Seventeen
And at the end of that age shall he stand forth, and all shall behold him. Then, with one foot on the highest mountain, and the other at the highest wave, shall the Lord speak the infinitite Name of the new age, and open the Book of the Blessed.
-The Book of Ages
DAumany
He did not come to the House of Okimini in royal clothes or in his armor, but was led from the chapel he had stayed in that night, and brought in between Odo and Robert. The oratory was filled with the peers of the land, cousins and descendants of the first Dayne who had settled in Daumany three hundred years ago. Today, beside her husband, was even the Lady Herleva, to see her son, tall and slightly balding, and there, with white in his temples, though remarkable looking and fit, And Herleva saw Edmund King of Hale, North Hale and Inglad. Here was a power, here was a certainty that her son’s shaky reign would last, perhaps be even greater than his father’s.
The Great Oratory was divided into the court of gathering, where everyone stood, and it ended in the heavily engraved wall with the images of Yawata, Okimini, Inushi and Phahatan. Between Lady Okimini and Lord Inushi, was a great door, and through this Rufus entered to stand before the Thirty-Seven Peers, the lords and dukes of the land. As he entered, the doors closed behind him and only Odo and Robert remained.
Still further in, past this hall, in the inner sanctum of the Oratory, the monks sang:
Astrakay astrakay adohaem ladohaenam
Astrokay astrokay adohaem ladohaenam
Saska saskya, enno dum saski
Saskata set amboragaya
Astokay endo mysotahae
Ando leas taman noramate
Ando am gastaham
But right here, before the Thirty-Seven was Gerbear, the old White Monk who had stood at King Robert’s death bed, who was the Abbot of High Monastery and the successor to Holy Saint Remy. At his invitation, Robert and Odo stripped Rufus of his robe, and so Rufus stood naked in the middle of the Peers. He was tall and in some ways surprisingly plain, his body white, but across his back and arms, angry scars as if he had just been wounded in battle.
Saskata set amboragaya
Astokay endo mysotahae
Ando leas taman noramate
Ando am gastaham
The lords of the land, and his brothers, fell to their knees so only Rufus and Old Gerbear stood. Now Gerbear pulled out his cruse of oil, and Rufus went to his knees before the holy man. Gerbear dipped two fingers in the oil, and began to trace signs between Rufus’s eyes, over his lips, between his breasts.
“Rufus son of William son of William son of Richard, son of Indmund, son of Stephen, son of Richard, son of Richard, son of Logobard son of Roland, King of all Daumany. Rise.”
Rufus rose, his hands outstretched, and his brothers dressed him in his robe, tying it and then, with no noise, they led him into the inner chapel where he reverenced Okimini, and the head of the Red Monks and the head of Black Monks conferred upon him the Regalia.
He came back out into the assembly of the Thirty-Seven, crown on his head, red mantle over his shoulders, the Sword of Kings lain flat across his hands. They and his brothers fell to their knees.
Odo was the first up. He came to his older brother, who often felt like a younger brother, held out his hand and said, “Let me present you, Rufus.”
Rufus took his hand. When Rufus turned to him, Richard shook his head, He would remain in here. Odo was a symbol of the priesthood, It was right he should present his brother. They came out of the doors, and at once the chanting of the monks ceased.
“My people!” Odo cried out, “I present to you, your King, Rufus, Third of that Name. Long live King Rufus!
Rufus could see his mother, her eyes more hopeful than she wished. And he could see Edmund, grinning wolf like. They shouted along with everyone.
“Long live King Rufus! Long live King Rufus!”
The den rang off the walls of the House, and now, Rufus could hear trumpets blaring outside, announcing to the whole city of Chinom that a new King reigned in Daumany, blaring, Rufus imagined, even across the sea.
The Northern Border Country
It had been days since they had departed from Michael Flynn, Polly and their Wild Men. Tonight, Myrne dreamed of bedbugs. She was under that old cover she’d had when her bed had gotten them, and when she woke red welts were on her. As she stretched she saw bloody marks on her body and as she lifted up her gown quickly, she saw all her body was dark red, slick with blood. She moved to pull off the robe
and woke in the darkness of the hut where they stayed on the edge of the forest. It was cool and a breeze shook the half open window as early autumn air came through. As she arose from the pallet beside Imogen, she saw Wolf, standing by the window, the moon shining on his hair.
“I had a dream,” he said in that quiet voice that was no whisper, but did not wake Imogen.
“I dreamed too.”
“I must go to Essail,” Wolf said. “Ambridge, I think. I will ask Master to look more clearly in the bones when morning comes, but time is of the essence.”
“We are nearly in Reghed.”
“And not far from Ambridge either,” Wolf said. “No, I must go.’
“Why?”
“I just told you,” Wolf said, not quite impatiently, “I don’t know. I only know I have to go. And that there will be great bloodshed if I do not.”
“I dreamed of blood as well,” Myrne said. “I thought… It was something different though.”
Wolf nodded, but said nothing.
“It would be nice if the gods were more generous with their warnings,” Myrne said.
Wolf nodded, looking more distracted than anything and said, “But that is what the bones are for.”
“And I had the terrible dreams all night,” Wolf said.
“Even after we spoke?”
“Aye.”
“But I saw no expression of it on your face,” Myrne said while they ate the next morning.
“You watched while I slept?” Wolf looked pleased, but Ohean said, “If that’s the only thing you can take away from last night, then you deserve your horrible sleeping.”
Wolf looked at Ohean, but still seemed to be thinking of Myrne. He shook his head.
“I dreamed…. I dreamed I was covered in blood.”
“I dreamed of no such thing,” Ohean said when Wolf looked to him.
“Nor I,” Anson said.
Wolf thinks he should go east, toward Ambridge,” Myrne said.
A look past between Wolf and Ohean. Anson thought of asking what it meant, but Ohean only nodded.
“I am thinking I should go with him,” Myrne said.
“We were going to Rheged,” Imogen protested said.
“And you still can,” said Wolf. “But I think we must go north and east.
“After all,” Myrne said, “I would never have fallen into your company if not because I was head that way anyhow.”
They were quiet a while and then Imogen said, “If no one says it, then let me. You and Myrne ought not be parted.”
Ohean nodded and Anson said, “Maybe the same way we must go to Rheged, you must accompany Myrne. If she is right.”
“Will you cast the bones?” Myrne asked Ohean.
Ohean nodded.
“Fetch me the bones.”
He had traced a circle in the dirt, and though Wolf had seen Ohean do this before, he had never asked about how it was done. He saw scratching, with a wand he had cut from a tree, circles, scratching them out, casting stones and bones, gathering them up and casting them again, setting them and resetting them until, suddenly, his eyes wide, he stopped.
“Saint Clew,” he said. “Saint Clew. In Durham. A day south of Ambridge.”
“My sister’s monastery,” Anson said.
“Hilda,” Ohean began, gathering up the pebbles and the bones.
“If you are leaving, you must do so at once. Hilda is in danger. Do not ask what it is. Beyond this I cannot say. You must be with her when she becomes Abbess of Saint Clew.”
“BUT I SHOULD BE the one to go to her,” Anson insisted, his hand grasping his sword at his side. He looked to Imogen. “We should go to her.”
“And what would you do?” Ohean said. “You do not even know the sort of danger she is in.”
“Do you?” Anson looked at Ohean.
“The dream was not given to me,” Ohean spread out his hands, “I know nothing, and think Myrne knows little. This I do know, Anson. We have our path and Wolf and Myrne have theirs. They are not alone.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what I said. They are not alone, and not without guidance. And this is Wolf’s hour. It must be. Will you trust me?”
“Need you ask?” Anson said.
Ohean nodded curtly. “Let us go out and bid them goodbye.”
Ohean added, pulling up his hood, “I was going to say help them back, but Pol and Austin did that already while I we were talking.”
Outside by the horses, Wolf turned to Ohean and he said, “We have never been parted. Not really.’
“What makes you think we are being parted now. Really?”
“I think things are on their way to change,” Wolf said.
Ohean did not look at him right away and then he said, “I believe they will. But do not do anything foolish. Do not do anything too rash too soon.”
Wolf looked, though he was taller, chastened, and like the servant who had grown up in Ohean’s house. When he spoke, however, it was not with the words of a servant.
“I will do as I must.”
“Fair enough.”
“Will you send me off with your blessing, Master.”
Ohean reached up to place his hands in Wolf’s spiky hair.
“Go in strength, possess all gates that are yours. May splendor reign upon you and may you return in peace. May your enemies know no rest, and your foes fall before you.”
Ohean put down his hands and added, “I do not think you will ever call me Master again.”
“I am a little bit afraid,” Wolf said. “What do you think of that?”
“Only a fool never knows fear. You will return to me one day,” Ohean said, “But I believe you will return greatly changed.”
“You look after that Wolf,” Anson said, almost growling as he embraced Myrne.
“I told him to look after you,” Imogen told her friend. “I wish I was coming, but Ohean won’t hear of it.”
“And neither will I,” Anson frowned at this sister. “You’re on the run from Cedd as much as I am.”
Imogen quickly kissed Wolf and then Myrne, insisting, “Give Hilda our love.”
“And spit in Edmund’s face,” Anson said, “If you see him.”
“I’ll do more than spit in Edmund’s face if I see him,” Wolf called as he brought the horses to them.
Wolf embraced Anson quickly, and the two men clung fiercely for a time before parting, and then Wolf vaulted onto a black horse, and then lifted Myrne up before him. Slowly they began to ride away, down the hill, winding down the valley, north of the great forest, following the River Urden, and Anson, Ohean and Imogen saw their shadows stretching long before them, over the valley where the sparkling Urden ceased its glinting as evening came.
