Aiduels sin, p.23
Aiduel's Sin, page 23
‘I want full absolution and pardon for Allana,’ replied Jarrett, ‘by the High Council of the Holy Church, for any crime she has committed, or might have committed in the past. And guarantees that Aiduel’s Guards will never again take any action against her. I can’t offer my assistance and support for your actions, if the end result will be Aiduel’s Guards returning to this country and threatening my future wife. Particularly, after hearing stories about the recent carnage in Arlais.’
Kohn shrugged. He then turned to Allana and said, ‘As Duke Berun suggested, it’s a trivial matter. Very well, you’re absolved by the Holy Church and by the High Council of any and all past crimes, and I’ll personally ensure that Aiduel’s Guards will take no future action against you. I’ll put that in writing today. It will be conditional of course, Duke Berun, on final agreement to your co-operation with our plans.’
‘Of course. Thank you,’ said Jarrett.
He’s agreed to it, Lana! You won’t have to hide for the rest of your life!
‘What else, Duke Berun?’ asked Prince Lorrius. The royal appeared bemused by the nature of the conversation.
‘Secondly, I mentioned that Allana is not from the nobility,’ replied Jarrett. ‘That’s not strictly correct. You recognise the surname, Your Eminence?’
‘Yes. Dei Monis,’ said Runus Kohn. ‘I’d been wondering about that.’
‘Allana is the daughter of Seilana dei Monis,’ continued Jarrett. ‘Seilana was the daughter of Baron Ullren dei Monis. Seilana was disowned by the family after she became pregnant with Allana, out of wedlock.’
‘Another interesting tale,’ stated Kohn. ‘But again, please tell me what you want, Duke Berun.’
‘I want Allana to be reinstated to the title which should be her birth-right. I want the dei Monis family to recognise her. I want her to become Lady Allana dei Monis, such that I’ll be marrying a woman of the nobility.’
‘But she’s illegitimate,’ stated Kohn. ‘She has no right to that title.’
Jarrett’s mouth was set into a hard line. ‘She is a child of the dei Monis family, but I don’t want to get into discussions about legitimacy. As I said, this is a trivial matter to Elannis and Dei Magnus, and to the Holy Church, in the context of the issues which we’ve been discussing. But it is a matter of great significance to Allana and to me, particularly in light of the matters I’ll come onto. Therefore, I request it, whether she has the right to it or not.’
Kohn frowned for a few seconds, clearly considering, before responding, ‘Very well. I can’t confirm this right now, because I’ll need to secure the acceptance of the dei Monis family. But I’m close to certain that I will obtain that acceptance. Again, it’s conditional on your compliance, Duke Berun. And, to be clear, she’ll gain no rights to property or inheritance. Subject to that, your future wife will be Lady Allana dei Monis, and will be formally recognised as a member of that family.’
‘And therefore,’ said Jarrett, ‘our marriage will have the blessing of the Holy Church, and the Imperial Family, yes?’
‘Agreed,’ stated the other two men, sounding somewhat confused.
He’s done it, Lana! He’s achieved so much for you!
‘Thank you, gentlemen,’ said Jarrett. ‘You’ll be pleased to know that concludes my personal requests. Now, I have two more substantive requirements.’
‘Very well,’ responded Lorrius. ‘Please proceed.’
‘If the plans which you’ve set out, Prince Lorrius, are to come to pass,’ said Jarrett, ‘we all understand how pivotal Western Canasar is going to prove to be. Indeed, how significant it was last year, in thwarting Elannis.’
‘Yes,’ said Lorrius. ‘An ugly affair for my people.’
‘And in what is to come,’ said Jarrett, ‘the Houses of Andar will either be for the Pavil family and the Imposter Church, or they’ll be against them. The House of Sepian will undoubtedly support Inneos.’
‘We know that,’ stated Lorrius.
‘Well, there’s no love lost between the Houses of Berun and Sepian. In fact, there’s hatred between us. After this has all been concluded, and when the supporters of Inneos have fallen, there will be lands to be redistributed. I’ll pledge to make no claim on the lands of Rednar, Cendun, Rowarth and Dunark. Those provinces will be for Elannis, the Holy Church and House Condarr to apportion. However, I insist upon claiming possession of Western Canasar, for House Berun.’
Lorrius’s face was grim, and he shook his head. ‘Elannis will be supplying nine out of every ten soldiers in the coming war, Duke Berun. Western Canasar is a great prize, and we’ll want to control the whole peninsula.’
‘You’ll be supplying nine out of every ten soldiers, Prince Lorrius,’ responded the duke. ‘But I’ll be supplying the gateway to Andar for those armies. Western Canasar is my requirement. Let’s not play games with each other here. I think that we both know that my request is a fair one, leaving several wealthy provinces for Elannis and the Holy Church to choose from.’
Allana was impressed with how calm and measured Jarrett sounded.
Lorrius glanced towards Runus Kohn, making eye contact as he appeared to consider, then the Elannis prince dipped his head in acknowledgement. ‘Very well. House Berun may have Western Canasar, but only on the condition that the war criminal Lord Arion Sepian must be given to the custody of Elannis. He butchered our army at Moss Ford, he threatened the life of Prince Markon, and the Emperor has vowed that he’ll die begging on his knees in our capital city, under an Elannis executioner’s axe.’
Allana was upset by those words, but Jarrett opened his arms expansively and said, ‘I would happily hand Arion Sepian and his entire loathsome family over to your custody, to do whatever you wish with them.’
You can’t let that happen, Lana. Whatever else you decide to do, you can’t let that happen.
‘Very well,’ said Lorrius, and his voice sounded weary. ‘Then we are settled? We have an agreement?’
‘There is one last matter,’ stated Jarrett. His tone was neutral.
‘Don’t test our goodwill or push us too far, Duke Berun,’ said Runus Kohn, although without any heat in his voice. ‘But please, if you must, proceed.’
Jarrett then set out the last of his demands. Allana’s heart was once again beating fast, as she listened to what he had to say.
–
Two days later, Allana was on her own and had returned to her private room. The illustrious visitors had departed that morning, and Jarrett was planning to spend the whole day overseeing drills and manoeuvres of Berun soldiers. Allana knew that she would not be disturbed for several hours.
On the dresser in front of her was a parchment, inkpot and quill, all of which she had retrieved earlier. As yet, the parchment was blank.
Allana was thinking about the momentous meetings from the prior two days. So many matters of great import had been agreed upon during those discussions. After much negotiation, that had included agreement to Jarrett’s final demand.
Allana had subtly employed her talent of coercion in order to secure that last, incredible success. Prince Lorrius had been on the verge of conceding anyway, and he had only needed a little… push in private to get to a final agreement. Jarrett had otherwise presented a convincing argument.
Jarrett was so impressive, Lana. He’s a man to be proud of, in so many ways.
With every day that had passed recently, Allana had seemed to become more committed to a future with Jarrett. She had accepted his proposal to wed, he had made her complicit in his secret schemes, and now he had achieved so much for her. There should be no doubt that remaining with Jarrett was the safest and best option for her future, particularly in the face of impending war. She knew that she should embrace becoming his wife, and then enjoy all the status, wealth and power that such a choice was likely to bring to her.
But she felt torn. If she was really so resolved to marry the young duke, then why was she sitting here in secret, staring at a blank parchment and agonising over what to do?
Because Jarrett can never make you feel the way that Arion Sepian did, Lana. He’s not like you, in the way that Arion is.
That was the reason. Arion haunted her thoughts, far too much. And it was still not too late to attempt to reunite with him, despite all the impracticalities of such an action. The rational part of her knew that there were so many difficulties and so much that she could lose if she tried to do it. A life with Jarrett would offer her protection and status, whereas the alternative offered no such certainties. She did not even know if Arion still wanted her, after his abandonment of her and subsequent marriage. But, in her heart, she believed that he did.
However, she dared not return to Septholme. As such, she could only hope to run away with Arion if she took the step of writing to him again and arranging to meet somewhere else. Over the preceding days, she had been giving detailed consideration about what she would write and where she would ask Arion to meet. If that was her choice.
You’re running out of time though, Lana. If you’re going to do it, you have to make a decision today. You have to act today.
To add to her dilemma, there was the awful complication of Arion being hunted by Elannis. She knew that she still might decide to remain with Jarrett. But it would be one thing to make that choice, rather than taking the enormous risk of chasing a future with Arion Sepian. It was another matter completely to realise that Arion was to be hunted down and killed by the very people who Jarrett was plotting with.
In those circumstances, she could not just ignore Arion’s fate. But if she chose to stay with Jarrett, what could she possibly do? Would she be prepared to risk the successful outcome of Jarrett’s plans, by warning the young Sepian lord? Or was there any other action which she could take?
She felt torn apart inside, and undecided about what she was going to do. However, the time for procrastination was over. She was resolved that she was not going to leave this room until she had made her decision, whatever that might be.
For an hour afterwards, she stared at the blank parchment. Her heart was pounding, as she thought hard about what she wanted her future to be, and who she wanted to be with.
Eventually, she picked up the quill, dipped it in the ink, and she started to write.
12
Corin
–
Year of Our Lord,
After Ascension, 770AA
‘The… Lord… Aiduel… cast… down… the… I’m sorry, I don’t know this word.’
Corin’s head was hurting from this intensive session of practising his reading.
‘Usurers. U-sur-ers,’ said the missionary Hellin, delivering her response in her usual calm and patient manner. ‘It means moneylenders. Someone who lends money but requires high interest rates.’ Corin frowned, and was preparing to ask for further explanation, but she anticipated this and said, ‘No more questions, please! You really don’t need to know about that. Anyway, that’s probably more than enough reading for today.’
‘Thank the Gods,’ said Corin, and he smirked. He had taken to using these words much more often recently, as gentle defiance of her persistent efforts to convert him to the ways of the man Aiduel.
‘No, thank The Lord, Chief Corin!’
Corin suppressed a further smile, having become familiar with such stern responses across the winter months. He had spent a lot of time with the older woman, ever since her arrival in Karn just before the onset of winter.
She had introduced herself that first day as a missionary of The Lord Aiduel. She had informed Corin that she had once been a priestess in the overseas country of Andar, until she and others had volunteered to spread The Lord’s Word throughout Bergen. She had heard about Corin of the Karn, the Chosen of the Gods, just days after the battle with the Renni. She had then travelled as quickly as she could to find him.
Corin had escorted her to the Clan Hall that day. He had listened to her story, and had asked her what she wanted. In response to this, she had said, ‘I beg your permission to stay here with you, in Karn, for the winter. I want to teach you about The Lord Aiduel, Chief Corin, so that you and your people may forever walk in His Holy Light.’
Corin had replied, ‘That doesn’t really answer why the people of the Karn should shelter you, or feed you from our winter reserves. Or why I should listen to you when you talk about this man.’
‘I wouldn’t ask you to do that, Chief Corin, without something in return. And the something I can offer you is knowledge, from the lands to the east. I’ve heard much about how you’re seeking to make changes in these lands. But if you’re like the other chiefs I’ve met, you’ll not have been taught letters or numbers. If you let me stay here, Chief Corin, as a missionary of Aiduel, then I’ll teach you about numbers, and I’ll teach you to read.’
Sometime after that, she had opened her backpack and had shown Corin the three aged, leather-bound books inside. Corin had been fascinated by the elaborate scribblings on the pages, and by the woman’s explanation of how those patterns captured and contained a range of stories and knowledge. Knowledge of a world far away from Karn.
‘And in return for my lessons,’ Hellin had finished, ‘all I ask is that, for a few hours each week, you’ll also let me tell you about the teachings of The Lord Aiduel, from this book here.’ She had patted the cover of the largest of the three tomes. ‘This is the Holy Book.’
Corin had been trying to conceal his excitement, wondering about the secrets hidden on the pages of the three books.
He had eventually replied, ‘I’m Chosen by the Gods, and I’ll always honour the Gods for that reason, but I agree to your proposal. You will teach me letters, and numbers. In return, I’ll listen when you talk about this man, Aiduel.’
Ever since then, they had spent an hour together each day. The middle-aged woman had become Corin’s teacher, and he had learned a lot. From the outset, Corin had relished the world of knowledge which was opening up to him, and Hellin had expressed astonishment about his speed of learning.
Corin could now add and subtract numbers in the thousands, and he had used this skill to calculate how many people now lived within his domain. The answer was over two thousand.
More significantly, he could also now interpret the previously meaningless scribblings on the page. He had read from each of Hellin’s three books, including the one that she called the Holy Book. In Corin’s opinion, this latter tome was a confusing combination of a story of the man Aiduel’s life, and also a record of the things which he had said. Hellin often quoted those latter statements, in regular conversation.
So far, Corin had only read selected short passages from the book, and that had been undertaken very slowly. However, from this and from Hellin’s descriptions, he was beginning to form a picture of the man Aiduel, and he liked him. This Aiduel had come from close to nothing, and he had risen to be a leader. He also seemed to have been fair, and caring, for most of the time, but had been utterly ruthless when necessary.
Corin could not help but notice the similarities between the man Aiduel and himself. Certainly, Aiduel was also described as possessing special powers. However, some of Aiduel’s purported actions sounded preposterous, and far beyond Corin’s abilities.
In one story which Hellin had read out loud, Aiduel had raised up all the water from a lake and had cast it onto a city of sinners, to wash away their foulness.
Corin had laughed upon hearing this, and had asked, ‘Did this man Aiduel use that power on the well, when he needed a drink?’
The comment had earned him a glare followed by a reprimand.
Hellin insisted that the stories of this man Aiduel were true, and she stated that he was worshipped throughout all of the lands to the east. She regularly reiterated that her mission was to try to convert the people of Bergen, including Corin, to the path of The Lord.
One night, Corin had challenged her on this, and had said, ‘But he’s just a man. We worship the Gods. Banta. Cint. Mella. Karo. So many others. You worship a man.’
‘He was a man who became a god,’ she had replied. ‘The only true God, Our Lord.’
‘The Gods are the Gods. In our lands, a man cannot become one.’
She had stared at him, then had smirked. ‘So says Corin of the Karn, the man they call Mella Reborn, the God in the West.’
Corin had been unable to respond to that.
–
The winter had otherwise been a productive one. Corin had encouraged the sharing of resources between the five Chosen clans, such that none had suffered shortages during the most difficult season of the year.
In those periods when the weather had been milder, he had also spent time at both the Anath and Borl villages, and he could feel their acceptance of him growing.
Even more significantly, two more clans, the Kelma and the Milni, had become part of the Chosen Alliance. Both of these had received word of Corin’s invitation to join the growing group in return for accepting his leadership. In addition, a further three clans had made overtures to start discussions in the spring, although this had not yet progressed. Corin could perceive that his objective of peace was coming to fruition.
A handful of weeks earlier, however, he had encountered a potential dark cloud over that vision. He had been in discussion and negotiation with Clan Chief Dorlan of the Kelma. Corin had been asking about the Kelma clan’s motivation for joining the alliance, when the wiry chief had first mentioned rumours of a collection of barbarous clans to the south.
When Corin had enquired further, Dorlan had replied, ‘We’ve been told that they’ve swept over clan after clan. Killing their men, and taking their women and children as slaves. I’ve heard the name Kurakee mentioned, although for my people it’s only rumours of horrible things done to clans we don’t know. But if they do come north to our lands, Dorlan doesn’t want the Kelma to stand against these Kurakee alone.’
