The Burning Stone (Crown of Stars 3)

Then Hugh came among them. It was impossible to know how he could walk so gracefully, blinded by cloth bound over his eyes. Steered by Captain Fulk, who kept fingers pressed to Hugh’s arm, he knelt before the three women, whom he still could not see. Rosvita hitched the trailing edge of her robe sideways, half afraid that if any part of him came in contact with it, he would know of her at once, that he would know everything about her and all that she suspected, all her loyalties and weaknesses.

“I had hoped to be brought before Queen Adelheid or the blessed Mother of this convent,” he said in his beautiful voice. The soldier holding the lamp stood behind him, which had the effect of giving a halo, the crown of saints, to his golden hair. “I am Hugh of Austra, son of Judith, margrave of Austra and Olsatia. I beg you, let me speak if that is your will.”

“I am Adelheid.” She rose, though she knew he couldn’t see her, but surely he heard the change of position because his head shifted slightly, an odd questing motion like that of the great cats Rosvita had seen in the menagerie in Autun, lifting their heads when they heard the sound of the gate being opened and closed as a deer was driven into their enclosure. “How did you and your party come to be here, Lord Hugh? This convent lies on none of the main roads.”

“Your Majesty.” He did not precisely incline his head, but he had mastered the art of shifting his shoulders to show respect: as proud as a nobleman, he was not too proud to acknowledge her greater rank. “We had crossed St. Vitale’s Pass and were riding south to Darre when we were accosted on the road by Lord John’s soldiers and brought against our will to this encampment. We still wish to ride on to Darre. That is our only goal.”

“Then why did Ironhead send you up here, if you are his prisoner? What of the other people in your party?”

“Alas. Lord John is an ambitious man, Your Majesty. I will tell you truthfully that he was suspicious of our reasons for traveling. He suggested that we must be agents of King Henry of Wendar. He believes that we have messages for the skopos from King Henry regarding the fate of Aosta. He was blunt, Your Majesty.” He paused as Adelheid laughed. “He said that were he Henry, he would send a message to the skopos offering protection and gold if she were to support him as king of Aosta.”

“Is that the message that you and your company are bringing to Darre?” asked Adelheid sharply.

“Nay, Your Majesty. I have been accused of sorcery, and I am being sent before the skopos to be judged.” How easily the words came out of his mouth, so easily that for an instant it was impossible to believe that he had been anything but falsely accused. “Lord John sent me to persuade you to surrender in return for letting my party go. That is all.”

“Or in return for letting you go free, so that you can escape the skopos’ judgment!”

The cloth blindfold did not conceal his beautiful mouth. He smiled now, not quite enough to reveal the chipped tooth. “I do not intend to persuade you to surrender, Your Majesty. I intend to reveal to you how you can make your escape. After that, I will convince Lord John to release me and my party so that we can continue on to Darre.”

Adelheid laughed delightedly, and Rosvita realized that she was enjoying the match, like two swordsmen playing at an absurd battle. “What loyalty do you have for me and my followers?”

“I have no loyalty toward you, Your Majesty, although I hope you will not take offense from my plain speaking. I am a loyal subject of King Henry. If Lord John captures you, he will force you to marry him and use that claim to establish himself as king of Aosta. King Henry has ambitions in Aosta as well.”

“Does he?” asked Adelheid coyly. “I am not altogether sure what it is that Henry wants in Aosta.” She glanced at Theophanu but did not address her directly. Theophanu sat unknowable in her silence.

Hugh seemed caught by surprise. “King Henry sent a force south to find you, Your Majesty, but perhaps you did not meet them. That would account for this terrible situation you now find yourself in. Therefore I beg you, Your Majesty, let me act as King Henry’s ambassador: he seeks to aid you, who are the rightful queen of Aosta. He will aid you with an army, if need be.”

“Yet I have heard he seeks to marry me to his bastard son, Sanglant, whom he intends to become king beside me.”

There it was: a change in his expression as startling as a peal of distant thunder ripping away the calm of a hazy summer day. Then it was gone. “Why give to the son what the father deserves?”

“Do you think Henry wishes to marry me?” asked Adelheid.

“He would be a fool to turn away from a woman of your rank and quality, Your Majesty.”

Theophanu came alive as a painted figure might stir, cracking its shell of paint, to walk out into the room. “My father’s wishes cannot be known to you! He hopes that Sanglant will marry Adelheid.”

“Your Highness!” He was startled. He shifted, marking her place. “I did not know— This blinding cloth has disoriented me, or surely I would have been aware of your presence—”

“And changed your tale?” demanded Theophanu. “But I am here, and I have listened. How do you intend to aid Ironhead in his plans?”

But he was more in control than she was. “No man can serve two masters. To aid Ironhead for my own gain would be to betray King Henry.” He had the elegant speech of a courtier, graceful and pleasing, but for the first time Rosvita heard a different timbre ring underneath that elegant tone, one as unyielding as granite. “I have done things I am not now proud of, I have been made to see how shamefully petty ambition can ruin a man of promise. But I have never acted in any way against my regnant.” He almost seemed to be daring Theophanu to suggest otherwise, but she did not reply.

“I wish to hear Lord Hugh’s proposal,” said Adelheid.

“Is the Mother of this convent here?” asked Hugh. “Her permission must be gained, for what I propose might not meet with her approval.”

Theophanu’s grunt was itself a comment.

“I am here, Son,” said Mother Obligatia. “Speak freely before me.”

“There is a crown of stones atop this rock. It is possible to travel long distances quickly through gateways created by the architecture of these stone circles.”

“To travel?” demanded Adelheid, then laughed as at a particularly fine joke. “You must explain yourself, Lord Hugh. I do not understand you.”

“When we travel by ship, Your Majesty, we make landfall not at any cliff or coastline but at harbors suited to putting ashore. Think of the stone crowns as harbors, and the road traversed between each crown not as land or sea but as the aether, the element of the seven spheres, all that lies above the moon.”

“How can this be possible?” cried Adelheid. “Isn’t it blasphemy to suggest that we can travel the aether while we are living? Only the souls of the dead ascend through the seven spheres when they journey toward the Chamber of Light.”