PROLOGUE (131 page)

In truth, how could any woman even think to look at another man if she was married to Henry? It beggared the imagination.

He plucked a beautiful blood-red rose from the nearest bush.” Yet even the freshest bloom has thorns." He twisted a petal off the stalk and touched it to his lips.” What do you advise, Sister?"

"If you return to Wendar, you must not let it be said that Aosta defeated you. Yet if you remain here, and your kingdom is weakened because you are not there to steady it, then your position here is lost. Wendar and Varre is the kingdom your father gave into your hands, Your Majesty. Do not forget that you are, first of all, a Wendishman, born out of a long and illustrious lineage to a bold and warlike people."

"My queen," he said, with a genuine smile, as Adelheid came up to them. Henry's return had lightened the young woman; she laughed delightedly when he offered her the rose, although she was careful to check for thorns before she took it from his hand.

"Greetings to you this fine day, Sister Rosvita," she said most cheerfully as she inhaled the fine fragrance of the rose.” I fear that you and the king are plotting, and that all my intrigue is for naught. You have seen the troupe practicing in the arena, have you not? I meant it to be a surprise."

In this way, chatting amiably, Adelheid drew them back into the embrace of the court. Feasting followed that day and the next, food and drink like the flow of a river, never ending. Petitioners came and went. A troupe of acrobats entertained with rope tricks and hoops and balls, and poets sang the praises of king and queen.

Rosvita enjoyed a feast as much as anyone, but nevertheless she was relieved to escape late in the evening on the second day. She had no opportunity to speak privately with the king, or even with Villam, who seemed quite overtaken by admiring women, all of them young and most of them attractive. Even the king's Eagle, Hathui, remained busy pouring wine, delivering messages, and serving at the king's side. Tomorrow the feast would continue, but the royal court would cross the courtyard that separated the earthly from the spiritual palace and join the skopos in her great hall for a meal worthy, so it was whispered, of an emperor.

Fortunatus made small talk as they walked back to her chambers.” Do you suppose the acrobats will perform for the Holy Mother as well? Those girls might as well have been monkeys.

I've never seen such tricks on a rope. And that juggling! Did you know that when I was a child, I saw a trained monkey perform? The harvest failed that year—you can imagine I recall that!—and we heard later that the traveling players had been forced to sell everything they owned to get out of Mainni, to escape the famine. The monkey was made into mincemeat, and every person who ate of the sausage made of its flesh sickened and died."

"An edifying story, Brother. I do not know whether to feel more sorry for the hungry souls who suffered, or for the poor creature abandoned by its master and then slaughtered."

"It bit me," he added, lips quirking up mischievously.” I only tried to pet it. I couldn't have been more than six or eight years of age. So I think maybe the players sold it because it was a nuisance. Or perhaps it was just a story my sisters told me to make me cry, thinking I would be next to die because of the mark it left on my thumb." He held up a hand and, indeed, a fine white scar cut raggedly across his thumb.

She laughed.” So it's true you've always been the one getting into trouble, Brother. I thought as much."

He had the sweetest grin; it was one of the things she loved him for.” Nay, Sister, I am innocent. It is only that I strive to follow your example in curiosity."

Aurea saw them coming and opened the door but did not follow them inside, where Ruoda, Heriburg, and Gerwita waited, standing at the table with a large book open before them. They started guiltily as Rosvita entered, but Heriburg, at least, had the presence of mind to turn one vellum page slowly, as though she were only browsing. Once the door was shut, Heriburg turned the page back.

"We found it!" cried Ruoda triumphantly.” Or at least," she added, with a blush, "Gerwita did."

"What have you found?"

Gerwita, too shy to talk, indicated that Heriburg should explain.” These are the
Annals ofAutun
from the years when Biscop Tallia held the biscop's crosier. They end with the Council of Narvone, when Biscop Tallia lost the biscop's crosier and the see of Autun by command of the Holy Mother Leah, third of that name. It seems the Holy Mother and her advisers were determined to break the power Taillefer's daughters held over the Salian church."

"A matter of great historical interest," agreed Rosvita, "but what i

has that to do with the question we were speaking about two days ago?"

Ruoda sprang forward and pressed a forefinger onto the page.” We found Lady Gundara's other children. See, here! A girl, called Thiota, was given to the church but died before she could take her vows. A younger son, called Hugo, betrothed at the age of four to the infant daughter and only child of the Count of Lavas, called Lavastina. So," she finished triumphantly, "thus the hounds."

"Nay," said Gerwita faintly, "for the Lavas hounds didn't come into the possession of the Counts of Lavas until Count Lavastina's son Charles Lavastine inherited after the death of his mother. Most said it was a curse set on him by the Enemy, that Charles Lavastine killed his own father and mother because he feared they would have a daughter to supplant him." When everyone looked at her, she clasped her hands tightly before her and seemed eager to shrink into the bedcovers.” The story is well known in northern Varre, Sister. My family comes from that region, near Firsebarg Abbey."

"Was it never spoken of that the Counts of Varre were therefore related to the Emperor Taillefer?" asked Rosvita.

Gerwita shrugged, looking horrified to be the center of attention of fully four persons. She wrung her hands nervously.” No."

"That seems unlikely, given that Taillefer had no other known legitimate descendants," said Fortunatus.

"In Salia, daughters cannot inherit a title, only sons," said Ruoda, "and in Varre, sons inherit only if there are no daughters."

"Gundara would have been wise to settle her younger son in a place where he could be easily lost, and easily retrieved should his older brother die without an heir." Rosvita drew the lamp closer to the old pages of the
Annals.
Her eyes weren't as keen as those of her young assistants. She admired the refined minuscule common to annals written during the reign of Taillefer, but the words themselves told her nothing that her clerics had not already mentioned: the boy, Hugo, betrothed at the age of four. No indication of his upbringing or later career graced these pages, intended as they were to vindicate the actions of Skopos Leah as she brought down the power of Taillefer's most powerful daughter, Biscop Tallia. Perhaps the child was sent to Varre to be raised with his intended bride, hidden in plain sight, the Emperor's grandson who by reason of his birth to one of the emperor's daughters could never con tend for the Salian throne. But his children, should he survive, might still marry back into the royal lineage.

"Was Charles Lavastine the only child of Lavastina and Hugo?" Rosvita asked of Gerwita.

"Nay, Sister. Count Lavastina died in childbed almost twenty years after the birth of Charles Lavastine, giving birth to her second child, another boy, called Geoffrey."

"Ah, yes." Rosvita remembered the story now.” He would be the grandfather of the Geoffrey whose daughter became count after Lavastine's untimely death. There was a trial—

Ruoda, it transpired, had a cousin who had witnessed the trial for the inheritance of Lavas county. She would have spent all night telling the particulars of the strange behavior of Lord Alain and the Lavas hounds and the victory of Geoffrey and his kinsfolk, but it was late, and there was much to do in the morning when, Rosvita supposed, Henry would at long last announce his intention to return to Wendar before snow closed off the mountain passes.

They made ready for bed, Fortunatus retiring to the adjoining chamber while Aurea laid down pallets for the girls and a straw mattress for herself by the door.

It seemed to Rosvita that she had scarcely fallen asleep when she was rudely awakened.

"Sister Rosvita! Wake up!" A single lamp lit the dark chamber, hovering and cutting the air as the person holding it shook her.

"I pray you!" Rosvita swung her legs out from under the linen sheet, all she needed on a warm night like tonight. Her shift tangled in her legs as she squinted into the darkness. Amazingly, none of the girls had woken. Perhaps that thumping wasn't a fist pounding on her door but only the hammer of her heart.” What is it?"

"Come quickly, Sister. A most terrible act—"

Abruptly, Rosvita recognized the voice, shaken now, warped by horror and tears.” Is that you, Hathui? What trouble has brought you to my chambers this late in the night?"

"Come quickly, Sister." It seemed the pragmatic Eagle was so overset that she could only repeat these words.

Frightened now, Rosvita groped in the chest at the foot of her bed for a long tunic and threw it on over her head. She had only just gotten it on, and it was still twisted awkwardly sideways, when Hathui boldly grabbed her wrist and tugged her urgently.

Rosvita got hold of a belt and stumbled after her, banging a thigh against the table, stubbing her toe on the open door, and at last hearing the door
snick
closed behind her. Hathui lifted the lamp as Rosvita hastily straightened her tunic and looped the belt twice around her waist.

"Do you trust me, Sister?" the Eagle whispered hoarsely. In Hathui's gaze, Rosvita saw terror and a passionate rage, reined tight.” You must trust me, or you will not credit what I have seen this night. I pray you, Sister, it may already be too late."

"The king is not—" She could not say that grim word because once spoken it could not be taken back.

"Nay, not dead." Her voice broke.” Not dead."

"Sister Rosvita." Fortunatus appeared at the door.” I heard noises—"

"Stay here, Brother. Do not sleep until I have returned, but by no means follow me nor let the young ones do anything rash." He nodded obediently, pale, round face staring after them anxiously as the two women hurried away down the corridor.

With an effort, Hathui spoke again. It seemed that only the movement of her legs kept the Eagle from dissolving into hysterical tears.” Not dead," she repeated, like a woman checking her larder yet again in a time of famine to be sure that she still has the jars of grain and oil she had set aside for hard times.

They came to a cross corridor, turned left, and descended stairs and by a route unknown to Rosvita made their way along servants' paths to the great courtyard that lay between the regnant's palace and the palace of the skopos.

"Where are we going?" murmured Rosvita, risking speech.

"Not dead," repeated Hathui a final time as she paused behind a pillar that might shield her lamp from prying eyes. Her face, made gray by shadow, loomed unnaturally large in the lamplight as she leaned closer to Rosvita.” Spelled. Bewitched.
I saw it happen."

She shifted, drawing a leather thong over her head.” I almost forgot this. You must wear it to protect you against the sight." She pressed an amulet into Rosvita's hands. The silver medallion stung Rosvita's palm.

Did the king protect himself against the sight of his own Eagles, or was he already suspicious of Anne? As Hathui moved out into the courtyard, Rosvita caught her arm and drew her back.

"Nay, Eagle. You must tell me what you saw before I take one step farther. Here." She retreated backward into the shelter of an alcove, where travelers could refresh themselves and wash their faces before they entered the regnant's hall. A fountain trickled softly, but when Hathui held out her lamp, a leering medusa face .glared out at them, water dribbling from the mouths of its snake-hair into the basin below. The Eagle gasped out loud and turned her back on the hideous sculpture.

"What I saw ... nay, first put on the amulet, Sister." Rosvita obeyed, and Hathui went on.” I sleep in an alcove of the king's chamber. I woke, for I swear to you that an angel woke me, Sister. I woke to see the bed curtains drawn back and Hugh of Austra holding a ribbon above the king's sleeping form. The ribbon twisted and writhed like a living thing, and in truth, for I can scarcely believe it myself, I saw a creature as pale as glass and as light as mist pour out of that ribbon and into the king's body. King Henry jerked, once, and opened his eyes, and the voice he spoke with then was not his own."

Rosvita caught herself on the lip of the basin. Water splashed her hand and cheek, spitting from the mouths of snakes.” Hugh," she whispered, remembering the passage he had read from
The Book of Secrets
that day when she and Theophanu and young Paloma had overheard him in the guest chapel at the convent of St. Ekatarina's. Remembering the daimone he had bound into a silk ribbon that night when he had helped Adelheid, Theophanu, and the remnants of their entourages escape from Ironhead's siege of the convent.” A daimone can be chained to the will of a sorcerer, and if he be strong enough, he can cause it to dwell in the body of another person, there to work its will. 'Until one mouth utters what another mind whispers.' " "Can it be true, Sister?"