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Jilseponie-Pony-sat on the crenellated roof of the one squat tower of St Precious Abbey in the great city of Palaze drifting inevitably to the dark floaters of the Masur Delaval A bitterly cold wind nipped at her, but Pony, deep in ion, the northwestern expanses of the kingdom of Honce-the-Bear, had experienced an early snow only a week before, winter coh the year had not seen the end of the tenth ainst the deiant, and powrie one unexpectedly well, had been cole h, the aftereffects of that ere beginning to show, es whose supplies had been diverted to towns that had harbored the King&039;s soldiers Rues against King Danube and against the Abellican Church, whose leader had surely acted in the interests of the de the coast of the Mantis Ar to break away froht the notion of any church dedicated to Avelyn Desbris

So the war had ended here in Pal Pony as if the tur? she wondered Was such travesty and turmoil, such unrest,procession of one battle after another, of one cause of bitterness replacing another? The notion stung Pony deeply, for if that were the case, then what had they really accoht by their sacrifice?

Why had Elbryan, her beloved husband, died?

Pony gave a helpless sigh at the futility of it all She thought back to her early days, up in the wild Tiether, carefree She re down the wooded trails beside the boy, running particularly a the white caribou e She reht, looking up at the sky to see Corona&039;s Halo, the beautifulthat encircled the world, the source, she had later coemstones that served as the power and focus of faith of the Abellican Church

The next dawn, Pony and Elbryan had witnessed the return of their fathers and the other hunters How clearly Pony now re, full of excitement, full of anticipation, full of-Horror For suspended froly little creature: a goblin Never could Pony or Elbryan have foreseen that slain little brute as a harbinger of such doo Dundalis to the ground, slaughtering everyone except Pony and Elbryan, the two of the separately to elude thethat the other had survived

And afterward Pony had wound up here, in Palmaris, bereft of memory and identity, adopted by Graevis and Pettibwa Chilichunk, patrons of the bustling tavern Fellowship Way

Pony looked out across the quiet city now, in the direction where that establishment had stood What wild turns fate had placed in her path: married to the favored nephew of the city&039;s Baron Bildeborough; the wedding annulled forthwith and Pony indentured in the King&039;s army; her ascension to the elite Coastpoint Guard and her appoint of the powries and the fall of that fortress It had all taken years, but to Pony now it seeain feel the chill deep in her bones as she had escaped doo in the cold waters of the Gulf of Corona Perhaps it was fate, perhaps mere chance, that had pulled her from those waters in the vicinity of Avelyn Desbris, the " hunted by the Church for the death of a emstones Avelyn had taken Pony back to Dundalis, and there she had been reunited with Elbryan, who had returned to the region after being trained as a ranger by the mysterious Touel&039;alfar

What a dark road the three had walked frodom to St-Mere-Abelle, where Pony&039;s adoptive parents had been iain-a road that should have lightened, despite the grief, but that had only darkened more as the evil that was Bestesbulzibar, the dactyl deular desire to do battle with Elbryan and Pony

And so he had, in that saht with Connor Bildeborough, the ed the final fight against Markwart, and had won, though at the price of Elbryan&039;s life

Now Pony wasn&039;t sure what they had won and what it had been worth She recognized the al journey; but instead of drawing comfort from that, she felt restless and trapped

"It is far too cold for you to be up here, I fear," caentle voice behind her, the voice of Brother Braumin Herde, the leader of the band of monks who had followed Master Jojonah away frooodness, one of the monks who had coainst Markwart

She turned to regard the handsome man He was older than Pony by several years-in his early thirties-with black, woolly hair just starting to gray and a dark complexion made even more so by the fact that no matter how often he shaved his face, it was always shadowed by black hair

"It is too unimportant for me to care," she answered quietly Pony looked back over the city as he walked up to lean on the wall beside her

"Thinking of Elbryan? " he asked

Pony s the answer to be obvious

"Many are saddened," Brother Brau from so many for the last three months She appreciated their efforts-of course she did!-but, in truth, she wished they would all leave her to her thoughts in private

"The passage of time will heal " Brother Braulance, he let his words die away

"Your pain is to be expected," he tried again a moment later "You ood that calared sternly at hientle monk retreated a step

"Good?" she asked

Braumin held up his hands as if he did not understand

"They are fighting again, aren&039;t they? " Pony asked, looking back over the snowy city "Or should I say that they are fighting still? "

"They?"

"The leaders of your Church," Pony clarified, "and King Danube and his advisers Fighting again, fighting always It changes not at all"

"If the Church is in turmoil, that is understandable, you must admit," Braumin returned fir before I killed hih," the monk admitted "But still it came as a shock to so many who supported Dalebert Markwart to learn the truth: to learn that Bestesbulzibar-curse his name, the ultimate darkness-had so infiltrated our ranks as to pervert the Father Abbot hione and you are better off," Pony remarked

Brother Braumin didn&039;t immediately respond, and Pony understood that she wasn&039;t being fair to hi but try to help her and Elbryan, and her sarcas hi but bit it back ienerosity in her heart Not yet

"We are better off by far," Brau the sarcasm back "And better off ould be by far if Jilseponie would reconsider the offer"

Pony was shaking her head before he completed the all-too-predictable request Reconsider the offer Always that They wanted her to beco of the sort had ever been heard of in the long history of the patriarchal Order Brother Francis, Markwart&039;s staunchest follower, had suggested it, even while holding the dying Markwart in his arms, the demon burned froth of Pony and Elbryan Francis had seen the truth during that terrible battle, and the truth of his terrible master Pony had killed the demon that Markwart had beco that they wanted Pony to replace him

Some of them were, at least Pony didn&039;t delude herself into thinking that such a break with tradition as appointing a woman to head the Churchand a woman who had just killed the previous leader!-would be without its vehement opponents The battles would be endless, and, to Pony&039;s way of thinking, perfectly pointless

If that wasn&039;t co Danube hih she obviously had no qualifications for the position either, other than her newfound heroic reputation Pony wasn&039;t blind to the reality of it:

in the after for power Whichever side could claihtbird, as friend, could claiain much in the battle for the hearts and loyalty of the coan to laugh quietly as she looked away from Brother Braumin, out over the snow-blanketed city She loved the snow, especially when it fell deep fro walls of white over the sides of buildings Far from a hardship such weather seemed to Pony Rather, she considered it a reprieve, an excuse to sit quietly by a blazing fire, accountable to no one and without responsibility Also, because of the unexpectedly early stor Danube had been forced to delay his return to Ursal If the weather did not cooperate, the king ht have to wait out the winter in Palmaris, which took some of the pressure off Pony to either accept or reject his offer of the barony

Though the weather had cooperated, Pony felt little reprieve Once she had called this city home But noith so much pain associated with the place-the ruins of Fellowship Way, the loss of her adoptive faoodness here or recall any warm memories

"If he retains the barony, Duke Kalas will battle St Precious in every policy," Brother Brauhts But only temporarily, for the mere mention of the forceful Duke, the temporary Baron of Palmaris, inevitably led her to consider the e to Connor Bildeborough had swiftly descended into chaos, the house wherein Markwart had taken Elbryan from her forever

"Hoe win those battles without heroic Jilseponie leading us? " Braumin dared ask He draped his arenuine smile to the woman&039;s beautiful face "Or perhaps Jilseponie could take the King&039;s offer instead"

"Aurehead, then? " she asked "For you or for the Crown? A symbol that will allow Braumin and his friends to attain that which they desire? "