We conquered Dhassa and Javon and Kesh and set up new governments to rule in our name and convert the heathen to Kore. Knowing Meiros would not dare to destroy his own creation we marched our armies into Antiopia, and we punished the infidel.
My lamented husband, the Emperor Magnus Sacrecour, boldly confronted the heretic Meiros – and Meiros backed down. ‘But the Throne has not been idle, my friends. Think about that: lowborn pedlars buying our daughters to breed gnosis-wielding sons and daughters for themselves. Make no mistake, gentlemen, there is a war brewing between men of the Purse and men of the Blood. ‘Those scum are buying our children and taking them to wife or husband, so that their misbegotten offspring will have everything, both gold and gnosis, and as a result, we are seeing a new breed, the mage-merchant, nasty, grasping half-breeds. And what have they bought with their ill-gotten gains? Our homes – our belongings – our art, and worse: they have purchased our sons and daughters, our Blood!’ Lucia was shouting now, spittle flecking her lips. Who are the richest men in Rondelmar? The merchants and bankers! Fat obsequious slime like Jean Benoit and his merchant cabal. The bankers extend credit to merchants whilst squeezing the nobility, the magi-protectors who made Rondelmar what it is. They can virtually name their prices on return. We have seen the merchants pour across then return with all manner of addictive Eastern goods – opium and hashish, coffee and tea, even the silks and other luxuries that entrance our people. ‘For a century we have seen the Bridge open every twelve years, when the tides drop to levels that permit traverse. Lucia came to a halt behind her chair and gripped the wooden back tightly. But in her eyes something fanatic lurked, like a venomous snake. She seemed intelligent, learned – kindly, even. He wondered whether Lucia Fasterius truly believed the bigoted dogma she spoke. He seemed perfectly aware of it last time I saw him, reflected Gyle. ‘But Meiros, an Ascendant too craven to join the liberation of Yuros from the Rimoni yoke, left the fellowship of the Three Hundred and built that cursed Bridge, and from that Bridge do all of our woes come! I wonder, does Antonin Meiros even know what he has done?’
Learned, noble, enlightened West and base, depraved, idolatrous East should never meet, under Sun or Moon – so it was written. ‘When Kore made this land, he made two great continents, separated by vast oceans, and he commanded his sister Luna to make those waters impassable, so that East should never meet West. The evil I refer to is, of course, the “Leviathan Bridge” – that cursed creation of Antonin Meiros and his godless cronies.’ She slapped the table, suddenly angry. A great evil was done, and it must be undone. The merchant cabals prosper, whilst we who love Kore and the emperor must struggle for what was once ours by right.
Impurity has been allowed to enter this realm, by men who care more for gold than for love of Kore. ‘Though outwardly it looks like we were never stronger, the purity at the heart of Rondelmar’s rightful dominance of the world has begun to tarnish. ‘It will not have escaped your notice, gentlemen, that the Golden Age of Rondelmar has begun to dim.’ The emperor looked displeased at her words, but didn’t interrupt. Her voice became clear and emotionless: less saint and more angel of retribution. Then we will agree the way ahead.’ She got to her feet and began to circle the table. ‘I will clearly define the situation so that we are all of one understanding. Gyle wondered if she outranked him now, being a living saint. The course of the Third Crusade will be determined by us, not on the battlefield but here, in this room, by those gathered here at my request.’ She looked at her son, the emperor, and added, ‘At our request.’ Let me emphasise, gentlemen, that we here will decide the fate of millions of people – the fate of nations. ‘You have all seen the papers and each of you has participated in discrete discussions concerning Magister Vult’s plan for the Crusade, but this is the first time we have been able to gather together.