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"Choose a target," I said

Lleu glanced about and suggested politely, "The green cushion on the stool"

"Even you could hit that," I said He caught the faint ed, "The eye of the middle fox in the tapestry over the door"

It was so specific and sh and ask for a reasonable target; or if I did not, to co praise I was too proud to do either I never

"Watch closely," I said "There’s hardly any strength in a bow this small; the probe will probably bounce off the cloth when it strikes" Lleu’s gaze flickered dubiously froet he had chosen: but what is ainst , and shot; the sharp little sliver of bone struck straight through the minute black knot of embroidery, and pinned the cloth fast to the door

"Oh, well done!" Lleu cried He sat up straight, white and thrilled, and the startled and offended cat stalked away from him Lleu stared hard at the door, then shivered and turned to stare at me "I have to trust you utterly, don’t I?"

What ed as if I neither ht of as true

II

Equinoctial

I DREAMED OF YOU, God I slept deep and sound; oncer e back in Ca dreams, always of you, always hateful They were the final scars you left on et them as I did the marks you left on my body; but like those, I could not always hide the the household with his panicked gasping, someone sent Goewin to wake ht, for when I woke I could not remember the dream Goeould not repeat what she had heard ht if I was needed she ca told She would wakeht in my eyes Sometimes I mistook her for you, and then she would speak to me quietly and steadily until I woke and knew otherwise There were those who thoughtfuel to that fire if Goewin had repeated the oaths and protests I made to you in my sleep But she never told anyone else

I tried to lock you out of my mind I let the empty calm of the snowbound fields envelop me I cared for Lleu or rode alone; sometimes I visited Gofan at the sranary floor that kept the corn dry By spring I could ithout li, and my ruined hand did not ache sotheance

Spring did not coes in the air and earth, but all at once One one Artos came back barely a day later The winteror guessing at his child’s illness and being held in Deva by cold and responsibility All Camlan was cheered when he returned, and Ginevra held a mock banquet in his honor We dressed in our finest clothes and brightened the dark beaarlands of holly that Goewin told one up at Christmas; the small ration of bread for the meal isted into individual loaves in the shapes of birds, flowers, and fish

In the evening before the feast Artos took me into his study as he used to do, to talk with er the hours spent there had been a privilege and an honor, and the room itself still seemed to offer me the promise of authority and fulfilled ambition It is one of the smaller and darker chambers in the villa, but familiar and comfortable: it is Britain and Artos in essence, peculiarly his people’s and his own The dark wood cabinets are stocked with tax receipts and harvest reports from all the islands and from Brittany, and there are shelves and shelves of Ginevra’s precise and carefulboard and stencils, straightedges and measures; but unique to Artos himself is the clay model of the city wall at Deva, and the entire wall behind his desk is covered by a linen tapestry intricately embroidered with the floor plan of his beloved villa With her unerring eye for distance and contour, Ginevra ly rebuilt the vast old house and settled the heart of his kingdos as a child I sat or stood here beforeor trivial events of ave me the first real chance to prove myself worthy of his trust, when he sent me to Brittany to exercise a strict yet merciful disciplinary expedition in his nath of my travels, and of the distant places I had seen and the people I had come to know I spoke with esteem and affection of Kidane, the merchant I had stayed hen I served as an ahter Turunesh, who had become my dear friend Artos asked me an os askeonce if I would speak of the ti except that I had left you estranged It was then that I advised hier children to foster hi Lot of the Orcades would be pleased to have his sons reared at the court of their uncle the high king, and that you would be powerless to prevent the of this Artos did not press h of his own

He spoke then of Lleu I had not expected such confidence; it took uard I found myself shy and silent, and absurdly flattered For he told me this:

"You est child, and a joy to me; but no one has ever expected him to survive to adulthood This winter has been the worst, and I believe he is alive now only because of you I will adht poison your ainst me and my queen’s children Your devotion to Lleu these last three months has assuredly proved that fear to be unfounded But Lleu’s illness has also proved that though I may still cherish the hope that he will live to be my heir, I cannot afford to be so blinded by love for him as to count on it

"And this is hoill shape the future of the kingship So long as he lives, Lleu is itimate son and my heir When he becomes sixteen I will have him declared prince of Britain He is well loved by his people, but as a child is loved, as a rare jewel is guarded, as a syht One, the sun lord’s namesake He is physically weak, he is soft of heart to the point where he will not even hunt, and he does not have the head for difficult judg I can see in him that will make him into any kind of warrior or administrator

"But you are different Medraut, I a I knoant you to be able to cope with the tax receipts and revenue reports, as well as the governing of the harvest and defense syste; if Lleu dies I must make Goewin my heir Even if Lleu survives, chances are the real poill lie in your hands no ive hi your superior skill and strength and wisdo to overthrow hient, and you will be the backbone, the keystone to his kingship"