cathedral was surrounded by expansive lawns. New buildings seemed to be a theme anywhere the Knights set up in force.
I assumed an air of someone busy running an errand and asked the first Knight I passed where I might find Chaplain Conway. I knew he might be out at Old Sarum but figured I had to start looking somewhere. It took a couple of more people offering directions, but eventually I found Karl in an office in a building next to the cathedral.
“Sergeant Erin O’Grady,” I said, slapping my fist to my chest in a Knights’ salute. “I have a message for Chaplain Conway.”
Karl looked up from a document he was writing. “Ah, I’ve been expecting you. Come in and close the door.”
I went in and passed him an envelope with blank paper in it. He would be able to say anything he wanted about the “message” if asked. He touched his ear and rolled his eyes upward. I touched my eye, and he shook his head.
I walked around his desk, sketching a rune in the air at each corner, and again behind his chair, then sat down on the edge of the desk, and cast a ward, drawing ley line magic to reinforce it.
“We should be able to speak freely now,” I said, and he chuckled.
“I did receive the message from your priest,” he said. “How are things going out there?”
I gave him my report, he asked me a few questions, then he said, “I agree that we need to know how they’re using the Heart to disrupt the ley lines. I wonder if there is a way to block that, or to stop them from doing it.”
He told me to dissolve the ward and suggested taking me to lunch. I was all for that, and we walked to a pub he said he was fond of. On our way, I noticed that many of the people on the street wore either Knights’ uniforms or clerical clothing.
“Have you ever been in Salisbury before?” Karl asked.
“No. But it’s a lovely town.”
“Yes, though it changed a lot from the last time I was here. It’s a big tourist destination, what with Stonehenge and the cathedral. But now the Church discourages tourists from coming here. If it wasn’t for all the Knights, a lot of the businesses here would be in bad shape.”
The pub was one of the oldest in town, with a heritage dating back 700 years. Its enormous timbers came from old ships, and it was full of quirky rooms and spaces with creaking floorboards. The food and the beer were pretty good, too.
“I’ve been spending a lot of my time reading history,” Karl said while we waited for our food. “I can’t identify a war similar to this one anywhere, anytime. I would almost call it an insurrection, but it’s out in the open. There are no battle lines, except locally and temporarily, and the representatives of the combatants travel freely through each other’s territory.”
“The Knights jumped the gun,” I said. “They haven’t even consolidated their power within the Church, from what I hear. They made some major gains early, but more on the strength of the Church’s support in various places than on their military power.”
“That’s true. You would think that with their magic and control of the Heart they would have made more progress by now.”
“And that’s what I mean by they jumped the gun. They’re recruiting magic users, but they just don’t have the numbers to hold what they gain. Most of the new recruits I’ve seen are fairly weak mages and witches, and they’re untrained, especially in combat magics. It’s not like taking an eighteen-year-old kid and teaching him to shoot a gun and take orders in a couple of months. They should have gone for control behind the scenes instead of a splashy, public takeover.”
Karl chuckled. “I’ve discovered there’s a significant, if quiet, number of upper-echelon Knights that agree with you. And I suspect there are even more people in the ranks of the clergy questioning their strategy. Of course, it’s not politically safe to voice those opinions too loudly.”
When we parted after our meal, he said with a grin, “So, you’re in the chamber with the Heart twice a week at sunrise? I’ll see if we can organize something that will cause a panic at that time.”
“I’m sure I’ll enjoy that. Uh, do you know how I might contact Oriel? Do you think it would be safe?”
“I think so. Just keep it on a parishioner-to-priest level, okay?” He gave me a phone number. “He’s not here in town today, though. He went out to Old Sarum for a meeting.”
Since Old Sarum was only three miles from Salisbury and it was a sunny day, I walked out there. I still hadn’t made arrangements for a place to spend the night, but I didn’t plan to go back to my barracks. For the first time, I wondered if the Knights, due to their religious basis, were different from other armies. Did they spend their leave time drinking and screwing, or did they go to the cathedral and pray?