"This man was not Tier," she whispered around the throbbing pain in her temples. "He was a Traveler, dead of a blade, not magic fire - and he died somewhere far away, though not long ago."
"It doesn't mean that Papa's alive," he said, obviously hoping she'd contradict him. "Someone tried to make us think him dead with the skull and Frost's body - but they might simply have taken his body away, or taken him off to kill elsewhere."
"It only means that Tier probably didn't die here," she agreed, fear and hope both held in firm control.
Lehr began filling in the grave, skull and all, and Seraph thought about what she knew.
"Lehr?" she said finally.
"Hmm?"
"These people who killed Frost took a lot of trouble to obscure their tracks. They weren't good enough to fool you, but they tried very hard. If you hadn't seen their tracks below, would you have noticed them here? If we were looking for Tier's remains rather than evidence that he was taken?"
He frowned, "Maybe not."
Seraph nodded. "I think they knew about you. They were careful to take Tier outside of the realm of the forest king - I think they knew about him as well. They cleansed Frost's body and the leather and cloth, leaving them no past for me to read. They spent a long time trying to make that skull silent - and almost succeeded."
"No one knows about the forest king," said Lehr, turning over the last spade of dirt. "But Hennea said that whoever sent the letter to the priest knew what we are."
"Yes," agreed Seraph. "How did they know, not only that I am Raven, but exactly what my skills are? Most Ravens cannot read the past in an object. These men knew what trail Tier would take home - and it's not the way he left."
Lehr frowned. "Not even I knew what path Papa takes home. He kept it quiet because the furs are worth a lot of money - did you notice that there is no trace of the furs? They would have been packed over Frost's hindquarters, which weren't even scorched."
"No, I hadn't noticed," said Seraph. "So thrifty of them."
Lehr packed in a layer of dirt with his foot. "I suppose that someone could have overheard Jes talking about the forest king - but Jes seldom talks to anyone but the family. No one else really pays attention to what he says anyway. And if none of us knew what magic you could do until Forder brought back Frost's bridle, who would know what you could do?"
She waited, watching him think about it. If he came up with the same answer as she did...
"Bandor used to hunt with Papa, didn't he?" Lehr whispered it. "During the first years when the bakery used to have to support the farm, too? Jes was just a baby."
"That's right," Seraph said.
"And, after you and Papa got married, Bandor was the only one who used to talk to you. He knows a lot about the Travelers - did you tell him what kinds of things you could do?"
"Yes," she said.
"And Bandor knows about Jes's stories of the forest king - but he doesn't believe them, Mother."
She smiled at him grimly. "Do you know who your father thinks the forest king is? I mean aside from Jes's dealings with him?"
"No."
"What if I told you that in a very old language, ell means king or lord and vanail is forest. If you put them together - "
"Ellevanal?"
Seraph had never seen anyone's jaw drop before; it was an unattractive expression.
"Do you mean," whispered her son, "that Ellevanal, god of the forest and growing things, the Ellevanal, Karadoc's Ellevanal, is Jes's forest king?"
"I don't know," she said. "Today is the first time I've met him, and I didn't ask. He doesn't look like a god, does he? But I know that Tier was convinced of it, and he told your Aunt Alinath what he thought."
Alinath had been at her worst, telling Tier that Seraph couldn't give Jes the kind of attention that he needed. That Seraph encouraged Jes's problems by listening to his stories about his made-up friend. A boy, she'd said, needed to understand that lying was not acceptable. She hadn't liked it when Tier suggested Jes hadn't lied at all.
Seraph smiled grimly. "Bandor was there when he said it."
But Lehr was still worried about other matters. "But the forest lord belongs here, to our forest. Ellevanal is worshiped