“They are playing with fire, then,” she predicts, matter of fact. “It cannot be corralled that way forever, and such a structure will be destroyed. What follows may not be any better. No books and very few teachers ever taught the witches who came to my court, at the beginning. Illiteracy would never have...”

A small, strange smile.

“Most of my companions before exile could barely write their names. They were not fools; they were women, which is legally the same thing.”