“Here?” asked Henry.
“This far.” Hathui indicated the stone circle. “She went in. She did not come out, nor have I seen any evidence she walked through the stones and on into the forest beyond. There isn’t a path, nothing but a deer track that’s mostly overgrown.”
He beckoned to Rosvita. “Your company passed through one of these gateways, Sister. Could it not be that the Aoi have hidden themselves in some distant corner of Earth, biding their time?”
“It could be, Your Majesty. But with what manner of sorcery I cannot know.”
“Yet there remain mathematici among us,” he mused, “who may serve us as one did Adelheid.”
She shuddered, drawing in a breath to warn him against sorcery, but he turned away, so she did not speak. Light spread slowly over the meadow, waking its shadows to the day, and these rays crept up and over the king until he was wholly illuminated. The sun crowned him with its glory as he stared at the silent circle of ancient stones. A breeze stirred his hair, and his horse stamped once, tossed its head, and flicked an ear at a bothersome fly. He waited there, silent and watchful, while Hathui made a final circuit of the stones.
“What news of the mountains?” he asked as the Eagle came up beside him at last.
“Most reports agree that the passes are still clear. It’s been unseasonably warm, and there is little snow on the peaks. If God will it, we will have another month of fair weather. Enough to get through the mountains.”
On the ride back he sang, inviting the soldiers to join in. Afterward, he spoke to them of their families and their last campaign. At the stables, a steward was waiting to direct him to the chapel where Adelheid, Theophanu, and their retinues knelt at prayer.
Henry strode in like fire, and Adelheid rose to greet him with an answering strength of will. Theophanu waited to one side with inscrutable patience as the king made a show of greeting his fair, young queen. But he did not neglect his daughter. He kissed her on either cheek and drew her forward so that every person, and by now quite a few had crowded into the chapel, would note her standing at his right side.
“Theophanu, you will remain in the north as my representative.” He spoke with the king’s public voice, carrying easily over the throng. The news carried in murmurs out the door and into the palace courtyard, where people gathered to see how Henry would react to the news of Sanglant’s departure.