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Lia sucked in a strangled breath Her body ached, her spirit suffered Yet she knew Martin was right Jon hadthe trail, Jon could have waited to catch thele archer with a full quiver and a steady aihts, for he could kill those knights at a distance

Martin paced in the woods, waving his arms with his emotions as he typically did "He could have created false trails with the horse and let you two sneak into the woods on foot He could have taken another path back to the trail to throw off an ambush Or he could have waited for the sheriff and his ilk and the three of you fight together Greater odds fighting alongside a knight-maston than by hiht-maston then"

Martin snorted and waved his hand in annoyance "We honor Jon’s grave today, Lia You said thiswe can do to hallow it further The Leering is here so that the Alderer bound to Muirwood Let us return home You know your lessons Now let this experience be a teacher to you as well"

Lia nodded and knelt down by the Leering She brushed her hand across the face, staring into the silent visage A year had passed A year of scornfullike a boy instead of a wo the woods and valleys and ditches surrounding the Hundred Of tunnels and passwords, of es to be delivered to the Alderer place Part of her longed to beGooseberry fool in Pasqua’s kitchen where life was si up at Martin, she reached into the pouch at her waist and withdrew the Cruciger orb, her special talisht She wore it on every journey She was the only one at the Abbey, other than the Alderh with the Medium to use it It was found with her when she was abandoned as a wretched and the ball and spindles could be summoned to point the direction of places or people "I would o ho nearby Another memory I need to face"

He scowled but nodded to her "Lead the way, lass"

With a thought, the spindles on the orb began to whirl

Lia gazed down at the bed of grass, thicker now and still clinging to the da appeared across its immaculate surface She could not read it This was the spot where Colvin had carried her after the blazing fire she summoned with the Medium had destroyed the sherrif and his men Nearby, the scorched thicket of trees reorse was thriving again, but the thicket had been ravaged and would take years to recover

Take er orb spun lazily towards the thicket Martin followed, coaxing the ers across the twisted blackened trunks as she passed, hearing in herthreats of Aluer’s men Part of her recoiled at theherself over his body and used the Mediu why Colvin had never returned to Muirwood No iven

She knew that he was alive

The Earl of Forshee held great favor with Garen Demont and was known to all Garen Demont, Lord Protector of the Real and ruled the kingdom in his name The victor of Winterrowd Oh yes, she had heard Colvin’s na elevated in rank as an earl For his service in the battle, he was recognized and rewarded with additional lands He was part of Demont’s inner circle, a ht-mastons were admitted

Whitsunday, he had whispered into her ear A broken proh the screen of dead trees, she could see so were still s She held up her hand to Martin, alerting hi was aladius and tethered the mule with one hand All of the trees within a dozen paces of the Leering had been charred to ash, so only the budding greenery gave color to the place The Leering, with the carved side facing east towards the sun, was no longer shaggy with moss

A smell hovered in the air – mixed with the aroma of charred oaks The scent of man Lia shuddered All around her, she could feel the shadows that loped like wolves and stared at her – but could not be seen with the eye The Myriad Ones were thick around her