The Compendium of Srem Read Online Free

keep bringing suspect after suspect to the monastery. Who knows how many we will have to interrogate before we find the fashioner? Eventually the other members of the tribunal will begin to ask questions we wish not to answer. And by our own rules of procedure, each accused is allowed thirty days of grace to confess and repent. If the trail is long, the fashioner will have months and months of warning during which he can flee.”
    All excellent points. He was proud of Brother Ramiro.
    â€œBut how will you induce him to speak in his home? The instruments of truth lie two floors below us.”
    Ramiro shrugged. “I will tell him the truth: that we are more interested in finding the heretic behind the Compendium than in punishing those through whose hands it happened to pass. Asher ben Samuel is a wealthy man. He has more to lose than his life. He knows that if brought before the tribunal he will be found guilty, and then not only will he face the cleansing flame at the stake, but all his property will be seized and his wife and daughters cast into the streets.” Ramiro smiled. “He will tell us. And then we will move on to the next stepping stone.”
    Tomás nodded slowly. The plan had merit.
    â€œDo it, then. Begin today.” He tapped the Compendium ’s strange metal cover. “I want this heretic found. The sooner we have him, the sooner his soul can be cleansed by an auto da fé .

5
    From within the sheltering cowl of his black robe, Adelard regarded the twilit streets of Ávila. He was glad to be out in the air. He left the monastery so seldom these days. Spring had taken control, as evidenced by the bustling townspeople. When summer arrived, the heat would slow all movement until well into the dark hours.
    Brother Ramiro carried the carefully wrapped Compendium between his chest and his folded arms as they crossed the town square. Adelard glanced at the trio of scorched stakes where heretics were unburdened of their sins by the cleansing flame. He had witnessed many an auto da fé here since his arrival from France.
    â€œNote how passersby avert their eyes and give us a wide berth,” Ramiro said.
    Adelard had indeed noticed that. “I don’t know why. They can’t know that I am a member of the tribunal.”
    â€œThey don’t. They see the black robes and know us as Dominicans, members of the order that runs the Inquisition, and that is enough. This saddens me.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œYou are an inquisitor, I am a simple mendicant. You would not know.”
    â€œI was not always an inquisitor, Ramiro.”
    â€œBut you did not know Ávila before the Inquisition arrived. We were greeted with smiles and welcomed everywhere. Now no one looks me in the eye. What do you think their averted gazes mean? That they have heresies to hide?”
    â€œPerhaps.”
    â€œThen you are wrong. It means that the robes of our order have become associated with the public burnings of heretics to the exclusion of all else.”
    Adelard had never heard his friend talk like this.
    â€œWhat are you saying, Ramiro?”
    â€œI am saying that we are not an order that stays behind its walls. We have always gone out among the people, helping the sick, feeding the poor, easing pain and sorrow. But the order’s involvement in guarding the Faith seems to have erased all memory of our centuries of good works.”
    â€œBe careful what you say, Ramiro. You are flirting with heresy.”
    â€œAre you going to accuse me?”
    â€œNo. You are my friend. I know that you speak from a good, faithful heart, but others might not appreciate that. So please watch your tongue.”
    Adelard was surprised at Ramiro’s familiarity with the people of Ávila. He had imagined him spending all his time in the library or tilling the monastery’s fields. He changed the subject.
    â€œI’ve known you for a number of years now, Ramiro, but I don’t know