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The tree line ended abruptly at the edge of ruins Beyond an outer wall of stone lay an ancient fort in the style of the old e and late in sus shone with an aura of gold where the sun’s rays pulled across therainy and dark, but the center since fallen in--had been built in a lea had been cleared away to expose its paved, platform of a floor, an ovoid altar stone, and the six pillars that had once supported the roof

Here Liath and her disciplas had gathered, with four horses tethered nearby Here, as Hanna and the prince and the soldier walked up, she heard Liath speak

"Name the seven spheres and their order"

"The sphere closest to the Earth is that of the Moon!" said Sharp Edge, ju in before anyone else could utter one word

They were an unruly lot Most were young and reckless, although Liath was grateful to have a pair of older and wiser heads a theth, courage, and adventurousness, they had to have the patience and wit and desire to learn the art of thewith She was just like them

"The second is that of the planet Erekes, and the third planet is Soht Fourth is the sphere of the Sun Fifth is Jedu, Angel of War Six is Mok Seventh and last--Aturna"

"The realm of the fixed stars," added Berthold He was irritated with Sharp Edge, as well he ht be She was a terrible tease, and did herself no favors, but asfor ht, the home of God, and the phoenix"

"And the ladder by which thehih!" Liath braced herself, and pushed to her feet She was getting ungainly, but she felt good, strong, energetic Not a day’s worth of sickness with this pregnancy "Ah, there’s Sibold!"

Lewenhardt groaned

The other ered past "Thought you’d slip past ht as afternoon trickled away into long summer dusk "Take your places Shar Sibold Get the horses"

Wood burns when touched by threads of starlight, so no crown of ould serve her, and they had not the leisure in such troubled tie menhirs as was done in the days of the ancients But it transpired that the old Dariyans had copied the ladder of the heavens in their architecture An oval forateway as well as any other crown

A glow still riht the Guivre’s Eye as it peered over the northeastern rim of the world and wove its thread into warp She anchored the gate on the Healer’s outstretched ar out of the southeast Behind her, the disciplas ould learn to do this watched and measured She had twelve so far, but les were brave souls, and toughas they had the ate flowered over the altar stone

Her sight had grown keener since the cataclysth, an upwelling out of the heart of the universe A road paved with blue fire led straight into the uttermost east, held open briefly by this conjunction of stars There, as down a long corridor sparkling with light, a veiled Sorgatani waited for the ers ould cos Sometimes we choose the path alk on, and sometimes other forces co happens according to our will, but neither are we slaves to the law, mere instru whose twists and turns are like a palace of coils where s reconnoiter both past and future, a sight denied to mortal kind Only the daimones who bide above the moon can see in all directions

We are not the only ones walking the paths

The goblins hammer in their halls of iron In the depths, the s like pearls, while far above theon boat cuts the swells of the Middle Sea There is Secha, studying an astrolabe!

The path takes a sharp turn A lion pauses in rocky desert flatlands and looks back, except it is not a lion--it has the torso of a woman--and when it sees her, it spins and pounces, only to vanish in a rush of wings as a pair of golden dragons washes the ht as they land on a nest cupped into a hollow of hot sand