Casting Stones
This is the descendant of the last Eos scene I posted. It refers to some of the events in the previous scene. Makes a good deal more sense and, I think, is more interesting, too.
“These people are little more than monkeys with a capacity for superstition!” bellowed the cardinal from his seat the far end of the table. “To pretend that a null could be a man of the cloth is insult enough, but to then place him as the head of a mission in one of the most backward corners of the earth… This is an atrocity! I want your man clapped in irons and dropped into a prison with no doors or windows, but I’ll settle – for now – for having him stripped of his office.”
Thorne couldn’t hide the smirk that spread over his lips at the cardinal’s outburst. Or perhaps he just didn’t bother trying. His lack of respect left the cardinal fuming in livid silence as the Iron Duke responded:
“Perhaps, Cardinal Bellic, you could air a few specific concerns regarding Bishop Thorne?” he asked drily, resting his elbows on the heavy oak in order to hide what Thorne guessed was a bemused smile behind clasped hands. “Certainly, I would not hesitate to remove the baron from his position if it were made clear to me that he lacks any of the faith and zeal I have come to expect of the officers of the church.”
Duke Caffrey’s backhanded insult was lost on the cardinal, but Thorne nearly guffawed. Perhaps the cardinal had come prepared. Either way, he certainly was ready to air his grievances.
“This cretin,” he began with a contemptuous glance toward Thorne, “promised God’s protection to a group of natives if they would remove themselves to the church with all haste, as if he could somehow cast a spell on them and make it so. He then delivered unto them the corpse of a ‘demon,’ claiming that he had lifted the curse on their village by divine power! As if that were not bad enough, the fools then brought sacrifices – burnt offerings! – to the church for months after, and he did nothing to stop them.”
Cardinal Bellic stopped to smile here, a smug, certain look on his face; he felt sure he had made his case. “And if that were not enough, there are even rumors that Baron Thorne has sired a bastard with one of the local colonists. And these are only the latest of his crimes against God and his country; by far not the worst.”
Thorne’s amusement was immediately displaced by wrath at these words and it was only by a supreme effort that he managed to keep his place, standing beside the table, as he observed the proceedings. I’ll kill you one day, Cardinal, he promised, his eyes narrowing to slits. A long, cool breath vented some of his anger and he kept silent.
The duke, for his part, seemed to take all this in stride. He gave the matter a moment’s thought, but then, at last, bowed his head in defeat. “You’re right, of course, Cardinal,” he confessed, taking a piece of heavy parchment from the folio at his side. “I knew this might happen, actually, and I took the liberty, before this meeting, of having my chaplain draft a letter of dismissal for the offending clergyman. All it needs is your signature. I leave this matter in your capable hands.”
Duke Caffrey left Thorne and the cardinal alone in the chamber, a small fire their only company. Torn between feelings of betrayal and rage vying for supremacy inside him. Had the duke really just thrown him to the wolves? And, if so, why not simply slaughter the cardinal now and be done with it? …such thoughts were madness, but such thoughts he entertained for a moment as the cardinal, smiling at him, bent over the parchment left at the duke’s place and prepared to sign.
It was then that the cardinal gave a strangled cry of horror and his face turned blood red. He snatched up the paper and made for the crackling fire and Thorne realized that he had not, in fact, been betrayed. Acting quickly, he slipped a short knife from his robes and intercepted the man before he could cast the document into the flames.
“Leave this with me,” he said, taking the parchment from the cardinal’s quaking hand as he pressed the point of the knife into the man’s throat, “and I’ll let you live another day.”
“Why should I trust the word of a null?” the cardinal manage to spit, his voice achingly thin, caught between rage and cowardice.
Thorne hid both the document and the knife in the robes of his office and answered, “I would not, in your place. Perhaps you should leave quickly?”
Cardinal Bellic nearly fell over himself on his way out of the chamber.