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They called it the "Progos thaw," and though it seemed to occur at the turn of each year, it always had the folk out and about, shaking their heads and e weather And this year, for the first ti toweather came on suddenly in Pal out with threatening heavy snow but producing only cold rain before the secondthe mildest that even the oldest folk could re noticeable Thus, she made it a point to keep her bar apron around her waist even when she was not working in the Way, even when she was going out at night, as she was this evening, to meet with one or another of her fellow conspirators
The base of resistance was solidifying, she reminded herself hopefully as she brushed past Belster and out of the inn Between Belster&039;s many friends, Colleen&039;s information from inside the enemy camp, and Al&039;u&039;met&039;s Behrenese and sailor comrades, those opposed to Bishop De&039;Unnero con-trolled much of the street and dock talk in the city Not that they were open in their complaints and resistance; it had not co the seeds of rebellion, fostering a dif-ferent viewpoint concerning thethe city If it cae part of Pony dearly hoped that it would - the Bishop and his minions would be surprised indeed at the scope of the resistance
That notion of an open battle against the Church prodded Pony to stepwith Colleen Kil-ronney The fires of vengeance had not cooled within Pony, and if it came to blows, she reic, Avelyn&039;s ic, to wreak devastation on the leaders of that accursed Church that had murdered her parents and her friends
She was surprised indeed when she turned into the alley and saw that Colleen was not alone, and her surprise becaht of Colleen&039;s co the robes of St Precious!
She ca for her throat Like all Abellicans, thearts, and so his attack caht Her hands grabbed at his wrists, trying to pull his fingers from her throat She fell quickly into the trained warrior mode, and even as a stunned Colleen rushed in from behind, Pony hooked her thus and fell to her knees, bringing the e became Pony&039;s ally, and a simple twist broke the monk&039;s hold - and she could have twisted farther and shattered his thuether
But she did not - in deference to Colleen, who had brought thisher hands under theher htly in, and drove the heel of her hand under the monk&039;s chin The blow lifted him from his feet and shoved him several inches back
Up ca like a striking serpent straight ahead She connected again, this tiain as blood began pouring froht the monk as he fell and offered hi one arm under his shoulder, then around the back of his neck, and hooking her other hand, pulling the monk&039;s other arht your friends," Pony re the , boiling anger - anyti the robes of that Church offered her an excuse, she meant to punish hiain, he would not leave this alley alive
"She is the one," theblood with every word
"The one who&039;ll be breakin&039; yer stupid neck?" Colleen retorted
"T-the cohtbird," the monk stammered
"I telled ye that much," said Colleen
"The friend of Avelyn the heretic, the thief of the sacred stones, the ally of the demon dactyl," said the monk
"Seems like every time I&039;rows," Colleen said to Pony "I&039;irl!"
"You do not understand," the o now, and lettin&039; ye get yerself killed," Colleen shot back; as she said it, she did release the ht o&039; me friend kickin&039; the life fro nervously from Colleen to Pony He reached up to wipe the blood from his nose with his sleeve
"A friend of Avelyn, yes," Pony ad "A friend of Avelyn, the same Avelyn who destroyed the demon dactyl, despite what your round, continued to look all about
"Why did you bring him?" Pony asked
"He&039;s no friend to De&039;Unnero," said Colleen "I was thinkin&039; that a coood place for startin&039; an alliance And can ye doubt how valuable a ht prove to be?
"And I didn&039;t know," Colleen added, giving the monk a kick as she spoke the words "I telled hih"
"A ruse so he could get at me," Pony remarked
"We could just kill &039;ier froainst thehim to arch his shoulders
"I aht ye&039;d be seein&039; it that way," said Colleen, but she didn&039;t reer
"Then you are no friend of Father Abbot Markwart and no friend of the Abellican Church," Pony replied "And closer in e branded him heretic and e!" Pony retorted "I&039;ve not the time to teach you the truth, Brother - "
"Brother Taluht a friend"
The lowered at her "That was before I knew you conspired with outlaws"
"One who cae way of defining that term," Pony remarked
"Are we to convince him or kill him?" asked the brutal Colleen Both Pony and Brother Talu
"Not kill him," Pony replied immediately
"Are ye ready to be convinced, then?" Colleen asked him in his ear
Taluive any clue that he would not be receptive
"Did you revere your former abbot?" Pony asked
"Speak no ill of Abbot Dobrinion!" Talumus replied, his tone more forceful even than when he had attacked Pony
"Never that," said Pony, "for Dobrinion was a good reat man, and more akin to Avelyn Desbris than you know That is why Father Abbot Markwart had him murdered"
The monk staht you here, and so I assued your char-acter correctly," said Pony "Though she has erred before on suchsmile at the woman soldier "I will tell you the truth, plainly, and then let you judge e"
"But if ye&039;re not" Colleen said, prodding hier
"If you are not, then we have a place to put you until this distasteful busi-ness is complete," Pony put in "And you shall not be mistreated, in any case"
"Abbot Dobrinion was slain by a powrie," Talumus said "We found the wretched creature dead on the abbot&039;s bedroom floor And I know of no powries in St Precious"
"Slain by the sah Leigh and dip its beret in her blood?" Pony asked That had caught Talumus by surprise, she realized by his expression
The ht to respond that perhaps the creature had not the tied his mind and asked bluntly, "How do you know this?"
"Because Connor Bildeborough told it to e," said the unconvinced monk
"And who came north to warn me that the same men who murdered Abbot Dobrinion were after me, and after him," Pony corrected "Connor, as also killed by one of those men, by a brother justice, trained and loosed by the Father Abbot of St-Mere-Abelle"
"Connor, whose uncle was murdered by the man ye now call bishop," Colleen added
Taluht of these accusations - ones he had obviously heard before
Pony recognized the posture The monk did not believe the words, of course, but neither could he dismiss them And any hint of their truth could send his entire world crashing down around hi persecuted," Pony stated flatly
Taluree with this policy"
Again, a nod
"Then stand with us if you will, or at least do not stand against us," said Pony She er
"I will not stand against my Order," Brother Talumus said boldly
"Then stand back and watch with an open mind," Pony explained "And bid your fellows of St Precious to do so as well Bishop De&039;Unnero is not a good man, and not truly an Abellican at heart We will prove that to you"
"I been a friend o&039; yers for years," Colleen reminded him "Ye don&039;t betray reed after a long ht of the revelations you have offered But when I a and that your claiainst you"
Colleen&039;s hand slid back toward the dagger, but Pony cut her action short "That is all that we can rightfully ask," she replied, "and generous and wise of you, by anyPony nervously as he ed that he was far enough away, he turned and ran off
"You should not have brought him here," Pony scolded Colleen, "not yet"
"When then?" asked the other woainst the likes o&039; Bishop De&039;Unnero without any help from the monks? Bah!" She snorted "They&039;ll find ye and kill ye to death, don&039;t ye doubt I only bringed Talumus because he confided to eneral area o&039; Fellowship Way the very last night, and he&039;s knowin&039; that I been going there"
Pony&039;s shoulders sluht, to visit the child that was groithin her, the child who had become such a pleasurable focus of her life of late She could hardly coht have ruined everything Were De&039;Unnero and his minions that efficient?
"Warned me to keep clear o&039; the place," Colleen went on
"Then De&039;Unnero is co," Pony reasoned
"No," Colleen replied "The ic use told none but Talumus, who told only meself And then I bade Talu the stones, and no enemies o&039; the Church And so he did, and so he&039;ll continue to say now, for I think ye handled that one well"
Pony paused to consider the words, to consider whether or not she and Belster and Dainsey should abandon the Fellowship Way altogether, though such a ress they had round alliance over the last feeeks
"Brother Talumus is sincere," she decided "He will not betray us Not now"
"Then we got some provin&039; to do," Colleen remarked
True to his word, Brother Taluht of Pony&039;s words as hewas particularly significant: Baron Bildeborough and another man had come to see Talumus shortly before Bishop De&039;Unnero had arrived in Palone off to the south and been killed on the road to Ursal Both Bildeborough and his unknown companion that day had spoken to Talumus about the murder of Abbot Dobrinion and had quietly h and dipped its beret in her blood This now see but experiencedtoo ive that the sah, his companion, and now the woman, Pony But could it be evidence of so heinous a betrayal as the Abel-lican Church going against one of its most respected abbots? Brother Talumus wasn&039;t yet ready to make that jump
In the foyer of St Precious, Talumus was met by a friend, Brother Giu-lious, the one who had detected the ic use near the Fellowship Way
"Brother!" Giulious exclai at Talumus&039; bloodstained nose "Pray, what has happened?"
"The issue of stone use near the Fellowship Way is settled," Talumus told him
Giulious backed off and stared at him skeptically "Did you not tell me that it was you with the stones? "
"Half truth," Talumus adht the services of a woman down there," Talumus lied "Yes, brother, I eak of the flesh, as are we all"
Pious Giulious nodded and lifted his hand in a custo his hand perpendicular to his chest, lifting it to his brow, then sweeping it down and to one side, back again, and down and out to the other - the sign of the living tree
"This woman was ill," Talumus went on, "a sickness of the loins, it seeht heal - "
"A street whore who kno to use the sacred gemstones?" Giulious asked incredulously
Talus," he replied with a rin; and simple embarrassment provided ample deflection of any suspicion "I went back to retrieve ht, but the woman had decided that it was too useful an item for her to relinquish"
"Brother Talumus!"
"She hit me," the monk explained
"But you retrieved the stone?"
"Of course," Talumus lied, and he hoped that Giulious would not ask to see it!