Silvas and Maria had nearly finished their meal before Felix came down to the great hall. Clad now in a dark green tunic over loose gray trousers and doeskin shoes, he looked a different man, as befitted one with a new name and trade. But the new clothing accentuated his gaunt appearance.
"Did you sleep well?" Maria asked.
"Good morning, or afternoon, Lady Maria, Lord Silvas. Yes, I slept well-long, deep, and without dreams." Felix took his place at the table. "Thankfully, without dreams. I fear they would have been horrifying nightmares had they come."
"No one is master of his dreams," Silvas said.
"Not even you?" Felix asked.
"Not even us," Silvas said. "But you'll learn to use your dreams, no matter how much terror you find in them. They can be a most useful window into the spirit and into the hidden places of your mind."
"I hope I can recall that when the terrors of the night come," Felix said.
"You will, before your training has gone much farther," Silvas promised.
"We'll have to oversee your feeding, though," Maria said. "You're no longer a mendicant. You have need of bulk to your body now. The demands of wizardry are considerable. Fasting is no virtue in your new calling."
Felix looked down at his gaunt form. "That much will, at least, be pleasant work."
The three of them kept their talk light. Maria and Silvas had finished eating, but kept Felix company as he ate. Felix was unaware of the second level of conversation going on, the direct mind link between his companions. Even while they talked, Silvas and Maria wandered freely around the perimeter of the valley in the spirit. They observed the people in the village, felt the nervousness among them. Silvas and Maria also traveled the corridors of their minds, looking for information and weapons, comparing impressions of what they found, speculating on what else there might be that would help them defend themselves, and all of the people who depended on them.
After a time, Felix leaned back. "I've eaten all I can."
Maria smiled. "It will do, for now, but I think you'll need to eat this much three times a day for many weeks before you properly fill out your clothing."
"Wouldn't it be easier to find smaller clothes?" Felix asked, sounding almost timid. Maria and Silvas both laughed.
"Easier, but not better," Silvas said. "Maria is right. Bulk will ease some aspects of your work. Asceticism is no virtue to a wizard."
"Now, we have our flock to see to," Maria said, rising from her chair. "We need to reassure the people of the village that this show in the sky is no dire threat."
"Your flock," Felix said, rising as soon as Maria did.
"Our flock," Silvas said. "In that, our role is not so different from the one you have known. We, too, have many people under our care."
"Do they have a priest?"
"The village has a church, but it's been many years since it has had a priest. From time to time, a wandering friar passes through, or even stays for a time. The Archbishop of York has always known of our situation." Silvas glanced at Maria, then added, "Now that the village has been hidden and history changed, even the archbishop may no longer know about the Seven Towers."
"Is it truly possible that even knowledge of this place may be wiped from the minds of men?" Felix asked.
"Very possible," Silvas said.
"I remembered you, and the Glade. I recalled you with great clarity."
"But you had been within the Seven Towers, and had sat in Council with me," Silvas said. "You were changed by that contact, and by the battle in which we stood together."
The three of them left the great hall, Felix following without asking. When they approached the mews, Bay and Camiss were standing in front of their stalls, close to each other, both saddled and harnessed. Bosc was still adjusting the girth on Camiss's saddle.
"We'll need a horse for Felix, as well," Silvas said. "We're going to the village."
Bosc looked surprised. Silvas laughed. "I've finally caught you out. You always anticipate me."
"I'll see to't at once, lord," Bosc said.
"I suppose I'll have to get used to riding," Felix said with a sigh. "While my feet may rejoice, my, ah, posterior will not."
"Another good reason to put meat on those bones," Maria said.
"What of my disappearance from the chapter house at St. Ives?" Felix asked. "Will Bishop Egbert and the others know that I have gone, or will they have forgotten about me?"
"When we have time, I'll contact Bishop Egbert and explain what has happened," Silvas said. "He will remember, if he doesn't now. After all, he sat in Council with us, and stood in battle, as did you."
Bosc did not take long to prepare a horse, a gentle gray mare, for Felix. Bosc held the horse's bridle while Felix mounted awkwardly.
"Her name's Amelie," Bosc said. "She'll give you the softest ride of any here save Lord Bay."
"Thank you, Bosc," Felix said. "I'll try not to be a burden to her."
Maria mounted Camiss before Silvas had a chance to help her. So Silvas mounted Bay, and they started across the courtyard to the gate. The drawbridge had been lowered earlier to mark the start of a new "day"-although the sky did not mark the morning as it should have.
Once aboard Amelie, Felix stared up into the sky. During the walk out from the keep, he had avoided looking up, feeling oppressed by the unnaturalness of this sky-compared to the exhilarating pastel shades that the sky had held before. The strongly colored lights of the sky had turned the stones of the courtyard and castle strange colors. Even shadows seemed oddly tinted. The sky itself continued to swirl, like eddies in a stream. It seethed and turned around and in on itself, showing far too much texture for air. It might almost have been a thick batter for baking.
Felix's stomach started to complain, a reaction to the vista, and he lowered his eyes again.
"I long to see a normal sky," he said as the horses passed through the gate and started across the drawbridge.
"So do I," Maria said. "But for the present, that sky is as much our ally as our enemy. We may not fully control it, but neither does the foe who put it there in the first place."
Bay held his pace to a slow walk. There was no urgency to this ride, and the slower they traveled, the less time they would have to wait for the villagers to gather. The road from castle to village was open. People in the fields would see the procession and hurry to the crossroads to meet it.
"What is the name of the church here?" Felix asked.
The question surprised Silvas, but he answered quickly. "St. John's." Then, after a hesitation, he added. "I don't truly know whether or not it's ever been properly consecrated, but it has been used by enough priests and monks over the centuries."
"You maintain the church?"
"We do," Silvas said. "Though I warrant it's been used more as meeting hall than church. The people here are good, but they're not as regularly churched as most. They've seen too much of the wizard's path to be sedate members of a church flock."
When the three of them reached the crossroads, nearly a hundred people had already gathered, and more were approaching. Humans, gurnetz, and esperia mingled freely. In the valley of the Seven Towers, the qualities that the three races shared were of far more importance than the visible differences among them.
"We'll go to the church," Silvas announced, pitching his voice so that it carried to those who had not yet reached the junction without being uncomfortably loud to those who were nearest him. "My apprentice, Felix here, has taken orders in the White Brotherhood."
The crowd parted to let the riders through, then closed in behind them to follow. Bay kept his pace slow enough that the walkers had no difficulty keeping up. Those people who were still coming in from the fields changed course, heading toward the church. Some few managed to reach it before the riders did.
Maria and Felix tied their horses to a tree near the corner of the church. Bay moved to a point near the entrance. Silvas paused beside the door to let Felix enter first.
Just inside the doorway, Felix knelt and crossed himself. Then he walked the length of the church to the altar. This church was little larger than the church in Mecq, and certainly no fancier. Prayers of habit came to Felix's mind. He did not try to put them aside. He knelt again before the altar, then stood and turned. Silvas and Maria were flanking him, and the people of the village were still filing in.
"With your permission?" Felix asked softly, turning to Silvas when it appeared that everyone had arrived. Bay had moved to stand in the doorway, looking in, a daunting obstacle to any late arrivals.
Silvas nodded, sensing easily what Felix intended.
Felix raised his right hand and made the sign of the cross over the villagers while he spoke the traditional words of the blessing. Some few of the villagers, humans only, went down on one knee to receive the blessing, then crossed themselves. Most of the villagers remained standing, though nearly all at least lowered their gaze until Felix finished.
"I know that some of you are worried about the strange show in the sky," Silvas said when Felix took a step back and to the side. "You're troubled, even frightened." The folk of this valley were not so easily panicked as those of many other places. Silvas had been their protector for more generations than they could count. They were more knowledgeable than most peasants-or lords. Their special circumstances guaranteed that. But they were still simple people of the land.
"There may be danger ahead, but it has not arrived. While we have time, let me tell you plainly what has happened."
Silvas talked. He told the people much of what had happened, going back over some things that they had already heard, at least secondhand, and carrying the story right up to that moment. He did not tell them everything. He passed over his confrontation with Satan almost entirely, without even naming that Foe explicitly. Silvas seemed to talk in a slow, conversational manner, but that was deceptive. There was a lot to say, and he did not want to waste the rest of the day in saying it, so he cupped time in his hand while he spoke. The two hours of his discourse actually cost less than a half hour of real time, but only Maria was aware of what he was doing.
By the time that Silvas finished, even Felix could easily detect a growing anger among the villagers.
"How dare the gods use us this way!" March the miller said. "For all they owe you?"
"These gods dare anything," Silvas replied. "More may come. At the moment, though, they seem content to torture us with this sky and the battle music that fills it."
"We'll stand ready to meet them should they come," March said, and there was a general shout from the rest. "Tell us what we should do, lord."
"If fortune smiles on you, you may have no need to stand to arms, but I know I can depend on you even for that should it indeed be needed."
After the meeting ended, Silvas was deeply silent through most of the ride back to the Glade-silent in a way that imposed silence on the others. They were near the drawbridge before Silvas finally broke the silence.
"They will fight, if needs be. They may die, but they won't falter." Silently, Silvas grieved for the many who might actually die.