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Hanna was surprised to find herself shaking a little, indignant on Rosvita’s behalf Where had this loyalty sprung from? When had she lost her heart to the cleric, who did not command the loyalty of those around her but claimed it nevertheless?

Rosvita would never desert them She would never stain her own honor

That hat her companions all knew That hy they followed her In her oay, she was a prince a men, too, but the army she led bore different weapons: the quill, the steady ood use

"Do you knohy the usurper came to Dalmiaka?" demanded Lady Eudokia

"I do," said Rosvita evenly "Ithe safety of my people before I will speak honestly with you"

"Will you betray my father just as an to stand, but Geza’s hand tightened on her wrist and she subsided at once, treh that ripped her

"I have never betrayed Henry, Your Highness Others betrayed hiraver, and will afflict high and low, Arethousan and Wendish and Ungrian and Dariyan regardless What date is it, I pray you?"

"This night begins the feast day of St Nikephoras," said the attendant in the jade-green robes "In the two hundred and thirty-sixth year as acknowledged by the Patriarch’s authority, and recalling the foundation of the Dariyan Empire, of which we are the only true heirs, one thousand six hundred and eight years ago"

"I pray you, what date according to the calendar recognized by the Dariyan church?"

The beardless man sneered Lady Eudokia looked offended and had actually to drink wine before she could bring herself to express her disgust "You have forgotten the proper rites and observances! Can it be that an educated churchwoer recalls St Nikephoras, as patriarch and defender of the True Church?"

Geza called forward a steward froreat reluctance, ad track of the calendar of the apostate Dariyans "Begging your pardon, Exalted Lady," the man said to Eudokia "This is the day celebrated by the false shepherd in Darre as a feast day of one of her ancestors, called Mary Jehanna, who also donned the skopal robes in defiance of the rightful patriarch Rebels and heretics, all!"

"That means it is already the equinox," exclaimed Rosvita "We were six ed She swayed, and Ruoda and Gerwita steadied her "Nay, not sixto herself out loud, the workings of her mind laid bare for all to see The secret method of their arrival in Dalmiaka, too, was betrayed, but she was profoundly shocked "The Council of Addai took place in the year 499, and if the Arethousan church has counted two hundred and thirty-six years … then it is not the year 734 but rather 735 We wandered within the crown for fully eighteen months! How it can be so much time slipped away fro with suspicion

Lady Eudokia leaned forward, her hand greedily gripping the blanket that covered her legs "The crowns! How co forbidden to those in the True Church?"

Rosvita glanced at the girls The flush that had reddened her face began to fade "I pray you, Sisters I can stand It was a trifling blow"

Hanna hardly knehether to breathe They all stared at each other, trying to comprehend what Rosvita had just said Was it true they had lost eighteen ht? Was this the cost inflicted by the crowns for those who thought to spare theray with fear, and the others azed in astonishh her lips moved Only Petra appeared uning to herself under her breath

Rosvita drew in a shaky breath and clasped her hands before her in an attitude sos in my time What is it you want of et soed

"The lives of your coain for, it’s true, yet they are free to choose their own course of action If the intelligence I know is true, then it matters little what coercion you choose to inflict on me, or on them ‘The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the --"