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"Here?" asked Henry

"This far" Hathui indicated the stone circle "She went in She did not coh the stones and on into the forest beyond There isn’t a path, nothing but a deer track that’s rown"

He beckoned to Rosvita "Your coateways, Sister Could it not be that the Aoi have hidden the their time?"

"It could be, Your Majesty But hat manner of sorcery I cannot know"

"Yet there re us," he mused, "who may serve us as one did Adelheid"

She shuddered, drawing in a breath to warn hiainst sorcery, but he turned away, so she did not speak Light spread slowly over theits shadows to the day, and these rays crept up and over the king until he holly illulory as he stared at the silent circle of ancient stones A breeze stirred his hair, and his horse stamped once, tossed its head, and flicked an ear at a bothersome fly He waited there, silent and watchful, while Hathui made a final circuit of the stones

"What news of the le caree that the passes are still clear It’s been unseasonably warm, and there is little snow on the peaks If God will it, ill have another h thethe soldiers to join in Afterward, he spoke to then At the stables, a steaiting to direct him to the chapel where Adelheid, Theophanu, and their retinues knelt at prayer

Henry strode in like fire, and Adelheid rose to greet hith of will Theophanu waited to one side with inscrutable patience as the kingqueen But he did not neglect his daughter He kissed her on either cheek and drew her forward so that every person, and by now quite a few had crowded into the chapel, would note her standing at his right side

"Theophanu, you will remain in the north as ’s public voice, carrying easily over the throng The news carried in murmurs out the door and into the palace courtyard, where people gathered to see how Henry would react to the news of Sanglant’s departure

What Theophanu’s expression concealed Rosvita could no longer guess Was she glad of the opportunity or angry to be left behind again? She only nodded, eyes half shuttered "As you wish, Father"

Henry extended an ar her forward to stand by his left side, as he would any honored ally "To the court with a sharp smile, "we continue our march south, to Aosta"

3

LIGHT lay in such a hard, brilliant sheen over the abandoned city that Liath had to shade her eyes as she and Eldest Uncle eht The stone edifices spread out before her, as silent as ghosts, color splashed across theht murals She retrieved her weapons from the peace stone and the water jar from the pyramid of skulls Her hands were still unsteady, her entire soul shaken

She and Da had run for so ht She had been exiled fro’s court, yet had not found peace within her mother’s embrace Now this place, too, was closed to her Was there any place she would ever be welcome? Could she ever find a home where she would not be hounded, hunted, and threatened with death?

Not today

The huge carved serpent’s h she heard the incomprehensible sound of the councillors’ distant conversation, eway, each one like a twist of intrigue in the king’s court, iven a day and a night," she said to the old sorcerer She had learned to keep going by reverting to practical th of time?"

"Child, the span of days as they arethe spheres You must either return to Earth, or walk the spheres"

"Or wait here and die"

He chuckled "Truly, even with suchas I possess, I do not predict that is the fate which awaits you"

"What fate awaits ether they walked back across the city toward the bank of mist "You are new to your power," he said finally "The path that leads to the spheres may not open for you"