XIV
JubileeIt seemed less procession than excursion. She traveled with ten guards, more sentries and secretaries than protectors. A few aides and a cook made up the rest of the complement. More luxury than she had had in the long campaign against the Welk — a large tent waxed against the rain, and most of the time they stayed in inns or empty houses. They were easy to come by in a largely depopulated landscape.
Messengers had gone on ahead, and in every town of any size, a tattered crowd gathered to meet her. Sometimes just a child with a cold, sometimes a dozen men and women with suppurating wounds. She healed them all, and heard their cheers as she withdrew. The Queen of Life, they called her to her face.
The magic had its limits, of course. Lost limbs didn’t regrow, or showed no sig
