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"Then she is the one I seek!" cried the frater triu the scrap back

With solant handed it over "You sahat became of her, surely She was stolen by fire daimones"

The soldiers had heard the story before, but theythe words spoken so baldly At tilant that they rode with hinant, despite the reputation of his wife, who had been excommunicated by a church council for the crime of sorcery and had vanished under mysterious circumstances from Earth itself Despite the inhuhter

"Ah" Zacharias considered the goats, who had resolved their dispute by pulling to the limits of their ropes where they had found satisfaction in a bralant, but he couldn’t place hi about thea resonance in his heart The frater had a bold nose, a hawk’s nose, as souely womanlike jawline, more full than sharp He had the thinness of atiood churchaze was clear and unafraid "Do you believe she is lost to you, Your Highness?"

"I will find her"

Zacharias considered the words, and the tone, and finally nodded "May I travel with you, then, lant "Why do you seek her?"

"So that she may explain toof the architecture of the universe, just as I do She e of the stars--"

"Enough" The lant could not bear to hear more of it Ai, God, it reminded him of the conversation he had overheard between Liath and Sister Venia: Hugh could read, could navigate the night sky, could plot the course of the lant did not Would Liath like Zacharias’ company better than his? She lived at times so much in her mind that he wondered if she ever noticed that with each step her feet touched the ground Maybe her feet no longer touched Earth at all, not now Perhaps all the secrets of the stars had been revealed to her on some distant sphere, and she need never return to the Earth he understood and lived on

Heribert coughed slightly, and Sanglant realized that everyfor hi as you abide by my orders and ue, Your Highness," said the frater, "and it has gotten me into trouble before" He spoke bitterly, and esture with his hand, toward his hips, quickly cut off, as though he hadn’t esture at all

"A little honest gossip is co life, Brother, but I don’t tolerate lies or betrayal Nor do I punishthe truth"

"Then you are an unusual prince, ood captain regarded the dirty frater with suspicion "You’ll do your share of the camp work, I trust?"

"I’m humbly born, Captain," retorted the frater tartly "I do not fear hard work, and have done my share, and more thanthe Qu this boast

"Is that so?" delant "What tribe took you as a slave, and as their chieftain’s narin had the beauty of a hawk’s flight, swiftly seen and swiftly vanished "I walked into the east to bring the light of God to their lost souls But the Kirakit tribe, whose mark is the curve of an antelope’s horn, scorned e agreement You can see it on my back, if you will: the rake of a snow leopard’s claw, to h Bulkezu"

"Bulkezu," echoed Sanglant

Zacharias shuddered Even spoken so softly, and at such a distance, nalant touched his throat, felt the scar of the wound that ought to have killed hiainst hiriladly, Brother, for it seems to me that a man who can survive seven years as a slave of the Quman will not falter easily"