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Markwart looked over at the sreed,his attention squarely back to Jojo-nah, "he was only acting as I instructed"
Master Jojonah fought hard to maintain control, for he wanted, desperately wanted, to burst loose of his pragmatic bonds and tell Markwart, wicked Markwart, exactly what he thought of him and his so off- course Church He just chewed his lip and let the old man continue
"You abandon your duties to support the cause of Brother Alla-barnet," the Father Abbot fuiven the fate of poor Abbot Dobrinion, for the monks of St Pre-cious are in need of some morale at this dark time And yet you abuse the free time I allow you and find yourself across the whole of the abbey,in affairs which do not concern you"
"A froeon walls?" Master Jojonah replied, his voice fir "Am I not to care that people who have committed no crimes and no sins, and a centaur who may indeed be a hero, stand in this sup-posedly holy sanctuary&039;s dungeons in chains, and are subjected to torture?"
"Torture?" scoffed the Father Abbot "You know nothing of it!"
"Thus I tried to find out," Jojonah countered "Yet you would deny ain Markwart scoffed "I would not subject the frightened Chilichunks and the potentially dangerous Bradwarden to the pri-vate inquisitions of others They are my responsibility"
"Your prisoners," Jojonah corrected
Father Abbot Markwart paused and took a deep breath "Pris-oners," he echoed "Yes, they are No sins, say you, yet they are in league with the thieves who hold the stolen stones No crimes, say you, yet we have every reason to believe that the centaur was in league with the demon dactyl, and only the accidental destruction of Aida prevented hiodly people of the world!"
"Accidental destruction," Jojonah echoed incredulously, sarcas-tically
"That is the decision ofvery near the sitting ht for a moment that the man meant to strike him "You chose at this time to pursue another course"
If only you understood the truth of that,Jojonah silently replied, and was quite glad then that he had hidden the ancient book in his rooet to the prisoners
"And yet you could not even hold true to that course!" Markent on "And while you were at your work, buried in ancient writ-ings that bear no ier brothers nearly met his doom!"
That perked up Jojonah&039;s ears
"In the courtyard," Markent on "Doing work that Master Jojonah would normally oversee, but that Master De&039;Unnero had to watch over, in addition to the other laborers he was directing Perhaps that hy he could not react in time when two of the three brothers slipped off the wheel, when the third, poor Dellht"
"Dell Markwart to take a step back Panic crept through Jojonah&039;s mind; he worried suddenly for Brother Braumin, whom he had not seen in days How h, that his excitement only implicated Dell-man as a fellow conspirator, and so he worked hard to control him-self, to settle back into his chair "The same Brother Dellman who accompanied us to Aida?" he asked
"The only Brother Dellh the ruse
"Such a pity," Jojonah reh?"
"Barely, and perhaps not for long," the Father Abbot answered, going into his pacing once more
"I will see to him"
"You will not!" the Father Abbot snapped "He is under the care of Master De&039;Unnero I forbid you fro to so ies, Master Jojonah Let the guilt of your absence weigh on your mind Perhaps that will lead you back to your true duties and purpose"
The thought that he was somehow responsible was prepos-terous, of course, but Jojonah understood the subtlethat excuse to keep him away from Brother Dellman, to keep his influence from thethe minds of the brothers sent on Avelyn&039;s trail, worked his wicked way
"You are my witness to this, Brother Francis," Markwart said "And I warn you, Master Jojonah, if I hear that you go anywhere near Brother Dellman, the consequences will be dire - for you and for him"
It surprised Jojonah that Markwart had drawn so clear a line in the sand, had all but openly threatened hi Markwart&039;s way, it seemed to Jojonah, so why had he taken such a bold step as that?
He didn&039;t press the issue, si Markwart&039;s line anytime soon It would be better for Brother Dellman, he reasoned, if he broke all connection with thehis work He took a quick hed profoundly in relief to find the toht back to the lower stairs, heading again for the ancient libraries, forpuzzle
The doors were sealed, barred by heavy planks One young uard
"What is theof this?" the master asked
"No entrance to the lower libraries at this time," the man me-chanically replied "By order of - "
Before he had even finished, Master Jojonah stor the stairs two at a ti for him in his private quarters, this tihis way cautiously into this fight, for he believed this one ht prove conclusive
"Now is not the time to worry about Brother Allabarnet&039;s saint-hood," the Father Abbot replied cal precious tieons"
"A curious choice of words," Jojonah ca that you have eons of another sort"
He saw the flicker of anger in the old ot it quickly under control "The canonization process ait until the war is ended," he said
"By all reports, it may already be over," Jojonah was quick to reply
"And until the threat to our Order is ended," Markwart added "It is reasonable to assuet to Abbot Dobrin-ion, then none of us are safe Our ene badly, and it is prudent to believe that theyiht very hard to hold his tongue, to stop fro Dobrinion&039;s murder He didn&039;t care any, would have laid into Markwart openly, publicly, beginning an internal struggle that would likely cost him his life But he could not, he re-minded himself many times in the next few seconds There were others to consider - Dellman, Braumin Herde, Marlboro Viscenti, and the poor prisoners For their sake, if not his own, he could not begin the open battle against Markwart
"The process will also wait until the stolen gemstones are re-turned," Markent on
"Thus I will sit idle, wasting my time in the upper levels," Jojonah did dare to remark
"No, I have other plans for you," Markwart replied "More ih to at-tack another monk - and so you should prepare yourself for the road"
"You just said that the sainthood would wait," Jojonah responded
"So I did," Markwart replied "But your destination is no longer St Honce You will go to Palmaris, to St Precious, to witness the appointment of a new abbot"
Master Jojonah could not completely hide his surprise There was no monk at that abbey prepared for the job, and thus, as far as he knew, nothing of succession had even been discussed, and would be a e of Abbots later that year
"Master De&039;Unnero," Father Abbot Markwart answered his un-spoken question
"De&039;Unnero?" Jojonah echoed incredulously "The junior master in all of St-Mere-Abelle, a man prematurely promoted due to the death of Master Siherton?"
"The murder of Master Siherton, by Avelyn Desbris," Markas quick to remind
"He will assume the leadership of St Precious?" Jojonah con-tinued, too engrossed to even feel the sting of that last verbal barb "Surely that position is of utiven the fact that Palmaris remains closest to the lines of battle"
"That is exactly why I chose De&039;Unnero," Markwart replied calmly
"You chose?" Jojonah echoed There was little precedence for such afrom within the ranks of the affected abbey, was no s of the College of Abbots
"There is no tie prematurely," Markwart explained "Nor can ait until the scheduledon what I deeency cir-cumstances, I have appointed Master De&039;Unnero as Dobrinion&039;s replacement"
"Temporarily," Jojonah said
"Permanently," came the stern reply "And you, Master Jojonah, will accompany him"
"I just returned from many weeks on the road," Jojonah pro-tested, but he kneas defeated, and understood that he had erred in trying to get to the prisoners, in pushing hard against Markwart And noould pay Markwart had been ithin his rights to halt the canonization process for the ti, and whether or not the Father Abbot&039;s choice of De&039;Unnero for abbot would stand would be decided at the fall College of Abbots, and not before Jojonah was out of excuses and out of dodges
"You will remain at St Precious to aid Master Abbot De&039;Un-nero, as his second," Markent on "If it pleases hie"
"I outrank hie will not stand for this!" Jojonah protested
"That will be determined in mid-Cale seconds see fit to overrule me, then perhaps Jojonah will be appointed abbot of St Precious"
But by that tieue with, or even friendly to, Jojonah&039;s cause) would have been weeded out of St-Mere- Abelle, the victims of "accidents" like the one that befell Brother Dell by a barrage of lies and threats Or, for those brothers of conviction like hierous lands Until this moment, Master Jojonah had not truly appreciated how formidable a foe the old Father Abbot would prove to be
"Perhaps illhis hand dismissively "For the sake of peace of mind for both of us, I hope not"
And so it ends, Master Jojonah thought