“We’ll wait here,” said Hugh, and soon enough the two soldiers who had been left behind at the tower reached them.

“Theodore. Liudbold.” Hugh looked at them each in turn. “What is your report? I expected you sooner.”

“Begging your pardon, my lord,” said the one addressed as Theodore. “It were trickier than we thought. The old man had life in him. He was wakeful and struggling, and he got a fist in on Liudbold’s jaw here.”

Some of the other soldiers coughed and snickered as Liudbold touched a hand to the bruise forming on his face, but they fell silent when Hugh raised a hand.

“Yes, he fought the spell, with some success. That shouldn’t surprise me, I suppose. What did you do?”

“Well, at first we thought of tying him up, but then we recalled that he was meant to look as if he’d freed himself. So we knocked him cold, hauled him upstairs, then rolled him in the blood and left him with the knife in his hand.”

“It will do,” Lord Hugh said kindly. “You kept your heads about you. Well done.”

Such praise would melt stone! The soldiers murmured, but Lord Hugh turned his horse onto the path and led the others away from the road. Behind, the pair of men riding in the rear guard swept their path to hide their tracks. Ahead, tall figures awaited them, stones arranged in a circle.

She said nothing, but by asking no questions caused Lord Hugh to notice her silence.

“How came you to Novomo, Anna? How did Princess Blessing and her party reach Aosta, and why? Where did you come from? How came you to lose her father and mother?”

She shrugged, pretending ignorance, as he studied her. She was sick at heart. It seemed beneath that mild gaze that he saw everything and knew everything.

“My lord presbyter,” said one of the soldiers, a man with a scar on his chin. “I can make her talk, if that’s what you’re wishing.”

He turned away. “Think nothing of it, John. I already know much of the tale. When I have need of the rest, I’ll get it.”

“I just don’t like to see you treated with such disrespect, my lord presbyter. It gripes me to think of the queen refusing to see you, after all you done for her and the common folk in Darre.”

“The queen is grieved by the loss of her daughter. It is to be expected.”

“Only you would be so forgiving, my lord.”

The other soldiers murmured agreement.

“Like that cleric you released to walk north. I think that one has lost his wits!”

Hugh nodded without smiling. ‘And so he has, poor soul.”

They came up to a flat space of ground, bare of vegetation, situated in front of the standing stones.

“Dismount quickly, all except the one with the servant and you, Frigo,” said Hugh, gesturing toward the man who carried Blessing. “Move when I give the command. Do not hesitate.”