Laran and Barrett had reached a point perhaps forty feet from their colleagues, and the four were now separating and going to the cardinal compass points, marking off a square perhaps forty feet on a side. When they had taken their positions, the eight combatants ranged themselves in two arcs of a smaller circle within the square. The two kings looked expectantly toward Barrett, but it was Tiercel who left his place and strode confidently into the center of the figure.

“Thus saith the Lord Camber of blessed memory, thus saith the Holy One, who taught us the Way. Thus it has been written, thus it shall be done. Blessed be the Name of the Most High,” he said.

He knelt on one knee and, extending his right forefinger, began to trace a sign on the ground. Where his finger passed, the grass turned golden.

“Blessed be the Creator, yesterday and today, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega.” His finger had traced a cross, with the Greek letters inscribed at the top and bottom of the figure. “His are the seasons and the ages, to Him glory and dominion through all the ages of eternity. Blessed be the Lord, blessed be Holy Camber.”

As he rose, more symbols could be seen inscribed in the four angles of the cross: the sigils of the four councilors, signifying their protection over this circle. As soon as Tiercel had returned to his place, Barrett picked up the chant, raising his hands beside his head.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, saith the Lord,” Barrett intoned. “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name in the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.”

“Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever,” Vivienne said, raising her arms heavenward. “Let the Lord lend His countenance to the virtuous and defend the cause of the just. Raise the light of Thy favor upon this circle, O Lord, that they who stand within shall know Thy majesty and shrink not from Thy judgement.”

Laran formed the last link in the circle, raising his arms also. As he did so, light began to glow around the four Deryni nobles, amber and silver, crimson and blue. As Laran spoke, the light spread until the circle was complete. The colors merged and coalesced as his words rolled over the circle.

“Guard Thy servants, O Lord. Strengthen this circle, that nothing may enter from without, that none may aid the eight who stand embattled here. Protect those without the circle from the terrible powers soon to be unleashed within, and guard us from Thy wrath.”

“As it was in the earliest days of our beginning,” the four chanted, “and as it shall be for all time to come, O Lord, so let it be today. So let it be.”