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Time passed The pass remained buried in snohich never coh the pass, and then barbarians cahtened and darkened, the light coh the pass Soe dress, while the snow sloping on both sides of the pass gradually grew steeper

The second avalanche ca it clean On a slope beyond, a group of young people huddled to one side, watching with fearful eyes as the tu behind the still form of a man The snow took with it the reo rotted away froues as they hurried over to the man and pulled him from the snow He opened his eyes and looked upon the faces of these children, whose speech he could not understand, and whose clothing and gear were unlike anything he had ever known One of the youngsmile

Tanicus, the Roman who had been betrayed, who died twice, first at the hand of the traitor, and then on the whiods, lifted his arm and took his hand

You were the Roman buried in the snow

Matthias looked at the wo the rescue It was Jessa, and it was she, not the gods, who had brought him here

Yes I aht into the sunlight, her body wrapped around Matthias’s She didn’t kno she had taken him with her into the vision of what had been, but he had been there with her and watched everything that had happened to hiht the h tih that "I didn’ther, his eyes dark with the shadows of that past "I wish that I had told you first I knew you would not believe s have to be seen to be believed" She stroked his face ondering fingertips "You were buried for so long It ht at first I was in some other place Elysium, perhaps" He s and kind But they had so e--I could not fathom more than a feords Froe and I saw the land beyond the strange dwellings and roads Land does not change so e behind me that I stood where the border patrol’s ca I knew had vanished"

Matthias told her how he had kept silent and accepted the help of the people who had taken hih it had been most difficult when the doctor had coot his first look at modern medical instruments

"The wounds in er there, and had left no scars It was as if they had never happened," he said "I had grown thin, and aveand ropes and went back up on the mountain I found the traitor’s sword in the snow, and as left of the purse I had carried I ca men some coins in return for their kindness Then I left and followed the road south, to Rome"

Jessa learned it had taken hi the way he picked up enough of the modern version of Italian to make himself understood He found an antiquities dealer and traded one more of his coins for the odd paper money everyone used, and traded that for food, roo

"I knehat had happened to me only when I caer existed What buildings I re ruins The ancient statues of the city bore the likeness of many of the noblemen I had known and served The first numbers I learned were to tell the year: 1998 I had slept on theof rain for almost two thousand years"

"Why did you dream of rain?"

"I cannot say But that is all I rerew distant "Endless dreams of rain"

"You must have known on some level that you were buried alive," Jessa said "Perhaps you simply wanted the snow to ain" She propped herself on one elbow "You were Kyndred before the avalanche That must be what allowed you to survive all those centuries buried in the snow"