This is the end, then, Nezeru thought. We will never escape so many. Small, broken-nailed hands grabbed at her legs and squealing shapes began to climb her as though she were a tree. She did not even have time to sing her death song one last time before the creatures swarmed over her.

18 A Bad Book

Lillia had spent so much of her life staring at the painting of Saint Wiglaf behind the altar that she almost considered him a relative—the boring sort. Morning services were particularly hard. Lillia loved God as she should, but it was so difficult to sit still first thing in the day and listen to Father Nulles read from the Book of the Aedon about all the things God didn’t want people to do.

At least it was an interesting painting: even as he was being hung from a tree for being an Aedonite, Saint Wiglaf was denouncing the Hernystiri usurper, King Tethtain. When she was little she had thought the martyr’s name was Wiglamp because of the shining lines that surrounded his head in the painting, and she still thought of him that way, brave Wiglamp calling on God even as Tethtain’s men tried to lift him from the ground, four of them straining against the rope as scowling, bearded Tethtain looked on. It had taken ten men to hang the single slender monk, which was a miracle, although Lillia had always thought it would have been a better miracle if they hadn’t been able to hang him at all.

She tugged at Countess Rhona’s hand, softly at first, then harder, trying to get her attention.

“Lillia, what is it?”

“I have to make water.”

“Father is almost done. Hold yourself just a bit longer.”

Lillia groaned, but quietly. Father Nulles was nice, in his rather pink-faced way, and she didn’t want to upset him. She just didn’t want to be in the chapel any longer.

At last Father finished listing the Great Sins and performed the blessing. Usually Rhona would speak with him for a little while afterward, but this time she just made Lillia curtsey, then pressed a silver coin into the priest’s hand for the poor.

“I don’t feel that well myself,” the countess said as Lillia returned from the chapel privy and they made their way out into the long Walking Hall. “In fact, I think I need to lie down for a while.”

“Lie down?” Lillia was horrified. “But I told you, there’s a fair in the commons at Erchester today. They even have a bear who dances!”

“I’m sorry, honey-rabbit, but my courses are on me, and I only want to lay myself down.”

Lillia made a face; it felt like an ugly one. “You said you’d take me. You’re a liar!”

“Your manners are growing worse every day.”

“You have to take me. You promised!”

Rhona frowned. “No, I don’t, because I haven’t the strength, whether I promised or not. What if I were dying—may the gods turn their ears away—what then? No, child, you’ll have to stay home today.”

“You can’t make me. A princess is bigger than a countess, so you can’t be the lord of me.”

Her guardian sighed. “Mircha in her Cloak of Rains love you, girl, you’re a great deal of work, and that’s certain. But even you can’t command this pain out of my innards, Your Fearsome Highness, so you’ll have to entertain yourself in the residence today.”

Lillia was so upset that for a moment she wanted to let go of the countess’s hand and run away, but a look at Auntie Rhoner’s pale face showed that she really wasn’t well. Still, Lillia had been thinking about the dancing bear ever since one of the chambermaids told her about it the previous evening, and she wanted to see it more than, it seemed, she’d ever wanted anything. “If you feel better later, then can we go?”

“Child, I could feel ten times better and still not feel up to it. Perhaps tomorrow. Now, please, just let me lie down for a while.”

But the countess must have felt a bit sorry for Lillia, because they took the longer way back, through the Hedge Garden. The recent rain had brought a flush of bright new greenery to the sculptured shapes, and since they hadn’t been trimmed for a while, none of the animals were entirely recognizable at the moment, which Lillia liked very much. Was the old lion turning into a big rabbit? Was the noble horse becoming a dragon? She knew returning this way was a small gift from the countess, so she squeezed Rhona’s hand in thanks.

When they got past the guards and into the residence, Rhona guided Lillia to her chamber. “Stay here, dear one. You’ve plenty to do, reading and sewing and your dolls. And if you’re hungry before supper, ask one of your mother’s ladies to find something for you. In fact, would you find one of them now and ask her to bring me a posset of treacle and nutmeg? My head is aching me fiercely.”

Full of foul humors, Lillia sought out one of her mother’s younger ladies-in-waiting and delivered Countess Rhona’s charge, but declined the chance to wait and take the posset herself, something she had enjoyed doing when she was younger. Now that she was older she had more important things to do, and one of them was trying to think of a way she could get down to Erchester to see the dancing bear.

If she had been a boy, Lillia might have chanced sneaking out on her own. Her brother Morgan had done that more than a few times, she knew, and although he’d been punished, it had seemed to Lillia that the punishment had been a small matter indeed. But however lenient Queen Grandmother Miriamele might have been with Morgan, Lillia knew that things would not go so easily for her. Even in the heart of the Inner Bailey, she was not supposed to go off the grounds of the royal residence without a grown-up accompanying her, and often guards as well. Queen Grandmother might be away on a journey, but Lillia did not want to have to look into those fierce green eyes when she came back and admit she had flouted one of the very strictest rules.

But how else could she get to see the wonderful sights waiting for her in Erchester? The chambermaid had told her the bear had a sad face and was the most comical thing she’d ever seen, but she’d said there had also been jugglers and a fire-eater, and Hyrka dancers, and contests of wrestling and other sports. In another day or two it would be all over. What if Auntie Rho was really sick? Lillia would never get to see any of it!

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she could not leave something this important to chance. If Uncle Timo or even King Grandfather Simon had been in the castle, she knew she could persuade one of them to take her, but they weren’t, so she needed a plan.

She had wandered back into the walled Hedge Garden where she sat on a stone bench. As she swung her legs back and forth, she tore leaves into little pieces and dropped them spinning to the ground. The pile on the walkway had grown almost half a hand tall before the idea came to her. Thrilled, she wiped the sticky green juices on her dress, then charged back toward the residence.

•   •   •

As she approached the paneled door of her mother’s chamber, Lillia could hear voices. One was her mother, of course, and the other was Grandfather Osric. She hoped that was a good sign. Her mother was usually at her kindest when there were other people around.

An experienced tactician, Lillia paused outside the door and tried to hear what they were saying. If they were having an argument, she knew it would be best to go away and come back later, because grown-ups, especially her mother, very seldom did anything nice for children if they were in a bad mood. She was glad to hear that their voices sounded fairly ordinary, although her mother did sound slightly grumpy about something.