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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 2967045" data-attributes="member: 10689">While the Canberrians scattered around, making room for the overwhelming – but, fortunately, peaceful – force of Hanalians, the Duke of Snattercaz was holding a quick, muttered discussion with his advisor the Inquisitor.“The leader isn’t displaying any heraldry,” the duke said, glancing at Kit out of the corner of his eye, “but she must be a noblewoman.”“She’s traveling with a priest and a nun,” the Inquisitor observed. “For someone to have two clerical advisors, in an entourage that small? She must be at least a countess. Perhaps the heir to a duchy. If she were a duchess, of course,” the Inquisitor added, preening, “she would be traveling with a bishop.”The duke frowned. “You’re probably right. I can’t place her accent, though. She doesn’t sound Canberrian. Although the priest most definitely does…" Snattercaz slid off of his horse and landed in front of Kit. “My lady?”After all of this time, Kit was finally used to the title. “Yes, Your Grace?” she replied, not missing a beat. The duke glanced significantly over at the bishop, raising his eyebrows at her casual reaction, while Kit raised her eyebrows in return, studying the duke and bishop as they exchanged looks. Surreptitiously, Kit sent out a Mindlink to Honore. Help me out with this? Kit thought. This one’s important.I’ll do what I can, Honore thought back. She glanced over at the duke and the bishop – fortunately, neither of them appeared to have noticed the psionic activity.“What’s your name?”Kit thought fast. She could tell that the duke wasn’t sure of her rank – she’d seen him looking for her heraldry. Don’t say ‘Dame,’Honore suggested. Just say your name and let him guess at the rest. “Katherine of Lyneham, Your Grace,” Kit said out loud. It had the result they’d hoped for – the duke and bishop exchanged another look, and she could see the bishop racking his brains, trying to figure out where in Canberry Lyneham was. Well, it wasn’t part of Canberry until a couple months ago, so he’ll have a fun time trying to figure that one out, Kit thought.“What is your mission here south of your border?” the duke asked.“We told you – we’re here fighting the slavers. We were sent by the Archduke himself to look into the matter.”The duke and bishop exchanged another glance, this time a surprised one. “The Archduke? Has Her Grace finally gone into eternal darkness, then?”Honore frowned subtly at the Paranswarmian idiom; Alessandre frowned a little less subtly. “She rests in the light,” Alessandre muttered.“Sadly, yes, Her Grace Lady Amelia has passed on,” Kit interjected, speaking over Sister Alessandre. The duke looked at her more closely – there was a note of real sorrow in Kit’s voice when she spoke of Amelia’s death, and Snattercaz had noticed it. “Just over two weeks ago. Her grandson Alistair has succeeded her.”“And whose son is he?” the bishop asked, a slight note of disdain in his voice.“That’s Belconnen’s son,” Snattercaz replied, before Kit could do so. “One of them, at least. Belconnen was a good man – a good warrior,” he said, nodding in gruff approval. “I’m glad it’s one of his children who’s sitting on the throne now.” Kit found herself grinning at the Duke. If he thinks Alistair’s going to be a good Archduke, then maybe he’s someone we’ll be able to work with. she thought to Honore, and could feel the priestess’s inward smile in response. But then Kit remembered something else that she needed to tell Snattercaz, and her smile faded. “Your Grace, I’m sorry to have to report another death. Several more. Sir Bernard Sathrecar, and all of his men. They were killed by bandits – they fought bravely, but they were outnumbered more than three to one, and all of them were lost.”The Duke closed his eyes. “I’m going to have to tell his father,” he said, with a sad, heavy sigh. The Inquisitor made the downward-arrow sign of Paranswarm with his hand, shaking his head. “Are you sure it was bandits?” the duke asked. “Not the slavers?”“Well…” Kit said slowly, “we think they may be connected. “At least, we think that some of the bandits are being backed by some of the slavers. Some of the bandits are just refugees who have turned to banditry because they have no other option. And there are several groups of slavers at work. But we think there’s one group that’s become particularly strong recently.”“We know,” said the bishop flatly. “There are over a thousand of them, at a fortified base to the south of here. And they’re attacking with these.” He hauled a heavy sack from behind his horse’s saddle and tossed it to the ground at the Canberrians’ feet. The sack slid open to reveal the grotesque figure of a creature that was half human, but misshapen, and with black bat-wings sticking up from its shoulders. The bishop smiled grimly, and a little maliciously, as Kit and Honore sprang back, and Alessandre clutched at her holy symbol. “It’s a tiefling,” the bishop said, at the same time that Honore prompted Kit with the same information in her mind.Is that the same kind of thing that Lady Brightspan has been summoning? Kit thought to Honore.There are multiple kinds of tieflings – so, not necessarily. But I’m not sure it’s entirely a coincidence that we’re finding tieflings here, either.“The slavers have been using those,” Snattercaz continued. “And you’re right that some of the refugees have been turning to banditry, but some of them have been doing it because the slavers have recruited them. Offering to protect their families, in exchange for help with raiding and slave-taking.”Kit shuddered, her frown deepening at the thought of the refugees being coerced and threatened like that. “We’ve heard that the slavers have some pretty serious magical power on their side. Do you know anything about that?”“It’s an arcana,” the bishop said, with the air of someone who has just made a great and portentous statement.What’s that? Kit thought frantically to Honore. Please help me out – I can’t look stupid in front of them!I’m not sure exactly, Honore thought back apologetically. It’s some kind of demon, I think?“Ah,” Kit said, nodding with a very good approximation of comprehension. “More demons, then.”The duke stepped back, glancing over at the bishop again, and beckoned him away with a nod of his head. The two men held a whispered conversation for a few moments, and then the duke returned. “My lady,” he said, with a respectful nod to Kit. “Would you walk with me for a while? I believe there are some things that we may need to discuss in private.”</blockquote>

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