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"What? Eh? Ah Liath"

"No need to rise I’ the heel of a hand to her forehead "You’ve the head for it Mine aches"

"As it will, if you drink so h

Hathui burped "Ai, truly, it was a good feast"

"Well deserved," said Liath, sidling on, wanting solitude "Princess Theophanu will rule Saony wisely and well"

Which was true, and scarcely needed to be said Still, Theophanu was a puzzle to her She respected Theophanu but felt no war like Waltharia She srave Maybe a friend Certainly an ally

She was careful not to wake the other stewards and servants, rafts of the on their pallets that, when the day properly began, would be stored out of the way together with the bedding Yet half of the at her with s She could never interpret their expressions in any way that satisfied her that she understood what they were thinking She had not half the skill that Sanglant did It always seee mood and tone to a nicety She reached the outer door to find a pair of drohippets huddled at the feet of a snoring servant They sensed her co, ears flat, slunk out of her way She let herself out and hurried through the barracks roo both walls This roo men Even on the stairs folk slept but so uncomfortably that she wondered they could sleep at all So ’s ducal palace that it was only outdoors one could sed into the central courtyard of the square palace tower, she found folk stretched out on the raised and covered ays that linked the old two-storied tower to the newer one-story wing They huddled under eaves and under wagons, anywhere they round Her feet crushed the skin of ice that ateway Guards stared at her and backed up a step Belatedly, they dipped their heads and said anxiously, "my lady"

In the outer courtyard, surrounded by the hilltop palisade, servants gathered by the well to draater and gossip about last night’s feasting Smoke stea out of thedown into town, but they did not call or speak or sing Only the traave them away She found one of the narrow stairs set into the wall alongside the oldest tower, a stone donjon built a hundred years before by Saony’s first duke Here, by tradition, the duke lived when she wasn’t traveling her douard, but they let her pass She walked out along the palisade walk to one of the corner brace-ways Mounting a ladder, she got up to a sentry post, planks built out over the wall

So on the rail and staring east toward distant hills and endless forest

"Lady Theucinda"

The girl had not even heard her co to see her, but recovered quickly "My lady Liathano Did you co for me?"

"No I came to admire the view"

The vieas remarkable The town opened like a skirt around the palace hill The river flowed in a broad bend, fading into the hazy distance south and north Far carts filled with night soil and herding livestock out to field and pasture The bell rang at the modest cathedral, which had been built in the new part of town about thirty years ago in the days of the younger Arnulf

Theucinda see and watched as the day unveiled The clouds seeh It was still ungodly cold although last night they had celebrated the Feast of St Sormas, which marked the thirteenth day of theequinox In Heart’s Rest, folk usually planted at the end of the inning of Avril Osterburg lay many days’ journey south of Heart’s Rest Seen at this distance, the wide forest rens of life

"Liath?"

She turned A redheadedat her in surprise He wore a Lion’s tabard, nia of a captain

"Captain Thiadbold!" She grinned, delighted to see him "How come you here?"