The Sword of the Lady by Stirling S. M

Author:Stirling, S. M. [Stirling, S. M.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781101134689
Publisher: PENGUIN group

CHAPTER TWELVE

FREE REPUBLIC OF RICHLAND SHERIFFRY OF READSTOWN (FORMERLY SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN) OCTOBER 8, CHANGE YEAR 24/2022 AD

″A hhhh,″ Rudi Mackenzie said, and let himself slide blissfully deeper into one of the tubs to which the Readstowners had shown their guests.

″Ahhh, indeed,″ Odard said happily, sitting up in his own bath and scrubbing at his nails with a small brush. ″Warm hospitality.″

Rudi nodded, with his hair floating around his neck and shoulders.

″Now this, my friends, is an improvement over squatting in a cold creek with your ballocks crawling up, that it is,″ he said. ″Or a cloth and a pan of hot water by a fire with your backside freezing.″

″Or just plain dirt and smell,″ Fred Thurston said. With a wide white grin: ″I remember the first time I came back from a three-week field exercise with my Junior ROTC class. My mother said: How are you? And I just said: Mom, I stink.″

The smile faded; Rudi judged that he was thinking of his father again, or perhaps his mother and sisters, trapped in Boise with an elder brother who′d turned to parricide to make the position of President hereditary. Lawrence Thurston had been about to call real elections. That and the birth of a son to Martin′s wife had sealed his fate.

If his mother suspects that Martin killed his father that will be a grim thing indeed, the Mackenzie thought. Having to treat her son as before, knowing herself watched and every word and glance weighed to see if she suspects.

He didn′t suppose Martin would hurt his own kin without need . . . but he′d shown himself to be a pellucidly ruthless man. By killing his father, and by allying with the Church Universal and Triumphant.

Though that may simply be the arrogance of a young man who thinks he can ride the tiger without ending up inside it.

The thoughts ran on as he lay watching the younger man′s misery fade, or at least burrow deeper:

Or does Fred wonder if they believe Martin′s tale that he was responsible? That would be an extra twist of the knife in his chest, surely it would. Not likely though, I would say. His mother struck me as a very clever lady indeed. And none too friendly with Martin′s wife, who I think has been whispering ambition into his receptive ear for years now.

″This rather reminds me of the baths at Mt. Angel,″ Ignatius said, after a swift glance at the younger Thurston′s face. ″The layout is similar.″

He′s a kindly man, the good Father, Rudi thought. A gentle one, even. Except when there′s a sword in his hand, the which you would not think unless you′d seen him fight. And then he is a thing of terror to anyone on the sharp and pointy end.

″That it is,″ he said aloud. ″Though not as prayerful, to be sure. It was an interesting thing, the first time I scrubbed my hide with a brother reading Scripture from the lectern.″

The Mackenzie heir was a frequent guest at

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