McGuiness wrote:JustCurious wrote:All inquisitors are subject to summary execution if captured. I think the Charisian army or navy will capture and hang him. No need for a trial. It would only be a show. Remember what happened to St Just in the Honorverse.
With the Go3 actively plotting against each other, one, two or all three of them could end up dead in the next book.
Clyntahn is drawing up plans to eliminate Duchairn and Magwair. We know Duchairn is up to something. Phandys may not be the obedient temple guard Clyntahn thinks him to be - after all, he killed Howard Wylsynn rather than letting him be captured and put to the question. The sword fight was a great show, but I think it was intentional and preplanned if Clyntahn ordered the Wylsynn's arrest.
I have to worry that you're seeing patterns where all that exists is conflicting plans coming into collision, or Howard Wylsynn's working as intended. Is that all the Phanydys Phandom have - that Phandys killed a well-skilled, armed man who was determined and well prepared not to be taken alive? It's a very thin reed. Sometimes, things really are pretty much what they appear to be, and if RFC gets his kicks throwing us curveballs, well, if we're going to squint and see curves everywhere, pitching them straight achieves the same purpose.
We may be surprised by a combination of Duchairn and Rayno, based on nothing but it being one of RFC's clever twists that none of us see coming.
Well, Duchairn's career in recent years has been one long deal with the devil, so that'd only be a deal with a different one. And it'd be outside Clyntahn's expectations of either of them, so it's got that going for it. However, I can't see Duchairn trusting Rayno like that; it'd be far too likely to be a trap by Rayno and Clyntahn to get honest evidence to use against Duchairn.
Keep in mind that for anyone outside the temple to kill the fat fornicator, they have to actually have access to the temple, which rules out Merlin, Nimue, and anybody from the allied side until/unless they seize the temple. Helm Cleaver is unlikely for that very reason.
Helm Cleaver may be able to infiltrate the Temple in secret - it's not as though they're operating in Zion in uniform and under flags. Any non-PICA in the Inner Circle could be transported there to do it too, but Helm Cleaver operatives have far better covers and, for the most part, training for it than any of the non-PICA's in the Inner Circle.
Why so many readers keep thinking that the allies are going to send armies marching across the Temple Lands to Zion is beyond me, when the ICN could send a fleet and tens of thousands of troops to Zion whenever it wants and capture the place quite easily, including the Temple. At that point Clyntahn either gets killed by Merlin, the headsman, or the noose after a very public trial, which is more Cayleb and Sharley's style. (Unfortunately Merline doesn't dare set foot inside the temple until they know what's in the basement!)
Some people don't think the war will end - or can be allowed to end - short of Zion because that's what it will take to break the CoGA and/or confront the Thing in the Basement, and that the CoGA will be able and willing to keep putting Harhongese bodies between the Allies and them until then. As far as that goes, that would apply to invasions by any route: from the east across the Border States, from the south from the Gulf of Dohlar, or from the north by Hsing-Wu's Passage and Lake Pei.
The northern route isn't likely to be a complete surprise - staying out of sight along Hsing-Wu's passage with a large fleet and then entering Lake Pei with it is more fortune than any planner should count on. It would mean both a much smaller distance by land for them to shove Harchongese human shields into, and it'd mean moving them with only moderate notice from other fronts, so it's got that at least going for it. Not nothing, but less than a simple amphibious triumph march.
The problem with it is that they
can't do it whenever they want. Hsing-Wu's Passage freezes over for much of the year, so anything they send that way has to be carefully timed and fend for itself over the extended winter months if it is there - thereby making even more demands of fortune for the operation. Something at the end of an overland stretch of occupied territory doesn't have that worry. That stretch would be a lot shorter south from the Gulf than east from Siddarmark, which is one reason I think that one ought to bear more attention than it has. It'd also make use of all the investment in the Gulf of Dohlar - more, perhaps, than the RDN itself demands.
I know that the treasurer has thoughts about the ability the inquisitor had to see and hear everything and the current occupants take the mysteries of the Archangels lights and power chairs for granted but that does not preclude a hidden room sealed off and forgotten.
