A Matter of Death - Chapter 1

With May's middle of the month chaos, I'm behind on my writing schedule. Unfortunately, that means A Matter Death will not be out on June 15th as I'd planned. I'm making a serious push to write a sizable chunk this week. By the time I post Chapter 3, I should have a solid release date for you.

In the meantime, enjoy!
==========================

The queen’s army arrived in Orrin at First Morning on Fifth Day, exactly a week after the demons were discovered and destroyed inside the Temples of Balance and Death. Everyone at the Temple of Light, except the wardens on duty, were at morning prayers when the peacekeeper arrived with the news regarding their visitors from the capital.

Shi Hua watched as Magistrate DiCook’s messenger whispered to Brother Jeremy, the acting seat of the Temple. Chief Warden Nicholas rose and joined the two men, probably more out of worry a priest he was charged with protecting might be harmed rather than curiosity.

Once the peacekeeper scurried out of the main sanctuary, Jeremy bowed to the civilians attending the dawn services. “Forgive me for our abbreviated worship, but Sister Shi Hua and I have been called to other duties.”

She scrambled to her feet, sketched the requisite gesture of respect toward the statue of Light, and crossed the sanctuary to join Jeremy. Are you sure the queen requested my presence? she asked silently.

Amusement filled his eyes. The crown princess is leading the army, and yes, she specifically asked for you. She’s with Duke Marco and Prince Alika at the duke’s estate along with Reverend Father Farrell.

Of course. It would not do for the crown princess to ignore the local nobility. She would need their vassals to augment her forces. Nor could she meet with one Orrin Temple alone without arousing the ire of the other eleven, which was why Jeremy had been summoned though he’d be the last person to protest a snub. Unfortunately, the queen, the duke of Orrin and the chief justice of Balance were too entwined in both their personal and professional relationships to totally avoid all questions of impropriety.

To add to the political complications, half of the Sea Peoples fleet still anchored in Orrin’s harbor. Prince Alika and several of his captains refused to leave Issura after the discovery of the demons and their eggs in the city. While captains and sailors of the departing ships had been truthspelled, no one could guarantee the ships weren’t carrying demons or eggs without the odd sight of Orrin’s chief justice to search people, ships, and all property for demon contamination.

However, Prince Alika didn’t have a distance speaker with him, and it would be nigh impossible for Shi Hua to contact someone in the islands she didn’t know. So he sent half his fleet home on the chance they could successfully raise the alarm.

I still don’t know why the crown princess would want to speak to me, Shi Hua protested silently while she jogged alongside Jeremy to the stables, their wardens following as if they were second shadows. It didn’t help matters that she was not an Issuran citizen, though both her own Reverend Father of Light in Jing and the Reverend Father of Light here in Issura had agreed to the temporary transfer. With the spate of demon activity over the last month and a half, Shi Hua wondered if she’d ever see home again.

Because right now, you are our primary contact with Tandor, Jeremy chided. And our sister city is under a demon attack.

Shi Hua swallowed a groan. She’d only talked with High Brother Luc, Chief Justice Anthea, and Ambassador Quan twice, once before the demon army arrived at Tandor’s doorstep and once after. Since then, she hadn’t been able to penetrate the demon’s magic, not even with assistance from other priests and priestesses in Orrin. All she knew for sure was those loyal to the queendom of Issura still held the city of Tandor. Otherwise, the demons would already be hammering at Orrin’s gates.

This was not going to be an enjoyable meeting at the duke’s estate. And she hadn’t broken her fast yet.

Who else will be there? she asked silently as she and Jeremy saddled their mounts. Chief Warden Nicholas and Warden Mateqai did the same. There had been too many assassination attempts against clergy in Orrin over the last month and a half. And after last week, not one of the Temple wardens allowed any of the clergy to attend the privy without a guard. High Brother Han and High Sister Bertrice are already there. The other seats are on their way.

Of course. The seat of Conflict was responsible for organizing the city’s defenses with the local nobility and the magistrate in the case of an attack. And demons had managed to have themselves delivered to the Temple of Death by wearing the bodies of a murdered peacekeeper and his family.

“What about Justice Yanaba?” Shi Hua asked.

Jeremy looked down at her from atop his horse. “You’re the one visiting her every day. What do you think?”

Jeremy’s gentle question was an answer in itself. Shi Hua climbed onto her own mount. The junior justice had nearly killed herself defending the city from the demons who’d snuck into Orrin wearing human skins. She shuddered. They’d come so close to losing the city, and its defense had been costly.

“You know High Mother Bianca will find a way to insert herself into this meeting,” Mateqai said.

Nicholas shot his junior warden a dirty look, but Jeremy merely nodded.

“If she is there, fine.” Jeremy sounded far older than his twenty-one winters. “All of the Temples need to let go of our petty differences. We have demons on our border, and we must work together.”

“Yes, sir.” Mateqai nodded.

Nothing more was said on the ride to the duke’s estate.

* * *

Loud voices and tension thickened the air in Duke Marco’s great hall when Shi Hua and the rest of the party from Light arrived. A huge map of Issura covered most of a large table. Whatever argument had been happening died as the duke’s steward announced their presence.

At the sight of High Mother Bianca seated next to Duke Marco, Shi Hua glanced at Mateqai. The corner of her warden’s mouth quirked, but otherwise, he kept the solemn mien the situation warranted.

However, High Mother Bianca sat on the duke’s left. His sister, Lady Alessa, sat on his right. Shi Hua wondered if she’d be allowed to extended felicitations to Lady Katarina before they left. The duke’s wife was Temple-born herself and had made a point of welcoming Shi Hua to Orrin. But she was also very aware of the politics between the orders. If Lady Katarina weren’t so close to her delivery, she would no doubt make sure Bianca wasn’t anywhere near her husband. On the other hand, Bianca may have inserted herself between the duke and Prince Alika on purpose so she wasn’t sitting next to her fellow clergy. There was still a quiet debate about whether she had been used by the traitor Gerd to remove Chief Justice Anthea by way of false accusation or whether Bianca was smarter about covering up her illicit activities than Gerd had been.

It was a bit of a relief when Reverend Father Farrell’s face lit up with a huge grin. “Just the people we need to speak with!”

The head of the Issuran order of Light sat at the opposite end of the table to the left of an imposing woman. Shi Hua sucked in her breath when Crown Princess Chiara turned to appraise the newcomers.

Not even Emperor Bao Chengwu of Jing gave off such an intimidating air. The crown princess’s long, sharp face was almost masculine in appearance. She didn’t bother with any accoutrements or insignia of her rank, other than her own gray-streaked blue-black braids wrapped and pinned in the shape of a coronet on her head. She dressed in plain black leather and steel chainmail. Her dark eyes were piercing, and Shi Hua had no doubt the crown princess missed little of what happened around her.

Following Jeremy’s lead, Shi Hua bowed.

“We come to serve, Your Highness,” Jeremy murmured.

A wry smile lightened the crown princess’s face. “From what your colleagues have said, it sounds to me like you and your Temple have been doing more than your fair share of service, Brother Jeremy.” She gestured at the two people on the other side of the Reverend Father.

To his left was High Brother Han of Conflict. The normally jovial priest was especially somber behind his bushy red beard.

Beside Han sat High Sister Bertrice of Death. Her cropped hair gleamed silver in the morning light from the manse’s high windows. She didn’t look any happier than Han.

“Please take a seat, Brother Jeremy. I’d like to ask both you and Sister Shi Hua some questions about the events in Orrin over the last two months.” The crown princess pointed at two empty chairs between another man on her right dressed in the same military garb as the crown princess and Orrin’s magistrate Malven DiCook.

Worry wormed its way through Shi Hua, and not just because the heir to the throne of Issura knew her name. She’d never feared the people here before, but Ambassador Quan had always been with her at these types of meetings. As his bodyguard, her attention had been consumed with watching for dangers to him.

But then came the discovery of renegades infiltrating Issura’s Temple of Light and her temporary transfer to Orrin. High Brother Luc’s irritation with her performance as a priestess would be a mosquito bite compared to the displeasure and consequences should she incur Crown Princess Chiara’s wrath.

For the next candlemark, Shi Hua and Jeremy were questioned. About their first encounter with a demon egg last autumn. The abduction and recovery of High Brother Luc. The more recent discovery of demons wearing human skins. Justice Yanaba’s spell to freeze and destroy the demons, the one that nearly killed her. The demon eggs hidden in the corpses of Peacekeeper Dante and his family.

But when Crown Princess Chiara questioned the wisdom of Chief Justice Anthea and High Brother Luc’s absence at such a crucial time, everyone from Orrin erupted in protest.

Everyone except High Mother Bianca.

“Enough.” The crown princess slapped the table hard enough that goblets, wine decanters, and even the parchment map jumped and shivered.

Everyone went silent until Reverend Father Farrell cleared his throat. “It was mine and Reverend Mother Alara’s decision to send the two of them to Tandor—”

The crown princess held up her forefinger.

His face flushed. “I will not be silent when you question—”

“I will not tell you again, Reverend Father,” she said coldly before she turned her intimidating gaze on Shi Hua. “Why aren’t you defending them, Sister?”

Shi Hua swallowed hard. “It’s not my place—”

“No, your place is in a Temple in Jing.” The crown princess’s eyes narrowed. “But you’re here, and I’ll use whatever resources are at hand. Now, why aren’t you defending them?”

Shi Hua dug her nails into her palms to keep from retorting in kind. Quan had never been this rude, even for the short time he had been the crown prince of the empire. She lifted her chin. “Because Chief Justice Anthea and High Brother Luc don’t need to be defended. They know their duty, and they have served to the best of their abilities.”

Something thawed in the crown princess’s icy demeanor. “Even if such service means the ultimate sacrifice?”

Shi Hua worked to keep her face impassive, but her gut clenched. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t broken her fast after all. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Crown Princess Chiara faced High Mother Bianca. “You were the only one from Orrin who didn’t take umbrage at my words. Why?”

The priestess cast a sly look in Reverend Father Farrell’s direction. “It’s not my place to question the instructions from the heads of other orders.” She turned to the crown princess. “But as Sister Shi Hua has stated, our seats of Balance and Light will defend the queendom from demons with their very lives if need be.”

The crown princess blew out a deep breath. “Since we’ve lost contact with our clergy in Tandor, we must assume the worst.” Her gaze bore into Bertrice. “High Sister, can you activate the defense spells at your sister Temple in Tandor from here?”

Bertrice’s face paled to nearly the color of her hair. “Your Highness, you cannot be serious!”

Crown Princess Chiara leaned her elbows on the scarred wood, her palms pressed together, and her chin resting on her fingertips. “I fear High Mother Bianca is right, albeit indirectly. Destroying the Duchy of Tandor may be the only way to stop the demon army.”