Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Download textbook 1636 The Vatican Sanction 1St Edition Eric Flint ebook all chapter pdf
Download textbook 1636 The Vatican Sanction 1St Edition Eric Flint ebook all chapter pdf
Eric Flint
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/1636-the-vatican-sanction-1st-edition-eric-flint/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-reception-of-vatican-ii-1st-
edition-lamb/
https://textbookfull.com/product/italy-1636-cemetery-of-
armies-1st-edition-gregory-hanlon/
https://textbookfull.com/product/jewish-conscience-of-the-church-
jules-isaac-and-the-second-vatican-council-1st-edition-norman-c-
tobias-auth/
https://textbookfull.com/product/succubus-lord-19-1st-edition-
eric-vall-vall-eric/
Catholicism Engaging Other Faiths: Vatican II and its
Impact Vladimir Latinovic
https://textbookfull.com/product/catholicism-engaging-other-
faiths-vatican-ii-and-its-impact-vladimir-latinovic/
https://textbookfull.com/product/robotic-existentialism-the-art-
of-eric-joyner-first-edition-eric-joyner/
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-weirdness-of-the-world-1st-
edition-eric-schwitzgebel/
https://textbookfull.com/product/chinese-indentured-labour-in-
the-dutch-east-indies-1880-1942-tin-tobacco-timber-and-the-penal-
sanction-gregor-benton/
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-melanesian-world-eric-
hirsch/
1636: The Vatican Sanction
Table of Contents
Dedication
Maps
Prologue
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Part Two
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Part Three
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Part Four
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Part Five
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Part Six
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Part Seven
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Epilogue
Cast of Characters
|
1636: The Vatican Sanction
Which is prudent, since Urban and his peace initiative are not
merely at risk from Borja’s assassins. There is another, more
deadly, team of professional killers in town, directed by the man
who almost killed the Pope before: lethal Spanish mastermind
Pedro Dolor.
Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-1-
This is a work of fiction. All the 4814-8277-6
characters and events portrayed eISBN: 978-1-62579-
in this book are fictional, and
any resemblance to real people
619-6
or incidents is purely
coincidental. Copyright 2017 by Eric Flint &
Charles E. Gannon
First printing, December 2017
All rights reserved, including the
Distributed by Simon & right to reproduce this book or
Schuster portions thereof in any form.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020 A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
Printed in the United States of P.O. Box 1403
America Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com
Silhouetted by the light he carried to lead the way, the bent man
glanced back at Wilbur Craigson and pointed at the crudely mortared
wall. Hunching further to keep from grazing his shaggy head against
the ceiling, the aged fellow gestured toward the mismatched bricks
repeatedly, as if seeking to underscore that it was, in fact, a wall of
particular excellence or significance. Which it certainly did not
appear to be.
After checking to see that Craigson was paying attention, his
silent guide moved closer to the old brickwork, gnarled hands
moving toward it as if trying to conjure forth a spirit of the earth.
Craigson produced the sap he had been carrying in his left
pocket and, in one smooth motion, smashed it across the lower rear
of the man’s head. Who—long gray locks bloody in the light of the
falling lantern—fell, nerveless as the rocks in the wall.
Craigson quickly scooped up the guttering lantern, then
produced a much smaller lamp which he had been hiding in his long
cloak. He advanced the wick, lifted the lamp as the flame grew,
examined the man’s wound, checked for a pulse: yes, faint but
steady. Craigson set his lamp down carefully, unsheathed a long,
well-made dagger, and quickly and expertly cut the man’s jugular
and carotid. With both severed, he estimated that his guide would
exsanguinate within two minutes. At the very most.
He retrieved the purse of silver that the fellow had received
from Craigson two hours ago, reached for the bag of lime he had
secreted in the windowless room some days before, and began
spreading it upon the body.
By the time the wick was burning down, Wilbur Craigson was
done and had propped the corpse up against the wall which abutted
the one that had been the object of their visit. Dusting his hands off,
and then grabbing a handful of bagged sand to scour away what
little blood had spattered on them, he walked to the wall, inspected
it briefly, found the section the man had been indicating when felled.
Satisfied that it was adequate for his purposes, he turned, preparing
to dim the light and return to the streets of Besançon. His rent for
this mostly useless storage room, paid four weeks in advance,
ensured that the owner would not trouble him to relocate, nor come
knocking: with the city virtually overrun by villeins, aristocrats, and
all social stations in between, it had been feasible, if unusual, that
the room had commanded any rental interest at all.
Exiting and cinching the door closed behind him, Wilbur
Craigson produced the crude iron key and fastened the equally crude
iron lock. As it snapped shut, he reflected that he was becoming
either dangerously sentimental or cavalier: he had used his given
name when introducing himself to this man.
He had, after all, been grimly certain that the knowledge of it
would die with the old fellow. But still, Craigson had long experience
with just how profound the vicissitudes of fate could be: using his
real name was a wholly unnecessary risk. So why had he done it?
Was it because he was finally drawing close to the vengeance
he had been nursing for almost two decades? Or because his poor
guide had not deserved the end to which he came? The end which
Wilbur foresaw from the moment he located him in the worm-eaten
flop house, paid for with meager savings from a life of hard work he
was no longer fit and able to perform?
Wilbur Craigson pocketed the key, turned, resolved not to use
his given name—and risk discovery—again, not until his retribution
was concluded. Which meant that now, as he prepared to return to
the streets of Besançon, he would have to readopt the identity and
name that he had assumed for so long it felt more natural than the
one he had been born with.
It was time, once again, to become Pedro Dolor.
Part One
Monday
May 5, 1636
— Anna minun mennä, sanoi hän. Hän tunsi, pikemmin kuin näki,
pitkän keihään, joka oli ojennettu hänen rintaansa vastaan
pimeässä. — Anna minun olla, niin minä annan sinulle monta säkkiä
suolaa ja putkia enemmän kuin metsässä on puita.
Hän oli vahva kuin nuori leijona, mutta hänen kurkkuunsa tarttuva
käsi ei myöskään ollut heikko. Hetkisen he kamppailivat, ja sitten he
kaatuivat kierien toistensa yli polulla.
*****
Ngombilaisten joukossa oli nainen, jolla oli suloinen kieli. Kun hän
puhui, miehet kuuntelivat innokkaasti, sillä sensukuinen hän oli,
syntymästään asti voimakaspuheinen.
Koko päivän hän makasi maassa ympärillään koko kylän väki, jolle
hän puhui työmiesten sahatessa poikki messinkirengasta hänen
kaulastaan. Päivän mentyä rengas saatiin pois ja päällikkö lähetti
hänet takaisin vanhempansa luo, jolta hän oli tytön ostanut suurella
summalla. Hänen toimenpiteensä kohtasi suurta vastustusta, sillä
nainen oli käyttänyt aikansa hyödyllisesti, ja koko kylä oli niin
kuohuksissaan, että se oli valmis kapinaan.
— Miksi minä puhuisin, kun sinä olet puhunut liikaa? kysyi Otapo
kylmästi. — Kiroan sen päivän, jolloin sinut näin, Mfasimbi, sillä
erehdykseni on maksanut minulle kalaverkon, joka oli kylän paras, ja
palan uutta kangasta, jonka ostin kauppamieheltä; ne on herramme
päällikkö ottanut.
— Jos sinulla olisi ollut miehen mieli, niin Namani, mieheni, olisi
nyt kuollut, ivasi nainen.
— Toivon, että äitini olisi synnyttänyt tytön, kun hän synnytti minut,
sanoi Otapo, — silloin en olisi joutunut häpeään.
Hän sai pian siitä tiedon, sillä nainen juoksi rinnettä hänen
luokseen ja polvistui syleillen hänen jalkojaan.
Päällikkö oli vihainen, sillä hän oli Namania korkeampi herra ja sitä
paitsi valvoi seudun rauhaa komissaarin puolesta.
— Jos sinä olisit ottanut hänet, Muhamed, sanoi vaimo, joka oli
kanonainen ja harras uskovainen, — olisit tullut surulliseksi.
Bosambo oli mies, jolla oli eläimen vaistot. Hän tunsi ilmassa
levottomuutta. Jokainen väräjävä hermosäie toi hänelle viestin:
hänen miehensä olivat luisumassa pois hänen vallastaan. Hän ei
epäröinyt.
Hiu-ii!
Kiiltävä kärki suhahti ilman läpi nopeammin kuin katse voi seurata.
*****
Abibu oli jätetty kylään, josta Mfasimbi oli karkoitettu. Hänet oli
jätetty selvittämään Otapon kuoleman salaisuutta, eikä häntä
helposti säikytetty.
Nyt hän näki selvästi. Yksi joukko oli astunut maihin, ja siellä kävi
kiivas käsirysy.
*****
Ja he tulivat myöskin.
RUKOILEVA MAURILAINEN
Mies nyökkäsi.