hull lot more chancy t’ start out earlier, Sparhawk,’ Caalador drawled.
‘if’n we want t’ grab th’ leaders sooner, them oz is left could gist call
it all off, an’ all these traps o’ ourn wouldn’t ketch no rabbits. We gotta
wait ’till they open that warehouse an’ start passin’ out them there
weepons.’ Sparhawk winced. ‘Weepons?’
‘The word wouldn’t appear in that particular dialect,’ Caalador shrugged.
‘I had to countrify it up – just for the sake of consistency.’
‘You switch back and forth like a frog on a hot rock, my friend.’
‘I know. Infuriating, isn’t it? It goes like this, Sparhawk. If we pick up
the conspirators any time before they start arming the mob, they’ll be able
to suspend operations and go to ground. They’ll wait, reorganise and then’
pick another day – which it is that we won’t know nuthin’ about. On the
other hand, once they pass out the weapons, it’ll be too late. There’ll be
thousands in the streets – most of them about half-drunk. Our friends in
the upper councils could no more stop them than stop the tide. The sheer
momentum of this attempted coup will be working for us instead of for our
shadowy friends.’
‘They can still go to ground and just feed the mob to the wolves, you
know.’ Caalador shook his head. ‘Tamul justice is a bit abrupt, and an
attack on the emperor is going to be viewed as the worst sort of bad
manners. Several hundred people are going to be sent to the headsman’s
block. Recruitment after that will be virtually impossible. They have no
choice. Once they start, they have to follow through.’
‘You’re talking about some very delicate timing, you know.’
‘Ain, that’s easy tuk care of, Sparhawk,’ Caalador grinned. ‘There’s this
yore temple right smack dab in the middle o’ town. It’s more’n likely all
fulla cobwebs an’ dust, on accounta our little yolla brothers don’t take
then religion none too serious-like. There’s these yore priests oz sits
around in there, drinkin’ an’ carousin’ an’ sick. When they gits themselves
all beered-up an’ boistrous-like, they usual decides t’ hold services.
They got this yore bell, which it is oz must weigh along ’bout twenty ton
‘er so. One o’ them there drunk priests, he wobbles over t’ that there bell
an’ he takes up this yore sledge-hammer an’ he whacks the bell a couple
licks with it. Makes the awfullest sound you ever did hear. Sailors bin
known t’ hear it ’bout ten leagues out t’ sea. Now, there ain’t no special
time set fer when they goes t’ whackin’ on that there bell. Folks here in
Matherion don’t pay no attention t’ it, figgerin’ that it’s gist the
priests enjoyin’ themselves.’ Even Caalador could apparently tire of the
exaggerated dialect. ‘That’s the beauty of it, Sparhawk,’ he said, lapsing
into normal speech. ‘The sound of that bell is random, and nobody takes any
special note of it. Tomorrow night, though, it’s going to be profoundly
significant. As soon as that warehouse opens, the bell’s going to peal out
its message of hope and joy. The murderers sitting almost in the laps of
the people we want to talk with will take that as their orders to move.
We’ll have the whole lot rounded up in under a minute.’
‘What if they try to resist?’
‘Oh, there’ll be some losses,’ Caalador shrugged. ‘You can’t make an
omelette without breaking eggs. There are several dozen people we want to
pick up, so we can afford to lose a few.’
The sound of the bell will also alert you, Sparhawk,’ Stragen pointed out.
‘When you hear it start ringing, you’ll know that it’s time to move your
wife’s party inside.’
‘But you can’t do this, your Majesty.’ the minister of the interior
protested shrilly the next morning as tons of water began to gush into the
moat from the throats of the huge pipes strewn across the lawn of the
imperial compound. ‘Oh?’ ~Ehlana asked innocently. ‘And why is that,
Minister Kolata?’
‘Uh, well, uh, there’s no sub-foundation under the moat, your Majesty. The
water will just sink into the ground.’
‘Oh, that’s all right, Minister Kolata. It’s only for one night. I’m sure
the moat will stay full enough until after the party.’ Kolata stared with
chagrin at a sudden fountain-like eruption of air and muddy water out in
the centre of the moat. ‘My goodness,’ Ehlana said mildly, looking at the
sudden whirlpool funnelling down where the eruption had taken place. ‘There
must have been an old abandoned cellar under there.’ She laughed a silvery
little laugh. ‘i’d imagine that the rats who lived in there were very
surprised, wouldn’t you agree, your Excellency?’ Kolata looked a bit sick.
‘Uh, would you excuse me, your Majesty?’ he said, and he turned to hurry
across the lawn without waiting for a reply. ‘Don’t let him get away,
Sparhawk,’ Ehlana said coolly. ‘I strongly suspect that Lord Vanion’s list
wasn’t as complete as we might have hoped. Why don’t you invite the
minister of the interior into the castle so that you can show him our other
preparations?’ She tapped one finger thoughtfully against her chin. ‘And
you might ask Sir Kalten and Sir Ulath to join you when you get around to
showing his Excellency the torture chamber. Emperor Sarabian’s excellent
minister of the interior might want to add a few names to Vanion’s list.’
It was the cool and unruffled way , she said it that chilled Sparhawk’s
blood the most.
‘He’s beginning to feel more than a little offended, Sparhawk,’ Vanion said
soberly as the two of them watched Khalad’s workmen ‘decorating’ the vast
gates of the imperial compound. ‘He’s not stupid, and he knows that we’re
not telling him everything.’
‘It can’t be helped, Vanion. He’s just too erratic to be let in on all the
details.’
‘Mercurial might be a more diplomatic term.’
‘Whatever. We don’t really know him all that well, Vanion, and we’re
operating in an alien society. For all we know, he keeps a diary and writes
everything down. That could be a Tamul custom. It’s entirely possible that
our whole plan could be available to the chambermaid who makes up his bed
every morning.’
‘You’re speculating, Sparhawk.’
‘These ambushes out in the countryside weren’t speculation. ‘
‘Surely you don’t suspect the emperor.’
‘Somebody passed the word of our expeditions along to our enemy, Vanion.
We can apologise to the emperor after this evening’s entertainment is
concluded.’
‘Oh, that’s just too obvious, Sparhawk!’ Vanion burst out, pointing at the
heavy steel lattice Khalad’s workmen were installing on the inside of the
gates. ‘It won’t be visible when they open the gates all the way, Vanion,
and Khalad’s going to hang bunting on the lattice to conceal it. Did
Sephrenia have any luck when she tried to contact Zalasta?’
‘No. He must still be too far away.’
‘i’d be a lot more comfortable if he were here. If the Troll-Gods put in an
appearance tonight, we could be in very serious trouble.’
‘Aphrael can deal with them.’
‘Not without revealing her true identity, she can’t, and if that comes
out, my wife’s going to find out some things I’d rather she didn’t know.
I’m not so fond of Sarabian that I’m willing to risk Ehlana’s sanity just
to keep him on his throne.’
The sun crept’ slowly down the western sky, moving closer and closer to the
horizon. Although he knew it to be an absurdity, it seemed to Sparhawk that
the blazing orb was plummeting to earth like a shooting star. There were so
many details – so many things that had yet to be done. Worse yet, many of
those tasks could not even be commenced until after the sun went down and
Bathering darkness concealed them from the hundreds of eyes that were
certainly out there watching. It was early evening when Kalten finally came
to the royal apartment to announce that they had gone as far as they could
go until after dark. Sparhawk was relieved to know that at least that much
had been completed on time. was the minister of the interior at all
forthcoming?’ Ehlana asked from her’ chair near the window where Alcan and
Melidere were involved in the extended process known as ‘doing her hair.
‘Oh, yes, your Majesty,’ Kalten replied with a broad grin. ‘He seems even
more eager to talk than your COUSin Lycheas was. Ulath can be very
persuasive at times. Kolata seemed to be particularly upset by the
leaches.’
‘Leeches?’ Kalten nodded. ‘It was right after Ulath offered to stuff him
head-down into a barrelful of leeches that Kolata developed this burning
desire to share things with us.’
‘Dear God!’ the queen shuddered.
It was the general opinion of all the Guests present that evening that the
Queen of Elenia’s party was absolutely the crowning event of the season.
The lanterns illuminating the mother-of-pearl battlements were spectacular,