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"That's right," he said.
"Pleased to meet you," the other priest said. "My name's Tryphon. Who are you,
holy sir, and where are you from?"
Before Rhavas could answer, the tapman gave him what he asked for. That let
him go through ritual the ritual he no longer believed in before saying, "I'm
called Rhavas. I was lucky enough to get out of Skopentzana."
"Were you?" Tryphon's eyebrows rose. "In Phos' holy name" he actually said, In
Phaos' holy name
, proving himself a backwoods bumpkin "you're a lucky man. Not many got out,
by what I've heard."
"Yes, I'm afraid that's so," Rhavas agreed. He paused to eat some of the bread
and cheese. When he paused, Tryphon was still waiting expectantly. Rhavas felt
he had to add, "Between the Khamorth and the earthquake, I fear Skopentzana
will never be the same again."
"Too bad. That's too bad." Tryphon swigged from his own cup of wine. By his
red cheeks and redder
nose, he knew wine well maybe a little too well. "We felt the earthquake here,
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too. Things fell off shelves. Some walls cracked. It was worse farther north?"
"You might say so," Rhavas replied. "Yes, you just might say so." He sipped
instead of swigging. With the wine the taverner had given him, it didn't much
matter. Nothing could make the stuff tasty.
"A terrible business. Everything that's happened lately is a terrible
business." Tryphon drank again, then said, "My mug's gone dry. That's a
terrible business, too, by Phaos." He set the cup on the counter. The tapman
reached into a wine jar with a dipper and filled the cup again. After spitting
in ritual rejection of
Skotos and raising his hands to the heavens, Tryphon took another swig. "It
makes you wonder what everything means, it really does."
"Well, I won't tell you you're wrong," Rhavas murmured, wishing the other
priest would shut up and go away.
Tryphon did nothing of the kind, of course. Obnoxious people never had the
faintest idea they were obnoxious. The local man said, "I think I know what's
behind it all."
Rhavas realized he had to pay attention. "Tell me," he urged, wondering
whether the bumpkin had by some accident hit upon the same truth as he'd found
himself.
"Don't mind if I do," Tryphon said. "I always like to talk shop when I get the
chance. Don't you?"
"When I get the chance," Rhavas answered, doubting this would be one of those
times.
Tryphon leaned forward confidentially. "I think the lord with the great and
good mind is testing us," he said.
"Testing us? In what way?" Rhavas inquired. Several people in the taproom came
closer so they could hear better. Others craned their necks to listen in.
Layfolk in Videssos enjoyed hearing their priests argue theology. They often
weren't shy about jumping in themselves, either.
"Why, to see whether we stay loyal to him in adversity," Tryphon said. "Here
in Podandos, we have."
He sketched the sun-sign above his heart. So did most of the audience,
including the tapman and a nearby barmaid.
Rhavas drew the sun-circle, too. People would have . . . wondered about him if
he, a priest, had not.
But all the same, he said, "I'm not so sure, holy sir, meaning no offense to
you or your town."
"No? How not?" Tryphon sounded belligerent. Rhavas wondered how long it had
been since anyone told him, even politely, that he was wrong.
"Think of Phos' creed," Rhavas replied, warming to the disputation. "Does it
not say the good god is
'watchful beforehand that the great test of life may be decided in our
favor?'"
"It does. It does indeed. Of course it does." Tryphon made the sun-circle
again. "Which proves my point, I would say. Is this not the great test of our
lives? Is our faith in the good god not being tested?" He smiled out at the
men and women in the taproom men and women who had surely heard his arguments
before.
"You tell him, holy sir!" one of them called, which only made the local
priest's smile broader and more
confident.
"Very ingenious." By the way Rhavas said it, he plainly meant very obvious
. Realizing as much, Tryphon bristled. Ostensibly ignoring that but in fact
enjoying it, Rhavas went on, "I am afraid you have not taken all the creed
into account. Consider the phrase 'that the great test of life may be decided
in our favor
.'"
He stressed the last three words.
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"Well? What about it?" Yes, Tryphon was all but snorting and pawing at the
ground, ready to charge with head lowered and horns aimed straight ahead.
"What about it? Look around you." Rhavas waved. " the great test of life being
decided in our favor? It
Is doesn't seem so to me. Civil war is tearing Videssos to pieces. Can you
deny that? Because of the civil war, the barbarians have come over the border
and are settling where and as they please. Can you deny that
?"
"Not here, by Phaos!" a man from the crowd said in a wine-blurred voice.
Tryphon nodded emphatic agreement.
"No, not here." Rhavas' exquisite bow was also exquisite in its irony.
"Podandos of course being the one great and true center of life in the Empire
of Videssos, and all the campaigns of the Khamorth having been completed."
Several people smiled and preened, thinking him serious. They were fools, of
no account. Rhavas paid attention to the ones who growled and muttered, the
ones who knew sarcasm when they heard it. Again, Tryphon was one of their
number. "What are you driving at?" he barked, his voice tense.
"Videssos is riven by civil strife," Rhavas repeated. "Skopentzana is
fallen Skopentzana is destroyed. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]