Then are you willing to serve me? Prince Rodry said, turning to him with an earnest look. After all, Im the one who saved your life with my brother. And I spoke for you with my father.

What is it you need? Devin asked. He hadnt forgotten all that he owed the prince.

Well go there, and youll forge the blade, but youll give it to me rather than my father. I will give it to my sister myself.

To your sister? Devin said.

If its given to her directly, it doesnt form part of her bride price, and it comes back to her should the marriage be annulled, Rodry said. Finnal might seem perfect to Lenore now, but shell see what he is soon enough. Then I dont have to suffer the indignity of watching him wander around with such a weapon on his hip. Will you do it, Devin? Will you do what I ask?

Devin thought about it. He didnt like the idea of getting between the king and his son in whatever conflict this was, didnt like the danger of it, but the truth was that he did owe Rodry, and as far as he could see, the results were the same.

He nodded. Aye, Ill do it.

Then we go, Rodry said. And we just have to hope that whatevers in Clearwater Deep isnt as dangerous as a sorcerers silence suggests.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

For Brother Odd, the hour of silence was always the hardest part of life on the Isle of Leveros. For that hour, the sounds of the great monastery faded away, and none were permitted to speak. Even those who normally meditated by reciting the hidden names of the gods had to do so silently, not a sound permitted to mar the tranquility there.

It was a moment designed to leave the inhabitants alone with their thoughts, free to delve inward to seek the divine connection, to look for peace. Brother Odd hated it.

Brother Odd; that hadnt always been his name. He suspected it might have been a joke on the part of the abbot. After all, he made such an odd monk. Oh, the shaving of his head had taken away the long mane of shaggy dark locks that had been there, and he deliberately extended that hairlessness to the beard he had once forked and dyed to intimidate his enemies, but he was still larger than most of them, still had to hunch in so that he didnt show his brothers the frame of the knight he had been.

No, he told himself as he sat in his cell, do not think of that. Clear your mind. Think of nothing.