to Crow’s birthmark. “Does it bother you again this morning?”
Crow made a face. “It doesn’t burn, though it’s . . . uncomfortable. It feels as though it moves under the skin, like a nest of tiny spiders has hatched and squirm beneath the surface.”
Soko grimaced. “Well, let’s hope today puts an end to it. One way or another. Perhaps the little old witch-woman has found out how to remedy it for good.” He sheathed his sword and slid a smaller blade beneath his arm guard, then another in the leg of his boot.
Crow watched on, amused. “Do you think all that is necessary?”
“The note did not mention weapons, lest not to bring them,” Soko replied. “I would suggest you do the same. We don’t know what this day holds, but I would advise to be prepared.”
Crow picked up his broadsword. His favourite weapon; the hilt was made for his hand, the blade handcrafted from the finest Northlands’ steel, weighted and balanced for his swing. “I will only need one.”
Soko smiled and picked up Crow’s smaller dagger, handing it to him, hilt first. “Don’t forget you’ll be facing Tancho this morn.”
Crow’s nostrils flared, and his birthmark grew warmer at the mention of Tancho’s name. He took the dagger and sheathed it in his boot. Then he added another to his belt. “Curse this day.”
Soko chuckled and threw Crow’s cloak to him, then waited for him to slip it on. “Are you ready?”
Crow squared his shoulders and focused his mind. This is what he’d trained for, and he wouldn’t allow the beauty of his opponent to distract him. Was he truly ready? Crow was no longer certain, but he had little choice. He had to be ready.
“I am.”
Soko went to the door and pulled it open, only to find the messenger still waiting. He hadn’t moved. “I am to escort you,” he offered.
So, they followed him back to the grand hall, two black cloaks following one yellow. The halls looked different in the morning light. Not so ominous, not so cavern-like. Crow caught a glimpse out a passing window to the blue sky beyond. It looked like a pleasant day, and everything around him was welcoming.
But it did little to quell the unease in his belly.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, and it had nothing to do with the wine he’d had to drink the night before.
They reached the huge doors to the grand hall, and as they had done last night, they opened inward, seemingly of their own accord. The room was so much brighter than it had been last night, and when Crow looked upward, he saw why. The ceiling had a stained-glass dome, fracturing sunlight onto the huge compass tiled into the floor.
He and Soko walked to the north point of the dial and stopped. Before them, five yellow-robed Consul Elders stood, Adelais at the front. She smiled. “Good morning, King of Northlands.”
Crow was about to make a point of addressing Soko, but the doors to his left opened, and three white-cloaked figures walked in to stand at the tip of the western point on the compass. Tancho in the middle, the woman to his right, and the tall large man to his left. They were all strikingly beautiful, though Tancho was a standout.
Crow shot his gaze back to Adelais and the other elders, two of which, were watching Crow. Were they gauging his reaction? Were they assessing something in his behaviour?
“Good morning, King of Westlands.”
From the corner of his eye, Crow saw Tancho bow his head.
Adelais smiled. “When Maghdlm tended to your birthmarks last night, the reaction was not only unexpected but also unforeseen. Meaning we, here on the Consul, had never seen such a reaction. Maghdlm and others searched the archives all night and what they found was not . . .” She paused, her face uneasy. “Not in the writings about the Golden Eclipse, or in battle conduct, or in any scroll pertaining to the birthmark ceremony.”
Crow noticed Soko cross his arms, not in a defensive posture. It was so he had better access to the knife at his wrist. Soko, very clearly, was as fond of this whole circumstance as Crow.
“Where we did find mention of it,” Adelais continued. “Was in Maghdlm’s compendium, more specifically in the alchemy of alignment.”
Crow frowned. What in the blue skies was the alchemy of alignment?
“Maghdlm is an alchemist but also a student of the stars, and she is the oldest amongst us. Her powers are strong