Priest of GallowsPeter McLean War for the Rose Throne Book III Contents Title Page Copyright Page Also by Peter McLean Dedication Map Dramatis Personae Part One Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Part Two Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Acknowledgements About the Author First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Jo Fletcher Books an imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd Carmelite House 50 Victoria Embankment London EC4Y 0DZ An Hachette UK company Copyright © 2021 Peter McLean The moral right of Peter McLean to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library EBOOK ISBN 978 1 52941 132 4 This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. www.quercusbooks.co.uk Also by Peter McLean War for the Rose Throne Priest of Bones Priest of Lies For Diane, my world. ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum.’ ‘If you would have peace, then prepare for war.’ – Vegetius Dramatis Personae The Piety Family Tomas Piety: Interim governor of Ellinburg and a Queen’s Man. Formerly a gangster and army priest. Your narrator. Ailsa Piety: His estranged wife, and a Queen’s Man. Billy Piety: A lad of perhaps fifteen years, strong in the cunning and touched by Our Lady. Their adopted son. Jochan Piety: Younger brother to Tomas, and a very disturbed man. Hanne Piety: Wife to Jochan and mother of his infant daughter. Enaid Piety: Their loving aunt. Grand matriarch of the Pious Men, and Bloody Anne’s second. The Pious Men Bloody Anne: Head of the Pious Men, and Tomas’ most loyal friend. Fat Luka: Head of propaganda, master of listeners, agent of the Queen’s Men. Mika: Underboss of the Stink. Black Billy: Mika’s second in the Stink. Florence Cooper: Underboss of the Wheels, and head of the Flower Girls. Jutta: Florence’s second in the Wheels. Brak: Aunt Enaid’s man, despite being a third her age. Simple Sam: A slow lad but a faithful one. Hari: Tavern keeper of the Tanner’s Arms. Cutter, also known as Yoseph: A former Sacred Blade of Messia with a grievously scarred face. Lover to Jochan. Emil: A veteran, and a hired man. Oliver: A hired blade but a trusted one. Various other ruffians and hired men whose names are not recorded here. Notable People in Ellinburg Governor Schulz: A career bureaucrat from Dannsburg. Someone who understands how things work. Rosie: Boss of the Chandler’s Narrow girls, and an agent of the Queen’s Men. Bloody Anne’s woman. Old Kurt: A cunning man, rouser of rabbles and causer of trouble. Mina: A young lass with the cunning. Billy Piety’s woman, young though they are. Salo: A steward. Notable People in Dannsburg Her Majesty the Queen: Ruling monarch of the country. The Princess Crown Royal: A girl of twelve years, heir to the throne. His Royal Highness Prince Wilhelm, the Prince Consort: Husband to the queen, father of the Princess Crown Royal. Lady Lan Delanov: A Lady-in-Waiting. Dieter Vogel: The Lord Chief Judiciar, and Provost Marshal of the Queen’s Men. First Councillor Aleksander Lan Letskov: Presiding head of the governing council. Councillor Hristokov: A member of the governing council with some unpleasant hobbies. Councillor Markova: A member of the governing council with connections. Councillor Lan Drashkov: A member of the governing council who thinks a lot of himself. Mr Grachyev: A gangster, or so he believes. Iagin: Mr Grachyev’s second, and a Queen’s Man. Ilse: A Queen’s Man of special talents. Konrad: A Queen’s Man from Drathburg. Sabine: A Queen’s Man from Varnburg. Leonov: An underboss, extremely good with a crossbow. Brandt: The head of Ailsa’s household guard. Mr and Mrs Shapoor: Ailsa’s parents. Lady Lan Yetrov: A very rich widow who is greatly in Tomas’ debt. Arch High Priest Rantanen: Highest priest of the Grand High Temple of All Gods. The holiest man in the land. Major Bakrylov: A war hero, from a certain point of view, with connections to the Queen’s Men. Baron Lan Drunov: An unwise and unfortunate man. Nikolai Reiter: Archmagus of the house of magicians. Doctor Almanov: A physician. Edric Nyman: A tutor. Sister Galina: A nun. Beast: A slave. Part One Chapter 1 One murder can change the fate of a nation. I had been governor of Ellinburg for less than four months when it happened. It was a warm spring evening, and I was relaxing in the private drawing room of the governor’s hall, a glass of brandy in my hand and a book open in my lap. Billy and Mina were sitting under the window together, playing some game of cat’s cradle between them. I watched them over my glass, watched the entwining of the cords between their fingers, and I could see in the looks they shared with each other just how fierce their young love was. I knew how strongly Billy felt for her. We had almost come to blood over it back in the winter, after all. After I had crushed the strike at the factory, Mina had come to me herself to confess what she had done. That was brave of her, I’d had to allow, but it didn’t change the facts of the thing. I remembered how the rebellious workers had known we were coming when they shouldn’t have done, and how Old Kurt hadn’t been there when he should have been. He had known we were coming because someone had told him, and that someone was Mina. Mina, who was a cunning woman even Billy looked up to. She’s very strong. Mina, who couldn’t do magic without spewing obscenities that would have curled the hair of the lowest conscript soldier. Mina, who Old Kurt had once taken in when she was a little orphan girl on the unforgiving streets of Ellinburg. That was
