"Monsieur le Baron, me comprenez-vous?"


    oui


    Juste comme ?a,


    Mais


    You


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Thrax


    ow did you know it was poison?"


    "I could smell the hemlock."


    "Of course it would be hemlock." Murad clicked his tongue. "Grandmother! I''ve told her that strychnine is more effective and more modern, but the first thing she does when she sees a stranger is reach for the hemlock. Still disguising it as dried parsley, is she? Putting it next to the fireplace? One of these days she''ll forget and poison herself and Grandfather Rado."


    "Brother Murad," said Nikolai, "this is hardly the time."


    "If you''re concerned about their health," said Andrei. "You should keep them where you can take care of them." His head turned. "And, Mademoiselle, I agree. This secrecy has to go."


    "What do you mean?" asked Kori before anyone else could yell ''Silence, Fool!''


    "The Turks don''t care much about the Western Rhodopes, but the Tsar certainly will. I''ve seen the ethnolinguistic maps they''re drawing up. The justification of this war rests on the libration of our fellow Slavs and Christians, and you''re neither."


    "We know all this already," said Nikolai.


    "In other words," said Kori, "you agree with him. Doctor, what comes next, in your opinion?"


    A surprised chuckle. "Amputation. Or so I''d prescribe to my commanders, if they asked for my opinion. Cut off the Greek and Albanian lands and throw them back to the Turks. I will grant that from the perspective of the appendage in question, the prognosis looks grim."


    "We''ve discussed this scenario as well, and why we should avoid it."


    "What do you suggest?"


    "A rational scheme of social hierarchy."


    "With you at its top, I assume. The Good."


    "Who better?"


    Kori held her breath, listening. Nikolai spoke as if to another priest. No, as if to a respected superior.


    "Our numbers are yet small," Nikolai explained. "Even before the last plague, there were too few of us."


    "There are never enough Good men," said Brother Bogdan.


    And younever leave the mountain at all. Of course you see nothing but the inside of your own skull.


    is


    And who are you, mortal, to make that promise?


    Unless I can find someone who is good at rowing.


    stranger is to be washed, fed, and changed. He is to be given a novitiate''s cell, where he will await his instruction in the Good language."


    "Perhaps after he has slept," said Kori.


    The angle of Nikolai''s voice dipped with his bow. "My Maiden, it is best I begin in instruction at once. I shall attend to this myself."


    Both Theodoros and Murad shivered audibly.


    "We must act quickly," Nikolai went on. "The equinox approaches. By the time of the Rite of Un-Descent, we must know whether this Andrei is a worthy vessel for the Wealthgiver." His voice dropped as his thumbnail rang softly on the edge of his sickle. "Or not."