CHAPTER 15
To control ultimate power, one must
Possess the gift of restraint;
Otherwise, power’s alluring seduction
Will devour the soul.
-FROM THE BOOK OF ST. ALBANS-
I stood on a rocky ledge looking down at the wide torrent called the Lavis river. Even in the dead of winter the river was a frothing band of terrible white water crashing and whirling in fury down between its rocky steep banks. Either side of river were rocky cliffs fifty to one hundred feet high walling in the torrent. In the water itself were rugged slabs of granite, making any thought of trying to cross the angry river by boat dangerously foolish to contemplate.
For miles on end the river stretched to the north. Its entire length was as dangerous and terrifying to behold as it was here standing on this ledge which
