“Why doesn’t their regent simply bow to Safraella?” I complained as the wagon slowly made its way into town behind a line of people entering the city before the sun set.
Faraday shrugged. “It’s a question of geography. Lovero is pushed against the sea on the south and west, and bordered by the dead plains on the north and east. When the Sapienzas took the throne, the people supported a royal line that would bow to Safraella and free the country from the menace of the ghosts. But Yvain is the only city in Rennes pressed against the border of the dead plains. It’s more easily managed with the walls, and any ghosts inside Yvain can’t get farther into the country because of the canals. To the ghosts it’s a labyrinth of waterways.”
“It still seems it would be a good idea to follow Safraella.”
“The people of Yvain, and Rennes as a whole, find our devotion to a goddess who deals in death and murder to be macabre at best.” Faraday chuckled.
“She offers resurrection.”
“Yvain’s patron is Acacius, a minor god of crops and debts. It’s why they have flowers everywhere. And you will find honorable people here. If they accrue a debt, they will do anything to repay it. If they are devout, Acacius gives them their own version of eternal life, by making them one with the land and plants and animals.”
“I’m sorry,” I scoffed. “But I’d rather deal with blood and death and return as a person than water some pretty flowers and pay my debts and come back as a wheat field.”
“Well, you are biased. But for them, becoming part of the land is a form of immortality. They would rather try to live full lives here and now than be faced with death and murder only to be reborn and have to face it all over again. Acacius offers gardens and farms, trees and flowers. You will find little hunger in Rennes.”
We struggled to break free of the crowd, Faraday steering the wagon past the heavy gates of the city walls. He shifted in his seat. “You don’t have to go after the Da Vias, you know.”
I stiffened. I hadn’t told him my plan.
“Don’t be alarmed. It just seems your most likely course of action.” Faraday grinned. “But no one seems to realize you, Lea Saldana, survived the attack on your Family. Very few people get such a clean chance at starting over.”
I pushed my growing anger aside. “You’re suggesting I give up serving Safraella? You? Her disciple?” My whole life I’d been a clipper. If I gave it up now, no one would avenge my Family. Memories of the Saldanas would fade, until we’d simply become another of the lost Families. “Being a clipper is a calling.”
“Oh, I understand a calling. But can it truly be counted one if you’re born into it? Did your mother or father ever ask if you wanted to be something else?”
I snorted. “Who would give up a life of money and power and respect?”
“Those things are gone with the lives of your Family. Those things are fleeting, as you can see. Intangible.”
I looked away, scanning the faces of the crowd around us. They blended together until I didn’t truly see anyone. “I do not care for the turn of this conversation, Brother.”
Faraday held up a hand in surrender. “I apologize. I forget you are not of the church and unused to discussions of philosophy and faith. I spoke out of concern for a sister and that is all.”
“Whatever my plans are, they are well considered.” Find Marcello. Enlist his help. Kill the Da Vias before they realized I’d survived their attack. Simple.
Faraday nodded, then drove the wagon down a street almost as busy as the entrance. He pulled the wagon off to the side and stopped.
“Here we are.” He gestured to a small building to his left. The setting sun highlighted a carving on the door, a blank bone mask. This was a church of Safraella.
“They allow our churches here?” I asked.
“Clippers are not allowed in Yvain, of course, but they do permit a few small churches. Mostly for the use of the monasteries. We return as many bodies from the dead plains to Rennes as we do to Lovero, but many of us can’t make the trip back to our monasteries in one day. I’ll stay here for the night and head back in the morning. There is plenty of room for you, too. The Brothers will be happy to welcome you.”
It would be easy to walk into the church, get a good night’s sleep, then find my uncle in the morning.
But the Addamos were already after me. If they had sent members to the monasteries, then next they’d be heading for the nearest cities, including Yvain. And the first place they’d check would be the churches. Anyone could be made to talk. Anyone.
“This will be where we part ways,” I said.
Faraday’s smile dropped, but he nodded.
I jumped off the wagon and grabbed my two bags. “Thank you, Brother Faraday. I wish I could offer you something. In the past I would’ve granted you good grace with the Saldana Family. I still could, but it’s not worth much these days.”
“I’ll take it.” He leaned over me. “You may be the only Saldana now, but I do not think your Family’s story is complete.”