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"No heretic!" Viscenti squealed

Francis paid him no heed "And the Father Abbot knows of you, too, and soon enough he will turn his attention to you and destroy you as he destroyed Jojonah"

"No doubt using information that Brother Francis dutifully supplied," Brauh "You cannot begin to understand his power," he said "Do you really believe that Father Abbot Markwart needs anything at all fro us this? " Brauuards when they takebrand to the pyre beneath ave Braumin pause The man seemed wounded almost, or perplexed, a faraway look in his eyes

After soain on Brother Brau in on you," he said earnestly "Do not doubt this He will prepare heresy hearings, and since none of you have attained the rank of master, they will be convened here at St-Mere-Abelle with or without the blessings of the other abbots You cannot hope to win"

"We are not heretics," Brauritted teeth

"That matters not at all," Francis replied "The Father Abbot has all the evidence he will need against you If he deems it necessary, he can h"

"Do you hear your oords?" Braumin cried "Is there no true justice in our Order?"

Francis stared straight ahead, giving no signals

"Then we are doomed," Brother Viscenti wailed a moment later He looked to Brau to offer

"Perhaps there is another way," Francis reht He expected Francis to advise hienuflect before the all-powerful Markwart and beg forgiveness Viscenti ht one or two of the others

Brother Brauer he held for his fellow conspirators If they chose to beg for ht say or do, even if their actions weighed heavily against hie them

Nor would he join them Brother Brau hiht in the eye, that he would accept the punishment, the flames - but that he would not divorce himself from the tenets of Avelyn Desbris and would speak no ill of his uard

"I can get you out of St-Mere-Abelle," the ht fly away and hide"

"You would help us?" Viscenti cried doubtfully "Have you found truth at last, Brother Francis?"

"No," Braumin answered before Francis could respond Brauree with our beliefs"

"I called you a heretic," Francis confirmed "My word for you, and not the Father Abbot&039;s"

"Then ould you help us? " Braumin asked "Why would you see us out of St-Mere-Abelle when you know that we present no threat to you or your beloved Father Abbot?" Even as he spoke the words, Brother Brau-ht know of Francis&039; visit, ht have sent Francis here in an attempt to quietly rid himself of the problem monks "Or do you see a threat?" Braumin asked slyly "Perhaps you fear the re-action, from within the Church and without, e five, like Jojonah before us, are tied to poles and publicly burned Perhaps you wonder how solid the Father Abbot&039;s hold over the Church truly is"

Francis was shaking his head slowly and somberly, but Braumin pressed on "Thus, you convince us to leave, and by that overt action, we have sev-ered our position in the Church"

"Your reasoning is not sound, brother," Francis replied "You overesti-ruesoers still speak in excited, even thrilled, tones about the burning of the heretic Jojonah"

"Do not call him that!" Brother Viscenti demanded

"They were not terribly upset by the spectacle, as you well know," Fran-cis went on "And indeed, they would welcome another bit of excitement in their mundane existence And as to the other Church leaders, they are back at their own abbeys now, recovering from a war They will not raise more than an eyebrow, I assure you The Father Abbot will name you as heretics and be done with you before any can protest; and then, the deed done - one less problem before any of them - they will let the matter fade"

The answer set Braumin back on his heels and killed his previous suspi-cions about Francis&039; motives Markwart, who dared to usurp the power of Abbot Dobrinion while he was in Palmaris, who took citizens of another town captive and let them die in his care, who burned Jojonah publicly before the Church leaders, would not fear any retaliation if he chose to get rid of a handful of minor conspirators But why, then, was Francis here?

"You haven&039;t the belly for it!" Marlboro Viscenti said suddenly, hopping back and pointing at Francis "Even Brother Francis, the Father Abbot&039;s avowed lackey, was sickened by the treatood Jojonah"

Francis didn&039;t immediately respond, and Braumin looked from him to Viscenti, ore a confident expression Marlboro Viscenti was not con-sidered a great thinker by either his peers or his instructors, but Brauhts Perhaps it was his perpetual nervousness that kept his; but whatever the reason, Viscenti many times found answers to puzzles that had seemed quite beyond Brother Braumin

"You believed Jojonah a heretic," Braumin said to Francis

"His actions doomed him," Francis said firmly "You heard him admit that he helped the intruders steal our prisoner"

Braumin waved his hand as if that ue the virtue of his actions with you," he explained "We can agree that you con-sidered hiood brother Viscenti has spoken truthfully Why then, Brother Francis, do you fear to see us burned? Why did the spectacle of Jojonah&039;s fate so unnerve you?"

Francis was fighting hard to hold his cool, deter the battle now, Brau, sweat on his forehead

"Master Jojonah forgave ainst hiainst others"

Brau toat Francis, equally at a loss

"Do not confuse reement with your beliefs," Francis added "I offer you a chance to save your et out of St-Mere-Abelle, out of o hide in a hole and bury your foolish beliefs with you"

"How do you plan to do that?" asked Viscenti

"And where are we to go?" Braumin added

"You know that Jojonah aided the escape of the centaur Bradwarden," Francis explained "And with him, we believe, were two forain Braumin painted that suspicious look on his face Were he and his coer conspiracy?

"Yet there remains at St-Mere-Abelle another of those conspirators, a man who came in afterward and only recently learned that the centaur and his other friends had escaped He will be returning to theht persuade hi"

"How convenient for you and the Father Abbot," Brauuarantee your safety," said Francis "Once you are out of the abbey, you must fend for yourselves - and do not doubt that powerful foes ainst you Do not doubt that the Father Abbot will recapturethe centaur and take the other conspirators as well No, your fate beyond St-Mere-Abelle is your own to decide I only do this one thing alone to repay Jojonah I&039;ll not spend the rest of my life in the debt of a heretic"

"If he was a heretic - " Viscenti started to protest, but Brother Brau that the man should be quiet Braumin under-stood, if Viscenti did not - if even Francis did not

"All that I ask in return is that you do not name me if you are captured," Brother Francis went on "Andthe book"

"What book? " Braumin asked

Francis turned a stern stare on the ," he explained, "the book of lies about our past, by which you measure the rumors about our present"

Braumin scoffed at the notion

"You will not leave St-Mere-Abelle unless I have that book," Francis said calht put it on a shelf of for-bidden toht bury it aith all the other truths that would tumble down the walls of your sacred institution? "

"There is no compromise here, brother," Francis stated "I will have the book, or I will take it froave me that book," Braumin said "He bade me to keep it safe"

"It will be safe," Francis replied "And back where it rightfully belongs"

Brother Brau that Francis would hold fast He prayed to Master Jojonah for guidance then, to help hih this dilemht to end so soon? Jojonah had wanted him to ascend the ranks of the Abel-lican Order, but if he left now, that would be ied to elude Markwart&039;s executioners, he and his friends would be outside the Church, unable to bring about any positive change

But if they stayed, Braumin believed, they would die, and soon

His answer cae, a memory of a faraway place, once the home of evil incarnate but now the toain the arround, uplifted, the final act of defiance against the de for God

Brother Braumin had his answer Whatever God had in ain before he died He moved to the side of his bed, bent down to the floor, and reached under it, thenthe ht nod and turned over the book "Read it," he said "Read the words of another Brother Francis of St-Mere-Abelle Learn what once was, and know the truth of the man you serve"

Brother Francis didn&039;t say a word, just moved past Brauave it to him," Marlboro Viscenti said incredulously and fearfully "Noill surely betray us"

"If he meant to betray us, then Markould already have us," Braumin insisted

"Then what are we to do? "

"Wait," Brau hand on Viscenti&039;s shoulder "Let Francis do as he promised He will return to us"

Brother Viscenti wiped his hand across his lips and shuddered He didn&039;t question Brau at the door, wondering

In truth, if the door hadn&039;t been there to block their vision, the two men would have still seen Brother Francis in the e down at the toed corner of his brain, Brother Francis understood that there ht well be a measure of truth in Brauh brutality perpetrated by his beloved Church to give souments

And now Francis held this ancient book, which could shatter the founda-tions of his beliefs, which could make a lie of his life and a devil of his es and read it, would he, too, be brought into the depths of heresy, as had Jojonah, and now these disciples of the man?

Brother Francis tucked the book under his arm and started briskly for the stairwells that would take hierous tosbury and had many other preparations tothis book in a dark corner of a dark place was far more important

PART TWO

CHURCH AND STATE

For centuries, the kingdom of Honce-the-Bear has been divided between the secular powers of the state and the spiritual powers of the Church, and this balance, I have co-term life of any country This is not the case in Corona, as I learned during my time with the Touel&039;alfar - hoise are the elves about so ion is a day-to-day practice, an important aspect of every man&039;s every action This, I believe, is because of the rigors of the Alpinadoran environment, where the possibility of death is ever present A barbarian slays a deer, then prays over its carcass, giving thanks that he and his family will not starve He finds hiod of storod of home to help him quickly find his way Few matters of such a man&039;s daily routine do not involve spirituality, but to the barbarians, religion is a private anized church in Alpinador, other than the small missions set up by the Abellicans That is true, too, of the state, for the villages of Alpinador are, in effect, independent states, too isolated by landscape and cliovernment My homeland, the towns of the Tied the King of Honce-the-Bear

Still, we did not hear much from the dom of Behren, church and state are hest-ranking yatol priest, a dangerous situation lacking the balance of power necessary to hold tyrants in check The Chezru chieftain is all-powerful, and can, and often does, kill at a ithout fear of consequence Could King Ursal of Honce-the-Bear make the same clai are monitored by the abbots of the Church - if only for selfish reasons, so they could expose any cri considerably in the eyes of his subjects

But what of the cri should be their counterweight, yet I have heard of no co Danube about the treatment of the Chilichunks by the Church Perhaps it is a hing the value of the Chilichunks lives against the trouble that exposing the Church ainst the Father Abbot if he knew the actual cause of Baron Bildeborough&039;s death?

Or, perhaps, has the balance of power dangerously shifted?

This is my fear, Uncle Mather, and I do not think I a to personal loss I believe the Abellican Church has always held the upper hand in this struggle The daily routines of the subjects of Honce-the-Bear are no doubt reatly influenced by the state than the Church Taxes, the military, construction of roads and tolls to pay for the Danube

But in the end, the Abellican Church holds the power In the end, on one&039;s death bed, it is faith and not material wealth thatDanube or any other secular leader, but the words - cal true King Danube holds the purse strings, but father Abbot Markwart holds the soul; and that is by far the greater treasure, and the greater power The King may hold power over people&039;s lives and livelihoods, but the Church can promise far worse than death The Church can threaten eternal damnation, and no pain in this life can compare to that

The Church holds the true power, Uncle Mather, and if, as I have seen over the last fewmalicious, then the darkest days are yet ahead - even if all the powries, goblins, and giants have been banished, even if the demon dactyl has been destroyed

Destroyed?

Or maybe not, Uncle Mather Perhaps the dactyl&039;s spirit is alive and well and living in an even erous host