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Gil drifted slowly to consciousness, with the puzzled awareness that she had been asleep The ss she had s, strophe and antistrophe, led in her ears She are that she sat in a kind of octagonal anteroo in her clouded recollections, she thought she must have come here to rest after the other members of the procession had returned from the sunset execution

Or maybe the execution had been only a dream

She didn&039;t think so Theas they melted on the s in the wake of every man, woman, and child in the Keep across the road to the knoll that faced the gates, hearing the wailing of wolves and wind in the forest and the solitary weeping of the three or four women ould mourn Bendle Stooft and Parscino Pral

Like a counterpoint to thatin the crowds all around &039;Good tieed froed me a penny for a loaf of bread - a whole penny! Andand no place to lay our heads!&039; &039;Penny for bread?&039; A ed me six coppers for a bit of space on the floor of a wash-house, to spend the night in shelter I lost ht For all of me, that Guard could have taken his hands and head, as well as his sodding foot&039;

Support your local Guards, Gil thought, exhausted, and raised her head to look around her Memory came dearer now She&039;d been with Janus and Melantrys Alwir had asked to speak with them up in the Royal Sector She&039;d followed the, as far as the Church and then had fallen behind Let Janus deal with hioddam steps on his say-so

She sa that the anterooainst the back wall of the Aisle long after the Keep&039;s original construction as an entrance-hall to the sanctuary itself To Gil&039;s historian&039;s eye, this type of excrescence denoted so in the Keep&039;s history, the saeways and cells to proliferate and tangle so alarly The anteroom contained little but a few carved stone benches and an ikonlike painting of an unfa nibbled to death by snakes On the far wall, a doorway led into the sanctuary itself

So drifted fro echoes of the ue To Gil it eirdly fa mirror of her medieval studies, a bizarre reminder of the Void that she had crossed to come here, as perhaps others had also done The Scriptures Govannin had read in the place of execution had been fa on two planes of reality

The iainst the yellow sunset sky Like a dark, hard heelstone between thecloak; the pillars lay like a gun-sight between the gates of the Keep and the dark notch of Sarda Pass, and Govannin&039;s crucifor on the s limply in his chains on one pillar, half-dead already with shock and loss of blood Bendle Stooft had cried and whihout the Bishop&039;s prayers All around them, the men and wo eyes On the other side of the knoll, that silent coees, sory children come in silence to observe the justice of the Keep

Snoinds had whipped across the Vale The chains had clanked on the pillars, and the keys had rattled in Janus&039; hands Alwir read out the charges in his trained, powerful voice, and Govannin spoke her prayers, forive theseby her tone of voice that it was all the same to her if He did not Then, as the sun vanished into the bruised darkness of the banks of clouds, they had all turned their backs on the dooht enfolded the land

Gil had a hazyon his staff as he limped up the Keep steps between Alwir, Govannin, and Minalde She did not think she had seen anyone take the muddy doard road back to the Tall Gates

But that, too, ot to her feet and walked to the sanctuary door From its shadows, she looked into the enorht, with a floor space, if cleared, of possibly ten thousand square feet, although Gil&039;s judgeood That whole shadowy vastness was lighted by only three candles, burning on the bare stone slab of the central altar; by their spare, sht, thelatticework Pillars, galleries, and balconies hung suspended one above the other like stone lace, withturrets and irregularly shaped platfor upward in stair-step spirals; over all of it brooded inaniels, aniles of carved tracery In the intense shadows, not a soul was visible, but Gil could hear theloom

She had heard it before, on the road down fros and requiems, vespers and matins Where did the roots feed across the Void, she wondered, and in which direction? What was the evolution of ideas? Straight transfer or the doubled branches of an archetypical Platonic root? Or so wholly inconceivable? She

wondered about that saint in the anteroom, whose curiously elipsoid eyes held an expression of startlement rather than pain Was there a Christian saint who had ended his days to give pagan vipers their elevenses?

It was all scholars&039; games, she knew, and would not alter one whit the threat of the Dark, or the inevitable clash between Alwir, Govannin, and the Arch with the Guards, no matter how e that It hat no one, with the exception of Ingold, had ever understood about her - her delight in knowledge for its own sake, in the Hol quest for the uttermost roots of the world

&039;Gil- Shalos&039;

She swung around, startled Through the haze of her deliriuhts of the antechael in a fever drearn, sexless and pitiless in the blood-scarlet of her episcopal robes, a creature of inhuence, and loyalty to her God But her voice was a dry, woman&039;s voice &039;You are not well?&039; she asked slowly &039;At the tribunal you see better&039;

The wound&039;s a little feverish, is all,&039; Gil excused herself &039;I&039;ll get over it in a day or so&039;

The long, bony fingers indicated, without touching, the slings and strapping that bound Gil&039;s shoulder &039;More than that, I fear,&039; she said &039;Shoulders can be a bad business&039;

Beyond the rose - for the soul, Gil presumed, of Bendle Stooft Beside her, the Bishop raised her head, listening with a critical ear In the golden fog of the laent brow shadowing a deep fanatic&039;s eyes, the stubbornness that scarred cheeks and lips like dueling cuts Fine, small ears, dainty as shells, ornamented the smoothness of the bald pate where it ran into the old, wrinkled power of the

ropy neck muscles It occurred to Gil that in her youth Govannin Narly lovely woi intelligence were very seldo

&039;Your Grace? she asked softly, and the dark eyes returned to her as if from a reverie &039;Hoas the Keep built?&039;

The Bishop considered thethe Guards had Finally she said, &039;I do not know Which in itself is strange,&039; she added, her long fingersto caress the black stone of the doorway at her side &039;For it is our shelter and our home&039;

&039;Does anyone?&039;

Govannin shook her head &039;Not to rossly overeducated for an heiress, yet I can recall no word of that&039;

Gil had to srossly overeducated, too&039;

A ghost of an answering s lips &039;Were you?&039;

&039;Oh, yes I was a scholar in my own lands I suppose in a way that&039;s what I will always be Would the Church records have anyof the Keep? Hoas done, or by who Past her, Gil sawnarrow steps, dilow of a censer They vanished in shadows, but their voices remained, like the sound of winds in the rocks &039;Perhaps,&039; Govannin said finally &039;Most of the Scripture co and wisdo The records that, no thanks to o back to the time when the see was here at Renweth, but I do not think they extend into the Tiht&039; Sheof Gil&039;s face &039;Is this important to you?&039;

&039;It could be,&039; Gil said &039;Those records could contain in them some clue, some information, not only about the Keep but about the Dark What they are - why they came -why they left&039;

&039;Perhaps,&039; the Bishop said again, after a long ht &039;But for the most part, I think you will find them simply tales of how much the harvest as born and as buried, and if the rains were light or heavy As for the co of the Dark to the Ti together and the lines in that strong, crepy face hardening &039;I have heard that the civilizations of Before icked and debased Amid their pride and their splendour, they practised abominations It is my belief, now as then, that the Time of the Dark was just punishment, which lasted for the span allotted by God The Book of lab tells us that God will let the Evil One have domination for a tied &039;I have lived a long time and have learned never to question the motivations of God&039;

&039;Maybe,&039; Gil said &039;But it seeh, when perhaps it could be averted If God didn&039;t want us to learn from history, ouldn&039;t have hands to write with, nor eyes to read&039;

&039;A wizard&039;s sophistry,&039; the Bishop replied calmly &039;One by which they are all teh I do know you are loyal to your wizard friends But I doubt the utility of struggling against the intent of God His ways are slow but as sure and inescapable as the co of the ice in the north&039;

&039;But who,&039; Gil insisted, &039;can know the intent of God?&039;

&039;Not I, certainly And I do not think it evil to learn from history I a of all books and the telling of Scripture froe is pohether over the Dark Ones, over Kings ould usurp unto thehtfully

God&039;s, or over sorcerers and es who do not believe in God at all and whoe with knowledge and their poith ours&039;

&039;Like the Rune of the Chain? Gil countered a little bitterly She got a dark, enigmatic look in return

&039;The use of such devices is unlawful,&039; the Bishop said The Rune of the Chain can be spelled to bind and cripple a wizard&039;s power, and I have heard of its being so used But using evil&039;s work in any way defeats the good of the cause Only evil can coe of Quo"

&039;You don&039;t think a wizard&039;s power iven to him by God?&039;

Her tone was perhaps arded her for aof fever and la leam of eyes &039;You rush to his defence,&039; she said at last, and her voice had only the calm interest of a python that watched the world and chose what prey it would &039;Beware of hireat ability and much personal charm for a man who has traded his soul to Satan - which is what he has done, though he will not own it Satan uses such norance or pride will not see what they have done by giving in to the temptation to power But I am old, Gil-Shalos I have seen the other kind of wizard, evil wizards, renegades, headstrong, a If you had ever met such a one, orked for and openly welcoain think that the talents of ato do with God&039;

&039;But he isn&039;t like that!&039; Gil protested hotly Ies rushed to her old standing in the brilliance of theblizzard and darkness at bay until the Guards could get Tir and Aide to the Keep, the oldblackness, surrounded by runes of power that no one else could see, and

the look in his eyes when he had handed her his glowing staff and asked her to guard his back &039;He would never bend to evil, never use his powers for ill There can be good and bad wizards, the saood and bad ant brows Gil stumbled and broke off her words, her cheeks suddenly hotter than even fever could account for, glad of the veiling shadows &039;I&039;m sorry,&039; she stammered, confused &039;I spoke disrespectfully, and all you have done has been kindness to me&039; It had doubtless been decades, Gil reflected, since any member of hoi polloi had so lashed out at Govannin Narmenlion

But the Bishop was only silent for a tiht in her eyes When she spoke, her dry, cracked voice was kind &039;I like you, my child,&039; she said &039;You are a warrior as you are a scholar, single-minded, and never without purpose Your heart is very pure - pure in its scholarship, pure in its violence, and pure in its love Such hearts can be hurt and can do ht or cowed&039; She put out her hand, her fingers ice-cold against Gil&039;s cheek &039;I shall send you the Church records, if you desire it, and also soift to you, with the consequences of what that knowledge shall bring&039;

She held out her bony hand, and Gil dropped to one knee to kiss the dark bezel of the episcopal ring

Later, waking in the barracks from feverish sleep, Gil wondered if this, too, had been a drea a heavy book which, she said, the lady Govannin had asked if she would take to Gil-Shalos

&039;I was co herself at the foot of Gil&039;s bunk

Through the doorway beyond her, Gil could hear the noises of the night watch going out, the creaking of leather, the faint clink

of buckles, and Melantrys&039; light, bantering chaff

Minalde ran her fingers along the e of the cover &039;What is it?&039;

Gil explained briefly her desire to probe the origins of the Keep to learn so of its secrets &039;I mean, hell,&039; she said, &039;there&039;s so much more to the Keep than meets the eye Like -how come there&039;s a floater in the latrines and fountains? Even if the Keep was built over an underground river, the stuff doesn&039;t run uphill Why is the air fresh in most places, not foul and stuffy? Hoas the Keep built in the first place? I knoas built three thousand years ago by Dare of Renweth, at the ti of the Dark,&039; she went on, &039;but how long did it take? Where did everybody stay during construction, if they didn&039;t start on it until after the Dark began appearing? Or were the Dark only down in the river valleys and the mountains safe?&039;

&039;No,&039; Aide answered simply &039;Because there&039;s a Nest of the Dark not twenty miles from here, as you know&039;

Gil remembered the tilted slab of black stone in thewoods and shuddered

&039;And for the rest of it,&039; Aide went on, &039;you&039;ve already told ic in Tiic now, but I don&039;t knohat that ic places, sort of temples of wizardry, in many cities, not just at Quo - so ic is fused into the walls of the Keep&039;

At the mention of her lover&039;s narin In irl reht; she eet, shy, pretty, and very unsure of herself At such tiirl had passed through fire and darkness, had seen her husband die in the flaainst the forces of the night, are She

was the Queen of Darwath, the true ruler of the Keep, sitting at the foot of the disordered bunk with her legs crossed under her multicoloured peasant skirts

&039;So anyway, the Bishop offered to lendherself up against her makeshift pillows &039;Gnift&039;s already toldpatrol is out for at least three weeks I suppose he&039;s right,&039; she added regretfully, looking down at her strapped shoulder &039;I&039;ll have to get soh&039;

&039;Oh, I can do that,&039; Aide said &039;Really, it would be no trouble I know the Old Wath and the High Tongue of the Church, which is very different from the Wathe It would be the first ti that I learned in school&039;

Gil regarded her for a loom, fascinated &039;What did you learn in school?

Aide shrugged &039;Needlework,&039; she said &039;Songs, and horite the different modes of poetry I did an entire tapestry once of Shamilfar and Syriandis - they&039;re famous lovers - but it nearly drovethe harp and dulci about the major parts of the Realm and a little history I hated history,&039; she admitted, shaly

&039;You don&039;t&039; Aide&039;s slim, well-kept hands traced the curve of the leather cover&039;s e

&039;I alas a freak that way&039; Rudy&039;s teasing nickname of &039;spook&039; was hardly a new one

&039;Well, the way you talk about it, it&039;s as if as if it has a point,&039; Aide said &039;As if you&039;re looking for soht us about history was these little stories that were supposed to be , like the one about the uard action for the sake of his comrades, or the story about all those old patriarchs who let the ene Things that I suspect never really happened&039;

The i to his father about who axed the cherry tree floated through Gil&039;s hed &039;Maybe&039;

&039;But if you need solad to do it&039;

Gil studied Aide&039;s face for a moment in silence She herself had closed out the UCLA library, the way sohts not to understand And as for having a Queen as a research assistant - Alwir, Gil reflected, will hardly miss her &039;Sure,&039; she said quietly &039;Any tiet away&039;

They took over the little cubbyhole in the back of the barracks of the Guards, which Ingold had once used as his quarters It was private, yet close to the centre of things, and, Gil noted to herself, at the opposite end of the Keep fro there every day, usually bringing Tir with her, to work laboriously through the ancient chronicles, while Gil scribbled notes on tablets of wood coated with beeswax that she&039;d found in an abandoned storerooed and archaic, sh to fit into the narrow confines of her study She used a couple of firkins of dried apples for a seat

Thus she entered into a period of quiet scholarship, her hours of transcribing and sorting notes alternating with long, solitary rah the back reaches of the Keep in search of son of the mysterious circular chamber Rudy had described before his departure It was fro at her desk, studying one of the tablets in the diirl asked, touching the creaer &039;Is this all?

Gil looked down over her shoulder She habitually wrote with a silver hairpin as a stylus, in a colish and the runes of the Wathe The tablet had written on it:

Swarl (?) s of Tirwis, ss Aldor, Bet, Urgwas -

farsnd 4 (-) - no uo

(?) - Bp Kardthe, Tracho

&039;Sure,&039; she replied cheerfully That&039;s fro to me yesterday It&039;s just a condensation - Swarl, whenever the hell he ruled Renweth, had three sons nawas&039;

&039;Bet&039;s a woman&039;s name,&039; Aide pointed out

&039;Oh&039; Gil ender &039;Anyhow, in the second year of his reign there was a fah to close Sarda Pass The population of the Keep at that time was estimated at twelve thousand, with three settle - don&039;t ask me why There was no mention of the Dark in the chronicle, which isn&039;t surprising, since we have yet to find any word of the Dark in any of these chronicles, and right around the fourth year of his reign there is a stateht have been so for years The Bishops during his reign were Kardthe and later a man or wo for Trago It&039;s a man&039;s name&039;

Thanks&039; Gil n they buried the gaenguo, which I uo the old word for a - a lucky place, or a good place?&039;

&039;Well - not so uess awesome would be the best word&039; Aide reached out with her foot and gently rolled Tir&039;s ball back toward hi happily on the floor &039;There were supposed to be places where certain powers

were concentrated, where people could see things far off or have visions&039;

Gil considered, while Tir ca busily back across the crackly mat of straw and old rushes that strewed the floor Aide bent down and let the infant catch her fingers, then lifted hi position beside her knees Tir threw back his head and croith delight

&039;You know,&039; Gil said thoughtfully, &039;I bet what they buried was the old Nest of the Dark&039; She picked up the tablet and turned it idly over in her fingers, the touch of the wax as cold and sh But it&039;s really sort of an opposite to a gaenguo The at,&039; she lanced curiously up at Gil, holding her son&039;s hands in her own

&039;Because it looks as if by that time they had completely disassociated the idea of the Dark fro than it seems,&039; she went on, &039;when you consider that the bonfire was the first line of defence against the Dark Which, of course, is e have no records at all from the Time of the Dark itself&039;

Aide let Tir down, and the child crawled deter,&039; she said, inadequately

&039;Well, rain sacks and covered her cold feet with her cloak &039;It left everybody coain I mean, before last summer nobody had even heard of the Dark&039;

&039;Oh, but we had,&039; Aide protested &039;That&039;s what - In a way it worked against Ingold, you see When I was a little girl, et out of bed and run about the house at night because the Dark Ones would eat me up I think all nurses used to tell their children that&039; Her voice

faltered - in the end it had been Medda who had been eaten up by the Dark &039;It was sorew out of Most little children believed in the Dark Ones It was only their parents who didn&039;t&039;