PROLOGUE (38 page)

"Yet there is worse." It began to rain, a misting drizzle made colder by the cutting wind.” The Polenie king is dead, his wife, Queen Sfildi, is a prisoner of the Quman, and his brother Prince Woloklas has made peace with the Quman to save his own life and lands. This we heard from Duke Boleslas—" She indicated the nobleman standing on the steps above.” —who has taken refuge with his family in my palace."

"Who rule the Polenie folk, if their king is dead?" asked Bayan.

Evidently Duke Boleslas could not speak Wendish well enough to answer easily, because Alberada replied.” King Sfiatslev's only surviving child, a daughter, has fled east into the lands of the pagan Starviki to seek aid. Shall I go on?"

Bayan laughed.” Only if I have wine to drink to make the news go down easier. Of wine there is none this past month."

"Let us move into the hall!" exclaimed the biscop, looking more shocked by this revelation than by the Polenie defeat. Or perhaps she just wanted to get out of the rain, which began to come down

in sheets. Her servants hurried away to finish their preparations.” Of course there is wine."

"Then I fear not to hear your news. The war is not lost if there is wine still to drink."

Biscop Alberada had laid in a feast worthy of her status as a royal bastard. Because of her kinship with the Polenie royal family, she had been allowed to found the biscopry of Handelburg thirty years ago when only a very young woman newly come to the church. One of King Sfiatslev's aunts had been taken prisoner during the wars between Wendar and the Polenie fifty years ago, and this young noblewoman had been given to the adolescent Arnulf the Younger as his first concubine, a royal mistress to assuage his youthful lusts while he waited for his betrothed, Berengaria of Varre, to reach marriageable age. In the thirty years Alberada had overseen the growing fortress town of Handelburg, the noble families of the Polenie had all been thoroughly converted to the Daisanite faith in a right and proper manner.

The biscop reminded them of her successful efforts at conversion as wine was poured and the first course brought.” That is why I fear for Sfiatslev's daughter, Princess Rinka, for the Starviki have been stubborn in holding to their pagan ways. What if they induce her to marry one of their princelings? She might become apostate, or even worse, fall into the error of the Arethousans, for the Starviki are known to trade furs and slaves to the Arethousans in exchange for gold nomias. What news of your father, Sapientia? I trust we expect him in the east soon, for truly we have need of his presence here."

Sapientia glanced toward Hanna, standing back among the servitors.” This Eagle brought the most recent news," she said in a tone which suggested that whatever bad news she had to impart was Hanna's fault.” King Henry means to ride south to Aosta. He sent a paltry contingent of two hundreds of Lions and not more than fifty horsemen even though I pleaded with him that our situation was desperate."

"He seeks the emperor's crown," said Alberada.” I wonder what use the emperor's crown if the east burns," mused Bayan.

"These are troubled times in more ways than one." Alberada gestured to her steward, who refilled all the cups at the table.” An emperor's crown may bring stability and right order to a realm afflicted by the whisperings of the Enemy. These Quman raids are God's judgment on us for our sinfulness. Daily my clerics bring me more stories of the pit of corruption into which we have fallen—

After so many days on sparse rations, Hanna was glad enough to be obliged to serve, since it meant she could eat the leavings off the platters. A stew of eels was followed by roasted swan, several sides of beef, and a spicy venison sausage. Despite the biscop's forbidding disquisition on sinfulness, the nobles ate with gusto, and certainly there was enough to spare both for the servants and for the dogs.

Prince Bayan had cleverly turned the topic of conversation to what interested him most: the war.” We must hold here the whole winter."

"Surely winter will put a stop to the Quman raids." Freed from her armor and heavy traveling cloak, Sapientia looked much smaller. She hadn't her father's height or breadth of shoulder, but months riding to war had given her a certain heft that she had lacked before her marriage.

Bayan laughed.” Does my lion queen tire of war?"

"Certainly not!" Sapientia had a habit of preening when Bayan paid lush attention to her. She could never get enough of his praise, and the prince had a knack for knowing when to flatter his wife.” But no one ever fights during the winter."

"Nay, Your Highness," said Breschius as smoothly as if he and Bayan had rehearsed the exchange, "the Quman are famous for attacking during winter, when ice dries out the roads and makes streams into paths. Snow doesn't stop them. Nothing stops them but flowing water. Even then, they have captive engineers in their army who can build bridges for them and show them how to make use of fords and ferries."

"I have prepared for a siege," said Alberada.” Although, truly," she added disapprovingly, "sieges come in many guises." Farther down the table, Lord Wichman was drinking heavily with his cronies. He had been seated beside Lord Dietrich, but despite baiting him with crude jokes and cruder suggestions, Wichman could not get Dietrich either to join him or to lose his temper. Having lost this skirmish, he had turned to harassing any servingwomen who ventured within arm's reach.” If your army winters here, Prince

Bayan, then I must have some assurance that they will not disrupt the lives of my townsfolk and servants."

"It's my army, too!" said Sapientia.” I do not tolerate insolence or troublemakers."

"Of course not, niece," replied Alberada with such a soothingly calm expression that Hanna knew she would continue to talk around Sapientia because she, like everyone else, knew who really commanded this army.” I expect you to see that your Wendish forces behave themselves, just as I expect Prince Bayan to keep proper order among his Ungrian countrymen."

Bayan laughed.” My Ungrian brothers do not cause trouble, for otherwise they are to have their swords cut off, at my order."

"I do not approve of such barbarity," said Alberada primly, "but I hope your soldiers keep the peace rather than breaking it."

The stewards brought round a savory condiment of boiled pears mixed with hog's fennel, galingale, and licorice, as an aid to digestion for the noble folk who were by now surely stuffed and surfeited. Yet the feast dragged on well into the autumn night. A Polenie bard from Duke Boleslas' retinue sang, and he had such an expressive voice and so much drama in his gestures that the hall sat rapt, listening, although he sang in an unintelligible language. Hanna's eyes stung from the smoke in the hall. She had been so long marching out-of-doors that she'd forgotten how close air got within walls, even in a great hall as capacious as the one in the biscop's palace.

Despite the biscop's rank and wealth, her palace hadn't the ornamentation common to the older palaces in Wendar proper. This hall had only been finished ten years ago and had about it still an unfinished look, as if its wood hadn't yet been worn down by the use of many hands and feet, the polish of age. The pillars in the hall stared glumly at her, carved in the likeness of dour saints who no doubt disapproved of the gluttony and singing, men stamping their feet as they shouted out a chorus, dogs scrabbling under the tables for scraps, servingwomen deftly pouring out wine while at the same time dodging teasing fingers. In truth, Bayan's Ungrian lords did behave better than their Wendish counterparts; maybe Bayan's jesting threat had not been a jest.

Late, the nobly born went to their resting places while servants like Hanna scrambled for what comfortable pallets they could find. In a hall this large there were plenty of sleeping platforms built in under the eaves, and when Sapientia made no move to call Hanna to attend her to the chamber in which she slept more privately, Hanna found herself a snug place among a crowd of servingwomen. They lay close together, a warm nest of half-naked women covered by furs, and gossiped in the darkness.

"The Ungrians do smell. I told you."

"Not any more than do the Wendish soldiers. Ai, God, did you see how poor Doda had to dodge that Lord Wichman's hands all evening? He's a beast."

"He's son of a duchess, so I'm sure he'll have what he wants." Nervous giggles followed this pronouncement. A woman shifted. Another sighed.

"Not in the biscop's palace, friend," replied a new voice.” Bis-cop Alberada's stern but fair, and you'll find no such wild behavior in this hall. Now I'll thank you to hush so that I can sleep!"

But they didn't all hush. Hanna drifted asleep, lulled by their whispering and the strange way they hissed their "p"s and "t"s, just as the folk had in that lonely village east of Machteburg where a Quman scouting party had attacked them. Where she'd seen Ivar again, seen how he'd changed so much from the impulsive, good-natured youth she'd grown up with. He had seen the miracle of the phoenix. Was it actually possible the story was true? Had God worked a miracle of healing and given Ivar and his companions, and Prince Ekkehard, a vision of truth?

She twisted the heavy emerald ring that King Henry had given her. Here, curled up beside the other women, she felt warm and safe in body at least, but her heart remained restless. She knew her duty. First and foremost she was Henry's servant, his messenger, his Eagle, sworn to his service and to uphold whichever church doctrine he recognized, not to question the authority of those he acknowledged as the rightful leaders of the church. Yet what of her grandmother's gods? Hadn't they treated their followers fairly and granted them good harvests, or sometimes turned their faces away to bring bad times? What of the many other people who lived outside the Circle of Light? Were they all damned to fall endlessly in the Abyss because they held to a different faith? How would Brother Breschius, who had survived the wrath of a Kerayit queen, reply to such questions?

She fell away into sleep, and she dreamed.

There comes into the hall as silent as the plague one of the slave men kept by Bayan's mother. His skin is so black that she can hardly see him in the smothering darkness of the hall, now illuminated only by the glowing coals of two banked hearth fires which are watched over by dozing servant girls. Yet he can see her where she lies half hidden among the other women. He beckons. She dares not refuse such a summons, just as she would never defy the will of the king. She recognizes power when she sees it.

She rises, slips her wool tunic over her shift, and pads barefooted after the slave man. He walks the paneled corridors of the biscop 's palace without a torch, yet manages not to lose his way. The rough plank floors scrape her soles, and once she picks up a splinter and has to pause, wincing, catching a gasp in her throat so that she won't wake the soldiers who sleep in ranks on either side of the broad corridor.

The slave bends to take her foot in his warm hands while she balances herself on his shoulder, all the while aware of the taut strength of his body and the steady breathing of the sleeping soldiers around them. He probes, grips, and slips the splinter out. She would thank him, but she dares not speak out loud, and probably he does not understand her language anyway. They walk on in a silence that hangs as heavily as fog.

At last he opens a door and leads her into a chamber swathed in silk hangings, so many that she has to push her way through them until she comes free of their soft luxury and finds herself in the center of the room. It is cold here. No fire burns on the empty hearth.

The wasp sting burns in her heart as she faces the veiled figure that is Prince Bayan's ancient mother. The old woman's voice rasps with age and, perhaps, exhaustion brought on by weeks of weaving weather magic.” Where are you going?"

Hanna thinks probably she doesn't mean anything so simple, that no common answer will do: "to the privies," "west to the king," "back to my home."

"Idon't know," she answers truthfully. Cold bites at her hands, making them ache, and her foot hurts where the splinter pierced her skin.

"No woman can serve two queens, just as no man can serve two masters," remarks the ancient woman. One of her raddled old handmaidens hurries forward out of the shadows, bearing a tray.

A single ceramic cup, so finely crafted that its lip looks as thin as a leaf, rests on the enameled tray. Steam rises delicately from its mouth.” Drink," speaks the cricket voice.

The spicy scent stings Hanna's lips and burns her throat. As she drains the liquid, tilting her head back, she sees a scene engraved onto the bottom of the cup's bowl: a centaur woman suckling a human baby at her breast.

"In the end," continues Bayan's mother, "you will have to choose."

Cautiously, Hanna lowers the cup. Bayan 's mother sits sedately in a chair, her gnarled and wrinkled hands, age-spotted yet somehow still supple, resting in her lap. The veil conceals her face. The handmaiden waits patiently, like a statue, holding out the tray. Hanna sees no sign of the slave man who escorted her here. They are alone, the three of them, except for a green-and-gold bird perched in a cage that eyes Hanna warily as she sets the empty cup down on the tray. It lifts one foot, replaces it, then lifts the other in a stately if slightly anxious dance, waiting for her answer.