Chapter 650 — The Continuation of the Treasonous Plan
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
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?"