Crown of Stars 3 - The Burning Stone by Kate Elliott

Author:Kate Elliott [Elliott, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Published: 2011-07-22T20:13:46+00:00

"You know as well as I that normally St. Vitale's Pass is closed from mid-autumn to early summer. I've never heard of any party crossing a week before Candlemass!"

The other man shrugged. "It's been a mild winter. They just had good fortune. The soldiers I spoke to said that as they came down the last few leagues it had begun to snow behind them."

"That proves nothing. It could still have been weather sorcery. What about those other tales we've heard? What about those lights we saw from the height of the-fock last night? You heard screaming, too." (

"Hush," said his friend, glancing toward the soldiers. "W«'re here to see that he keeps his word to R rd John, nothing more. What matter if there is sorcery at work? Sometimes I wonder what harm there is in sorcery, if it can be used for good. I'm sick enough of this siege and these rations that I'd/not care if magic were used to persuade Queen Adelheid to surrender, so we could finally go home."

"Dominic!" His friend drew the Circle of Unity at his chest, like a ward against evil.

Theophanu tugged on Rosvita's hand, and Rosvita followed her into a passage so narrow that rock rubbed her shoulders, then her head, and she had to kneel and walk forward on her knees like a penitent approaching the altar.

The path dipped, Theophanu let go of her hand, and she touched a stair-step and, farther up, Theophanu's sandaled feet. She pulled herself up beside the princess in a cupboardlike space scarcely large enough for both of them. A hazy veil more mist than light screened one side of the space, but it took her a few moments to understand where she was.

They crouched together crammed inside the altar carved into the chapel.

The light that burned without, veiled by a screen of cloth, came from two lamps hanging from iron racks set on either side of the tiny chamber.

A man knelt before the altar, head bowed, hands clasped as he prayed.

She could not see his face, but she did not need to see his face. She felt Theophanu trembling beside her like a doe caught in a net. She knew the set of those shoulders, that golden sheen of hair, the perfect posture, neither too humble nor too proud as he knelt before God's altar and prayed in his mellifluous voice.

"Lord, my heart is not haughty nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in things too high for me. Lady, surely I have behaved and quieted myself. My soul is like that of a weaned child clinging to its mother. Let us put our hope in God, for ever and ever."

A cleric straightened up after ducking through the archway that led back into the guest hall. "I beg pardon for disturbing you, Lord Hugh."

He looked up. It was truly amazing how perfectly the light framed his features even when he could not know that someone watched him. His expression was somber, his eyes kind. "Brother Dominic.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.