reached inside his surcoat and removed the canvas pouch. He untied the drawstring then shook the Sapphire Rose out into his hand. It had been several days since he had felt even the faintest twinge of that shadowy, unnamed dread, but it returned once again as soon as his eyes touched the Sapphire Rose, and once again that shapeless shadow, even darker and larger now, flickered just beyond his field of vision.
‘Dear God,’ Preceptor Abriel gasped.
‘That’s it, all right,’ the Thalesian Komier grunted. ‘Get it out of sight, Sparhawk.’
‘But –’ Preceptor Darellon protested.
‘Did you want to keep your soul, Darellon?’ Komier asked bluntly. ‘If you do, don’t look at that thing for more than a few seconds.’
‘Put it away, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia said.
‘Have we had any news about what Otha’s doing?’ Kalten asked as Sparhawk dropped Bhelliom back into its pouch.
‘He appears to be holding firm at the border,’ Abriel replied. ‘Vanion told us about the confession of the bastard Lycheas. It’s very likely that Annias has asked Otha to stand on the border making menacing noises. Then the Primate of Cimmura can claim that he knows a way to stop the Zemochs. That should sway a few votes his way.’
‘Do we think that Otha knows Sparhawk’s got Bhelliom?’ Ulath asked.
‘Azash does,’ Sephrenia said, ‘and that means Otha does as well. Whether the news reached Annias yet is anybody’s guess.’
‘What’s happening in Chyrellos?’ Sparhawk asked Vanion.
‘The latest word we have is that Archprelate Cluvonus is still hanging on by a thread. There’s no way we can hide the fact that we’re coming, so we’re just going to bull our way on through to Chyrellos. There’s been a change of plans now that Otha’s made his move. We want to reach Chyrellos before Cluvonus dies. It’s obvious that Annias is going to try to force the election as soon as he can now. He can’t really start giving orders until after that. Once Cluvonus dies, though, the Patriarchs Annias controls can start calling for votes. Probably the first thing they’ll vote on is the sealing of the city. That won’t be a matter of substance, so Annias probably has the votes to get it passed.’
‘Can Dolmant make any kind of estimate about how the vote stands just now?’ Sparhawk asked.
‘It’s close, Sir Sparhawk,’ Preceptor Abriel told him. Abriel was the leader of the Cyrinic Knights in Arcium. He was a solidly-built man in his sixties with silvery hair and an ascetic expression. ‘A fair number of Patriarchs aren’t in Chyrellos.’
‘A tribute to the efficiency of Annias’s assassins,’ the Thalesian Komier said dryly.
‘Most probably,’ Abriel agreed. ‘At any rate, there are one hundred and thirty-two Patriarchs in Chyrellos now.’
‘Out of how many?’ Kalten asked.
‘One hundred and sixty-eight.’
‘Why such an odd number?’ Talen asked curiously.
‘It was arranged that way, young man,’ Abriel explained. ‘The number was selected so that it would take one hundred votes to elect a new Archprelate.’
‘One hundred and sixty-seven would have been closer,’ Talen said after a moment.
‘To what?’ Kalten asked.
‘The hundred votes. You see, one hundred votes is 60 per cent of –’ Talen looked at Kalten’s uncomprehending expression. ‘Ah – never mind, Kalten,’ he said. ‘I’ll explain later.’
‘Can you come up with those numbers in your head, boy?’ Komier asked with some surprise. ‘We’ve wasted a bale of paper grinding out computations then.’
‘It’s a trick, My Lord,’ Talen said modestly. ‘In my business you sometimes have to deal with numbers very rapidly. Could I ask how many votes Annias has right now?’
‘Sixty-five,’ Abriel replied, ‘either firm or strongly leaning towards him.’
‘And we have?’
‘Fifty-eight.’
‘Nobody wins then. He needs thirty-five more votes, and we need forty-two.’
‘It’s not quite that simple, I’m afraid,’ Abriel sighed. ‘The procedure set down by the Church Fathers says that it takes one hundred votes – or a like proportion of those present and voting – to elect a new Archprelate, or to decide all matters of substance.’
‘And that’s what used up that bale of paper,’ Komier said sourly.
‘All right,’ Talen said after a moment’s thought. ‘Annias only needs eighty votes then, but he’s still fifteen short.’ He frowned. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said. ‘Your numbers don’t add up. You’ve only accounted for one hundred and twenty-three votes, and you said there were one hundred and thirty-two Patriarchs in Chyrellos.’
‘Nine of the Patriarchs have still not decided,’ Abriel told him. ‘Dolmant suspects that they’re just holding out for bigger bribes. There are votes from time to time on non-substantive matters. In those cases, it only takes a simple majority to win. Sometimes the nine will vote with Annias and sometimes they won’t. They’re demonstrating their power to him. They’ll vote to their own advantage, I’m afraid.’
‘Even if they all vote with Annias every time, they still won’t make any difference,’ Talen said. ‘No matter how you stretch nine votes, you can’t turn them into fifteen.’
‘But he doesn’t need fifteen,’ Preceptor Darellon said wearily. ‘Because of all the assassinations and all the church soldiers in the streets of Chyrellos, seventeen of the Patriarchs opposed to Annias have gone into hiding somewhere in the Holy City. They aren’t present and voting, and that changes the numbers.’
‘This is all beginning to make my head ache,’ Kalten said to Ulath.
Talen was shaking his head. ‘I think we’re in trouble, My Lords,’ he said. ‘Without those seventeen to raise the total, the number to win is sixty-nine. Annias only needs four more votes.’
‘And as soon as he can come up with enough money to satisfy four of those nine hold-outs, he’ll win,’ Sir Bevier said. ‘The boy’s right, My Lords. We’re in trouble.’
‘We have to change the numbers then,’ Sparhawk said.
‘How do you change numbers?’ Kalten asked. ‘A number is a number. You can’t change it.’
‘You can if you add to it. What we have to do when we get to Chyrellos is find those seventeen Patriarchs who are hiding and get them safely back to the Basilica to participate in the vote. That would bring the number Annias needs to win back up to eighty, and he can’t reach that number.’
‘But neither can we,’ Tynian pointed out. ‘Even if we brought them back, we’d still only have fifty-eight votes.’
‘Sixty-two
