In Sessalie’s palace, three men escorted their unconscious companion into the royal apartments; and the eight living, who bore talismans fashioned by Perincar’s hand, and a ninth man, who carried another imprinted by resonant transfer into a sword blade, crossed into regional proximity. A circle of power interlaced with itself, and a warding arose, pealing a note whose clear intonation sounded across the unseen world known to shamans…