In the Ruins (Crown of Stars 6)

At the base of the hill they stopped beside a vineyard, which lay quiet under the late afternoon sky. Nothing stirred except a single honeybee, searching for nectar.

“Brother Heribert,” said Lord Hugh. “Take such provisions as you can carry. Walk north, over St. Barnaria’s Pass. Do you know the way?”

“The way we walked when we came south?”

“Rumor has it you came down from the mountains. Return there, and follow the path north into Wendar.”

“Who will guide me?”

“You must guide yourself. You seek Sanglant, who calls himself regnant. When last I saw him, he was at Quedlinhame. Seek him, and do what you must.”

Without answering, the cleric collected a sack of provisions offered to him by one of the soldiers. He paused beside Blessing’s limp body to touch her knee, then went on his way through the vineyards, soon lost to view. The rest circled south to join the main road leading out of town. Twice Anna saw folk in the distance, laborers or farmers about their tasks. Once she saw a wagon at rest behind a tree, but she saw no sign of its occupant, only a mule with its head down, cropping grass. Twice she heard a dog bark. A large party had passed this way before them; she saw their dust ahead on the road, moving south.

As dusk lowered, they paused beside a chalky path that split off from the main road and climbed a nearby hill. Here they paused.

“Two riding up behind,” said the guardsman who rode as rear guard. “That’ll be Liudbold and Theodore. They’re late coming.”

“We’ll wait here,” said Hugh, and soon enough the two soldiers who had been left behind at the tower reached them.

“Theodore. Liudbold.” Hugh looked at them each in turn. “What is your report? I expected you sooner.”

“Begging your pardon, my lord,” said the one addressed as Theodore. “It were trickier than we thought. The old man had life in him. He was wakeful and struggling, and he got a fist in on Liudbold’s jaw here.”

Some of the other soldiers coughed and snickered as Liudbold touched a hand to the bruise forming on his face, but they fell silent when Hugh raised a hand.

“Yes, he fought the spell, with some success. That shouldn’t surprise me, I suppose. What did you do?”

“Well, at first we thought of tying him up, but then we recalled that he was meant to look as if he’d freed himself. So we knocked him cold, hauled him upstairs, then rolled him in the blood and left him with the knife in his hand.”

“It will do,” Lord Hugh said kindly. “You kept your heads about you. Well done.”

Such praise would melt stone! The soldiers murmured, but Lord Hugh turned his horse onto the path and led the others away from the road. Behind, the pair of men riding in the rear guard swept their path to hide their tracks. Ahead, tall figures awaited them, stones arranged in a circle.

She said nothing, but by asking no questions caused Lord Hugh to notice her silence.

“How came you to Novomo, Anna? How did Princess Blessing and her party reach Aosta, and why? Where did you come from? How came you to lose her father and mother?”

She shrugged, pretending ignorance, as he studied her. She was sick at heart. It seemed beneath that mild gaze that he saw everything and knew everything.

“My lord presbyter,” said one of the soldiers, a man with a scar on his chin. “I can make her talk, if that’s what you’re wishing.”

He turned away. “Think nothing of it, John. I already know much of the tale. When I have need of the rest, I’ll get it.”

“I just don’t like to see you treated with such disrespect, my lord presbyter. It gripes me to think of the queen refusing to see you, after all you done for her and the common folk in Darre.”

“The queen is grieved by the loss of her daughter. It is to be expected.”

“Only you would be so forgiving, my lord.”

The other soldiers murmured agreement.

“Like that cleric you released to walk north. I think that one has lost his wits!”

Hugh nodded without smiling. “And so he has, poor soul.”

They came up to a flat space of ground, bare of vegetation, situated in front of the standing stones.

“Dismount quickly, all except the one with the servant and you, Frigo,” said Hugh, gesturing toward the man who carried Blessing. “Move when I give the command. Do not hesitate.”