It was a short trip, just through the nave and down a short hall at the other side. Zandrue had one of the Watch stay by the nave doors and the other two just outside Bandren’s office.

Victrin Bandren was a middle-aged Folith whose remaining grey hair was bunched around his ears and ran seamlessly into his short, but bushy beard. He motioned with a slightly pudgy hand to the chairs by his desk. “My Lady, Captain, please sit. Caylum tells me you have half a dozen men with you. That sounds serious. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Zandrue took a seat, but Almais remained standing. She leaned forward, but unfortunately, his scent was masked by perfumes. “I hope so, Father. I’m here in regards to Lady Belone’s repeated attempts to contact Arnor City this past week.”

He had a look of concern on his face, which vanished almost immediately. “Oh, is that all? As I have informed her Ladyship, we have not received a reply yet.”

“It’s been a week,” Zandrue said.

“Most people would not consider that a long time to transport a message across the continent.”

“Come on Father, all of us here are aware the church can get messages across the continent in a day or two at most.”

He held up his hands. “Yes, but sometimes there can be delays.”

“And that’s what you’re saying this is? A delay?”

He raised his hands again. “I see no reason to think otherwise. Her messages are relatively low priority. I’m sure we will get a response soon. You can assure her Ladyship, I will inform her as soon as we hear anything.”

“And when was the last time you heard from Arnor City?”

“We received a routine message at the beginning of the month.”

“What did it say?”

“I’m not sure that’s any of your or Lady Belone’s business; however, I can tell you that it indicated everything was normal. There were certainly no issues to be concerned with despite Lady Belone’s anxieties.”

“Except things haven’t been right in Arnor City for months. You never received word of Princess Sinitïa’s disappearance over two months ago?”

He shook his head. “No, and I would say anyone claiming there was a disappearance is mistaken. My people have reliably informed me Princess Sinitïa is here in Quorge, so there clearly has not been a disappearance.”

“Okay, what about Prince Garet?”

“What about him? I suppose you’re referring to rumours that he died? Yes, I’ve heard those, but if they were true, we’d have heard about it by now. I can assure you his Highness—”

“I was fucking there.”

His eyes widened and he moved back as she leaned in towards him. Gods, this asshole was dense. Rudiger could be in danger and this man wasn’t even willing to accept something as simple as Garet’s death. It made her want to wring his neck.

However, she caught herself and sat back. “I’m sorry, excuse my language. But I can assure you, Father, Prince Garet is dead. I saw his dead body myself. I know for a fact Patriarch Ardon sent messages to every province inviting nobility to the funeral. Most provinces responded, and some even made the trek to attend. But you didn’t receive anything?”

“Most assuredly not.”

“Then you admit something must be wrong.”

He shook his head. “Not at all.”

“With respect, Father,” Almais said, “if Prince Garet is dead, they would have sent a message.”

“I agree,” Bandren said, “which is why I know he isn’t dead. Lady Armida here is obviously mistaken.”

“I’m not mistaken. I happen—”

“How exactly do you know for a fact Patriarch Ardon sent messages out? Been to Arnor City recently enough to get back here ahead of his messages? Know him personally, do you?”

“Yes to both.”

That was a mistake. She knew it as soon as she said it.

Bandren simply looked over at Almais and raised his eyebrows. “Really.”

Zandrue glanced at Almais to try to see his reaction, but he seemed unmoved. She turned back and smiled broadly at Bandren. “Let’s take another angle. Surely you’ve informed Arnor City of all the events here in the last month.”

“Of course.”

“And you don’t find it strange they haven’t responded? The lordship has changed twice, we’ve had Bloods fighting in the streets, and the late Lord Belone’s Isyar went mad. I’d say that stuff would be kind of high priority.”

“I have no control over what his Grace and others in Arnor City deem high priority or when they decide to respond to messages.”

“And what about other places?” Zandrue asked. “Dorg. Or Tyl. Or Collogia, Anywhere else in Arnor. Do you hear from them or send them messages?”

“On occasion.”

“Can you send them a message now?”

“For what reason?”

“To confirm whether they’ve heard from Arnor City and what they’ve heard.”

“Why would I waste their time with something so trivial?”

Zandrue groaned. “Fine. So just how long needs to pass before you’ll find anything unusual in not hearing from Arnor City or anywhere else?”

He stroked his beard. “We get routine messages from Arnor City on the second or third of every month. If one of those were more than a few days late, I would see reason to be concerned.”

Zandrue groaned. “So, a week and half until the second, then a few more days after that. Two weeks, basically?”

Bandren shrugged.

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“Two weeks doesn’t seem too terrible a time to wait,” Almais said.

“It is when there are Darkers involved.” She’d hoped to bring up Darkers a little more delicately, but she was starting to get angry. She needed to control herself better.

Bandren leaned forward. “Darkers? Seriously?”

“In just the last few few weeks, we rounded up a Darker conspiracy at the Royal Palace. There was also one here in Quorge, run by Plavistalorik, the late Lord Belone’s Isyar advisor. She’s dead now, but we need to act before her organisation can pull itself back together and someone else takes control.”

Bandren stared at her for a moment before bursting into laughter. He stood up and circled round his desk, approaching Almais, still laughing. After a moment, he got his laughter under control and looked over at Zandrue. “Captain, I think, not only is Lady Armida mistaken, she’s also quite delusional. Never mind the absurdity of Darker conspiracies, she’s talking like she’s been in two places at the same time. I think we’re done here. I’d appreciate it if you removed your men from the building.” He patted Almais on the shoulder, then motioned to the door.

“We have a warrant, Father,” Almais said. “While Lady Armida may be delusional, her Ladyship, Lady Anita Belone believes what she says.” He held up the warrant.

Bandren’s grin dropped into a scowl, and he snatched the paper. “A warrant for what?”

Zandrue stood and went up beside Bandren. “To search the premises. We’re to look for any signs of conspiracy to hide or change messages received, or failure to send requested messages, or perhaps tampering of the methods you use to send and receive said messages. Basically, evidence of Darkers or other malfeasance.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll be discreet.”

He turned to face her directly and shoved the warrant against her chest. “This has no authority here.” He looked over at Almais. “You can take it with you when you leave.”

“It is signed by her Ladyship,” Almais said, “and cosigned by her Highness, Princess Felitïa.”

“It doesn’t matter. It could be signed by the King himself, and it would make no difference. The Treaty of Elooria.”

Bandren continued to press the warrant against Zandrue’s chest, clearly waiting for her to take it from him, but she wasn’t about to give him that satisfaction.

“The Treaty of Elooria?” Almais said. “I’m sorry, Father. I’m not sure I understand.”

“The Treaty of Elooria, Captain. Signed by the Universal Religion and King Martan after the execution of the Dragon in twenty-one fifteen, it was the core document which unified Arnor as a single country. In return for the Church’s support of Folith rule, it granted unique rights to the Church and gave us the right to self-governance of our own property. In effect, whenever you are in a church, you are effectively no longer on Arnorin soil, but in a sovereign nation. Folith nobility has no authority here.”

Bandren attempted to shove Zandrue harder, presumably to push her away, but she held firm. He wasn’t that strong, and while it was uncomfortable, she could resist him. After a moment, he gave up, dropped the warrant and returned to his seat. “Now, please leave. Both of you. And all your men.”

“I don’t think so,” Zandrue said.

Bandren placed his elbows on his desk and clasped his hands. “I’m sure you could force the issue, but do so and you create a national incident. You will threaten the very stability of the entire country. Without the Church’s support, Arnor will collapse in a matter of months.”

“It may be on the verge of doing that anyway,” Zandrue growled.

“My Lady,” Almais said, “at the risk of you fulfilling your promise and gutting me, I should say I think Father Bandren might be right. I know we have always been instructed to be careful in our dealings with the Church. It’s one of the reasons we rarely go on Church grounds and never without being invited first.”

Zandrue clenched her fists, and held back the desire to scream that she didn’t fucking care, that she was going to search this place no matter what, that lives were on the line—Rudiger’s life! But they were right. She’d seen Ardon use the same threat with the King and Queen.

With a sigh, she placed her palms down on Bandren’s desk and leaned over him. “Fine. We’ll go. But I want you to know, Father, that there is someone very dear to me in Arnor City. No, more than very dear. He’s the love of my life. If he dies because of your stupidity, no treaty, no anything, will stand between you and me slitting your fucking throat. Got it?”

Bandren stared into her eyes, unmoving. “Captain, get this lunatic out of here.”

Before Almais could do anything, Zandrue turned around and headed for the door. “Don’t worry. I’ll show myself out.”

“And Captain, tell her Ladyship and her Highness that this woman is forbidden from Church property, effective immediately. If she ever returns…”

Zandrue didn’t pause to hear the rest of what he said. She just retraced her steps back to the entrance, barely acknowledging the Watchmen as she passed them.

Once she was outside, she stormed over to one of the pillars by the steps and began kicking it. Gods damn it! She’d fucked that up. She hadn’t been thinking straight. Too many thoughts about Rudiger. She’d let those influence her words and actions, also let them get to her temper. Gods damn it, her temper could be a liability at times.

“I am guessing it did not go well.”

Zandrue stopped kicking the pillar and turned to face Jorvan, who had approached her. “You are guessing right.” She took a couple deep breaths. “Sorry for bringing you out here for nothing.”

“That is all right,” Jorvan said. “I am pleased that I was not needed. May I ask what happened?”

Zandrue scrunched her eyes and held back tears. “I fucked up. I…”

Before she could say any more, the Cathedral doors opened and Almais stormed out, followed by the rest of the Watchmen. He came straight over to Zandrue.

“Look, Almais,” she started to say, but he held a finger up in her face.

“You can threaten me all you want, but threatening Bandren like that? That was stupid! Complain that I’m not following your orders. Gut me if you must, but that was beyond stupid! Until then, the situation was salvageable. If we had just left, you could have gone back at a later time and talked more calmly without the intimidation factor. Now, you’re banned from going back. If you do and they catch you, they will execute you and apparently there’s nothing any of the rest of us can do about it. And if there were Darkers in there? Guess what, they just got the edge on you.”

Zandrue stared at him for a few moments. Part of her wanted to lash out back at him, tell him off, scream at him. It would probably make her feel better. Unfortunately, he was right—again—so she just nodded and spoke quietly. “I know.”

He looked as if he was about to say more, but then turned away. “I need to report to the palace and let her Ladyship know what happened. Coming?”

Zandrue shook her head. “No, it’s probably best I don’t. Then you can give her the unfettered truth. Complain about me all you want. Don’t hold back.”

He gave her a confused look, but then shook his head. “Fine. I’m sure we’ll speak later. Good day.” After a pause, he added, “My Lady.” Then he motioned to the Watch, and they all marched away.

Zandrue looked to Jorvan. “Any criticisms you want to add?”

Jorvan shook his head. “I was not there. Perhaps your threats were justified. I do not know.”

“Trust me, they weren’t.”

His head tilted and he stared up at her. “Zandrue, I know I have disapproved of your methods in the past, and we have had...disagreements. However, I do consider you a friend. Do not be too hard on yourself. We all make mistakes. And I know you are worried about Rudiger. That must weigh on you heavily.”

“The worst thing is, Felitïa can’t even give me an update on his condition anymore. I know he was alive a week ago, though with a broken leg. With that dragon there, anything could have happened. He could be dead. He could…” She sniffled and rubbed her nose. “I’m just...I’m so scared.” Gods, she was amazed she was admitting this to Jorvan and not Felitïa. Yet somehow, she’d had a hard time admitting her fears to Felitïa, but Felitïa had been through so much recently. She didn’t need more problems weighing her down. Hell, Felitïa usually had all those sorts of feelings barging into her head uninvited all the time. For now, Felitïa was actually free of that. It wouldn’t be fair for Zandrue to force them on her.

“I understand,” Jorvan said. “I went through similar things in Isyaria when Meleng was kidnapped. It is not easy. Despair threatens to overwhelm you, but you have friends. Do not be afraid to turn to them, and do not lose hope. We will solve this.”

She forced a smile. “Thanks. Come on. We better go before they get mad at me for standing so close.”

Jorvan bowed his head, and they started down the steps. Once they were a little ways down the street, he said, “When will you go back?”

Zandrue allowed herself a short laugh. “You know me pretty well.”

“I know there is clearly something strange going on in that church, and you will not let a simple banishment stop you from finding out. It is too important.”

“You got that right. I figure I’ll go back tonight, sneak in, have a little look around. See what I can find out.”

“Then I will be your back-up again.”

“I appreciate it, but if I’m caught, there won’t be anybody running outside for you to stop. They’ll just kill me.”

“Do not think that I am unwilling to do what is necessary. While I hope it does not become necessary, I am more than willing to break the prohibitions against entering the church if it is necessary. As I said, it is too important. If you need me, call for me, and I will come. The gods will forgive me the transgression.”

Zandrue smiled. “Thanks. In that case, meet me at the back of the cathedral at midnight.”

Jorvan bowed his head. “I will be there.”

Zandrue wiped her eyes. This wasn’t so bad. Indeed, she should have probably done this from the start. Doing it second had certainly put any Darkers on alert, making it a lot harder, but that was okay. She could handle that. Everything would be fine.

Gods, she’d said that in the past and gotten herself into some terrible scrapes, but this time would be different.

Everything would be just fine.