He considered her a moment, and offered her weapons back. “If I didn’t before, I believe you now,” he said cryptically.
She nodded, and almost giggled again, strung so tight she knew she was about to laugh madly or burst into tears.
Soon they reached a second barrier. She smelled smoke ahead and heard the thunk of ax blows and the ring of hammers. A short distance after, the camp came into view. Theophanu had taken the high ground just before the hills sloped abruptly down into the valley surrounding Kassel. There had once been a hamlet here, a dozen buildings strung along the road. Men dug ditches to break up gentle slopes where riders might strike. Fences made of sharpened poles snaked along the contours of the ground to create a barrier between storehouses. At the high point in the village, a group of people clustered by a narrow break in the trees that offered a view of the besieged town.
Guards paced before the old longhouse that would once have housed the most well-to-do family. When Johan brought her to the door, these guards indicated the distant gathering. She dismounted and walked out to the promontory, with four soldiers as escort. Johan rode back to his post.
Eagles rarely waited. When the nobles and captains saw her, they moved aside to let her approach Princess Theophanu. The princess wore over her tunic a tabard marked with the red eagle of Saony. Her hair was braided tightly and pinned up, and the cloak she wore, whipped by the wind up on this height, fluttered against her knees. Hanna had forgotten how tall Theophanu was, almost as tall as many of the men; she was her father’s daughter, well built and handsome.
“An Eagle,” she said, looking Hanna over with narrowed eyes. “Who has sent you?”
“Sister Rosvita, Your Highness.”
Around her, folk murmured to hear the cleric named, but if Theophanu was surprised, she concealed her emotion. “She rode south with Henry long since, and was lost: It was said that she died in the city of Darre. Yet I see you reached the south, as I commanded you. How long ago was that? Two years? Three? Yet now you have returned to us.”
“Would you have me speak to all those assembled here, or with more privacy, Your Highness?” Hanna asked.
Theophanu smiled thinly. “Your news must be shocking. Best you speak before all assembled here. Have you a message for me?”
“No, Your Highness. I must tell you what I know, and what I have seen, and what and who Rosvita brings with her, for that company rides several leagues behind me. It is a long tale to tell. First, I must tell you that not two leagues from this camp I glimpsed an Eika scout in the forest.”
“Triple the guard,” said Theophanu to one of her captains. “Command all to arm. Get these trees down, as we spoke of Send two hundred men to escort Sister Rosvita’s party in to safety. As for the rest, let this company retire to the hall. It seems you have traveled a long way to reach us, and I expect you will welcome a place to sit and a flask of ale to drink.”
The hall was crowded with crudely-built benches, by which means it had been turned into a meeting house and chapel. It was not long abandoned, or not abandoned at all; possibly the large family living here had simply been told to leave.
Hanna was given a stool to sit on and wine to drink. Only after Hanna had slaked her thirst did the princess ask for silence. From outside, Hanna heard axes thwacking into wood.
“Tell me first, and in a few words, what is most important. Then I’ll hear your tale at length.”
“This, then, Your Highness. Sister Rosvita was taken prisoner in Darre because she witnessed the murder of Helmut Villam at the hand of Hugh of Austra.”
“Ah!” Theophanu sighed, with a grimace, but waved her hand to show Hanna must go on.
“I have heard the Eagle, Hathui, survived her journey and joined the company of Prince Sanglant.”
“She did. So it happens that all she reported is true?”
“Hathui would never lie.” But as she said the words, she remembered how she had doubted, and she was ashamed.
“Henry trusted her above all others. Her, and Villam, and Sister Rosvita. Go on.”
“When I reached Darre, I found King Henry altered. He was captive to his queen and to Hugh of Austra. Those among the schola loyal to Rosvita joined with me in fellowship. In the aftermath of a terrible earthquake, we helped Rosvita escape the dungeon. We fled north. Reaching the convent of St. Ekatarina, we took refuge, but we were pursued there by Lord Hugh. Then—” Long had they discussed this, but Rosvita had insisted on the truth. “Sister Rosvita and Mother Obligatia—she is the abbess who presided over St. Ekatarina—together they wove a crown. By this means we escaped. We came into the east, and found ourselves pursued by soldiers from the army of the skopos.”
“Holy Mother Anne?”
“Yes. These we fled, fearing for our lives—”
Many around her broke into speech, hearing the skopos maligned in such a manner, but Theophanu hushed them sternly. “Nay, let the Eagle speak. These accusations we have heard before, from my brother Sanglant, from the Eagle Hathui, and from Duchess Liutgard and Duke Burchard. Holy Mother Anne was party to the plot by which King Henry was infested with a daimone, made into a puppet so those who controlled him could speak words through his mouth.” She said it so coolly—as if it were only an interesting story she related to entertain the crowd—that it was only as Hanna looked around at the people crowded into the hall and saw how their posture and their gestures and their expressions turned angry, that the Eagle knew Henry’s death was truly mourned. She dared hope that the indignity thrust on him would be avenged.
“Go on, Hanna.” It was the first time the princess had used her name.
“Yes, Your Highness. We fled the army of the skopos, because she had come into the east in order to weave a spell into the crowns, to set herself against the coming cataclysm. We escaped her, but were captured by Arethousans. For many months we lived as their prisoners. In time we were brought to the camp of certain Arethousan lords, Lady Eudokia and Lord Alexandros. They were marching in rebellion against their emperor. It was there, my lady, that we found your sister Sapientia.”
“Alive?” The word was little more than a whisper.
“Married to King Geza of Ungria, who was now their ally.”
Theophanu laughed, then recovered so quickly that the lapse might never have happened. Around her, her company chattered, and the lady lifted a hand to ask them to quiet. “She has gone over to the enemy.”