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Anna gasped Her eyes opened She sat up At first, but briefly, she stared at the object in her hand Then she looked at Liath

"They’re dead," she said in a voice so soft it was barely audible "I knew they must be, but I hoped I hoped maybe they had escaped But they’re dead"

"They served faithfully," said Liath "Their souls have surely ascended to the Cha We haven’t tier"

"Yes"

She claan to walk in the stolid manner of a person who knows she has no choice but to e rolled her eyes, then jogged off, too ith, after they had walked soh the forest, Anna paused

"I thank you, lady," sheher head "Thank me? For what?"

Her expression, so worn and weary, could break your heart "For not leaving me behind"

Liath shook her head, too sick at heart to knohat to say "Sanglant would never have left you behind," she said at last, "no hter Now then, let’s go on"

They caathered his entire force, five bundles of azed over a wide vista Forest cut away on the hill to either side, bright green with early leaves A river cut through the valley below, a few farth Farther away rose an estate, recognizable as a ed by a livestock palisade, and by stripes of fields and several well tended orchards

A bird chirruped in the trees A flight of swifts circled up fro, as if startled

"That is Hersford Monastery" She shut her eyes Pacing through her palace of ates until she came to the circle of the sword of truth There she made her way into a wooden hall whose floor she had entirely covered with a rimmed basin carpeted with damp sand Onto this malleable surface she had incised the many tracks and roads on which she had herself ridden while an Eagle and those she had been told of by other Eagles "Hersford lies a week or teeks’ journey east of Autun, which we must avoid But it is only a few days’ journey southwest, to Kassel Where Sanglant and Liutgard ua

She opened her eyes In the light of day, he looked frightening, his skin on one side of his face blistered and the tip of his curled hand like a clahere it peeped out of the sling The burns e and the fourfor her to speak, but the rest--even Anna--had fixed on Zuangua, their cowith such injuries"

"Hate " He indicated the distanted with a crowd of people,what seemed to be tents and o first, if I were Hugh of Austra He needs provisions, maybe a horse to ride He’s a churchht"

"After that?"

She shrugged She burned, thinking of Blessing, so close now "I don’t kno h the crowns, how far ahead he is I one, they’ll have seen what direction he rode out"

Zuangua nodded toward his trackers, already ranging ahead on the path "He won’t escape us"

5

HE found a court surrounded on three sides by barracks where he could wash his face and hands, and water and feed the hounds Aestan and Eagor kept on his tail, although fatigue had deadened Aestan’s tongue At the trough, the two soldiers also scrubbed the night’s work from their own hands Wendish troops eyed theree barracks, Eika soldiers lounged at open shutters and doors, but they called no greetings to their brothers, only nodded as Aestan and ?agor passed under a portal that led to the vast central courtyard within the oldest portion of Kassel’s palace co already Most, he supposed, had not slept on such a night He and his escort approached the great hall froe timber edifice with thick beams and a massive roof, built in the time of Queen Conradina The second story of the new palace, where Theophanu and Stronghand had retired, could be seen rising behind the single-storied barracks court that separated the two sections of the palace A steady wind out of the east beat the pennants and banners flying froh roof peaks It was unusually cold