"The stars fight for us."
Fulviac took her lute from the carved bench and began to thrum the chords of an old song.
"Spears crash, and swords clang,
Fame maddens the world.
Come battle and love.
Iseult--
Ah, Iseult."
He broke away with a last snap at the strings, and set the lute aside.
"Bear with me," he said.
Her dark eyes questioned him over her banner.
"I offer you the first victim."
"Ah!"
"Flavian of Gambrevault."
An indefinite shadow descended upon the girl's face. The inspired radiance seemed dimmed for the moment; the crude realism of her thoughts rang in discord to her dreams. She lost the glimmering thread from her needle. Her hands trembled a little as she played with the scarlet folds of the banner.