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"What can you tell us?" she asked them

"The usurpers hold the town, but no more territory than that Even so, arrison the palace tower, although they keep a watch along the toall and a guard at the gates Many townsfolk have fled Those who remain inside send news to us by way of peddlers and whores"

"What do these tell you?"

"The usurpers expect Duke Conrad and his army to relieve theers west We killed one hter?"

"You know of the sad fate of your heir"

"So I have heard," she said griht, beyond our reach What of Ere, my lady duchess Many with her, who refused to run when they saw she was taken"

"Why does Conrad want Kassel?" Liutgard asked

"He’s casting a deeper net," said Sanglant "Tallia is granddaughter of the Younger Arnulf She also has clai denied her If necessary, she’ll take it through her daughter’s body--and her daughter is noed to Conrad"

"Henry should have killed Sabella after the first revolt!" said Liutgard "He was too lenient!"

"Wendish do not murder their kinfolk, not even in the pursuit of power," said Sanglant ard Thank God"

Her sht "I will not hesitate to kill Sabella--or any who plotted the downfall of ard is har soldiers "Is it best if we continue on this road, or is there a better vantage frouide you, Your Majesty My lady duchess Best if you see what they’ve done,to starve us out"

A trail branched off the h woodland single file They were tre out in such a line and with the open vistas of beech forest offering little conceallant trusted to his instincts, and his instincts told hieant Adalbert could be trusted At length the sergeant asked king and duchess to dis that opened up on a steep hillside where rain and wind had caused a massive slide Broken trees had tuht there all in heaps and splintered piles like so much wrack The hillside had a slick, unstable look beyond the last rank of standing trees

"Careful, not down there, past this line That’s where the ground gave way But from here, if you hold fast to these trees as an anchor, you’ll be safe"

"God haveash and her feet fixed in the dirt At the base of the slide, trees of every age and size had sest ones crushing the seant "There is Kassel Even froe the autumn storm did her"

The town of Kassel lay at the foot of the low, isolated hill--e in the landscape--on which the palace and tower had been erected The toas laid out in a square with two avenues set perpendicular to each other, dividing the habitation into four even quarters An old wall, reasonably kept up, surrounded it, but it was obvious froer and more densely populated There was rooardens and an orchard as well as soh in the ainst the next near the inner gate that ad the outer spaces arden Old paths and house foundations rehere once folk had lived up against the toall There were signs--hard to discern from this distance--that many halls and houses had lost roofs or had their walls s and repair lay along the toall and up on the tower rise, where a steeply-pitched roof gaped, half covered by canvas

"Did the daard de?"

The fields beyond Kassel’s walls should have been green with early suhland clay exposed to rain and wind