Many thanks to Raal for reviewing (woot! My first review ever!) once again. But I think what Eddings meant when Sparhawk was made into Prince Consort instead of king was that he knew that Ehlana was the one who was going to be running the country (does that make sense?) Ack, if you lived in my town, I could lend you my 3 in 1 Tamuli. Fixed the titles in previous chapter! No point in disclaiming, since us being here at fanfiction.net takes care of that, no? *g* This chapter is the one where we find out why Talen is in town, and possible connotations of the way as to what the problem is.
My god, I love Protestants.
The streets of Cimmura were cold, and mostly deserted except when they neared places whose opening hours were now, in the small hours of the night.
Sparhawk and his daughter walked together and slightly behind Naween, who was keeping an eye out and leading the way.
"Father, pick me up," Aphrael said, and Sparhawk obediently did so.
"Father, stand on your head and bark like a dog."
"I'm not going to do that, Aphrael," her father said evenly. "What's eating at you?"
"Do you have to wear this thing?" she asked, ignoring his question and poking at his chain mail.
"Yes. We are going to be meeting an old friend, and it is polite to dress nicely when meeting such friends," he told her. "If you're out of sorts because of Talen, then may I suggest for you to not be do selfish? You two aren't married yet."
"Selfish!?" her voice rose several octaves. "Selfish?!"
Naween turned back to look at them, a look of rebuke on her face. "If you please, Prince Sparhawk - we are going through a dark part of Cimmura. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves."
Danae gave her a brilliant smile. "Of course, Naween," she agreed. "As you say."
Sparhawk scowled.
"What are you planning?" he asked his daughter bluntly as they approached Naween's establishment and he placed her gently on her feet.
He did not get an answer.
"Here we are," Naween slowed to a stop outside an innocent seeming wooden door. The glass windows had curtains drawn, but it was brightly lit. She gently opened the door, and allowed Sparhawk and Danae to go in before her.
It was like taverns the world over. The one difference, however, was the silence emanating from the armed men sitting around the bar, looking rather guilty.
"Sparhawk!" exclaimed a teenage boy, obviously relieved. "Thank god you're here..." then he looked apologetic. "He got away. I'd marked him out immediately, of course, but I had to go get Platime - I didn't trust anyone else, and Naween had gone to get you..." his voice trailed off as he caught sight of the Princess. "Oh dear." He turned to Sparhawk. "Did you have to bring her?" he pleaded.
"She decided to come, Talen," Sparhawk said neutrally. "You know what it's like."
Talen groaned. "She would."
"Danae, save it for later," Sparhawk put a hand on his daugther's shoulder. "So I suppose we have an old friend running loose, haven't we?"
"Yes," Talen grimaced at the look on Danae's face. "I think it has to do with why I came into Cimmura."
"And why did you come? How strange it is that nobody heard of it?" the Child Goddess asked innocently.
"I came on business!" Talen protested. "Khalad sent me," he added for good measure.
"Why did Khalad send you? What's happening in Demos?" Sparhawk was concerned. He felt a duty to his squire's mothers. "Are Aslade and Elys alright?"
"Oh, they're just fine. They're happy as pigs in mud, but our neighbours aren't. You know how the Elene Church has been for corrupt for as long as can be?"
"Of course. Not that you need to tell Dolman this, but how else would it be our Holy Mother Church?"
"Exactly. Well, the peasantry are not happy about the recent developments-"
"What recent developments?" Sparhawk asked sharply. "What exactly has been happening?"
Talen peered at Sparhawk. "You really don't know," he said, sounding amazed. "You really don't. For your information, many monasteries and nunneries were created for purposes other than the worship of God. They take in tithes from the surrounding countryside, of course, but what they do with the tithes isn't making the countryside very happy."
"Oh?" the Pandion Preceptor raised an eyebrow. "What do they do with the money?"
"Basically, they view it as their money, with all the connotations of that statement," Talen coughed. "Plus, it is very likely that many of these... sacred places are no better than they should be, particularly when they greatly resemble houses such as this one."
'This house' being Naween's business place meant there was no other meaning to the boy's words.
"Why hasn't something been done?" Sparhawk wondered.
"The stories only started circulating for a few weeks, but I can tell you that it's gotten the peasantry fired up," Talen nodded for emphasis. "Then about two weeks ago, some men came around and started to make speeches to the people about God, King, and Country. I didn't want to bother you, but Khalad said we should."
"This Khalad sounds sensible," Naween spoke up. "Sparhawk, they're not just some raving lunatics. They're preaching about how corrupt the Elene Church has become, and I do agree. The selling of indulgences isn't the greatest way of gaining forgiveness from God, and most of the stories about the activities in the houses of supposed worship are true." There was a twisted smile on her lips. "I was a nun, so I should know."
A man nearby clattered loudly as he fell off his chair. "You were a nun, Naween?" he shouted. "I've been... for this past week... a nun..." he was shaking like a leaf. "Do you know how much it would cost to buy forgiveness for that?"
The whore gave Sparhawk a sweet smile. "See what I mean?"
Sparhawk sat down on a chair, with his daughter in his lap. "So the Elene Church is corrupt enough for someone to take advantage of the situation. What exactly are they telling the people to do, Talen?"
"Just basically do the opposite of whatever the Elene Church tells you to, and to overthrow the Queen since she is in league with the Archprelate, murder every churchman they can see, and to join a new church where each man can read the Holy Books for himself, without anyone interfering with a man's communication with God. Simple sort of folks, aren't they?"
Yup, Chapter 2! R&R, please? As nasty as possible, and point out every finicky little mistake. :)
