Psalms of Isaak 01 – Lamentation

Still, the Marsher Army was a formidable force when pulled together. Less predictable even than the Wandering Army, they relied on chaos-even madness-to prevail. Known mainly for their skirmishing raids, those few times the Marsh King’s army had been called together over the last thousand years were formidable for those they faced. They rarely won when strategic minds came into play against them, but they never really lost, either. They slunk back north to their swamps and marsh grass, daring generals and kings alike to enter their demesnes and fight on Marsher land.

Few did, though the Androfrancine Gray Guard had forced the issue with them a time or two, exacting a price on skirmishers who raided the villages and towns that Windwir protected.

Why would the Marsh King side with the Ninefold Forest Houses?

And alongside that strange and unexpected alliance, there was another. His sudden kin-clave with House Li Tam through betrothal to Vlad Li Tam’s forty-second daughter. It was a surprise that Rudolfo still did not know quite how to measure.

The consummation had been effective and even pleasurable. Though it wasn’t the physical act that

defined the pleasure of that night for him. Certainly, she was skilled enough. And judging by her response to him, their skills were well matched for the deed. But his pleasure had been deeper than their bodies pressed together or his hands tangled in her long, honey-scented hair or their mouths moving along one another’s bodies. There was something deeper. Something sparked by their mutua? byangl conquest of one another. For though he took great pride in wearing her down and at long last commanding her body to pleasure, the truth of it was that she had done the same thing for his heart, and he was compelled now to think of her, to wonder about her, to wish to see her.

He’d considered going to her that night. Their eyes had caught across the fire and they’d traded brief smiles. But in the end, they’d slept side by side but in their separate tents.

Gods, what a woman.

And her father had not changed his strategy to the best of his knowledge. Nor would Rudolfo change his. He would align himself with this new Pope-if he were a man of reason and moderate strength-and he would win that new Pope to his way of seeing. When the war was finished, he would rebuild the library in a place where he could watch over it, a place far from the meddling of men like Sethbert.

Rudolfo heard a whistle behind him. It was too high and it did not warble at the end.

Setting his jaw, he crouched near a thick evergreen and drew his long, curved knife. He did not return the whistle, and after a moment he heard soft footfalls.

“Lord Rudolfo?” It was Jin Li Tam’s voice.

He stood, putting his knife away. “I’m here, Lady Tam.”

She slipped through the foliage with the ease of a Gypsy Scout. “I don’t quite have the whistle down,”

she said.

Rudolfo smiled. “It’s nearly there. You learn quickly.”

She curtsied. “Thank you, Lord. May I join you for your walk?”

He’d just started to think it was time to turn back, time to rouse the last watch from their few precious hours of sleep and strike camp for the long day’s ride ahead. “Please,” he said.

She came alongside him, and they were both careful not to touch. “You are well?” “I am. And you?”

“Yes,” she said. “Better now that we’re on our way.”

They walked together, side by side, and her measured footsteps impressed him. She moved like a scout, confident and light with her step. The ferns and branches around her only trembled lightly as she went past; they did not leak the water that had collected there.

Rudolfo paused midstep, looking at her, then resumed walking. “Yes?”

“Why do you wish to do this? You intended to do this before the archbishop declared, even before I

proposed you as a suitor to my father. You meant to do this and finance it yourself.” He chuckled. “Sethbert would have paid for it. He still will if I have my way.”

“But why would you do this? You do not seem to be the sort who would keep what light remains to yourself. The strategy beneath it suggests that you mean to keep the library in a place where it can be protected.”

Like she protects Isaak, he thought. That was the quality of parenthood he heard in her voice.

He shrugged. “I am not a young man. I stand just past the middle of my road. I am only now taking a wife. If I cannot give my Ninefold Forest Houses an heir, then at least I can give them knowledge. Something to love and defend fiercely in this world.”

Her next words surprised him. “Doesn’t it also atone for the first Rudolfo’s betrayal?” He laughed. “I suppose perhaps it does.”

“Regardless,” she said, “I think it is a wise and wonderful thing that you do.” They settled back into silence before she surprised him again. “Do you want an heir, Rudolfo?”

Now he stopped entirely, a smile widening on his mouth. “You mean now? Here?” “You know what I mean.”