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Sphinxlike, Goewin had sent hiain Only the lines in Latin were unfamiliar; they sounded biblical Why had she used Latin? She could have written the whole thing in Ethiopic, or even in Greek If it was froinally Greek anyway So why this verse in Latin? Why any of it?

He becaht Telemakos the Latin word for lion on the day they o, when Telemakos had been no more than six years old It was one of his earliest memories, how he and Goewin and Priaed naes Goewin had told him the British word for lion, also, llew Her father used to call her twin brother, Lleu, the young lion The Roate at Abreha’s Great Assembly feast had called him that as well

Leo Llew Lleu, who had once been prince of Britain, Goewin’s twin brother Medraut had also used the word leo, in the brief tiether earlier that year: Spiderwebs joined together can catch a lion

Tele to burn again He could not unravel it He had not enough time It was not fair

"Have you finished?" Abreha’s even voice cut through his concentration

"I’ve finished," Telemakos whispered He watched the najashi’s narrow, dark hands roll the palm strip shut

"Muna, are you there?" the najashi called The queen ca aloud; only her clothes rustled and tinkled, as though, like a ghost, she had to h the objects around her

"Make a bed for the Morningstar in the sitting rooht You may want to anoint the burn"

Tele ht better of it Muna helped hi her resolute silence Her touch on his bare skin was gentle and thrilling Tele face away from her, ashamed of his tears and the turmoil in his stomach

"Do you want an opiate?" Abreha asked him

Tele to his lips: Why didn’t you think of that before you set my hair on fire? He remembered his father, cold and courteous, held captive in chains that threatened to choke hied off Muna’s sis She has proets the in the Great Globe Roo if they were there for her when she wakes"

Muna beckoned hi by her side Telemakos followed her out of the najashi’s study and into the receiving roo, exactly as Medraut used to do, pressing Tele ebony tabletop to make him lay his head down on it She was sympathetic, but not shocked by the najashi’s treathtforward that he realized she ht She was somehow Abreha’s conspirator

Her touch as she smeared aloe over the back of Teleht he was i it But the brand itself felt like a small circle of flame at the base of his skull

"Let me plait your hair," Muna said "It will keep it off this wound, and you will look respectable for your interview toht, and suppressed a shudder, but the bells were gone and h and stood watching as Muna began to coht have waited to ate him Perhaps they’ll find fault in him that you don’t see"

"I know the worst already," Abreha answered "He ithstand their questioning"

Telemakos dreamed he was in Afar, but the dreanant pool in a riverbed that was otherwise parched to dust Above him, on the bank of the dry river, with the desert at his back, Goewin’s slain twin brother, Lleu the Bright One, the young lion, the prince of Britain, whoed Lleu had Goewin’s dark eyes and white skin, but in the dreae as Teleed to the shoulder in the still, green water, trying to tickle trout But the pool was erown so nuers anymore

He looked up at his uncle and said, "I can’t do this It will destroy me It’s not worth it"

"You must," Lleu answered "Youhere," Telemakos said, and pulled his arers to open, there on the pal

"That is the mark of Solomon," Lleu said "You can keep it"

XII

A GUARD OF HONOR

THARAN WAS WITH TELEMAKOS when he woke, pouring coffee spiced with ginger that Muna had left for the your sister to Aksuht it best to spare you both a violent parting When you’ve broken your fast, youof the Federation so they may question you"