Chapter nine
Bird of Ill OmenThiurdsmot girded itself for the fray, everyone engaged in a grim preparation for the coming conflict, and Marta Renberg, Kovneva of Aduimbrev, was in raptures over the Ring of Destiny.
She turned it this way and that, holding it out at arm’s length, admiring it as it glittered on her finger.
“Splendid!” she declared. “With this ring all my troubles are over.”
Larghos looked at me, and away, and said nothing. We stood in the wide window embrasure of a tower given over to the kovneva’s use. The trappings and furnishing were luxurious, as was to be expected. The handmaidens were flushed of cheek and brighter of eye. All in all, absolute confidence radiated about the walls and turrets of Thiurdsmot and nerved the ranks of the Hamalian army and their mercenary
