PROLOGUE (141 page)

A few tears trickled from her eyes to wet his cheeks.” Yes, beloved. Then I will be free." She drew in a shuddering breath, traced the line of his beard, touched the hollow of his throat, drew a line with her finger down to his navel and across the taut muscles of his belly.” I don't regret the price I must pay, I only regret leaving you. I've been so happy. So happy." She kissed him, hard, and rolled on top of him. She was as sweet as the meadow flowers and twice as beautiful.

"I don't want to sleep," she whispered afterward.” I don't want ever to leave you."

The notion dawned hazily in his mead-fuddled mind.” You're afraid of the weaving."

"Yes." She broke off, then continued haltingly.” I fear it."

"You're afraid you're going to die. I don't like the sound of that."

"Every person fears death. You're the only one I know who isn't afraid of dying."

"I'll come with you tomorrow." Obviously he should have thought of this before. The Cursed Ones might still attack. She and the other Hallowed Ones had to thread a weaving through the stones, a great working of magic. That much everyone knew, but the workings of sorcerers of course remained hidden from all but the Hallowed Ones themselves, just as only clerics could read the secret names of God. Knowledge was dangerous, and magic more dangerous still. But he would risk anything for her.” I'll stand beside you at the. working. You know I'll never let any harm come to you. I swore it. I swear it."

"As long as we both live, I know you will never let any harm J come to me."

"I'll never let you leave me." After a long while, after he made plain to her the depth of his feeling, she slept.

But he could not sleep. He dared not move for fear of waking her, who was so tired. He dared not move, but as he lay there his heart traveled to troubled lands. He kept seeing over and over again the dying child held in the arms of its starving mother, to whom he'd given his cloak that day he'd ridden out hunting with Lavastine. He kept seeing the coarse old whore who had taken in Hathumod on the march east, to whom he'd given a kind word. He kept seeing the hungry and the miserable, the ones crippled by disease and the ones crippled by anger or despair. He kept seeing Lackling, the way he threw back his crooked head and honked out a laugh. He kept seeing the guivre, maggots crawling out of its ruined eye.

So much suffering.

Why did God let the Enemy sow affliction and grief throughout the world? Ai, God, didn't the natural world bring trouble enough in its wake, floods and droughts, windstorms and lightning? Why must humankind stir the pot to roil the waters further?

Could magic ease war and bring peace? He had to hope so. He had to believe that Adica and the other Hallowed Ones knew a way to coax peace out of conflict and hostility. That was the purpose of the great weaving, wasn't it? To end the war between the Cursed Ones and humankind?

In the morning, Adica carried her cedar chest out of the shelter, threw Alain's few belongings out over the threshold and, before he realized what she was about, set the shelter on fire.

"Adica!" He grabbed her, pulling her back as flames leaped to catch in the crude thatched roof She was shaking, but her voice was steady, almost flat.” It must be cleansed."

Sorrow and Rage whined, keeping their distance from the blaze. Up here on the highest point of the hill, with the stone circle a spear's throw away, they stood alone as the flames licked up to catch in bundled reeds. The refugees from the other villages had built their shelters down among the ramparts, well away from the tumulus' height and the power of the stones. A few children scouted out the billow of rising smoke, but older children snatched them away and vanished down the slope of the hill. No one dis turbed them. The shelter burned fiercely. A huge owl glided through the smoke, but when he blinked, it vanished.

Rage raised her head and loped away toward the lower ramparts. Many folk were climbing onto the walkway set inside the palisade, squinting toward the village below, pointing and murmuring.

Smoke rose from the village like an echo of the smoke beside them. It took him a moment to identify the house in the village that had caught on fire.

"That's our house!" He tugged her forward to see.

She said nothing. She did not seem surprised.

"The only time people burn houses is when—" The knowledge caught as tinder did, burning as hot as the fire.” You
do
think you're going to die!"

"Nay, I don't think it, love. I know it." She didn't weep as she held his hands. She had gone long beyond weeping. She held his gaze, willing him not to speak.” I could not bear to tell you before, my love. That I have been happy is only because of you. Everything that is good you've brought to me. I would never have it otherwise. But my duty was laid out long before. I will not survive the great weaving."

Panic and disbelief flooded him. Heat from the flames beat his face. It could not be true. He would not let it be true.

"I'll never leave you, beloved." His voice broke over the familiar words, spoken so often. Had they been meaningless all along? He hated the fixed, almost remote expression that now molded her features into the mask of a queen far removed from her subjects.” I'll walk with you into death if I have to. I won't let it happen. I won't. I won't lose you!"

"Hush," she said, comforting him, embracing him.” No need to talk about what is already ordained."

But he would not give it up. He had stood by while Lavastine had died. He hated the grip of helplessness, a claw digging ever deeper into his throat.” No," he said.” No." But he remembered the words of Li'at'dano, that dawn when he had fallen, bloody, dying, and lost, at the foot of the cauldron. That morning when the shaman had healed his injuries and given him a new life in a place he did not know. He remembered what Adica had said, the first words he ever heard her speak.

"Will he stay with me until my death, Holy One?"
Li'at'dano had answered:
"Yes, Mica, he will stay with you until your death."

"Hush," she whispered.” I love you, Alain. How could I wish for anything more than the time we were given together?" "I won't let it happen!" he cried, anger bursting like a storm. Was that thunder in the distance, rolling and booming? There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The shelter roared as flames ate it away. Smoke from the village, from their house, billowed up into the clear sky. The shrill cry of a horn cut the phantom calm lying over the scene. The adults stationed up on the palisade walkway, along the rampart, all began crying out, pointing and hollering. Rage, down at the cleft, began barking, and first Sorrow and then all the other dogs joined in until cacophony reigned.

"The Cursed Ones!" cried the people, clamoring and frightened.” They have come to kill our Hallowed One!"

Alain ran down through the upper ramparts and clambered up onto the walkway to see for himself. The Cursed Ones had come on horseback, more than he could count. He recognized their feather headdresses, short cloaks, and beaded arm and shinguards flashing where the sun's rays glinted off them. Many wore hammered bronze breastplates. Each warrior wore a war mask, so that animal faces hid their true features. He saw only lizards and guivres, snarling panthers and proud hawks. With shouts and signals, they spread out to make a loose ring first around the village and also around the tumulus; he quickly lost sight of two dozen outriders who swung around to the east. The largest group, perhaps ten score, formed up on the stretch of land lying between the village and the hill. The sun's light crept down the western slope of the tumulus as the sun rose over the stones.

Adica, puffing slightly, clambered up beside him. Her expression had altered completely from only a few moments before. She no longer had any comfort left to give him. She no longer had any thought except for the task she had to complete when evening came.” They'll have to attack. Their only hope is to stop me from weaving my part of the working. They'll be trying to strike at all seven of us, each in our own place." She glanced up at the sky.” With the gods' blessing you and the others released the Holy One from the Cursed Ones' bondage so she could work her weather magic. The skies are clear. We have only to survive the day, and then we will be free of their curse forever."

He stared, trying to measure the force gathering in the village, where Beor, Urtan, Kel, and the others sheltered. Here, along the ramparts, even children armed themselves with clubs and staves. Hooves sounded below him as Sos'ka and her companions came up underneath the walkway. They had no way to get up the ladder to see over the palisade.

"What is the Hallowed One's wish?" Sos'ka cried.” We are here to protect her."

They had prepared for many things, but not for an army of hundreds. He faltered. How easy it was to be reckless with other people's lives! But centaurs and human fighters watched him intently. They would not falter, no matter the cost. They had walked a harder road than he had, and for many more years. Determination would carry them forward.

Yet he had seen the Cursed Ones close up as well, and surely the Cursed Ones held determination close to their hearts, too. No wonder war was a curse.

One of the Cursed Ones rode within a bow's shot of the village and loosed a burning arrow. It sailed over the palisade to land, sputtering, in the dirt. Another arrow flew, and a third and a fourth, then a shower. Children ran toward the safety of the houses, only to be driven back when the thatched roof of the men's house caught and began to burn, twin to the fire that consumed Adica's house, another funeral pyre.

Sorrow and Rage panted below, gazing loyally up at him. It was easy to think now that his heart had died of sorrow yet again. It was easy to act because he knew he, too, would die. It was simply not possible to go on living without her.

"Advca, you must go up to the stone loom. Their arrows can't reach you there. I want ten adults to attend her. Make sure she's covered and safe. You'll have to lie low all day, beloved. Can you do that?" She nodded.

"What shall we do?" asked the woman called Ulfrega, war leader of the Four Houses warriors.

"We'll need fighters all along the palisade. That's our weakness."

o

"Not the cleft and the ditch?"

"The planks are pulled back, so the Cursed Ones can't charge through. Set a force with spears there, behind shields, and the best archers up along the palisade. That's the first place they'll try to break through. If somehow riders break through, you must brace the hafts of your spears in the dirt and hold them steady. Then they'll drive their horses into the points."

She nodded. An arrow sailed lazily overhead and skittered along the opposite embankment, rolling downslope to end up at one of the centaur's hooves.” What of the villagers?" she asked.

"Beor can lead them well enough. He'll let their archers use up their arrows as long as he can. It will help us that the Cursed Ones are caught between two pincers. They have to protect themselves from both sides. And we have a few tricks planned, things they can't expect. Just pass the word along the palisade that none of you are to shoot arrows unless you come under direct attack. Have children pick up any arrow that falls in to us. We can shoot it back at them."

In the village, a third house had caught on fire.

"Sos'ka, you and your comrades must keep a perimeter watch all around the hill. If any place on the embankment is weakened, send one to alert me, and we'll send reinforcements. If they break in behind us, we are lost. Ulfrega, you must remain here to command if I'm called away. Adica!"

She still watched the movements of the Cursed Ones and, farther, the smoke pouring up from the burning houses. A fourth house in the village caught fire, but people hurried to soak the thatch of the adjoining council house roof with water.

A line of Cursed Ones rode closer to examine the tumulus. One rash soldier with a fox mask rode in and, whooping, twirled a sling around his head. Stones peppered the palisade. A dozen archers rode close enough to shoot.

Alain took hold of her arm roughly and tugged her down, while folk around them gasped to see him handle her so.” You must get back to safety."

"Where will you be?" A single tear snaked down her cheek.

"I will always be with you. I'll follow when I can."

She climbed down the ladder. A dozen adults formed around her and hurried away up through the higher embankments, toward the stone circle.

"Shall we shoot at them?" cried one of the archers near Alain.

"Nay, they're no threat to us yet. Let them waste their arrows."

Beor's archers had begun to return arrow fire, and the archers of the Cursed Ones retreated to their main force, content evidently with the mischief their arrows caused in the village: five houses burned merrily now. Smoke boiled up into the sky, and ash fell everywhere. Yet the Cursed Ones waited as an unseen drum counted the passing with a steady rhythm that seemed to reverberate up from the earth. Leaning against the palisade logs, Alain felt that throbbing rhythm, oddly soothing, drawing his mind away, causing memories to flower as his attention drifted,
Up among the ruins near Lavas Holding, he sees the shadows of what had been, not the shadows of the ruins lying there now. The lantern's pale light and the gleam of stone illuminate the shadows of the buildings as if they stand whole and unfallen. This filigree of arches and columns and proud walls stretching out as impossible shadows along the ground is the shade of the old fort, come alive as memories twist forward...