The Crimson Campaign

“Not now?” Cheris asked. “If not now, then when? I’ve had enough of Tamas’s iron grip on the city. I didn’t want you to bring this so-called war hero here.”

Taniel turned to go.

“Taniel,” Ricard said. “Give me just a few more moments.”

“Not with her here,” Taniel said. He headed toward the door, only to find his way blocked by Ka-poel. “I’m leaving, Pole.”

She returned his grimace with a cool-eyed shake of the head.

“Look at that!” Cheris said behind him. “The coward flees back to his mala den. He can’t face truth. And you want this man at your side, Ricard? He’s led around by a savage girl.”

Taniel whirled. He’d had enough. His rage piqued, he advanced toward Cheris, one hand held in the air.

“Strike me!” she said, leaning forward to offer a cheek. “It’ll show how much of a man you are.”

Taniel froze. Had he just been ready to hit her? “I killed a god,” he fumed. “I put a bullet through his eye and watched him die to save this country!”

“Lies,” Cheris said. “You lie to me to my face? You think I believe this tripe about Kresimir returning?”

Taniel would have let his hand fly right then if Ka-poel hadn’t slipped around him. She faced Cheris, eyes narrowed. Taniel suddenly felt fear. As much as he wanted to hurt this woman, he knew what Ka-poel was capable of.

“Pole,” he said.

“Out of my face, you savage whore,” Cheris said, getting to her feet.

Ka-poel’s fist connected with her nose hard enough to send Cheris tumbling over the back of the divan. Cheris screamed. Ricard shot to his feet. The group of union bosses still speaking quietly on the other side of the room fell silent, and stared, shocked, toward them.

Cheris climbed to her feet, pushing away Ricard’s attempt to help. Without a look back, she fled the room, blood streaming from her nose.

Ricard turned to Taniel, his expression caught somewhere between horror and amusement.

“I won’t apologize,” Taniel said. “Neither for me nor for Pole.” Ka-poel took a place at his side, arms crossed.

“She was my guest,” Ricard said. He paused, examined his cigar. “More ale,” he called to the barkeep. “But you are my guests as well. She’s going to make me pay for that later. I’d hoped she would be an ally in the coming months, but it appears that is not the case.”

Taniel looked to Ricard, then to the main door, where Cheris was demanding her coachman.

“I should go,” Taniel said.

“No, no. Ale!” Ricard shouted again, though Taniel could see the barkeep heading toward them. “You’re more important than she is.”

Taniel slowly lowered himself back into his seat. “I killed Kresimir,” he said. Part of him wanted to be proud of it, but saying it aloud made him feel ill.

“That’s what Tamas told me,” Ricard said.

“You don’t believe me.”

The barkeep arrived and changed Taniel’s mug for another one, though he’d only finished half. New mugs all around and the man disappeared. Ricard drank deeply of his before he began to speak.

“I’m a practical man,” Ricard said. “I know that sorcery exists, though I am not a Privileged or a Knacked or a Marked. Two months ago, if you’d told me that Kresimir would return, I would have wondered what asylum you’d escaped from.

“But I was there when the Barbers tried to kill Mihali. I saw your father — a man twice as pragmatic as I — go ghost white. He felt something from the chef and — ”

“I’m sorry,” Taniel interrupted. “Mihali?”

Ricard tapped the ash from the end of his cigar. “Oh. You’re very much out of the loop, aren’t you? Mihali is Adom reborn. Kresimir’s brother, here in the flesh.”

Taniel felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Another god? Kresimir’s own brother?

“What I’m trying to get at,” Ricard went on, “is that your father believes that Mihali is Adom reborn. And if Adom has returned, why not Kresimir? So, yes. I believe you shot Kresimir. Is it possible to kill a god? I don’t know.”

He scowled into his mug. “As for the newspapers and the people, they are skeptical. Rumors fly. People are taking sides. Right now it all comes down to a matter of faith, and we have only your word and the word of a few Mountainwatchers that Kresimir returned and took a bullet in the eye.”

Taniel felt his strength leave him. To be thought a fraud after all he went through? It was the final blow. He pointed to the door. “How do they explain South Pike? The entire mountain collapsed.” He heard his voice rise with anger.

“You won’t change anyone’s mind by shouting,” Ricard said. “Believe me. I’m the head of the union. I’ve tried.”

“Then what can I do?”

“Convince them. Show them what kind of a man you are and then, only when they trust you, tell them the truth.”

“That seems… dishonest.”

Ricard spread his hands. “That’s up to your own moral judgment. But me, I think a man who sees it like that is a fool.”