The Burning Stone (Crown of Stars 3)

“Your Highness, Lord John’s army is far larger than yours.”

“Well, we shall see. Queen Adelheid must have an army within the citadel. We can catch him between two pincers.”

“If you can find a way to get a message to her. Lord John has sealed all ways in and out up tight, or you can be sure I would have gotten in.”

“I feel sure you would, Eagle. It is well known that you are as cunning as the serpent, and you have had many years to hone your wisdom.”

His smile was brief but true, and he seemed about to chuckle, but he did not. “As for the road, you have crossed the worst of it. I had better weather than this, and if the rain stops, you will be well on your way.”

Theophanu had her captains summoned, and Wolfhere went on, then, to describe in detail the number and disposition of the lord of Sabina’s army as well as what information he had gleaned about the citadel itself and the various factions in Aosta, all of whom seemed set on fighting with each other for this prize like dogs over a bone. Rain had started up again and pattered noisily on the roof. It was getting smoky inside, and a servingwoman opened the door, which seemed to have little effect beyond letting in a blast of cold wind that eddied the smoke from the hearth into every comer of the shed.

Rosvita let herself out as the last downpour passed, and as she walked through the village searching for her clerics, a few last spitting drops wet her cheeks. Brother Fortunatus had found refuge in a stall, and she was relieved to see that their pens, ink, and parchment had come through the day unscathed. The Vita of St. Radegundis, wrapped in oilcloth, was dry, as was the incomplete copy that Sister Amabilia was still working on, and her own History. Now that the rain had stopped, they all trooped outside where the village folk had built a fire and there they took turns trying to dry their clothing.

She noticed the wink of a tiny fire away from the village. Even after the hardships of the road, she could not resist the prick of curiosity. Because the sodden ground cushioned her steps, she got out away from the village and was able to come up behind him without him noticing she was there. By the fire back in the village, soldiers laughed and began to sing.

The old Eagle sat on the ground, on his cloak, and stared into a small campfire with such intense concentration that he might not have noticed her even had she called out to him.

“Lady have mercy,” he said in a soft voice. “I am so weary.”

At first she thought he knew she was there, and that he had confided in her. His shoulders sagged, and his real misery cut her to the heart. She took a step forward—

The fire hissed. She stopped dead.

There were shadows moving in the fire.

She almost shrieked, but she had honed her control over many years in the king’s schola, and the fear skittered over her like a thousand bugs crawling on her skin and then faded as her vision sharpened—as she began to understand what she was seeing.

“I have failed,” he added, speaking to the shadows within. He sounded close to tears. A slow drip, drip, drip of water serenaded them where moisture seeped off an overhanging rock. Beyond it, she could hear a distant waterfall—or was that the crackle of the fire, a whisper ….

“Do not worry, Brother, you have done your part well.”

Ai, God! Old secrets hoarded by certain Eagles, the ability to see through fire or stone, an old trick that had, so it was said, fallen into disfavor after the Council of Narvone. But such a trick remained useful to the regnant, kept secret among the Eagles by their pledge of loyalty to each other and to the king. How else could they bring their messages so quickly, know where they were going so clearly, and bring such exceptionally valuable intelligence when they arrived?

Wind moaned through the rocks. Within the fire the shadow moved, shifting like a person swaying before a large fire. A tiny light bobbed impossibly behind, a candle caught within the flames—or only the image of a candle, seen through fire.

“You discovered the one whom we all thought dead, who may yet be a threat to us. Armed with this knowledge, we can act. And despite everything, Brother, you found the girl.”

Wolfhere shook his head impatiently. Rosvita could not see his face, but everything she needed to know she heard in his tone. “Found her, and then lost her again.”

The wind tugged at her robes, as cold as winter, and she shuddered. Flames shivered in that wind, and for an instant she thought the branches and coals would be scattered. Then, inexplicably, the wind died. Wolfhere rested his forehead on his fists. In the silence Rosvita heard the voice clearly; not young, not old, it was without question female.

“Fear not. She is back in our hands.”

8

WAVES chop the hull of the ship as they drive north along the landward side of the island of Sovi. Oars beat the sea in a rhythm as steady as the drum of his heart. He shades his eyes against the glint of sun on the waters. Is that movement in the sound ahead? Or only the hump of a rocky islet?

“Ships!” cries the watchman. “To the north, near the fjord’s mouth!”

He had hoped to skate in down the long fjord waters and take them unawares, but Skelnin’s chieftain is no fool, and not unambitious on his own account. He has scouts, he has ears. He will not go down without a fight. He may even believe he can triumph this day—and it is possible he will. But unlikely.

The watchman tolls off the number: one, four, nine, twelve, fifteen longships in all, and a number of fishing skiffs that no one bothers to count. His own forces number only fourteen longships, but Skelnin’s ships come at him like sheep, bunched without order. They will fight with no plan beyond killing.

At his shout, his own ships are lashed together, three abreast like islets on which Skelnin’s warriors will run aground, with five to guard his flanks and strike at will where there is an opening. The cauldrons of hot oil are readied; stones moved; spears lowered.

He himself stands in the stern of the middle ship in the middle raft. The captain of each ship looks not at Skelnin’s ships but on Rikin’s chief. As the ships close the gap, he lifts his standard as a signal.

In each ship two poles are raised, each one capped with an iron hook. Each hook holds a cauldron filled with oil bled from the ocean leviathans and mixed with certain powders that intensify its burning. At his order, brands are lit from the fire boxes set by the lowered masts, and when fire touches the oil within the cauldrons, black smoke boils forth.