Willow stripped out of the red dress and changed into the thin grey homespun that she had bought. It was dull and modest and would allow her to blend in with the villagers around the monastery. She pulled the cloak that Eisen had given her low over her face and quietly slipped into the streets. It was after midday and people busy with their trades. The monastery itself sat like a giant stone cube on the hillside. Willow’s grandmother once told her that there had been a sacred stone circle on the hill. The Priesthood had come and demolished the ancient site and built the monastery in its place as a way to subjugate the local people who still followed the Old Ways.
There was more than one way to conquer a people. The king came with knights and swords to take lands by force. The
