‘Probably – unless the sight of his own blood overpowered him. Let’s have a look.’ Sparhawk bent and tore open the monk’s robe.

The ‘monk’ was a Rendor.

‘Isn’t that interesting?’ Kalten said. ‘It looks as if that crossbowman who’s been trying to kill you has started hiring outside help.’

‘Maybe this is the crossbowman.’

‘No way, Sparhawk. The crossbowman’s been hiding in the general population. Anybody with half a brain would recognize a Rendor. He couldn’t have just mingled with the crowd.’

‘You’re probably right. Give me the dagger. I think I’d better show it to Sephrenia.’

‘Martel really doesn’t want to meet you, does he?’ ’What makes you think Martel’s behind this?’ ’What makes you think he isn’t? What about this?’ Kalten pointed at the body on the floor.

‘Leave it. The caretakers here in the Basilica will run across it eventually and dispose of it for us.’

Many of the church soldiers submitted their resignations when they discovered that they were being placed under the command of the Church Knights – the officers did, at any rate. Resignation is not an option available to common soldiers. These resignations, however, were not accepted, but the knights were not totally insensitive to the feelings of the various colonels, captains and lieutenants who felt strong moral compunctions about commanding their forces under such circumstances. They graciously divested such officers of their rank and enrolled them as common soldiers. They then marched the red-tunicked troops to the great square in front of the Basilica for deployment on the walls and at the gates of the inner city.

‘Did you have any trouble?’ Ulath asked Tynian as the two of them, each leading a sizeable detachment of soldiers, met at an intersection.

‘A few resignations was about all,’ Tynian shrugged. ‘I have a whole new group of officers in this batch.’

‘So do I,’ Ulath replied. ‘A lot of old sergeants are in charge now.’

‘I ran across Bevier a while back,’ Tynian said as the two rode towards the main gate of the inner city. ‘He doesn’t seem to be having the same problem for some reason.’

‘The reason should be fairly obvious, Tynian,’ Ulath grinned. ‘Word of what he did to that captain who tried to keep us out of the Basilica has got around.’ Ulath pulled off his ogre-horned helmet and scratched his head. ‘I think it was the praying afterwards that chilled everybody’s blood the most. It’s one thing to lop off a man’s head in the heat of a discussion, but praying for his soul afterwards has a very unsettling effect on most people for some reason.’