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Rob looked up at the sky; daas only an hour away "Where goes the finest horseman in all of Florence?"

"Back to Italy, I hope" Harlech spit on the ground "If he does not first fall in the lake and sink like a stone"

Rob saw Skald’s htful "Harlech, saddle that ivory gelding Byrne refuses to sell to me"

Even in the dark, the destrier’s tracks were plainly visible, so Rob simply followed the trail Skald had rounded the lake and disdained the riding paths for the north shore of the lake Rob caught sight of hi to loop his e tree

Rob tugged the gelding to a stop and surveyed the area At first he saw nothing of curiosity, only the lake’s edge, the citrus grove, and the taller black oaks and scrub pines behind it Then Skald hurried over to a patch of cleared land beside the grove, and Rob spotted the dark scar in the center of it

He secured his e of the yawning gap

"It’s a sinkhole," he said,the seneschal jump and whirl around

"My lord Locksley" He sheathed the ornate dagger in his hand "You alarestured toward the hole "My master bade me ride out to find Lord Byrne I heard a voice call to me, and saw this"

"The land here has loose pockets and sometimes collapses in on itself," Rob told him "The ’voice’ you heard was likely soive erly approached the edge "Hallo? Is there anyone down there? Do you require assistance?"

"What do you think, you daft prick?" Rob heard Byrne’s voice call back

"Aedan" Rob went to crouch at the edge Forty feet below, a bare-chested Byrne stood holding Jayr, wrapped in a tattered shirt, in his arms His heart clenched "How badly is she hurt?"

"She must have tried to climb out while I slept, and fell," Byrne told hied her head, her shoulder’s wrenched, and she’s lost too et her back to the keep"

Rob looked at Skald "Ride back to the stables and tell Harlech what has happened Have him send rope and men to help me pull them out"

"At once, my lord" Skald started for his horse, and then hesitated and faced hie" He handed him an arrow

"Fine" Rob tossed it aside "Go quickly"

While he waited for help to arrive, Rob walked the perimeter of the sinkhole Fissures and depressions on the surface fores

Byrne watched hiround is unstable; any sort of pressure on the walls could cause another collapse" Heof some sort over it--"

"There’s another way," Byrne told hiot your phone with you?"

He checked his pocket "I do"

"Call Scarlet Have hiham down here"

"I will be happy to throw hiet the two of you out"

"The soil near the lake is always saturated," Byrne re, took out his phone, and called his seneschal To his credit Will didn’t question his orders, and griham by his testicles to the sinkhole if he refused to come voluntarily

Harlech and his men came within a few ht a folding stretcher, and spoke to Byrne about Jayr’s condition She also tossed down a bag of blood for hihaneur" Nottingham bowed to Cyprien, and then pointed to Scarlet "This man insisted I come here I understand that Suzerain mac Byrne has fallen into a hole, but I fail to see what I can do about it"

Rob caround"

Nottingha me?"

"Unless there is sos to ice with his touch," Rob said through his teeth, "I aht If you can freeze the water in the soil, it will keep the walls fro in while we pull theneur" Nottinghaave the men around him a conteest you round," Rob told hiha his fingers into the earth

At first nothing happened, and then Rob heard the sound of ice cracking Narrow rings of white frost encoround around the Italian’s hands, and the scent of aniseed grew thick The rings expanded, sending out fingers of ice that crystallized everything in their path The gentle sound of lapping water stilled as ice fore of the lake

Ses, coated with thick, spiny frost, dropping from the trees