The Rogue Dragon by Phoebe Ravencraft

Author:Phoebe Ravencraft
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phoebe Ravencraft

Twenty-two

Arch-temple of Frey, Drasilia, Alfar

May knew there was going to be trouble as soon as Mother Gladheart opened her mouth. May hadn’t heard a Freyalan priest quote Frey’s Third Epistle since before the Elfin Civil War. Rightly or wrongly, Shendali fundamentalists had hijacked that scripture for their own manifesto. It had become the gospel of revolutionaries. So, if Mother Gladheart was using it, it was almost certain she was setting herself against the Coalition.

And May had anticipated that. She’d come to temple this Freysday in uniform. She made sure to set up her prayer mat up on the floor in front of the pulpit, so she would be clearly visible during the lecture. And she had a member of the Elite Guard stationed in the back of the temple, with more outside.

She prayed Mother Gladheart would not cross the line, would not incite revolution. But May was fully prepared to arrest her, and the priest’s choice of scripture made her certain that was exactly where this was headed.

“The truth is an uncomfortable neighbor for the corrupt,” Gladheart read. “Indeed, it is a disquieting citizen for a Godless government. Those who shun God, who reject his message, who prefer their own whims and desires to the demands of the Divine Will would shackle the truth. They would lock it away in their dungeons of lies and darkness, seeking to forever squelch its searing light.”

May wished she could believe Mother Gladheart had found an interpretation that took the epistle back from Shendali fundamentalism, but she’d been listening to her lectures for weeks now. There was no reason to believe she was de-escalating her rhetoric.

“For the truth,” Mother Gladheart continued, “though liberating, is also often painful, and it does not accommodate the ambitions of the unjust. No government that seeks to fetter truth enjoys God’s blessing.”

She closed the Wisdom of Frey and stared at the book’s leather cover for a moment. She appeared to be trying to think of what to say. May rolled her eyes. She didn’t doubt that Gladheart knew every word she would speak exactly right down to the articles and prepositions.

“My friends,” she said, looking up at last and appearing sad. “I regret to inform you I am going to be arrested.”

Oh, shit, May thought.

A gasp went through the congregation. May had been expecting a rhetorical tactic like this one, but she hadn’t foreseen Gladheart going straight for the throat. Now, if May arrested her, Mother Gladheart, would be seen as a martyr. And if she didn’t, May would have to allow her to continue to rally action against the government.

“Yesterday,” Gladheart continued, “Ora Gildenstar came to see me.”

What? The minister hadn’t been instructed to speak with Gladheart. No formal action of any kind had been decided upon.

“Of course, it’s not unusual for the Minister of Faith to visit with her priests,” Gladheart went on. “It’s quite natural and appropriate.

“No, it wasn’t the visit that causes me sadness. It is what he said.”

Oh, shit, May thought. God damn you, Gildenstar, what did you do?

“You see, Minister Gildenstar warned me I would be arrested.

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