the other citizens of central and southern Honce-the-Bear had watched Kalas' march from Palmaris throughout the winter, with every town falling into obedient line. Kalas had cut a line straight out to the coast south of St. Gwendolyn, and so it had been obvious for nearly two weeks that he would not stop there, but would turn north to finish his blanketing march.
But this decree, from Duke Kalas himself, had not been so predictable, especially coming in some thirty miles ahead of the front ranks of Kalas' force! The nobleman had formally announced his approach, and his demand that St. Gwendolyn be opened to him and to King Aydrian Boudabras, and that the brothers and sisters of the abbey formally declare Abbot Olin and Master De'Unnero as the rightful leaders of the Abellican Order.
"He knows that we, that I, will never accede to the demands of Marcalo De'Unnero," Glendenhook said to Master Belasarus, another transplant from St.-Mere-Abelle.
"Not in any form!" the master declared. "The man is a dangerous rogue! He is beyond the bounds of rationality itself. There is no place in the Abellican Church for Marcalo De'Unnero, curse his name!"
Abbot Glendenhook patted his large hands in the air to calm the frightened and angry master. "Of course there is no place for him. Father Abbot Bou-raiy has formally banished Marcalo De'Unnero - he did so almost immediately after De'Unnero's disgrace in Palmaris at the hands of Sister Jilseponie."
"And now Abbot Olin has embraced him?" Master Belasarus spat incredulously. "Has the man gone mad?"
"Beyond mad, it would seem," said Glendenhook. "It is no secret that Abbot Olin did not take his defeat by Father Abbot Bou-raiy well. But never could we have imagined this."
"They will march to the gates of St.-Mere-Abelle," Master Belasarus reasoned. "Father Abbot Bou-raiy will not open the abbey for them. Does King Aydrian mean to tear those great gates down?"
Abbot Glendenhook looked down at the parchment once again and offered only a shrug. That was an issue that would be settled later in the season, it seemed, likely before midsummer's day. For Glendenhook now, though, the issue was here before him in the form of this letter. Why had Kalas sent it? Glendenhook and Kalas had met only briefly a couple of times in their lives. In many ways, they were men cut of the same mold. Both lurked in the background of the true power, Fio Bou-raiy and Father Abbot Agronguerre for Glendenhook, and King Danube and now, apparently, King Aydrian for Kalas. They were generals in their respective armies, Glendenhook for the Church and Kalas for the crown. There had been no animosity between them, at least none that Glendenhook had ever noticed.
Was it possible that Duke Kalas had sent this letter so far ahead of the army to give Glendenhook the opportunity to gather up his staff and escape to St.-Mere-Abelle? By all accounts, the roads to the mother abbey were clear of any soldiers.
"What do you want of me, Duke Kalas?" the abbot said quietly.
"He knows that we cannot open our gates for a king demanding such change within the Abellican Church," Master Belasarus remarked.
Glendenhook looked up at him.
"Duke Kalas surely understands that we, none of us, will ever accept the rule of Marcalo De'Unnero," the master explained. "Nor of Abbot Olin, unless he wins the position he so covets by our rules at a College of Abbots."
"Where is Olin?" Glendenhook asked. "Is he still in Behren?"
"By all accounts."
A soft knock sounded on the door of Glendenhook's office. The abbot motioned to Belasarus, who answered, opening the door wide to admit Sovereign Sister Treisa, the highest-ranking woman at the abbey, and a likely successor to Glendenhook. Before the storm that was Aydrian had clouded the Honce-the-Bear sky, there had been rumors that Father Abbot Bou-raiy intended to move Glendenhook to another position, perhaps even as abbot of St. Honce in Ursal, to thus elevate Sovereign Sister Treisa and restore St. Gwendolyn to the control of a woman. Nearing forty, the comely Treisa seemed more than ready to assume the mantle. She had lived through many trials during her years at St. Gwendolyn, including the devastation of the rosy plague and the perversion of Marcalo De'Unnero.
She had come through it all with grace and dignity, and had returned from her personal pilgrimage to Mount Aida to partake of the Miracle of Avelyn with such a profound sense of serenity that she calmed any room simply by entering. She had supported Glendenhook brilliantly over