“Who attacked you?”

“Everyone, my lord.” He wept. “The Aostans. The people of Darre. The city took terrible damage in the winds and the tremors that followed. Fissures belch gas out of the earth. Toward the coast, fire and rock blasted up from the Abyss and destroyed everything it touched. At least three mountains spew fire all along the western coast. It is the end of the world, my lord. What else can it be?”

“True words,” murmured Hathui.

“Will you help us, my lord? We are unknown to you, but many of us served in King Henry’s schola.”

“You are dressed in frater’s garb. Are you such a one?”

“Nay, my lord. I am a lowly servingman from Austra, once bound to the service of Margrave Judith but later coming into the service of her magnanimous son, Presbyter Hugh.”

Sanglant felt a kick up inside his ribs. Hathui looked at him sharply, as though he had given something away, and maybe he had. She knew Liath’s history as well as he did. “You served Lord Hugh?”

“I did, my lord. Of his schola and retinue, six remain. The others are dead—” He choked on the word and for the space of five breaths could not go on. Sanglant waited, hearing the army toiling up the road just beyond the low ridge that separated the hollow from the main path. “They are dead.” He was not an old man but he had seen better days; grief made him fragile. “The rest went north months ago with the presbyter.”

“Hugh went north? When was this?”

“Months ago, my lord. In the month of… aye, let me see. It seems years ago. I don’t recall now. It was late summer. Yes, that’s right.”

“Wise of him to avoid the disaster,” muttered Sanglant.

“He might be dead, Your Majesty,” said Hathui.

“So we can wish, but I must assume the worst.” He glanced at her while the refugees waited. She raised an eyebrow, a gesture so slight that it shouldn’t have hit him so hard. “Not just because of Liath! He is the one who seduced Adelheid to trust him. The one who ensorcelled my father. He is ambitious, and he has reached the end of his rope.”

“Queen Adelheid was not a fool. She was ambitious in her own right. It might be she who seduced Hugh to dream of power beyond What he had otherwise hoped for.”

He snorted. “Do you think so, Hathui?”

“Nay. Only that they found a ready ally, each in the other.”

“Did he bed her?”

“I believe she was faithful to your father. She admired and respected Henry.”

“I am glad to hear it. Although surely, if that is true, it makes her actions harder to understand.”

“They have two children, Your Majesty. What mother does not seek advancement for her beloved children? Presbyter Hugh achieved his high position because of his mother’s devoted affection.”

“True enough. Margrave Judith was no fool except in her love for him.”