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"What do you ritted his teeth and folded his arhts Aeris at the poles supported it as it sailed through low clouds and drifting snow, and the cold seemed determined to slowly remove his ears from the sides of his head

"You really do hate flying, don&039;t you?" Aldrick drawled

"Just answer the question"

"Marcus reports that the ground tea Count Graet of opportunity and took it, but they were detected before they could attack The Cursor again The two h he reports that Count Graled assault fro, not an opportunity If they weren&039;t forewarned before, they are now"

Aldrick shrugged "Maybe not Marcus reports that the Cursor and the Steadholder with her were subsequently arrested and hauled off in chains"

Fidelias tilted his head at Aldrick, frowning Then, slowly, he started to sreat deal better Gram wouldn&039;t have arrested one of his own Steadholders without getting the whole story His truthfinder must be in command now"

Aldrick nodded "That&039;s what Marcus reports And according to our sources, the truthfinder is someone with a patron but no talent House of Pluvus He&039;s young, no experience, not enough crafting to even do his job, much less to be a threat in the field"

Fidelias nodded "Mmm"

"Lucky accident, it looks like There was a veteran that was going to be set out with nearly two cohorts tertius, originally, but the paperwork got done incorrectly and they sent out a green unit instead"

"The crows it was an accident," Fidelias murmured "It took me nearly a week to set it up"

Aldrick stared at him for a ed "I only did it to lessen the effectiveness of the garrison I didn&039;t think it would pay off this well" He wiped a snowflake froht"

"Don&039;t get your hopes up too far," the swordsman responded "If the Marat lose their backbones, all of this will be for nothing"

"That&039;s e&039;re going out to them," Fidelias said "Just follow hts Aeris, "How er?"

The man squinted into the distance for adown out of the cloud cover now, sir We should be able to see the fires there"

The litter swept down out of the clouds, and the abrupt return of vision made Fidelias&039;s storound was

And beneath them, spread out over the plains beyond the mountains that shielded the Calderon Valley, were caht for h," Aldrick ru around them for several moments, while they sailed over them Then turned to Fidelias and said, "I&039;m not sure I can handle that many"

Fidelias felt the corner of his mouth twitch "We&039;ll lided to earth at the base of a hill that rose up out of the rolling plains At its top stood a ring of enor as a house, and within that circle of stones stood a still pool of water, somehow free of the ice that should have covered it Torches rested between the

stones, their eave the place a garish light The snow on the ground gave the whole place an odd light, and the pale, nearly naked Marat could be seen keeping out of the light of the nearest torches, watching thehted froht he&039;d spoken to before, "Where is Atsurak?"

The Knight nodded up the slope "Top of the hill They call it a horto but it&039;s up there"

Fidelias rolled his ankle, frowning at the pain in his foot "Then why didn&039;t we land at the top of the hill?"

The Knight shrugged and said apologetically, "They told us not to, sir"

"Fine," Fidelias said, shortly He glanced at Aldrick and started up the hill The swordsht and a step behind him The slope made his feet hurt abominably, and he had to stop once to rest

Aldrick frowned, watching him "Feet?"

"Yes"

"When rap this up to things up"

Fidelias frowned He didn&039;t trust the water witch Aldrick see "Fine," he said, shortly After a moment, he asked, "Why, Aldrick?"

The swordsht around them with neutral disinterest "Why what?"

"You&039;ve been a wanted hteen"

"And you&039;ve been a rebel the whole tiroup after another, and they&039;ve all been subversives"

"Freedohters," Aldrick said

"Whatever," Fidelias said "The point is that you&039;ve been a thorn in Gaius&039;s side since you were barely ed

Fidelias studied him "Why?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I like knowing the motivations of the people I ith The witch follows you She&039;s besotted with you, and I have no doubt that she&039;d kill for you, if you asked her to"

Again, Aldrick shrugged

"But I don&039;t knohy you&039;re doing it Why Aquitaine trusts you So, why?"

"You haven&039;t worked it out? You&039;re supposed to be the big spy for the Crown Haven&039;t you figured it out yet? Analyzedlike that?"

Fidelias half-smiled "You&039;re honest You&039;re a ht I&039;d ask"

Aldrick stared up the hill for a moment Then he said, tonelessly, "I had a faer sisters Gaius Sextus destroyed theer on the hilt of his sword "I&039;ll kill him To do that, I have to knock him off the Throne So I&039;m with Aquitaine"

"And that&039;s all there is to it?" Fidelias asked

"No" Aldrick didn&039;t elaborate After a moment of silence, he said, "How are your feet?"

"Let&039;s go," Fidelias said He started back up the hill again, though the pain made him wince with every step

Perhaps ten yards short of the summit of the hill, a pair of Marat warriors, male and female, rose out of the shadows around the base of the stones at the top of the hill They ca an axe of Aleran er of chipped stone

Fidelias stopped short of them and held up his empty hands "Peace I have come to speak to Atsurak"

The man stepped up close to him, his eyes narrowed He had the dark, heavy feathers of a herdbane braided through his pale hair "I will not permit you to speak to Atsurak, outsider, while he is at the horto You ait until-"

Fidelias&039;s temper flashed, and it ith a flicker of annoyance that he reached down into the earth to borrow strength fro warrior a blow that lifted the Marat&039;s feet up off the ground and stretched hi, Fidelias stepped over the silent form of the fallen Marat He limped up to the lean female warrior and said in exactly the same tone, "Peace I have come to speak to Atsurak"

The Marat&039;s aht

beneath heavy, pale brows Her lips lifted fros, and she said, "I will take you to Atsurak"

Fidelias followed her up the rest of the hill and to the great stones there The sround, held a curious odor, and Fidelias found his head feeling a bit light as he stepped into it He glanced back at Aldrick, and the swordsman nodded, nostrils flared

Seven stones, s above the heavy smoke, sat around a pool of water, somehow unfrozen despite the cold The smoke see it shining and dull, reflecting back the light of fires and the dull night glow of snow and ice

Scattered around the pool were perhaps a hundred other Marat, their hair plaited with herdbane feathers, or else showing the shagginess of what Fidelias assumed to be the Wolf Clan Male and feourds, orsmoke with animal abandon In the shadows stood the tall, silent shapes of the herd-bane warbirds and crouched the loift shapes of wolves

On one of the stones lounged Atsurak, his bruises all but gone already, the cuts bound in strips of hide and plaited grass Aquitaine&039;s dagger rode through a strap at his waist, the blade contained within a rawhide sheath and positioned to be clearly on display On either side of hied variety Both were naked, young, lithe

The mouths of all three were smeared with fresh, scarlet blood And bound over the stone beside the Aleran wo the shreds of a farm wife&039;s skirts and apron, and still very much alive

Aldrick&039;s es," he murmured