Domes of Fire by David Eddings

onta him by one o’ his feller-conspiracy-ors.’ Caalador frowned. ‘Maybe the

right word there would have been ‘conspirytors’,’ he mused. ‘Ehlana’s still

in bed, Caalador,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘You don’t have to entertain me with

that dialect.’

‘Sorry. Just keeping in practice. Anyway, the note was quite specific.’ It

said, ‘The day of the revelation of the Hidden City is at hand. All is in

readiness. We will come to your warehouse for the arms at the second hour

past sunset ten days hence.’ Isn’t that interesting?’

‘It is indeed, Caalador, but the note could be a week old. ‘

‘No, actually it’s not. Would you believe that the idiot who wrote it

actually dated it?’

‘You’re not serious.’

‘May muh tongue turn green if I ain’t.’

‘Can your cut-purse identify this Dacite merchant? I’d like to locate this

warehouse and find out what kind of arms are stored there.’

‘i’m way ahead of you, Sparhawk,’ Caalador grinned. ‘We tracked down the

Dacite, and I called on my vast experience as a chicken-rustler to get

inside his storehouse.’ He opened the large bag he had brought with him and

took out what appeared to be a newly-made crossbow. ‘They wuz several

hunnerd o’ these in that there hen-roost o’ his’n,’ he said, ‘along with a

hull passel o’ cheap swords – which wuz most likely forged in Lebros in

Cammoria – which it is that’s notorious fer makin’ shoddy goods fer trade

with backward feW.’ Sparhawk turned the crossbow over in his hands. ‘It’s

not really very well-made, is it?’ he noted. ‘She’ll prob’ly shoot, though

– once, anyway.’

‘This explains that tree Khalad found with all the crossbow bolts stuck in

it. It looks as if we’ve been anticipated. Our friend out there wouldn’t

really need crossbows unless he knew he was going to come up against men in

armour,. The long-bow’s a lot more efficient against ordinary people. It

shoots faster.’

‘I think we’d better face up to something, Sparhawk,’ Caalador said

gravely. ‘Several hundred crossbows means several hundred conspirators, not

counting the ones who’ll be using the swords, and that’s fair evidence that

the conspiracy’s going to involve unpleasantness here in Matherion itself

as well as out there in the hinterlands. I think we’d better be prepared

for a mob – and for fighting in the streets.’

‘You could very well be right, my friend. Let’s see what we can do to

defang that mob.’ He went to the door and opened it. As usual, Mirtai sat

outside with her sword in her lap. ‘Could you get Khalad for me, Atana?’ he

asked politely. ‘Who’s going to guard the door while I’m gone?’ she asked

him. ‘I’ll take care of it.’

‘Why don’t you go get him? I’ll stay here and see to Ehlana’s safety.’ He

sighed. ‘Please, Mirtai – as a special favour to me.’

‘if anything happens to Ehlana while I’m gone, you’ll answer to me,

Sparhawk.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

‘Pretty girl, isn’t she?’ Caalador noted after the giantess had gone in

search of Sparhawk’s squire. I wouldn’t make a point of noticing that too

much when Kring’s around, my friend. They’re betrothed, and he’s the

jealous tyPe.’

‘Should I say that she’s ugly, then?’ That wouldn’t really be a good idea

either. If you do that she’ll probably kill you.’

‘Touchy, aren’t they?’

‘Oh, yes – both of them. Theirs promises to be a very lively marriage.’

Mirtai returned with Khalad a few minutes later. ‘You sent for me, my

Lord?’ Kurik’s son asked. ‘How would you go about disabling this crossbow

without making it obvious that it had been tampered with?’ Sparhawk asked,

handing the young man the weapon Caalador had brought with him. Khalad

examined the weapon. ‘Cut the string almost all the way through – up here

where it’s attached to the end of the bow,’ he suggested. ‘it’ll break as

soon as anyone tries to draw it.’ Sparhawk shook his head. ‘They might load

the weapons in advance,’ he said. ‘Someone’s going to try to use these on

us, I think, and I don’t want him to find out that they don’t work until

it’s too late.’

‘I could break the trigger-mechanism,’ Khalad said. ‘The bowman could draw

it and load it, but he couldn’t shoot it – at least he couldn’t aim it at

the same time.’

‘Would it stay cocked until he tried to shoot it?’

‘Probably. This isn’t a very well-made crossbow, so he won’t expect it to

work very well. All you’d have to do is drive out this pin that holds the

trigger in place and stick short steel pegs in the holes to hide the fact

that the pin’s gone. There’s a spring that holds the bow drawn, but without

the pin to provide leverage, the trigger won’t release that sPring. They’ll

be able to draw it, but they won’t be able to shoot it.’

‘I’ll take your word for it. How long would it take you to put this thing

out of action?’

‘A couple of minutes.’

‘You’ve got a few long nights ahead of you then, my friend. There are

several hundred of these to deal with and you’re going to have to do it

quietly and in poor light. Caalador, can you slip my friend here into the

Dacite merchant’s warehouse?’

‘if’n he kin move around sorta quiet-like, I kin.’

‘I think he can manage. He’s a country-boy the same as you are, and I’d

guess that he’s almost as skilled at making rabbit snares and stealing

chickens.’

‘Sparhawk!’ ~Khalad Protested. ‘Those skills are too valuable to have been

left out of your education, Khalad, and I knew your father, remember?’

‘They knew we were coming, Sparhawk,’ Kalten said angrily. ‘We split up

into small groups and stayed away from towns and villages, and they still

knew we were coming. They ambushed us on the west shore of Lake Sama.’

Trolls?’ Sparhawk’s voice was tense. ‘Worse. It was a large group of

rough-looking fellows armed with crossbows. They made the mistake of

shooting all at the same time. If they hadn’t, none of us would have made

it back to tell you about it. They decimated Engessa’s mounted Atans,

though. He was seriously put out about that. He tore quite a number of the

ambushers apart with his bare hands.’ A sudden cold fear griPPed Sparhawk’s

stomach. where’s Tynian?’ he asked. ‘He’s in the care of a physician. He

caught a bolt in the shoulder, and it broke some things in there.’

‘is he going to be all right?’ probably. It didn’t improve his temper very

much though. He uses his sword almost as well with his left hand as he does

with his right. We had to restrain him when the ambushers broke and ran. He

was going to ‘chase them down one by one, and he was bleeding like a studc

pig. I think we’ve got spies here in this imitation castle, Sparhawk. Those

people couldn’t have laid that ambush without some fairly specific

information about our route and our destination.’

‘We’ll sweep those hiding-places again.’

‘Good idea, and this time let’s do a bit more than reprimand the people we

catch for bad manners. A ,spy can’t creep through hidden passages very well

with two broken legs.’ The blond Pandion’s face was grim. ‘I get to do the

breaking,’ he added. ‘I want to be sure that there aren’t any miraculous

recoveries. A broken shinbone heals in a couple of months, but if you take

a sledge-hammer to a man’s knees, you’ll put him out of action for much,

much longer.’ Bevier, who led the survivors of his detachment back into

Matherion two days later, took Kalten’s suggestion a step further. His

notion involved amputations at the hip. The devout Cyrinic Knight was very

angry about being ambushed and he used language Sparhawk had never heard

from him before. When he had calmed himself finally, though, he contritely

sought absolution from Patriarch Emban. Emban not only forgave him, but

granted an indulgence as well – just in case he happened across some new

swear-words.

A thorough search of the opalescent castle turned up no hidden listeners,

and they all gathered to confer with Emperor Sarabian and Foreign Minister

Oscagne the day after Sir Bevier’s return. They met high in the central

%tower to be on the safe side, and Sephrenia added a r to further ensure

that their discussions private. tv, anyone,’ Vanion said, ‘so don’t take ‘d

of our plans is somehow leaking lld all pledge that no hint of what

‘Yo ~’p friend. Them

leave this room.’

‘ Vanion’ ~Kalten seemed sur prised. That Pandion tradition had fallen

into disuse in the past century. ‘Well,’ Vanion amended, ‘something on that

order, I suppose, but we’re not all Pandion Knights here, you know.’ He

looked around. ‘All right then, let’s summarise the situation. The plot

here in Matherion quite obviously goes beyond simple espionage. I think