Session 24

 Afternoon of the 1^st Skyday of Sprouts, Kozamost

Mira, the ancient mayor of the dwelling, talks about harsh years of famine and war, how Masur took Szalai Keep and taxed the villagers to pay for her wars, how the Militia of the Axe – rebellious peasants to the East – refuse to pay the Tithe: The woman in the pillory is one of them. She explains how the village survived through the winter on salted fish. They decide to visit the Temple of the River nearby. When they approach the smell of barley wafts over and they see novices and lay sisters carry heavy wooden buckets from the rushing, snow-melted river to the longhouse where smoke pours from a chimney. On the riverbank sisters scrub giant oak barrels using the flowing water and sand to sanitize them for spring vintages. Sister Martuschka remembers the Knights and kneels before Sir Heldris who carries the ornate River Helmet. She leads him through a narrow tunnel to the inner sanctum where a mosaic of shells shows how the river gives floods and fertile land and takes a life when necessary. Heldris eyes fall on the depiction of a man between cloaked figures, blood dripping from opened veins and he understand that the river will demand from him a sacrifice and he agrees. Water rushes into the sanctum like a blessing of the Dove Knight and when he returns to his brothers determination glints in his eyes.

The Inner Sanctum of the River Temple

In the night Anastaz dreams of Tizra's Halls and he hears himself giving the promise to Saša that he will return. “But you didn't, did you?” Adler smiles, his face so close as if to smell the Salt Knight's despair.

Morning of the first Rainsday of Sprouts

The next morning they say farewell to Mira and take the boat North and see from afar the keep and the stone bridge now guarded by a tower and a toll house for boats and riders. Guards take them to the throne room where Sir Ludomir of Kranach, the Envoy of House Masur accompanies them while they wait for the Council to receive them. Lady Gundhilde, the Sheriff, gasps when she sees the Knight she served as a squire and Annegrit her Retainer runs over to the Dove Knight, the father she hasn't seen in an age and believed to be lost forever. Annegrit and Heldris retreat to the antechamber and cry over the stolen years. His daughter is now a Courtier but never lost her dream of becoming a Knight and Heldris promises her to visit the Seers to ask for her to be knighted. Meanwhile the Queen surrounded by her Council demands a pledge of loyalty from the company. Perilake wants to know what will happen to her enemies under her rule. “I will be Queen for the whole Realm, law and order will govern Masuria, the land will prosper and plays will return to the Gamehall of Lodestone!” “Why are the people of Kozamost starving?” the once Gilded Knight asks. “Because we have to feed our soldiers first” she replies. Perilake and Anastaz withdraw from the Throne Room to deliberate with Heldris who suggests that neither King Andrasz nor Queen Anastasia are fit to rule and that the heroes of the Realm should govern. He suggests that the Salt Knight might marry the Queen and it is decided. When he proposes to the Queen she looks worriedly at Sir Ludomir who buries his face in his hands but Lady Lydia already makes plans. The wedding will be held a Sceptremass, and all the rulers will be invited. The Queen hesitates: “A gift to seal the union and to show the Realm that the rule of King Anastaz and Queen Anastasia is legitimate: Bring me the Needle Seers reliquary, long sought by both Barow and Kranach .... I will give you a warband of my best soldiers to take back Farkash Citadel.”

Sir Ludomir of Kranach is sceptical about the proposed wedding 

In the afternoon Gundhilde and Annegrit visit the Knights and tell them about the spies who reveal military secrets to House Barow and Heldris asks his daughter for a lock of her hair. “I will make amends for the lost years, Annegrit. I will visit the Tangled Seer!” he declares and turns into a hawk and flies away.