‘Tell me what happened to make the priests give up and open the gates in Fryddcove?’ I said aloud.

‘Hunger, just as King Gwynedd predicted,’ Elkar answered succinctly. ‘In a way it was good they had not come out at once because the rage people felt after the deaths that had occurred during the fighting had faded enough for everyone to remember that it was not the priests inside the cloister on Norseland who had done the killing. Instead of seeing terrible Herder priests when the doors opened, they saw very old men, most of whom had been sent there in the first place from Herder Isle because the members of the inner cadre regarded them as unsound. Which is to say, they were not brutal or ruthless enough to satisfy their superiors.’

‘So what happened to them?’ I asked.

Elkar shrugged. ‘Most were allowed to remain in the cloister, though the gates have been removed. They are too old to serve as labourers, though they were bidden to grow their own food now that there is no more forced tithing. But their gardening skills are so poor and most of them so old and decrepit that they would have starved if Per Vallon had not suggested they offer lessons in scribing and reading in exchange for food and other necessities. These days the cloister serves as a teaching centre on Norseland, though the best students will have to come to Herder Isle for more advanced lessons and to have access to the library.’

I suppressed a scowl, thinking it too mild a punishment. The priests on Norseland may not have had much power, but they had known about children being taken from their homes and forced to become priests or slaves. They had certainly known of Ariel’s vile experimentation and his treatment of the shadows. In my mind they were no less guilty than the priests on Herder Isle for having failed to do something about it. Given my way, I would have razed every cloister to the ground, and sent every priest to the Councilfarms to years of hard labour. But how could I voice these bitter thoughts in the face of Elkar’s mild compassion despite their own suffering?