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Athe king’s ear, ood co the Lions and rode forward to take her place, as circumspectly as possible, beside Brother Breschius

"Stay near me," he said in a low voice "I’ll do my best to keep you out of their way"

"I thank you, friend"

The gates were opened and they advanced into the city The townsfolk greeted Bayan and Sapientia and their ragged army with cheers, but Hanna noted that the streets weren’t crowded despite this welcome She wondered how many had already fled west into the march of the Villams

Biscop Alberada met them on the steps of the episcopal palace, dressed in the full splendor of her office and wearing at her throat the gold torque that signaled her royal ancestry A nu one dashing man ore the peaked cap common to the Polenie The biscop waited until Princess Sapientia disreet her and Prince Ekkehard With such precisely s did the noblesHenry riding into Handelburg, the biscop would have rave Villam, come to pay his respects, Alberada would have remained inside so that he had to come in to her

Sapientia and Ekkehard kissed her hand, as befit her holy station, and she kissed their cheeks, the mark of kinship between them It was not easy to see the rese into the winter of her life In the year since she had presided over Sapientia’s and Bayan’s wedding, she had aged noticeably Her hair had gone stark white Her shoulders bowed under the weight of her episcopal robes

She turned froe the other nobles, those worthy of her ireet Bayan’s nore her, but in any case by souest wing

If Biscop Alberada noticed this slight, she gave no sign "Coreet you with, but troubles assail us on every side"

"What news?" asked Sapientia eagerly The long march had made the princess more handsome; what she lacked in wisdoht in her face when her interest was engaged

"Quman armies have attacked the Polenie cities of Mirnik and Girdst Girdst is burned to the ground Both the royal fortress and the new church are destroyed"

"This is sore news!" exclaimed Lady Bertha, who stood to Sapientia’s left

"Yet there is worse" It began to rain, awind "The Polenie king is dead, his wife, Queen Sfildi, is a prisoner of the Quman, and his brother Prince Woloklas has made peace with the Quman to save his own life and lands This we heard fro on the steps above "--who has taken refuge with his family in my palace"

"Who rule the Polenie folk, if their king is dead?" asked Bayan

Evidently Duke Boleslas could not speak Wendish well enough to answer easily, because Alberada replied "King Sfiatslev’s only surviving child, a daughter, has fled east into the lands of the pagan Starviki to seek aid Shall I go on?"

Bayan laughed "Only if I have wine to drink to o down easier Of wine there is none this past month"

"Let usmore shocked by this revelation than by the Polenie defeat Or perhaps she just wanted to get out of the rain, which began to come down in sheets Her servants hurried away to finish their preparations "Of course there is wine"

"Then I fear not to hear your news The war is not lost if there is wine still to drink"

Biscop Alberada had laid in a feast worthy of her status as a royal bastard Because of her kinship with the Polenie royal fa thirty years ago when only a very young wo Sfiatslev’s aunts had been taken prisoner during the wars between Wendar and the Polenie fifty years ago, and this young noblewoer as his first concubine, a royal e his youthful lusts while he waited for his betrothed, Berengaria of Varre, to reach e In the thirty years Alberada had overseen the growing fortress town of Handelburg, the noble fahly converted to the Daisanite faith in a right and proper manner