Chapter 650 — The Continuation of the Treasonous Plan

The radiant barrier that had shrouded the Temple of Yaoxiao for days on end began at last to dissolve. Countless pale-gold motes drifted free of that ever-melting shell of energy, floating aloft and vanishing into the depths of the night, while from within the crumbling rampart the sonorous bells went on and on.

The bells rang out, sonorous and lingering, as if in invitation.

Gao Yang stood with the two Lord Protectors on the square before the temple precinct, watching what unfolded in the temple's direction. Duke Bai Yu's brows drew slightly together. "Strange... by now the hierophants should have come forth from the great cathedral to meet the faithful... why is the temple precinct so quiet?"

Gao Yang raised his eyes and saw that amid the drifting motes of holy light the precinct kept a strange, hushed solemnity. No bishops or high hierophants showed themselves; he saw only ordinary priests and attendants hurrying to and fro among the buildings, and along the upper galleries of the great cathedral a few figures in visible panic. The situation was truly out of the ordinary.

Just as the three were speculating over what had gone wrong inside, that solemn, ponderous door—graven with countless miracles and runes—was at last opened by someone.

Yet what emerged was neither the college of hierophants made up of bishops and high priests, nor Pope Saint Ivan III, but Virodamoen, clad in a plain white gown. She came slowly out of the cathedral and walked toward Gao Yang and the others, the white-gold scepter that belonged to the Pope held in her hand.

Whether it was illusion or not, the instant Gao Yang laid eyes on that "Saint Princess," he felt a faint discordance. Though Virodai looked just as she had at their last meeting, still... he could not shake the sense that something about her was out of joint.

The feeling defied explanation, and was very quickly swept clean away by startling news.

"His Holiness the Pope has been called home to the Lord, and the college of bishops sacrificed their lives in the rite of divine descent." Virodai's expression was mild as ever, her tone calm and level.

Gao Yang and the others were struck dumb for a moment.

...Some there were indeed astonished—but what astonished them was that the moment the cathedral doors opened, the Pope was gone...

"All... all of them martyred?" Bai Yu seemed unable to believe his ears. He stepped forward. "In the rite of divine descent, on the spot? Something went wrong?"

"The power of divine descent is more than mortal flesh can bear. His Holiness was advanced in years and could not hold out to the rite's end; to keep the rite from running wild, the college of bishops offered themselves up as vessels," Virodai said, and as she spoke she edged slightly aside. "The great cathedral is open. The Hall of Great Light still holds the scene as it was."

It was an invitation for the three to enter and see for themselves.

Bai Yu and Victoria exchanged a glance, hesitated a moment, then strode toward the cathedral's main doors. Gao Yang, rousing himself from his brief astonishment and brooding, found a thousand conjectures and thoughts surging through his mind at once, all of them at last converging into one deep look directed at Virodai.

The Saint Princess merely kept her placid expression and met his gaze without flinching.

And before turning back toward the cathedral, Virodai noticed certain changes beyond the temple precinct.

Soldiers of the Cecil Legion were everywhere in the streets; the Ansu royal standard that had flown above Silverhold in the distance was gone; and atop the main tower, where only the royal banner had ever been permitted to hang, the Cecil banner of sword and plow was lit by a beam of light, streaming in the night wind.

Recalling that Gao Yang Cecil himself stood here before her, the Saint Princess's expression changed at last, if only slightly. Her brows lifted a fraction, and she asked, "What has happened in the city?"

"Great changes. Ansu's kingship is ended—but it came by peaceful evolution," Victoria said, her voice cool. "The master of this place now is His Majesty Gao Yang Cecil."

"I will explain it all to you in detail," Gao Yang said to Virodai. "A great deal has indeed happened, and we shall all need time to sort it through."

Virodai bowed her head and traced the sigil of the Holy Light upon her breast. "I have taken refuge in the Holy Light and am no longer a princess of Ansu; the passing of kingship is no concern of mine... that Xuanque City survived—that is what matters most."

Gao Yang looked at her for two seconds, but said nothing, and walked toward the cathedral not far off.

In the Hall of Great Light the power of the Holy Light had subsided; the hazy, brimming radiance had gathered once more into a sea of cloud that drifted slowly above the hall. The Pope's holy throne now stood utterly empty—not a trace of residue remained. The only marks to be found anywhere in that hall were a dozen or so heaps of ash encircling the throne, gray-white ashes distributed at the key nodes of the rite of divine descent: all that was left of the college of bishops.

It looked indeed like the mark left when surging holy light burns a human body to nothing, and nowhere in the Hall of Great Light was there the slightest sign of struggle or of intrusion by an outside foe.

Yet the two Dukes, Bai Yu and Victoria—who were about to begin rebuilding order in the city and bore the heavy charge of keeping the Empire's core lands stable—felt nothing at this moment but a throbbing headache.

They could not help but rather envy Wilse, who had pulled out and departed in good time, and even found themselves idly speculating: could that king have known in advance of the earth-shaking upheaval in the great cathedral, and that was why he had withdrawn so resolutely?

"Ye gods..." Bai Yu's face was exceedingly grim. "I would sooner go deal with those crystal-cluster monsters..."

Victoria looked at him quietly, her voice placid. "Do you want to stand another siege?"

"That is not what I meant..." Bai Yu waved a hand at once, then looked Victoria up and down. "How is it I never noticed before that you have a gift for needling people?"

"Only curious. Just asking," Victoria said offhandedly, then turned to Virodai. "So, then—there are no bishop-rank clergy left in the great cathedral? How many high hierophants remain?"

"The college of bishops is indeed wholly martyred, but the high hierophants are unharmed, and the cathedral's functions can still run," Virodai said, and raised the white-gold scepter slightly in her hand. "I have been acknowledged by the white-gold scepter and may administer the great cathedral for the time being. But kingship has now changed hands, order in Holy Sunir must be set right, and the faithful must seek peace in a new environment. Many matters, I fear, will have to be settled by discussion between myself and Gao Yang Cecil... His Majesty."

"We can talk now," Gao Yang said at once, "if you have no objection."

"Very well," Virodai said with a slight nod, and looked to the two Lord Protectors. "The two Dukes may wait for a time in the withdrawing room."

Gao Yang saw that this "Saint Princess" seemed to have something she wished to speak of with him in private, so he said to Bai Yu and Victoria, "Why not go back to the castle and rest first? Anything else can wait until tomorrow."

"All right." Victoria nodded and said briefly, then took the evidently preoccupied Duke Bai Yu with her, and the two left the great cathedral together.