Hand of the King's Evil - Outremer 04 Read Online Free PDF Page A

the valley, and there were times when a girl simply didn't need the challenge of an unruly servant, the threat of another wild ride.
    2
    A World a Man Unransomed
    Anton d'Escrivey stood on the h eight of the wall at Roq de Ranc on, and knew himself possessed; and could not truly have said which of two spirits it was that possessed him, nor which of those two was good, which evil. He knew what his Church would say, he believed that he knew what his God would say, and in this at least they would speak with one voice. Put him to confession, though, or put him to the question, dig for the deepest truth in himself and he could not be certain what his own voice would answer.
    He stood in the last of the daylight, when it was dark already on the plain below. He saw the glimmer of torches on the road, a late patrol riding in; he had some interest in their report and might have gone down to meet them if there had been time. He could hear the news later, though. For now, his eye reached further out, looking perhaps for some other light, some hint of life among the distant hills.
    He saw nothing, only purpling shadows on their peaks and unbroken black beneath. Every day for weeks he had stood here, and seen the same. It was wasted labour to climb so high, wasted time to wait for what would not be there; all of this he knew. The preceptor had opened the Kings Eye more than once at his urging, and each time to no avail. No, there was no sign of the escaped heretic, nor of the baron's runaway wife, nor of his own treacherous squire. They had vanished in the chaos of that dreadful night: vanished by magical means for sure, long before they could have ridden beyond the reach of the Kings Eye. That gift of sight could show little beyond the borders of the Kingdom, but it should not have failed so soon; some evil working must have blinded it, something of Surayon. If that wicked land could hide itself so utterly that none could find it, though its borders were known and had been charted, then no doubt its sorcerers could cast a blanket of darkness over such a party of small souls, so dark that even the King's pure light could not find it out ...
    So they said, at least, in the halls and the guardhouses; and so Anton believed, because he must. As he believed because he must believe that all in that small party were long gone from this land, seeking the safety of hidden Surayon or some greater safety further off.
    And yet still he came up here high, each evening; and still he watched for some touch of light that might perhaps be a fire, might just possibly be a sign of one soul returning. Returning part way at least, too frightened to come closer but loath to leave entirely, held as Anton himself was held, to the betrayal of all vows true or false, betraying new companions just as he had betrayed the old ...
    Hopeless watch, but the knight kept it none the less; and did not turn until the great bell called the garrison to prayer, just as the sun fell from sight and that sea of shadow below swept up to engulf him.
    He might have said his prayers there on the castle wall, with Marron's whisper in his head for company. To silence that distracting voice, he might have moved a little along the wall to join the guards who must watch and pray together. He might have gone back to his own chamber and prayed alone, as he used to do.
    But times change, and men must change with them; old habits must be cast off, when men dress for war.
    Anton took the stairs rapidly and then strode through the wards and passages of the Roq until he met the tail of his confreres, a slow procession winding into the great hall, torchbearers before and behind.
    He joined that procession, as he seldom had before this month but now did every night. He paced in steady step with his brethren and left his head uncovered, as some half of them did routinely now, a badge of extra oaths that they had sworn.
    Briefly, he remembered the occasion of those oaths. After he himself had caught