A good question, but Zacharias could scarcely concentrate; it was hard enough to hold his bladder so he wouldn’t piss himself from fear. “Throwing him over the side.” No wonder the ground rocked beneath him. He was on a ship.
“One of us must watch those who present the most danger. Hasn’t that always been my task? I am the messenger who rides in the world.”
“Not you alone. I have done my part among the presbyters and clerics in Darre.”
“It is not the same.”
“No, it is not, for they are all cultured men and women. You have fulfilled the part your birth suited you for. Now you are needed to play your part elsewhere, Brother Lupus.”
“I am needed here. Prince Sanglant poses a threat. One of us must watch him.”
“I do not disagree with you, but we no longer have the luxury of letting you range at will. The wheel of the heavens turns, whether we will it or no. You know what part you are meant to play.”
“Is there not another one who can be trained? Surely there is still time.”
“Unlike Eagles, Sleepers do not retire, Brother. They die and are replaced. Sister Zoë no longer stands with us. Alas.”
“She is truly dead?”
“So she is, in the same conflagration in which we lost Liathano. I will miss her, the good woman. But we have found a strong mind to replace hers. He is called Hugh of Austra. Perhaps you know of him.”
“Hugh of Austra! Margrave Judith’s bastard son?”
“The same. With his help, Anne has unlocked the secret of the crowns and how the movement of the stars acts in concert with the stones. Now we are close to understanding the weaving by which our ancestors rid themselves of the Lost Ones.”
“The seven circles—”
“We are far beyond that. Seven circles, each of seven stones. We were deceived by erroneous notions. Sister Anne believed that the crown at Verna was the key, but it is not. Meriam now believes that the crowns were laid out to surround the land of the Aoi, that in this way the ancient sorcerers bound that land within the circle of the spell. Therefore, there must be at least one crown south of the middle sea, one east of it, one west, and so on. We have discovered unexpected allies in Alba among the tree sorcerers and their queen. With their help, we know where the westernmost circle lies. Brother Severus will journey there after he has identified the second circle, which we believe lies in southern Salia. I have myself in the course of my long search for you discovered a crown here in the east, in the wilderness between Ungria and Handelburg, at a place called Queen’s Grave. Do you know of it?”
“Bayan and Sapientia fought the Quman at a spot called Queen’s Grave about three years ago. There was a tumulus there erected in ancient days, so I heard—”
“The same. I ventured into the burial chamber, but it had been disturbed by grave robbers. I also saw the leavings from the battle, bones of horses and men picked clean, countless shards of arrows. There is a crown on top of the hill. The local folk were easily persuaded that it was in their interest to hoist the fallen stones upright with rope and dirt ramps, under my supervision. Yet you were not there when the battle was fought, were you, Wolfhere? How is it that we lost track of you? I see that you wear an amulet to protect yourself from aetherical sight. Are you hiding from us?”
“Nay. I was trapped by the cunning of one of my own comrades, an Eagle. My old nemesis, who hates me sorely. She retired to the service of Waltharia, the eldest child of Helmut Villam. When we passed by that way, she convinced Prince Sanglant that if he sought to act against sorcerers he must protect himself by means of such amulets. I couldn’t refuse to wear one without making him distrust me.”
“You should have left him months ago. It serves no purpose.”
“Do you think Prince Sanglant poses no threat to Sister Clothilde’s hopes and plans?”
“I think even if he can succeed in gaining allies, and these griffin feathers you speak of, that it will be too late, and too little, against us.”
“Perhaps. But how will we know how great a threat he poses if none of us are witness to what he is doing?”
“Any person can spy on Prince Sanglant.”
“Not any person can gain his trust.”
“That may be. I do not know how much of a dog’s instinct he has for enemies. But it matters not, Brother.”
“If you think it does not matter, then you are a fool.”
“You forget yourself! You were raised as Anne’s servant, not as our peer!”
The silence stank of anger and old resentment. Zacharias might have cheered to see Wolfhere spoken to in such a way, but he had himself been born to freeholders who had risked farming in the marchlands in order to be beholden to no lord, only to the regnant.
