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decision was involved again, and whatever would have happened had Paisi hanged, would not now happen. Some other event was now in progress in which Paisi had some part to play, and he trusted Emuin to keep as much order in that event as anyone could keep .
    The disgruntled soldiers and the patriarch went to Guelemara, and their reports when they reached Guelemara created a storm in the Quinalt. They accused Tristen of serious breaches of Crown law, usurpation of royal authority, and the promotion of wizardry in Amefel. Strict northern priests, supported by Ryssand, had already preached doom in the streets, and as this further attack gained momentum, Cefwyn moved secretly to silence the most outspoken of these priests, one Udryn, as one of Ryssand’s men .
    Meanwhile, regarding the charges now made public, he could do nothing but declare the laws themselves outdated, since his only other choice was to agree that Tristen was a lawbreaker. This in no wise comforted the orthodoxy, but the open expression of opposition to the king was a little quieter since the disappearance of the priest .
    Tristen and Cevulirn parted company, swearing to meet next with all the lords of their former alliance, on Midwinter Eve, in Henas’ amef. And for his part Tristen settled in earnest to the preparation of a winter camp for an army .
    That same Midwinter was to mark the marriage of Luriel to Lord Panys’ younger son—in a capital seething with dissenting priests and fears of wizardry .
    And in the middle of the ceremony the Quinalt Patriarch was found murdered, with Bryaltine symbols about his person .
    The wedding fell apart in riot and religious frenzy, in which Ninévrisë’s unfortunate priest fell afoul of a mob and lost his life .
    Cefwyn countered quickly to gain the favor of the mob by diverting suspicion toward Tasmôrden’s agents…though he himself suspected the zealot priests and an act of very local revenge. He took clear command of the capital and of the situation, at least for the day, and moved to counter Ryssand, whom he blamed above all others .
    Back in Ynefel, Tristen’s guests had come, every one of them, and they settled to feast on a night Emuin had warned Tristen was the hinge not only of the year, but of a magical age of ages .
    At the stroke of midnight Auld Syes entered the hall in queenly guise and danced one dance with Tristen…after which the lights went out and the old haunt in the lower hall broke wide open .
    Tristen entered into it, in defense of all the rest, and found himself not in battle against shadows and dead wizards, but walking in Ynefel of old, himself a shadow in the life of the Tristen who had been .
    There he met Owl, companion of his early days with Mauryl, his guide through Marna Wood on the road that led him to Cefwyn, and his harbinger of war at the battle of Lewen field .
    And Owl came with him when he crossed that bridge again, back to the haunted mews at heart of the Zeide. Owl was on his arm when he returned, to the distress of all around him…who knew now that they dealt with magic and that the war Tristen proposed was not only of iron and edges .
    But rather than reject that war and their magicwielding ally, they gave thanks to have Tristen on their side and pledged their support anew .
    Owl was not the only venturer out into the world that night .
    Orien and Tarien Aswydd fled their exile as armed men descended on the defenseless nuns who sheltered them…Quinalt men, attacking a Teranthine order. Reflection of the riots in the capital, religious conflict had come to the countryside of Guelessar .
    And the outlawed Aswydds turned to the only home they knew, to Henas’ amef, hoping for shelter .
    Elements once part of wizardry were participant again, rewoven into the design .

CHAPTER 1

    A slow procession passed by night, little disturbing the sleep of Henas’amef. Tristen on bay Petelly, two ladies on horses the lords of Ivanor had