Deryni Checkmate Read Online Free Page A

Corwyn within three days.”
    Father Hugh de Berry frowned as he closed the door to the archbishop’s study and started down the long, torch-lined corridor toward his chancery office. It was cold and damp, and the corridor was drafty. Hugh shivered and clasped his arms across his chest as he walked, debating what he should do.
    Hugh was Patrick Corrigan’s personal secretary, and as such was privy to information not normally accessible to one of his comparative youth. He was an intelligent man, if not brilliant. And he had always been honest, discreet, and utterly loyal to the Church he served through the person of the archbishop.
    Lately, though, his faith had been sorely shaken—at least his faith in the man he served. The letter he had copied for Corrigan this afternoon had helped to do that. And as he remembered, Hugh shivered again—this time, not from the cold.
    Gwynedd was in danger. This had been apparent since King Brion fell at Candor Rhea last fall. It had been evident when Brion’s heir, the boy Kelson, had been forced to battle the evil Charissa for his throne but a few weeks later. And it had been painfully obvious whenever Morgan, the boy’s Deryni protector, had had to use his awesome powers to slow down the inevitable conflagration that all knew must follow on the heels of such events. And it would follow.
    It was no secret, for example, that the Deryni tyrant Wencit of Torenth would plunge the kingdom into war by midsummer at latest. And the young king must certainly be aware of the unrest being generated in his kingdom by rising anti-Deryni sentiment. Kelson had begun to feel the brunt of that reaction ever since the disclosure of his own half-Deryni ancestry at the coronation last fall.
    But now, with Interdict threatened for all of Corwyn . . .
    Hugh pressed one hand against his chest where the original draft of Corrigan’s document now rested next to his skin. He knew that the archbishop would not approve of what he was about to do—in fact, would be furious if he found out—but the matter was too important for the king not to be made aware of it. Kelson must be warned.
    If Interdict fell on Corwyn, Morgan’s loyalties would be divided at a time when all his energies were needed at the king’s side. It could fatally affect the king and also Morgan’s plans for the war effort. And while Hugh, as a priest, could hardly condone Morgan’s fearsome powers, they were nonetheless real and needed, if Gwynedd was to survive the onslaught.
    Hugh paused beneath the torch outside the chancery office door and began to scan the letter in his hand, hoping the copy could be entrusted to one of his subordinates. Skipping over the archbishop’s standard salutation for such documents, he gasped as he read the name of the addressee, then forced himself to reread it: Monsignor Duncan Howard McLain.
    Duncan! Hugh thought to himself. My God, what has he done?
    Duncan McLain was the king’s confessor, and Hugh’s own boyhood friend. They had grown up together, gone to school together. What could Duncan possibly have done to incur such action?
    Knitting his brows together in consternation, Hugh cast his gaze over the text, his apprehension increasing as he read.
    “. . . summarily suspended and ordered to present yourself before our ecclesiastical court . . . give answer as to why you should not be censured . . . your part in the scandals surrounding the king’s coronation November last . . . questionable activities . . . consorting with heretics . . .”
    My God, Hugh thought, unwilling to go on, he’s been tainted by Morgan, too. I wonder if he knows anything about this.
    Lowering the paper, Hugh made his decision. Obviously, he must go to the king first. That had been his original intention, and the matter was of kingdom-wide importance.
    But then he must find Duncan and warn him. If Duncan submitted himself to the archbishop’s court under the present circumstances, there was no telling what might happen.