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Emperor
might profess it simply to seize a new weapon to wield in his squabble with
Brothe.
    The Maysalean Heresy was dangerous in ways that only a few of the Perfect
understood. Which was one purpose of the gathering at St. Jeules.
    The Seekers had good friends in Antieux, close to Bishop Serifs. They had
friends in Brothe itself. And Sublime had numerous enemies willing to befriend
the Seekers for as long as he survived.
    The synod of the Perfect would also decide how Maysaleans should face the coming
repression.
    4. Andoray, with the Old Folks of Skogafjordur
    The old farts, who had not gone sturlanger since the Father was a pup, did not
have the stones for busybodying. Shagot the Bastard and his little brother,
Svavar, would not suffer that from their mother. They would not tolerate the
unflattering nicknames, either. Their real names were Grimur and Asgrimmur.
They had been bullies all their lives. They never fit in, except in Erief s warrior
cult. When Erief died their niche went with him. The old folks decided to send
them after the fugitives. Because of those two there would be no more loot, no
more rapes, no more wars to unite the clans under one Andorayan king. Nor would
the brothers receive honors for their parts in creating this new and remarkable
kingdom.
    Grimur and Asgrimmur were too thick to understand that their neighbors just
wanted them gone.
    Pulla, Briga, Trygg, Herva, and Vidris concluded that the missionaries were not
guilty of murder. Because those fools really believed the nonsense they
preached. Which left them incapable of raising a hand against a fellow human
being— even one who needed it
    Shagot, Svavar, and their friends were excited. The brothers appointed shipmates
Hallgrim, Finnboga, and twins Sigurdur and Sigurjon Thorkalssons, to join them
in their race to kill them some southern lilies.
    Vidgis was a great-aunt of the Thorkalsson twins. She spoke to them privately
before they departed.
    It was not yet dawn when the sturlanger avengers began the long climb around the
flank of Mount Hekla. They crossed the ever-expanding Langjokull glacier, then
descended to the inland road the fugitives would follow to get back to their own
country.
    The old folks watched the troublemakers go. There would be peace for a while.

    MOST OP THE OLD FOLKS DID NOT CARE WHO HAD KILLED ERIEF Erealsson. Not while the
far more intriguing question of why the Choosers of the Slain would appear
remained unanswered.
    The arguments were heated. The parties separated according to individual
attitudes about the unification of Andoray. A lot of people wanted every island
and fjord to continue as its own little principality. The religious question
languished.
    Freedom or unification. It was the question of the age in Andoray. Anyone tall
enough to walk had an opinion, almost always informed by ignorance. Opponents
called Erief a tool of Gludnir of Friesland, who styled himself King of Andoray,
    too. That made no sense. Gludnir and Erief had been bitter foes forever. And
a united Andoray could easily overawe the Frieslanders. But sense and reason
seldom inform political discourse. Particularly when the growth of ice up north
tried to factor itself in. Erief s partisans insisted that only a united Andoray
could survive the advance of the ice.
    Erief's enemies insisted the ice thing was pure hogwash.
    The old folks drank a lot before the women put their heads together and
concluded that Brief's murderer must be Kjarval Firstar, Eyjolfsdottir, with whom
Erief had cohabited, against her will, since his return from plundering the
nether coasts of Santerin, Scat, and Wole. During which expedition Kjarval's
father, Eyjolf , took a fatal arrow in the eye. And died begging his captain to
take his only daughter as his concubine.
    There was a substantial dearth of witnesses to Eyjolf's dying wish. Even Erief's
staunchest allies did not believe that story.
    Trygg proposed that Erief's assassin