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This cannot be! It makes no sense whatsoever,Abbot Dobrinion Calislas of St Precious Abbey in Palh logic, despite the very real re-ports from reliable monks, that Father Abbot Dalebert Markwart, the leader of the Abellican Church, aiting for him in the chapel of his abbey
"Markwart is too old to be traveling to Palh no one was nearby to hear He fumbled with his robes as he stumbled down the circular stairs froiven notice of his visit long in advance Such men do not move helter-skelter about the countryside!
"And such men should not come unannounced!" Dobrinion added He was no fan of Father Abbot Markwart; the two had been at odds for several years concerning the canonization process of one of St Precious&039; forh it was the second oldest abbey in all the order, behind St-Mere- Abelle, St Precious boasted of no saints froht that Abbot Dobrinion orking hard to correct - and one that Father Abbot Markwart had opposed from the very moment Brother Allabarnet&039;s name had been entered
Dobrinion&039;s voice rose as he finished the frantic thought, the abbot opening the heavy door of the chapel at the same time His round cheeks flushed, for he feared that thebefore him, Father Abbot Dalebert Markwart, had heard him
And it was indeed Markwart, Abbot Dobrinion kneithout doubt He had h he had not seen Markwart in lanced around at Markwart&039;s entourage, trying to make some sense of it all Only three other monks were in the chapel, and one of the, one slender and nervous, the other barrel-chested and obvi-ously strong, stood near the Father Abbot in similar poses, their ar the other wrist A defensive position, Dobrinion noted, and it seeuards than escorts On previous oc-casions when the Father Abbot had traveled, whether it was Mark-wart or any of his predecessors, the entourage was huge, no less than fifty monks, and a fair number of them masters, or even abbots These tere neither, Dobrinion knew, for they were hardly old enough to even have attained half the years of an i a respectful bow
"My greetings, Abbot Dobrinion," Father Abbot Markwart replied in his nasal voice "Forgive my intrusion into your excel-lent abbey"
"Indeed," was all that the sputtering, flustered abbot could reply
"It was necessary," Markent on "In these times well, you understand that weabout our lands"
"Indeed," Dobrinion said again, and he wanted to pinch hi that he sounded incredibly stupid
"I am to be met here by a caravan," the Father Abbot explained, "which I diverted on its return to St-Mere-Abelle, for there is little time"
A caravan froht And I knew nothing about it!
"Master Jojonah leads it," Father Abbot Markwart said "You re-ether"
"He o or three years my junior, I believe," Abbot Dobrinion replied He had s, and had once spent a night drinking heavily with the man, and with a hawkish master by the name of Siherton
"Are any other masters with this caravan?" he asked "Siherton, perhaps?"
"Master Siherton is dead," Father Abbot Markwart said evenly "He was h it seemed from Markwart&039;s tone that the man did not want to elaborate
"No," Father Abbot said curtly "But enough of that unpleasant situation; it was a long tih he has a trio of i, and have with them a most extraordinary pris-oner What I require from you is privacy, for myself, for my fellows of St-Mere- Abelle, and most of all, for the prisoner"
"I will do all that I can - " Abbot Dobrinion began to respond
"I am sure that you will," Markwart cut him off "Have one of your trusted lessers instruct these two - " He indicated the youngour acco No rew very serious and he advanced on Dobrinion, speaking in low, even threatening, tones "I will have your assur-ances that there will be no interference," he said
Abbot Dobrinion rocked back on his heels, studying the old man, surprised by all of this For St-Mere-Abelle to even be oper-ating in this region without Dobrinion&039;s knowledge and approval was contrary to Church etiquette What was this mysterious mis-sion all about, and why hadn&039;t he been informed? And what of this prisoner? With hematite, the Father Abbot surely could have con-tacted hier This was the Father Abbot, after all, and Honce-the-Bear was embroiled in a desperate war "We will do as we are instructed," he assured his superior, bowing his head respectfully "St Precious is yours to command"
"I will take your quarters for the duration of my stay," Father Abbot Markwart said "My lessers will help you to move your nec-essary iteh he had been slapped in the face He had been the abbot of St Precious for three decades, and that was no sest abbey in the Abel-lican Church, behind St-Mere-Abelle and St Honce of Ursal And because Pale of the true civilized lands, there was perhaps no abbey ation For the thirty years of his rule, Abbot Dobrinion had been pretty much left alone - St-Mere-Abelle was too concerned with the Ring Stones and with general Church doctrine, and St Honce too e Thus, Abbot Dobrinion&039;s only rival for power in all the wide northern reaches of Honce-the-Bear was Baron Rochefort Bildeborough of Palmaris, and thata close friend to Dobrinion, was quiet and unassu as his personal luxuries were secured Even in thematter of this war that had come to Palmaris, he had turned over de-fense of the city to the captain of the city guard, instructing that man to report to Abbot Dobrinion, while he kept himself secure in his palace-fortress, Chasewind Manor
Thus Abbot Dobrinion was not used to being talked to in such superior tones But again, he remembered his place in the Abel-lican hierarchy, a pyramid that placed the Father Abbot at its pin-nacle "As you say," he replied hu away
"And perhaps ill have time to discuss the matter of Brother Allabarnet," the Father Abbot said just before Abbot Dobrinion crossed out of the roo that he had just been thrown acarrot dependent upon his cooperation His ini-tial thought was to throw that carrot back at the Father Abbot, but he quickly pushed that notion away Abbot Dobrinion was an old h he was not as old as Markwart, he feared that Markould outlive him By his own estimation, all that he had left to accomplish in his life was to see Brother Allabarnet, a monk of St Precious, sainted, and that feat would not be easy, perhaps not even possible, without the help of Father Abbot Markwart
"St Precious?" Brother Braumin&039;s incredulous tone echoed the emotions of Master Jojonah when Brother Francis announced the new destination
"The Father Abbot does not wish to lose any ti with the centaur," Brother Francis went on "He will meet us in Palmaris In fact, he was on his way to that place when he contacted me, and I suspect that he is already settled in St Precious"
"Are you certain of this?" Master Jojonah asked calmly "Was it truly Father Abbot Markho told you of this change?"
"You ier nize that we have been to the lair of the de pains so that his voice was not ac-cusing If Father Abbot Markwart had indeed come to Brother Francis with new orders, then Jojonah and all the others had no practical choice but to go along
"It was the Father Abbot," Brother Francis said firain? Perhaps I could loan hih, brother," Master Jojonah said, waving his hand in sur-render "I do not question your judght it prudent to make certain"
"I am certain"
"So you have said," Master Jojonah replied "And so our desti-nation shall be St Precious Have you deter with the maps even now," Brother Francis replied "It is not too far, and once we have crossed the Timberlands, we should find a fairly easy road"
"A road choked with monsters," Brother Braumin put in dryly "The reports fro"
"We will e us," Brother Francis said
Master Jojonah only nodded If the Father Abbot wanted theo, whatever the obstacles For Jojonah, though, the greatest obstacle of all would likely find them at the end of the trail, in the person of Dalebert Markwart
With typical efficiency, Brother Francis co and the caravan adjusted its course, wheels hu They were past the Tih they did indeed findthe way, the creatures never knew of their passage, or realized it too late to possibly catch up to the speeding procession
"A caravan ofwell again, for Pony had used the he bites and other wounds He had hardly thanked the worunted and walked away after their two-hour session Neither Pony nor Elbryan had seen Roger in the four days since that occasion, until now "I know riht have soht be in search of the stones the coer went on, sincerely awed "I doubt that Kos-kosio Begulne even knew they were in the area - or, if the powrie did learn of their passing, they were too far gone by that point for hi about it They must be halfway to Paler had only seen this caravan a couple of hours before The ranger held the thought quiet, though, for he knew that, whether the estier believed what he was saying
"A pity that we did not learn of this sooner," Belster O&039;Coiven us? What coht have taken our most infirm with them to the safer lands in the south"
"You would not even have learned of therily, defensively, taking Belster&039;s coreat Nightbird knew nothing about thereat wizardess?"
"Enough, Roger," Elbryan bade hi blame It is indeed a pity that we could not enlist the aid of such powerful allies, for if they wereas swiftly as you say - and I do not doubt that they were," he added quickly, seeing Roger&039;s expression go sour, "then they are likely strong with h, for while he would have liked to facilitate the passage of their infirm members to Palmaris, he wasn&039;t so sure that these monks would have proven themselves allies - at least not for hi even faster than you believe," Roger replied "I cannot describe their true speed Their horses&039; legs were but a blur; one rider at the back of the wagon moved so fast that to my eyes he seemed to be a blend of horse and man"
That perked up the ears of all the folk of the Dundalis region, all the folk who knew of the Forest Ghost, who had fought beside Bradwarden and taken co Elbryan and Pony deflated their brightening expressions, though, shaking their heads at the thought They had seen the end of Bradwarden, so they both believed
"You are certain that the caravan kept er
"Halfway to Palmaris by now," the man replied
"Then they are no concern of ours," Elbryan reasoned, though silently he vowed to keep an eye out for thefor Avelyn and the stones, and if they had garnered soht already be considered outlaws
The caravan arrived at St Precious with no fanfare, no recogni-tion; Abbot Dobrinion wasn&039;t even there to greet the with his pair of body-guards, quietlythe brothers froate
Master Jojonah wasn&039;t surprised by Markwart&039;s choice of trav-eling companions, Brothers Youseff and Dandelion, the twoto replace the late Brother Quintall as Brother Justice Of all the lesser students in St-Mere-Abelle, Jojonah had come to like these two the least Brother Youseff, a third-year stu-dent, was from Youmaneff, Avelyn&039;s hometown, but there the sihter who found every advantage in the training arena, no matter how deceptive and unpleasant His companion, Brother Dandelion, who had only been at the monastery for two years, was physically the opposite of the sh Brother Dandelion often had to be restrained in the sparring e, he continued to press it to the point of injuring his opponent In the days of sanity at the ht have led to dismissal, but in these dark times, the Father Abbot only chuckled at the man&039;s enthu-siasm Markwart had many times dismissed Jojonah&039;s co Jojonah they would find a fit-ting place for the savage man
Brother Jojonah often wondered how Dandelion, or Youseff, for thatprocess of eliet into the monastery Every class hittled down from one or two thousand to twenty-five, and it see those other hundreds ence, and piety
But both these young monks had been sponsored by the Father Abbot himself "The son of a dear friend," Markwart had said of Dandelion Master Jojonah knew better Brother Dandelion had been brought in for his unparalleled physical prowess and for no other reason He was Markwart&039;s replace the Father Abbot
As for Youseff, Markwart had explained that Youmaneff, with the loss of Avelyn, was not represented at all in St-Mere-Abelle, an oversight that had to be corrected if the abbey ht control over the sh; it was allbeyond his control
The caravan was put up in the courtyard, with all the monks shown to their quarters, conveniently separated from the brothers of St Precious Master Jojonah found hireat structure, removed from all the others of his troupe, particularly Brother Braumin, as all the way to the other side of the abbey The closest to Jojonah was Francis - to keep an eye on hied to slip away,quietly with Brother Braue twenty feet above the floor of the abbey&039;s great chapel
"I suspect he is in the lower dungeons," Master Jojonah ex-plained, running his hands over the details of a statue of Brother Allabarnet, whom the monks here called Brother Appleseed Jo-jonah could feel the love that had gone into this artwork, and that, he subconsciously understood, was the true work of God
"In chains, no doubt," agreed Brother Braureat sin rests on the shoulders of the Father Abbot if his treatment of the heroic centaur is ill"
Master Jojonah quieted the ht speaking against the Father Abbot, no reat their ire
"Have you inquired?" Brother Braumin asked
"The Father Abbot tells me little now," Jojonah replied "He knohere lies h my actions do not overtly op-pose hi, at first light"
"To speak of Bradwarden?"
Jojonah shook his head "I doubt that subject will be breached," he explained "We are to talk of my departure, I believe, for the Father Abbot has hinted that I will ht the note of dread in Master Jojonah&039;s voice, and his thoughts went iht the Father Abbot have Jojonah killed on the road? The thought assaulted Brau so utterly ridiculous But try as he ht, he could not dismiss it Nor did he speak it aloud, for it was obvious to him that Jojonah are of the situation