บท 11: Karten
A young nun pops her head into the quiet and high-ceilinged waiting room. "Corporal-priest Jak?" she asks, prettily. I rise from the grey-leather bench, nod at Akeh standing at ease nearby, and follow the nun down a short but very tall and ornate corridor. At the end of the corridor two seriously-armoured churchmen stand casually with their hands resting on sword hilts.
The nun draws to a stop then she raps her knuckles on a huge ajar door. We wait in uncomfortable silence for some time. The nun glances at me and flashes a small half-smile. We wait a little longer then I hear a soft but unrecognisable word from inside. The young lady then clearly and efficiently announces my name and rank, pushes the door a little more and indicates that I should enter.
The office is larger than I expected though identical in style to the corridor. Beside a very tall window overlooking the circular road, a slender, bearded man rises from a large plain desk and strides towards me with surprising ease. His church robes part slightly to reveal the woven-gold sash that indicates his unique rank.
Lord-Bishop Karten glances over my shoulder, makes a brief gesture and the door behind me closes. "Welcome to the Holy Army, recruit." His clear resonant voice is a little startling in the silence of the room.
He pauses, peering at me with intense blue-grey eyes. His face is somehow gentle and grave. It takes me a moment and his raised eyebrow before I realise what I have forgotten. "Oh!" I salute quickly, touching my right middle finger to my breast and tilting my head forward. "Thank you, Lord-Bishop" I blurt.
He walks over to a lounge setting before an unlit fireplace and simply points at the chair opposite which I take. It is only when I am seated that I notice the head-glow of lancemen guards standing quietly in the four shaded corners of his office. My mind is now racing: is this the cruel madman or the genius manipulator?
"Corporal-priest, am I right to understand that on this, your very first day, you passed a select recruitment test uninvited, learned an unwritten arcane ritual, killed eighty-one enemy warriors to save a barracks, and," Karten consults a report, "all before lunch."
I am lost for a reply as my blood has run cold. "I did have a melonfruit for breakfast," I let out.
Wait. Eighty-one? Did so many die?
Karten looks at me. The silence occupies the room for a little longer than I am comfortable with. So I add, "It was quite fresh." There is more silence.
Karten abruptly throws back his head and lets out a powerful laugh. He laughs heartily until he touches his eye and collects himself. Two of the corner lancemen visibly alarmed by the laugh relax.
"Oh my, corporal-priest. Forgive me. It has been quite some time since I've laughed in this place." He regards the unlit fireplace sadly for a moment. "Please answer me this question: Why did you enlist?"
I'm a little unnerved by the undulations in mood but decide to say what comes into my head anyway. "I am upholding a promise made to commander Raehla. But mainly I think I was moved by the words of recruiter Goran. He said I would be helping to protect the people of my city."
Karten quietly considers my answer. "Could you expand, please? Who would you be protecting?"
"My friends from the Crane district." I'm surprised my thoughts on this are so clear. Karten continues to look at me, so I fill in the silence. "Ratty, Noel, Little Ed, Starra and her missing stepsister Roa. Old Kreiny, he's a tavern guard and has the strangest stories. The Triekt brothers who like dog races and treat us well when we let them know about trouble nearby. Frogface, who chases me when I take his fruit. The fat churchman who always waves and sometimes lets us sleep in the parklands so long as we stay hidden. Lady Sellen of Avex Road who decorates her housefront every festival, and bakes nutbread for the homeless on Sundays..." I pause. "These are people I ... I don't want to lose."
Karten strokes his beard quietly for a while, then stands. "Thank-you, corporal-priest. I have high expectations of you; Commander-sister Raehla tells me that the wand may turn the sky all colours and I look forward to seeing that. But enough for today. I may call upon you again for another talk. Please return to your duties, and convey my approval to Commander-sister Raehla."
This meeting seemed far too short to me, but I stand quietly, remembering to salute again, and leave.
Akeh accompanies me on the journey back to Juqus 4. We chat about what I thought of the Lord-Bishop then he drops me off and takes his leave. I need to change out of this fancy uniform so I head into the men's quarters only to find three women in hooded fatigues sitting on my bunk.
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