The Iron
Crown

At last I came across a corpse with many shattered bones beside which I found a ring which I recognized as being the same as that which my mother had given me on her deathbed many years before the great drought. I tried to remember how my father had come by it, for though the skeleton was clearly his, with tell-tale hackings on the single leg, it was a token other than my own ring that I had expected. But when I questioned Denis on this matter he hastily spat and ran off into the woods.

His saliva on my hand burned and stung and left behind the symbol of the compass which brands me to this day. It was in that instant, I think, that my suspicion of Denis was born.

Churlishly perhaps, I ordered the men to assemble, and we set off in great haste, leaving Denis behind. Only Wollis regretted this; pressing closer to me he pleaded in persuasive tones that Denis be sought out in the woods. But I was adamant.

The pain on my hand was troubling me, and my thought was only for myself. I cursed my brother and flung him from his horse. On we rode into the dark.