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The ed A barbarous rhythotten In rain and in the unquenchable blaze of the giant fire, the va, their li so that they stomped with backs bent, heels pounded into the earth, and then sprang free, ar as they whirled and leapt, and caught in raucous open-throated voluain, Dies irae, dies ilia Oh, yes, oh, yes, day of woe, oh, day of fire!
Afterwards, when the rain came down solemnly and steadily, when the bonfire was no one off to hunt, when only a fewtheir prayers in anguished deliriuainst the ground
It seemed the hed at ently They said, "Andrei, what made you think you could escape? Didn't you know that God had called you?"
"Get away from me, you are not here, and I am nowhere; I am lost in the dark wastes of a winter without end "
I tried to picture Him, His Holy Face But there was only Allesandra, come to help me to my feet Allesandra, who pro before Santino was iven the Dark Gift in the forests of France to which ould be going together
"Oh Lord, Lord hear my prayer," I whispered If I could but see the Holy Face
But ere forbidden such things
We could never, never look upon His Ie! Until the end of the world, ould ithout that comfort Hell is the absence of God
What can I say in defense of myself now?
What can I say?
Others have told the tale, how for centuries I was the stalwart leader of the Paris Coven, how I lived out those years in ignorance and shadow, obeying old laws until there was no s and quiet despair, I clung to the Old Faith and the Old Ways as others went into the fire to destroy themselves, or simply wandered away
What can I say in defense of the convert and the saint that I became?
For three hundred years I was the vagabond angel child of Satan, I was his baby-faced killer, his lieutenant, his fool Allesandra was alith me When others perished or deserted, there was Allesandra who kept the faith But it was my sin, it was my journey, it was my terrible folly, and I aloneas I exist
THAT LAST MORNING in Rome, before I was to leave for the north, it was decided that ed
A the very word for God, was most unseemly for a Child of Darkness, especially one meant to lead the Paris Coven