Volis grinned at her, aI was right. Iam sorry to overwhelm you, but the Travelers are a hobby of mine, though Iave only met a few of them.a What was she to say to that? she wondered and said nothing.

aDo you have a while to spare?a he asked. aI have a wealth of questions to ask youa"and Iad like to show you the temple.a She glanced at the sun, but her business had taken very little time and the pack of mermori was a cold, hard thing she would have to deal with as soon as she left Redern.

So she raised an eyebrow and nodded her head. Tier would have laughed and called her aEmpressa if she had done such a thing to him. This boy merely smiled, as if head been certain she would follow him. He had, she thought, a tithe of Tieras charm and was used to having people obey him.

He turned and led the way up the road, which was so steep that it was set in stairs.

aI would have been just as happy with something like the rest of Redern,a he said. aBut the new Sept was convinced that I would be happier in something more modern looking.a aThe Sept is a follower of your five gods?a Seraph asked.

aGods save us, no,a laughed Volis. aBut he was willing to do a favor when a few of the Pathas Elders twisted his arm to place a temple here.a aWhy here?a asked Seraph. aWhy not in Leheigh, which also belongs to the Sept? Surely you would find more followers in the larger city.a Volis smiled. aI have not done so badly here. Your own family attends my meetings. In fact, I was on my way to consult with Bandor when you ran into mea"and I couldnat resist the chance to have a Traveler to speak to. But the main reason I am herea"instead of a really big city, like Korhadan, for instancea"is Shadowas Fall. We feel that there are things on the old battlefield that might enlighten us.a Shadowas Fall? Seraph bit back her opinion of the stupidity of anyone who wanted to explore there. Doubtless the battlefield could educate this solsenti fool better than she.

Like Willonas shop and many of the buildings on the steeper slopes, the temple had been built into the mountain. The facade was raw timber and crude, except for the doors, which were smooth and oiled until they were almost black.

Volis ushered her inside, and Seraph had to stop in the threshold to allow her eyes to adjust from the brightness outside.

The room was a richly appointed antechamber that would have been more at home in a Septas keep than in a village temple. Either thea"what was it Volis had called it?a"the Path of the Five was a rich church indeed, or the Sept owed its Elders a lot of favors.

aThere are only three temples,a said Volis, seeing her expression. aTwo in Taela and this one. We intend this to be a place of pilgrimage.a aShadowas Fall,a said Seraph, aa place of pilgrimage.a aWhere the Five triumphed over evil,a said the priest, apparently oblivious to the doubt in her voice. aCome and see the refuge, where I hold services.a Seraph followed him through a tapestry-curtained entrance into a room like none shead ever seen before.

The excavations were far more extensive than she had thought. The ceiling of the chamber soared overhead like an upside-down bowl. Near the edge it was a single handspan over the doorway, in the center of the room it rose three times the height of a tall man. The stone walls, floors, and ceiling were as smooth as polished marble.

This . . . this was built in the short season since the new Sept came to explore his inheritance?

The ceiling was painted a light sky-blue that darkened gradually to black on the walls. The light that illuminated the room seemed to emanate from that skylike ceiling. Magic, thought Seraph, solsenti magic. But her attention was on the figures that occupied the false firmament. Chasing each other endlessly around the perimeter of the ceiling were five life-sized birds painted with exquisite detail.

Volis was silent as she walked past him to the center of the room.

Lark, she thought, chills creeping down her spine. A cormorantas brilliant eyes invited her to play in the stormy winds. An owl glided on silent wings toward the black raven, who held a bright silver and ruby ring in its mouth, while next in line a falcon began its stoop. Together they circled the room, caught in endless flight.

In the center of the ceiling, twice as large as any other, a river eagle caught the winds and twisted its head to look down upon the room as if to examine its prey.

Each bird a representative of the six Orders of the Travelers.

aBehold the Five,a said Volis softly in a language Seraph hadnat heard since the day her brother died. aLark the healer, Cormorant who rules the weather, Owl of wisdom and memory, Raven the mage, Falcon the hunter. And above them all, trapped in darkness is the secret god, the lost god. You didnat know about the lost god, did you?a aThey are not gods,a said Seraph in her tongue. Though, she remembered, in the old stories of before they Traveled, her people had believed that there were gods as he had described. But as the Old Wizards had grown in knowledge and power they had put those fallacies behind them.

As if she hadnat spoken, Volis pointed to the eagle. aI found him, in books so old they crumbled at my touch, in hints in ancient songs. For generations the Elders of the Path have worshiped only the Fivea"until I found the lost god.a aThe Eagle?a said Seraph, caught between an urge to laugh at the idea of solsenti worshiping the Orders as gods, and distaste. Distaste won.

aThe Eagle.a He looked pleased. aMy discovery led me to be honored by this appointment,a he waved a hand to indicate the temple.

aCongratulations,a said Seraph, because he seemed to expect her to say something of the sort. She glanced at the ceiling again and wondered what her father would have said if head seen it.

aI have gleaned some things,a he said. aThe Eagle is protected by the others, so that he can rescue them in some future time, when they are all at risk and the world hangs in the balance.a Shead taught Tier that song in translation, a childas tune to teach them about the Orders. Obviously the translation that Volis had happened upon had been less careful. He made it sound as if the Eagleas purpose as Guardian was for some single, predestined event.

Eagerly the young priest turned to Seraph and took her hands. aI see from your face that you know about the Eagle.a aWe do not speak of the Eagle to outsiders,a said Seraph.

aBut Iam not an outsider,a he said waving an impassioned hand at the ceiling. aI know about Travelers; Iave spent my life studying them. Please, tell me what you know of the Eagle.a Seraph didnat suffer fools gladlya"she certainly didnat aid and abet their stupidity. It was time to go home. aI am sorry,a she said. aI have work awaiting me. Thank you for showing me around; the artwork is very good.a aYou have to tell me more,a he caught her arm before she could leave. aYou donat understand. I know it is the Elders of the Path of the Five who must free it.a aFree it?a she asked, and that chill that had touched her upon seeing the Birds of the Orders in a solsenti temple strengthened, distracting her from the encroaching grip of his arm.

aIn hiding him,a said Volis earnestly, athe Five trapped him, for his protection. aSleep on, guarded be, until upon waking destroys and savesaa"a Seraph started. That bit of poetry had no business being spoken in the mouth of a solsenti, no matter how well he spoke Traveler. It had nothing to do with the Eagle, but . . .

aHe must be freed,a said Volis. aAnd the Master of the Path has foreseen that it is we of the Path who will free the Stalker.a aThe Stalker is not the Eagle,a Seraph said involuntarily, then could have bitten off her tongue. This was dangerous, dangerous knowledge. He was mistaken about the Eagle, about the Orders being gods, but the Stalker . . .

He turned his mad gaze to her. He must have been mad. Only a madman would speak of freeing the Stalker.

aAh,a he said. aWhat do you know about the Stalker?a aNo more than you,a she lied.

She fought to draw in a full breath and reminded herself that this man was a solsenti, a solsenti possessed of more knowledge that he should havea"but even if he were so mistaken as to confuse the Eagle with the Stalker, he still should be harmless enough.

She gave him a short bow, Raven to stranger rather than good Rederni wife to priest, and used the motion to break free of his grasp.

aI have work,a she said. aThank you for your timea"Iall see myself out.a She turned on her heel and strode rapidly to the curtained entrance, waiting for him to try and stop her, but he did not.

By the time she was on the bridge, shead lost most of the fear that her visit with the new priest had engendered. The Stalker was well and truly imprisoned, and not even the Shadowed, who had almost destroyed the human race, had been able to free it. A solsenti priest with a handful of half-understood information was not a threata"at least not to the world as a whole, but she would still have to consider what Volisas fancies would mean to her and hers.

Dismissing the priest as an immediate threat left her with no distraction for the burden she carried. Though the honey jars were gone, almost a hundred weight of them, her pack carried stones that weighed her soul more than her back. As soon as Seraph left the main road for the cover of the trail, she stopped and pulled out the bag of mermori and counted them. Eighty-three.

Her hand tightened on the last one until the sharp edge of the end drew blood. Hurriedly she wiped off the mermora; it was never a good thing to expose magicked things to blood. When she was certain it was clean, she put them back in the leather bag and returned the whole bundle to her pack.

aThereas nothing I can do,a she said fiercely, though there was no one to hear her. aI donat know anything. I have no more ability than a dozen other Ravens who have all failed to prevent the demise of the Travelers. Here, in this place, I have three children who need me. There are fields to be planted and gardens to tend and a husband to welcome me home. There is nothing I can do.a But, by Lark and Raven, eighty-three. She swallowed. Maybe Tier would be home when she returned. She needed him to be home.

The land that Seraph and Tier farmed was in a very small hanging valley, most of which was too rocky to plant. They had no close neighbors. It had been virgin land when they had come there as newly married strangers.

From the vantage point of a knoll above the valley, Seraph fought back the feeling that it would all go back to wild within the decadea"she was no farseer, just tired. She adjusted her pack and started down the faint trail.

Trees gave way to grass and field. As soon as she started on the path above the cabin, a joyous bark preceded Gura as he charged up the trail to welcome her home.

aHello, fool dog,a she said, and he rolled at her feet in rapture at her recognition of him, coating his thick fur in spring mud.

He was huge and black, covered with hair that needed daily grooming. Tierad come home from town one evening with a black eye and a frightened, half-starved puppy with huge feet. Always collecting strays, was her husband.

Seraph bit back tears, and shook her head at the dog. aCome, Gura, letas see how my lad did on his own today.a The huge dog lumbered to his feet and shook himself off, sloughing off the puppy antics with the mud. He accompanied her to the cabin with solemn dignity.

With Guraas welcome to warn her family, Seraph wasnat surprised to find Lehr and Rinnie quietly working in the cabin.

aMa!a said her youngest in tones of utter relief. aLehr was so mean. He yelled at me when I was already doing what he asked me to.a At ten, Rinnie had recently adopted the role of family arbitrator and informanta"which was having the expected results with her siblings. She took after Seraph more than anyone in thea"family at least in looks. Rinnie was short with Seraphas pale hair that stood out so in Redernas dark population. In temperament she more resembled her father, sharing both his calm good sense and his flair for drama.

Seraph hugged her and looked up at Lehr.

aWe finished turning the garden,a said Lehr repressively. aAnd we planted a good third of it before Rinnie whined so much I let her go inside.a aHe made me work hard,a said Rinnie, still not giving up the hope of getting her brother in trouble.

When Rinnie stuck her tongue out at Lehr, he ignored it. Last year he would have retaliateda"or smiled at her, knowing that her reaction would be worth whatever trouble head get in.

aThank you, Lehr,a Seraph said, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. aI know itas not an easy job to keep this lazy girl working. I can tell by the stew on the hob and the pile of carded wool that the both of you came inside and rested like the high-born.a He laughed and hugged her. aShe was fine. Wead have gotten the whole garden done, Mother, if Jes had stuck around. He left sometime after luncha"I didnat even see him go.a aI can talk to him,a she offered.

Lehr shook his head. aNo, itas all right. I know he does the best he can. Itas just that with Papa gone, we need him. When he can keep his mind on it, he can work as well as Papa does. Mother, the Septas steward was here today.a aForder?a Seraph asked, taking her cloak and hood off and hanging them on the cloak tree by the door. aWhat did he want?a aHe looked at the fields and asked if Papa was back yet. When I told him no, he said the new Sept was demanding quarter again as much for our tithe payment this year as lasta"of the garden and the fields. He said that itas almost past time to get the fields plowed.a Seraph put her pack against the wall. aI know, Lehr. Weave waited as long as we could. Weall just have to break ground without Tier. We can start tomorrowa"no, day after tomorrow so I have time to look at the harness and plow to make repairs. Donat worry about the increased tithe; Tier said to expect some kind of increase with the new Sept.a aForder said the Sept had a horse we could lease, if we needed.a aNo.a She shook her head. When head left, Tier had taken the young mare theyad bought last year, leaving their old gelding to his retirement. aSkew knows these fields, and old as he is, heall do the job until Tier gets back. We canat afford to start leasing a horse, not if the Sept is taking more of the harvest.a Outside the door, Gura gave a howl more suited to a dire wolf than a dog, which was answered by a wail both higher and wilder.

aJes is home,a said Rinnie unnecessarily, for the door flew back on its hinges and Seraphas oldest child bounded in the door.

aMother, Mother,a he sang out. aI found a rabbit for dinner.a He held out an enormous jackrabbit, already gutted, beheaded, and skinned.

aJesaphi, my love,a Seraph said. aI am very glad that you found a rabbit. But you need to shed some mud before you come inside.a Of all her children, Jes looked the most like his father. Taller by a head than Lehr, Jes was lean and dark. Lehr was lean, too, but he had Seraphas pale hair. Like Tier, Jes was not handsome; his nose was thin and too long. A deep dimple peered out of his left cheek, and his eyes were dark, velvet brown.

aIam sorry, Mother,a he said shedding his exuberance like a coat. aI didnat mean toa"to get muddy.a It was Jesas voice that gave him away even to the least observant. There was something wrong in the pitch and the singsong way he talked.

He wasnat simple, like the cooperas son, but his affliction appeared very similar and people assumed they were the same. Seraph had seen no reason to confuse anyone but Tier with the truth.

aNot to worry.a Seraph soothed Jes with one of the light touches, which were usually all he could bear. aWhile the others set the table, you and Iall go clean you up.a aDid I do something wrong?a he asked anxiously.

aNo, love, come with me.a She took his hand and led him outside to help him scrub off.

In the middle of the night, unable to sleep, Seraph rose quietly out of her too-empty bed in the loft and dressed. She opened a trunk and took from it a large bag that dangled heavily from its worn cords. The ladder steps were tight and let out no sound that might wake Lehr, who was a light sleeper.

The pack by the door still held the boots shead gotten Jes; shead forgotten to give them to him. Seraph took them out and set them to the side. She put the bag shead taken from her room into the pack where the shoes had been, then quietly let herself out.

On the porch, Gura watched her with glittering eyes that hinted at wolf somewhere in his background.

aShh,a she said. aStay and watch.a Gura subsided and dropped his face back down on his forepaws, jowls sliding loosely to either side.

aIall be back soon enough,a she explained as if head understand. aI just canat sleep. There are things I have to work out.a Gura closed his eyesa"sulking, she knew, because she hadnat asked him along.

She followed a path behind the cabin that led into the forest. The moon was high and her night vision was better than most so she had little trouble finding her way.

She walked a mile or so until she came to the meadow she sought. She set her pack down and opened it.

aEighty-three,a she said to herself, taking out the leather bag shead gotten in town as well as the bag from her trunk, aand a hundred and forty-one.a She took one of the mermori out and stuck it into the ground, point down, so it stuck up like a short fencepost. She took another out and measured it with her fingers then paced out a distance from the second. She did the same with the third and the fourth as the moon crept across the sky.

aWhat do you do, Mother?a Shead been so involved in the mermori that she hadnat heard him. The low, velvety voice sounded so much like Tieras that she had to swallow. Despite her excellent eyesight and the moon she couldnat see Jes in the night.

aIave told you some stories about the Travelers,a she said, setting the last mermora she held into the earth, and walked back for more.

He didnat reply immediately. She heard no footstep, but was not surprised that head followed her back to the pack.

aYes,a he said close enough that the warmth of his breath touched the back of her neck. Traveler-bred though she was, the vast difference between her daytime son and this, more dangerous Jes disconcerted her; a mother should not fear her child.

aWe are the descendants of the wizards who lived in Colossae long before the Shadowed came to destroy mankind,a she said, ignoring the shiver Jesas voice had sent down her spine.

aYes,a he acknowledged, pacing beside her as she took a handful of the mermori to an empty spot in the meadow and continued to measure out distances. He was barefoot.

Only she and Tier knew what her gentle-natured child became away from the safety of the cabin.

aColossae was a great city of learning, and wizards came from all the earth to study and learn there. For generations they gathered and learned magic and forgot wisdom, until at last they created the greatest evil their hearts had ever imagined.a She had told her children very little about the Travelers, hoping that they would all become Rederni, like Tier. But Lehr and Rinnie carried the Traveleras looks, and Jes carried the Traveleras curse.

It had occurred to her, lying awake in her bed before shead left it, that with a priest who knew too much and garbled truth with lies, it might be a good idea to teach her children more. Shead start tonight with Jes.

aBy the time the wizards realized what they had done, it was too late to undo their making, almost too late to control it. As it was, only a great sacrifice could stop their creation, and Colossae was killed to imprison the Stalker, before it could destroy the world,a she said. aThe wizards who survived were sent to Travel the earth and keep it free of the Stalkeras corruption, because such evil, even bound, was not without power. Even so great a sacrifice as a city of light and knowledge could not hold it completely, nor keep it forever.a aYes,a Jes said again. This time she caught a glimpse of eyes glowing a bit red in the night.

aWhat is it?a she asked. aIs there someone here?a aNot now,a he said, at last, a growl in his voice that wasnat quite human. aBut there have been hunters in the forest who do not belong. They hunt for sport and that offends the foresta"and theyave come too near to the cabin for my liking.a aThe new Sept is supposed to be quite a hunter,a she told him. aSome of the nobles the Sept brought with him from Taela stayed when he left. Is this hunting something that you must stop?a aNo,a he replied after a moment. aThe forest king told me he will take care of these men if necessary.a Seraph shivered a little at the tone of her sonas voice when he said amenaa"it told her that her son, in this aspect at least, did not consider himself one. aThis forest yet has the power to keep out killers who hunt wastefully,a he said.

Seraph set another mermora.

aYou were talking about Colossae,a he reminded her after shead placed the mermora she held and was walking back for another handful.

aAh, yes.a She decided it was too much trouble to keep coming back so she transferred all that were left into the largest bag and carried that with her.

aIt was decided after the wizards left and the city died, that they should meet in secret every year. But they had truly bound the evil, and there was no great need of the wizards in those early years so the meetings began to take place every two years, then every five.

aThe mermoriaa"she sorted through and held up a fragile-seeming mermora no longer than her index fingera"awere created by the wizard Hinnum and gifted to each of the wizards who left the city. They were passed down to the eldest of each family and in the beginning it is said they numbered five hundred and four. Until the Shadowed rose to power, some five centuries ago, each mermora was held by a large clan, but when the Army of Man gathered to fight the creatures the Shadowed had gathered, Travelers were forefront in the armiesa"because the Stalker, still imprisoned in Colossae, controlled the Shadowed. More than half of the army fell that day, taking with it most of the Travelers who fought there.a aYou never told me that beforea"that the Shadowed was caused by the thing the wizards bound in Colossae.a She smiled a little grimly, aItas not something that we talk about openly. If people knew that we Travelers held ourselves responsible for the Shadowed, theyad make certain we suffered for it. Even some of the clans claimed there was no connection between the twoa"or that the Shadowed was the Stalker itself and that we should be freed of our tasks.a She set another mermora into the ground. aI remember a discussion at the last Gather I went to. One of the Clan Fathers proposed that we quit searching out evil. He said things like, aWe destroyed the Shadow, completed the tasks the Old Ones gave us. We should settle while there is still good land unclaimed.a Then my father stood up and said, aArrogance has always been the Traveleras Bane. The Shadowed was not the Stalker, but merely a man corrupted by it. My grandfather had this story through his line. When the Raven who faced the Shadowed and reduced him to ashes returned to his circle, he told them that the creature head killed had never touched the stones of Colossae. We fought true evil on that day, but our task remains.a a Seraph laughed a little at the memory. aMy father was a showman. He didnat wait for the debate that followed, but excused himself to his tent and would speak no more about it. My grandfather always said that if you donat argue, you canat be proved wrong.a aSo your father was the only reason the Travelers kept Traveling?a Seraph shook her head. aNoa"it wouldnat have worked if theyad really wanted to settle down. It was hard enough for me to stay herea"and I would have followed your father through the Shadowedas Realm if Iad had to. Staying was more difficult. Travelers are well named.a Jes followed her silently as she began her task again. Jes was good at silence.

aI remember going to two Gathers as a child,a she said, taking out another mermora and setting it upright. aThere were two hundred and thirty mermori held by just over two hundred clans at the first one. I can remember my mother fretting about how few there were. She died before I went to the second Gather, when I was thirteen. There were fewer than two hundred thena"and many clans carried more than one.a The largest mermora she had saved for last, having left an extensive corner of the meadow for it. aThe mermori were too dangerous to allow them to exist without safeguards, so Hinnum spelled them so that, eventually, they would find their way into the hands of the eldest of the closest relatives of those who had died and left the mermori lost.a aMother,a said Jes, after a bit. aThere are two hundred twenty-four mermori here.a aI know,a she whispered. aIave been acquiring them a few at a time since I married your father. Today I bought eighty-three from a tinker.a aEighty-three,a he said, startled into losing, for a moment, the aura of danger he carried. aHow did you pay for them? They are solid silver and worth more thana"a aPeople donat always see that they are silver,a she said, trying to pace off the area for the largest of them againa"she kept losing count. aSometimes they appear to be iron or even wood. Most people dislike them on sight. I paid six coppers for them, and the merchant I bought them from will shortly forget exactly what it was I bought, except that he came out ahead on the deal.a aAh,a he said and walked beside her for a while, gradually blending into the darkness until she couldnat see him if she looked straight on.

She caught glimpses of him sometimes when she wasnat quite looking. Sometimes she saw a man who looked like her husband, but more dangerous. At others she saw a dark animal that prowled on four legs. Sometimes if she turned her head and looked at him directly for too long, he disappeared into the night. It was only illusion, she knew, though he could take on shapes of animals if he chose. But illusion or not, it was disconcerting.

aWhat do they do?a he asked finally.

She set the last one in. aIall show you. Come with me.a The meadow was set on a rise and she took her son to the highest point. She had never done this with so many before. At the Gathers, the elders from all the families would stand in a circle and chant together.

She held out both hands and shouted imperiously, aIshavan shee davenadre hovena Hinnumadraun.a It had been so long since shead allowed herself this much magic. She did only a little magic now and thena"when they planted their crops, and when she warded the farm to keep the more dangerous creatures of the mountains away.

Even after so long, it came eagerly to her call, thrumming from her bones to the earth, reverberating through the dirt, rotting vegetation, and newborn sprigs of grass.

Jes let out a startled snarl as the meadow lit up with the windows of two hundred and twenty-four houses. Some were smaller than their cabin, but most were as large as the largest of the houses in Redern. By chance shead put two in such a way that they blended into each other, sharing a walla"it looked so right that Seraph wondered if the houses might have stood in just such a relative location in Colossae. In the very corner of the meadow stood a small castle. The architecture of the houses was distinctly foreign, the windows open and rounded, the roofs covered with some kind of green pottery tiles.

aItas all right,a she reassured Jes, though her eyes were held by the castle. aThey are all illusion. The wizards could take only the most necessary of articles because they could not risk giving warning to the enemy before they fled. They couldnat take any of their librariesa"So Hinnum created the mermori, which remember the homes of the wizards as they stood in Colossae so long ago. Come with me.a She led her son to one of the smaller ones, a brick-faced home no bigger than Alinathas bakery, though much more gracile. Ebony wood doors were worn near the latch, giving testimony of the age of the building. aThis was the mermora my father carried from his father. It belonged to Isolda the Silent, who died when they sealed the city.a Seraph pulled the door latch, felt the metal cool against her fingers. The door opened with a soft groan, and she stepped inside.

aIllusion?a Jes questioned, stepping in beside her. The light from Isoldaas oil lamps showed a young man rather than a beast. aI can smell oil and herbsa"some I know, like anise, henbane, but there are many I canat identify.a aHinnum was a very great illusionist. Legend says he was four hundred years old when the city fell,a she said, trailing her fingers over the familiar shawl that hung neatly on the back of a chair as if it only waited for Isolda to return from some errand.

aBut all that this is, is illusion.a She turned to her son. aIf it is raining outside and you come in, you will not feel the raina"but when you walk out you will be wet. If you are freezing to death and come in, youall feel warm and still die from the cold.a aHow long ago did the city die?a asked Jes, touching a carved table.

For a moment Seraph allowed herself to see the house anew, recognizing how alien it appeared to him. Perhaps a lordas house would be furnished with wooden tables and shelves polished like the surface of a windless lake, but no dwelling in Redern held such treasures.

aIam not certain,a she replied. aIt was long before the Shadowed came to rulea"and that was about six hundred years ago if the stories crediting him with a hundred-year reign are correct. Colossae was a city with over a million people, three times the size of Taela, and only the Travelers remember its name.a aWhere did it lie?a aI donat know,a answered Seraph. aIt doesnat matter. The city is protected against intruders.a aIs?a aAs far as I know the city is still therea"if it werenat, the Stalker would be free. The people died along with the less tangible things that make up a community and the bones of the city seal the Stalkeras prison.

Jes turned from where he was examining one of the walls, which had a mural depicting a forest scene. aIf this is all illusion, then why were the ancient wizards so concerned about the mermori?a Seraph smiled and headed through a narrow doorway. The room beyond was twice as big as the first room and the walls were lined with shelves of books.

aThis is what they tried to savea"within these buildings is all that they knew of magic. But many of the languages the books are written in were lost. I know only four or five. My father knew morea"and I fear they are lost with him, and with the others who are gone, because I hold almost half the mermori that were made.a

CHAPTER 4.

aGo catch some fish for dinner, you two.a Seraph made shooing motions at Lehr and Rinnie. aIall take care of the breakfast dishes and getting the plowing equipment ready. Thereall be work enough for us all in the coming weeks, and weave but little salt meat left. I for one will be glad of some river trout. You two pack a lunch and catch what you can.a aWhat about the stew we made with Jesas rabbit yesterday, Mother?a said Lehr. aThereas plenty left. Checking the harness wonat take all day; we should get started on the fields as soon as we can.a aTomorrow is soon enough for plowing,a Seraph replied firmly. aGura ate the last of the stew this morning.a Or he would as soon as she fed it to him. She needed time and quiet to think.

aPapa would not leave you unprotected,a said Lehr, clearly torn between duty and pleasure.