“I have seen such things… .” murmured Adelheid, more breath than speech. She did not weep, although her tone harrowed her listeners.

“What have you seen, Your Majesty?” asked Lavinia, wiping a tear from her own face.

“God’s wrath. I was spared only because I prayed to God that I might see my daughters once more. That they are safe is the best I could hope for. Henry is dead, murdered by his own son.”

“Patricide!”

The servants whispered together, and this rush of conversation, like the press of wind through trees, flowed outside into the courtyard from whence it would no doubt be blown throughout the entire palace and town.

Henry is dead, murdered by his own son.

Adelheid turned. “What must I do, Sister Venia? I had this report from an Aostan lord who saw Henry fall. Prince Sanglant has claimed the Wendish throne for himself although he is only a bastard and thereby has no right to take it. The Wendish folk have deserted us. The Aostan lords and ladies have fled to their castles, those who survived. The plain of Dar has been swallowed by the Enemy. Darre itself is a ruin. No one can live there. The western coast has burst into flame. The mountains spew fire. So we are punished for our sins. The nobles will strike against me. Already they blame me for what they term ‘the Wendish folly.’ Those who were once my allies have deserted me.”

Antonia smiled. At long last, God had answered her, as she had always expected Them to do. “Do not fear, Your Majesty. God are testing us. Through our actions, we will reveal our true natures. Then They will separate the wicked from the righteous. Anoint me as skopos, and I will set all to right.”

“How can I anoint you, Sister,” the queen asked bitterly, “when I have no allies and no army and you have no chair?”

“It is true I have no chair, but I possess the skopos’ robes and scepter, which were abandoned by Holy Mother Anne. She did not respect God as she ought. Earthly concerns stained her, so she forgot what was due her position as God’s shepherd on Earth.”

“Perhaps. But all fell out as she predicted. The Lost Ones have had their revenge, and we survive in the ruins of their triumph.”

“We are not yet ruined, Your Majesty. Be strong. I have one other thing Anne left behind.” She crossed into her chamber. After a servingwoman helped her into a robe, she waved the woman out of the room and turned to her wooden storage chest. She had bound a burning spell into the lock in the form of an amulet identical to that Anne had used in the palace in Darre: wolfsbane, lavender, and thistle. Tracing a sign, she murmured the words of unbinding and protection before teasing apart the amulet and unlocking and opening the chest. She dug beneath layers of silk and linen and returned to the other room.