There was a stir at the door, and two frightened-looking Patriarchs crept into the hall and then scurried to places on the red-cushioned benches. Kalten stood grinning at the door for a moment, then left again.

‘Well?’ Sparhawk whispered to Talen.

‘Those two bring the total up to one hundred and nineteen,’ Talen whispered back. ‘We’ve got forty-five, and Annias still has sixty-five. He needs seventy-two now instead of seventy-one. We’re getting closer, Sparhawk.’

It took the secretary of the Primate of Cimmura some while longer to complete his computations. Annias scribbled a one-word note to Makova. Sparhawk, watching over the Primate’s shoulder read the single word, ‘vote’.

The issue Makova put to the vote was a pure absurdity. Everyone knew that. The only question the vote was designed to answer was upon which side the nine neutral Patriarchs clustered in a now-frightened group near the door would come down. After the tally, Makova announced the results in a tone of dismay. The nine had voted in a block against the Primate of Cimmura.

The huge door opened again, and three black-robed monks entered. Their cowls were raised, and their pace was ritualistically slow. When they reached the dais, one of their number removed a folded black cover from beneath his robe, and the three solemnly spread it over the throne to announce that the Archprelate Cluvonus had finally died.

Chapter 9

‘How long will the city be in mourning?’ Tynian asked Dolmant that afternoon when they had gathered once again in the Patriarch’s study.

‘A week,’ Dolmant replied. ‘The funeral takes place then.’

‘And nothing happens during that period?’ the blue-cloaked Alcione Knight asked. ‘No sessions of the Hierocracy or anything?’

Dolmant shook his head. ‘No. We’re supposed to spend the period in prayer and meditation.’

‘It’s a breathing-space,’ Vanion said, ‘and it should give Wargun time to get here.’ He frowned. ‘We still have a problem, though. Annias doesn’t have any more money, and that means that his hold on his majority grows shakier every day. He’s probably growing desperate by now, and desperate men do rash things.’

‘He’s right,’ Komier agreed. ‘I expect Annias will take to the streets at this point. He’ll hold his own votes by terror, and try to reduce the number voting by eliminating Patriarchs loyal to us until he gets the number down to the point where he has a substantive majority. I think it’s time to fort up, gentlemen. We’d better get our friends all together behind some good stout walls where we can protect them.’

‘I’ll certainly agree,’ Abriel concurred. ‘Our position is vulnerable at this moment.’

‘Which of your chapterhouses is closest to the Basilica?’ Patriarch Emban asked them. ‘Our friends are going to have to file back and forth through the streets to participate in deliberations. Let’s not expose them to any more danger than we have to.’