The Burning Stone (Crown of Stars #3)

The Burning Stone (Crown of Stars #3) Page 214

He inclined his head to show respect and obedience. “Yesterday at dusk I observed strange lights emanating from the summit of the hill. I heard horrible screams. I even smelled a strange scent like that of lightning that has just struck, and I wondered. Can it be some creature resides there, guarding the crown? I have seen other crowns, but they are not so haunted, not any that I saw or heard tell of.”

“Indeed, Son, you have guessed correctly. A daimone is trapped within the crown, by what agency I do not know.”

“How long has it been trapped there?”

“Our records always speak of it dwelling there. St. Ekatarina founded this convent over four hundred years ago. So if it is possible to travel through the crowns, and I admit I am not sure I can believe such an incredible claim, then in any case ours is closed to such traffic because of the daimone which haunts it. It will kill anyone who comes too close.”

He knelt with head bowed for a long time, and Rosvita watched those watching him. Adelheid leaned toward him as toward a tawny leopard that she wanted to stroke and yet remained unsure whether it might bite off her hand. Theophanu’s gaze was fixed on Hugh as if he were a snake about to strike. Mother Obligatia merely watched him.

At last he lifted his head and spoke. “What if I can bind that daimone, and free you from its shadow on this convent? Then Queen Adelheid, Princess Theophanu, and their followers can escape through the crown, and Ironhead can do nothing to stop them.”

Adelheid sat back, face shining as if she had discovered that the leopard was vicious after all, and was pleased to have such a wild creature in her menagerie. “And you would come with us, leaving your party in Ironhead’s hands?”

“Nay, I would remain behind. I will not abandon my escort. They are good men, and do not deserve such a fate.”

“If you succeed at this plan, Ironhead will murder you for betraying him. You have met him. How can you believe otherwise?”

“I recognize the kind of man he is. My mother is the same. I know how to handle Lord John.”

“Surely, Cousin, you would not put your life in this man’s hands,” said Theophanu with soft fury. “How can we agree to be aided by the very sorcery for which he was condemned by the church? He himself admits that he was sent to be judged by the skopos for his crimes! How can we trust him? He could as easily send us into the crown to be killed by this creature—!”

The soldiers and courtiers all began to talk at once, a disturbed buzz that Captain Fulk did nothing to silence. Adelheid’s noble companions afflicted the queen with a flood of questions while Theophanu’s stouter companions were quieter but no less agitated as they whispered to each other, pulling on sleeves and pointing and gesturing. Hugh did nothing but listen, and Rosvita was abruptly afraid to breathe, as if he could hear the distinct quality of her breathing and by that means identify her. Had he known Theophanu was there all along? Was he only playing with them? Yet the annoying suspicion plagued her that in speaking of his loyalty to King Henry, he was speaking truth.

The servants huddled in the darkness caught the fever, and soon the noise lifted until it echoed in the cavern.

Mother Obligatia rapped her walking stick three times on the floor, and there was a sudden numbing silence punctuated by two coughs and a sneeze. “That is enough,” she said without raising her voice. “We have heard what Lord Hugh proposes. Captain Fulk, escort Lord Hugh back to the guest hall, where he will await our decision.”

Captain Fulk gestured to the escort. Hugh rose gracefully, as acquiescent as a tamed fawn.

“I pray you, Mother, let his blindfold be taken off before he goes,” said Adelheid. “I would like to see if he is as handsome as everyone says.”

Mother Obligatia merely turned her walking stick in her hands. “In the convent of St. Radegundis, we worshiped at mass on either side of a screen that ran down the center of the nave so that we could not look one upon the other, female upon male. For as St. Radegundis herself was recorded as saying, ‘The Enemy knows many ways by which to tempt women and men away from their holy path.’ I have held to that rule here, and I do not let my nuns look upon men once they make their oaths as novices. But I know that custom is different in Wendar, and that clerics of both sexes mingle freely in God’s work.”

“I am no nun in any case, and not desirous of becoming one,” said Adelheid.

“Even if that were the only way to save yourself from becoming Ironhead’s bride?”

The question slipped out with deceptive smoothness. Theophanu’s eyes widened, and she looked abruptly thoughtful. But Adelheid flung her head back, laughing, as if passion and price were things to be rejoiced in and embraced, the soul of her existence. “I will be queen in my own right, or dead, Mother. You know I mean no disrespect to the church.”