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"Heresy"

Did the hall quiet, or was it only the thick table and the heavy e down to brush the floor that an laughing at a joke told to hiht hand Lady Waltharia had the prince’s attention all to herself

"It’s been said that these heretics use evil ain followers It’s also been said that God aided Ekkehard Take your pick"

"I let the church folk quarrel about religion"

She chuckled and called for e fro, she wiped off the spoon on her tunic so that it was clean enough to give back to Blessing

Petitioners ca Lady Waltharia to allow them to return to their fared leave to entertain theht in honor of their victory Blessing’s head drooped, her eyes fluttered, she yawned, and tried to climb into her father’s lap to sleep

"I’ll take her to her bed" Sanglant rose, cradling Blessing in his ar hi fro their tribute He raised a hand for silence, and the crowd quieted, waiting for hiht," he called "Tomorroe hunt Qu, Anna followed hies that led them not i attic room built over the stables Pallets of hemp and straw made lumpy beds, but they were a softer mattress than the plank floor She could sh warped floorboards It was quiet in the barracks; reat hall Those who had been wounded in today’s engagement had been carried up here to recover, or die

With Blessing asleep on his shoulder, the prince visited each of the injured men, traded jokes, checked poultices, or quizzed them closely about what they had seen and done in the battle A feere too injured even to speak, although one of these could at least grasp the prince’s hand One h the life drained quickly out of him Anna knew all their names, Chustaffus, Frerih manner when he saw his prince before him Maybe he wouldn’t die

There were, of a miracle, only three corpses, hauled back from the battle and now covered with shrouds, but one was faithful Wracwulf, who had been given the honor this day of carrying the prince’s golden banner Sanglant knelt beside his body for a long ti snored quietly in his arms After a while, Captain Fulk appeared to take his place with the dead Only then did Sanglant take his sleeping daughter to the tower chaht their way Once inside the roo it from an iron hook set into the wall, then helped the prince wash Blessing’s hands, sticky with grease and honey, strip her down to her under-tunic, and tuck her into the trundle bed He stood over the child, watching her slide into a deeper sleep as intently as he had studied his wounded soldiers

"You’re a good girl, Anna," he said suddenly With a poker, he stirred the coals in the brazier closest to Blessing "What do you think? Should I leave her here at Walburg under Waltharia’s protection while I ride east? Yet who can I truly trust? Can I trust anyone?"

"You can trust me, rinned a crooked grin, a charht then and there, if he’d asked her to; he had that kind of shining honor to hiht she could actually see it like a nih she kneas only her heart that loved him, just as his soldiers loved hireed, and her heart leaped with joy, knowing she’d won his trust in return

He had re the length of the cha it into patterns, squares and stars and circles, until she got dizzy watching hi on the trundle bed The feathers were so soft that she thought she ht sink forever She was tired, and she hadn’t slept in such a comfortable bed since she’d left Mistress Suzanne’s But she cracked an eye open to see what he was doing He had stopped by the door and stood there listening, hand poised a finger’s breadth away from the latch The latch creaked, shifted, and turned He jumped back so that, as the door opened, it hid him