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.One group served the Radisha.The other was in Soulcatcher’s employ.Once upon a time there had been disagreements after the fact about decisions made during a Privy Council meeting.A table twelve feet long and four wide faced the two women.Four men sat behind its inadequate bulwark.Willow Swan was situated at the left end.His once-marvelous golden hair had gone grey and stringy.At higher elevations, it had grown extremely sparse.Swan was a foreigner.Swan was a bundle of nerves.Swan had a job he did not want but could not give up.Swan was riding the tiger.Willow Swan headed up the Greys.In the public eye.In reality, he was barely a figurehead.If his mouth opened, the words that came out were pure Soulcatcher.Popular hatred deservedly belonging to the Protector settled upon Willow Swan instead.Seated with Swan were three running-dog senior priests who owed their standing to the Protector’s favor.They were small men in large jobs.Their presence at Council meetings was a matter of form.They would not take part in any actual debate, though they might receive instructions.Their function was to agree with and support Soulcatcher if she happened to speak.Significantly, all three represented Gunni cults.Though the Protector used the Greys to enforce her will, the Shadar had no voice in the Council.Neither did the Vehdna.That minority simmered continuously because Soulcatcher arrogated to herself much that properly applied only to God, the Vehdna being hopelessly monotheistic and stubborn about keeping it that way.Swan was a good man inside his fear.He spoke for the Shadar when he could.There were two other men, of more significance, present.They were positioned behind tall desks located back of the table.They perched atop tall stools and peered down at everyone like a pair of lean old vultures.Both antedated the coming of the Protector, who had not yet found a suitable excuse for getting rid of either, though they irritated her frequently.The right-hand desk belonged to the Inspector-General of the Records, Chandra Gokhale.His was a deceptive title.He was no glorified clerk.He controlled finances and most public works.He was ancient, hairless, lean as a snake and twice as mean.He owed his appointment to the Radisha’s father.Until the latter days of the Shadowmaster wars, his office had been a minor one.The wars caused that office’s influence and power to expand.And Chandra Gokhale was never shy about snatching at any strand of bureaucratic power that came within reach.He was a staunch supporter of the Radisha and a steadfast enemy of the Black Company.He was also the sort of weasel who would change all that in an instant if he saw sufficient advantage in so doing.The man behind the desk on the left was more sinister.Arjana Drupada was a priest of Rhavi-Lemna’s cult but there was not one ounce of brotherly love in the man.His official title was Purohita, which meant, more or less, that he was the Royal Chaplain.In actuality, he was the true voice of the priesthoods at court.They had forced him upon the Radisha at a time she was making desperate concessions in order to gain support.Like Gokhale, Drupada was more interested in control than he was in doing what was best for Taglios.But he was not an entirely cynical manipulator.His frequent moral bulls got up the Protector’s nose more often even than the constant, quibbling financial caveats of the Inspector-General.Physically, Drupada was known for his shock of wild white hair.That clung to his head like a mad haystack, the good offices of a comb being completely unfamiliar.Only Gokhale and Drupada seemed unaware that their days had to be numbered.The Protector of All the Taglias was not enamored of them at all.The final member of the Council was absent.Which was not unusual.The Great General, Mogaba, preferred to be in the field, harrying those designated as his enemies.He viewed the infighting in the Palace with revulsion.None of which mattered at the moment.There had been Incidents.There were Witnesses to be Brought Forward.The Protector was not pleased.Willow Swan rose.He beckoned a Grey sergeant out of the gloom behind the two old men.“Ghopal Singh.” Nobody remarked on the unusual name.Possibly he was a convert.Stranger things were happening.“Singh’s patrol watches an area immediately outside the Palace, on the north side.This afternoon one of his patrolmen discovered a prayer wheel mounted on one of the memorial posts in front of the north entrance.Twelve copies of this sutra were attached to the arms of the wheel.”Swan made a show of turning a small paper card so the light would fall upon the writing there.The lettering appeared to be in the ecclesiastical style
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