The hounds had settled down to demolish the dregs of the carcass. Alain had a bag woven of reeds slung over one shoulder, and into this he placed some bones, still messy with bits of flesh and tough tendon strings.

"Too bad you didn't get any of the meat," said Atto. "We could have roasted it. Deer are hard to come by this spring. We're all afeard to go into the forest, not knowing what we'll find there. Can't slaughter what livestock we have left, and even so we had a poor lambing season, no twins at all."

"This beast. Has it killed your cattle and sheep?"

"It hasn't come into our pasture and byre. Maybe it got those that wandered off. No one's brave enough to track it to its lair." He coughed out a laugh as he gestured toward the north. "And I won't be the one to find out! There's rough land that way. Deep forest. Wolves, they say. A lake, though I've not seen it, and a ravine. That's where it hides." He had thick lips, blue eyes, and a funny way of looking at other people, as if he didn't want to like them. "So they say. They don't really know. They just talk and talk and do nothing but complain about their bad fortune and how ill luck dogs the village and the frost still comes and the crops won't grow and how it'll be worse before it gets better."

"Perhaps they're right. Have you seen the sun since last autumn?" The comment startled Atto. He glanced heavenward, but there was nothing to see except the canopy of branches and the leaden silver of the sky. "I'm not waiting around. I'm going to Autun, me and Mara. Things will be better there."

2

WHERE the road forked, an impressive barrier made up of downed trees and the detritus of shattered wagons lay across the northeasterly path. Hanna rode at the front of the cavalcade beside Lady Bertha. They pulled up to survey the barrier.

"That's been built, however much it might resemble storm fall," said Bertha.

"There's a village down that path," said Hanna. "I recall it. They welcomed me when I was riding for King Henry."

Bertha glanced at her, then at the barrier with branches sticking out at all angles and brittle leaves rattling in the spatter of rain.

"Seems they're less welcoming now." Her gaze ranged farther afield, past the tangle of dense thickets and an unexpected stand of yew that lined the roadside. Farther back one could tell that the field layer lightened where tall beech formed a canopy. Drizzle dripped on them. Everything dripped. Hanna wiped the tip of her nose.

"Ho! You there! In the tree!" Bertha had a strong high tenor, suitable for cutting through the din of battle.

Hanna was not more startled than the lad in the yew, who slipped, grabbed branches, and gave away his position where needles danced.

"We want shelter for the night. I am Bertha of Austra and Olsatia, daughter of Judith, margrave of Austra and Olsatia, may her memory live in peace. I'm sister of the current margrave, Gerberga. I have with me members of the king's schola. We've been months on the road. We've traveled north out of Aosta, over the Brinne Pass, and through Westfall. It's been a long road that brings us at last to Avaria, and Wendar. We need shelter, a fire, and a meal, if you will."