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As quickly it was lost: a shift of air in the dusty corridors, perhaps, or the singer inadvertently turning her head so that her voice didn’t reach so far A bell tinkled softly Antonia suspected there were secret hidey-holes fro up as a noble child in a royal house, she was used to constant observation Years of education in the church and the years she had spent presiding as biscop of Mainni, when she was never alone except for moments spent in the privies, had served to hone her skills, to teach her how to present to the world at all times the smooth atia suspected her

A scrape of sandal on rock caught her attention

"Sister Venia?" The raspy voice of the lay sister, Teuda, sounded from beyond the curtain

"I am ready"

For three months they had followed this ridiculous routine Teuda led her along empty corridors hewn out of stone past the chapel to the tiny library where, in the hours between Terce and Nones, she was allowed to read At htly hunchback, escorted her to the service of Sext and then back to the library After the brief service of Nones, Teuda led her back to the guest quarters, where she languished until Vespers, the only other service she was allowed to attend with the sisters Even her uest quarters, where she ate alone

To treat a sister nun in such a fashion was a mockery of charity! They did not trust her

Sister Petra was already at work,a copy of the chronicle of St Ekatarina’s Convent She nodded to acknowledge that Antonia entered but did not greet her In truth, except for Mother Obligatia and the lackwit, Sister Lucida, the other nuns acted around Antonia as though they were under a vow of silence Only Teuda, as a lay sister, was allowed to speak to her, and she said as little as possible

Fro and obscure works on theology and philosophy: the apocryphal Wisdom Book of Queen Salome; a complete copy--very difficult to come by of the Arethousan Biscop Ariana’s heretical and quite scandalous Banquet, regarding the generation of the blessed Daisan out --of the divine substance of God; the Catechetical Orations by Macrina of Nyssa But once she had returned from the midday service, she took down the final and of course thereby unfinished volume of the convent’s chronicle She would finish it today, and then there would be no ht lancing down through the shafts carved into the rock shifted over the four writing desks as the hours wore on The silence was broken only by the scrape of Sister Petra’s quill and the occasional crackling of velluht have been entoht a whiff of cooking turnips, fleeting, gone

Strange, she mused, as she read the final entries In the year 729: The queen took refuge in the arether with certain noble visitors from Wendar A party of clerics froht struck the wheat crop in the vicinity of Floregia Jinna bandits killed everytheir palace and fortress in ruins and their lands without a regnant The palace of Thersa, eight stones, and ruins

Two years ago, Queen Adelheid had found safety here, fleeing Ironhead Two years ago, Father Hugh had sheltered here as well and by an act of sorcery had aided Adelheid’s escape

In the year 730: Lord John, called Ironhead, was crowned king at Darre

Now Ironhead was dead and Adelheid was queen Antonia had to ad out a torturous path often obscured by false doors and then following it to the end

The rest of the entry for last year did not interest her, a record of certain disasters, called omens, that had befallen various peasant communities and local districts No doubt the people had sinned in so punished by God, as they deserved That was the usual reason for faht of leprosy

No hand had yet recorded the most important events of the current year, 731: the death of the skopos and her replacement by Anne; Adelheid’s triumphant return and her restoration to Aosta’s throne

Probably, now, they never would

Teuda, the lay sister, appeared at the door Her time was up As Antonia tucked the volu the corners, wiping a seon of dust from the corner of the book placed next to it, she wondered if she would be able to salvage this chronicle froreat deal of valuable information here, and it was obvious to her that the abbesses of St Ekatarina’s had known far ht, the stone crowns scattered around the continent? In their oay, they werea map They knew the croere a key