Hywel Peredur lived there in this his eleventh year, the nine hundred tenth year of Arthur's Triumph, the one thousand ... [...] and Hywel saw it was a man on hands and knees, in fantastically ruined clothes and a black cloak. ... "Then I am a wizard," Hywel said, breathless, triumphant. The man shook his head, rattling iron. "Magus latens... no. Someday ... Owain Glyn Dŵr had been a mighty wizard, [...] Glyn Dŵr and a few English lords had almost taken the ... Hywel gasped. His fingers tightened. So did Ptolemy's chains, without the touch of hands. Ptolemy promised to teach Hywel all ... Serpents coiled around Hywel, [...] In this extended dream scene, Hywel destroys the serpent bindings that imprison Ptolemy. It is ... "...To free someone, you see, is the ultimate human act. And in the City they know the difference between actors ... The burning finger pierced his eye, hissing like a snake when it strikes. Again, a snake. Ptolemy has put out ... Dimitrios Ducas was ten years old when the Emperor of Byzantium made Dimi's father the governor of a province on ... Charles panted, then laughed. "Ave, Caesar," he said, "morituri salutandum." "You're already dead," Dimi said, [...] Latin: "Hail, Caesar; those ... He wondered if the trader knew anything of the new lands the Portuguese Empire had discovered beyond the Western Sea; ... But usurpation -- always called "restoration" -- had obsessed the family Ducas since the last Ducas emperor was deposed over ... "And do you understand how the Empire rules, when it is not of the population ruled?" Dimi knew the words ... After four years in this country... It is 1468 AD; Dimi is fourteen. "And then I said, ho, you Paleologue, twice presumptuous, I call you, first to the name of divine Constantine, then ... Lucian was an Egyptian, with doctorates from the University at Alexandria; it was customary for a strategos to have a ... Today the two of them were playing the Great Raid: the unfinished palace was a sorcerer's castle in Middle Africa, ... "The bull must die," said the voice in darkness. Here we see the Mithraic initiation rite, from Dimi's point of ... Iphigenia had spent a fortune on the town apothecaries' entire stock of alicorn; a pinch went into all the food ... Iphigenia said loudly, "I want a vampire." The first mention of vampires in TDW. If Cosmas were to be infected ... "When Mithras slew the bull," Dimi said slowly, "he cut its throat, so its blood would give life to all ... The Courier of the Sun read the Invocation of Julian the Wise, Emperor of Byzantium: "...a fiery chariot shall bear ... "You may have denied him while he lived," Iphigenia said, "and deserted him at his death, but you will honor ... [...] At certain times one must charge regardless-- Echoes what Cosmas Ducas said to Dimi (p35). Dimi saw the fresco ... "I know I cannot kill you," [Dimi] said carefully, in the middle-class Greek he knew Charles did not understand. "But ... "[...] Who -- killed -- my -- father?" "In a fashion, Dimitrios, you did..." Dimi's jaw clenched till it hurt. ... Yes, Tertullian, Dimi thought. The Persian will know the Raven. Even if he thinks I was a traitor, he will ... Cynthia Ricci was not very drunk, [...] Cynthia Ricci introduced. The chapter title "Fiorenza" refers to Florence, although the English ... Guidobaldo's father, Federigo the duke of Urbino, was one of the finest mercenary leaders in Italy, one with Francesco Sforza ... Ficino wore a long white gown; he had translated Plato into Latin for Lorenzo's grandfather and into Tuscan for Lorenzo, ... [...] a pendant crocus blossom in pure gold. Not solid gold, but only Lorenzo and Cynthia knew that. Again, the ... The poet Arturo Poliziano and Alessandra Scala, the designer and stage manager for the Florence Grand Theater, sat together on ... Cynthia supposed that some presentation was coming, written by Lorenzo and staged by Alessandra; she well recalled the summer Lorenzo's ... She put her own fingertips to her throat. Autumn crocus. Colchicum. Twice a day Lorenzo de' Medici took a measured ... "Improvise," said Ficino, his eyes alive with joy. "What's life but an improvisation to the music?" "There are only three states left in the North free of Byzantium, and now Milan wants war with us. I ... "Who is Messer Reynardo?" "A Frenchman. He calls himself Reynard; what his real name is I don't know. He was ... "I believe [Sforza] was infected after those three young men attempted to kill him early last year; that he was ... She heard Lorenzo praying, to Minerva Medica. That was probably a good idea. To Asclepius too. After the nerves in ... "I have made the new infusion. It tastes precisely of the colchicum, and has twice the concentration of uric salts ... She hoped not too many people recalled the blind sibyl from Lorenzo's Vita Juliani. See p66. The implication is that ... "O Maximin Daia, divine Emperor, aid thy servant in this his midnight hour; let Milan, city of the unholy Edict, ... [Lorenzo's] skin was hot and very dry, and she knew he would be itching everywhere; his kidneys were beginning to ... "Good. Federigo is the only chivalrous man left in Italy -- and also the best condottiere, gods know how that ... His cheeks white, with a vivid red bloom; Cynthia knew the condition. Vampirism. "Consolidation, Federigo. Byzantium gets Florence, Milan gets Genoa and enough of Venice to make the borders straight. Urbino will be ... [Sforza] was not wearing armor beneath it this time, either. It was too bad, she thought, that those Milanese assassins ... On the couches in the center of the room lay Giuliano de' Medici and Marsilio Ficino; she knew they were ... "They found the house where the hostages had been. They found a limepit... There never were any hostages, Cynthia." "And ... "Madonna Lucrezia used to say that the incubus who brought Arthur down, was Theodora of Byzantium, after she turned vampire ... She looked at the palle on his doublet, red on red, as the wine in the cups. "To balls," she ... Chapters 4 and 5 comprise a formal mystery, complete with disguises, multiple agendas, and a big sit-down at the end ... "Timaeus Plato," the old man said, then smiled. "Soldier in the service of Learning." The other man continued to look ... A tall, slender man in glossy boots and a silk cloak stepped down, then reached up to assist another passenger: ... In the corner of the hall, a man stood next to one of the servers. He wore a voluminous gown ... Antonio della Robbia, who had talked mostly of how bad the exchange rates were at the Medici branch in Bern, ... "Venetian glass?" Gregory von Bayern asked, examining the eye. Hywel Peredur nodded. This scene connects Timaeus Plato and Hector to ... "What is this?" Dimi said, a dangerous edge in his voice. "A disease," Hywel said, "like gout, or pissing sugar." ... Just above Falcone's left shoulder was a patch of congealed blood. A piece of hollow quill had been thrust into ... "Herr Doktor von Bayern, for his condition, and I for my age do not require much sleep. We were up ... He made a set of elaborate passes in the air, his patched blue sleeves flapping. "Abracadabra... abracavitti... dit! Dit! Dit!" ... "[...] That Italian wizard--" "Is no more a genuine worker than you are, and there's not one within twenty miles." ... There were some bits of partly burned paper, really only ashes held together by the ink on them. The English ... Hywel said "Suppose two men meet at a coach station. One is a wandering hedge-wizard, good at sleights and disguises ... Hywel stood wholly rigid, sweat dripping from his face. [...] Cynthia bent forward in her chair, her hands cupping her ... Hywel felt along the hose. "There is a legend that a murdered wizard curses his killer. I think Nottesignore has ... Dimi said "I wonder if we could even have gotten the message out of him." Gregory said "Perhaps not. But ... "...We have to act for those who aren't yet hurt." She smiled then, like a flower opening. "An ounce of ... Byzantine France was quiet under snow on the first day of December... It is still 1477, only a few days ... His skin was quite pale and a little waxy, with a distinct high flush in his cheeks; there could be ... In a thoughtful tone, Dimitrios said "How long have you been at this enterprise of yours?" "Magic is a building ... "In counting generations, the French heralds are as meticulous as Jews. From the day the Partition was signed, they have ... Here begin three pages of condensed Anglo-French history. The account is nearly the same as our history, but some details ... "[...] And brother George turned his coat back. There were two very bad battles. [...]" Probably the Battle of Barnet ... "Now my bad news, Peredur. The exemplification, Clarence's paper -- it does not exist. Queen Margaret has it, and she ... "I've told you that Clarence supported Henry the Sixth during the year's Readeption. Since then there has been the rumor ... Quentin took the pan of powdered ink from Dimitrios. Tapping it with a finger, he began to dust the black ... "Louis the Good built the place just as Henry and Manuel Comnenus cut the world from around him. [...]" Our ... The butler had put down his tray and broom [...] He was sharp-eyed, long-fingered, with a strikingly long pointed nose. ... "The document," Hywel said, "the exemplification of the Duke of Clarence. It is necessary that we take it to England ... She looked at Gregory. "But you're here as well... are you now necessary to him?" She stabbed a finger at ... She smothered all such thoughts. The narrative has, indeed, not given us Cynthia's thoughts since the end of chapter 3 ... "I am Ishtar. I am the door that lets in the storm. For my sake, brothers will kill one another. ... "Hywel said that sort of spell was difficult to keep," Dimi said very softly. "Now we know why she bothered." ... A. GUILLAUME, it read, ASTROLÓGE PHILOSOPHÉE, KARNACISTE. French: "Philosophical Astrology, ..." The meaning of "karnacist" is not obvious. One possibility ... Flame spurted. The seal of Henry VI exploded in glass slivers and bits of bright red wax. Gregory has shattered ... [...] the lengthening of the day after the Solstice, the longest night itself (and the lost things found upon it), ... Cecily Neville, dowager Duchess of York, had been called the Rose of Raby in her youth; [...] Introduces the mother ... He was not tall, but was powerfully built, with a warrior's big shoulders. Dark hair hung to his collar; his ... "What Peredur means," Richard said, "is that I chase Scotsmen around Robin Hood's barn." "I've told them something of your ... "Annie and I grew up together, in her father's house at Middleham. Runts of the litter, both of us -- ... Hywel said "It's her pain, of course... all her senses are cut off, as an ache turns to numbness; she ... When the young man who would become Edward IV fought his first great battle, a strange thing happened in the ... "[...] All right, I fought you; I helped Warwick throw you out of the country; I did it, and I ... "You weren't there when Isabel died," he said, on the edge of a sob. "She just lay there, couldn't move, ... Cynthia watched the wedding party spilling out from the Apollonium with its shining dome. The end of the wedding from ... "I cannot promise she will go to Wales," Gregory said, "but I do not think she will go to Scotland." ... "The said duke nevertheless, for all this no love increasing but growing daily in more and more malice..." The bill ... "[...] 'Enough wine to sate him,' indeed. [...]" Dragon history: The scene makes clear that George chose the means of ... He faced Dimi and Gregory. "Will you come with me, and chase Scotsmen? There's no glory in it, and it's ... They had a boar, in the Yorkshire snow. As best I can figure, this is February or March of 1479 ... A squire, perched on the hump of earth above the nest, started to raise a cheer. "Hush," Dimi said, without ... There was a strange, messy case of a poacher taken wearing green clothing, with robin feathers in his cap and ... Richard looked thoughtful. "Mend-All was a respectable gentleman named Conyers, hired by my infinitely ambitious father-in-law Warwick to raise the ... He could have any choice, as long as it was final, and as long as it was now. For the ... "Do you... do you think they're shamming, sir?" It was Bennett, the squire who had cheered for Richard's boar hunt, ... "Maccabees," Tyrell said, and spat. "Outlaws. They live in the hills, and now and again they come down and burn ... "What? Oh, no, no. I wouldn't suggest a thing like that; you'd do it. [...] I was suggesting that we ... A young woman caught his eye as she ducked out of his sight; it was one of the kitchen girls... ... [...] a little man seated before the fire, dressed in not quite rags. A spy, of course, Dimi thought. No ... Georges des Martz was an Alsatian mercenary Dimi had worked with some five years ago. Now he was wearing a ... "I thought... I might avoid speaking English to him, until we're well away. So if we don't get that far, ... It was a metal Thor's hammer almost as high as a man, of iron covered with silver, mounted there to ... Then he saw the brand on Albany's forehead, and in an instant he knew. Taking a deep breath, he said ... All sides of the box were drilled with holes. On one side was a small brass mechanism, with a mainspring ... "Now, Your Grace," Colin was saying, "for Berwick, as if Hel rode after us, for assuredly he does." Hel is ... Colin, or Inver Drum, or Blair, or whoever, was seated almost exactly as the Duke had been, and for a ... "Who did you do it for?" he shouted. The spy smiled, in absolute triumph. "That you'll ne'er know, will you?" ... He had seen his duty; he had found himself; and then, more swiftly than any man ever had, he had ... Hywel said, "That's just the juliet tower. There was a Norman keep around it, but that's down now..." "Who destroyed ... "Arthur's Court. Tonight and tomorrow, everyone here is a lord or lady." "Or a wizard?" She looked at his robe ... "I can't -- how can anyone make up words to music as it plays?" She turned and walked out of ... The speaker was a small, stocky woman in a gray wool gown and white linen cap. She was flat-featured, forty ... The boy yelled. Startled, Cynthia drew back her hand, raised it to slap him. Mary smacked the roll of gauze ... [The medallion] was as wide as two fingers, cast in white metal, with a hole for a cord or chain. ... "I've sung [Cynthia] asleep," [Mary] said, "but she's still not resting; she talks, in her native speech -- Italian, is ... "There is no redemption without love, no love without contact," Mary said. "Our Lord knew this, and became flesh, so ... Of all the wizards he had known since first Kallian Ptolemy opened his mind, he had known only five who ... "I have said to you before, this work of yours will not make you happy. When will you believe this, ... And he genuinely wondered if Mary's unspoken accusation was true: had he brought her to be healed only because he ... It was a brilliant high summer day [...] Summer of 1478 AD, now. This sequence of scenes covers almost two ... It was a few days past Iambolc, the February festival of light, [...] It is now February of 1479 AD. ... "A dozen years ago, Harlech was holding out for Henry against Edward, and my lord Herbert was told to take ... He was blond, tall, with a warrior's build. He wore a black velvet gown of scholar's pattern, but the collar ... Suddenly Hywel said "Morton's here." He stopped on the stairs. "How long has he been here?" "My lord wizard Morton ... He was of middle age, with heavy black eyebrows and a beard slightly longer than the fashion; sturdily built, but ... "How old do you think Morton is?" "What? Thirty-five, perhaps forty, I suppose." "He will be sixty in the next ... She knew it was not the bed. The pain had come before, and it was indeed much more than a ... "Perhaps you would like a position... a teaching chair at the University at Oxford?" Oh, White Lady, she thought. It ... He had seen Morton with absolute clarity, as he worked in the tower chamber at Brecon. "Edward..." he said raggedly. ... Yet there were rules, and rules. Strip, to carry less weight -- that made sense; fix the route with a ... The last of Hywel's five sorcerers who never felt the power gnaw their vitals was a Hungarian noblewoman, who did ... [...] there were five or six men, ordinary men-at-arms, in the Duke of Buckingham's livery. Of course, he thought; Morton ... [...] he fell down, thinking, Kill me, kill me and I'll curse you all blind; but they just held his ... The King was dead, long live the King, as the saying went; but no thing is ever so simple. The ... "Elayne?" he said, for her benefit; he could see her clearly. She was wearing a clean apron and cap over ... The Minnesänger whined that love was a hunger, and men perished from its want. That was shit, Gregory thought. Blood ... Richard and all his company were beneath the dome just now, swearing oaths to faithfully serve the new King Edward ... Gregory thought that he had been very careless, very stupid. He considered how he might disable Tyrell without killing him; ... "An she were sick, t'would be Tyrell's job of surgery," he said, with his more usual roughness; then, just a ... Harry was a handsome man, hazel-eyed and clean-shaven, running to stoutness but not fat. [...] His swagger was as natural ... "[...] Dimi, this is Sir Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, up from Brecon in Wales." ...but his name does ... "It was Edward's will that you be Protector of England; the lords know it, and the commons too -- old ... "[...] Richard and Lovell were Balin and Balan, the brothers. And Anthony Woodville was the Warrior with the Gilded Spear ... "[...] It's not just treason, Anthony, it's vomitous. Even Scotsmen let us drive back the cattle they fail to steal; ... Ratcliffe had appeared, with men behind him, backing him. "Dick," Gloucester said, "take the Woodville lord to a room with ... "[...] I do not ask you to love us for what we do; but I do ask you not to ... The King said "My lord Protector." They all turned. In a voice as hard and cold and clear as something ... Years ago, during one of the German-Danish wars, Gregory von Bayern rode as Gunner-und-Sprengsfachritter in a minor's court's minor army. ... Now it was another blue December day, and Gregory was riding among five hundred soldiers all in black: the entourage ... "[...] Was Edward murdered?" "No, Richard. It was a sudden apoplexy, and natural, as I have cause to know. [...]" ... The messenger was an Italian diplomat, Dominic Mancini. He wore a fawn-colored gown with restrained gold embroidery, and half-eyeglasses. His ... "It is the vote and ordinance of this council, therefore, that the Duke of Gloucester shall be called Protector of ... Dimitrios said "Can these actually be... strawberries? In January?" Hastings said "Doctor Morton's gardens are most remarkable." Richard said "Doctor ... Richard said that an attempt to merely discover Elizabeth Woodville's sanctuary was no breach of an oath against entering it. ... "Parliament has set the Coronation for three weeks from now; there'll be a week's celebrating with the Iambolc feast to ... One of his kind had called it "the perfection." "Why on earth would you resist it? You fill your body ... By the time Gregory was finished, and dawn was lightening the window, he knew a great deal about the loyalties ... Argentine stopped. He was still smiling. "I have had guns pointed at me, Professor von Bayern. In fact, I have ... [Gregory] reached into his bag, produced the translation of Mancini's letter. "We have a great deal of trouble. I hope ... Buckingham stabbed a finger at Hastings. "We have considered you very long, sir, and it is that consideration that has ... "Morton," Richard said. "You're doing this." "I? Good my lord, I prune my gardens with different tools than this." Richard ... "We've read Mancini's letters," Buckingham said. "They've unmasked this whole conspiracy: Hastings, Morton, their supporters... even the Queen is involved." ... "Then [Morton] must have been the one she thought she saw, when..." He was trying to remember what Hywel had ... "Hastings did not kill anyone," Gregory said, "nor the Shore woman. Hastings was treating secretly with the Queen Elizabeth, not ... "I have some pins. Up my sleeve, like a conjuror. [...]" Gregory has been carrying the pins around since p266. ... For two months there had been no crowned King of England; there was a Queen, but until a week ago ... At the Bloody Tower, the door was opened by a doddering man in a pop-seamed, thread-picked surcoat, carrying a partizan ... You can't sleep now. One wink now and you never will wake. With only that transition, Cynthia has drifted into ... "When I first knew Hywel, he had two eyes, you know; and they were of different colors. He had made ... And there was the chance that he would give her the disease, but it was small in a single feeding. ... It was terrible surgery, and she began to weep for the profanity of the act. But as the tears ran, ... Richard Gloucester, Protector of England, sat in the Council Chamber with his head on his folded hands. "The Duke of ... Richard simply wasn't a very good liar, and Dimi felt he had seen enough expertise to judge. This places the ... When they had gone, Richard said "And now..." He held up his left arm, felt the spot where he had ... "Home upon the quartered wind, round the earth and home again, lodestone of the heart is turning, open, way, and ... "Morton, damn you," Buckingham was muttering [...] "None of it was ever for me, was it?" As Gregory speculated (p312), ... In that she was right, he thought, as he made the second stroke, and the boy shuddered in his arms ... "Magister Maleficarum Johannes Mortoni," Richard of Gloucester announced from across the rows of vines, "you are under arrest for the ... "I have a contract of marriage between King Edward the Fourth and Lady Eleanor Butler, antedating by some years the ... "[...] and if I sometimes sow the... strawberries of discord, then others willingly serve them at their tables." An impromptu ... "Not here. Please," Morton said, looking back at his vines and fruit trees, at the dome of deflected snow above. ... And then there were the Princes. Aldermen and dungcarters, shoemakers and priests of aloof Thoth all wept when Earl Rivers ... "Ah, my. Like Ishtar I am come out of the pit. Maybe I will be a little wiser for it..." ... [...] she had found no sign more certain than the withdrawal from, the fear of love, and not merely of ... The device on the end of his gun, when ignited by a gunshot, would according to design create a roughly ... His door opened. A man was standing there, dressed in Tower livery and holding a spear: Giles, the feeble-minded porter. ... "Sixty years of magic lies there, all caught up to its worker." He shook his head. "But in a way ... Hywel said gently, "Not for this, Dimi. It doesn't want a warrior-brother to tell a man his only son has ... February was melting into March [...] One month after the previous chapter. "The Tydders are an old and notably rebellious Welsh family," Hywel said, turning the medallion over in his fingers. Owain ... "Tydder's sailed. Three days ago, from Brittany." Dimitrios said "But the weather's been foul--" "There's a sorcerer in the boats ... A woman in a widow's black dress was running towards them, dropping to her knees. "Rhiannon, Gwydion, aid my son." ... But it seemed that someone caught her hand and held it, and she held very still, until she said "Her ... "There is the dragon, my lord," Tyrell said. Richard nodded. "Yes," he said, sighing, "the dragon. What about the light ... Hywel said "The central absurdity of magic is that it can only do what men can imagine; and anything a ... "[...] But [Anne] needed the rest... she's feverish. Sweating sickness, I think; Lord Stanley's complaining too." Our history: Sweating sickness ... The Red Dragon came out of the west. Its broad body was a quarter-mile long, the swinging tail that long ... Buried in the earth of the north slope were more than three dozen ground mortars, some flame, some blast, some ... "What?" Richard said, as if he had not heard. "Annie's dead?" The spell affects Richard as well... "Anne's not dead. ... In his held eye, he saw Lord Stanley away to the south, sweating and scratching and certainly not advancing to ... Richard? Dimi thought, the Boar? The King? He had never wanted to be a King. Never. And Cosmas Ducas had ... "Don't you feel it? This... heat in the air? [...]" Supports the notion that the magic, at least in some ... The dragon's mouth enveloped its tail, and began to swallow it. The image is Oroboros, the snake devouring itself. "Richard? Is that you?" "Aye, and who wants to know? If it's Tydder, no answer but to fight." "It's Dimitrios, ... And then [Dimi] saw the wheels of fire, and waited for the whirlwind, and his father's face. Dimi, losing consciousness, ... "[...] We'll say it was a great day, and soon enough we'll believe it. 'This is the day the kingdom ... "[...] Shall we go?" "A man must keep busy." Without any noise, they rode away, and soon were lost to ...