"There can be no doubt of the identity of the coconspirators?" Fio Bou- raiy finally asked. "It was Abbot Olin and truly Marcalo De'Unnero, the same monk who served under Father Abbot Markwart, the same monk who was consumed by the tiger's paw gemstone and driven out of Palmaris by Jilse- ponie, the same monk who led the errant Brothers Repentant in the time of the plague? It was De'Unnero?"
"By the words of Jilseponie, who knew this man better than anyone, it was the same Marcalo De'Unnero," Viscenti confirmed, and he twitched repeatedly, any control he held over his nervous tic washed away by merely speaking the cursed name aloud.
"What does this mean?" asked burly Abbot Glendenhook, standing in what had long been his customary position, both figuratively and literally, at Fio Bou-raiy's side. With news of the grim tidings sweeping the land, Abbot Glendenhook had rushed back to the mother abbey to confer with his trusted friend, the Father Abbot.
"It means the end of the world as we know it," another master glumly remarked.
Fio Bou-raiy snapped his ever-imposing stare over the man, denying the claim visually before he had ever spoken a word. "It means that our time of peace and growth has ended, temporarily," he corrected, his voice stern and steady once more. "It means that we of the true Abellican Order may find ourselves besieged with informants and perhaps traitors, and possibly even by an army from the throne that we always before considered our ally. Surely none among the leadership of St.-Mere-Abelle are unused to adversity, Master Donegal. We have been weaned on the Demon War, on a time of great upheaval within our order, and on a plague. Are you so quick to surrender? "
"My pardon, Father Abbot," Master Jorgen Donegal said, offering a submissive bow. "If Abbot Olin is in league with the new king of Honce- the-Bear, I doubt that he will be friendly toward the current leadership at St.-Mere-Abelle."
"Abbot Olin is Abellican first," Fio Bou-raiy declared. "He understands his position and his responsibility to this church."
"With Marcalo De'Unnero at his side?" Marlboro Viscenti found himself asking before he could find the wisdom to bite back the words, for that simple question deflated any momentum that Father Abbot Bou-raiy might have been gaining here. Bou-raiy hated De'Unnero profoundly, a feeling that was surely mutual. If Abbot Olin was indeed in league with the infamous former monk, then he was surely no friend to St.-Mere-Abelle, nor to the current incarnation of the Abellican Church! "Ursal will demand change within the Church," Abbot Glendenhook observed.
"They already have, according to Jilseponie," said Master Viscenti. "By her account, Abbot Ohwan was reinstated at St. Honce, but only as a plank for Marcalo De'Unnero to walk to the post of abbot."
"The crown has no power to determine abbots!" said Glendenhook.
"Then it has begun already," Fio Bou-raiy put in, and the same despair that had been evident in Master Donegal's voice was showing around the edges here, too. "If this is all true, then we must assume that Abbot Olin and his henchmen are restructuring the Abellican Church to fit their needs."
"Bishop Braumin Herde believes that Ursal will demand that Olin assume the position of Father Abbot," Master Viscenti said bluntly, and though everyone in the room fully expected that, given the line of reasoning, hearing it aloud brought more than a few gasps of astonishment and despair.
Fio Bou-raiy held steady, though, and looked at Master Viscenti hard.
"And where does Bishop Braumin stand on this issue?" he demanded.
Marlboro Viscenti stood up very straight, his slight frame seeming to grow very tall and formidable. "Bishop Braumin supported the election of Father Abbot Bou-raiy," the master from St. Precious reminded. "But even if he had not, Bishop Braumin is a true Abellican, and he would not support any usurpers trying to steal away our Church."
Only after speaking the words aloud did Viscenti realize the irony of them, for hadn't Braumin and all the others come to power through those very means? When Markwart had gone astray, Braumin and Viscenti had led the charge beside Jilseponie and Elbryan to take the Abellican Church from them.
"The Church is not astray," Viscenti quickly added. "We have learned so very much over the last two decades, culminating in the Miracle of Aida.
We follow the way of St. Abelle, and soon-to-be Saint Avelyn. We follow the orders of St.-Mere-Abelle and Father Abbot Fio Bou-raiy with all confidence that those orders are in accordance