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Iselle,  just arrived. It looks to have been hastily penned. We plan to wait
one more day to be sure the roads are clear, and to give thanks to the gods in
the temple of Taryoon. Then Bergon and I will ride for Cardegoss with a
contingent of my uncle s cavalry, for Orico s funeral and my coronation. Her
mouth turned down.  I
fear we will have to leave you here for a time, Lord Caz.
He glanced at Betriz, watching him, her eyes dark with concern. Where Iselle
rode, Betriz, her first courtier, must needs follow.
Iselle went on,  Don t speak if it pains you too much, but Cazaril . . . what
happened in the courtyard? Did the Daughter truly strike dy Jironal dead with
a bolt of lightning?
 His body looked it, I must say, said Bergon.  All cooked
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. I ve never seen anything like it.
 That is a good story, said Cazaril slowly,  and will do for most men. You
here should know the truth, but . . . I think this truth should go no further,
eh?
Iselle quietly bade the physician excuse himself. She glanced curiously at the
little judge.  And this gentleman, Cazaril?
 The Honorable Paginine is . . . is in the way of being a colleague of mine.
He should stay, and the archdivine as well.
Cazaril found his audience ranged around his bed, staring at him rather
breathlessly. Neither
Paginine nor the archdivine, nor Palli, knew the preamble about Dondo and the
death demon, Cazaril realized, and so he found himself compelled to revert to
that beginning, though in as few words as he could make come out sensibly. At
least he hoped it sounded coherent, and not like the ravings of a madman.
 Archdivine Mendenal in Cardegoss knows all this tale, he assured the
shocked-looking pair from
Taryoon. Palli s mouth was twisted in something between astonishment and
indignation; Cazaril evaded
his eye a trifle guiltily.  But when dy Jironal bade his men hold me unarmed,
and ran me through when he murdered me, the death demon bore us all off in an
unbalanced confusion of killers and victims. That is, the demon bore the pair
of them, but somehow my soul was attached, and followed . . . what I saw then
. . . the goddess . . . his voice faltered.  I don t know how to open my
mouth and push out the universe in words. It won t fit. If I had all the words
in all the languages in the world that ever were or will be, and spoke till
the end of time, it still couldn t . . . He was shivering, suddenly, his eyes
blurred with tears.
 But you weren t really dead, were you? said Palli uneasily.
 Oh, yes. Just for a little while . . . for an odd angle of little that came
out, um, very large. If I had not died in truth, I could not have ripped open
the wall between the worlds, and the goddess could not have reached in to take
back the curse. Which was a drop of the Father s blood, as nearly as I could
tell, though how the Golden General came by such a gift I know not. That s a
metaphor, by the way. I m sorry. I have not . . . I have not the words for
what I saw. Talking about it is like trying to weave a box of shadows in which
to carry water.
And our souls are parched.
 The Lady of Spring let me look through Her eyes, and though my second sight
is taken back I think my eyes do not seem to work quite the same as they did .
. .
The archdivine signed himself. Paginine cleared his throat, and said
diffidently,  Indeed, my lord, you do not make that great roaring light about
you anymore.
 Do I not? Oh, good. Cazaril added eagerly,  But the black cloak about Iselle
and Bergon, it is gone as well, yes?
 Yes, my lord. Royse, Royina, if it please you. The shadow seems to be lifted
altogether.
 So all is well. Gods, demons, ghosts, the whole company, all gone. There s
nothing odd left about me now, said Cazaril happily.
Paginine screwed up his face in an expression that was not quite appalled, not
quite a laugh.  I
would not go so far as to say that, my lord, he murmured.
The archdivine nudged Paginine, and whispered,  But he speaks the truth, yes?
Wild as it seems
. . .
 Oh, yes, Your Reverence. I have no doubt of that. The bland stare he traded
Cazaril bore rather more understanding than that of the archdivine s, who was
looking astonished and overawed.
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