“The hunter is patient,” Lia reminded him.

“I have patiently limited my scolding to your punctuality. We will discuss your other failings later.”

Lia chuckled to herself and thought he was a rather petulant man. “Please, do not spare my feelings. I am quite used to my faults being pointed out by complete strangers.”

“I am not trying to insult you.”

“Nor are you complimenting me.” Lia stopped and stared at him. “My leg is throbbing already. I understand the urgency, Kieran. But I cannot walk as quickly as you right now.”

“My apologies,” he said, bowing his head deftly. “At your pace then.”

Lia continued walking and approached the Abbey which rose before them like a mountain of stone. The flowers from the grounds were a gentle reminder that she had packed a bunch of purple mint in her rucksack as well. She craved seeing Colvin again and wondered how long it would take to reach Dochte Abbey.

“Where is the Queen Dowager being kept?” Kieran asked softly. His gaze wandered the grounds around them quickly, zigzagging from bench to tree to flowerbed as if every shrub held a threat.

“There is a guest house on the opposite end of the Abbey. She is under guard night and day.”

Kieran pursed his lips. “She should be executed and her head delivered to her brother in a basket.”

Lia stared at him in shock. “That is cruel.”

He shook his head. “The world she manipulates is cruel. The destruction of the Blight is a result of her actions and the actions of those like her. An Evnissyen advises. Sometimes we do what must be done. If a king must die to save his people, then so be it. With her death, it removes the Dahomeyjan king’s pretext for war. It forces him to react rather than us. Demont is bold, but he is too merciful. Here we are.”

They had reached the door of the Abbey. “Have you crossed the Apse Veil before on your own?” he asked her.

She shook her head.

“Then I will go first and then bring you across. That is the way it is done.”

“I understand.”

As they started up towards the archway and the door, it opened from the inside and a knight-maston emerged, his face red from running. His eyes were wild with intensity.

“What news?” Lia asked, for they were blocking the way out.

He was panting and sagged back against the archway. “You are the Aldermaston’s hunter. I recognize you. I seek Demont, but you can tell your master.” He wiped his mouth on his arm. “The Earl of Dieyre escaped Pent Tower last night. The bells are ringing throughout Comoros. They say he is bound for Dahomey, that a ship was waiting for him. He swore he would return with an army and execute every maston for treason.”

Lia felt a spasm of fear strike through her. The Earl of Dieyre was Colvin’s sworn enemy. Since his capture after the battle, he had refused to reveal where he had hidden Colvin’s sister, Marciana. Lia had promised Colvin before he left that she would use the orb to find her.

They let the knight-maston pass who ran through the fog towards the manor house.

“If you are a maston, can you read Pry-rian?” Lia asked Kieran. She could not read, because it was not allowed at Muirwood.

He nodded.

She withdrew the Cruciger orb from the pouch at her belt. His eyes narrowed as he stared at it. Find Marciana Price, she thought. The pointers on the orb began to spin and whirl. It pointed southeast, towards the king’s city. A single word appeared on the lower half of the orb, written in the slanted scrawl of the Pry-rian language.

Kieran looked at it and then stared at her. “Who were you searching for?” he asked her. “Dieyre?”

“What does it say?”

“Comoros.”

CHAPTER FOUR:

Comoros

Lia felt the Medium engulf her like a flood as she gripped Kieran’s hand and he pulled her through the Apse Veil. It was a dizzying rush, a swirl of color and sound and then a violent shudder as if her insides were wrenched apart and then thrust back together. As she stumbled through on the other side, she staggered and nearly fell, overwhelmed with the sensation. The Medium was a power she respected, though she still did not fully understand it. For most of her life, she had felt it strongly without even realizing its subtle influence. But it was not until she passed through the Apse Veil into Comoros did she realize how strongly it was felt in Muirwood. In Comoros, the whisper of it was nearly gone.

Lia choked. The air was thick with smoke and sour with the stench of filth. Even deep within an Abbey, the smell was blinding in its intensity. There was but a little spark of the Medium, a dull throb that was painfully unnoticeable.