Page 200 of Dragon Slayer

Constantine disguised a low chuckle with a clearing of his throat. “That is quite the picture.”

“Isn’t it?”

They lapsed into silence once again.

Someone pulled the heavy doors shut, and the head cardinal, clothed in gold and crimson, began to speak in Latin.

Val didn’t listen; instead let his gaze wander out across the congregation, noting their somber faces. Today, this ceremony, marked the official union of the churches in Constantinople. No more Schism, no more war between the two factions of Christians within the city walls.

From the top of this very cathedral, you could see Mehmet’s impossible fortress, a slumbering dragon, waiting only for the spring thaw, and then it would strike. This union of church and church was necessary.

But Val didn’t know that it would be enough.

~*~

That was winter.

And now it was spring, and they were settling in the Throat Cutter.

And Val was very, very afraid that he couldn’t save Constantinople.

But he would try.

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