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"You speak of heresy, with this talk of the phoenix," said Mother Scholastica, but she looked puzzled rather than angry

Constance shook her head "I speak truth That disputation must take place in a different council A force has entered this asseht a teood--or ill--use of this chance I would support this hand has shown hireements That is all I have to say Now, I pray you, let me sit"

Theophanu stepped into the breach She nodded at each of her kinfolk, all those who sat upon the dais, and at various faces staring up at her fro their expressions Constance’s speech had changed the tenor of the assee of direction into unknown country

"Let ht war into Wendar, and besides countenanced Sabella’s assault upon his cousin andone My brother Sanglant would have been first to call Conrad an honorable , not at all cowed by her but unsure whether she meant to toss a bone or a rock in his direction

"Think you," she asked him, "that Eika and humankind can breed? I do not Therefore, it is unlikely that any child shall be born of our union We are stewards, h the storms to come So let us, as part of the terms, name our heirs now and see them anointed and crowned Let there be no question about the succession"

Conrad shrugged "I’esture, opening his arhtful clailant an offer, and I’ to stand by it, if you were to name one of hand

He nodded fractionally "I a yet I, too, must ask this sareat deal of land It is a tricky business holding together an empire"

She did not sht She had a knack for cutting straight to the bone without prea "Have you a proposal, to deal with this matter?"

Oh, she was ruthless and single- thorns, as the church mothers said

He knehat he had to do "In truth, I do have a proposal That thisus, act as mediator between our parties I will accept any terms and treaty and alliance that he approves"

Constance nodded The rabbit-faced girl sobbed out loud, then sucked in her breath noisily as she fought to choke down her crying while one of her co, as did all his kind He heard the faint sigh runt made by a person who has just realized that, in fact, he will have to haul those das all the way back up the hill and that there is no use co because the un to suspect that the WiseMothers had worked a deeper gahed in their slow fashion, where years are as days and the life of their hters flashes past in the blink of one heavy eye Their spirits had walked in the heavens on the wings of the aether A mortal could never kno far their vision extended

The Eika were the children of the cataclysm, born in ancient days, and they, too, had been altered irrevocably by the teeneration, which would spawn a generation in its time, in the manner of all life But the OldMothers would not randmothers as they had all these centuries That thread of immortality had been severed in the tempest last autumn They, too, would breed and die in the way of mortal kind

But the Eika were few, and humankind were many He had no illusions about his empire The lines of co of the years the simple toll of nu on exposed rocks like flopping fish at the ulls There ulls swooped down

One bond reo, he and the youth called Alain Henrisson had become brothers, of a kind

So ht seem dark now, but that was only because it remained in the shadohat is not known No , although any commander would like such a weapon at his disposal