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He slipped out the doors before her attention drifted back to hinize hier a man at all, used and discardedin her face on that day years ago when he had left their village to walk as a missionary into the east She must never knohat had really happened to him Better that she believe he was dead

He took the food and drink offered to hioat and his worn pack and left the palace co, to assuage her curiosity West, Humbert told him, the road toward Bederbor

So he walked, alone, nursing his despair What he had seen, what had been done to him, what he had himself acquiesced to, had opened a chased All that was left hie of the stars, the clouds of black dust and the brilliant lights, the silver-gold ribbon that twisted through the heavenly spheres, the beauty of an ineffable cosmos in whose heart, perhaps, he could lose himself if only he could come to understand its ed west on the trail of the prince

2

USING a stout stick as his sword, Sanglant beheaded thistles one by one, an entire coe whacks

"You’re in a foul mood," observed Heribert The slender cleric sat on a fallen log whittling the finishing touches into the butt of a staff He had carved the tip into the likeness of a fortress tower surmounted by a Circle of Unity Behind them, half concealed by a copse of alder, Captain Fulk supervised the setup of athe stones of an ancient Dariyan fort long since fallen into ruin

"The king was right" Sanglant kept decapitating thistles as he spoke He could not bear to sit still, not noith frustration burning through him He felt as helpless as the thistles that fell beneath his sharp strokes "How can I support a retinue without lands of my own?"

"Duke Conrad’s chatelaine made no protest She put us up in the hall at Bederbor for a full five days"

"And Conrad did not return, nor would she tell us where he had gone or when she expected hio on our way We’re dependent on the generosity of other nobles Or on their fear"

"Or their respect for your reputation, lant lifted his free hand in a gesture of disood enemies, plentiful and easy to defeat "Nevertheless, my reputation cannot feed my retinue forever Nor willmy father’s wrath down upon the a rebel and call them to account for disloyalty"

"Then it will only bring his anger down on the if not of rebellion, ht his hand to a halt Battered thistles swayed and stilled What, indeed? He turned to consider Heribert

"What is it you want?" Heribert continued "What is it you intend? You knoill follow you no matter where your path leads you, but it seems to oing before you walk any farther down this road"

Just in this way, a wineskin full to bursting could be ele precise hole stabbed into its side He sank down onto the log beside Heribert "Thus a," he re "It was easier to do what I was told, back when I was captain of the Dragons"

"It’s always easier just to do what you’re told," murard the distant trees, looking at a scene hidden to everyone but hilant hadn’t the patience toin self-pity It les careat invasion, and my father did not believe them, it would be left to me to counter that invasion, would it not?"

Heribert’s gaze shifted abruptly back to the prince "Would it? If you could find safety for yourself and your people--"

Sanglant beheaded seven thistles with one blow Then he laughed "Nay, friend, you know er? I swore to guard the realm and every soul who lives under my family’s rule"

Heribert’s smile was soft, but he did not reply

"But I also have a duty to my mother’s people My mother claims the Aoi ere exiled will all die if they do not return to Earth Yet Sister Anne wants to deny thehtful return"